Stellaris from the Automata Era

Taking a step back, even if he cannot imitate it, after personally feeling the actual impact that the artifact will have on him, he can think of some countermeasures.

"I understand, my lord. May your glory live on forever."

Chapter 231: Renault's Resistance

The rest time on Char didn't last long.

Both the Zerg and the Tyranids knew that with the artifact potentially fully charged at any moment, the battle on this planet was destined to be short and intense.

From the very beginning, it was not a boring confrontation game of adding troops to each other.

And they put all their chips on the line, gambling everything they have in the coming storm.

Although the Zerg's Blade Queen had lost the first round in the previous confrontation, her troops did not actually cause much damage.

Tens of thousands of bugs were just a drizzle on the planet, and could be replenished in an instant with her subsequent reinforcements.

Moreover, the important biomass of the Zerg was not destroyed by the Tyranids. The Zerg debris left on the battlefield could be recycled and reused to produce similar Zerg units in nearby nests.

The Tyranids are destined to dwindle in number, while the Zerg will be endless.

Of course, the Terrans are also well aware of this situation. The biggest reason why their flamethrowers and most of their outdated weapons have not been retired is that they can effectively destroy biomass.

But the Tyranids may not have much time to clean up the debris on the battlefield and destroy their possibility of regeneration.

After just a short breath, the Blade Queen appeared in front of Renault again with the Zerg army.

The first round was indeed a complete victory for Tyranids, but as reinforcements from all over Char arrived, they filled the front line again.

This resulted in the Tyranid commander Raynor not daring to take any unnecessary actions, such as destroying the corpses of the Zerg.

However, the more terrifying problem is that the previous battle may have allowed the Queen of Blades to test some of the limitations of the artifact.

For example, its scope of action...

The current Zerg encirclement is exactly the outermost area where there are no corpses. It is the area that was not affected by the previous outbreak of the Xel'Naga artifact.

In fact, the Queen of Blades has begun to underestimate the effect of the artifact.

It is undeniable that it does have a fatal impact on the Zerg, but the limited distance limitation makes it impossible to directly destroy the entire Zerg swarm on a planet.

This also means that the artifact is just a powerful weapon, just like a nuclear bomb, which is powerful but cannot cause the Zerg to collapse.

If it were just this extent, perhaps she wouldn't have to worry too much about the threat of the artifact.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the Queen of Blades is no longer wary of artifacts.

During the first impact of the artifact just now, she also felt the power of the artifact head-on. The strong psychic impact almost tore her will apart.

Maybe she wants to make further attempts...Does that damn Xel'Naga artifact have a cooling limit?

"Everyone hold your posts!"

Renault quickly issued orders to his legion.

In fact, the speed of the Zerg's comeback was somewhat beyond his expectations, which also led to the failure of his original plan to build several planetary fortresses for emergency defense at key locations on the front line.

However, due to the launch of the plan, the Terran SUV had already laid the foundation and built part of the skeleton.

But after seeing the vast sea of ​​insects coming, they quickly changed into an oversized bunker. For some reason, the first insects to arrive did not harass Tyranid's defense construction.

Therefore, after setting up the tank cluster in siege mode along the bunker, a relatively stable temporary position was built.

However, there seemed to be a loophole in his defense, that is, there were not many air defense facilities throughout the entire process.

Of course, this was not a mistake in Renault's thinking and command, and with the previous raid on the high-altitude orbit, the Zerg's only air unit production site had long been blown to pieces.

Now Char's Zerg Air Force is probably on the same level as Mongolia's Navy, although there are some, but not many..

A few Viking fighters are enough to complete the air control, not to mention that as time goes by, the fleet that was severely damaged before has been repaired.

With these advantages, Renault is fully confident that it can hold on forever.

But Renault soon found that he was too happy too early.

'Warning: Level 10 Psychic Fluctuation.'

"Damn it, it's Leviathan!"

After the adjutant's reminder, all the Terrans soon discovered that a huge monster quickly broke through the atmosphere, with half of its body exposed in mid-air.

Faced with the final order of the Zerg, everyone immediately realized that there was a big problem.

If not dealt with quickly, this monster could wipe out all the Terrans on Char.

"Matt, take all available battleships and meet it head-on!"

"Roger that! Commander!"

After finishing the conversation with his most trusted subordinate, Renault quickly closed the communication.

Let the trouble in the air be solved by those in the air, he still has things on the ground to deal with.

With the arrival of Leviathan, it seemed to signal the temporary standoff between the Tyranids and the Zerg.

Countless insects moved restlessly across a safe distance and began to charge towards Tyranid's defense line.

If only it were that, it would be fine.

Even more troublesome was the Leviathans in the sky starting to coat their troops with spores and airdrop packages to various locations guarded by the Tyranids. These bugs were actually in the mood for airborne attacks!?

At this time, the few air defense measures were unable to effectively intercept, and they could only watch the swarm deploy troops everywhere in their home.

However, the only thing to be thankful for is that due to the rapid expansion of his military strength, Renault still has a lot of reserve troops.

Originally, he was preparing to deal with any failure on the front line, but now it seems that destroying the airborne bugs in the rear is also a good option.

After all, the ability of Leviathan's airdrop troops still has its limits, and the fleet has already begun to fight it head-on.

It shouldn't be so easy for these inhuman guys to break into the core of the defense.

Then, just less than half an hour later, Renault had to order the use of the power of the artifact again.

Because with the fierce attack of the Zerg, their front line could no longer withstand the pressure.

The Zerg seemed to be planning to wipe out the Tyranids in one fell swoop, and without any hesitation, they pushed all of their current troops into the battlefield as bargaining chips.

After another fierce battle between the two sides, Renault was the first to say that he could not hold on any longer.

After the mysterious actions of former commander Warfield, the once huge imperial army is no longer as powerful as when it first arrived.

Especially after the forced surrender, with the loss of various supplies, it is a very good data to keep the troops' combat effectiveness at the original three levels.

To be honest...how they were able to gain a foothold in Charles is something Renault still can't figure out.

But no matter what, the most important thing for him at the moment is to try his best to prevent large-scale casualties in the army, otherwise it will be difficult to withstand the subsequent time of charging the artifact.

It's better to charge slowly than to have the artifact snatched away by the Queen of Blades.

"Release the artifact!"

Chapter 232: I'm waiting for it to cool down, what are you waiting for?

The final result was undoubted. The Xel'Naga's artifact turned an entire swarm of Zerg into corpses.

This almost meant that the Zerg's second siege ended in failure, and they also lost a Leviathan.

From the current perspective, the Zerg's offensive seems to have come to an end.

However, the situation did not stagnate as Raynor had imagined, and the Zerg did not give him much opportunity to rest.

With the end of the second offensive, the Zerg's third attack followed.

It seems that the Blade Queen has hidden a lot of reserve troops, and these bugs are far away from the range of the artifact that was detected before.

It seemed as if they were waiting for this moment to deal a fatal blow to the Terrans who were in a cooling time vacuum.

However, this batch of insects was inferior to the previous round in both quality and quantity. After paying a huge price, they were barely repelled.

"Tell those SCVs that even if there's not a single original screw left in the bunker on the front line, I'm going to see it stand again!"

"You're being a bit embarrassing."

In fact, after two rounds of continuous fighting, there were no so-called bunkers on the front line anymore.

In the third round of attack, the Zerg took advantage of the blank period in the second round and broke through the defensive position in one fell swoop. When they were about to reach their home base in the rear, a group of Tyranid soldiers barely stopped their pace.

The two sides fought for a while before Terran barely won.

This was also thanks to the Zerg's poor subsequent recruitment and the fact that Tyranids was fighting at home, otherwise the Queen of Blades would have already obtained the artifact.

Of course, although the description is a bit brief, the tragic situation can be imagined.

For the SCVs who were in charge of logistics and infrastructure, where would the bunkers come from on the newly recaptured front line? Those bunkers were too big and had high taunts, so they were definitely the priority attack targets of the Zerg.

The so-called lack of original screws is simply a high-EQ statement. The real purpose is to make them work overtime to rebuild one.

"Don't stare... I got it, I'll go right away!"

After assigning the scv's tasks with his eyes, Renault turned his attention back to the strategic map.

In Renault's eyes, the third round of Zerg attack was somewhat unclear.

There was a sense of testing in that brief offensive. Renault simply could not imagine how the Blade Queen would dare to let a lone army come forward like a sharp knife without the continuous support of follow-up troops.

Although it did cause considerable chaos to his troops at the time, Renault reacted quickly and responded accordingly.

Even without the help of the artifact's power, all the invading insect swarms can be strangled.

However, the Blade Queen's strategic intentions, which she did not reveal, still made Renault feel wary.

The Blade Queen, who retains a lot of Terran wisdom, is not a player who will just close her eyes and do f2a. There must be some conspiracy!

Therefore, Renault must immediately rebuild its front-line positions, step up production in the logistics department, and send more heavy firepower.

In short, he would rather fight wits and courage with the air for a long time than see failure caused by his own negligence.

Of course, he also had to ensure his own retreat and make other preparations.

For now, he did not place all his hopes on the Xel'Naga artifact, even though the scientists on the prince's side had promised to reverse the boundary between humans and insects.

But that was only a theoretical statement. Considering that the Empire contributed the most troops to this battle, he didn't mind taking a chance for his former lover.

He also didn't want to see all his brothers die in a foreign land, so he could only do his best.

As long as the artifact fails to have its desired effect after being fully charged, he will not hesitate to lead all his people to attack the universe and evacuate Char Star.

"Now I'm waiting for the artifact to recharge... Sarah, what are you waiting for?"

...

"I'm waiting for the rest of the Zerg to break free from the Imperial sniping and surround Char."

In her own hive, the Queen of Blades once again emphasized her strategic deployment to the Zerg Queens under her command.

The Zerg Queen was indeed created by her to replace the command class of the Brain Worm.

However, as is the nature of insects, these creatures who only know how to kill have no idea what strategy is.

During the few days of the siege of the Terrans, the Zerg Queen beside her had been continuously expressing her hope to attack and slaughter these Terrans.

But after losing air superiority, the Queen of Blades clearly understood that the Terrans in front of her had the option of escape.

If it were before, she might have chosen to overwhelm it with a swarm of insects without hesitation, leaving it to choose between dignity or escaping in disgrace.

But when they brought the Xel'Naga artifact, things were a little different.

It is undeniable that the Queen of Blades, who had faced the artifact once, did sense the threat of death brought by the artifact.

But the artifact also tore a gap in her will. She could clearly feel that the dark will that once surrounded her and tried to control her was dispelled a little bit.

Yes, even as the ultimate leader of the Zerg, the Queen of Blades clearly understood that she was just a puppet of something.

It was like a kind of mental shackle that had been controlling her and the entire swarm.

The previous leader of the Zerg, the Overmind, once tried to rebel, but it failed.

The current Queen of Blades also tried to resist.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have chased after the artifact so madly after learning about it.