"Die...die."
"have no idea…"
Looking at the "elites" lying on the ground with their mouths burned by plasma, the Grunts still spoke with lingering fear.
"Get out of the way, dwarfs!"
"Get out of the way!"
But the jackals didn't care, they pushed away the grunts and ran towards the fortifications.
But before the group of jackals could run away, the "elite" who was supposed to be dead, twisted his joints and crawled towards a jackal quickly.
"ah!"
With a scream, the jackal was pinned down by the "Elite".
Immediately afterwards, their skins seemed to stick together, and their tentacles intertwined, forming a larger, twisted creature.
"Help...save me..." the jackal called for help with an accent in his voice.
But where do the Covenant soldiers have time to take care of it?
"Fire! Fire!"
"Don't eat me! Don't eat me...ah!"
"Run!!"
The scene descended into chaos.
More and more "elites" and "Jiralhanae" with twisted and deformed bodies completely surrounded this group of covenant soldiers.
At the same time, there were also creatures that made a gagging sound and looked like bubble-shaped octopuses, coming from all directions like uncontrollable floods.
The Grunts and Jackals were slaughtered in an instant.
"Roar!"
The four remaining Jiralhanae only lasted a few seconds longer than the weaker races before letting out an unwilling roar and then perished in the "flood wave".
All resistance is to be resolved.
The "Elite" and the "Jiralhanae" all turned around and began to attack the fortress that was still garrisoned by living creatures.
On the other hand, those bubble-shaped octopuses that cause humans to suffer from trypophobia use their slender and sharp tentacles to scratch the skin of corpses, and then use the scratches to penetrate into the interior of the corpse.
One of the Jiralhanae corpses that had been eroded by the bubble octopus suddenly twitched, and then deformed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within a moment.
This corpse also became a member of the "flood" army.
As for the physical fitness, although the smaller Grunts and Jackals were also parasitized, they still lay on the ground, their heads and upper bodies gradually swollen, and their deformation speed was relatively slow.
It seems that bubble octopuses use their carcasses as a breeding ground for breeding their own species.
at this time.
The formation composed of large transport boats and Viking fighter planes slowed down their flight speed, maintained an altitude of 100 meters above the ground, and passed over the base at low altitude.
In the cabin of the transport ship, there were thirty Paladins and the same number of Sekhmet, as well as two originals with their helmets closed.
The crew shared the real-time footage captured by the transport ship to the helmet screen, allowing the original body and the Honor Guards to observe various situations occurring on the surface.
Under the helmet.
“…”
Magnus frowned and his expression was extremely serious.
Through the real-time video on the left side of the screen, the moment he saw the bubble-shaped octopus burrowing into and twisting the body, he was certain that the creature ravaging the surface was the Flood that his father had mentioned to him and Leon.
Bubble Octopus is the Flood's most basic infection form, or infection spores, and they are also the most important component of the Flood.
The presence of infection spores allows the Flood to infect and absorb other races more smoothly.
Once the infection spores successfully penetrate into a living body, they will quickly expand their tentacles, go straight to the spine, and attack the host physiologically and neurologically until they completely assimilate the host.
Even if it is a corpse, as long as it is not corrupted to the point of serious ulceration, the spores can still complete the infection and transformation.
At the same time, the spores will derive infection forms responsible for different "positions" based on the host's physique and quality.
For example, races such as elites and Jiralhanae will be twisted into "combatants" specialized in fighting, and his father also specifically mentioned to him that humans also fall into this category.
On the other hand, hosts such as Grunts and Jackals will only be deformed into fighting bodies in very few cases, and usually they will become "mother bodies" dedicated to incubating more infected spores.
As for the host’s memory and thinking…
Even the soul may be taken by the Flood as its own, thus condensing into "one body".
As for why Sui Bian knew the information about the Flood, Magnus would not delve too deeply into it. After all, his father had too many secrets.
Slow down.
He opened the internal communication and said to his brother in a deep voice: "Leon, it seems that we have won the lottery. What the Jiralhanae released is not weapons, but a flood that can sweep across the entire galaxy."
"Brainless thing." Leon agreed slightly unhappily.
The two Primarchs were talking.
The last fortress of the Covenant base was easily captured by the Flood army, and the Covenant soldiers hiding inside will also become one of them.
At this time.
The screen showed a large number of Flood combatants holding firearms, raising their muzzles one after another, and firing plasma cannons at transport ships and Viking fighters with unbelievable accuracy.
The engine room tilted slightly, indicating that the crew was maneuvering the transport boat to avoid it.
"Da da da!"
The escorting Viking fighters used Gauss cannons to "sweep the ground."
No matter how tenacious the Flood's vitality is, it cannot withstand the physical destruction of the 25mm spike bullets, causing the combat body to completely lose its combat capabilities.
"Pah~! Pah~!" The infected spores burst like balloons one after another.
"Ceasefire for all pilots."
However, Magnus opened the communication, stopped the escort pilots from clearing the ground, and ordered: "Continue to sail towards the target, and go to the center of the earth."
"Yes, sir." All the pilots responded.
The reason why Magnus called off the attack was because the pilot did not cause any substantial damage to the Flood army except for wasting aerial bombs.
The infected spores were seen splicing the corpses that were broken into pieces by the machine gun, thus evolving into a reptilian type, or a sturdy "tank" type.
Finished issuing the order.
Magnus also used the Teutonic Knights' repeater to send information about the existence of the Flood in the Shield World to the Hymn of Courage.
Then, through the helmet screen, he watched the flight formation accelerate away from the Covenant base, and then entered the abyss-like entrance. After flying for a while, the Hymn of Courage, which had a communication delay, gave an audio reply.
Sui Bian's voice came from the audio: "Try to recover the data, technology or weapons related to the Forerunners, and then ignite the core of the shield world as soon as possible to destroy it, and control the spread of the Flood at the initial stage."
Hear the words.
"I know, father." Magnus and Leon replied habitually.
Although it was a very pity decision to destroy the Shield World, according to the information provided by Volsa, it can be known that at least six hours have passed since the Flood was accidentally released by the Jiralhanae.
Based on another key point provided by the intelligence, it can be inferred that the total number of Covenant Empire troops deployed in the Shield World, including the elite clan, is close to four million...
The Flood should have broken away from the unorganized "wild" stage, formed, or had already formed the initial corpse brain beasts, and entered the "cooperation" stage.
Once the corpse brain beast evolves to the "complete body", it will absorb the memories, thoughts and souls of four million intelligent beings.
Magnus dare not say that it is the most intelligent thing in the entire galaxy, but it is definitely among the most cunning.
The current shield world is already in an irreversible stage of infection, and the Flood they face makes Magnus very uncomfortable, and he seems to have a very strong restraint on spiritual energy.
"restraint…"
Thinking of this, as a scholar who has long studied psychic powers and other worlds, Magnus expressed his analysis to his brother:
"Leon, if it is true that the Forerunners created the Flood, then the Flood may be a weapon aimed at a different space, and something happened in the process, causing the Forerunners to be backlashed by the Flood, and eventually annihilated in the long river of history."
"Ah, maybe." Leon agreed indifferently.
The Primarch, known as the master of swordsmanship, didn't care about the past of the Forerunners and the Flood. He only cared about how to complete the tasks assigned to them by his father.
Outside the cabin.
The flight formation was heading downwards toward the inner world in a spacious, eerie and dark tunnel.
During the voyage.
The pilots sitting in the cockpit can also observe that there are many automatic turrets with Forerunner technology around them, releasing high-temperature rays of orange-red light to burn the infection spores that are constantly flowing to the surface.
But everything they do is in vain. They are called flood demons because once they overflow, they will be as difficult to control as a flood.
After several minutes of sailing.
The light at the end of the tunnel became more dazzling. It was not until the flight formation rushed out of the tunnel that the light gradually softened. The pilots also experienced for the first time what a "paradise" is.
However, the pilots here also couldn't tell the direction for a while, because no matter where they looked, they could see green forests and grasslands, beautiful mountains, rivers and lakes.
Even if they looked towards the "sky", there was actually a clear ocean at the other end of the sky. It seemed that a special gravity device prevented the seawater from pouring on their heads.
At the location equivalent to the core of the Earth-like planet, there is an artificial star with a diameter of about thirty kilometers "suspended", providing warm light to this "paradise" and energy to the entire shield world.
Of course, many areas have become very unsightly due to the erosion of the Flood.
Some lakes that were supposed to be crystal clear are now swamps that are thick, turbid, and even smell of corruption.
Nearby plants centered around the swamp have died, replaced by a wriggling, earth-green rhizome.
Network-like rhizomes entwine the soil and accumulate into mushroom-like aggregates at regular intervals.
These aggregates are filled with holes of different sizes, and from time to time they emit turbid gas containing fine particles, continuously polluting the surroundings.
But at this moment, Magnus, under the helmet, had his eyes wide open and his mouth slightly opened, focusing on the artificial star.
He couldn't help but sigh: "Just looking at the technology displayed in the Shield World, it is not difficult to understand why the Covenant people regard the Forerunners as gods.
With our current technology, even the transformation of planets has very strict conditions, but they can independently build habitable planets..."
"God? Ha." Leon expressed disdain.
Sensing his brother's mood swings, Magnus just chuckled and said nothing, then calmed down and continued to observe.
soon.
There was no need to search carefully. A conspicuous three-sided pyramid building was located "directly" below the artificial star.
At the same time, psychic perception also told Magnus that the pyramid also made him extremely disgusted.
It means that this is the area where the Flood demons gather. It may be the place where they were first released, or it may be the master control facility of the Shield World.
Immediately, he marked the pyramid and ordered the pilot: "Take us there."
"learn."
Finished.
The flight formation carried them quickly towards the pyramid.
Wait for the formation to approach.
The four Viking fighters responsible for the escort stood out, unfolded the magazine in the belly of the aircraft, and launched more than a dozen ground-attack missiles towards the bottom of the pyramid.
"Shua~----!"
"Boom! Boom~!"
The missiles trailed white tail flames and landed one after another at the entrance of the flood demon gathering. The violent explosions instantly cleared a relatively clean landing zone.
Subsequently, the four Vikings quickly turned left and right, circled in a circle, slowed down and adjusted the angle of their noses, and then fired a wave of cannon fire to stabilize the created landing zone.
The transport boat also took this opportunity to lower its altitude and quickly flew to mid-air in the landing zone.
Hover without touching the ground, unfold the tail hatch, and unload the original body and the Honor Guard who have been waiting for a long time.
The transport boat then closed its hatch and moved away from the ground. The four Viking fighter jets also ended their ground attack, and the escort transport boat returned to high altitude.
Look at the landing area again.
Magnus released a spiritual barrier of light red light, completely covering everyone, hoping to prevent them from coming into contact with the Flood.
"howl!!"
"Gulu~."
The fighting bodies and infection spores that surrounded everyone and made strange roars were trying to attack the barrier.
"Pah~! Pah~!"
As long as the infection spores come into contact with the barrier, they will continue to break.
But the fighting body with extremely tenacious vitality kept hammering the barrier, and soon...
"Crack...click~!"
The barrier that could withstand most physical attacks was actually hit by a seemingly ordinary hit, creating extremely insignificant patterns that looked like glass bursting.
The sixty Honor Guards were not idle either.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
While Magnus maintained the barrier to protect everyone heading toward the interior of the pyramid, the Honor Guards used parallel or heavy bolters to spit out "fire snakes" at the Flood wave.
And unlike the results of plasma attacks, bolt bombs that can tear and collapse the body can truly cause the combat body Flood to temporarily lose the ability to move.
From this point of view, it is more effective to use live ammunition weapons to deal with the Flood.
Several Sekhmet who were good at using psychic powers controlled the parallel bolt gun with their left hand, and waved their right hand forward, releasing dazzling red lightning.
"Crack!" several times.
Even though the power of psychic lightning was suppressed, it still burned dozens of combat flood demons.
The next group of people headed against the "flood" and went deep into the interior of the pyramid facility.
