Chapter 84: Delicious Canned Food and Zerg Larva
Since it was determined these xenos posed no threat to the fleet, Lucan ordered the warships to directly enter the planet's atmosphere.
This was the advantage of the Battlecruisers. In a void fleet battle, I might not be the best, but within an atmosphere, a flying object of this scale is simply invincible.
This day was forever etched into the memory of all Mushroom-men.
"Sky-darkening, flying castles of steel descended from the heavens upon our kingdom.
The King organized his most elite army, but in the face of these unknown enemies, our resistance seemed so feeble…
A rain of fire that destroyed everything fell from the sky. That flying fortress could destroy mountains, evaporate rivers, and could effortlessly annihilate our armies. Over a hundred thousand warriors were wiped out in the blink of an eye.
Our weapons couldn't even damage the armor of those enemy soldiers.
This was simply a slaughter.
But we did not bow our heads to these invaders! We still have countless compatriots. Our reproduction rate is very fast. As long as the land remains, we can have a continuous stream of soldiers joining the war! We can fight these invaders to the end!
We retreated into our underground fortresses, so that their flying monsters could not kill us.
However, when these invaders learned that our population was very large, they seemed very happy… the way they looked at us was very strange… filled with an intense desire.
They can't find us! We will find a chance to counter-attack these invaders! As long as one Mushroom-man remains, we can raise another army in a short time.
But we were wrong. Those few monsters came. The monsters clad in iron armor charged into the underground tunnels. Their weapons tore our flesh apart. And among them, a few individuals were exceptionally terrifying… there were only six of them. They charged into our hiding place. No matter how many of us went up against them, they were easily killed.
They killed our compatriots in the most horrifying ways. Brave warriors were torn to shreds, and those monsters seemed to never know fatigue, even growing stronger as the battle raged on!
We could never defeat them. We lost… The King bowed his noble head, but even so, he still did not escape the fate of death."
In three days, Lucan and his warriors had swept through all the nations on the entire planet.
Countless Mushroom-men died under the bombardment. Although the political bodies of these Mushroom-men were destroyed, many more scattered Mushroom-men were distributed across the planet. Give them some time, and they would once again fill this land.
This universe was just this cruel. Humanity held no goodwill towards these xenos.
"My Lord! I feel my strength has increased again!"
Damon said excitedly to Lucan. The Praetor Suit almost granted Damon several fatigue-resistant traits; the more he killed, the more energetic he felt.
However, the speed of this enhancement did not meet Lucan's expectations. It seemed that creatures not tainted by the Warp provided very little enhancement to the user; he still had to rely on hunting Warp creatures to increase his power.
And the people the Mushroom-men called monsters were precisely the Marines and the Night Sentinels clad in Praetor Armor.
As long as the opponent was a biological creature, they would certainly feel fear.
And the nearly brutal slaughter by the Night Sentinels allowed these xenos to experience the most direct form of terror. One Mushroom-king was even willing to pledge allegiance to the Mongorte Dynasty, willing to become a running dog for humanity to harm his own compatriots.
Upon further investigation, the most valuable things on this planet were these xenos themselves.
"Sorry, Mushroom-men, but you'd better just resign yourselves to becoming canned food."
Lucan held a tray, on which was food made from the Mushroom-men.
If you didn't think about what the Mushroom-men originally looked like, the taste was actually quite good. Regardless of texture or flavor, it was delicious no matter how it was prepared.
Compared to the food of Imperial commoners, these Mushroom-men cans could definitely be considered a delicacy!
This was much safer than Grox cans.
Mushroom-men from different regions even had distinct flavors.
The Tech-Priests began to establish processing plants on the surface of this planet.
With a reproductive method similar to that of Orks, these Mushroom-men were practically an inexhaustible resource.
Their growth cycle was only two months.
According to the Tech-Priests' calculations, if the production lines matured, the output of processing Mushroom-men into food on an assembly line could reach several times that of the agri-world Omiron II.
And there was also the possibility of migrating them to other planets to further expand production.
Lucan left some Tech-Priests and tens of thousands of Genestealer cultists here to maintain the factories' operation.
However, the size of this planet was almost equivalent to that of ancient Earth.
With insufficient manpower, it was difficult to achieve complete control over this planet and increase production. If they had to rely on manpower to catch them, it would take forever. And the opponent's reproductive method meant that Mushroom-men could pop up anywhere.
Even if they couldn't pose a significant threat, it was still an endless nuisance.
However, Lucan thought of a more effective method.
"Kerrigan, can you produce some larvae on this planet?"
"Of course, Father!"
Kerrigan was currently eating a can of processed Mushroom-man food; clearly, she was very fond of this high-energy, high-nutrient item.
A shuttle carried Lucan and Kerrigan to a clearing not far from the processing plant.
At Lucan's request, one larva after another appeared on the open ground before them.
Under Kerrigan's catalysis, several Drones soon broke out from the larvae.
"Can you control the Drones to create a Hatchery?"
Kerrigan nodded, then issued her command.
A Drone began to be catalyzed. Its flesh started to change, then it transformed into a constantly developing, fleshy building.
The Hatchery's growth speed was very fast. The other Drones also began to act. Everything around them, whether plants, animals, or even inorganic matter like rocks, could become nutrients to accelerate hatching and growth.
As more and more materials were fed into the Hatchery, the massive structure was completed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The still-writhing Hatchery immediately began its production; one wriggling larva after another was spat out.
And the lush green grass originally underfoot was covered by the Creep produced by the Hatchery.
This Creep was an important component of the Swarm.
They could absorb and convert the living things and energy on the Creep into the energy and food needed for the Swarm's growth and expansion.
And these larvae, after absorbing enough biomass or energy, also began to transform into one Drone after another, and started to gather resources from the surroundings.
An hour later, the first Zerg colony in the Warhammer universe was born here.
Dozens of Drones had already been hatched.
However, the only thing that worried Lucan was whether the Swarm would develop to the point of directly consuming the entire world.
"Father, you don't need to worry about this problem. All colonies formed from the larvae I create will completely obey my will. I am the Swarm; I am their Overmind.
I can have this Swarm develop according to my requirements. I can control their scale and numbers, keeping them at a level that won't threaten the entire planet's ecosystem."
Hearing this, Lucan also felt relieved.
And Kerrigan once again began to split off a larva from her own body. But this larva was larger and more vibrant.
As Kerrigan injected a large amount of her body's stored energy into this larva, it also began to grow at an extremely rapid rate. Soon, a Zerg Queen broke through the larva and descended upon this world.
At nearly five meters tall, the giant Queen had an even more powerful sense of oppression than in the game.
She would control the Swarm for Kerrigan, much like the Hive Mind within a Tyranid tendril.
Her body was supported by three sets of scythe-like appendages. A ghostly purple bio-luminescence floated on her dark purple carapace.
A bloated brood sac hung from her abdomen, like that of a spider. Through the translucent membrane, one could even see a large number of unformed larval embryos. Six whip-like tendrils extended from the jagged spines on her back; they could accelerate these sharp, hard spines to incredible speeds to destroy opponents.
The bone blade at the end of her tail was her most fatal weapon.
The newly born Queen already possessed self-awareness and sufficient intelligence. She looked towards Kerrigan. Walking on the Creep, the Queen gained a massive speed boost.
Once off the Creep, their speed would be greatly reduced.
The sound of her arthropod-like lower limbs colliding made Lucan's scalp tingle.
"My Queen… you are everything to the Swarm. I shall carry out your will and manage the Swarm here!"
(End of Chapter)
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