55: Chapter 55 The Swarm's Overwhelming Power and the Symbiotic Pact with the Centaurs
Clang.
A crisp impact sound abruptly broke the dead silence of the battlefield.
The broken silver bow that had accompanied Andra for over a hundred years slipped from his powerless fingers, rolled twice on the cold rock, and finally came to a stop. The luster of the bowstring, and the light in his eyes, dimmed at the same moment.
The bone scythe on his neck hadn't moved an inch.
That chilling, deathly cold sensation, as if from the netherworld, penetrated his skin and reached deep into his soul. The Void Stalker leader's smooth, eyeless face was close at hand, a few sensory tentacles trembling slightly before his face, each subtle sway bringing a rhythm of death that made his hair stand on end.
He stiffly rotated his bloodshot eyeballs, his gaze sweeping past the elegant statue of death before him.
The sounds of battle had completely ceased.
There were no more screams on the battlefield, no more clashes of weapons, no more hum of bowstrings. Instead, there was a more suffocating noise of life, belonging to another species.
It was the rustling of countless Zerg carapaces rubbing together.
It was the scratching sound of Zergling's sharp limbs across rocks.
It was the wet gurgling sound emanating from Hydralisk's throats, carrying the scent of corrosive acid.
These sounds converged into a monotonous yet terrifying background, proclaiming the new owners of this land.
His tribesmen, those Silver Centaurs warriors who once proudly galloped across the plains, were now dejected captives. The remaining few thousand were herded together into the blood-soaked clearing in the center of the mine, like a flock of livestock awaiting slaughter.
Their weapons were discarded to the side, piled into a small mountain of metal emitting an aura of despair.
Surrounding them was an endless, dense Zerg Swarm. Those hideous, fanged monsters stared at them with emotionless compound eyes, corrosive mucus dripping from their mouthparts, sizzling and burning small pits in the ground.
Three Abyssal Thunder Beast - Titans, like moving hills, stood not far from the prisoner camp. Each of their heavy breaths exhaled hot, ozone-scented air, their massive shadows looming over, crushing the last shred of hope in all the Centaurs' hearts.
Andra felt the sharpness of the bone blade on his neck, ready to erupt at any moment, and then looked at the women and children surrounded by the Zerg Swarm—they trembled, clutching their young children tightly, the last embers and hope of their tribe.
It's over.
This thought was no longer a guess, but a final verdict repeatedly confirmed by cold reality.
The glory passed down for a thousand years was fragile and vulnerable in the face of absolute power.
"Submit, or... become fodder."
Just then.
A grand, cold, emotionless psionic energy descended without warning.
This will wasn't transmitted through sound; it directly pierced through space, like an invisible giant hammer, crashing into the depths of every creature's mind on the battlefield!
The sky suddenly darkened.
It wasn't that dark clouds obscured the sun, but rather that the light itself seemed to be swallowed and distorted by some invisible presence.
In the center of the swirling clouds, an indescribably huge vertical pupil, composed entirely of pure purple psionic energy, slowly opened.
It had no eyelids, no eyelashes; it was a pure energy rift, symbolizing absolute will. It hung high above the firmament, with swirling nebulae and destructive storms in the depths of its pupil, looking down on everything below with the indifference of one observing ants.
This was Su Chen's psionic projection—the Eye of the Overmind!
"God... a deity?!"
Andra's body trembled uncontrollably.
Under that gaze, he felt he was no longer a living being, but a symbol that could be erased at will. Soul, will, memories—everything was completely seen through, with nowhere to hide.
His surging Epic-Tier battle qi, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, seemed to be injected with ten thousand years of profound ice at this moment, instantly freezing and stagnating. He couldn't even mobilize a single trace of power; moving a finger became a luxury.
Is this the power of a deity?
The martial prowess mortals prided themselves on wasn't even a joke in the face of such an existence.
He laboriously, inch by inch, lifted his head.
His gaze passed over the layers of Zerg Swarm and fell on the rear. Those trembling women and children, those terrified young ones, were the last roots of the Silver Centaur race.
For the continuation of the race...
What did that ridiculous, long-crushed dignity matter?
Andra's knees began to bend uncontrollably.
Each inch of bending felt as if ten thousand tons of weight were pressing on his spine, making all the bones in his body groan under the unbearable burden.
"Thud."
His knees slammed heavily onto the hard, cold rock.
The sound wasn't loud, but it clearly echoed throughout the silent mine, shattering the last illusion in the hearts of all Centaur warriors.
Andra, their invincible chieftain, their spiritual totem, had knelt.
He deeply and completely bowed his once immensely proud head towards the indifferent giant Zerg eye in the sky.
"For the continuation of the race..."
His voice was dry and hoarse, as if each word was a piece of gravel squeezed from deep within his throat with all his might.
"We... are willing to submit, Great Overmind."
With their chieftain's genuflection, the struggle and unwillingness on the faces of the remaining Centaur warriors finally turned into utter despair. They dropped their broken weapons one by one, as if their spines had been removed, and knelt on the ground, emitting suppressed and painful wails.
"Very good."
The grand psionic energy in the sky once again gave an indifferent response.
Su Chen didn't need worthless corpses. He needed sharp blades that could pave the way for the Zerg Swarm's expansion and conquest.
"Since you have chosen to submit, then accept the Zerg Swarm's grace."
Su Chen's thoughts stirred.
Above the firmament, the light in the depths of the pupil of the giant psionic Zerg eye subtly shifted.
Immediately, countless tiny purple light points detached from the pupil, like a purple meteor shower, drifting down towards the Centaur captives below.
These light points, after landing, did not dissipate but wriggled, transforming into peculiar Larvae the size of a fingernail, emitting a faint biological glow.
Their bodies were soft, their forms strange, like the nascent stage of some shelled creature, radiating an unsettling aura of life.
"What is this?!"
Andra watched in horror as a Larva quickly crawled up his arm along a crack in the rock. The cold and slightly sticky touch made his scalp tingle.
He tried to shake it off, but found his body still unable to move.
Before he could react, the front end of the Larva suddenly retracted, aimed at the skin on the back of his neck, and its entire body transformed into a purple glimmer, drilling directly inside!
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
A piercing scream, not human-like and utterly desperate, suddenly erupted from deep within Andra's throat, echoing throughout the entire mine.
It wasn't the searing pain of flesh being devoured.
Rather, it was an intense, numbing sensation originating from the forced dismantling and restructuring of life's most fundamental structure!
Andra felt a violent and domineering purple heat current, centered on the point where the Larva entered, instantly sweep through his entire body! Every muscle fiber in his body was being forcibly torn apart by this power, then rewoven and thickened in a tougher, more efficient manner. His bones creaked, as if invisible hammers were repeatedly striking them, removing all impurities and making them denser and harder!
"Crack! Crack!"
Under the horrified gaze of all the Centaur captives, a layer of Zerg chitinous armor, shimmering with a silver-white metallic luster, actually grew on Andra's skin!
This armor was not a crude covering, but a perfect biological structure, seamlessly covering all his vital areas such as his chest, shoulders, and back. The armor was thin yet Firmness, covered with smooth and powerful patterns, shimmering with a cold, psionic glow.
At the same time, his eyes were completely tainted by that purple energy torrent, changing from their original silver-gray to an unfathomably deep purple.
A brand new perception exploded in his mind.
His original, acute Centaur personal perception was forcibly connected to a boundless, star-sea-like vast mental network—the Hive Mind!
In an instant, he "heard" the whispers of hundreds of millions of his kind, "saw" the perspectives of countless individuals, and "felt" a unified, supreme, absolute will.
Just as he thought his consciousness would be completely overwhelmed by this ocean, the intense pain and numbness receded like a tide.
In its place was an unprecedented sense of power, as if he could crush stars.
Andra slowly clenched his fist.
The air between his knuckles let out an unbearable crackling sound.
He could clearly feel that his strength, speed, defensive power, and even his innate mastery of archery, had all increased several times over during that brief hellish torment!
This was not enslavement at all!
This was... a leap in life's hierarchy!
This was evolution!
The fear, humiliation, and despair in Andra's eyes rapidly faded like withered grass burned by fire. In their place was an extreme craving for this newfound power, and a fervent worship, from the depths of his soul, for the supreme being who bestowed it.
He raised his head again, looking at the giant purple Zerg eye in the sky.
There was no longer any resistance or resentment in that gaze, only the purest, most primal devotion.
His newly formed forehead, covered with silver-white armor, heavily struck the ground, emitting a clangorous sound like metal hitting stone.
"Thank you, Overmind, for your grace!"
His voice was no longer dry, but became resonant and powerful, even carrying a hint of inhuman, cold resonance belonging to the entire Zerg Swarm's will.
"We are willing to become the sharp sword in your hand, clearing all obstacles for you!"