All the firing ports of the underground bunkers were sealed, and a protective energy field was raised. The task of external defense was handed over entirely to chanical soldiers and automated defense systems. However, with the Ji soldiers—the main source of firepower—ceasing fire, the density of the defensive fire net dropped significantly.
With nearly half of their offensive firepower reduced, the Ji defenses were powerless to stop the surging Swarm tide. Not long after the Ji soldiers stopped firing, the Swarm pushed forward using the corpses of their allies as cover, reaching the bunker walls.
The stationary automated defense systems were the first to be torn apart, while the chanical soldiers, despite their impressive mobility, had not received retreat orders. Forced to hold their ground, they soon followed the automated systems into oblivion.
Soon, countless Swarm creatures sward over and engulfed the tal bunker. However, the bunker’s purpose was defense. Its primary construction materials, though unable to fully withstand the creatures’ biting and slashing, could endure for a considerable amount of ti.
Yet, in the face of such overwhelming numbers—especially with the rare Red Fang Breakers making an appearance—it was clear the tal bunker would soon be breached.
anwhile, below this area, nearly two hundred Burrowing Worms, having traversed the minefield, were approaching the battlefield. A tunnel wide enough for the Swarm Empress to escape was forming.
But at this mont, a peculiar bomb detonated within the underground passage. There was no thunderous explosion, only an intense release of light, heat, and powerful radiation.
A special radioactive elent began to spread through the tunnels as the bomb exploded. The Swarm forces swept by the radiation wave imdiately showed signs of distress.
Most of these expendable units were created using gene samples from native species, granting them adaptability to the planet’s environnt while keeping production costs low, allowing them to form overwhelming numbers easily.
However, against X-576, numbers ant nothing. The genes of the Swarm units began to collapse, their surfaces rotting away. Blood and pus oozed from holes covering their bodies.
Within just a few minutes, the once-massive tide of Swarm creatures—save for a small number of advanced units based on the fungal carpet template—had turned into heaps of decaying flesh and debris, all but annihilated.
Simultaneously, the radiation rays penetrated the soil, sweeping over the charging Burrowing Worms. These massive creatures, like the others, were cheap constructs using native genes. They soon began to exhibit adverse reactions.
However, their enormous size and lack of pain receptors allowed them to continue charging upward even as their bodies began to rot.
The Ji race, relying on detection instrunts to monitor the battlefield, grew puzzled.
“The effective range of X-576 has already encompassed them. Why haven’t they slowed down?”
“Could X-576 be ineffective against the Swarm?”
“How could that be? Can’t you see how effective it is against the smaller Swarm units?”
“But I’ve noticed so of them are completely unaffected by X-576.”
“They might use technology similar to the spacefaring units, placing them beyond the realm of ordinary biology.”
“It’s hard to imagine what they truly are.”
“That’s not the key issue now. I’m concerned about those giant worms. We detonated X-576 not to clear out the smaller bugs, but its main targets are still threatening our plans.”
“Perhaps their massive size allows them to endure longer?”
“If that’s the case, then we’re lucky. But I’m worried they might also use the sa tech as their spacefaring organisms.”
“There’s a reaction! They’re slowing down, and there are so strange signs!?”
“What?” Hearing this exclamation, everyone imdiately reviewed the synchronized battlefield data.
“This is…?”
The Ji race’s detection instrunts were highly advanced. Though they couldn’t accurately depict the shape or appearance of the Burrowing Worms, they could detect general size data.
On the data display, the enormous bodies of the Burrowing Worms appeared to be shrinking little by little. Sotis small portions disappeared, other tis large chunks vanished suddenly.
“I understand now. Those giant worms must be invertebrate soft-bodied creatures with extrely primitive body structures, lacking pain receptors—or perhaps the Swarm deliberately removed them.”
“Exactly. This allows them to appear unaffected by X-576 radiation even as they succumb to it. The parts disappearing are their rotting limbs.”
“Even with their massive size, they won’t last much longer. We must stop them from breaking through before they die.”
“Send in the K2N9s and K1KN10s!”
One characteristic of all Ji chanical units was their high degree of automation. While they were usually controlled manually, critical monts allowed artificial intelligence to take full control.
Neither type of machine could fully resist X-576’s radiation attack. Therefore, before the bomb detonated, control of the machines was handed over to the AI Selina, while the operators retreated into the tal bunkers.
The radiation’s effects remained at dangerously high levels, preventing the drivers from returning to their posts, and ti was short.
Fortunately, Selina could operate both types of machinery with greater skill than human operators. Upon receiving the new order, the nearby excavation equipnt—K2N9s and K1KN10s—sprang into action.
They converged toward the bottom of the battlefield, intending to use their steel bodies to block the final charge of the Burrowing Worms. If the distance between the lower tunnel and the upper level could be maintained at ten ters, it would be an insurmountable chasm for the Swarm Empress—an uncrossable gap.
The Ji strategy proved highly effective. X-576’s impact on living organisms was imnse. Even with their colossal bodies, the Burrowing Worms couldn’t delay death for long.
Facing them, the K2N9s and K1KN10s, which under normal circumstances would have been re snacks—like sugar-coated candies and large sausages—for the Burrowing Worms’ multiple spirally arranged teeth, now posed an insurmountable challenge.
Their collapsing bodies, with loosened or missing teeth, could barely knock aside a K2N9, but the K1KN10s, being far larger, ford an impenetrable steel barrier for the weakened worms.
Finally, amidst the muffled thuds of flesh eting tal, the Burrowing Worms ceased all movent, their life signs extinguished.
Seeing this, the Ji command center collectively exhaled in relief. In this round of confrontation, they had erged victorious once again.
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