I Am The Swarm-Chapter 791: Engagement
The Primordial bodies curled into a triangular shape, their soft, boneless bodies easily adapting into various poses. They clustered into polyhedral formations and floated at the forefront of the battle line—not to charge, not to attack, but simply to serve as obstacles.
Thanks to their unique structural composition and newly upgraded energy-dampening biological shields, these Primordial bodies—when in their defensive stance—could even withstand one or two blasts from the Ji Race’s dark energy main cannons.
Countless Primordial bodies drifted silently through space, enduring the bombardment pouring in from the other side. The Ji Race’s artillery was extremely ferocious, and despite the formidable defense of the Primordial bodies, they were rapidly worn down under the rain of fire.
Yet once they reached their endurance limits and burst apart, their scattered bodies and the dark energy dispersed from the explosions were swiftly repurposed by nearby friendly units as raw materials and energy for self-repair.
While this repair rate was slow, on such a massive scale it was still quite significant.
Hiding behind these Primordial bodies was the Inner-circle Alliance fleet. Though most of their crew were green recruits, the exceedingly low probability of being hit allowed them to quickly adapt to the dangers of the battlefield.
Their counterattacks were equally fierce and intense, while the Ji Race also deployed shields in response. From the hangars, countless unmanned fighter drones launched into space.
These were a new type of unmanned fighter drones making their debut on the battlefield. Unlike previous models with sharp triangular frames, these had rectangular fuselages with clearly defined angles and four large wings folded against their sides.
Once the drones established stable positions relative to one another, their wings unfolded like blooming flowers. Between the extended wings, energy reactions formed a visualized shield network—a dark gray crystalline wall.
Incoming artillery fire from the Anti-Ji Alliance struck this crystalline barrier, scattering dazzling bursts of light—yet failing to harm the targets behind.
The Anti-Ji Alliance commanders watched these powerful, never-before-seen support units with dark expressions. According to their intelligence, the Ji Race had such drones only in conceptual stages, with prototypes barely entering construction—far from being battle-ready, let alone mass-deployed at this scale.
This revelation struck a bitter chord: their intelligence was far less reliable than they had believed. The Ji Race had clearly been preparing for this, raising a growing unease among the commanders. If one unknown weapon had already appeared, how many more could be waiting in reserve? Their chances of victory would drop drastically.
After all, their current fleets had been built by imitating conventional Ji military tech. Even then, their individual combat capabilities were slightly inferior. Combined with the automation gap, the disparity only widened.
The Inner-circle Alliance had assumed that, with the Swarm’s help, they could overcome this gap—perhaps even gain an edge. But all of that was based on the premise that they thoroughly understood the Ji Race.
Now, the Ji had deployed what had previously been only a “concept weapon” in their intel. Just one of these systems already negated much of the Swarm’s contribution. If more such surprises emerged, their whole strategy could collapse.
“What the hell is our intelligence division doing? How could such critical information be missing?!” An enraged Alliance commander bellowed.
“It’s not the intel team’s fault. Back then, we had dozens of Ji Elders as informants, yet not one of them knew about this.”
“Or maybe they did know, but weren’t loyal enough to tell us.”
“Perhaps they were discovered early—or even brought under Lumina’s control.”
“If that’s the case, we’re in serious trouble. We’ll have to reevaluate all intelligence gathered from our infiltrators—not just the Elder-level ones, but every operative at every level.”
“That’s a given. Still, we can’t lose our nerve. So far, we still hold the advantage. And our previous operations prove that most infiltrators are still loyal. I don’t believe the Ji Race can keep hiding more surprises.”
“Let’s hope so. And let’s also hope our allies have some tricks of their own—like this so-called ‘defensive posture’ thing.”
What allowed the Inner-circle Alliance to still feel confident was that the crystalline shield network, while powerful, had notable flaws.
First, the shield was bi-directional—meaning it blocked enemy fire but also hindered their own offensive output.
Fortunately, the Ji’s powerful artificial intelligence partially overcame this flaw. Its precise coordination allowed temporary openings in the network just in time for their warships to fire through. However, these gates took a short moment to close afterward, leaving gaps that occasional Alliance artillery could slip through. Thankfully, such stray shots caused minimal damage.
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But the next flaw was far more critical: the durability of the crystalline network. If a localized section was hit with concentrated dark energy cannon fire in a short span, the drones forming that section would overload and explode.
The Anti-Ji Alliance discovered this quickly—and in doing so, exposed a third flaw: mobility. The shield network relied on stable formations of countless drones, which made it almost immobile.
At the current level of technological sophistication, locking onto and repeatedly hitting the same point—even across thousands of kilometers—was not a challenge.
In contrast, the Swarm’s defense systems, though unable to form a cohesive net, had overwhelming advantages in other metrics.
In this first round of defensive exchanges, the Swarm’s exceptional performance allowed the Anti-Ji Alliance to seize a modest upper hand. Under the intense artillery barrage, crystalline barriers collapsed one after another, while countless Primordial bodies shattered and disintegrated.
However, the battle had only just begun. Since it was still the vanguard units engaging, both sides had plenty of reserves. Whenever a breach opened, replacement drones or Primordial bodies would immediately fill the gap, maintaining a seemingly balanced standoff.
