I Am The Swarm

Under the stunned gaze of the Moto soldiers, the Vulturehawk flapped its wings a few times and ascended back into the sky. Then, as if gradually becoming transparent, it vanished into thin air.

“Such incredible stealth technology!” While the soldiers were merely shocked by the Vulturehawk’s power, the commander saw more. This kind of stealth technology explained why they had never detected the Swarm before. Now that he thought about it, perhaps the Swarm had always been right beside them, but they simply hadn’t known.

He glanced around. In the night sky, the brightness of the flares was beginning to fade, and the higher reaches of the sky remained pitch black. Perhaps up there, countless Swarm units were silently watching them.

They were like gladiators in an arena, fighting desperately to entertain the Swarm. And whenever something unexpected appeared, the Swarm would intervene forcefully, just as they had moments ago.

While the Moto soldiers were momentarily thrown off by the appearance of the Vulturehawk, the Swarm remained unaffected. As the Moto soldiers hesitated, the area that had just been cleared by missiles was once again overrun by Raiders, their sharp hisses filling the air as they charged toward the sentry post.

“If this continues, we’re doomed,” the Moto commander realized. “Send the footage we just captured back to headquarters. Tell them to send reinforcements—lots of reinforcements!”

Unfortunately, he thought the Swarm was only attacking his sentry post. He didn’t know that the Swarm had launched a full-scale assault, and every base and defensive zone was now fighting for its survival.

In truth, the Brood Queens that had been airdropped by the Swarm in previous days were far from sufficient to wage a global war. But LKDW262 was too close to Swarm territory.

Over a hundred years ago, the planet had already been infiltrated by the Swarm’s micro-seeding program. Deep within the planet, the Swarm had long since taken root.

“Commander, headquarters says the Swarm is attacking globally. They have no extra troops to send us. We’re on our own!” The communications officer quickly informed the commander of the grim reality.

“Damn it!” the commander cursed. Although the situation at his post seemed manageable for now, knowing about the threat from above made him realize that their current position was as precarious as walking a tightrope. Collapse could happen at any moment.

But sometimes, the more you don’t want something to happen, the more likely it is to occur. As the Moto soldiers regained their focus and resumed firing, the Vulturehawk didn’t reappear. Instead, a new Swarm unit emerged.

This was a flying unit, a cannon variant of the Flying Insect. They were small, only about twenty centimeters long. Their diminutive size meant they were cheap to produce.

As a result, when they appeared in the sky, their numbers were staggering.

These cannon bugs resembled ordinary Flying Insects in their upper bodies, but their tails lacked stingers. Instead, they had a retractable tube-like structure.

The tube contracted and compressed, then suddenly released, firing a small orange sphere about one centimeter in diameter. The sphere’s outer layer was a gelatinous substance, while the inside contained highly corrosive venom.

Though the “projectiles” were small, their sheer numbers made up for this shortcoming. By the time the Moto soldiers noticed them, they were already under attack.

This was a saturation bombardment from the air. Countless orange spheres rained down from the sky. Upon hitting their targets, the spheres burst open, their gelatinous exteriors adhering tightly to whatever they touched. Even after exploding, they remained stuck to their targets.

The venom inside reacted with the gelatinous substance upon contact with air, forming a new toxin that combined the properties of both—highly corrosive and extremely adhesive.

The newly formed toxin immediately went to work. Wherever the venom touched, whether on the Moto soldiers’ protective suits or their weapons, white smoke began to rise. ℟𝔞ℕ𝘖βΕṥ

“Watch out! Teams Three and Four, drive those things out of the sky!” the commander shouted.

The quality of the Moto protective suits was decent—fireproof, waterproof, and corrosion-resistant. A little toxin was nothing to worry about. However, the white smoke was annoying, and the colored gelatinous toxin stuck to their goggles, making them nearly impossible to wipe clean and severely impairing their vision.

The Moto soldiers, following orders, raised their weapons and fired at the cannon bugs in the sky. But there were simply too many of them. Even as some were shot down, their numbers showed no sign of decreasing.

A few soldiers brought out flamethrowers, and massive pillars of fire shot into the sky. Caught off guard, several cannon bugs were singed by the flames, their delicate wings severely damaged. They plummeted to the ground, trailing sparks, and writhed in agony.

Seeing this, the Moto soldiers flushed with excitement and shouted, “Haha, die! You trash!” as they swept the flamethrowers back and forth.

Unfortunately, the cannon bugs quickly adapted, rising higher into the air. The flamethrowers’ limited range and angle made them useless against the elevated targets.

The soldiers had no choice but to switch back to their regular firearms and shoot at the cannon bugs. However, as they aimed upward, their goggles became prime targets. Another round of saturation fire left them blinded. And they couldn’t even remove their helmets—their faces weren’t corrosion-proof.

But they had underestimated the Swarm. Even the toxins carried by these mass-produced cannon bugs were not to be taken lightly.@@novelbin@@

A soldier who had been firing at the Raiders suddenly had his weapon explode in his hands. The blast knocked him back a step, but thanks to his fully enclosed protective suit, he wasn’t injured.

He muttered curses as he retreated to the rear, grabbing a new weapon before returning to the fight. The Moto army’s equipment hadn’t been updated in a long time, and these weapons were ancient relics. Even with proper maintenance, malfunctions were common under intense use. Fortunately, there were plenty of spare weapons, so they could simply swap out the broken ones.

But this malfunction seemed to be a signal. More and more weapons began to explode. This anomaly caught the commander’s attention. The Moto military had strict standards, and the factories would never cut corners on weapon quality. Though these weapons were old, they had been well-maintained, and the failure rate shouldn’t have been this high.

The meticulous commander picked up one of the broken weapons and examined it. He found that it was covered in the orange toxin. Wiping it away, he discovered that the weapon had already been corroded to the point of being riddled with holes. Combined with the intense firing, it was no wonder the weapons were exploding one after another.

How could these toxins be so potent?

If even sturdy weapons could be corroded like this, then even their specialized protective suits might not be safe.

Looking at the orange-stained, smoking areas on his suit, the commander realized a new crisis was at hand.