I Am The Swarm

The Riken, as a highly intelligent civilization, had anticipated scenarios like this during their simulated war exercises. When smaller Swarm units faltered against new weapons and resorted to reckless charges to avoid being whittled down, the Riken already had response protocols in place.

Thus, when the Larval bodies suddenly abandoned their targets and charged en masse, the Riken forces only hesitated briefly before implementing their contingency plans.

Along the Larval bodies’ path of advance, Riken fighter jets were the first to respond. However, their long-range firepower wasn’t sufficient to eliminate the Larval bodies quickly, especially when the Swarm units clustered together, using the bodies of their comrades as shields.

“Show them our little toys!” a Riken pilot exclaimed.

Suddenly, dozens of metallic spheres, each roughly the size of a basketball, were launched from the fighters’ cargo bays.

These metal spheres had no propulsion system, relying entirely on the momentum from their initial ejection to drift through space. They moved slowly, and given their small size, the amount of explosive material they could carry seemed unlikely to pose any real threat to the Swarm units.

But the Riken wouldn’t make such an obvious tactical blunder. After drifting a short distance, the spheres suddenly exploded, deploying massive nets that unfurled in an instant.

Each net spanned hundreds of square meters and was made from metallic fibers less than a millimeter in diameter. Without any cloaking technology, the nets were nearly invisible in the vastness of space, relying on their size and deployment strategy to surprise their targets.

These fibers represented the cutting edge of Riken technology. Not only were they extremely lightweight, resistant to heat, cold, and corrosion, but they were also incredibly durable. Despite their minuscule diameter, each strand could withstand several tons of tension. Coupled with a meticulously designed arrangement for distributing force, the nets were strong enough to resist the tearing of the Larval bodies.