The Devourer's attack was continuous. As long as the corrosive spores weren't cleared, they would keep regenerating until they breached the enemy's armor.
This put immense pressure on the Void Shield.
The Void Shield generator, large as a plaza, was already showing signs of overload, with electricity crackling around it. Several servitors maintaining the shield nearby were electrocuted to a crisp.
As the Devourers spewed more and more spores, the risk of Void Shield overload grew higher and higher.
Captain Jack could not let this continue.
"Macro-cannons, load!!!"
The side-mounted macro-cannons began loading. A shell larger than a house was hoisted by thick chains and, pushed by hundreds of crew members, loaded into the barrel.
It seemed inefficient, but this was the current Imperial method of loading macro-cannons.
"FIRE!!!"
The macro-cannon fired. The massive shell shot out, instantly passing beyond the Void Shield. It plowed through an unknown number of Scourge along the way. The Scourge were crushed on contact, triggering violent plasma explosions.
However, the rear engines of the macro-cannon shell ignited, allowing it to power through these successive explosions and hurtle towards the Devourer positioned some distance from the Void Shield.
The Devourer was too large to dodge quickly like a Mutalisk. Even though Zasz controlled the Devourer to evade, the macro-cannon shell exploded violently the moment it neared the creature.
The explosion was like detonating a nuke in space.
Logically, without an atmosphere to conduct the blast, the explosion shouldn't be so absurdly powerful. Yet, the Devourer was still torn to shreds.
"Hmm..."
Zasz was clearly shocked by the macro-cannon's power.
The Swarm Overmind, however, took it in stride.
†Imperial ships are as ridiculously overpowered as ever. I always say in this messed-up universe, aside from the Tau ships which have some semblance of sense, the ships of other races are all freaking monsters!†
Whether it's the Imperial ships with their embedded Machine Spirits, the Eldar craftworlds the size of planets, the Ork ships patched together from scrap and leaking air everywhere, or the Necron self-repairing automated ships—they're all ridiculously overpowered.
For example, the point-defense turrets on this Imperial ship weren't manned at all; they were firing purely on the Machine Spirit's own volition!!!
The loyal Machine Spirit knew when to fire on its own and when it needed crew intervention!
†Indeed, having a Leviathan is the most reassuring. Without a Leviathan, I can't even escape. I hope this ship isn't carrying Cyclonic Torpedoes. I don't want to get hit by an Exterminatus.†
This ship indeed wasn't carrying Cyclonic Torpedoes, the weapons that could turn a planet into a nuclear fireball. But the conventional macro-cannons were powerful enough to blast the Overmind into pieces.
And this ship had an entire row of side-mounted macro-cannons.
At this moment, Zasz noticed something strange. A few Scourge had somehow bizarrely passed through the Void Shield and crashed into the Imperial ship's armor plates.
Even an Imperial ship showed several damaged spots after being hit by a few Scourge explosions.
"Huh? How did they get through?"
Zasz hadn't given the Scourge many specific commands, only ordering them to charge and explode.
Cerebrate Zasz quickly understood the reason when another Scourge passed through the Void Shield. It seemed the Void Shield couldn't block objects meeting certain conditions.
That Scourge hadn't died when its wings were shot off by the defense cannons, losing its ability for rapid flight. This turned out to be the reason it could pass through the Void Shield.
"So that's it. A clever design. But once the principle is known, it becomes the biggest weakness."
The Scourge no longer mindlessly charged to their deaths. Just before contacting the Void Shield, they suddenly decelerated.
As Zasz had guessed, large swathes of Scourge passed through the Void Shield. Only a few that weren't slow enough were blocked outside.
"Damn it!!!"
Captain Jack saw this.
"All hands, brace for impact!!!"
After passing through the Void Shield, the Scourge accelerated again, transforming into merciless plasma bombs that slammed into the Imperial ship's armor. This wasn't a minor skirmish anymore; it was a deadly assault.
The ship shook violently. Even Captain Jack in the command bridge couldn't keep his footing due to the intense shaking and had to hold onto the command console.
Others weren't so fortunate.
Crew members near the hull walls didn't understand what was happening before the next moment, a massive hole tore open in the compartment. Instant depressurization sucked these crew members out into the void, freezing them into ice sculptures in the blink of an eye.
When other crew members sealed off that area, another explosion sounded behind the sealed door. The new blast made the thick blast door bulge outward, and the compartment was breached again in a new spot.
For a moment, damage alerts lit up all over the command console.
Captain Jack barely steadied himself and immediately shouted, "Report ship damage!!!"
"A3, B5, C2 sectors have suffered massive breaches! One macro-cannon inoperative! Damn it, they're targeting the point-defense turrets!"
The point-defense turrets still spewing fire were prioritized by the Scourge. Over a dozen Scourge pounced on them, their simultaneous explosions completely silencing the turret. The other point-defense turrets were similarly blasted into silence one after another.
†Alright, now even the Machine Spirit is useless. Unless the Omnissiah personally descends, these turrets definitely can't be repaired.†
Seeing Zasz was about to bring this battle to a conclusion, the Swarm Overmind expressed satisfaction with this Cerebrate's command abilities.
But the ship's Machine Spirit seemed unwilling to die. It began to struggle directly.
Other external weapons on the ship's hull started unleashing firepower—some were small-caliber machine guns, others flamethrowers. For a moment, all weapons opened fire, greatly hindering the Scourge assault.
Simultaneously, the ship's engines activated, and the vessel began to move.
This forced the Scourge to both chase the ship and evade the web of fire.
One unmanned macro-cannon even loaded and fired towards the rear right on its own, its explosion destroying a significant number of Scourge.
"Hmm, a tenacious resistance. But it's about time."
Just as the Imperial ship was demonstrating its might, its Void Shield generators finally couldn't hold on. With a violent explosion, a section of the hull near the ship's center was blown wide open, and the Void Shields completely failed.
"Mutalisks, finish it. Devourers, target the ship's rear. Destroy the connection between the main hull and the engines."
The Mutalisks finally joined the battle. They launched volleys of Glave Wurms at the ship. These wurms sliced through the Imperial ship's armor. After entering compartments, they could even wriggle around to attack the crew inside.
The Mutalisk attacks riddled the ship's outer hull with holes. For a moment, nearly all outer compartments depressurized. More external weapons were also destroyed by the Mutalisks. Their Glave Wurms might not dismantle the entire ship, but they could take out the smaller weapon mounts.
The Devourers used their corrosive spores to eat away at the ship's rear section, attempting to sever the engine portion entirely.
The entire Imperial ship was losing power.
"Captain! We can't hesitate any longer! Should we continue fighting until our engines are destroyed, or activate the Warp Drive and jump? The decision is yours!!!"