The Zerg operated on a simple principle: either they didn't appear at all, or they manifested as an overwhelming swarm that would blanket the sky and drown all enemies beneath a living tide of chitin and claws.
Previously, because of the decisive actions taken by Marcus, Zod, and the other Kryptonians, the defensive position had been preserved and became the foundation point for humans to establish their new life on this planet.
The Zerg had used these past few months productively as well. They hadn't just replenished their losses from the previous battle—they'd also bred more powerful and specialized life forms. Now they were launching a renewed assault on the human colony with significantly greater force.
"This is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of this mechanical hound," Marcus said with satisfaction.
As he spoke, Marcus waved his hand gently. The mechanical hound at his side suddenly burst into motion, rushing forward at incredible speed. A brilliant red laser beam released from its head, sweeping horizontally across the approaching Zerg formation.
Swish~
Almost instantaneously, massive numbers of Zerg—the quick, dog-like creatures called Zerglings—were sliced cleanly in half. The mechanical hound continued charging directly into the insect tide, disappearing like a stone swallowed by ocean waves without causing even a single visible splash on the surface.
"This..." Captain Locke said, looking at Marcus with obvious skepticism written across his face.
The hound didn't seem nearly as powerful as Marcus had claimed. Aside from the destructive capability of that initial laser attack, there hadn't been any other impressive performance to speak of.
But after glancing at Marcus's completely unconcerned expression, Captain Locke redirected his attention back to the dark swarm of approaching insects, hoping to witness some more impressive display from the mechanical construct.
As the insect tide drew closer and closer to the defensive perimeter, Captain Locke's hopes began to fade into disappointment. He couldn't see any further action from the mechanical hound at all. Perhaps it had already been completely torn apart by the overwhelming impact of the alien insect swarm.
At precisely that moment, everyone on the defensive position witnessed something extraordinary. A massive wave of plasma flames erupted from somewhere deep within the alien insect tide.
The plasma flame shock instantly engulfed every alien insect within a twenty-five meter radius. All the Zerg caught in that sphere of superheated destruction developed countless cracks across their carapaces in an instant. Brilliant flames gushed from those fractures, rapidly incinerating the creatures from the inside out and reducing them to ash within seconds.
The flame shock wave moved rapidly through the alien insect tide, following the mechanical hound's autonomous movements. It systematically destroyed enormous numbers of alien insects with devastating efficiency.
This spectacle completely shocked Captain Locke. It wasn't that he hadn't considered the potential combat capabilities of the mechanical hound—but its initial unremarkable performance had given him absolutely no indication of this kind of power.
Although Marcus had mentioned before that this mechanical construct possessed formidable fighting ability, Locke genuinely hadn't expected the flames released by the hound to be this overwhelmingly powerful.
"Is this the true combat capability of your mechanical hound?" Locke asked, somewhat awed.
"Precisely," Marcus confirmed. "Although the Zerg possess remarkably strong flesh and have evolved dense bone armor that can defend against your gauss rifle spikes, fire remains the optimal weapon for dealing with them."
Marcus pulled out a handheld controller and gently pressed a button on its surface.
The next moment, concentrated beams of brilliant light shot upward into the sky from multiple points within the swarm, then curved downward to continuously bombard the insect tide from above.
These were photon beacons that the mechanical hound had been deploying since the moment it charged into the swarm. They were specifically designed to mark locations and call down photon bombardment strikes.
The system was conceptually similar to Vauban's photon bombardment ability, though Marcus had adapted it for autonomous deployment.
However, the destructive power of this photon bombardment couldn't be directly compared to what a full Warframe could unleash. Such explosions looked impressively powerful, but they still couldn't match the sheer devastation that Marcus's personal armor abilities could generate.
But when facing these relatively unintelligent Zerg creatures, this level of attack was more than sufficient to eliminate them efficiently.
As for the controller in Marcus's hand—it was simply an activation device. The mechanical hound possessed autonomous intelligence sufficient to support completely independent operation on the battlefield without any external guidance.
The controller could only manually trigger the hound's various functions ahead of their programmed activation schedules.
Watching the insect swarm being rapidly decimated by the mechanical hound's rampage through their ranks, Captain Locke couldn't help but feel profound admiration.
This was the first time he'd personally witnessed a mechanical creation that could be genuinely compared to Protoss war machines in terms of effectiveness.
However, even a single mechanical hound—as impressive as it was—couldn't play a decisive role against the truly massive alien insect swarm bearing down on them. As the tide of Zerg approached close enough to engage, all the tactical team members inside the reinforced bunkers opened fire simultaneously. Even the automated turret systems mounted atop the bunkers began spewing continuous streams of fire.
"General Zod, it's your turn to demonstrate!" Marcus called out cheerfully, looking at the Kryptonians floating in the air some distance away.
He deliberately chose not to transform and engage directly. Instead, he was handing this matter over to the Kryptonians to handle.
If everything proceeded according to plan, after the transaction between the Kryptonians and Marcus concluded, they would search for a suitable planet to settle in this universe. They would inevitably encounter various hostile life forms and threats in the future.
Although Kryptonian capabilities were extremely powerful on paper, that didn't mean this small group of survivors could automatically resist every form of life the universe might throw at them.
They desperately needed time to recover their numbers and rebuild their strength. During this critical period, they had to prove through their own abilities exactly how long they could maintain their position and independence.
After receiving Marcus's order, General Zod didn't hesitate even slightly. He also wanted to see precisely what kind of strength his fellow Kryptonians could exert when facing a full alien insect tide assault.
Chi~chichichichi...
Accompanied by brilliant red beams of concentrated heat, all the Kryptonians began their systematic killing.
The destructive power of their heat vision was extreme, especially after these past months of absorbing energy from high-energy crystals had improved their capabilities to a noticeable degree.
The thermal radiation emitted by their heat vision was absolutely terrifying. The dense bone armor protecting the alien insects couldn't resist for even a single moment—it was instantly pierced through. The Zerg bodies were thoroughly burned, emitting an intensely unpleasant smell as their flesh cooked.
"This..." Captain Locke breathed, shocked by the scene unfolding before him.
As the captain of a transport vessel, he'd naturally witnessed things that were far beyond the imagination of most other people in his crew.
During the devastating war between humans and the Protoss, the Protoss—determined to purge all infested planets through complete sterilization—had deployed enormous war machines called Colossi. The scorching thermal beams released by these towering machines could annihilate vast stretches of enemy troops with just a single sweeping motion.
Locke had personally seen combat footage from battles between Protoss and Zerg when he'd been transporting troops to various contested planets. The thermal lances fired by the Colossi had looked remarkably similar to the heat vision being unleashed by Zod and his people—instantly killing massive numbers of Zerg with terrifying efficiency.
After maintaining their heat vision assault for an extended period, the Kryptonians who'd been continuously releasing thermal beams finally stopped. It wasn't that they'd exhausted their power reserves—but sustaining heat vision for prolonged periods simply wasn't comfortable. The strain on their eyes became significant.
They couldn't afford to cause themselves physical problems just to deal with these relatively simple Zerg that could be eliminated through various methods.
Their eyes needed to rest briefly, but their offensive actions didn't stop at all. All the Kryptonians simultaneously began using their freezing breath ability.
Their combined exhalations merged together, transforming into an extremely cold storm that instantly flash-froze the oncoming Zerg where they stood.
Then came the distinctive cracking sounds. The electromagnetic kinetic energy projectiles fired by marine gauss rifles struck the Zerg that had been frozen into perfect ice sculptures. Every single frozen sculpture shattered into countless crystalline fragments.
The explosions of ice in the distance made Captain Locke's eyebrows rise involuntarily. It wasn't that he'd never fought against Zerg before—but this was absolutely the first time combat had felt this effortless and one-sided.
And he had to remember that Marcus was even more powerful than the Kryptonians. If Marcus personally took action against this swarm, the entire Zerg tide would probably be destroyed almost instantaneously.
The thunderous sounds of gunfire and artillery continued roaring across the defensive positions. This was genuinely the first time the human forces had engaged in such a crushingly dominant battle against the Zerg. They didn't have to worry about the threat of being overrun by the alien insect swarm at all—their collaborators could resist it with almost casual ease.
ROAR~
Boom boom boom...
With an absolutely deafening bellow, a truly massive monster emerged from within the insect swarm. As it moved forward, the very ground itself shook with each thunderous step.
"That's a... that's an Ultralisk!" Captain Locke stammered, genuinely stunned.
Seeing that hideously terrifying beast, Locke had never expected there would be such a monstrous creature on this planet. He'd only ever seen Ultralisks in archived war footage before.
Even Viking fighter craft—heavily armed and armored aerospace superiority fighters—couldn't resist these enormous monsters for more than a few moments. Once an Ultralisk launched a direct assault, Viking fighters would be torn apart almost instantly by those massive bone scythes.
"Oh?" Marcus said with genuine interest, observing the Ultralisk wielding its gigantic blade-like appendages.
After all, as the largest and most physically powerful ground unit among the Zerg forces, this monster's killing capabilities absolutely shouldn't be underestimated or dismissed.
Sure enough, as the Ultralisk charged forward, the freezing cold storm enveloped its massive form.
Countless ice crystals rapidly condensed across the Ultralisk's armored body—but as the creature continued moving with overwhelming momentum, the ice formations that had just frozen shattered instantly. The Ultralisk continued its charge without any noticeable decrease in speed.
Seeing this situation develop, not just Captain Locke but even General Zod stopped his current actions due to genuine surprise.
As a Kryptonian who'd discovered and developed incredible superhuman abilities, General Zod was experiencing something remarkable for only the second time since gaining his powers: encountering a creature that could actually compete with Kryptonian capabilities. The first being to compete with them had been Marcus—and the gap between their power levels had been so enormous that the Kryptonians had possessed absolutely no ability to resist.
"Fiora, eliminate that creature!" Zod commanded.
The instant his voice rang out, Fiora—who'd been using her freezing breath alongside the others—vanished from her position atop the defensive bunker with a thunderous BANG that left only a visible shockwave slowly spreading from where she'd been standing.
The next moment, the charging Ultralisk appeared to be struck by something with incredible force. The massive creature was knocked completely off its feet and sent tumbling backward through the air.
Captain Locke used his specialized high-magnification tactical scope to observe what had happened. The one who'd sent the Ultralisk flying wasn't some heavy weapons platform—it was General Zod's adjutant, that female officer with exceptional combat capabilities.
Although the Ultralisk was covered in heavy bone plates across its entire body, and those giant scythe-blades could easily tear through reinforced polymer alloy machinery, all of that meant absolutely nothing when facing Fiora directly.
Just one punch from her had overturned the enormous Ultralisk, and even the dense bone armor plates that had been struck showed immediate deep cracks spreading across their surface.
But Fiora's assault wasn't limited to that single devastating blow. Before the Ultralisk could even begin recovering and getting back to its feet, her second wave of attacks immediately followed.
With brilliant red light surging in her eyes, Fiora hovered in the sky and released her heat vision directly at the Ultralisk as it attempted to rise.
BOOM!!!
The heat vision—released at full power and maximum intensity—struck the Ultralisk with tremendous force.
Although those incredibly solid bone plates initially resisted the thermal assault for a brief moment, they simply couldn't hold up for long. Very quickly, they were burned completely through by the concentrated heat, allowing the beam to attack the vulnerable flesh beneath the protective armor.
The excruciating pain of having its flesh burned through and cooked drove the Ultralisk into an absolute frenzy. Its massive bone scythes swung even more violently and wildly. The surrounding ground was chopped into rubble and debris as those blades danced. Large numbers of lesser Zerg didn't die at the hands of humans or Kryptonians—they were accidentally killed under the Ultralisk's own thrashing blades as it went berserk.
Although the Ultralisk's destructive power was genuinely extreme, it meant nothing at all to Fiora.
Watching one of the giant scythe-blades swinging directly toward her position, Fiora swung her fist with devastating force to meet the bone blade that could tear through even polymer metal alloys.
BOOM!!!
The giant blade collided violently with Fiora's relatively small fist. With a visible impact shockwave spreading outward from the contact point, a significant gap appeared on the massive bone scythe. Countless cracks immediately began spreading from that impact point.
The fractures grew larger and more extensive with each passing second. After just a moment, the entire giant blade broke cleanly and fell heavily to the ground, severed from the Ultralisk's body.
"They... they are..." Captain Locke stammered after witnessing this through his high-powered scope, completely shocked into near-speechlessness.
Could humans actually fight and destroy Ultralisks in direct combat?
The answer was technically yes—as long as you deployed overwhelming amounts of concentrated heavy firepower, an Ultralisk could eventually be destroyed with acceptable casualties.
But if someone had told Locke yesterday that a human could destroy an Ultralisk with nothing but their bare fists, he would have immediately concluded that person was completely insane.
Yet right now, he was watching exactly that impossible scene unfold before his eyes. A single female warrior had casually beaten down an Ultralisk as if it were nothing more than a particularly troublesome pest.
He'd known that Marcus and General Zod were extraordinarily powerful—but wasn't this level of strength just absurd?
Although they superficially resembled ordinary humans, their actual capabilities were so far beyond his imagination that he struggled to process what he was witnessing.
Such beings... forget those elite ghost operatives. Even the Protoss who wielded psionic energy might not be capable of accomplishing something like this.
"They aren't what you're imagining," Marcus said with an amused smile, seamlessly taking over Locke's unfinished thought. "Their strength is genuinely beyond anything your experience has prepared you for."
Even as he spoke, Marcus continued remotely directing the mechanical hound. It rushed through the insect tide in complex patterns, continuously releasing plasma flame shocks that transformed entire sections of the swarm into a roaring sea of fire.
The Kryptonians' freezing breath also continued working systematically. Under the constant alternation between extreme heat and extreme cold, enormous numbers of alien insect bodies were structurally compromised—they simply shattered and exploded on the spot from thermal shock.
"Well then, since the capability demonstration is complete, let me handle the remaining cleanup work," Marcus announced.
As he spoke, Marcus slowly lifted into the air. His entire body became wreathed in brilliant light as he transformed into Ember Prime
At the precise moment of transformation, Captain Locke felt an intense wave of heat wash over the entire area. Marcus hung in the air like a dazzling star made flesh, radiating endless light and thermal energy.
Hellfire
As Marcus began moving, a genuine meteor shower started falling from the sky above. Countless enormous meteorites descended from seemingly nowhere, each one carrying tremendous flames as they completely blanketed the remaining Zerg forces.
Boom boom boom...
Meteorites smashed into the densest concentrations of Zerg, each impact transforming into massive vortices of flame. The alien insect tide was ignited wholesale, the entire battlefield becoming an absolute sea of fire.
Witnessing Marcus's devastating display, everyone else immediately ceased their attacks. Even Fiora and the mechanical hound fighting within the Zerg swarm managed to extract themselves and retreat before the meteorites made impact.
This apocalyptic scene was simultaneously broadcast throughout the entire base via surveillance systems, allowing everyone to witness the terrifying power Marcus was casually displaying.
"My God," one of the transport ship's senior managers breathed after seeing this footage. "Is this a Protoss in human skin? What are we even looking at?"
But most people simply remained completely absorbed in the shocking display of power Marcus had unleashed. They'd genuinely never imagined that any individual could release such absolutely terrifying destructive capability.
The entire base fell into dead silence. There was no sound whatsoever except for the constant mechanical operation of automated systems.
After thoroughly eliminating the alien Zerg threat, Marcus descended gracefully from the sky.
The insect swarm had been dealt with once again. Of course, Marcus hadn't actually killed every single Zerg on the planet—he'd simply incinerated all the Zerg within his immediate visual range and detection radius.
As for those unfortunate Zerg that had accidentally wandered into the flame vortices while trying to retreat—well, they could only blame themselves for their terrible luck.