Wasteland in the northwest of Thane Province, two days later.
The undulating mountains are surrounded by clouds and mist, the skylight shines through the mountains, and a wide long river meanders on the black land with crisscrossed ravines. The flowery fields and vibrant green jungles of the past have long since decayed and withered under the erosion of the zerg carpet, and the dotted lakes have turned into ugly ruined ditches filled with flocculent clusters of germ carpet and covered with The spinous cavity of the exoskeleton.
The ruins of the protoss's grand city in the past still stand on the scorched earth. The protoss who built these ancient stone buildings and their descendants who have lived here for generations have been erased. The columns and boulders lined up side by side still guard the tribe. The city-states and ditches of the age.
The towering circular spire and the psychic matrix circuit covering the entire province of Thane have collapsed. On the high walls, the noble Protoss Templars once stood, and the flags of the Protoss Empire and the tribes were erected. The flag was made of the finest silk satin and inlaid with blue anima crystals and gems. It had survived the weather, but now it was torn to pieces and thrown to the ground along with the glory of the Protoss Empire.
Everything has withered, the flowers and insects have died together, leaving only the stone statues still standing under the majestic broken walls. In the Thane province of Aiur, the zerg from the distant sector brought continuous war, killing and destruction when they set foot here.
"hiss--"
In front of Augustus, a huge Hydra Hydralisk, comparable in size to a heavy armored vehicle, was twisting its terrifying snake-like tail and screaming in the blue plasma flames. Then, after several gunshots, Thrown to the ground. Even so, the Hydra Hydralisk was still roaring and trying to attack the surrounding human soldiers until the flames burned its blackened skeleton.
There were several corpses of the same kind around this hydralisk. Under their riddled chitin carapace was long-dried blood. They had obviously been dead for a long time.
"What a monster." While watching his fire bats surrounding the Hydra Hydralisk and pouring down balls of hot flames, Harnak Hank controlled his fire bats, which were larger than ordinary fire bats. The red demon armor walked to Augustus' side.
"He actually pretends to be dead, even our instruments can't detect it."
"My people are here, boss. Even if you have a leisurely time to shit here, someone will hand you toilet paper." As he spoke, he opened his helmet visor and lit his cigarette with a grassroot ember from the burnt turf.
"Thank you for your kindness, Hank, I don't think I need to do that." Augustus felt a heat wave and burning sensation when Hanak came over, and couldn't help but let Augustus, who was looking around the wilderness and observing the terrain, turn his head. Focus on him.
Hanak had two more scars on his face, and only his iconic fiery red cockscomb hair remained the same as before. There is a beautiful teardrop-shaped pendant on his right ear, which is said to have been given by a female protoss.
"Ah ha, I think so." Hanak smiled heartily.
"You're so kind, Hank." Kerrigan huffed.
Kerrigan said as she walked up to the Hydra Hydralisk, which was gradually no longer struggling, and blew away the flames on it with a snap of her fingers. Her psychic power is unparalleled among her fellow humans, not even the protoss can ignore her.
It's obvious that humans are evolving. Although gifted human psykers remain few and far between, the best among them have shocked the protoss beyond imagination.
"This Hydralisk is very smart, and the part of its brain responsible for thinking is more complex than other zerg." Kerrigan walked up to the huge crowned head of the charred Hydralisk: "It's likely that the zerg self-infected The genes drawn from our biological population caused them to make this change."
"That's from some kind of snake that can pretend to be dead." Augustus watched the hydralisk gradually lose its voice while wailing: "Fortunately, your telepathy has always been very reliable. If you hadn't reacted quickly enough, Lieutenant Ireland At least one leg will be lost.”
"In the past few years, you have saved many people and many families. This is why I say that even if you were once regarded as a slave, a tool, or a whip of punishment and punishment by the Tyranid Federation, you are still being treated by others. needs."
"This is why you value me." Kerrigan felt something akin to redemption in her heart.
While serving as a Terran Confederacy Ghost agent for Project Ghost, Kerrigan killed many people, both politicians and civilians. Those who gave Kerrigan orders may be worthy of death, but Kerrigan, who can read other people's minds, knows that some of them are innocent, and she doesn't want to kill a certain family. Young heir.
But no one cares what Kerrigan thinks. She only lives as a killing tool, and that seems to be the meaning of her existence. But Augustus will tell her: I need you, and those who survive because of you will be grateful to you, because you are no longer the god of death who brings death, but a righteous revolutionary soldier.
"That's not why I value you, I value you because you are Sarah Kerrigan." Augustus corrected Kerrigan.
"I know." Kerrigan's extremely strong telepathy ability can more clearly feel Augustus's sincere thoughts. Just like if a person shows love to a telepath, the other person is likely to be dizzy by the strong love.
"Oh - why am I standing here, damn, I'm like a light bulb." Harnak whispered: "Is this appropriate? This is not appropriate."
"I am just conveying the gratitude of the soldiers to Lieutenant Kerrigan. Many of them are grateful to her, but they dare not contact a psyker." Augustus shook his head: "Many people also regard you as A hero, isn’t he?”
"Didn't you hurt this face just to protect a child?"
"Yeah, not when I accidentally burned her." Hanak closed his mask due to a rare emotion that others would call shy.
But Harnak forgot about the smoke in his mouth, and not everyone had Tychus's iron lung.
Harnak was originally a street hustler in Shiloh, a bad-tempered gangster who had a thousand chances to become a criminal or just plain evil, but now he is indeed regarded as a savior and a hero by those who have met him.
This guy had aspired to become a federal marshal, and Augustus promised to help him realize this wish. Many people whose lives were forever changed by Augustus will remember him with deep gratitude at many times throughout their lives.
Augustus was standing on a ruined, hexagonal rectangular altar, surrounded by stone tablets and a kind of staff-shaped torch. The torch is iron-green, but it is neither bronze nor rock, but some organic material with a fluorescent green light.
Further away are a few broken bricks and stones of the former city, and further away on all sides are endless black wastes and dilapidated wastelands. Less than two months ago, this was a more beautiful and prosperous garden world than Agria, but now it was desolate.
The trees and weeds have been swallowed up by fire or the insect blanket, and even the roots of trees and grass have been uprooted until nothing is left.
Under the erosion of the zerg blanket that covered the entire continent, not even weeds were left, but there were still a few sparse patches of small primeval rainforest that were still struggling. Those withered branches and The sickly yellow leaves resemble the exposed bones and wrinkled skin of a terminally ill old man.
Under the increasingly scorching sunshine of Ayr, these sparse forests are glowing with a heavy orange-grey color. It is only a matter of time before they are swallowed up by the brilliance of the sun and the carpet of bacteria.
A huge domed tower stands on a stone foundation dozens of yards away. The tower body and top are surrounded by moss. The strange words and symbols glow with an emerald green light that symbolizes life. When it was first built, this beautiful giant tower stood high in the hinterland of the mountainous Sein province. Its light could guide travelers who lost their way in the mountains and boating on the lake. Even now, it is considered a manifestation of "miracle".
In the ancient and distant times, when the ancient star spirits were still ignorant in the tribal era, Xel'Naga, the distant drifter on the world ship, the "mentor" of Ihan, and the creator, once visited Aiur. They performed many miracles, allowing the protoss' technology to reach the space age in an extremely short time, and thus gained the fervent worship of the protoss.
And these Xel'Naga temples, magnificent towers and mysterious and unknown underground ruins that still stand on Aiur are part of the miracle. The greatness of Xel'Naga can be seen almost everywhere in Aiur. creation.
This is a historic Xel'Naga watchtower. According to the protoss survivors here, it stands here to benefit the lost, but Augustus' engineers believe that it was designed for war. Xel'Naga does not need an observatory to observe the stars, because they come from the stars in the universe.
But when Augustus came here, the Xel'Naga Watchtower was already in disrepair. One-third of the tower had been lost long before the insect invasion. Whether it was civil war or the erosion of time is impossible to verify.
However, even though it was badly damaged, the Xel'Naga Observation Tower could still be used normally. At this time, there were still many Revolutionary Army engineers climbing up the Xel'Naga observation tower to set up communication equipment. Victor Kaczynski, the second person in the engineering group, was thinking about how to connect human equipment to the Xel'Naga observation tower on the top of the tower. Together.
In the direction directly opposite Augustus, all the way to the west is the junction of the three provinces of Sein and Villari and the location of Koshaka, the heart of the Supreme Council. There is a large swamp with deep swamps. To the north is the Middling Peaks (Middling Peaks, the name of the Ayr place that appeared in the short story All Silence) in the province of Thain. The area is bounded by the peaks of Midland. Across him is the area where the Overlord fell when he came to Aiur.
That area was once a rich and charming Protoss Empire province, home to the highest peaks of Aiur and the most thrilling karst cave floors. The underground caverns filled with clusters of Kedarin crystals are as beautiful as the Crystal Palace.
At this time, the place was already called the Death Waste by the protoss in memory of the protoss in the province who almost all lost their lives in the Zerg invasion. Humans called it the Overlord's Land, literally writing the land of the Overlord.
There is also a splendid Xel'Naga temple located in the Dominion. It stands tall and high, as if supporting the sky of Aiur. It had similar features to the temple Augustus had seen on Sagurath, the home of the Dark Templar, but it was absolutely unique.
Whether this is a coincidence or not, the day the Overlord came to Aiur, it was already integrated with the temple of Xel'Naga.
With the former Xel'Naga Temple as the center, the zerg Tiamat, Grund and Jormungandr swarms built a giant zerg main nest with protective wings around it. Fenris, Berog And the Behemoth group spread on Aiur like plague and locusts in the name of the overlord's zerg, until they occupied a large area of the northern hemisphere. Only the Antioch-Sion provinces, which were heavily guarded by the Protoss Empire- The capital area just blocked the attack of the insect swarm.
When Augustus looked in the direction pointed by Kerrigan's right shoulder, only a bare patch of the Midlin Peaks, the mountain range that once separated the two great provinces like a giant's backbone, remained. It was once covered with dense green rainforest, with hanging springs and waterfalls, but now it is ugly and abominable.
There are a large number of Zerg organic matter buildings and honeycomb-like exoskeleton armor on its ridges and passes, turning the entire mountain into an insurmountable barrier and barrier.
In the past nearly a week, this place has become one of the main battlefields in a short period of time where the Protoss-Human coalition forces fought against the main force of the Zerg. After more coalition reinforcements arrived, Midlin gradually evolved into the center of the war, becoming an area that both sides fought for repeatedly at all costs.
The Midrin Peaks themselves symbolize perseverance and the will to climb in the culture of the Protoss Empire, because one of the greatest Protoss explorers in the history of the Empire is buried there. In the past few days, this place name has been constantly mentioned in the communication network of the Revolutionary Army, but it has become a terrible word that the soldiers who were injured here and forced to withdraw from the battlefield are unwilling to mention and recall.
When Augustus looked at the peaks of Midlin, a large number of blue flashes and barrages were intertwined in the sky above them. Countless flying insect creatures and protoss human fighter planes were fighting under the clear blue sky of Ayr.
The dozen Colossi that moved across the ground like moving towers were lined up like high walls. The plasma beams of thousands of feet swept across the zerg that were constantly pouring from the crypts, scattered across the source of the Midland River. The Protoss Templars and Revolutionary Army combat divisions spread across a thousand square miles of land looked like black ants when viewed from a high altitude.
There was a lot of artillery fire, and everything was burning.
The loud noise in Augustus' ears never subsided. He could distinguish the sound of which weapon came from the revolutionary army, and mentally estimated when the cannonball would land. However, as the soul of the revolutionary army, he believed that he no longer needed to Then as a frontline soldier, face the hail of bullets.
