I Am The Swarm-Chapter 738: Competition

Though her vision was impaired and the environment silent, Sarah Kerrigan was far from limited to just one or two methods of detecting enemies. Through other means, she discerned from the soldiers’ subtle movements that she had been discovered.

Sarah was not one to sit idly by. The instant she realized she was exposed, every cell in her body sprang into action. The mimicry layer faded, and her Negative Energy Blade extended, slicing through half of the K2N9’s drill bit with a single swipe. The detached half of the drill, still spinning at high speed, was flicked aside by Sarah, embedding itself into the mud.

The blade struck again, dismantling the K2N9 in just a few moves. With a powerful kick, Sarah sent a piece of the K2N9’s wreckage flying like a cannonball at supersonic speed, smashing into a Ji soldier who had been daydreaming about promotion and riches. The soldier was hurled several meters away before sinking deeply into the soil.

Infuriated by this soldier’s discovery of her, Sarah put extra force into the kick. Seeing the soldier’s plight somewhat soothed her irritation.

She proceeded to toss or kick other handy pieces of K2N9 wreckage, clearing the obstructing metal constructs while simultaneously taking out some of the faster Ji soldiers.

This tunnel was newly excavated and hadn’t been reinforced yet, making those inside sitting ducks. However, Sarah’s current objective wasn’t escape but to delay as much time as possible.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” A scream erupted from Sarah’s mouth, transitioning rapidly from piercing to ultrasonic, yet its destructive power increased exponentially.

The unreinforced tunnel couldn’t withstand such an ultrasonic assault. Sand and dirt rained down, quickly burying the passage.

The eagerly advancing Ji soldiers watched helplessly as the tunnel vanished. Lacking digging capabilities, they could only wait anxiously outside for the arrival of more K2N9s.

However, Ji soldiers and metallic constructs were converging from all directions, encircling the target tightly. As long as they methodically tightened the noose, capturing the target was inevitable.

Sarah understood this reality and didn’t waste time on futile maneuvers. Instead, wielding a high-molecular claw in one hand and a Negative Energy Blade in the other, she dug downward at maximum speed.

The fastest method would have been to activate a Negative Energy Shield beneath her feet. With sufficient energy, she could even reach the planet’s core. However, this method was too energy-intensive, and she couldn’t sustain it for more than a few seconds. Excessive energy consumption would render her other abilities unusable, which was unwise given the circumstances.

Thus, she didn’t even employ dual Negative Energy Blades for digging, aiming to conserve energy. However, when it came to excavation, the Negative Energy Blade wasn’t significantly more effective than the high-molecular claw. Eventually, Sarah found that using both claws together was more efficient and energy-saving.

With less energy expenditure, switching to dual claws nearly halted her energy consumption. Meanwhile, the small Dark Energy Furnace within her worked at full capacity to replenish her reserves.

“She’s stalling. Order the frontline units to stop dawdling and capture the target immediately.”

“The Burrowing Worms below have gone berserk! At this rate, it won’t take them long to consume the entire safe soil layer.” The “safe soil layer” referred to areas free of X-576 radiation contamination. For Burrowing Worms, products of a standard biological template, the radiation boundary was an insurmountable forbidden zone.

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However, their task was complete once they hollowed out the area outside the forbidden zone and sank it deeper underground. Other specialized units would handle the rest.

“I believe we need to detonate another X-576!”

“I disagree. As we’ve already discussed, once those Burrowing Worms are killed and lose their structural support, the target area will collapse. In that scenario, the target’s chances of escape would increase significantly.”

“Exactly. We’ve already located the target and surrounded her. Our priority now should be to capture her as soon as possible without causing further complications.”

“But this leaves us too passive. The Swarm could trigger the target area’s collapse at any moment. Detonating an X-576 would give us more control.”

“Hmph, what control? Once it collapses, who knows what the Swarm has prepared below? Can you guarantee we’ll still maintain control in that situation?”

“Indeed. If that happens, the battlefield’s scope will expand several times over. Our current forces aren’t sufficient to cover such a vast area, let alone with only two days left.”

“Enough. Look at this!”

After activating her Negative Energy Blade, its unique energy fluctuations were easily detected by the Ji race’s radars. Even after switching to dual claws, the vibrations from her digging still revealed her position on other instruments.

“The target is moving downward!”

“What are those fools doing? Selina? Selina? Quickly calculate a route and have those idiots intercept the target!”

At this moment, Sarah was fully immersed in her digging, momentarily relishing the joy once experienced by the Overlord—a spiritual resonance, albeit short-lived, as the Ji race interrupted it.

Under Selina’s coordination, K2N9 units swiftly reached designated positions, cutting off the frantically digging Swarm Empress.

“Your Majesty, don’t resist. You’re surrounded. Surrender now to avoid further suffering.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we merely wish to invite you for further dialogue to enhance our mutual understanding and resolve any past misunderstandings.”

“Please, Your Majesty, come with us.”

Though no direct confrontation occurred, the Ji race’s attempts at persuasion echoed through the soil via loudspeakers. While these taunts held little inherent meaning, they weren’t entirely useless to Sarah.

Her echolocation system activated fully, utilizing the noise from the loudspeakers to map her surroundings and the Ji forces’ distribution in her mind.

Leveraging the Swarm Network, Sarah’s computational ability matched that of artificial intelligence. She quickly devised the most suitable escape route.

However, her position was transparent to the Ji side. Based on her movements, Selina recalculated new encirclement paths for the numerous Ji soldiers and metallic constructs.

In response, Sarah adjusted her plans in real-time based on the Ji forces’ changes. Thus, even before physical contact, a battle of computational prowess had already begun.