Chapter 508: Airdrop
After intense deliberation by the coalition’s think tank, it was decided to prioritize attacks on the Swarm’s Primordial-class units. Even if the Swarm closed in, these larger Primordial-class units posed a greater destructive threat. As for the smaller Space Octopuses, the coalition temporarily deployed drone squadrons to hold them off.
However, due to the post-war mobilization, most of the newly constructed space factories were dedicated to warship production lines, and metal smelting was prioritized for building warships. The production of drones had not seen a significant increase, and the shortage of materials further exacerbated the issue. As a result, the coalition fleet’s drone numbers were far from full capacity, with some warships carrying only a dozen or so drones.
Nevertheless, due to the sheer size of the fleet, the sight of dense drone formations advancing in orderly ranks remained impressive. However, their total numbers still paled in comparison to the Swarm’s mature and larval bodies by several orders of magnitude.
In the timeless void of space, after several days of fierce combat, the Swarm leveraged its numerical advantage to divide the battlefield and eventually breached the coalition’s defensive lines, pushing into the orbit of the life planet they were protecting.
Some mature bodies opened their storage sacs and released a large number of spore pods from the planet’s near orbit. These spore pods were encased in multiple layers of carapace, which helped shield them from external harsh conditions such as extreme heat.
The layers of carapace were supported by cartilage, providing excellent cushioning during high-impact collisions.
Beneath the carapace was a sac-like tissue modeled after the Fungal Carpet’s genes. This tissue was reinforced with fibrous structures to enhance the pods’ resilience and filled with small air sacs to further mitigate damage from impacts.
Inside the pods was a space of about 3-5 square meters, capable of carrying Fungal Carpet seeds, Brood Queen larvae, and various land-based combat units. These were the latest generation of airdrop pods, refined through multiple iterations, and it was these that the mature bodies were now deploying.
Countless pods descended through the atmosphere in free fall, their friction with the air creating a fiery glow. From the ground, the sheer number of them made it look like a spectacular meteor shower. Some unsuspecting Moto civilians even closed their eyes and made wishes.