I Am The Swarm-Chapter 715: Descent

Although the Ji ground teams sent to locate the Swarm’s anti-air defenses had proven ineffective, their space forces, having regained the upper hand, once again secured partial vision of the planetary surface.

Now, as the unmanned fighter drones brazenly traversed the atmosphere, the Swarm’s anti-air defenses naturally retaliated with interception fire. But in doing so, they also exposed their positions.

Even though the Swarm’s anti-air installations could relocate across the fungal carpet, their movement speed was too slow. Earlier, the Ji’s near-orbit forces had been suppressed and unable to target them, but now they would no longer stand idly by.

Thick beams of energy descended from the sky, sweeping across nearly a kilometer around each exposed Swarm anti-air position. The beautiful ecological planet was now marred by charred, gaping craters.

The arrival of the unmanned fighter drones instantly shifted the tide of battle. While these drones were mere cannon fodder in space combat, they became dominant forces in planetary warfare.

Nearly fifty million unmanned fighter drones far outnumbered the previous drop pods and gunboats combined. Moreover, with the Swarm’s anti-air systems crippled, their losses during the descent were minimal.

Thus, energy projectiles—several times more numerous than the drones themselves—rained down upon the Swarm’s formations. However, before the attack landed, the most valuable Swarm units—the boar-like beasts—had already retreated into their underground tunnels.

The flying artillery bugs, being the smallest, could easily vanish once they stopped firing, their stealth systems making it difficult for the Ji to lock onto them quickly.

The Vulturehawks, despite their upgraded stealth systems, high-molecular claws, and venom sacs, were still largely built from primitive genetic templates. In this war, their configuration was simply inadequate. Their large size and fearsome appearance made them priority targets for the Ji, and with no effective survival mechanisms, they were nearly wiped out. Fortunately, despite their bulk, they were relatively cheap to produce, so their total loss was insignificant.

In the end, the unmanned fighter drones’ carpet bombing hit the Spider Combat Bugs the hardest. Though small, stealthy, and agile, their biggest flaw was their inability to fly. Aside from a few that managed to slip into nearby tunnels, most were annihilated in the bombardment.

With Swarm units dead, wounded, or fleeing, the pressure on the Ji ground forces dropped significantly. They finally had a chance to catch their breath.

“Enter the Swarm’s underground tunnels immediately and pursue the Swarm Empress!” Despite their prolonged battle, the Ji ground forces were given no time to rest as new orders came down.

The command staff, though stationed safely in the rear, understood the brutality of the frontlines. Given the chance, they would have allowed the troops some respite. But the Swarm Empress had already been underground for several minutes. While she still bore the earlier tracking markers, the command couldn’t be sure how long those would last.

The Swarm’s underground tunnels were a labyrinth, as the Confederation had learned before. With the markers, they at least had a direction to pursue. If the markers disappeared, finding the Swarm Empress in the vast underground network would become nearly impossible—at least within the five-day window they had.

“All units, combat formation, move out.”

The Swarm, of course, saw the Ji ground forces’ movements. But with air superiority lost, the Swarm dared not emerge aboveground, lest they face the merciless strikes of the Ji fighters.

Though they encountered sporadic ambushes from Swarm units, these disorganized attacks couldn’t harm the Ji forces, nor even slow them down.

With the help of their thrusters, the Ji soldiers quickly converged on the entrances to the underground tunnels. Thanks to the Burrowers’ frequent earlier attacks, there were many tunnel entrances. But the Ji also had numbers on their side—their forces rivaled even the unmanned fighter drones in quantity.

Each tunnel entrance was now guarded by over ten thousand Ji soldiers. They didn’t rush in immediately but paused briefly. This wasn’t out of fear—though the dark, bottomless tunnel mouths, like gateways to the abyss, exuded an intimidating aura of unknown danger.

As the dominant power in this galaxy, the Ji soldiers had the best training and equipment, which gave them confidence.

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Moreover, the Ji were a nation of immigrants, with the first generation consisting mostly of researchers from various races. Thus, these soldiers were mostly second, third, or later-generation immigrants, who felt far more loyalty and pride in the Ji than their predecessors.

Backed by superior gear and high morale, they showed no hesitation even after enduring grueling combat. The reason for their pause was strategic. While the tunnels appeared spacious at the entrance, conditions deeper inside were unknown. Charging in en masse would not only hinder effective combat response but could also lead to friendly fire and panic in case of an ambush.

Additionally, the tunnels undoubtedly branched. Entering recklessly would make troop allocation a logistical nightmare at every fork.

Thus, they waited for two reasons.

The first reason was for the soldiers to regroup and fill out the depleted squads. If a squad leader was killed, succession by rank was straightforward within the same unit. But for mixed remnants of multiple squads, new leaders and deputies had to be appointed.

The second reason was for the Ji’s artificial intelligence to assign entry sequences to each unit. The AI worked efficiently, swiftly reorganizing squads, reassigning personnel, and renumbering units. The special forces wasted no time and began entering the tunnels in an orderly fashion.

The tunnels were even more complex than the Ji had anticipated. Within the first hundred meters, forks began appearing—and this was with fewer than ten squads inside, a mere fraction of their total forces.

The teams split up. They had a general direction to follow, and the Ji had to saturate every possible path in that direction to prevent the Swarm Empress from doubling back.

Using the soldiers’ recording devices and positioning systems, a map of the underground network began taking shape. The Ji forces pushed back the fog of war, advancing toward the marked location of the Swarm Empress.

Though everything seemed to be progressing according to plan, the command staff frowned with unease.