Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 229 One thing after another, situations arise frequently

A lot of information can be inferred from the size of the mother nest.

The most obvious difference is the level of civilization of the world in which the Zerg possess the mother hive.

The mother hive located in front of the "Cloudy Neon" starship is a typical version possessed by the Zerg in a Level 5 civilization world.

The primary purpose of the Mother Nest is not interstellar combat, so there is no need to worry about the "Cloudy" being quickly destroyed by the Mother Nest.

As the core of the Zerg race, its role is to reproduce and thrive in times of peace, and to supply troops in times of war.

Therefore, the moment the mother hive appeared, it meant that the "Cloud Neon" was already surrounded by countless Zerg creatures capable of short-distance interstellar travel.

The trouble that the "Cloud and Rainbow" needs to deal with is not the mother hive, but the Zerg that have temporarily hidden their tracks.

Sandra quickly reacted and ordered: "Activate all reconnaissance modes at full power, find all the bugs hiding in the shadows, assess the battle situation, fight if you can, retreat if you can't."

"Yes."

The tower responded seriously.

Instantly, all the reconnaissance equipment on the "Cloud Neon" started operating at full power.

One after another, the grotesque and terrifying insectoids were quickly identified and their locations were marked.

The Zerg army, densely packed, surrounded the "Cloud Neon" from all sides.

They were all still far away from the "Cloud Neon" and outside its reconnaissance range when it was hovering, so they couldn't launch an attack anytime soon.

Otherwise, the Zerg wouldn't have been able to hide so well, only revealing themselves now.

What's strange is that even though the Zerg were discovered, they didn't make any move.

The mother hive remained silent, as did the Zerg surrounding the "Cloudy Neon," which was quite strange.

This made the abrupt appearance of the mother nest a superfluous and failed action.

Link glanced at the holographic projection to get a general idea of ​​the situation, and then stopped paying attention.

The "Cloud and Rainbow" belongs to Sandra herself, so he shouldn't interfere too easily.

According to the assessment by the Tower Spirit, the current balance of power between the two sides is still even, and there is no need to consider retreating for the time being.

Sandra frowned and pondered for a while, feeling somewhat unwilling to retreat just like that.

The three original objectives of this mission may still be achievable.

However, there was absolutely no chance of her achieving the three additional goals she set for herself.

However, before figuring out the details of the suddenly appearing mother hive and this wave of Zerg, it is not a good choice to launch a preemptive attack.

With this in mind, she issued the latest instructions: "Do not launch an attack for now. Maintain a suitable distance and do not give the Zerg an opportunity to concentrate their fire. If the Zerg launches an attack, focus on dodging and defense first. When the opportunity arises, launch a counterattack as appropriate."

"Yes."

The Tower Spirit faithfully executes every command of Sandra, yet it also automatically applies "patches".

The "Cloud Neon" interstellar warship has entered a state of readiness.

The warp drive is already warming up.

If any anomalies occur, warp drive can be initiated to escape this star system.

After making these adjustments, the tower spirit issued a notification: "The unknown extent of the wounded has been determined and is being treated. Treatment in progress. Treatment complete. The wounded's condition is currently stable."

Upon hearing this, Sandra turned her attention back to the four companions lying in the transparent pod.

Link had been keeping an eye on the situation of these four people.

He witnessed firsthand how, after the examination, the towering figure found the records of the small spots on the four people's hands from the massive amount of data, and then removed the spots according to the methods recorded in the records.

As soon as the small spot disappeared, the vital signs of the four people stabilized instantly.

After receiving a large amount of vital energy, it not only escaped the danger to its life, but also showed faint signs of waking up.

"The small spots are the medium; the attack method is a curse."

Recalling the way and time the four fell to the ground, and the feeling when the aftershocks of the howl hit him, Link instinctively felt that the fatal injuries to the four were not caused by the howl attack, but by something else.

After carefully comparing the relevant memories and knowledge in his mind, Link came to this conclusion.

The decline of curse magic in the wizarding world does not mean that other civilizations also lack advanced curses.

Insects, well, they rely on three things: poison, curses, and sheer numbers.

This is common knowledge throughout all the heavens and myriad realms.

In the wizarding world, to silently curse and kill four level-two wizards, it would require at least a level-three wizard to do so.

To ensure that four level-two wizards would be cursed to death without any chance of resistance, the person who cast the curse would need to be at least a senior level-three wizard like Celine.

Based on the Zerg's true combat strength after their decline, it's a certainty that there's a Zerg of level 4 or higher lurking in the mission world.

Based on the comet-sized mother nest ahead of the "Cloudy Neon," Link believes that the number and strength of the enemies they face may be far greater than what has been revealed.

Thinking of this, Link solemnly reminded him: "I think we should retreat to a safe area first, and then make further plans."

"timid……"

Before Sandra could react, the round-faced young man spoke first, his tone anything but humble.

"Shut up!"

Sandra glared at her and said coldly, "Go to the side and calm down. Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment."

Then, Sandra looked at Link and asked, "Give me a reason."

Link didn't take the round-faced youth's attitude to heart.

This was expected.

He answered Sandra's question in a detached tone, without any emotional fluctuation:

"I believe the Zerg have demonstrated far more strength than what we've shown so far. Don't forget, those highly likely evolved individuals that exist in the mission world are still hiding in the shadows, not yet revealed."

The Zerg surrounding the "Cloudy" were clearly from a level 5 mother hive.

Although it has a human-like head, its body is similar to that of a scorpion.

They are completely different from the insectoid race, who live in mission worlds and have bodies similar to arthropods.

The Broodlings and the Mission Worlds are two separate factions.

Sandra had noticed this beforehand, but she had her own advantages, so she was neither in a hurry to attack nor to retreat.

I want to understand the situation better, and then make different decisions depending on the circumstances.

Link's reminder made her realize she had been overconfident again, so she immediately corrected her command: "Full speed away from contact, retreat to a safe area."

"Yes."

The tower spirit responded, then asked, "The shuttle has returned; shall we accept it?"

"No, evacuate immediately."

Sandra refused without even thinking.

The four friends only had a brief, direct encounter with the Zerg before they were caught in a trap.

The shuttle has been parked alone in the mission world for so long, who knows if the Zerg have done anything underhanded to it.

If we let it return to the "Cloud and Rainbow" and cause any more trouble, that wouldn't be good.

Anyway, a shuttle isn't worth more than a few magic stones, so it won't hurt to discard it.

Sandra, being wealthy and powerful, didn't take the loss seriously.

Does the shuttle have a self-destruct mechanism?

Link asked from the side, offering a subtle reminder.

"have."

Sandra nodded, understanding Link's meaning, and then instructed the tower spirit, "When the time is right, activate the shuttle's self-destruct program and give the bugs a surprise."

"clear."

The towering spirit responded, simultaneously controlling the warp drive, which had already been preheated, and unleashing its full power output.

The "Cloud and Rainbow" spacecraft, hovering in the tranquil vacuum, suddenly accelerated, going from extreme stillness to extreme motion, and entered a warp bubble.

If there are no obstacles, the "Cloud and Rainbow" can leave this star system in less than a second.

However, the Zerg seemed to be waiting for the "Cloudy" to enter warp drive mode.

The instant the "Cloudy" entered warp bubble, a very thick and dazzling beam of light was emitted from the mission world.

Logically speaking, this beam of light should never be able to hit a warp bubble that travels at speeds far exceeding the speed of light.

Unexpected events always happen against common sense.

The beam had already taken effect before it even touched the warp bubble after it was emitted.

The warp bubble burst silently.

With a loud bang.

The sound echoed inside the "Cloud Neon".

The starship was shot down from warp drive.

The warp drive immediately malfunctioned and could not be restarted for a short period of time.

The "Cloud and Rainbow" has lost one of its unconventional power sources, leaving it with only a conventional engine and a warp drive.

It won't break down completely, but it will lose its perfect maneuverability.

"snort!"

The round-faced youth then glared at Link, "If you don't understand the situation, don't talk nonsense. Now look what's happened, there's trouble ahead."

This is shifting all the blame onto Link and blaming him.

Link remained silent.

Judging from the current outcome, he definitely has to take the blame.

It was his timely advice to evacuate that allowed the warp drives of the starship to be destroyed by the Zerg, who had been plotting for some time.

However, Link didn't think so.

He was actually glad that he had given the suggestion, which had lured out the Zerg's long-planned attack.

If the starship hadn't been in an unselectable warp state beforehand, but instead had been directly attacked by that strange beam, how could it have been as simple as just damage to the warp engines?

The losses will be even more severe!

Sandra thought so too.

She recognized the beam of light.

That's the Zerg version of Annihilation Beam.

With its full power, a single beam of annihilation light can completely reduce a planet to dust.

Its power is incomparable to that of the Star Destroyer Cannon, which is called Star Destroyer but can only blast a big hole.

If the "Cloud and Rainbow" were to be directly struck by an annihilation beam, it might barely "survive," but it would be left with severe "damage," impairing many of its functions.

Now, by a twist of fate, using a warp drive to destroy a Zerg annihilation beam is a worthwhile trade!

"Fight back with all your might."

Sandra ignored the warp drive and the round-faced youth's sarcastic remarks, coldly issuing the order.

This moment, that moment.

Given the unclear situation, evacuation was indeed the best course of action.

But now is the perfect time to launch an attack while the insects' Annihilation Light is on cooldown.

Weigh the insects and see if we can avoid rushing to evacuate.

Under the command of the Tower Spirit, the "Cloud and Rainbow" unleashed its full firepower, launching a long-range attack on the Zerg army that had surrounded it.

The main gun began charging and aimed at the mother hive.

In an instant, a full-powered planet-destroying cannon was ready and then fired.

The planet-destroying cannon, which was much thinner than the Annihilation Beam, was actually quite powerful. It traversed the vast distance between the Cloud Neon and the Mother Nest at the speed of light and struck the Mother Nest head-on.

Before the turmoil caused by the first shot had subsided, the second and third shots followed closely behind.

Since we've started fighting, let's fight without restraint.

Under the rapid barrage of firepower, the Zerg side, except for the mother hive which withstood three Star Destroyer cannons without damage thanks to its countless layers of Zerg slime coating.

The Zerg army that surrounded the starship from all sides suffered heavy losses in the blink of an eye, with more than half of its personnel killed.

Despite the attacks from the "Cloud and Rainbow," the Zerg army launched a fearless assault.

What they got in return was that the distance between them grew ever wider.

The Tower Spirit strictly followed Sandra's instructions, maintaining a proper distance from the Zerg.

A long-armed opponent fighting a short-armed opponent—that's the scene.

Watching the sudden, intense skirmish that erupted through the holographic projection and porthole, Link's brows furrowed tightly.

He had a feeling that something was wrong.

The Zerg's behavior is too abnormal.

The mission world can fire annihilation beams, and the Mother Nest can withstand three planet-destroying cannons without damage, yet the army surrounding the "Cloudy Neon" is so weak.

Even if they have been in decline for a long time, their ancestors were once wealthy, so it's impossible for them to have fallen to such a state.

It's as thin as paper; it breaks easily with a single poke.

"There's a problem, there must be a problem."

Link muttered to himself.

He stared intently at the Zerg army on the holographic projection, mentally magnifying the Zerg's figures, and discovered a problem.

The insects that survived the "Cloud and Rainbow" bombardment were more agile, more relaxed, and had fiercer eyes than the dead insects.

The hordes of insects falling to the ground made Link feel as if they were puppets rather than real insects.

No wonder they're so easily defeated; one kill can wipe out a whole bunch of them.

Just as Link was about to tell Sandra about his discovery, his eyes inadvertently glanced at Lanny, Tiffany, and Fried, who hadn't spoken since returning to the starship.

The three people appeared dazed, with blank stares, seemingly lost in thought or in a daze.

"Hmm?"

Link's heart skipped a beat, filled with doubt.

What's going on here?

When did this change occur?

How come he didn't notice before?

In a single leap, he appeared in front of Lani Taylor.

Link raised his right index finger, and a grain of light the size of rice appeared at the tip of his finger.

This is a skillful application of Light-based 0-ring sorcery, specifically the Illumination spell.

Raise your left index finger and place it in front of Lani, between her eyes, about 10cm from her brow.

The light from his right hand shone into his pupils, while his left index finger swayed from side to side.

Lani's eyes remained unresponsive, maintaining their previous blank and dazed expression.

Afterward, Link conducted the same tests on Tiffany and Fried, and the results were identical.

Link turned around, looked at Sandra and the round-faced youth, and then glanced at the other two scions of prominent families from the main academy out of the corner of his eye.

Upon discovering the four of them, their expressions were natural and their eyes were bright.

Everyone was focused on Link because of his sudden action.

"What did you discover?"

Sandra asked a question, and her voice, when it reached Link's ears, had a subtle emphasis.

"Parasite."

Link replied seriously, "The howling earlier was probably not just a sonic attack, but also contained parasites. We defended completely, so we weren't parasitized. The other three didn't defend completely, so they've been parasitized. But that's not the point. The point is..."

Pointing out the porthole, Link continued, "Those Zerg surrounding us are like puppets eaten away by parasites. I think the Zerg are trying to drag us here, deplete our reserves, and wage a protracted war."

"Testing, treatment."

After hearing Link's words, Sandra immediately gave instructions to the Tower Spirit.

"clear."

The Tower Spirit handled tasks in multiple threads, directing the medical golems to conduct detailed examinations of Lanny, Tiffany, and Fried, while simultaneously investigating the Zerg surrounding the "Cloudy Neon."

At the same time, the intensity of firepower output was deliberately reduced.

What the enemy wants to do, we must resolutely prevent them from achieving.

Since we want to use up our reserves, we should be careful with our firepower and conserve our "ammunition".

Although Sandra's "ammunition" reserves are extremely abundant.

They could absolutely wage a world-ending war.

Thank you to reader Xiuyulei for the generous donation!

(End of this chapter)