I Am The Swarm

The Primordial bodies forced to the front line had portions of their structures charred and carbonized. As they moved at high speed, the carbonized fragments broke apart and scattered.

In the near-frictionless environment of space, these debris fragments would travel vast distances.

The ninth wave of cannon fire arrived, allowing these sacrificial units to fulfill their final purpose.

Thanks to their sacrifice, while the third layer of defense was completely obliterated, the fourth layer sustained only minor damage.

“Are they completely unafraid of death?”

“Concentrate all firepower! Stop them from advancing!”

This tactic of using physical bodies as shields to cover an assault was something only a force like the Swarm, with its unique organizational structure, could employ as a standard strategy.

For civilizations like the Riken, any commander attempting to use such a tactic routinely would have been court-martialed long ago.

Yet, there was no denying the effectiveness of the strategy.

As the bulk of the Riken firepower was drawn toward these “meat shields,” the 5,000 Primordial bodies in the distance could fire their electromagnetic projectiles with impunity. The Riken forces, forced to respect these tens of thousands of projectiles, had no choice but to dodge. This, in turn, disrupted their firing rhythm.

The cascading effects of this strategy allowed the meat shield battalion to breach the Riken’s defensive line after sacrificing only 26 layers of their formation.

Faced with the onslaught of the Space Octopuses, the Riken warships dared not engage directly. They began retreating, opening their hangar bays to deploy waves of fighters.

The current generation of Riken warships not only carried several hundred mainline fighters and drones per ship but were also equipped with a new type of miniature drone.

These new drones, measuring only 2.5 meters in length, were smaller than some missiles. In fact, their design and functionality were strikingly similar to missiles.

Externally, they resembled missiles with small wings attached. Apart from a small-caliber autocannon mounted on their undersides, they lacked any other long-range firepower.

Most of their internal structure, aside from the radar in the nose and the engine in the tail, was packed with explosives.

These drones were specifically developed as a countermeasure to the Larval bodies, which favored close-quarters combat. They deployed alongside fighter squadrons. Due to their small autocannon caliber, they posed little long-range threat to the Larval bodies, serving instead to harass, obscure vision, and increase the Swarm’s computational burden.

However, when Larval bodies closed in on the fighters, these drones would actively intercept. If a Larval body used its tentacles to grab them, they would promptly revert to their “primary function” as bombs.

Thanks to the sheer quantity of these miniature missile drones, the three fleets, comprising over 2,000 warships, launched nearly 100,000 fighter jets and approximately 500,000 miniature drones.

A total of 600,000 mechanical units surged forth like a dark tide to meet the Swarm’s Mature and Larval bodies. In terms of sheer momentum, they did not appear at a disadvantage.

As the two sides closed to within 200–300 kilometers, the Riken fighter formations suddenly braked sharply in space, coming to a synchronized halt.

The Primordial bodies at the forefront of the Swarm’s assault still formed several layers of resilient meat shields. With the firepower of the fighter squadrons, breaking through these defenses head-on would be nearly impossible. A direct clash would likely result in catastrophic losses for the fighter squadrons.

Furthermore, the fighter formations were meant to serve as harassing units, not to engage the Space Octopuses in close-quarters combat. After their abrupt halt, they dispersed widely, forming a massive net-like formation to wait for the Swarm forces to approach.

The Swarm forces, however, showed no intention of avoiding the trap. The Space Octopuses charged straight into the web.

As the Swarm’s vanguard breached the fighter formation’s “net,” the fighters launched a fierce assault from all directions on the Space Octopuses. Countless red energy beams streaked through the starry void, targeting the Swarm units.

Among these were the small-caliber autocannons of the miniature drones, which, while lacking in direct destructive power, added to the dazzling chaos of lights that disrupted the Swarm’s movements.

Many Larval bodies, attempting to avoid these autocannon barrages, were struck by the fighter squadron’s energy beams, sustaining severe injuries. Fortunately for the Swarm, the sheer number of Larval bodies ensured that the losses were negligible. Larger Mature bodies moved to the outer edges of the formation, using their bodies to shield the smaller units from these attacks.

Eventually, after several salvos from the Riken’s main cannons, the Primordial meat shield was shattered. Deprived of their formidable “shields,” the remaining Mature and Larval bodies could no longer withstand the main cannon fire.

As the next wave of cannon fire loomed, the Swarm forces voluntarily dispersed. Without the cohesion of a tight formation, their charge ground to a halt.

The dispersed vanguard was soon entangled by the fighter squadrons, unable to advance further.

In response, the Swarm quickly adjusted their tactics, ordering the Mature and Larval bodies to attack freely, prioritizing the elimination of the fighter squadrons while continuing to push forward.

Recognizing this tactical shift, the Riken redirected their main cannons away from the vanguard and aimed at the 5,000 distant Primordial bodies, which had been firing uninterrupted, systematically destroying the Riken’s orbital cannons.

The Riken’s decision to retarget was driven by necessity. Continuing to fire their main cannons at the smaller Swarm units felt like using cannons to kill mosquitoes—inefficient and wasteful. Meanwhile, the long-range Primordial bodies posed an existential threat, with their unrelenting barrages wreaking havoc.

With the Riken’s long-range firepower now focused on them, the Primordial bodies were forced to adopt erratic movements, increasing the Riken’s computational load and reducing the likelihood of being hit. However, this also impacted the accuracy and firing rate of their own projectiles.

The Riken fleet faced similar constraints. Forced to keep moving to avoid the destructive electromagnetic projectiles, they found it increasingly difficult to maintain precise targeting.

As a result, the battlefield split into two distinct zones: long-range units clashing at a distance and close-quarters skirmishes between the vanguard forces.

At a range of 100 kilometers, the fighting in the vast expanse of space was effectively close combat. The Riken’s original plan to maintain distance and use long-range firepower to gradually wear down the Swarm proved difficult to execute.

The battlefield had become an uncontrollable maelstrom. Chaos reigned as combatants from both sides filled every direction.

It was common for a unit to lock onto a target tens or even hundreds of kilometers away, only to be blindsided by another enemy unit mere meters away.

Amid such disorder, the lack of reliable reference points made it impossible to gauge distances accurately. No unit could guarantee that all enemy forces within a 360-degree radius were safely out of range.

This led to situations where a Riken pilot, focused on outmaneuvering a Swarm unit and maintaining a safe distance of several kilometers, would suddenly be ambushed by a third party and killed in an instant.

The sheer scale and complexity of the battlefield created an overwhelming computational load. Even the Riken’s supercomputers were unable to issue real-time alerts for all unexpected developments.

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