I Am The Swarm

The current battlefield situation was a race against time—whether the Yuntu Race would break through the encirclement first or the Swarm would sever the Yuntu fleet’s retreat.

Judging by the current state of affairs, though the Swarm had revealed its Desolation-Class Mothership and unexpectedly utilized Primordial body projectiles to breach the Yuntu fleet’s flanks, the forces blocking the Yuntu fleet’s front were not as formidable as anticipated.

The widespread, cost-ignoring saturation bombardment rendered all intricate maneuvers meaningless. Under this barrage, entire groups of Primordial bodies were annihilated by dark energy cannon fire.

However, such an onslaught did not come without consequences. The massive explosions stirred up violent energy tides, filling the space with complex energy fields, turning this entire area into a temporary dead zone.

If this were a normal battlefield engagement, this situation would not be particularly problematic. The area could even serve as an effective buffer zone. But given the Yuntu Race’s dire predicament, they had no choice but to force their way through, introducing countless uncertainties.

The raging energy storms made their passage as perilous as an ancient sailing ship traversing a tempestuous and stormy sea. The invisible “waves” not only inflicted severe damage on the hulls but also disrupted and disabled all reconnaissance instruments due to the omnipresent energy fields.

This left them effectively blind, unable to target or lock onto enemies, and even incapable of detecting incoming attacks. The energy fields also disrupted communication equipment, cutting them off from any support beyond the storm.

Furthermore, to prevent their instruments from being completely destroyed by the raging electromagnetic fields, they had to shut down all non-essential devices while passing through. This rendered them both blind and deaf, severely limiting their operational capacity, leaving them in a highly perilous situation—completely at the mercy of fate.

If there had been any other way, the Yuntu Race would not have chosen such a dangerous path. However, this was their only chance at survival.

“Two!”

“One!”

“Brace yourselves, we’re going in!”

The violent energy tides had a sharply defined boundary. The moment they crossed it, the previously stable warships were suddenly rocked with intense turbulence. Had the Yuntu Race not anticipated this and secured themselves in advance, the initial impact alone would have thrown them into chaos.

The explosions of dark energy cannon rounds, atomic furnaces, standard energy shells, and various missiles and projectiles had turned this zone into an incubator for energy fields. These fields clashed, fused, and disrupted each other, destroying everything that entered.

Fortunately, the Yuntu Race possessed advanced technology. Their warship armor was highly resistant to electromagnetic disturbances akin to EMP effects. If this had been the Moto civilization, simply traversing this region would have resulted in complete annihilation.

Inside the warships, the lighting flickered erratically, and Yuntu crew members could hear the sharp crackling of short-circuiting circuits and smell the acrid stench of burning components.

“What’s happening?!”

“The energy fields outside are too chaotic! Some have mutated beyond our ability to counteract! Their penetration is too strong—our armor can’t block them!”

“Everyone, put on your space suits!” Compared to metal machinery, flesh and blood were far more vulnerable to radiation and magnetic fields. The Yuntu Race were not the Swarm—they did not possess the ability to traverse space with their bare bodies. Thus, upon receiving the report, their first instinct was self-preservation.

Compared to the snug, flexible shipboard uniforms that allowed for effortless movement, space suits were much bulkier, and wearing gloves made precise operations more cumbersome. But in this moment, practicality took precedence over comfort. Besides, at this stage, little manual operation was required—they were essentially leaving everything to fate.

The mutated magnetic fields were too penetrative, forcing the Yuntu fleet to shut down more and more instruments to minimize damage. Eventually, they even had to reduce power output, shutting down several of their aft thrusters. Fortunately, their initial speed was high, and the region had been thoroughly cleared, with almost no obstacles. This allowed them to continue moving forward rapidly.

At their current velocity, it wouldn’t take long to traverse this death zone.

But this was not a peaceful scenario. The energy field interference was merely the backdrop—the Swarm, as a competent adversary, naturally wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to increase the Yuntu Race’s difficulties.

The Swarm units that had been scattered earlier were reinforced by nearby allies, promptly turning their guns and opening fire at full intensity!

With their radars disabled and communications severed, the Yuntu warships within the energy maelstrom only realized they were under attack when shells were already upon them, striking their hulls. Without fire-control radars, they couldn’t even retaliate.

The Swarm’s first volley prioritized the Yuntu warships at the forefront. As the bombardment subsided, several ships were damaged or destroyed.

This transformed the once-clear stormy sea into a treacherous field littered with debris. The Yuntu warships, already deprived of radar guidance and operating with most of their propulsion systems offline, had no time to maneuver around these new obstacles.

The lucky ones merely grazed the wreckage, leaving scratches that could be repaired later with a simple metal patch and paint job. The less fortunate collided with jagged remains, causing more substantial damage. The truly unlucky ones crashed directly into the heart of a wreck, adding to the growing field of space debris.

But even the lucky ones who only suffered minor scratches and managed to navigate through the “reef field” found their fortune short-lived—they were immediately subjected to the Swarm’s second round of bombardment.

The wreckage blocking their path continued to pile up, worsening the Yuntu fleet’s predicament. Under these conditions, dispersing their formation would have been the ideal tactic. However, they had no such luxury—units in the rear were under relentless assault from the Swarm, making every second count.

“Main cannons, fire!” They couldn’t let their allies’ sacrifices be in vain. Gritting his teeth, the commander issued the order.

With their fire-control radars disabled for so long, the main cannons of the Yuntu warships finally roared back to life. Relying solely on manual targeting, they fired at the “reefs” ahead.

The wreckage had no means to evade, and under the main cannon barrages, large sections of metal were blasted apart, scattering debris in all directions. However, the fragments were no longer a threat to the other Yuntu warships.

The path was temporarily cleared, but the previous bombardment had once again agitated the already turbulent energy storm, intensifying its fury. Yet, for the Swarm forces stationed outside the stormy sea, this made no difference.

Old reefs were cleared away, only for new ones to take their place, making the Yuntu Race’s escape route increasingly perilous.