Chapter 134: Devourer of Stars

“I didn’t expect such outdated kinetic weapons to deal such devastating damage,” Xiao Yu muttered, surprised by the effectiveness of his bullet storm. “They are weaker than I anticipated.”

However, Xiao Yu soon realized he was wrong.

After the first round of bullet storm attacks, he observed even brighter flashes emanating from the surface, as more of these entities were launched into space. A quick calculation left Xiao Yu stunned.

The number of Swarm entities entering space had already surpassed one hundred million—and it was still growing!

This overwhelming number completely compensated for their lack of individual strength. For the first time, Xiao Yu truly understood the Swarm’s philosophy, while their individual combat power was low, they relied on sheer numbers to dominate.

A hundred million—this was just the beginning of the battle. Who knew how many more offspring the queen could produce?

Over an hour had passed, and the two sides were rapidly approaching close-range combat. Through standard optical instruments, Xiao Yu could already see a vast array of lights, like a sea of stars, rushing toward him.

“So what if there are so many of you? Do you think I’m afraid?” Xiao Yu gritted his teeth and initiated another bullet storm.

This attack would continue until the enemy entered the effective range of the high-energy laser cannons. At that point, to avoid interference with the laser weaponry, Xiao Yu would cease the kinetic barrage.

As the bullet storm rained down, an astonishing sight unfolded. Xiao Yu observed the bizarre small ships beginning to transform. Some morphed into beasts with legs and arms, others into massive nets, and still others into cannons.

The Swarm began their counterattack. Xiao Yu noticed countless energy projectiles, resembling cannon fire, streaking toward his fleet.

“So this is your long-range attack method?” Xiao Yu thought, silently observing before decisively halting his kinetic barrage and switching to laser cannons and energy shells.

The distance between the two forces had now shrunk to less than 100,000 kilometers—well within the range of laser cannons and energy projectiles.

The Swarm’s energy projectiles struck Xiao Yu’s ships first. He quickly realized these projectiles were incredibly weak, even inferior to his high-energy lasers. A single Swarm energy projectile couldn’t even cause the energy shields of his Village-Class ships to flicker.

But… there were simply too many of them! The sheer volume exceeded Xiao Yu’s expectations. By now, over one hundred million Swarm entities were engaged in the battle, with countless reinforcements continuously entering the fray.

One energy projectile couldn’t affect the energy shields of a Village-Class ship. But what about ten? A hundred?

Under this relentless barrage, Xiao Yu lost over one hundred Village-Class ships and more than ten Town-Class ships, far beyond his initial estimates. This forced Xiao Yu to abandon any thoughts of underestimating the enemy.

At the same time, Xiao Yu assessed the damage he had inflicted.

The energy shells he fired were far more potent than the Swarm’s energy projectiles. Xiao Yu observed a single high-power energy shell detonating in the densest part of the Swarm. The violent explosion obliterated an area spanning several kilometers, vaporizing over 3,000 Swarm entities in one strike.

And that was just one energy shell. Xiao Yu had launched over 100,000 of them, eliminating tens of millions of Swarm entities.

Xiao Yu also tested a gravitational bomb, which, upon detonation, cleared a radius of several hundred kilometers, compressing tens of thousands of Swarm entities into spherical shapes.

“Thankfully, their defenses aren’t particularly strong,” Xiao Yu sighed in relief.

This was the final round of long-range bombardment. The distance between the two forces had narrowed to less than 1,000 kilometers. In the next instant, the Swarm plunged into Xiao Yu’s fleet, and Xiao Yu’s ships barreled into the heart of the Swarm.

For the first time, Xiao Yu witnessed the Swarm’s combat methods. The Swarm had evolved into a variety of forms. Xiao Yu saw cannon-shaped entities continuously firing micro-energy projectiles, while beast-like entities leaped onto his ships. These creatures endured the scorching energy shields as they used limbs, now morphed into sharp, blade-like weapons, to slash at the hulls of the ships.

This chaotic combat strategy left Xiao Yu struggling to respond at first, but thanks to the presence of energy shields, his ships’ hulls avoided direct damage.

After adapting to the initial wave of attacks, Xiao Yu launched a swift counteroffensive. Countless high-energy laser cannons unleashed precise shots, while energy shells targeted clusters of Swarm entities. Every moment, thousands of Swarm creatures perished. Yet, this victory came at a significant cost to Xiao Yu.

Through his observation, Xiao Yu noticed a Village-Class spaceship with dozens of melee Swarm creatures clinging to its exterior. Its energy shield had dimmed, on the verge of collapse. Unfortunately, Xiao Yu had no way to rescue it—there were simply too many Swarm creatures.

Finally, after enduring another barrage of micro-energy projectiles, the ship’s energy shield flickered out. Instantly, the specially reinforced steel hull came under direct attack from the melee Swarm creatures, resulting in several breaches.

Inside the ship, nano-robots worked tirelessly to repair the damage, but the repair rate couldn’t keep up with the destruction. After holding on for a minute, the ship’s engine compartment was breached, causing a catastrophic explosion. The ship disintegrated, taking the dozens of Swarm creatures clinging to it down as well.

Scenes like this played out across the battlefield. The Swarm’s bizarre tactics inflicted significant losses on Xiao Yu’s fleet. However, the destruction was largely limited to Village-Class and Town-Class ships. Thanks to their robust energy shields, County-Class ships and above remained intact.

For the first time, Xiao Yu deeply understood the principle of “an ant can bite an elephant to death.” The endless tide of Swarm creatures, like a ferocious colony of ants, relentlessly tore away at his fleet piece by piece.

“This won’t work.” Xiao Yu gritted his teeth, pondering his next move. “The Swarm queen has Planet Three as its base, with an entire planet and numerous moons providing it with virtually unlimited resources. This means it can produce an infinite number of Swarm creatures. If this continues, I’ll eventually be overwhelmed.”

“Then… I’ll attack its nest directly.” Having made his decision, Xiao Yu immediately accelerated his ships toward Planet Three.

Between Planet Three and the battlefield stretched a long river of light. Xiao Yu knew it was formed by countless Swarm creatures. Every moment, reinforcements poured into the battlefield from this “river.”

Navigating against the flow, Xiao Yu pressed onward, tracing the source of the river back to its origin.

The Swarm queen seemed to sense Xiao Yu’s intentions, accelerating its production of Swarm creatures. Xiao Yu noticed that not only was the number of Swarm creatures increasing, but their quality was improving significantly as well. Their size grew larger, and their combat capabilities became more formidable. It seemed the closer he got to the queen, the stronger these creatures became.

“So, that’s how it is…” Xiao Yu thought. “This queen operates similarly to my fleet: the closer you get to the flagship, the stronger the defenses become.”

The distance to Planet Three had narrowed to less than 10 million kilometers. Here, Xiao Yu encountered a literal ocean of Swarm creatures. Through his telescope, he witnessed an astonishing scene.

Planet Three had dozens of moons, five of which were large enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and take on a spherical shape. Four of these moons appeared normal, but one stood out with distinctive features.

This moon’s surface was black and seemed to ripple as if it were alive. From its surface, Swarm creatures were being launched into space through various surface apertures every moment.

Between the moon and Planet Three, Xiao Yu noticed a peculiar group of Swarm entities. These creatures were smaller and moved slowly, shuttling back and forth between the planet and the moon. Upon arriving at the moon, their size noticeably shrank, and they would then leave the moon to return to Planet Three.

“These seem to be fuel-gathering Swarm creatures tasked with resupplying the queen,” Xiao Yu concluded amidst the battle.

“Then where is the queen?” Xiao Yu meticulously scanned the moon for clues.

“Could it be hiding underground?” Xiao Yu wondered, puzzled. “Why do all the Swarm creatures emerge from inside the moon?”

“It doesn’t make sense for the queen to hide underground. There’s no reason for it to do so,” Xiao Yu reasoned, carefully analyzing the intelligence he had gathered.

Watching as Swarm creatures were launched from surface apertures, observing the constant flow of fuel-gathering creatures entering and exiting the moon, and noting the moon’s peculiar, rippling surface… Xiao Yu slowly arrived at a startling conclusion.

“It’s not that the queen is hiding inside the moon. Rather… the moon itself is inside the queen’s stomach. This queen has swallowed the entire moon.”