I Am The Swarm-Chapter 790: Impact

Their movements had been heavily restricted for too long—they desperately needed something worth discussing to pass the time. The Star Gate skirmish had merely been an appetizer. What they wanted was a true feast.

On the Anti-Ji Alliance side, the Inner-circle Alliance was especially eager for war. The Ji Race possessed hundreds of external production bases, and the longer the conflict dragged on, the more it favored them. The Inner-circle Alliance urgently needed a large-scale war to deplete the Ji’s resources and prevent their forces from snowballing out of control.

As for the Swarm, they were indifferent. The Swarm had their own hidden cards—cards the Inner-circle Alliance knew nothing about. And their goals were fundamentally different. The Alliance wanted to shake off the shackles of the Ji Race and topple the mountain that had weighed on them for hundreds of thousands of years. The Swarm, however, simply wanted to turn this prosperous Galaxy into a giant pasture. Ideally, their presence would become so minimal that the “sheep” would reproduce in peace without worry.

As for territory, the universe was vast and endless. With long-range Fold Crossing now available, Luo Wen’s relentless efforts had already established over a thousand branch bases in recent years.

These branch bases weren’t the same as previous definitions. Each one now spanned dozens, even hundreds of star systems. And because they faced no opposition, the oldest bases had grown far larger than the current base in the Genesis Galaxy.

So, with the Swarm’s secretive harvesting methods, they no longer cared as much about holding ground in this region. The war against the Ji Race had gradually shifted from one of survival to something entirely different.

Thus, whether the galaxy ended up controlled by the Ji Race, the Inner-circle Alliance, or the Swarm—it mattered little to the Swarm.

However, the Ji Race still possessed things the Swarm wanted. Whether it was their advanced technology or Lumina herself, they were all resources that could make the Swarm stronger. And Luo Wen would never pass up such opportunities.

To minimize damage to their “pasture,” the Swarm began funneling reinforcements to the front under the guise of avenging the Empress. The sheer scale of this buildup left even their Inner-circle allies stunned.

The Inner-circle Alliance welcomed this with open arms. At the same time, they increased their own deployments. With the Swarm so eager and with cannon fodder plentiful, they enhanced their long-range firepower in hopes of crushing the Ji forces with overwhelming advantage. If they could keep rolling that snowball, they might be able to topple the New Ji regime sooner rather than later.

Moreover, such a massive increase in Swarm troops would leave them vulnerable afterward. Once the Ji were defeated and the Swarm’s forces depleted, the Alliance could tear up the treaty and turn on the Swarm—what a delicious prospect.

With that in mind, they announced an expansion plan: under the pretense of accelerating the Swarm’s troop buildup, they would construct fifty more Star Gates for them. Of course, every gate would include a backdoor—allowing the Alliance to quickly project their forces into the Swarm’s heartlands in the future.

Naturally, the Swarm—who had long treated the Alliance like a sieve—were fully aware of this plan. But interrupting someone’s fantasy was rude, and Luo Wen, being a gentleman of excellent character, chose not to spoil their dreams.

As the Anti-Ji Alliance rapidly increased their military buildup as if overdosed on stimulants, the Ji Race had no choice but to follow suit. Otherwise, if the disparity grew too large, they’d be sending their troops to slaughter.

Thus, the originally projected fifty-billion-scale battle kept rising in expected scale. On the front lines, advance units from both sides had already begun to make contact.

Soon, tentative skirmishes began. With such an enormous force—fifty billion warships’ worth of troops—the battlefront stretched nearly one light-year in length, making formation adjustments extremely difficult.

As both sides approached, they continually tweaked their formations, each hoping to exploit a local superiority in numbers to eliminate part of the opposing force.

But in reality, this strategy was exceedingly difficult to execute. With no terrain or cover, every move was made in full view of the enemy.

If one side made an adjustment, the other would immediately respond with a counter. In the end, victory would still have to be decided in direct, head-on confrontation.