I Am The Swarm

The Riken, as a highly intelligent civilization, had anticipated scenarios like this during their simulated war exercises. When smaller Swarm units faltered against new weapons and resorted to reckless charges to avoid being whittled down, the Riken already had response protocols in place.

Thus, when the Larval bodies suddenly abandoned their targets and charged en masse, the Riken forces only hesitated briefly before implementing their contingency plans.

Along the Larval bodies’ path of advance, Riken fighter jets were the first to respond. However, their long-range firepower wasn’t sufficient to eliminate the Larval bodies quickly, especially when the Swarm units clustered together, using the bodies of their comrades as shields.

“Show them our little toys!” a Riken pilot exclaimed.

Suddenly, dozens of metallic spheres, each roughly the size of a basketball, were launched from the fighters’ cargo bays.

These metal spheres had no propulsion system, relying entirely on the momentum from their initial ejection to drift through space. They moved slowly, and given their small size, the amount of explosive material they could carry seemed unlikely to pose any real threat to the Swarm units.

But the Riken wouldn’t make such an obvious tactical blunder. After drifting a short distance, the spheres suddenly exploded, deploying massive nets that unfurled in an instant.

Each net spanned hundreds of square meters and was made from metallic fibers less than a millimeter in diameter. Without any cloaking technology, the nets were nearly invisible in the vastness of space, relying on their size and deployment strategy to surprise their targets.

These fibers represented the cutting edge of Riken technology. Not only were they extremely lightweight, resistant to heat, cold, and corrosion, but they were also incredibly durable. Despite their minuscule diameter, each strand could withstand several tons of tension. Coupled with a meticulously designed arrangement for distributing force, the nets were strong enough to resist the tearing of the Larval bodies.

Additionally, their thinness granted them a sharp cutting capability. For those without sufficiently robust defenses, attempting to tear through the nets by brute force would only result in self-inflicted injuries.

Cannon fire had failed to halt the Larval bodies’ charge; the seemingly harmless metal spheres were even less likely to succeed. However, when the spheres detonated overhead, releasing their enormous nets, the Swarm units found themselves with no time to evade and crashed straight into the trap.

On its own, a single metallic net—freely drifting in space without anchor points—posed minimal danger. It might be slightly uncomfortable if draped over a unit, but ignoring it would only result in minor inconvenience or a slight hindrance to movement.

Yet, in the context of a clustered charge, the effects of these metallic nets were exponentially amplified.

Each net, with its coverage of hundreds of square meters, could entangle several, or even dozens, of tightly packed Larval bodies. The speed variation among the charging Swarm units, due to differences in their development stages, exacerbated the situation.

These speed discrepancies naturally caused uneven momentum among the units caught in the same net, leading to mutual pulling and dragging.

The only way to nullify the net’s effects would be for the Larval bodies to halt their movement entirely and remain stationary. However, in the intensity of battle, such a scenario was impossible to imagine.

Moreover, this wasn’t a matter of just a few hundred Larval bodies and a handful of nets. The Larval bodies’ charging speed was incredible. Even in the chaotic battlefield, where they couldn’t sprint at full velocity due to environmental constraints, their forward momentum still exceeded 10 kilometers per second.

Although the Larval bodies attempted to scatter to the sides the moment the nets unfurled, and the vanguard units immediately tried to halt their advance and retreat, the sudden chaos was unavoidable. The foremost units collided with those behind them, causing a chain reaction that pushed them forward. In mere moments, over 220,000 Larval bodies had charged into the net formation.

While tens of thousands of Larval bodies near the rear managed to escape before the nets fully enclosed the area, more than 200,000 were still trapped and unable to break free.

These 200,000 Larval bodies were tightly ensnared by hundreds of thousands of overlapping metallic nets. In this intricate and tangled environment, their struggles only made matters worse. The more they thrashed, the tighter the nets constricted.

The fine metallic fibers, incredibly resilient, tore through the outer layers of the Larval bodies’ skin. As the nets tightened further, the fibers cut deeper into their flesh.

Some Larval bodies had their tentacles severed; others were sliced into two or even several pieces.

“Ha! Look at them—struggling so hard they’re cutting themselves into chunks. Isn’t it hilarious?” one Riken pilot remarked.

“Absolutely hilarious!” another chimed in.

“Haha~”

A group of fighter pilots laughed as they watched the trapped Larval bodies in space, slowly compacted into a giant mass of flesh. Limbs and body parts floated free from the tangled nets, drifting aimlessly in the void.

Amid the mockery, the Larval bodies suddenly went completely still. Their struggle ceased abruptly, as if they had turned to stone.

The cutting power of the metallic nets relied entirely on the Larval bodies’ own movements. Without resistance, the nets lost their lethality.

“Hmph. Even if they stop moving, they’re no longer a threat. Once we win this battle, they’ll still be sitting ducks,” a Riken pilot grumbled, annoyed that the “hilarious” scene had ended.

“Forget them. Redirect your focus to stop the other little octopus freaks!”

Although the Riken had official designations for each type of Swarm combat unit, their long alphanumeric codes were impractical for everyday communication during battle.

Thus, the Riken personnel often used informal nicknames. The Larval bodies, for example, were commonly referred to as “little octopus freaks.”

A tactic or weapon usually proved most effective during its first deployment. Once the enemy gathered sufficient data, replicating such outstanding success became much more difficult.

By now, the scattered Larval bodies no longer regrouped but instead spread out even further.

When deployed, each metallic net could cover only a few hundred square meters. While thousands of nets blanketed tens of thousands of square meters, effectively countering clustered Larval bodies, they were far less effective against dispersed units.

If an individual Larval body collided with a net, it didn’t even need to reverse course. Simply halting its movement would suffice; the momentum of the net would carry it past the stationary Larval body, sliding off harmlessly.

Deploying vast quantities of metallic nets to ensnare only a handful—or even a single—Larval body became an inefficient and costly endeavor.

However, the dispersion of the Larval bodies also came with a downside. Without the protection of their clustered formations, they became far more vulnerable to machine gun fire.

In close-quarters dogfights, the Missile Drones blocked them from approaching the Riken’s main fighters. In long-range exchanges, their firepower was insufficient. When attempting to break through in groups, they faced the metallic nets. When spreading out for a charge, they were picked off by the fighters’ ranged attacks.

A series of counters completely neutralized the Larval bodies’ assault strategy. Without external assistance, it seemed unlikely they could escape this predicament.

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