Chapter 397: Corruptors! Metallic Hydrogen Bomb Cleanup! The Swarm Floods In!
Zerg tunnelers could stretch their bodies to many times their length, boring underground channels with their own flesh and blood to pave the way for the swarm to invade designated zones.
As long as the tunnelers dug deep enough, they'd always find softer soil layers they could breach—sneaking through and dragging other Zerg along with them.
Though the base's internal AI detectors picked up on the tunnelers immediately, prompting a barrage from automated turrets, the Zerg still managed to spew out large numbers of units during the chaos. And it wasn't just one tunneler. At the same moment, swarms began erupting in other zones as well.
Despite the suddenness of the ambush, David Martinez remained calm. He issued a crisp command: "Deploy the Drill Beasts—now!"
These colossal Cybertronian Drill Beasts—once used for mining energy crystals—were now being repurposed for war.
The massive, serpentine machines shared a similar operational role to the Zerg tunnelers, but the similarities ended there. Forged from transforming alloys, the Drill Beasts tore through soil and stone alike with the serrated drill plates mounted on their heads.
Underground, they were in their element. As everyone knew—tools built for construction often excelled in destruction, and the Drill Beasts were proof.
Covered in rotating, razor-sharp blades, the Drill Beasts shredded through the tunnels like meat grinders, slaughtering Zerg en masse.
While the tunnelers were still busy transporting troops, they were suddenly intercepted—cleaved in two by the rampaging Drill Beasts.
Unlike the heavily armored, steel-encased Drill Beasts, the tunnelers were soft-bodied creatures with only limited protection near their heads. To maximize reach and flexibility, their bodies had evolved to become pliant and elastic—traits that now turned fatal.
A single Drill Beast could effortlessly dismember multiple tunnelers underground.
The tunnelers attempted to counterattack, but found themselves helpless—those gaping maws couldn't find purchase on the blade-covered monstrosities. In terms of both offense and defense, they were completely outclassed.
Thanks to the arrival of the Drill Beasts, the Zerg tunnelers could no longer advance. Any attempt to tunnel deeper resulted in being butchered beneath the earth.
Left with no better option, the tunnelers retreated with what troops they could still carry, burrowing up to the surface beyond the perimeter of the shield field.
They would rather face the surface turrets than risk being torn to shreds underground.
This forced compromise drastically reduced the tunnelers' value—they could no longer punch deep into enemy lines to execute flanking attacks. All they could do now was skirt the shield field, creating just enough of an opening for a few Zerg units to breach the perimeter.
But even if the Zerg managed to claw their way into the shielded zone, they still faced a heavily fortified base.
Every district was outfitted with dense AI-controlled gun arrays. Compact hard-light turrets stood tall like a forest of steel, forming an imposing and impenetrable metal jungle.
Tunnelers who dropped troops off here were immediately caught in a withering crossfire. The swarms still couldn't get anywhere near the core zone where the Keystone was held.
This round of subterranean skirmishes ended in a decisive win for the Megacorp. Their Drill Beasts had completely crushed the Zerg's attempt at a surprise rear assault.
But time was not on their side. Outside the shield, the ground was now fully carpeted in Zerg creep.
Countless creatures slithered and squirmed across the fleshy surface, stretching toward the Megacorp as if the entire planet were drowning in bugs.
Meanwhile, from the skies above, a rain of drop pods continued to fall. Each one splashed into the tide of Zerg like raindrops into an ocean, sending up ripples in the seething swarm.
More and more Zerg were entering the battlefield.
Now under relentless pressure from the Drill Beasts, the tunnelers no longer dared to go deep. They popped up from underground like panicked rodents, helping what few units they could sneak past the shield field.
But as more Drill Beasts joined the fray, the tunnelers' death toll kept climbing.
At this point, the Megacorp's frontline base was a warzone—chaos reigned inside and out. On the outside, Infinity swarms battered the shield field. On the inside, sporadic infiltrators burst up from below to clash with AI sentries and turret systems in brutal firefights.
Though the Drill Beasts had significantly ramped up the tunnelers' casualty rates, the Zerg simply had too many. Even with the Drill Beasts going on a rampage, they couldn't completely stem the tide of Zerg "smuggling" their way into the base.
Eventually, a few urban blocks in the base succumbed under the ceaseless assault. Defensive networks collapsed into rubble, quickly overrun by creep and claimed by the swarm.
Still, these losses were within acceptable limits.
Just as David Martinez had anticipated, the Queen of Blades had thrown the bulk of her forces at the frontline base.
Other defensive lines had suffered attacks as well, but nowhere near the scale or intensity needed to rapidly destroy major turret installations.
"These damn bugs are insane! Their casualties must've hit the quadrillions by now!" said Johnny Silverhand, staring at the hard-light screens back at HQ, slack-jawed in disbelief.
He had fought a lot of battles over the years, but never seen anything like this.
The Megacorp rarely allowed conflicts to devolve into tug-of-war attrition fights—too wasteful in both time and resources. If a target could be eliminated in one shot, there was no point dragging things out.
Now, however, the Zerg had practically gone berserk. Their swarms surged forward like a torrent, frantically gnawing at the shield field.
Part of it was the Keystone's energy field—naturally drawing the Zerg like moths to a flame. But it was also because the Queen of Blades could no longer wait. She was desperate to expand her gains.
Time was running out. And without the damned Xel'naga artifact, all of them would perish the moment the Keystone's charge completed!
If they didn't move faster and eliminate this ticking time bomb, every Zerg on this planet would be atomized into dust.
As the Megacorp's defenses continued to hold, the Queen of Blades sent her will echoing once more through the hive mind:
"Accelerate the assault—now!"
To speed up the conquest, she unleashed the full potential of the Zerg assigned to assault the frontline base. It didn't matter how many died—as long as they could tear down the shield, any sacrifice was worth it.
Even a loss ratio of one to ten thousand—or one to a million—was acceptable. The Zerg of the Koprulu Sector could afford to pay that price.
This battle would determine the future of the Zerg. The Queen of Blades was ready to burn through every last asset she had.
Li Ang, however, remained unfazed. He simply waited, watching the clock tick down second by second.
Following the Queen's order, new elite Zerg units began flooding the battlefield.
In addition to the familiar Hydralisks and Roaches, the skies now swarmed with a new, more terrifying presence—Corruptors. These grotesque, flying creatures sported squid-like tentacles, avian beaks, and bloated cystic sacs.
They launched devastating assaults, focusing their firepower on tearing down the shield field.
Under normal circumstances, Corruptors would only emerge from highly evolved hive clusters.
These advanced Zerg units could generate powerful electromagnetic fields with their tendrils, distorting gravity and allowing them to float freely in the air.
Their attacks included spewing parasitic spores from their cysts or vomiting streams of corrosive green acid—both capable of inflicting persistent, severe damage to enemy defenses.
No matter the method, one fact remained true—Corruptors dealt staggering damage to shield fields.
The base's internal AI turrets were forced to reorient, redirecting their firepower toward these revolting and deadly elite Zerg units.
However, Corruptors proved far tougher than Mutalisks. Their seemingly bloated bodies were covered in bulbous, nerve-like outer shells that expanded into foam-like structures upon impact, absorbing incoming attacks.
These acted much like reactive armor on tanks—exceptionally effective against anti-air missiles.
Once damaged or spent, the neural nodes were discarded, and fresh ones would grow in their place, allowing the Corruptors to soak up even more firepower.
At the same time, they dealt devastating damage to the Megacorp's shield field.
As expected, the moment a large number of Corruptors entered the battle, the shield field's integrity began to nosedive.
Underground, the tunnelers continued throwing themselves at the Drill Beasts, willing to die as long as they could ferry Zerg forces into the base.
Above, the Hydralisks unleashed a hurricane of toxic spines. While each individual spine was deflected by the shield field, the constant bombardment of both physical and chemical attacks began to take its toll.
Clearly, the front-line base's shield field wouldn't last until the Keystone's charge was complete.
Worse still, Ultralisks had appeared on the Megacorp. These towering, siege-class monstrosities could trample even the Protoss' mechanical sentry force fields into rubble. Very few defensive installations could withstand a direct charge from them.
At this critical moment, Paul stared grimly at the holo-display. The shield's integrity had dropped below 30%.
If those Ultralisks reached the barrier, the shield field would collapse on the spot. They would be the final straw that broke the camel's back.
"This Queen of Blades really knows how to bide her time," Paul muttered. "Even now, she hasn't shown up."
Glancing at the screen, he saw the Zerg flagship Leviathan still quietly anchored in low orbit.
If anything went wrong, the Queen of Blades could escape at a moment's notice.
David Martinez thought for a moment. The shield field had to be preserved—for as long as possible.
That meant they couldn't afford to waste it absorbing the impact of the Ultralisk charge.
Finally, David issued the order: "Open the ground-level barrier. Redirect the remaining shield energy to focus on aerial threats."
It was a reluctant but necessary move. Sacrificing part of the field to defend against the Corruptors was preferable to losing the entire thing.
As for letting Ultralisks and Zerglings flood in? So be it. The Megacorp's front-line base still had plenty of defensive layers left.
They could still grind this out a while longer.
And if things truly came to the brink—there were still the Scorpid Manticore Virus Spores waiting in reserve.
After receiving the directive to open part of the shield field, Paul immediately radioed across to Pani.
"Pani, we're opening up the ground shield. What's your status?"
Gazing out at the churning mass of Zerg, Pani replied honestly:
"Not great. At this rate, I'd give it fifteen minutes before those Zerglings are literally clawing my face off."
Pani's AI turret array was still glowing with blazing blue light, mowing down the Zerglings scrambling up the outer barrier like dry leaves in a storm.
But every time a section of the shield was breached, a new wave surged forward, giving the barrier no time to recover.
Some turrets had already begun to spark and combust from energy overload. Yet the relentless Zerg gave them no breathing room.
Even when one turret collapsed, another would immediately rise to take its place.
If it were human soldiers manning those guns, their morale would've crumbled long ago.
After all, to fight a swarm this relentless, they'd have to weld their guns to their hands and fire nonstop until their arms gave out.
This was the true benefit of AI automation—liberating humans from frontline labor. Thanks to the Megacorp's robust defenses, the personnel could afford to watch the battle unfold from the rear.
But not for much longer.
To buy more time for the shield field, they had no choice but to allow some Zerg units to infiltrate deeper into the base.
"Get your people out of there," Paul instructed. "We're about to launch a metallic hydrogen bombardment."
"Copy that!" Pani nodded and quickly led her squad out.
In that moment, missile silos throughout the front-line base pivoted skyward and unleashed volleys of metallic hydrogen warheads toward preset bombardment zones in near orbit.
Since the Zerg had escalated their invasion, the Megacorp was ready with high-powered counters.
Though their current weapons were relatively conventional—and they had deliberately held back more exotic ordinance like the MD-500 nanite bombs to maintain a prolonged engagement—even the metallic hydrogen bombs had a devastating effect on the swarm.
Balls of fire bloomed across the blackness of space, flashing like miniature suns before quickly winking out. Countless Mutalisks and drop pods vanished in an instant, atomized mid-descent.
Yet even with more than half the incoming drop pods intercepted, a massive force of Zerg still made landfall on the base's perimeter.
If this had been a Terran Federation outpost, they would've been overrun long ago. Only the Megacorp could've held out this long.
Throughout the onslaught, the thick-skinned, iron-blooded Ultralisks showcased their terrifying resilience.
Even when struck by mini hydrogen bombs, they didn't die. Limping on injured legs, they regenerated as they ran—and were back at full strength moments later.
Soon, the shield field flickered and reactivated at ground level. The Zerg clinging to its surface dropped off, crushed into pulp by the tidal wave of Zerg behind them.
Like a tsunami crashing ashore, the swarm poured into every sector of the front-line base.
Instantly, the internal walls and corridors teemed with Zerg.
Larger, more advanced hard-light turrets opened fire, hastily forming new defensive lines.
Flamethrowers, gravity fields, and particle cannons activated from their designated zones—everything came online at once to stem the tide.
But this was just the beginning.
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