Chapter 374: Protoss Purification! The Golden Armada! Rescue the Survivors!
"Move!"
With Paul's command, Master Chief and Din Djarin shot out of the jungle like arrows. The infected humans instantly took notice of their presence.
In a flash, infected swarmed out from the buildings covered in Creep, charging toward the survey team.
These infected, whose brains had been completely devoured by parasites, had long since lost their humanity. All that remained in their battered, decaying bodies was a primal, overwhelming instinct to reproduce.
They only wanted to infect more living beings—injecting their parasitic eggs into hosts to propagate the Zerg species.
Within moments, Master Chief and the others were surrounded. The infected lunged from all directions, their gaping, fang-filled maws ready to tear them to shreds.
"Cover fire!"
At Paul's shout, he hurled a large version of the Hunter Dart. Unlike the standard model, which relied on neurotoxin to incapacitate or kill, this variant used sheer kinetic force—punching clean through skulls and torsos. It was more than enough to handle unarmored infected.
The dart streaked through the enemy ranks, forcibly clearing a path for Master Chief.
Master Chief remained calm throughout. Even as infected lunged at him, he didn't so much as glance at them—because he trusted his team's cover. His only job was to press forward.
Sure enough, just as one infected was about to pounce, Paul took it down with a precise, silent headshot.
Their hardlight weapons—carefully modified for stealth—fired without the deafening boom of traditional firearms. Pulling the trigger on a hardlight gun produced only one sound: the quiet whisper of death.
From different angles, the survey team members laid down suppressing fire. Din Djarin sprinted toward the Creep-infested buildings. Time was short—they had to act fast.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker ignited his lightsaber, becoming a blur as he darted between infected. Any creature touched by his glowing blade was instantly cleaved apart.
Whether it was thick cockroach-like carapaces or razor-sharp chitin blades, nothing could withstand the clean, effortless slicing of a lightsaber.
Luke and his weapon became a whirlwind of death, tearing through the horde and reducing the mutated enemies to heaps of limbs and gore.
Purple-red blood and shredded flesh rained down. In mere seconds, Luke had killed over a hundred infected.
Even Paul was stunned by the sheer lethality. Recruiting Luke had clearly been a wise decision.
Nearby, Pani Wells laid down precision fire with his hardlight sniper rifle, silently vaporizing targets in the distance. Years of gaming had clearly honed his reflexes—his rapid-fire accuracy gave the impression of a true quickscoping expert.
In just one second, he could take out two or three infected. Even Chani couldn't help but be impressed by his sharpshooting.
Thanks to the team's seamless coordination, Master Chief and Din Djarin managed to carve a path through the dense wave of enemies, dashing straight toward their target location.
Once inside, the two quickly deployed their power armor's scanning systems to sweep the building for signal sources.
But things didn't go smoothly.
The moment they entered, the walls and ceiling—lined with throbbing organs and fleshy growths—sprouted dozens of tendrils that lashed out at them.
Only then did Master Chief realize the truth: the organs had bound living humans together, using them for some kind of parasitic transformation.
The intruding survey team was not welcome. The tendrils opened up their reeking, tumor-ridden maws and lashed out.
But these were hardened soldiers of the Universal Megacorp. With lightning reflexes, they shot down the oncoming tentacles.
Suddenly, a figure dropped from the ceiling—an infected whose Zerg transformation was already complete.
Triggered by the presence of intruders, the Zerg's basal gene routines had issued a counterattack command, converting this infected into a living bio-weapon—one modeled after the Baneling.
Its swollen abdomen bulged with unstable acidic compounds.
Clearly, the Zerg had repurposed this infected into a suicide bomber, designed to kill with explosive acid.
As purple light shimmered from the infected's belly, Master Chief didn't hesitate. He dove straight out a nearby window.
An explosion rocked the building a second later. Acidic sludge burst in all directions, sizzling and eating through walls, furniture—everything.
Seeing that the Zerg were now deploying countermeasures, even auto-generating specialized units like Banelings, Master Chief immediately issued a team-wide warning:
"Watch out inside the buildings—the infected are mutating into Banelings. Don't let them get close!"
Just then, Din Djarin's voice came through the comms: "I've found a survivor. Looks like he's not fully infected yet. Get over here—now!"
Upon hearing the news, Paul finished off the last of the nearby infected and dashed toward Din Djarin's position.
The room was much like the others—grotesque and infested with tendrils and living tissue. Flesh and organs lined every surface, striking out at intruders.
Din Djarin fired his hardlight SMG in short bursts, blowing apart the parasitic tentacles and breaking open embryonic Zerg pods.
Behind him, embedded in the fleshy wall, was a still-breathing human—barely alive, and bound by writhing veins and muscle.
Back at the Universal Megacorp's multiverse base, Li Ang observed the scene through Din Djarin's feed. He focused on the survivor's gear—and immediately recognized the uniform.
It was a Ghost operative—one of the Terran Dominion's elite psionic agents in the StarCraft universe.
Li Ang quickly relayed this to the survey team. Paul studied the battered soldier with deep respect. Only the Ghost's psionic defenses had kept him alive this long. Any normal person would have already gone mad—or worse, become a host for Zerg reproduction.
Sensing the newcomers' presence, the Ghost barely opened his eyes. With a weak voice, he asked:
"Are you… Dominion rescue? Or Rangers?"
Before Paul could answer, the Ghost spoke again. He knew he didn't have long, and needed to pass on critical intel.
"My neural module… has the locations… of others. Please… save them…"
With that, the Ghost fell unconscious—his final will fulfilled, clinging to life just long enough for rescue.
Watching such a valiant soldier die before him, Paul saluted in silence. Then he ordered a Hunter Dart to extract the neural module from the Ghost's brain.
He quickly fed the data into his armor's onboard AI, which processed it and uploaded the contents to HQ.
Back at base, Li Ang and the others finally learned the full story.
A few months earlier, the Zerg had launched a massive invasion of the Terran Dominion. Colony after colony fell in flames.
The swarm surged forward like an unstoppable tide, eventually reaching the Dominion capital near Korhal.
Under siege, the Dominion's elite forces abandoned outlying colonies to protect the inner core—rescuing politicians and elites first.
The people on the frontier? Left to fend for themselves.
This planet had been one such abandoned colony. Dominion forces had pulled out long before the invasion hit, leaving only militia and civilians behind.
It wasn't long before the Zerg overwhelmed them. Within hours, the entire planet was engulfed in Creep—transformed into a massive hatchery.
It was now likely to become a forward operating base for the Zerg. And the units being incubated here would soon move on to new targets.
In their desperation, the survivors had sent out distress signals—hoping Anyone might answer. Rebels, Rangers, Anyone.
They didn't care who showed up—only that someone would.
But their location was far too remote. Even if the Rangers received the signal, they'd never arrive in time.
Had the Universal Megacorp's expeditionary fleet not just happened to pass through this system, the survivors' faint signal would've gone unheard.
Thankfully, Paul's unwavering dedication had brought hope. Now there was a real chance to save them from this nightmare.
"They managed to contact the Rangers. That means we're on the right track!"
Paul reloaded his weapon and fired one final shot—putting the Ghost operative out of his misery.
Now that they had the key intel, their next objective was clear.
"All units—evacuate immediately!"
Under Paul's orders, the team pulled back from combat. Before leaving, they used hardlight focusing arrays to burn down the infected structures.
Flames roared through the buildings, reducing tumors and organ clusters to withered husks. The air was filled with the crackle of bursting tissue.
The area, filled with wooden shacks, dried leaves, and trees, quickly caught fire. A roaring inferno began to spread.
"Perfect, we'll use this fire to divert their attention," Paul muttered as he set the infected structures ablaze—and sure enough, a swarm of Zerglings immediately began surging toward the flames.
Overhead, even the Overlords began drifting in the direction of the fire, giving the survey team a critical window to move fast.
> [Survivor locations successfully locked. Please begin rescue operations immediately. Estimated time before Creep reaches survivors: 47 minutes.]
The AI delivered its alert. Based on fleet reconnaissance data, the Zerg Creep was rapidly approaching the area where the remaining survivors were located.
But the real bad news came next. From Universal Megacorp's flagship, Commander David Martinez suddenly issued a high-priority warning to the ground team:
> [Paul, we've detected an incoming space fleet at the edge of the system. You need to move—fast.]
Paul raised an eyebrow. "Is it a Dominion fleet coming to rescue the survivors?"
Even as he asked, Paul shook his head. The Ghost's neural module had already made it clear: the Terran Dominion had abandoned all border colonies.
> [Unknown at this time—could be friend or foe. We'll need more intel. Either way, you need to accelerate the mission.]
Back at HQ, the update reached Li Ang , who examined the incoming fleet's image feed. Though the visuals were fuzzy, the golden brilliance of the ships made their origin unmistakable.
It was the Protoss Golden Armada.
The Golden Armada was the Protoss' elite force—composed of Void Rays, Tempests, Carriers, and Motherships.
The Protoss Mothership, powered by its Khaydarin Crystal core, could rip through spacetime and obliterate fleets—or even shatter entire worlds—in an instant.
This elite fleet had one purpose: purging Zerg-infected planets.
And their methods were extreme—cleansing entire surfaces with orbital bombardments that "glassed" the terrain, turning it into molten wasteland.
It was eerily similar to the Covenant's "glassings."
Yes, it was efficient. Yes, it exterminated Zerg. But the Protoss didn't care whether there were human survivors on the ground.
To them, it was better to annihilate a thousand innocents than allow even one infected to escape.
Now that the Golden Armada had warped into the system's outer rim, it wouldn't be long before the full-scale purification began.
Realizing who was coming, Paul immediately asked David Martinez, "How much time do we have before they arrive?"
> [At their current speed, you've got under six hours. If they initiate warp drive—just one hour.]
Paul had originally planned to complete the mission within 12 hours. Now, that timetable was brutally compressed.
He had no intention of sticking around when the Protoss arrived. Whether or not the survivors were safe, they needed to be gone before the Golden Armada entered orbit.
"Understood. I'll handle this before they get here."
He cut the comms and turned to his team. There was no time to waste.
"Everyone—we've got less than thirty minutes to extract the survivors!"
"Yes, sir!"
No one wanted to clash with the Protoss. Ideally, they'd stay completely off their radar and avoid any complications.
At the very least, the Protoss were here to deal with the Zerg—so Universal Megacorp wouldn't have to waste Scorpiolion Virus bombs on the cleanup.
"If we go full speed, we'll have to pass through multiple Zerg patrol zones. That includes being seen by Overlords and Zerglings. We won't make it in time otherwise."
Din Djarin had already calculated the route and flagged the hazards. Normally, they'd have to carefully avoid the Zerg's bio-sentries, including the keen-sensed Zerglings.
"There's no choice," Paul said grimly. "We kill anything that gets in our way. Yes, it'll alert the hive mind—but we can't afford stealth anymore."
As he finished loading his gear, Paul sent navigation routes to each member of the team.
Any Zerg unit formally recognized by the hive mind shared its senses with the entire swarm. The moment one of them died, the whole hive would know.
The infected humans they'd faced before? Just biological "contractors." They weren't wired into the hive. That's why it took the Zerg this long to react to the fires.
"So... from now on, we're going to be fighting all of them," Pani muttered, tensing. He could already imagine the ground boiling with Zerg bodies flooding toward them.
The difficulty level had just skyrocketed. Not only did they need to survive, they also had to protect and extract the civilians.
No one said a word. The team understood what they were in for. They gave their gear a quick check and sprinted toward their next target.
Tactics shifted.
Master Chief and Din Djarin focused on eliminating airborne threats—Overlords and Overseers—while the rest of the team sprinted toward the survivors.
At the front, Luke Skywalker wielded his lightsaber like a divine blade, slicing through everything in their path.
Drawing from the Force, and techniques he'd learned from his father, Darth Vader, Luke even used Force Pull to drag fast-moving Zerg into his sword's reach—cutting them down instantly.
The six-man team formed a mobile storm of precision and carnage. Zerg fell in droves—shredded by gunfire, ripped apart by blades—many never even had time to react.
All they could do was scream into the hive mind—alerting the swarm that invaders were on the move.
Soon, a Zerg Queen received the warning and deployed dozens of Overseers to scout the area, with strike forces already en route.
But Paul's team didn't stop.
They broke through the final stretch and reached the survivors' compound.
The scene was grim.
A small human outpost was under siege. Zerglings swarmed from all directions. Inside, only a handful of soldiers remained, holed up in a reinforced concrete bunker.
Using heavy machine guns and assault rifles, they desperately held back the tide.
But they were nearly out of ammunition. Once that happened, the bunker would become their tomb.
BOOM!
A thunderous blast shook the compound—the last of their anti-air cannons firing.
It was the survivors' only remaining heavy weapon.
But it wouldn't be enough. These were just Zerglings. Once the Hydralisks and Roaches arrived, their defenses would crumble instantly.
"Did our distress signal even get through?! We've been waiting forever!" one soldier shouted.
"You still think the Dominion cares?" another spat. "Those bastards only care about their own hides. We're cannon fodder."
He laughed bitterly. "Only the Raiders would come. And even then, they don't have enough men to stop this."
BOOM!
The anti-air cannon fired again, cutting their argument short. In the roar of battle, at least the fear was drowned out.
Just as the Zerglings were about to breach the bunker and tear the defenders apart—arcs of lightning streaked from the distance.
Zerglings were instantly incinerated, their bodies charred to a crisp.
The Universal Megacorp strike team emerged from the storm—power armor crackling with blue and white energy.
Before the defenders could even understand what was happening, Paul and Luke each leapt forward, cleaving the encroaching swarm with graceful, brutal efficiency.
To the defenders, it looked like something out of a movie—slicing through Zerg as if they were nothing.
Then the Hydralisks arrived. Muscles flexing, they launched volleys of spines toward the group.
But Luke raised his hand—and with the Force, he froze the projectiles midair. With a push, the spines reversed course—impaling the Zerg in a deadly counterattack.
More Zerg collapsed.
Paul unleashed multiple arcs of ball lightning, frying the reinforcements as they arrived.
The entire enemy wave was wiped out within moments.
The defenders blinked in disbelief. Was this real?
The cannon thundered behind them again—and they snapped out of it.
They'd been saved.
Universal Megacorp had answered their call.
And thanks to the elite team's combined assault, the immediate swarm was destroyed. But the next wave wouldn't be far behind.
There wasn't much time left.
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