"Attack! Open fire!" the command rang out across all frequencies.
Witnessing the Zerg frozen momentarily in mid-air by Marcus's devastating stomp, every soldier present immediately began attacking with everything they had.
Almost instantaneously, the majority of airborne Zerg were torn into bloody fragments by the concentrated torrent of artillery fire and gauss rifle rounds.
However, these shredded alien insects were only the lowest-tier Zerglings—the cannon fodder of the swarm. Although the more heavily armored Zerg species suffered considerable damage from the barrage, they remained capable of moving and fighting freely.
Most critically, spreading outward from the destroyed Nydus Worm was the distinctive black creep that resembled living flesh and blood. Any Zerg that had been wounded by gunfire would bite into the creep a few times, and their bodies would begin repairing at visibly rapid rates.
Injuries that had been oozing ichor and vital fluids would suddenly stop bleeding. Instead, thin layers of chitinous valves appeared to cover the wounds, hardening progressively over time into protective scabs.
"Creep! The Zerg are absorbing nutrients from the creep to regenerate!" someone called out urgently over the comm.
"We need more incendiary weapons—requesting hellion support!" another voice shouted.
"Banelings are charging our position—requesting immediate heavy firepower support!" came yet another desperate call.
The communication channels became absolutely chaotic, with various urgent voices coming one after another in rapid succession. But standing before the tactical display, Captain Locke found all these problems entirely understandable and manageable.
"Siege tanks—target the banelings immediately, then transition to siege mode after eliminating the immediate threats," Locke commanded with practiced efficiency.
"Hellions—burn the creep formations and destroy the Zerg's nutrient supply lines.
Hurricane platforms and Goliath walkers—engage the Zerg swarm immediately. Hold that line and stop their advance..."
Orders were issued one by one in systematic fashion. Captain Locke stared intently at the tactical screens arrayed before him, directing all combat units with precision.
Beside him, senior officers were also coordinating with their respective subordinate units, sketching deployment patterns on tactical tablets to optimize support for the main force.
After fighting the Zerg for so long, every human commander present understood the alien insects intimately. They knew exactly what creep meant to Zerg combat effectiveness.
There was an absolutely massive difference between Zerg fighting on creep versus fighting without it.
Creep served as concentrated nutrients for the swarm. It could not only replenish the Zerg's physical stamina and biomass, but also accelerate wound healing dramatically and even improve overall combat efficiency through some mechanism they didn't fully understand.
It was precisely because they understood this critical factor that the human forces were being so cautious and methodical in their response.
Under countless artillery bombardments, large clusters of banelings were blown into fragments before they could detonate near friendly forces. Those explosive insects that managed to evade the initial barrage were instantly penetrated by Kryptonian heat vision beams and exploded violently where they stood—safely away from human positions.
However, after witnessing the banelings being destroyed through suicidal detonation, all the Kryptonians fell into troubled silence.
This race that literally treated itself as living ammunition filled them with a kind of existential horror.
Even acknowledging that the Zerg reproduced with incredible speed, if they continued consuming their own forces at this rate, then no matter how enormous the swarm population became, it couldn't possibly sustain such losses indefinitely.
"The Zerg are genuinely terrifying," General Zod said quietly, his voice carrying profound unease. "They treat themselves as completely disposable consumables—expendable resources rather than living beings."
At this moment, Zod felt extremely fortunate that the Zerg hadn't obtained more genetically advanced samples. Otherwise, the Kryptonians would probably become nothing more than food and genetic material for the swarm.
Over these past days, Zod had heard Captain Locke and others discuss various disturbing facts about Zerg biology. It was precisely because of these revelations that he'd been shocked by the swarm's adaptive performance.
The Zerg could obtain beneficial genetic sequences by devouring other species. They could even evolve corresponding abilities specifically adapted to different environmental conditions.
If the Zerg somehow obtained Kryptonian genetic material, these alien insects would become exponentially more dangerous. At that point, forget about baseline humans being able to resist—even the Kryptonians themselves might not prove capable of defeating such enhanced swarms.
After all, if an Ultralisk somehow mastered the biological force field capabilities inherent to Kryptonians, it would truly become an unstoppable monster.
"Everyone, maintain vigilance!" Zod called out to his people.
He launched himself into the air and began continuously releasing heat vision at the Zerg below, systematically attempting to eliminate every single alien insect emerging from the corpse of the destroyed Nydus Worm.
Zod was determined to protect Kryptonian genetic integrity. Those genes could only belong to Kryptonians—nobody and nothing else.
Compared to General Zod's visibly alert and concerned expression, Marcus's emotional state seemed considerably calmer and more relaxed.
At this particular moment, Marcus had switched from Rhino Prime to Nyx—a Warframe specialized in psychic manipulation and mind control.
"Come now, become my slave," Marcus said casually.
He raised one hand and pressed it against an Ultralisk that had just emerged from the Nydus tunnel. Light green psychic energy burst outward instantly, and the Ultralisk's violent, aggressive mind became instantly twisted and corrupted.
In its altered perception, Marcus was now its master and controller. All these annoying insects surrounding it were enemies of that master—threats that needed to be eliminated.
ROAR!!!
The Ultralisk reared up on its hind legs and bellowed with rage, then swung its massive bone scythes around and began viciously attacking the Zerg forces behind it.
BOOM!!!
Inside the massive crater opened by the Nydus Worm, two Ultralisks suddenly turned on each other in savage combat. Large numbers of lesser alien insects were instantly annihilated in the violent struggle between these two massive creatures before they could even finish emerging from the underground tunnel.
The spectacle of infighting among the alien insects was witnessed by many personnel. They could all see clearly that Marcus had simply pressed his hand against one Ultralisk, and immediately afterward that creature had turned around and begun attacking other Zerg like an enraged berserker.
However, Marcus's intervention methods didn't stop there. While forcing the Ultralisks to kill each other, he also rushed directly into the insect-filled crater himself.
Chaos
A devastating psychic shockwave spread outward from Marcus's position, catastrophically disrupting the mental patterns of every single alien insect in the immediate area within mere moments. Their minds—which had originally been controlled and coordinated by the Overmind's will—became absolute chaos.
The Zerg's relatively weak individual intelligence simply couldn't process or comprehend what was happening to them.
Now, two distinctly different command figures appeared simultaneously in the minds of the alien insects. One was the familiar presence of their Overmind—the supreme intelligence that served as king of their entire species. The other was the psychic signature of Marcus—but these two command presences kept flickering and shifting constantly, occasionally even transforming into each other's appearance.
All Zerg with any degree of sentience instinctively submitted to the Overmind's authority. These two constantly changing and overlapping command signatures caused complete confusion throughout their rudimentary consciousness. Even the things they physically saw with their sensory organs began changing and distorting.
A Roach suddenly sprayed corrosive acid at a Hydralisk standing nearby. The moment the Hydralisk registered being attacked, it reflexively launched bone spines at a Baneling positioned next to it.
Boom boom boom...
Countless explosions erupted throughout the Zerg swarm as Banelings detonated. They perceived all the creatures around them as hostile enemies. They desperately wanted to destroy all threats to their master!
One after another, Banelings exploded within the tightly packed insect swarm. Massive sections of Zerg forces were instantly torn apart by the chain-reaction detonations. Even more alien insects joined the chaotic melee, attacking anything that moved.
At this moment, every human observer was absolutely stunned. They'd all assumed that Marcus would employ his devastating fire-based powers again.
But what actually happened was completely different from anything they'd imagined.
Marcus had simply rushed directly into the Zerg swarm, and immediately afterward the entire swarm had erupted into violent chaos.
Every single alien insect began fighting in an all-against-all melee, as if everyone and everything around them had become mortal enemies. The Zerg even completely ignored the artillery fire coming from human positions—they were entirely absorbed in killing each other.
"What an bizarre ability," one senior officer observed with awe. "Is this also a method of using psionic energy?"
"I believe so," Captain Locke nodded thoughtfully. "I've heard reports that the Swarm Overmind controls its forces through psionic network connections. Perhaps Mr. Marcus is utilizing similar psionic principles to disrupt that control."
Even Captain Locke, who'd personally experienced combat during the Zerg Wars, knew remarkably little about these highly classified operational details.
"If we could somehow master psionic techniques capable of causing Zerg swarms to riot like this, we'd possess tremendously greater combat effectiveness against them," another officer suggested hopefully.
But that was far easier said than done. How could they possibly master such sophisticated psionic abilities?
When they'd originally departed from the Koprulu Sector, human scientists were still in the very early stages of researching psionic phenomena. Throughout the entire Terran Dominion, only a tiny handful of individuals could actually control psionic energy well enough to become ghost operatives.
Even those elite ghosts were primarily limited to performing specialized covert missions. Most of the time, their abilities were used for tactical invisibility, allowing them to infiltrate target locations and execute high-value decapitation strikes.
The raw power displayed by these ghost operatives wasn't remotely comparable to what Marcus could do, let alone matching General Zod and the other Kryptonians.
Expecting their scientists—who'd only recently begun seriously studying psionic energy—to somehow replicate the devastating power Marcus had just demonstrated was pure fantasy.
"Perhaps we should change our approach and thinking," the director of the research department suggested slowly. "Since we clearly can't release psionic energy to directly disrupt swarm coordination like Mr. Marcus does, we could instead choose to block psionic signals entirely.
As long as we can temporarily block psionic transmissions within a localized area, these uncontrolled alien insects would effectively become nothing more than a collection of aggressive wild beasts with no coordination."
The research director spoke with growing confidence. They couldn't feasibly create a psionic interference device that actively disrupted psychic signals. But they could potentially develop a psionic blocking device instead.
Such a device wouldn't need to generate similar psionic energy like an interference system would require. It would simply need to form an electromagnetic barrier capable of blocking psionic transmissions. Even if the effect was only temporary, it could provide tremendous tactical advantages during combat engagements.
"That's an excellent idea," Captain Locke approved immediately. "I'm assigning the psionic blocking project to your department. We'll almost certainly encounter more Zerg forces in the future, and this device might become our trump card for survival."
This kind of advanced research could only be properly handled by the science division. The combat personnel simply needed to focus on doing their jobs effectively.
During their strategic discussion, the battle within the massive crater was also reaching its conclusion.
Under the systematic clearing provided by human artillery fire and Kryptonian heat vision, the Zerg trapped in their psychically-induced chaos had absolutely no capacity to mount organized resistance.
They continued fighting each other in complete disorder. Combined with the concentrated attacks from humans and Kryptonians, the Zerg numbers were decreasing with remarkable speed.
Very soon, only the Ultralisk controlled by Marcus remained active, still locked in savage combat with the other Ultralisk that remained trapped in psychic confusion.
"Well... it's almost finished," Marcus observed, looking at the fallen Zerg scattered across the battlefield around him.
As long as these two massive creatures were dealt with, the convoy could resume their journey to the new base location.
With that thought, Marcus's form became shrouded in brilliant light. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into the imposing Atlas [Heaven Shaker]—a Warframe of tremendous physical power.
At the precise moment of transformation, Marcus gathered incredible force and stomped down hard against the ground beneath his feet.
Rumblers
Rumble...
As a powerful Warframe literally capable of bearing the sky and shaking mountains, the earth itself began trembling violently in response to the massive energy Marcus released.
An enormous hand constructed entirely of rock and stone rose from the ground, bracing against the surface with tremendous force. As the ground continued shaking, a colossal rock giant made entirely of compacted stone revealed its upper body. It reached down with both massive hands and grabbed the two fighting Ultralisks, forcibly pressing them against the ground and holding them immobile.
"This technique really does work exactly as intended," Marcus said with satisfaction. "When used at full power, Rumblers transforms into a complete rock titan. If I upgrade this Warframe further, I suspect it could manifest as a genuine mountain-sized colossus."
Watching the rock giant successfully restraining both Ultralisks, Marcus felt genuinely pleased. But the next action would be the most important.
Seeing that the two Ultralisks were still desperately struggling against their rocky prison, Marcus released a gray-white ray of energy.
The next instant, both Ultralisks were completely petrified. What had been living, breathing creatures transformed immediately into two solid, hideously detailed statues frozen in aggressive poses.
As the two Ultralisks underwent petrification, the rock giant also ceased all movement. It gradually transformed into a humanoid mountain—a permanent geological feature suppressing the two monstrous beasts beneath its form, all held in place by that gray-white petrifying energy.
"Is it... actually over? Just like that?" someone asked in disbelief.
Looking at the two Ultralisks now permanently suppressed and petrified at the base of the newly formed stone mountain, the assembled crowd couldn't help but express their amazement.
Although Marcus hadn't employed his overwhelming fire-based powers this time, this particular solution shocked them just as profoundly.
It was genuinely difficult to comprehend that this massive sculpture was actually composed of real Ultralisks. If they hadn't witnessed the transformation with their own eyes, they probably wouldn't have believed such a thing was possible.
What surprised them most of all was the sheer scale of that rock giant. Such power wasn't simple parlor tricks—this represented force capable of permanently altering planetary terrain and geography.
"Perhaps this will become a notable interstellar landmark in the future," Captain Locke said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. "After all, two petrified Ultralisks suppressed beneath a stone colossus is quite the sight!"
Both he and everyone around him remained thoroughly shocked by Marcus's latest demonstration of capabilities.
They genuinely didn't know what else Marcus hadn't yet mastered or revealed. But based on everything they'd witnessed so far, the diverse powers Marcus commanded would allow him to travel freely even through the heart of a Zerg hive cluster without serious danger.
"Everyone, conduct a headcount and prepare to resume the march," Locke ordered.
The personnel count proceeded quickly. After all, despite how dangerous this encounter had appeared, the only real casualties were those unfortunate individuals who'd been knocked aside when the Nydus Worm first erupted from underground.
Shortly afterward, the Siege Tanks exited siege mode and continued advancing with the main convoy toward their destination.
The new mining base wasn't far away now. They'd probably arrive by nightfall.
The garrison personnel stationed at the new mine location received updates from the main convoy. Only then did they realize that the faint rumbling sounds they'd been hearing weren't auditory hallucinations—something really had been moving underground toward their position.
However, the Nydus Worm that had been tunneling beneath them had been completely eliminated by the main force. This news brought tremendous relief to everyone at the forward base.
But they absolutely didn't relax their vigilance despite the good news. Who could say whether more alien insects might attack? They had to maintain defensive readiness until the main convoy arrived safely.
Several hours later, faint tremors began registering across the ground at the new mine location. But the stationed personnel who felt these vibrations didn't experience any concern or alarm. They knew the main convoy had finally arrived.
"Everyone, prepare to link up with the main force!" the garrison commander ordered.
Following that command, a section of Siege Tanks repositioned to the sides, opening a massive gap in the defensive perimeter that would serve as the entrance for the convoy's approach.
The tremors intensified progressively. Finally, a dark mass of military forces came into view. Various flying structures began accelerating their approach, preparing to land at the new mine site and begin base construction operations.
Boom, boom, boom...
The sound of the massive convoy's advance grew steadily louder. Very quickly, the two separate forces completed their reunion.
As the orbital command center descended from the sky, other structures also began landing in coordinated sequence. Accompanied by the distinctive sound of thruster exhaust venting, all the buildings completed their landing procedures and began full operational startup.
Captain Locke led a large group down from the command ship and everyone immediately began attending to their various responsibilities.
Because they'd only just arrived at this location, there was an enormous amount of work requiring immediate attention. Most critical was deploying numerous supply depots to provide essential resources for all personnel.
Of course, because the terrain here lacked natural defensive features, they'd need to construct extensive defensive fortifications outside the base perimeter to prevent potential disasters.
"General Zod, I may need to trouble you and your people over the next period," Captain Locke said apologetically. "We need to establish proper defensive lines. Until those fortifications are fully deployed, you'll need to maintain extra vigilance."
"This is simply the agreement we made," General Zod replied calmly. "We protect you, and you provide us with supplies and resources. It's not particularly troublesome."
Although the Zerg's evolutionary adaptability genuinely frightened Zod on an intellectual level, he would never allow himself to actually fear the swarm.
The Kryptonians would stand their ground.