I Am The Swarm-Chapter 698: Sudden Assault

Ambros’ heart tightened as he looked at Sarah, who was chatting and laughing effortlessly before him. He hadn’t expected her to be the real deal. He thought to himself that the Swarm Empress must have nerves of steel to show up knowing she was the target. Who did she think she was underestimating?

But for him, this was both good and bad news. The good news was that their hard work hadn’t been in vain—the fish had taken the bait. The bad news was that the next phase would test their team’s execution. If a fight broke out, they would need to ensure they could retreat safely as planned. They would also need a bit of luck, as the battlefield was unpredictable. Getting hit by a stray bullet would be disastrous.

To avoid alerting Sarah, Ambros maintained his previous demeanor and didn’t give any signals to his colleagues or the inner-circle representatives.

After chatting for a while longer, his adjutant leaned in and whispered a few words into his ear. Ambros listened, then stood up with a smile. “The signing ceremony is about to begin. Let’s pause for now—there will be plenty of time to talk later. Her Majesty should rest for a moment. After the ceremony, if Her Majesty is willing, we can gather again.”

The Swarm were masters of biotechnology, and no one knew what modifications they had made to themselves. Therefore, whispering was merely a formality, suitable only for public exchanges. Secret communications were strictly off-limits in this manner.

Upon hearing Ambros’ words, the Confederation representatives didn’t linger. They were only here out of necessity; otherwise, they would have preferred to stay as far away from Sarah as possible. After all, as the primary target, Sarah’s immediate vicinity was the most dangerous.

The group exchanged polite farewells, with Ambros staying behind to give a slight bow. “Your Majesty, please rest for a moment. In five minutes, we will proceed to the main conference area.”

Sarah nodded slightly in acknowledgment, watching as Ambros left. However, less than twenty meters away, Sarah’s expression sharpened as Tella, who had been standing behind her, suddenly shouted, “Your Majesty, be careful!”

The Confederation truly had no sense of honor. They didn’t even wait for the agreement to begin before launching their attack. They had even engaged in small talk to drain Sarah’s energy beforehand.

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But this minor energy drain meant little to the Swarm. The guards had not let their guard down despite the friendly conversation.

Tella stepped forward, raising her left arm. Even before she spoke, her exoskeletal armor had begun to rapidly expand, forming a special structure on her left arm. By the time her arm was in position, the structure was already functional.

A force field shield, resembling a buckler, appeared in front of Tella. Almost simultaneously, the shield erupted with dazzling energy sparks as it absorbed a powerful impact.

The energy shield on her left arm looked rudimentary and flickered unsteadily, but it was remarkably resilient. Despite the tremendous force of the attack, which sent Tella flying backward, she remained unharmed.

Behind Tella was Sarah. The moment Tella sprang into action, Sarah’s royal robe split apart, revealing the exoskeletal armor hidden beneath.

The armor had also begun to expand earlier. A purple hue rapidly spread from Sarah’s neck, covering her face and forming a fully enclosed helmet.

With the exoskeleton enhancing her strength, Sarah easily caught Tella’s body as it flew backward. Meanwhile, the other guards had also completed their transformations, blocking attacks from other directions. Though their responses were somewhat rushed and they appeared disheveled, none of them were injured.

Special panels on the exoskeletal armor began to flash. The guard squad, without any verbal communication, moved with the precision of a well-oiled machine, shielding Sarah as they retreated toward the Mito formation.

But at that moment, several energy shells rained down from above. Although the Mito formation was parked under the cover of the conference building, the attacks struck with pinpoint accuracy. The building, supposedly capable of withstanding anti-matter weapons and high-velocity kinetic impacts, offered no resistance and was easily penetrated.

The cunning Confederation had outsmarted the Swarm by tampering with the building’s structure. While the building’s materials were incredibly strong, they could react with a special substance to become soft.

Before the attack began, Confederation operatives had released this special substance at designated locations. The substance was colorless, odorless, and extremely light. Upon release, it rose straight up, interacting with the building’s internal materials and rendering them soft in a matter of seconds.

The Mito formation, which had begun to activate the moment Tella sprang into action, was too large and cumbersome to fully mobilize before being obliterated by the precise strikes.

The shockwaves from the explosions scattered the conference site into chaos. The Confederation gave Sarah and her guards no time to recover, firing several spherical projectiles toward them.

A deafening roar erupted beside Sarah and her guards. The sound quickly surpassed the range of most biological hearing, but it didn’t disappear. The powerful ultrasonic waves could instantly overwhelm the physiological defenses of most creatures, causing dizziness and even loss of bodily control.

Simultaneously, blinding flashes of light accompanied the sound. The intense white light caused many Confederation personnel even at a distance to bleed from their eyes and cry out in pain.

“Hmph, you Swarm rely on ultrasonic waves and multi-color communication, don’t you? Let’s see you communicate when you’re blind and deaf!”

“Don’t celebrate too soon. Their formation hasn’t been disrupted much.”

As the speaker noted, the two targeted attacks, while devastating to distant allies, seemed to have little effect on the Swarm formation. The guards still firmly protected Sarah at the center.

“Their exoskeletal armor protected them!” a Ji staff officer exclaimed in frustration, watching the Swarm members encased in their full-coverage helmets.

“This is normal. After all, this is what allows them to survive in space.”

“But our sonic bombs and flash bombs are far more intense than space radiation!”

“True, but I notice they’re not entirely unscathed.”

“Exactly, they’ve definitely taken some damage. Keep disrupting them. Try to capture the Swarm Empress alive.”

“All units, priority is to capture the Swarm Empress alive. Repeat, capture the Swarm Empress alive!”