I Am The Swarm-Chapter 699: Targeted

“Protect Her Majesty!” Tella shouted again after her initial urgent cry. At the same time, the other members of the guard squad also began communicating verbally.

—

“It seems they’re not entirely unscathed.” The Confederation’s think tank quickly noticed this detail.

“It appears their exoskeletal armor successfully shielded them from the sonic blast but didn’t fully block the intense light.”

The facts aligned with their speculation. If one could peer beneath the fully enclosed helmets of the Swarm guards, they would see their eyes twitching abnormally, some even shedding bloody tears. Their powerful visual receptors amplified the damage from the intense light. Although their helmets provided some protection, they hadn’t completely lost their vision. However, their ability to communicate using multi-color signals was temporarily disabled.

Moreover, the Swarm didn’t use communication devices. Even if they did, such devices wouldn’t work within the isolation field. While they could still communicate through the Swarm network, there was no need to reveal this trump card in such a minor skirmish. As a result, they were now forced to rely on the most primitive form of communication: shouting.

The Confederation deduced the Swarm guards’ eye injuries from this observation.

“I didn’t expect the Swarm’s multi-color communication system to have such a glaring weakness. A single flash bomb can cripple it.”

“Hmph, it’s because the Swarm are overconfident. They even export their exoskeletal armor. Although we can’t disassemble it to gather more data, we can use physical methods to roughly test its performance parameters and stress limits.”

“We’ve kept this hidden until now, just for this moment. It seems the results are excellent.”

“Unfortunately, its application is quite limited.”

“Indeed, the intense light only harmed the Swarm guards because their exoskeletal armor’s protective capabilities are weak. The Swarm’s larger combat units, with their massive size, can naturally equip stronger defenses. This light-based tactic would likely be ineffective against them.”

“Exactly. If the Swarm’s space units could be disrupted by such methods, they would have been wiped out long ago. The radiation and light in space is far more intense than flash bombs.”

“Those larger combat units not only have stronger defenses but likely also possess other communication systems. It seems that system must be quite bulky, otherwise, if it could be miniaturized, the Empress’s guards would surely have it equipped. This is actually good news for us.”

“No need to dwell on it. If this trump card works even once, it’s a huge win for us. Like right now!”

“True, and in the future, we might still have opportunities to engage the Swarm on the surface or inside ships. At that time, this weakness of theirs can still be exploited.”

—

The scene at the ceremony site was far from as relaxed as the rear command room. The moment Sarah was attacked, the surrounding Swarm units immediately entered combat mode.

The Confederation reacted swiftly as well. Since they had initiated the attack, they held a slight advantage. However, to prevent the Empress’s guards from becoming alert, the sniper who fired the first shot received the command half a second earlier than the others.

This mere half-second advantage cost the Confederation their initial upper hand.

The Space Octopus, a mainstay of the Swarm’s combat forces, was unfortunately absent from the surface, unable to participate. However, the Swarm had another mainstay unit for terrestrial combat.

The Spider Combat Bug, a fierce surface predator. Since the early days of the Ant Wars on the primitive continent, the Swarm’s genetic engineering had produced countless types of combat units. Over time, as the Swarm grew stronger, many of these units became obsolete and were phased out.

But the Spider Combat Bug had remained a mainstay from its inception, even in the current space age. It continued to play a vital role on the front lines.

Moreover, depending on the situation, it had evolved from its original form into nearly a hundred specialized variants. Due to the earlier agreement between the two sides, the total number of personnel and guards at the ceremony site could not exceed twenty thousand. The Swarm’s Spider Combat Bugs accounted for the majority of this number.

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They did not disappoint. As agile combat units, their reaction speed was naturally fast. Although the Confederation had initiated the attack, the Spider Combat Bugs used the half-second advantage to strike first.

Their powerful assault instantly devastated the unprepared Confederation soldiers, with over three hundred casualties and many forced to withdraw from combat.

It’s worth noting that these Confederation soldiers were not from the outer or mid-ring civilizations. They represented the pinnacle of the Confederation’s military strength—the Ji race. Their high-tech combat armor was as impressive as the Swarm’s exoskeletal armor, and its sleek, futuristic design suggested even greater combat effectiveness.

This was indeed the case. Half a second later, the Confederation soldiers, listening to their orders, unleashed their terrifying combat prowess. Gauss pistols and high-molecular tactical knives instantly repelled the charging Spider Combat Bugs.

The full-body combat suits, made of special materials, offered protection superior to most alloys while maintaining flexibility that didn’t hinder the soldiers’ movements.

The defensive strength of this equipment far exceeded what the Spider Combat Bugs could breach head-on. The earlier success had relied on the element of surprise, with many Confederation soldiers caught off guard and failing to don their helmets, leaving them vulnerable to the bugs’ piercing limbs.

But the Spider Combat Bugs had accomplished their mission. They were designed for ambushes and special operations, not head-on confrontations. Their initial assault bought time for the rest of the Swarm forces.

Several Red Fang Breakers stepped forward, jointly deploying a negative energy defensive wall. Whether it was the physical Gauss pistols or the energy-based beam weapons of the Confederation soldiers, none made even a dent in the defensive field.

“An unusual defense. It seems to be a negative energy field. I didn’t expect the Swarm to have reached this level.”

“From what I know, our research into negative energy has only recently reached practical applications, and the equipment is still bulky, far from miniaturization. Achieving what the Swarm has done will take a long time.”

“No matter. If this plan succeeds, the Swarm’s technology will become ours, including this miniaturized negative energy defensive field.”

“Let’s hope so…”