Although Meng Ma’s height was only about fifty meters, she was on all fours. Furthermore, wielding the giant blades made her overall length exceed her height. Counting from the tip of the blade to her tail, she stretched nearly a hundred meters.

Seeing himself surrounded by Meng Ma, Hadrak extended both hands, pushed off with his toes, and spun like a top. His hands swept rapidly through the air, the edges of his palms like knives, cleaving down towards Meng Ma. Meng Huo let out a howl, meeting the attack by thrusting both giant blades forward. A grating, ear-splitting sound followed, and the giant blades were actually split in half by one of Hadrak’s palm strikes. The same fate befell Meng Ma; she too was cleaved in two by Hadrak’s single palm attack.

The remaining Meng Huo pressed their attack, raining down sheets of gleaming blade light with their twenty-meter-long giant blades. The giant ape Hadrak moved low and high with extreme agility, his left and right hands alternating in chopping blows; the heads of more than ten Meng Ma beasts fell!

At that moment, a cloud of gray-white matter rushed towards him at bullet speed. Simultaneously, the swarm in the air launched another wave of attack: massive quantities of small organisms, spore pods, acid globs, and suicide bats accurately bombarded him!

Seeing the attack incoming, Hadrak remained unfazed. He slanted his body to dodge the giant blade of one Meng Ma, extended his ape arm, and snatched that beast up. Spinning around, he hurled the creature towards the gray-white cloud. He had discerned that the small organisms forming the cloud attacked by self-detonation, so he intended to use the Meng Ma to trigger the creatures’ explosion.

The Meng Ma indeed struck the gray-white cloud, but the cloud did not explode as he anticipated. This was because these small organisms could control their trajectory between targets, clearly possessing the ability to distinguish friend from foe—a capability derived from the Flying Dragons. The Flying Dragons’ thoughts were controlled by the Overlord, who in turn obeyed Yang Ying, creating a strict, meticulous hierarchy without any confusion.

Seeing this, Hadrak’s estimation of this unknown creature force’s organizational capability rose yet again. He mused inwardly: “These creatures are clearly highly advanced biological weapons, several times more potent than the ancient behemoths. Even without orbital bombardment, this group alone could likely capture the Pluto base. Where did the Teran Mercenary Group obtain such advanced technical support? Never mind, thinking about it now is useless; it’s better to resolve this situation first.”

By now, the overwhelming barrage of attacks was upon him. The Meng Huo behind and in front of him swung their blades fiercely, hacking at him and blocking off all directions. Hadrak roared, shattering two giant blades with his palms, then plunged both hands between two Meng Huo creatures. With a forceful outward pull, he instantly separated the two beasts. He squeezed his body through the gap; five or six giant blades swept past him, but his body twisted with uncanny grace, evading the arcs of steel.

Spore pods and acid struck the ground, blasting away a large group of small dog-like creatures that joined the gray-white cloud in pursuit of Hadrak. Meanwhile, thousands of suicide bats skillfully slipped through the gaps between the Meng Ma, rushing right up to Hadrak.

The suicide bats were only slightly larger than fighter jets, their speed no less, and their maneuverability even superior. They locked onto Hadrak and charged.

Hadrak sensed the imminent, powerful explosion of the suicide bats and wanted to evade them, but the mass of Meng Ma pressed him, preventing him from fully deploying his strength. He could only wave his hand towards the suicide bats, unleashing a tornado laced with wind blades, which sucked the bats in and shredded them to pieces.

The gray-white cloud formed by the small organisms followed immediately. Hadrak gestured, compressing the cloud downwards until it became a gray-white sphere about twenty meters in diameter. He squeezed his hand heavily, and the sphere violently contracted further. A massive roar echoed—

BOOM

The cloud exploded, unleashing a violent burst of yellowish-green smoke that sent the nearby Meng Ma reeling. The small dogs were instantly torn apart by the shockwave, reduced to dust without a sound.

Hadrak surged into the mass of Meng Ma, his palms sweeping like lightning—a strike to the left, a strike to the right—and huge severed limbs and torsos were flung everywhere. He dodged or blocked every attack from the aerial swarm. Within ten minutes, all one hundred Meng Ma beasts were slaughtered by him!

On the mountain that buried the bodies of six Blade Emperors, Yang Ying brought the remaining nine hundred Meng Ma to the summit. Since standing high offered a better vantage point, this was the highest elevation in the vicinity.

“The Zerg’s Meng Huo and the Terran ‘Thor’ heavy assault mecha are both ultimate weapons. While inferior to Carriers or Battlecruisers, they are still terrifyingly powerful units. Even facing one Meng Huo takes me considerable effort. Yet Hadrak killed one hundred Meng Huo purely with his palm blades; this shows the true might of Level Four! Impressive.”

Upon seeing Hadrak slay a hundred Meng Ma, Yang Ying felt deep admiration for his capabilities, yet felt no regret for the Meng Ma. Meng Huo were merely advanced cannon fodder; without independent consciousness, their demise was just a matter of numbers.

Furthermore, the reproductive pressure on the Zerg had been mounting, and resources were gradually becoming insufficient. Yang Ying had already ordered a reduction in the breeding rate, but this was not a solution.

A slower breeding rate meant a slower generational update. Since the Zerg evolved almost constantly, with each generation stronger than the last, a slower update rate meant a slower rate of evolution—which was not what Yang Ying desired.

Yang Ying also did not wish for the Zerg to commit suicide to solve the problem. If he could use this opportunity to exhaust a batch, it would free up more living space and resources, allowing the Zerg’s breeding rate to return to normal.

Despite his respect for Hadrak’s skill, the battle had to continue. The appearance of the Zerg swarm gave Yang Ying one more reason to eliminate Hadrak. Seeing Hadrak moving again after annihilating the Meng Ma, Yang Ying dispatched another hundred Meng Huo into the fray. Simultaneously, he snapped his fingers, summoning tens of thousands of Lurkers and Spine Crawlers! These were evolutions of the Hydralisk; when burrowed underground, they could erupt a row of sharp spines from the ground, easily piercing the alloy plating of a Tank—a very formidable weapon.

The Lurkers dispersed immediately upon deployment and burrowed into the earth. The black-bee smoke had not yet dissipated, so Hadrak did not notice the Lurkers’ movements. But when he flickered to a spot and felt rows of spikes piercing the ground and thrusting towards him, he knew his situation had become slightly more perilous.

After advancing to Level Four, Hadrak’s precognition was even sharper than before. Although there seemed no escape above or below, he could always find the path of least damage. Consequently, even after nearly half an hour of attack from millions of Zerg units, they had not inflicted significant harm upon him.

Seeing the second wave of Meng Ma arrive, Hadrak sighed inwardly: “This relentless attack cannot cease. In my giant ape form, both offense and defense require psychic energy. Although I eliminated that gray-white cloud and slaughtered those monstrous Meng Huo, my psychic energy drain was substantial. Now this second wave of behemoths is here—they are simply inexhaustible. I cannot continue like this; I must get out first.”

Hadrak’s form flickered repeatedly as he charged towards the edge of the battlefield in one direction.

“Hmm, he’s actually retreating.” Yang Ying’s brow twitched as he watched the receding figure. He smiled faintly: “But no matter how far he retreats, he cannot escape my swarm.”

The Zerg forces only covered the visible distance, not the entire surface of Pluto. Hadrak, using the localized teleportation of his Level Four power, soon spotted the edge of the swarm.

However, a Ghost fighter jet flew overhead, flashing golden light that dissolved into a light curtain descending over the area. Within the curtain, a large contingent of Zerg troops appeared, blocking his path!

“It’s endless!” Hadrak roared in anger, raising his hand toward the Ghost fighter jet and firing a Level Six beam. The Ghost fighter jet performed an emergency evasive maneuver, dodging the beam, and quickly flew into the distance.

The swarm once again encircled Hadrak, and the battle continued.

Hadrak attempted to break through in several directions consecutively, but each time, just as he was about to burst through the encirclement, he was forced back.

“That Ghost fighter in the sky is incredibly slippery. The pilot is clearly a master at the peak level. Where did the Teran Mercenary Group find so many experts?”

After several failed attempts, Hadrak abandoned the effort. Using Level Four psychic energy for localized teleportation, his speed far surpassed that of a peak master, but matching it against a peak master-level Ghost fighter jet was an unfair contest.

With another flash of golden light, a hundred Meng Ma were instantly teleported next to Hadrak. Hadrak once again wielded his dual palms, trying to minimize his expenditure, and annihilated them all.

However, consumption was inevitable. Even with his best efforts to conserve, the radiance around his giant ape form had dimmed considerably. The small organisms launched by the Flying Dragons, as well as the suicide bats themselves, possessed tracking capabilities and attacked at extreme speeds. Simple evasion would not suffice; he had to destroy the suicide bats and detonate the small organisms to truly eliminate the threat of pursuit.

“Whoever manufactured these biological weapons, their biotechnology must surpass that of the Kustar people. These creatures are numerous, fast, and agile—truly difficult to handle.”

At this point, Hadrak no longer had the focus to deal with the small dogs and Lurkers, allowing them to attack his lower legs. His entire concentration was now tied up by the aerial swarm.

Hadrak had considered escaping into space, but the speed of the Flying Dragons and the suicide bats, even at his full flight speed, was equal to his own. Using localized teleportation was faster but consumed a significant amount of mental power that he could not sustain for long. Moreover, Yang Ying had the Ghost fighters. A peak master-level Ghost fighter, even without the Meteor Halo System, was enough to keep pace with his teleportation speed, leading only to a repeat of the ground encounter. Furthermore, leaving Pluto and entering the vacuum of space meant zero access to natural energy, which would drastically reduce his strength, making the situation even more dangerous.

At this moment, he was unaware that the Ghost fighters were equipped with a sub-light engine superior to the Meteor Halo System, capable of approaching the speed of light!

Another hundred Meng Huo charged forward. Hadrak knew that if this continued, his psychic energy would eventually be depleted, plunging him back into the shadow side of his mental world. Without the state of spiritual insight he experienced during his Level Four promotion, recovering his full strength would require at least a seven-day recovery period.

And after seven days, the Ape-men would likely be gone from the solar system.

Hadrak stopped moving, raised both hands toward the sky, and sighed: “Enough, enough. Let us have a great slaughter, and then to each his own fate!”

A note here: attentive readers of the previous chapter may have noticed that the size of the Aerial Guardians and the Devourers is comparable to that of the Meng Ma. This is normal. I examined the official Terran videos from StarCraft, and the second video, depicting Aerial Guardians and suicide bats hunting Battlecruisers, allowed me to freeze-frame and compare the sizes of the Aerial Guardian and the Battlecruiser. My conclusion led to the current depiction. The large aerial units of the Zerg are about the size of medium-sized warships. As for the size difference between Meng Huo and Aerial Guardians, please disregard it; in this book, the size of the Valkyrie Escort Ship is also comparable to the Thor.

Also, there will be another chapter later, though it will be somewhat delayed.