Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 107: Three Erosion Swamps
In that moment, when he saw the black wolf, Luo Duan realized that he had fallen into a trap.
With that level of power, it couldn’t be anyone else. Shu Jun had truly joined forces with the humans, and based on their previous actions, their cooperation could even be considered extensive.
For what reason, their lives? Shu Jun was a ruthless person, and he should have been more aware than anyone else of the consequences of collaborating with humans. Luo Duan couldn’t understand it, and all he could feel was a surge of disappointment and hatred.
A traitor who bowed down to humans.
It was too late to turn and run. Since the other side had led them here, they must have been prepared. The best course of action would be to move the battlefield away, at least to the heavily eroded area. However, just as Sigma stopped advancing, a tremendous pressure emerged around them. Gravity seemed to suddenly increase, and Sigma instinctively stayed in place, unable to retreat any further.
The small Erosion Swamps used for investigation had been painstakingly moved to the surroundings, and several new machines were discovered. They were completely different from the previous purification weapons, seemingly controlled remotely, emitting a buzzing sound.
What was worse was that they couldn’t be easily destroyed.
The previous purification weapons were more like emitting noises that annoyed the Erosion Swamp, forcing them to move away. To weaponize them and increase their power to the point of “killing” the erosion substance would severely limit their effectiveness. When faced with a sentient Erosion Swamp, their effectiveness would be quite limited and would require a significant amount of manpower.
But what was in front of them was different—these new machines didn’t “kill” the erosion substance; instead, they efficiently stunned it, causing the Erosion Swamp to lose control over its erosion. For a sentient Erosion Swamp, this was equivalent to advancing into a minefield. Once they touched these things, they would inevitably lose some of their erosion.
Sigma’s brain was deep within its body and wouldn’t be harmed, but it was already quite laborious for it to move forward by grasping the ground with its hands. Surrounded by these things, its hands would instantly melt like hot wax upon contact, making it completely unable to escape this situation. In order to facilitate movement, Sigma had folded its body several times, making it considerably thicker than before. Even if it wanted to expand its body now and escape from Shu Jun, it was impossible.
Every step was carefully calculated by the opposing side.
At this point, instead of contemplating escape, it was better to take action first. Just because they couldn’t move far away didn’t mean Sigma had lost its fighting ability. Even if it was trapped, a wild beast was still a wild beast. As for whether Sigma could leave intact after the battle, Luo Duan didn’t care.
What he wanted was the suffering of the humans, not the victory of the Erosion Swamp. There was no emotional connection between him and Sigma, and Luo Duan was well aware of that.
He stood up straight.
“Attack,” Luo Duan said. “I will help you destroy this city.”
Sigma immediately reacted. While avoiding the black wolf’s bites, it commanded the ordinary Erosion Swamps to rush forward and stick to the black wolf. Even before the humans appeared, Shu Jun had already torn off fifteen to sixteen of Sigma’s arms. Despite Sigma not lacking erosion substance and being able to regenerate its arms, the process would undoubtedly affect its mobility.
The mindless Erosion Swamp rushed forward, attempting to envelop the black wolf and hinder its movements. However, once they touched the black wolf, they quickly became docile, causing the black wolf to grow in size.
To make matters worse, when the black wolf bit down on the base of one of Sigma’s arms, countless vines shot out from the wolf’s body, merging into Sigma’s body and burrowing into the ground. Shu Jun was gradually pinning Sigma in place, and although Sigma tried to regain control over the vines, it was unsuccessful.
This was the ability Sigma had separated earlier to attack Shu Jun.
An alarm bell rang in Luo Duan’s mind. He had previously thought that Shu Jun’s situation was similar to his own, merely merging with an Erosion Swamp, enhancing his abilities, and at most gaining some additional powers. Now it seemed that he had made a fundamental mistake.
Shu Jun not only possessed other abilities, but he could also assimilate Sigma’s abilities. At this point, it could be tentatively concluded that he had an innate talent. However, competing for control over the Erosion Swamps on Sigma’s level was something that the synths couldn’t achieve.
Shu Jun had transformed into a real Erosion Swamp; he wasn’t some mediocre hybrid like himself.
“Stop the ordinary Erosion Swamps’ attack and let them focus on destroying Y City. You and I will deal with Shu Jun using our abilities. Attacking him with Erosion Swamps is useless!”
“Understood.” Sigma’s hand formed a crooked and dejected figure, and its voice sounded muffled.
“We have previously compiled a list, and in this war, you have seven abilities that are most destructive—now, separate the abilities of ‘Kiss’, ‘Crowd’, and ‘Flight’, and create three Erosion Swamps with brains to attack Y City.”
“What about Shu Jun?”
“Shu Jun’s task should be to hold you back; he cannot handle both tasks simultaneously. Given his current condition, those three abilities won’t be effective against him.”
Luo Duan’s explanation had no logical issues, and Sigma fell silent for a moment before promptly following the instructions. Three brains detached from its grape-like neural strand and merged with three clusters of Erosion Swamp. The arms far away from Shu Jun grabbed them and launched them directly towards the outskirts of the city. The surroundings of the city were filled with mindless large Erosion Swamps, and the three brains quickly took control of three Erosion Swamps, transforming themselves into Erosion Swamps with brains, and rushed towards the center of Y City.
As Luo Duan had deduced, the black wolf merely let out a low growl and didn’t release its bite. Shu Jun relentlessly attacked Sigma, seemingly intent on pinning it to the ground.
On the other side, the three large Erosion Swamp hadn’t reached the central area of the city yet when they collided head-on with the human military forces leaving the city center.
Without hesitation, they unleashed their abilities.
The abilities of Kiss, Crowd, and Flight were remnants of the dying desires of unknown individuals. While they sounded beautiful, when transformed into weapons, their appearance became particularly eerie.
The Kiss Erosion Swamp released numerous head-sized spheres into the air, which floated leisurely. Once they collided with obstacles, they would explode violently, splattering erosion with a destructive power comparable to strong acid.
The Flight Erosion Swamp did almost the exact same thing as the Kiss Erosion Swamp—it also released numerous spheres of varying sizes, and the two types mixed together, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between them. This light and floating erosion bomb floated towards the human army and was overwhelmingly “hollow” devoid of any reflection, as if the entire space had been pierced into a honeycomb.
And that wasn’t all.
Such light and floating attacks weren’t the main force. The attacks of the Crowd Erosion Swamp were completely different from its comrades. It absorbed the surrounding erosion and solidified them into distorted human-like figures. These human-shaped figures didn’t move in accordance with human habits. They staggeringly rose from the ground, with twisted joints and four-legged movements, advancing like wild beasts.
Among them, half of the chests faced upward while the other half faced downward. They completely disregarded the actual human joint structure and casually folded their bodies, making one’s stomach churn. For the convenience of attack, their mouth structures were extremely similar to humans, but much larger—these enormous mouths were located on top of their heads, wide open, making the heads of these “humans” appear split in half.
From a distance, they resembled more of a herd of beasts forcibly transformed into humanoid structures. They hid themselves beneath the floating spheres and crawled towards the human military at a steady pace.
When the reconnaissance troops saw the composition of this Erosion Swamp army, they almost lost their breath. The adrenaline for survival had just ignited, but they were almost frozen by this deadly scene.
Fortunately, Zhu Yanchen himself didn’t stay behind to command. He took a quick glance, and his expression remained unchanged. “Release the test subjects.”
Seeing that the commander remained calm, the soldiers could finally breathe again. The team responsible for the test subjects stepped forward and immediately released the test subjects–
It was a small group of live pigs used as a source of meat. They were equipped with various testing instruments and had disruptors covering their eyes. The disruptors made them ignore the crisis in front of them and charge directly towards the horde of monsters.
Although the Erosion Swamps had brains, their intelligence was closer to that of intelligent animals. They wouldn’t actually select their enemies. When they saw living creatures coming towards them, the Erosion Swamps immediately switched to attack mode.
The floating spheres in the air reacted in two ways. Some spheres rushed straight towards the test subjects and exploded, eroding the living pigs into unformed pieces of flesh. The others moved irregularly, colliding and exploding when the charging pigs bumped into them, with destructive power no less than the “tracking spheres”.
As for the humanoid monsters on the ground, their attacks were more straightforward and brutal. They leaped like wild beasts, using their large mouths to bite through the audaciously daring creatures. Then, they regurgitated a large amount of erosion from their mouths, rapidly seeping into the wounds of the test subjects.
Compared to the two types of spheres, their victims died more decently. However, for the human military, this was not good news.
Yi Ning’s heart gradually sank.
Even if they wore thick protective suits, nobody was invincible. Not to mention the erosive nature of the Erosion Swamps themselves, no one had the confidence to withstand a few bites from them.
On the other side, it was clear that they had learned their lesson. The three main bodies of the Erosion Swamp were hidden far away, continuously processing the surrounding erosion and frantically producing these deadly things.
To stop them, it would be necessary to destroy their main bodies, but first, they had to break through this death trap in front of them. However, if they concentrated their attack and neglected defense, allowing these things to enter Y City, they would instantly turn into the most terrifying slaughter weapons.
That black wolf was indeed capable, but at the moment it was busy biting Sigma, unable to support the battlefield on this side. They did bring many new weapons against the Erosion Swamps, but the size of the opposing spheres was too troublesome—
Humans didn’t have superpowers, and their control effects were inferior to synthetics. It was manageable to wield weapons against large Erosion swamps, but those erosion spheres were small in size. Once they attacked from blind spots, soldiers were still at risk of being injured. On the other hand, even if those weapons could revert the erosion substance back to its basic form, it was still dangerous for humans.
Anti-erosion medicine could only ensure that normal breathing and skin contact weren’t affected. If the erosion substance splashed into the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, or large wounds, people would still suffer from erosion diseases.
Regardless of which type was singled out, those three Erosion Swamp could find ways to deal with it. The opposing side, however, decided to combine those three abilities, making their tactics particularly malicious.
Yi Ning reviewed the situation and felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
“The data we received was quite comprehensive. Thank you all for your hard work.” Zhu Yanchen focused on analyzing the data. “The attack patterns of those three Erosion Swamps aren’t complicated.”
Yi Ning couldn’t help but ask, “What do you mean?”
“The ‘tracking spheres’ would lock onto heat sources and engage in contact-based tracking attacks. The ‘floating spheres’ would follow the movements of the tracking spheres and perform irregular motions on their own. They wouldn’t initiate attacks themselves—having them together complicates the situation.”
“The group of monsters on the ground has attack patterns similar to regular packs of ferocious animals. If my speculation is correct, they possess basic tactical capabilities and can create a breakthrough point in our defense. Remember, Sigma isn’t seeking victory. It won’t systematically eliminate the military and then slaughter the people. It only wants to kill. It’s entirely possible for it to bypass us.”
“Given the situation, it seems keen on bypassing us,” Yi Ning said bitterly. “Once time drags on, those things will only increase in numbers. Even if the weapons are effective, we can’t conjure combat personnel out of thin air. Their invasion of the city is only a matter of time.”
“So, you’re already thinking of losing?” Zhu Yanchen turned his face away. His tone lacked much sarcasm, sounding more like a warning.
“It’s just an objective analysis.”
“Split into two teams. I’ll lead one team to assassinate the Erosion Swamps, while the other team will hold the city center during that time.” Marshal Zhu shook his head. “Yi Ning, you take charge of the defense in the city—no need for you to launch an attack. Just operate the heavy ‘Suppression’ weapons to guard the surroundings.”
“Any specific instructions?”
“No, I don’t need your support.” Zhu Yanchen spoke quickly. “I have only one requirement: those things must not set foot in Y City before all of you are dead. Got that?”
“……” Silence fell over the crowd.
“This is war, not a spring outing. Even if we don’t have synthetic humans as shields, you’re all soldiers. Show some dignity!”
“Understood!” the people shouted at the top of their lungs.
“In contrast, our team will quickly eliminate the main bodies of the Erosion Swamp. As long as these things don’t increase, it won’t be difficult to completely eradicate them.”
“But… But what if something happens to you? What should we do then?”
“If something happens to me, Zhu Sheng will take over the command. The current situation is still under my control, so there’s no need to worry. Additionally,” Zhu Yanchen looked towards the massive black wolf not far away, and his voice carried a hint of amusement, “He has never lost, and I won’t be a hindrance either.”
With that, Zhu Yanchen took a deep breath. “Assemble immediately and redistribute the weapons.”
“We’ll depart in fifteen minutes!”
The author has something to say:
Erosion Swamp A, B: Plop, plop, plop blowing bubbles.
Erosion Swamp C: Smack, smack, smack squeezing people.
Yi Ning: This is different from what I imagined.jpg
Marshal: My Erosion Swamp is still cuter (?
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