Chapter 96: The Bewitching Brainworm

Another two minutes passed, and David’s tally of slain Rending Flyers had climbed to forty-three. Since the appearance of the Tier 2 Armored Stone Bug, no further high-level Zerg had emerged.

“Brother David, at most three more minutes and the spatial wormhole will vanish. We’re about to win this battle!” Lieutenant Elmer said with a laugh over the comms.

“When the fight is over, let’s have a drink with Brother David!” the injured warrior Gillard roared with laughter.

He was sitting aside, resting. Though his wounds required treatment back at the base, he refused to let the medics carry him away. He insisted on staying until the battle ended; he felt he could still muster another burst of strength. At the very least, he would not leave the field before the wormhole closed.

“That’s right, Gillard’s right! Let’s have a proper drink with Brother David!” another armored soldier added, also laughing heartily.

All the armored warriors here seemed to have forgotten that David was not yet of age and that the law forbade minors from drinking. Perhaps it was David’s performance in battle that made them forget this detail entirely.

“Something’s happening!” David was about to remind them of this fact when Shadow Servant sensed a fresh surge of energy from the spatial wormhole.

A sense of doubt flickered in his mind. This energy fluctuation was stronger than what accompanied the Rending Flyers, but not as intense as when the Armored Stone Bug had crossed through.

“Could it be that the Zerg coming through this time are weaker than the Armored Stone Bug?”

David had no time for further speculation. He focused all his attention, training the No. 7 Long-Range Sniper Cannon on the spatial wormhole, waiting for the next Zerg to appear.

Before the creature even materialized, a strange ripple swept through the area, vibrating within a kilometer’s radius.

Lieutenant Elmer’s exosuit’s support system erupted in frantic alarms. A flurry of data streamed across his vision.

“It’s a Bewitching Brain Bug! Lock down your exosuits immediately!” he shouted.

Only eight Rending Flyers remained on the battlefield, all already wounded in several places. In such a moment, locking down one’s exosuit required great courage, for doing so meant losing all mobility—even the ability to flee.

Yet all the military armored warriors obeyed instantly. At the command, their Land Lion exosuits severed all connections with their wearers and automatically executed the lockdown protocol.

All energy in the exosuits was diverted to defense, forming protective energy barriers around their bodies. These barriers were insufficient to fully block attacks from creatures like the Rending Flyers, but they could at least lessen the damage.

Among the civilian armored warriors, those with experience made the same choice, placing their trust in Lieutenant Elmer.

But thirty-five of the civilians hesitated. They could not entrust their lives to such an unknown order, which seemed ludicrous to them. With the exosuits locked down, escape would be impossible. Some chose to run; others continued to attack the Rending Flyers.

In that brief moment of hesitation, a flash of light flickered in the spatial wormhole. Then a Zerg appeared—three meters tall, its body completely encased in a chitinous shell, lacking even limbs.

No visible offensive appendages marked its body. It was squat and round, its head disproportionately large, nearly a third of its total size.

David instinctively took aim, ready to fire, but found his hands refused to move. His entire body felt as if it no longer obeyed him.

Through Shadow Servant’s senses, he felt a strange, storm-like energy sweeping over a distance of five kilometers.

“Bewitching Brain Bug!” Once he truly saw the Zerg, David immediately recognized its identity.

He had the incident with Viper Lovell to thank for that—the day when he’d been splashed with the brain fluid of such a creature, prompting him to research these Tier 2 Zerg in detail.

The Bewitching Brain Bug was a Tier 2 Zerg specializing in psychic attacks. Though it lacked physical and energy-based offensive capabilities, it was more terrifying than most that did.

Any living being within its mental range was subjected to psychic assault. Under such assault, a mental check ensued: those with firm wills could resist its bewitchment for a short time, but would still lose physical control, falling into a trance. The longer the trance lasted, the greater the risk of succumbing entirely.

Those with weaker spirits would be directly dominated, becoming servants of the Bewitching Brain Bug, fighting on its behalf.

This was why, once Lieutenant Elmer’s exosuit sensors detected the psychic field, he immediately ordered the lockdown of all exosuits. If the suits were not locked, any armored warrior who fell under its sway would become a soldier for the Brain Bug, turning against their own city.

The Bewitching Brain Bug was hideous, even by the standards of the Zerg. David could hardly bear to look at it.

As it emerged from the wormhole, it landed with a bounce like a grotesque ball, its body trembling.

It wriggled, inching forward in a slow, undulating motion.

Though its pace was not swift, within a five-kilometer radius, not a single person attacked it; even the very noise of the battlefield seemed to vanish.

That range included the operators of the heavy laser and Gauss cannons on the southern side of the city—the battlefield fell utterly silent.

The Bewitching Brain Bug moved with the arrogance of a king patrolling its own domain. The Rending Flyers did not attack the fallen armored warriors; instead, they turned their attention to the rapid-fire anti-air cannons.

One by one, the anti-air cannons were destroyed. Though the cannons themselves were automatic and immune to the Brain Bug’s influence, they could not withstand the onslaught of the Flyers.

Suddenly, the Bewitching Brain Bug halted. The two pairs of brown eyes on its swollen head turned toward Sniper Control Room No. 5, peering through its defenses to fix upon David.

Within that room, there was a soul not yet under its dominion—a soul of exceptional fortitude, still struggling against its invasion.

The Bewitching Brain Bug’s interest was piqued. For a creature that preyed on the mind, the stronger the victim’s spirit, the greater the nourishment their brain provided.

It began to move toward David’s location. Simultaneously, the civilian armored warriors who had not locked down their suits rose from the ground.

Their movements were stiff, lacking the agility they once possessed.

These civilians, who had ignored Lieutenant Elmer’s command, were not known for strong wills, and so they were among the first to be enslaved.

Among the others, many struggled within their locked exosuits. The suits, however, automatically detected abnormal conditions and ignored all commands from the wearer, including those to unlock.

The thirty-five exosuited warriors did not attack their comrades on the ground; instead, they swiftly gathered around the Bewitching Brain Bug, forming a protective guard.

It was a scene both absurd and tragic: the defenders of their own city reduced to thralls of the Zerg.

The Bewitching Brain Bug, while appearing slow, actually moved at a considerable pace, and soon arrived outside Sniper Control Room No. 5.

David, with his formidable mental strength of 3.73, was under relentless assault. In his mind, strange insectile chirrings rang out—sometimes like piercing needles, sometimes as seductive whispers, wave after wave of emotion battering his consciousness.

He felt at any moment these tides might overwhelm him. The only thing keeping him anchored was the presence of Shadow Servant.

Even when facing such a specialized psychic attacker, Shadow Servant remained utterly untouched by the Brain Bug’s assault.

The part of David’s mind residing within the Shadow Servant was likewise protected, as if the Shadow Servant’s form was an ethereal fortress. The Bewitching Brain Bug’s psychic attacks could not penetrate it, nor could it even sense its existence.