Catherine charged forward with her blade.
With both hands gripping the Ship-Slicing Blade, she completed a spin and handstand in an instant, dragging the blade toward the back of the Land Expansion Worm.
The high-speed rotating serrated blade erupted in a series of sparks!
Griss made a snap decision, directing firepower straight at the wounded head of the Land Expansion Worm!
The worm emitted a low-frequency hum, and its forward speed began to slow, its massive maw slowly closing. As it lay motionless on the slope, the giant mouth was only a few meters from the forefront supermodified people.
Catherine lifted the Ship-Slicing Blade and stepped away from the vicinity of the worm’s neck, thick green blood dripping down the outside of her protective shield.
No time to celebrate,
The massive body of the Land Expansion Worm started accelerating its descent. Under the spotlight, it fell into the enormous underground cavity as if plunging into an endless Abyss.
Griss suddenly shouted, "Turn off the spotlight first!"
In the Abyss, pairs of lantern-like green eyes flickered, and the worm extinguished a patch of green light.
Biological reaction detection data...
A hundred thousand Insect Swarm!
"Retreat! This is a trap!"
Griss roared loudly, and the team members had already begun to move.
But below, a massive buzzing sound arose; the swarm had begun their charge.
Catherine hesitated for hardly a moment, turning to move forward and battle the insects. But a large hand had already clamped down on her shoulder, pulling her directly back.
Yang Ming’s mechanical body.
"I have an Ultimate Bomb left," Yang Ming grinned, "Protect them as they retreat, I’ll deal with these insects. Remember to remind Captain Griss to order the White Ghost, the White Ghost has been waiting a long time."
Catherine frowned slightly, but Yang Ming had already begun disassembling.
His legs split into four sections, arms detached from the torso, a dense array of miniature launch bays appeared in the chest cavity.
"Go quickly, I’ll collapse this area, remember to set the protective shield to maximum power."
"Got it," Catherine turned and ran without a moment’s hesitation.
Yang Ming’s lips twitched a few times; he had expected at least a little tender sentiment.
He had originally planned to use this move against the Mother Worm. As long as the supermodified people could get his mechanical body close to the Mother Worm, he’d have a chance to destroy the opponent directly.
If the main body could remain unseen, it was best it stayed unseen.
Yet, under the current circumstances, the sharp attack strategy had clearly failed.
The comrades weren’t lacking in effort, but relying on a few Transformed Soldiers to fight against the vast quantity of the Insect Swarm was never a wise choice.
The mechanical body fired hundreds of miniature missiles, with explosions forming a pressure wall, cutting off the swarm’s attack on the narrow area.
The limbs exploded one after another, and the torso plunged into the swarm.
Yang Ming instantly withdrew the attached consciousness, leaving the final self-destruct sequence to be executed by Lyu.
The ground trembled violently, and the central passage collapsed with a roar.
Griss and others barely managed to escape the explosion’s blast zone, using their protective shields to fend off the flying debris surging from below.
After the explosion’s aftershocks subsided, radar detected an even larger cavity below, with no Insect Race filling it for the time being.
Griss’s Adam’s apple twitched; he fully understood the difference between a Fourth Rank swarm and a Third Rank swarm.
The land still hid an unknown number of insects.
One wrong command, and it could lead to the annihilation of the entire army.
"Captain Griss," Catherine’s clear voice resonated in the team channel, "Don’t forget to call the White Ghost."
Griss froze for a moment, then woke up as if from a dream and shouted into the public channel:
"Go forward! White Ghost, go forward!"
"Received," Yang Ming’s voice sounded, and his avatar appeared in the channel list, "I will enter the right passage in three minutes!"
Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface,
Not far from the Empire’s ground landing zone, a Dune suddenly collapsed, launching a rocket with bright red paint from within, heading straight for the right side of the landing zone.