Chapter 1 When the Vanguard Arrives

As the massive drone legion entered the Hub Battlefield, unleashing a storm of firepower upon the holy site, another battle was just reaching its end.

At the original site of the Nakdal base cluster, the invading force composed of corrupted monsters had finally breached the defensive lines of the remaining troops after a fierce battle. These mutated and frenzied creatures gnawed at everything in their path like a pack of wolves, including disabled armed drones and extinguished sentry turrets. Where they advanced, space was littered with the wreckage of the brutal battle: scorching shards of alloy, flickering remains of fortresses, floating flesh and blood, and black warships torn apart by explosions. These remains, with their lingering "corpses," displayed the tragic battle that had taken place here, completely numbing the judgment of the commander behind the corrupted monsters.

The resistance was so intense, the defense so tight—how could there possibly be a trap inside? This must be the main base of those drones. The professional commander's judgment must be correct—the commander behind the corrupted legion would undoubtedly think so.

Under the dual encouragement of this confident mindset and the sense of accomplishment of finally pushing the front line after a fierce battle, the corrupted legion accelerated its advance, lunging toward the high-energy reaction area sensed by the probes.

There was still sporadic resistance along the way: scattered armed drone units and sentinel floating gun groups deployed in space. In addition, sparse shield generators were barely functioning, weaving together a blockade line that was no longer tight. However, the corrupted legion was now under command, so they restrained the impulse to continue entangling with these scattered guards. After clearing the most threatening turrets, the monsters went straight over the blockade line and continued to advance deep into the base cluster.

The gravity well generators used to block warp jumps had stopped working at some point—perhaps the rampant firepower during the fierce battle had destroyed the energy systems of these gravity wells, or perhaps there was no such troublesome equipment deep in the base cluster. The corrupted commander didn't care. Without those ubiquitous warp disruptors, the monster army could advance to the depths of the enemy's fortress at a faster pace. The changes taking place on the Hub Battlefield had slightly alerted the corrupted commander. It felt that it couldn't continue to waste troops in this remote place; this matter had to be resolved quickly.

The depths of the base cluster were unexpectedly empty, but a huge spatial structure appeared in front of the corrupted army. The sight within this spatial structure dispelled—or rather, temporarily diverted—the corrupted commander's suspicions.

It was a loosely spherical cluster of bizarre spires. Each spire emitted straight lines of light and barriers. These beams of light intertwined, forming neat grids, and within these grids, various twisted and mutated wreckage samples floated silently.

This was a research facility, used by the drone swarm to study the enemy's weaknesses—the corrupted commander immediately made this judgment and realized the importance of this facility. So, the monster army cautiously spread out around the spherical structure, then carefully approached the shimmering barriers.

As expected, this facility had its own defense system. The "node spires" located at the vertices of each grid launched a counterattack as the enemy approached. However, to the corrupted army that had already broken through the entire blockade line, the self-defense firepower of a mere "research institute" was insignificant. The existence of these defense systems reassured the monsters, and they surged into each grid like a tide.

They would destroy the research here and prevent the drones from continuing to grasp the weaknesses of the corrupted.

Then, "art" erupted.

Endless heat and light burst forth from every node spire. Even space itself began to tremble violently in the face of this terrifying energy release. The entire spherical spatial structure was quickly filled with firelight, like a cotton ball being ignited, and then collapsed inward as a whole, collapsing even space itself!

The monsters reacted. Those in the outer zone prepared to enter hyperspace in the first instant to escape this terrifying place. However, they only now discovered that the warp disruption effect, which had disappeared at some point, had reappeared.

The grand art festival continued to be staged in this distant space, and the participants' gaming experience was extremely poor...

"The 'surprise' we left behind has worked," the data terminal flew in front of Hao Ren, radiating a cheerful glow—well, it was always shiny, "At least half of the invaders were trapped inside. After the spatial collapse, none of them should be able to escape."

Hearing this good news, Hao Ren frowned: "Half? We still couldn't leave them all behind?"

"Alright, partner, don't be so greedy," the data terminal swayed from side to side, "Not everyone is like you, just mindlessly attacking. The fact that half of those monsters fell in is already the result of their commander's terminal rashness and water in the brain—and we have to thank the drones we left behind for their superb acting skills. With so many corrupted monsters, some will definitely escape. We need to be prepared: the situation on the Hub Battlefield is already clear. Those monsters know this was a premeditated action, and the forces that escaped from the base cluster will probably come here soon..."

"It doesn't matter..." Hao Ren looked up at the tactical diagram, "We have more people."

The battle between the Guardian giants and the corrupted was no longer intense. The main players on the battlefield were gradually becoming the armed drones that poured in from all directions. In the face of the ocean-like swarm, the corrupted monsters, who had always prided themselves on their numerical advantage, were showing signs of being overwhelmed for the first time.

They were overwhelming, they were endless. As long as you were on this battlefield, all you could see was the constantly surging silver-white tide and the never-ending flashes of gunfire. The deep space background had long been completely obscured, and even friendly units within reach had been submerged by the swarm. As the battle progressed, anyone caught in this battlefield would find themselves unknowingly becoming isolated, with only the swarm in their field of vision.

This was the experience of fighting against the drone legion.

On the Guardians' flagship, the 'Ayr', Salamon and his adjutant and advisory team had fallen completely silent. No one spoke, and even the reports from the various control seats had stopped for a long time. Apart from the humming of the various instruments and equipment, the bridge was quiet.

Everyone was staring blankly at the scene of space being filled with drones, awed by the terror displayed by the silver-white tide. The battlefield was already packed with these cold, mechanical lifeforms, yet every moment, every minute, every second, tens of thousands of drones continued to pour in, as if their goal wasn't to win the battle, but simply to physically pack this space into a dense, solid metal block.

Of course, this was a very exaggerated statement, but the sight of the drones constantly pouring in made it impossible not to think that way.

This was the result of pressing f2 twice too many times (strike that).

Finally, the young adjutant spoke: "Legion Commander, our warriors everywhere have stopped attacking... It's really impossible to fight."

The adjutant's face was a little pale: "Optical observation has failed, space is full of drones, the radar is also blind, the battlefield is full of various unidentifiable interference signals, and all the cannon firing angles have been blocked... If these drones hadn't left us a 'reserved channel' according to the agreement, I'm afraid we would have lost contact with all combat units."

Salamon could only comfort himself: "At least so far, these drones are acting strictly in accordance with the previous agreement."

On the periphery of this battlefield, the Giant Tortoise Rock Terrace and the Nakdal Fortress were quietly suspended in space, surrounded by countless second-tier armed drone escorts. After observing the battlefield situation, Nolan couldn't help but say: "Boss, I don't think we need to let the Nakdal Fortress enter the field..."

"Armed drones alone are enough to sweep the frontal battlefield," Vivian nodded gently, "We've mobilized all the armed drones within the entire X Star Cluster during this period, and we've also transferred hundreds of group armies from outside the X Star Cluster. The drones have too great a numerical advantage here."

Hao Ren shook his head and pointed to the holographic projection: "The existence of the Nakdal Fortress is necessary. The reason why the drones have achieved such great results is actually just because that thing hasn't moved yet."

Hao Ren was pointing to the edge of the battlefield, where a dark red "planet" was stationary in a way that defied the laws of nature, with neither revolution nor rotation, like a lurking behemoth.

Vivian frowned and said the name she had heard from the fairies: "Amentir... the corrupted's planetary warship."

It was a dark planet filled with ominous light. It originally had a bright atmosphere and lush ecological environment like Nakdal. However, after the power of the Lord of Madness erupted, everything on the planet's surface was completely twisted. Now its water is full of corrosion, the atmosphere is hot and poisonous, all living things have become the twisted monsters in space, the holy temples and crystal towers have been destroyed, and a huge rift runs across the planet's equator, almost cutting the planet in half like a horrifying wound - on the pictures sent back by the probes, Hao Ren could clearly see that there were countless surging, source-blood-like substances in the rift, and a steady stream of monsters was emerging from it.

The drone swarm had tried to approach this planetary warship, but in the face of the latter, numerical advantage didn't seem to work so well. After suffering heavy losses, Hao Ren stopped this meaningless waste and focused on the frontal battlefield duel.

Nolan said: "The Guardian's 'Agudal' planetary warship is a symmetrical deterrent. With it there, Amentir won't enter the field at will."

"Agudal has been badly damaged," Hao Ren said, referring to the information he had received from the fairies and Salamon. "Almost all of its conventional weapons are paralyzed, and its mobility and protection capabilities are less than a third of what they normally are. Apart from the still intact doomsday weapon 'Torrent of Annihilation', Agudal's role is actually just a 'deterrent'. So if we really push it too far, Amentir entering the field is also possible."

"Of course, Amentir isn't that scary either," he added. "As far as I know, Amentir isn't completely undamaged either. In past battles, its doomsday weapon has been damaged and can't be repaired at all. Therefore, although its threat to the drone swarm is great, it's not completely invincible. If we really want to risk ultra-high attrition and just keep piling on, the drone swarm can still win—and the situation would be even better with the Nakdal Fortress assisting in the battle..."

Before he could finish his words, Nolan's voice suddenly interrupted him: "Boss! The enemy is retreating!"

The corrupted legion had finally begun to retreat.

Although those corrupted who had escaped from the traps set by Hao Ren also joined the battle later, the overwhelming advantage formed by the drone swarm was irreversible. The increasing pressure on the frontal battlefield made even the monsters who had been corrupted by the power of the Lord of Madness feel uneasy. After abandoning countless wreckage, they finally began to retreat.

But it wasn't a rout.

Even in defeat, the monsters were still orderly. Under the drones' encirclement and pursuit, they actually managed to reorganize the formation and slowly withdrew from the battlefield under the powerful firepower cover of Amentir.

"Partner, should we pursue?" the data terminal floated up. "If we chase now, we should be able to expand the victory."

Hao Ren thought for a moment and naturally made the decision to pursue.

But just as the drone swarm swarmed towards the direction of Amentir's retreat, Nolan suddenly received an emergency communication from the Guardian Legion.

"Boss! That legion commander named Salamon has sent an urgent report, hoping that we won't continue the pursuit!"

"Don't pursue?" Hao Ren was shocked.

"Yes," Salamon's image appeared directly on the holographic projection in front of the console. "Please listen to me, if you continue the pursuit, those freaks will probably do something crazy that will lead to the destruction of the entire fortress along with them—but Amentir must not be destroyed no matter what!"