I Am The Swarm

The team had barely resumed their march when a loud, piercing noise erupted from their communicators, causing intense discomfort and disorientation. Hasmu quickly turned off his communicator.

“What’s going on?” he asked, adjusting his helmet to public mode before directing his question to the communications officer beside him.

The communications officer shook his head, switching his dialogue mode to public as well. “It seems to be some kind of unknown electromagnetic interference. Our communicators won’t work here.”

Hasmu nodded and signaled the team to activate their public communication modes. The squad continued forward cautiously.

“Watch the ceiling!” Hasmu warned.

Since descending, the cavern had grown increasingly spacious. They had traveled less than a kilometer, and the passage’s diameter had expanded from five meters to over a hundred. Such vast caves at depths of over a kilometer were a rare sight.

Inside the enormous, pitch-black tunnel, the beams of their tactical flashlights seemed feeble, unable to adequately illuminate their surroundings.

“Captain, should we use a couple of flares?” one soldier whispered.

The oppressive darkness and unknown environment naturally created a chilling atmosphere. Even these hardened mercenaries spoke in hushed tones, their voices carrying an involuntary edge of unease.

But in this enclosed space, where even dripping water echoed loudly, their whispers seemed exaggeratedly loud.

“Shut up, idiot,” Hasmu scolded softly, then gestured for silence.

The team members nodded and turned off their tactical flashlights. They activated the infrared night-vision mode and infrared spotlights on their helmets. Instantly, the glaring white beams disappeared, replaced by the faint red glow of scattered dots.

While the infrared lights could potentially expose their position to an enemy during combat, making them unsuitable for battlefield use, in this scenario, they proved invaluable.

Although visibility remained limited, it was an improvement, and their pace increased slightly.

Suddenly, a soldier tapped Hasmu on the shoulder and pointed upward.

Hasmu’s heart skipped a beat as he looked up. Far above, near the ceiling of the cavern, something was moving.

Adjusting the focus of his night-vision goggles, he zoomed in to discover a colony of bat-like creatures hanging upside down. They appeared to be asleep, occasionally shifting or stretching their wings.

Hasmu wondered how so many creatures had come to inhabit this place. Where had they entered from? And were they hostile?

Erring on the side of caution, Hasmu tapped the shoulders of the soldiers around him, signaling with a series of hand gestures. The commands were relayed silently in all directions.

The team quickly noticed the anomaly above, carefully disengaging the safeties on their weapons.

Hasmu shook his head and gave the signal to retreat.

The squad began to withdraw, their weapons subtly aimed toward the ceiling as they moved.

After retreating 200 meters, the squad set up a simple defensive perimeter with remarkable efficiency, showcasing their elite training.

The operator controlling the mechanical spiders unpacked his gear once again. The spiders scuttled forward, while a few drones silently took flight.

With the wide-open space enabling better signal transmission, the machines were sent ahead to scout. Given the limited manpower aboard the Cat’s Ear Spaceship—just 500 combat personnel—losing even one soldier would be a significant blow.

One soldier turned on the internal light within his helmet, making his head appear to float eerily in the darkness—a somewhat humorous and unsettling sight.

The soldier moved his mouth deliberately, conveying a message.

All 500 members of this escort team had been handpicked from the elite, with no compromises in their qualifications. Lip-reading and sign language were part of their basic skillset. In conditions where night-vision goggles blurred rapid movements and traditional signals were impractical, precise lip-reading proved invaluable.

“Captain, ever since we came down here, I’ve had a bad feeling, like something’s watching us,” the soldier “said” through his lip movements.

Hasmu glanced twice to confirm the message. Other helmet lights flickered on, and soon everyone adopted this new form of communication.

“Yeah, Captain, I feel it too.”

“Same here.”

“Me too.”

The soldiers’ instincts were razor-sharp. Though nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the pervasive sense of being watched made their skin crawl.

Hasmu felt the same unease. However, it wasn’t unique to this situation. Even during surface missions, he had often experienced a similar sensation.

When he reported it, the ship’s medic dismissed it as anxiety-induced delusion, and his concerns were not taken seriously by the higher-ups.

Lacking evidence, Hasmu had stopped raising the issue after a few visits to the ship’s psychologist. But now, with so many others feeling the same, it couldn’t simply be a case of mass anxiety.

As the situation grew more unsettling, the operator reported that the electromagnetic interference was also affecting the mechanical spiders and drones. They could only scout about 500 meters before losing functionality and were forced to return to avoid losses.

Hasmu realized that whatever was hidden here might be precisely what the captain and their mission sought.

Unlike previous cave explorations, this one was full of anomalies.

“We’re pulling out,” Hasmu decided swiftly.

He signaled the squad to prepare for retreat. Though puzzled by the sudden order, the soldiers complied without question, packing up while maintaining a defensive formation.

It had taken two hours to descend 500 meters by rope, and climbing back up would likely take longer. Sweat began to bead on Hasmu’s forehead. If an incident occurred, how many of his team could make it out alive was uncertain.

He silently prayed that his concerns were unfounded.

But whether he’d heard of Murphy’s Law or not, he was about to experience it firsthand.

Noticing the squad’s movements, the bat-like creatures hanging from the cavern ceiling suddenly took flight, screeching as they swarmed toward the retreating team.

These creatures resembled the bats discovered by the Swarm in the red forest but behaved differently. Unlike their wild counterparts, these bats did not fight among themselves or interfere with one another. Their coordinated actions and clear targets hinted at a different origin.

Alert to every detail, Hasmu was the first to notice the threat. Abandoning stealth, he shouted, “Prepare to engage!”

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