"Swarm, attack!"
With the command of the Silent King, the hive fleet's combat systems roared into full operation!
On the surface of the three hive battleships, rows of nozzles spewing out the hive's shadow twisted and fused together, transforming in an instant into vast outlets wide enough for the swarm to pour through.
From within the gray mist, hive war units clad in black-and-red chitin surged forth in disciplined formations, swarming out like a tide!
Each tactical squad was led by a giant beast-class alien—either an Executioner or a Cyclops.
Both of these monstrosities stood at over five meters tall!
Every one of them was a living engine of destruction, bred specifically to spearhead brutal shock assaults. In the cramped confines of boarding actions or in the chaos of densely packed high-intensity battlefields, they could unleash devastating breakthroughs.
Each tactical squad was further supported by fifteen elite Hive Warriors, divided into three smaller teams, each led by a chief warrior.
Among all alien breeds, Hive Warriors embodied the perfect balance of numbers and combat capability.
Though not as overwhelmingly tough as the giant beasts, and far fewer than the countless Gun Bugs and Blade Bugs, the Hive Warriors' strength lay in their very balance—just right in every aspect.
With respectable numbers and versatile combat ability, they had always remained the core elite of any hive fleet.
Moreover, Hive Warriors continually evolved into specialized sub-breeds in response to the ever-shifting demands of battle.
Among these, the Lictor Assassins were the most dreaded—feared wherever their name was spoken.
Their chitinous hides could shift color to match their surroundings, granting them perfect camouflage, while also concealing them from psionic scans—truly rendering them invisible on the battlefield!
Once an assassin fixed its sights on a target, even a brief lapse of vigilance amid the chaos of battle could be enough for them to strike, delivering instant death in a single blow.
Beyond these elites, the swarm also fielded a mixed main force of roughly three hundred Gun Bugs and Blade Bugs.
These two principal breeds fought with overwhelming numerical superiority, crushing all opposition through sheer weight of bodies. Yet in truth, even their individual strength was formidable.
Their forelimbs had evolved into weapons shaped like lances or scythes—though they were far from mere imitations of human arms and blades.
Thanks to their hollow body structures, these limbs could coil and compress tremendous force, unleashing it in explosive bursts when near their prey. In an instant, a spear-thrust or scythe-swipe could strike with terrifying penetrating or cleaving power.
Even worse, both weapons had evolved flesh-eating effects specifically against biological targets. Once they pierced living tissue, countless hair-thin chitinous spines would spring forth, carrying corrosive toxins into the bloodstream, attacking heart and brain alike—deadly and insidious beyond measure!
In the blink of an eye, the three hive battleships had spewed out a total of one hundred and fifty tactical squads. A dense, seething mass of chittering horrors swarmed like a flood, rushing straight toward Roya's position.
Yet Roya remained calm amidst the storm. Forcing down the sluggish resistance clouding his psychic sense, he cast vast psychic nets, weaving them around the ten massive transport ships.
In the very first instant of the swarm's launch, Roya could feel it clearly—their hunger was not focused on him, but on the precious supplies carried within the transports.
Thus, the real crux of this battle was to protect the sacred cargo bound for constructing the Holy Cathedral on Oceanus Star.
If these supplies were devoured, neither Pirate Star nor Oceanus Star could possibly gather enough resources again in the short term to build the cathedral.
While establishing his psychic defenses, Roya refused to stay on the defensive. His psychic sense struck back!
Several threads of psychic energy lashed out, ensnaring a massive beast nearly seven meters tall.
This monster bore only a single enormous eye in the center of its forehead, flashing with a cold, murderous gleam as it fixed hungrily upon Roya.
Clearly, this one's senses were keener than its brethren—it had detected that Roya's essence was far richer, far more delicious than the supplies.
Its entire body was a sickly blue-black, streaked with crimson patterns that glimmered with an unsettling dark sheen.
Its carapace was scarred and cracked, bearing the marks of countless battles—a hardened veteran of the swarm.
Its forearms were like the twin scythes of Death itself, their blades lined with grinding serrated spines that magnified their lethality with every movement.
Its hind legs were unusually thick and muscular, the reverse-jointed limbs constantly flexing and coiling, powering a strange ability that let it maneuver even in the forceless void.
Behind it trailed a thick, three-meter-long tail, ending in a massive, heavy tail mace.
A single strike from that weapon could reduce flesh to pulp unless one possessed a body hardened beyond five thousand resilience points!
Faced with this terrifying new foe, Roya dared not lower his guard.
His psychic sense coiled ever tighter, binding the beast's limbs and tail, holding them fast to limit its movements.
Then, several psychic threads intertwined into a precise drill, driving straight toward the cyclopean monster's forehead.
Normally, a living being's spirit was anchored to its brain, which served as the interface between conscious energy and the physical world.
Thus, probing the brain was always the surest path to analyzing a creature's spirit.
Yet when Roya's psychic drill pierced through the chitinous skull, he found nothing—no brain, no tissue, only emptiness within!
Instead, hollow channels coursed with streams of energy, not unlike psionic circuits, powering the beast's shell.
For a brief moment, Roya froze, then hastily analyzed the strange energy.
"It carries basic survival instincts? Does that mean… all these twisted monsters act purely on primal instinct?"
"No—that can't be! Their maneuvers are far too advanced, and the Silent King exerts such direct, precise control over them!"
"So… could it be that the swarm's structure is actually similar to that of the Necrons?"