I Am The Swarm

Though it was late at night, the fifty-meter-tall floodlights at the camp illuminated the area as if it were daytime.

“Captain, while the other units are out fighting, we’re stuck here guarding a pit. It’s so boring,” one of Winter Squad’s members complained. Originally under the direct command of Major General Porter, the squad had been assigned to investigate the disappearance of patrol teams. They remained at this location afterward.

Later, when Major General Porter needed to replenish Lieutenant Colonel Cross’s forces, the entire Winter Squad was reassigned under her command. Overall, this reshuffle was highly beneficial for Cross. She had lost ordinary recruits, but the replacements included a special forces team. Only her doting superiors would orchestrate such a maneuver.

Additionally, the 100-plus personnel rescued from earlier operations were also placed under her command, increasing the size of her forces rather than depleting them.

For this current assault on other nests, Cross had to deploy forces in support. When her base’s neighboring Swarm nest was attacked previously, other factions had lent their aid. Now that others needed assistance, she was duty-bound to reciprocate.

Moreover, one of the nests targeted this time was assigned to her faction as the primary assault force.

However, with only one elite special operations team at her disposal, Cross was reluctant to send them into a situation where command would be temporarily out of her hands. If they were deployed on the front lines and suffered casualties, it would be distressing. Even if they avoided serious injuries, minor harm would still weigh heavily on her.

Thus, she sent out most of her regular troops, along with several gunships and transport ships, while leaving her base’s defenses slightly undermanned. The nest near her base had been devastated and was unlikely to pose a threat in the short term, so the reduced defensive strength wasn’t a major concern.

Winter Squad, meanwhile, was assigned to guard the pit under the pretense that elite personnel were required to oversee such a critical location.

“Yeah, yeah, I know—you’re claustrophobic! No need to explain; we all get it. Haha!” someone teased.

“Shut it! You wanna fight me?”

“Bring it on! I’m not scared.”

Before long, the two soldiers were wrestling, their teammates cheering them on rather than intervening, stoking the skirmish with loud encouragement.

Laughter echoed through the group.

Winter watched his squad’s antics without interfering. He understood that this assignment was a calculated move by their new commander to protect the special forces team. Despite the personnel reductions, the defensive structures hadn’t been dismantled, and the tunnels were riddled with sensor mines.

Moreover, since the nest’s “granary” had been breached, the Swarm hadn’t made any further moves. Not a single bug had been spotted in the tunnels, likely having retreated after determining they were outmatched.

With minimal pressure to defend, Winter allowed his team to relax and bond. He also took the opportunity to enjoy a rare moment of respite. After all, battles could erupt again at any moment.

The Cross Base remained brightly lit, but with most of the troops either supporting operations elsewhere or guarding the pit, its defenses were relatively thin.

Scattered groups of sentries patrolled the fortress-like structures, checking for damage to surveillance equipment and chasing away wild animals.

The surrounding grasslands were home to numerous wildlife species, and the occasional bold creature would venture close to the massive fortification out of curiosity. Such creatures rarely returned after being enthusiastically “invited” into the base by the Riken soldiers.

In one shadowy corner, two sentries loitered in boredom.

“Hey, I heard you were captured by those bugs a while back,” one of them suddenly asked.

The base was so understaffed that even maintaining sentry duties was a challenge. As a result, lightly injured personnel from previous battles were assigned to patrols.

Injured soldiers weren’t paired together, of course. As a healthy serviceman, he had been separated from his usual partner and assigned a new one—a survivor of the Swarm’s clutches. This new partner, though uninjured, had endured captivity. Now fully recovered, he was noticeably more combat-capable than most injured personnel.

Curious about his partner’s experience, the sentry hesitated briefly before finally asking.

“Ah, that was… an unforgettable experience,” the new partner murmured, lost in thought. The sentry wondered if he had opened an old wound. Being powerless, waiting for death—it must have been harrowing.

His partner snapped out of his reverie, a strange smile crossing his face. “You know what? In that place, I discovered a new purpose for my existence.”

“What?” The sentry was bewildered, unsure of what his partner meant. Could he have suffered some kind of brain damage? Overexposure to sedatives was said to cause cognitive issues. He decided to report this after their shift.

“I saw God. He is my new purpose,” the partner continued, his tone unsettling. The sentry regretted bringing up the topic.

“You okay? Should I take you to the medical bay?”

“I’m fine. Better than ever, actually. Too bad—you’ll never get to meet God.”

“What are you ta—” The sentry’s words were cut off as a razor-sharp appendage pierced his throat, blood splattering his breathing mask.

Through the haze of pain and shock, he dimly heard his partner mutter, “God has no use for the worthless… I was just lucky.”

His vision faded as consciousness left him. Behind him, a Raider with optical camouflage emerged, its special adaptations shimmering.

The Raider ignored the new partner and silently departed.

The commlink crackled to life. “Group Three, status report!”

The new partner smiled faintly. “Command center, this is Group Three. All clear.”

Nearby, swarms of Raiders glided down from the night sky, evading the base’s seismic sensors as they landed outside the fortress.

Once on the ground, they moved with practiced ease, navigating the base’s perimeter like it was their own territory.

In no time, the sentries were systematically eliminated, each silenced before they could react. Any of the “irregular” sentries who had outlived their usefulness were also quietly dispatched, leaving no trace of the breach.

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