I Am The Swarm

This final defensive line of the Ji race was indeed formidable. With the rear lines dismantled, they had essentially sold all their infrastructure to produce one last wave of troops.

Through this round of reinforcements, the number of Ji warships was once again restored. And as these ships moved toward the frontlines, they also hauled along a portion of the Battle Stars from the rear.

This resulted in a massive reinforcement of the frontline forces. The already fearsome defense line saw its firepower coverage at least double in density, and with a larger number of Gene Destruction Cannons, the Swarm’s previous strategy of advancing via flesh mountains was completely neutralized.

Moreover, the Ji even had surplus Gene Destruction Cannons to target the Swarm’s charging formations, forcing the Swarm to scatter their forces again. A single moment of carelessness could lead to devastating losses.

In truth, losses weren’t the main issue. The real problem lay in the aftermath—units struck by the Gene Destruction Cannons became extremely infectious within a certain period, severely obstructing the Swarm’s charge paths.

As long as a section of the defense line came under pressure, a single Gene Destruction shot aimed at the Swarm’s path could significantly relieve the burden.

Faced with such an impenetrable iron wall, the Swarm had no better tactics. Fully AI-controlled personnel meant that the Swarm’s Intelligent Entities couldn’t infiltrate, and the ever-patrolling small security bots prevented any Micro-Seeds from developing.

This meant the Swarm’s tactics remained unoriginal—still relying on overwhelming numbers to repeatedly crash into the Ji defense line. This led to extremely high Swarm losses. The casualty ratio had become unspeakable. In the eyes of any race’s military tribunal, such a ratio from a commander would warrant immediate court-martial.

But the Swarm didn’t care.

What they faced, however, was a Swarm supported by twenty extragalactic bases—as if they had entered the endless wave mode of a tower defense game. If they couldn’t repel the Swarm’s siege, the onslaught would continue indefinitely, until everything was destroyed.

And looking at the Swarm forces layered threefold, fivefold, densely packed and queueing up to enter the battlefield—it was clear that repelling them was an exceedingly unlikely outcome.

Compared to naturally evolved races, mechanical lifeforms had an enormous advantage. If this had been during the era when Ji still controlled their military forces, such high-intensity warfare would’ve long since exhausted those carbon-based lifeforms.

But machines were different. They possessed superior endurance, and intelligent programs could operate continuously without rest—as long as energy was supplied and computing power held, they would never stop.

Their coordination was leagues ahead of other formations. But this advantage only held if both sides were on equal footing. When the disparity in scale became too vast, not even perfect coordination could reverse the tide.

Just like now, facing the Swarm—the difference in scale could no longer be described as double or triple. It was hundreds or even thousands of times greater.

In the previous defensive battle, Ji warships had already been forced to withdraw from the battle sequence due to severe wear and tear of their components.

In an ordinary battle, this would not have been a problem. But since the start of this war, the Swarm had not paused its assault for even a moment. The energy-binding, conduction, and excitation components—highly precise mechanisms—wore down rapidly from constant firing.

These components typically required special materials for maintenance. But the Ji race now had almost no reserves left to replace them frequently.

While the larger garrison allowed the Ji to consciously rotate their troops, minimizing accelerated wear and tear on vital parts—and while the deterrence of the Gene Destruction Cannons kept the Swarm’s aggression in check—those components were still degrading.

Even if the wear was slow, it was still happening. As long as the Swarm attacks never ceased, the Ji would eventually face the same predicament as before.

“Overlord, do we not need to deploy new unit types?” Although she had limited access to information, Sarah knew far more than the other Intelligent Entities. After so many years, the Swarm had obviously made progress. Their once-formidable enemies were now cornered into a tiny patch of territory, barely holding on.

With just one Genesis Base and twenty extragalactic bases, the Swarm could sustain the current stalemate. The rest of their forces, of course, were fully devoted to expansion.

And considering that the former Interstellar Technological Confederation had more or less fallen under Swarm control, these races were now quite friendly toward the Swarm—especially after the Swarm’s main forces had passed through their territories.

They had tacitly accepted the Swarm’s existence, allowing them to “borrow” their land to establish external bases.

In such circumstances, the Swarm’s harvesting of Spiritual Entities became effortless. Those with value were converted into Intelligent Entities; the rest became nourishment for Luo Wen’s growth.

The number of Intelligent Entities skyrocketed. The Swarm’s research teams grew stronger, and as time passed, their strength only continued to rise. Spiritual Entities born in different environments and civilizations provided unique nourishment for Luo Wen’s evolution.

With the rapid expansion of extragalactic bases, their numbers continued to grow, and the Swarm’s overall strength advanced on every front.

The strength of the extragalactic bases had already been partially demonstrated—but Luo Wen himself and the research capabilities of the Intelligent Entities had yet to be revealed. If they unveiled even a few new techniques or breakthroughs, it was highly likely they could break the Ji’s turtle shell defense.

Hence Sarah’s question. Ever since she had guided Lumina as a tour guide, she had taken great interest in the strange words Lumina left behind before departing. She knew that only by utterly crushing the Ji could she uncover the truth behind those cryptic statements.

Luo Wen also cared about the message Lumina had left behind. But he was not in a hurry. He had already revealed some things when he last hosted Lumina. Therefore, until the situation became clearer, it was wiser to keep his remaining cards close to his chest in case of unexpected variables.

As for the battle on the frontlines—for an immortal being, any problem that could be solved with time wasn’t really a problem at all.

Since that was the case, then let the war of attrition continue.

Time flew by. Even though the Ji made every possible effort to reduce wear on their ships’ precision components, these parts weren’t truly impervious to damage. Over time, they still deteriorated.

Eventually, the first Ji warship had to withdraw from the battle sequence due to component degradation. And that marked a turning point. One by one, more followed—the second, third… ship after ship was pulled from the battlefield and sent to the rear for repair and component replacement.

And by that point, fifty years had passed since the battle began.