Chapter 21: Beyond the Horizon

The lasers that blasted the zerg territory from overhead proved to be quite the troublesome obstacle. The five beams of light continued to dance on the ground, which had ignited the sand and the zerg for several hours now. The zerg may have fought back the encroaching forces of Kralluf's perimeter defense army, but the Golden Star Empire's army couldn't account for the insane gestation speed that the zerg were capable of. Several hatcheries had to been reduced to ash when the lasers from up high bombarded them relentlessly. But many zerg organisms still survived, and had escaped the abhorrent battlefield that was filled with zerg death, ruined war machines, and gilanian corpses.

The speedier zerg organisms, the zerglings, ran away from the field of battle in packs of six. They were quick to distance themselves from their home, and their superior scouting capabilities would enable the zerg a greater foothold in this world, if and when they found prime areas that could hold a nydus worm and several hatcheries. The more subtler absconding zerg settled for burrowing through the sand, consisting mainly of roaches and infestors. The large numbers of zerglings were easily cut down, and have proven to be an adequate distraction. Many zerglings may have died, but the roaches and infestors continued on their slow path with little trouble. Another organism that joined the ground strains' odyssey was the overseers and overlords. Many overlords had died, and the overseers didn't fair any better, despite their quicker speed.

Kiln slowly turned in its axis, and the beams of light were leaning further and further, their destructive power still originating from the sun that produced them. The rotation of the sun eventually went past the horizon, and the beams of death ultimately stopped once dusk had came. Rebuilding was a simple matter, but the resource tumors and the creep tumors had to be replaced quickly. The forward hive clusters that was spaced out, five and ten kilometers away from the main hive cluster, had nearby drones that were ready to mutate into hatcheries, as well as providing defenses to hatcheries that were without spine and spore crawlers. The ring of crawlers was remade, but was placed further from the center of zerg territory, made to be more spread out, and thinly placed. A lot of bio-matter and accelerant was used to re-erect an effective defense to the zerg territory, and much of it had went into producing the slain zerg organisms from the most recent major battle. It was all made possible with the resource tumor and carbonation extractor strains.

With the sun finally setting, the zerglings, roaches, infestors, overlords with drone cargo, and overseers with their new ability to make two types of infiltration units, the infestation of the swarm would continue to spread across the world in typical zerg fashion. But as a precaution, Kay had several of the more vital zerg structures formed in the underground village where the Hidden Water Spring Tribe used to live. Another nydus network couldn't hurt. Plus, the nydus worms it can summon could escalate the speed of rebuilding the creep fields.

The spore cannon that had launched its materials and genetic data had reached its destination, as intended. Several of the shots didn't make it, thanks to the sky lasers, but twelve or so landed in the creep fields that were established on the hexagonal moon. The queens intestines slowly mutated to bear parasites that could produce the necessary cluster of creep tumors that could merge into a resource tumor. After that, the hatcheries on the hexagonal moon could more reliably produce more drones, queens, and other organisms.

But a problem was discovered. The centrifugal force of the fake moon provided the zerg organisms with a weak artificial gravity, and the hexagon panels that consisted of the white moon were too slippery to maneuver on. Simply put, a lightweight zerg organism, be it zerglings or the floating drones, found it impossible to walk along the surface. They would slide, reach the edge of the hexagonal paneled ground and... cease to exist. Kay was unable to sense the zerg that became consumed by that suffocating darkness.

Strange sensations aside, the safer method of travel was arguably on the creep itself. It did give the zerg organisms that traveled on it a purple glow from underneath them, but the resource veins delighted in the overabundance of light that they could convert into bio-fuel, and then into bio-matter later. The carbonation extractors would also provide a means to develop accelerant, if they were ever needed. Sadly, with the slight gravity produced by the hexagonal moon, the carbonation extractors would produce accelerant at a slower rate of production. Using the nydus worms to help expand the creep fields was thought about, but Kay wasn't sure if summoning a nydus worm on the strange artificially celestial object was a good idea. Even so, the faster ground strains of the zerg could not expand fast enough on the ground anyway, since they now relied on creep to help them stick to the smooth surface of the moon.

And then there was the problem with making overlords on the moon. Any overlord produced were incapable of keeping up with the speed of the moon's rotation, even with the mutation of a pneumatized carapace. Delivering ground strains of zerg to the terrestrial surface of Kiln using the overlords became next to impossible. The air-strains of faster flyers would have little trouble matching the speed of the celestial body. But even ground strains had their uses, and the ground based combat strains were next to useless on the hexagon moon.

If the overlords failed to be effective transport fliers, then Kay would simply have to make better transport fliers. "Corvurn. I hate to ask so much from you, but I have a question."

Kay was in the safety of the underground village, Gollog's current object of desire, since Kay believed it held Gollog's most wanted individual, which was slowly surrounded by the comforts of the growing underground hive cluster. The idea of being under the beams of death as they rained down on him didn't seem that great anyway. Corvurn looked up as he was cutting open an infested gilanian with his claws and eating the intestines, also in the safety of the underground and inside of an evolution chamber. After wiping his face with an arm, he began talking to Kay. "Submit query."

Kay sighed, and placed his hands on his hips. "There is simply no way I can transport ground strains off of the hexagonal hive cluster reliably. The overlords are simply too slow in that environment. Do you think there is a quicker method that could ferry resources and units to our ground forces on the surface of Kiln?"

Corvurn paused and looked away. After a thoughtful nod, he turned back to look at Kay. "Swarm strain carrier needed. Core strain, behemoth, required."

Kay narrowed his brows. "Behemoth is a core strain? How come I was not aware that it was a core strain?"

Corvurn explained. "Requires lair to evolve further. Hive needed. Also needed, three greater spires. Enables mutation of behemoths. Not viable to mutate during skirmish combat."

Kay took a deep inhale and sighed. "... Ah, what the hell. I have been meaning to do this anyway, since I sat on my hands during the whole light show."

Corvurn shook his head. "Unproductive. Appendages must be unseated. Cannot assist swarm in such fashion."

Kay nodded with a chuckle. His evolution master sure had a weird way of pointing out metaphors. He then turned around to shout at a certain hatchery in particular. "Virid! What do you think about upgrading our zerg lair to a hive? I think that, after getting ourselves sunburned by those sky lasers, we should probably start evolving now!"

Virid leaned into Kay's view, peering from behind the hatchery she was tending with two other queens. She hissed. "About time! May I ask why we are changing our tactics so soon?"

Kay pointed upwards. "I didn't account for five lasers hitting our forces during the entire battle. A change of pace in tactics on the battlefield is going to help us wreck Gollog and his forces. Also, I need about, oh, three greater spires at our main hive cluster, and on the hexagonal moon. I envision that behemoths are going to help us in the long run."

Virid paused, but then nodded. "I like this tactic. I will help employ it immediately."

Kay smiled like everything was slowly coming into place in his benefit. He relaxed in the soft and cool embrace of creep, calming his mind as he began commanding his zerg from great distances away. "One step ahead."

As though in an instant, three spires were created on the moon, whilst two were placed next to the first at the main hive cluster. As these new bio-structures were developing, the zerg lair had also undergone its final evolution. In what seemed like a little more than a minute, the hive emerged from its cocoon. As the hive was finally formed, all of the zerg spire bio-structures formed cocoons around themselves afterwards.

The hive looked even more menacing than its previous iterations, its tooth-like projections looking longer and more pronounced. The hive was truly monstrous in appearance, as it not only became so much more sturdier, but also provided the swarm new monsters and mutations to play with.

The five evolution chambers instantly became active when Virid directed them to invest in several, much needed mutations. Increasing the offense and defense of all zerg strains, both ground and airborne, would be beneficial. The zerglings had also achieved a beneficial upgrade. Their adrenal glands had increased in size and production of adrenaline, which had given them a speedy attack boost every time they attacked an unfortunate enemy. Used in conjunction with their other armor and melee attack mutations, the zerglings were an even more dangerous force of nature.

Another organism had hatched from a cocooned larva, revealing a new flying monstrosity. The viper. It loosely resembled a dragonfly in appearance, yet it had two arms that it would use to guide its dangerous payload of noxious weapons. It lacked the power to fight directly in battle, but it had the tenacity to assist other zerg organisms with its other abilities. Its tongue could pull victims to awaiting zerg, or pull zerg to unsuspecting prey. They can also produce a limiting cloud that eliminated ranged combat for those attacking within it, and could launch a parasitic bomb to any flying foe that shares its airspace.

However, the hive bio-structure had enabled the spawning of other fun things for the swarm to play with. Another bio-structure was unlocked by the hive, and it was one that enabled the zerg to gain access to a very powerful ground unit to use at their disposal. The ultralisk cavern had exploded from its cocoon, and revealed a highly shelled structure. Within itself contained a dangerous environment that not only toughened the unlocked DNA strands, but provided the means to generate the ultralisks. Almost resembling a fat head of an insect with no comparison to any known organism, its genetic data gave a hatchery the means to birth the monster that was feared by all ground-bound forces, and will be feared by ground-bound forces that have not met such a beast yet. One of such creatures have been spawned, which prompted Kay to approach this new beast, wanting to see this strain for himself with his own eyes.

It was big.

Like... Really big.

So big that Kay was only a little taller than its toe. ITS GODDAMNED TOE!

The ultralisk walked on four, bulky, strong legs that supported its heavy and massive frame. The quadrupedal monster had four massive curved blades, manipulated with four arms that each blade grew out of. Each of these blades specialized in cutting, stabbing, smashing, and intimidating. The Kaiser blades had monomolecular sharpness, and were virtually indestructible, though one set was marginally smaller than the other, located below the primary Kaiser blades. Near that level of indestructibility, but not by much, was their tough, tough, tough carapace armor. A thick plate of it even covered its skull, giving it a sort of mantled crown that gave it a distinct look. They earned their name through fear and respect of being living siege-breakers.

Once the greater spires were done mutating, bursting out of their cocoon when their incubation and evolution was complete, there was little physical changes. Most notably was the thicker anchor tentacles that attached them to the creep covered ground, both on the planet and on the hexagonal moon's surface, as well as several spikes that was grown on their tops. Now grouped in three's, they would provide the necessary DNA for two more organisms the zerg needed, instead of just one.

On the terrestrial surface of Kiln, a few larvae were chosen to become the brood lords. These manta-like monsters soon developed another type of almost-manta creatures, which looked to be a smaller version of itself in loose comparison. These smaller almost-mantas were broodlings, and they could be found when a bio-structure belonging to the zerg is destroyed, or when the brood lord has discovered an enemy on the ground and launched its living payload at them. A truly dangerous zerg organism.

Sadly, the brood lord, and the ultralisk, had no means to defend themselves from aerial units. A compliment of corruptors would have to follow them around to provide them with anti-air defenses. The viper had some means of anti-air capabilities, but it was somewhat limited. Plus, the viper had to cannibalize on zerg bio-structures in order to accumulate the energy needed to use its abilities, since it couldn't generate energy quickly enough.

But the opus magnum of the zerg was taking its time. Due to the resources needed for making the creature, and the time it took to gestate, the behemoths would be available in about half an hour. Far longer than any other zerg organism's gestation period that Kay knew of, but it was a tolerable amount of time. The bio-matter and accelerant necessary for feeding the cocooned larva could not be dumped onto it all at once, but instead was trickled into the cocoon over a period of time. Only two were produced.

But Kay had the patience to wait. He walked to the newly hatched ultralisk in the underground village to look at the new organism with his own eyes. He looked it up and down slowly, feeling awed by its awesome size and power. "... Holy fucking shit."

'Bored.' the ultralisk telepathically responded to Kay, using its own Kaiser blades to sharpen themselves.

Kay nodded. "You were recently born and you're now bored? Wow. The zerg definitely have a one track mind."

The ultralisk leaned down, its heavily fanged face filling up Kay's vision. 'Commands?'

Kay paused for a minute. Now that he had an ultralisk, he had no idea on what to do with it. "Hmm... Well... I do kind of want to see what you can do." He turned to look around for a floating detector zerg organism. "Can I get an overseer down here?" Kay shouted. Seconds later, an overseer hovered over Kay and the ultralisk. "Kay, great! Deposit a changeling for us, please. Ultralisk? I want you to attack the changeling that spawns in front of you. I want to see how aggressive you can be."

The ultralisk dully looked up at the overseer in the air. After an awkward couple seconds of time passing, the overseer eventually produced a changeling. It splatted onto the ground, jiggling violently, but slowly came to rest as a protoplasmic face peeked out of its 'foot' to look at the ultralisk. Several more seconds had passed before the ultralisk roared. "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR~!~!~!~!~!"

A split second of time passed and the changeling guinea pig was instantly cut into five pieces, and then promptly stomped on in a ruthless display. Changelings, for some reason, do not share the carapace upgrades with its many other zerg organisms, with an exception to the bio-structures and the spine and spore crawlers, so it was extra squishy against the ultralisk's attack.

And speaking of things that are extra squishy, Kragnon was just about to come out of the underground tower to tell Kay something when he heard the roar of the ultralisk. After pausing for several seconds to look at the gargantuan beast, he audibly said "Nope." And walked back into the underground tower.

Kay paid no mind to Kragnon's leaving. He carefully scratched the inside of his ear, which was ringing from the ultralisk's roar, and chuckled. "Oh, Kralluf is going to LOVE you!"

'Kralluf? Prey?' The ultralisk asked, tilting his head.

Kay blinked. "... Well uh... Yeah. He, Gollog, and everyone who is loyal to the Golden Star Empire are our prey, I guess."

The ultralisk turned around and started galloping toward the nydus network. 'KRALLUF!' Before Kay could even register what had occurred just then, the ultralisk disappeared into the nydus worm's maw and went away to the northernmost nydus worm, which then proceeded to head further north.

Kay was stunned and surprised. "... What just happened?!"

"I took control of the ultralisk." Virid said from behind Kay.

Kay turned around to find Virid tending another cocoon that was gestating yet another ultralisk. Kay huffed, and then approached Virid. "You did? What for?"

Virid stated her answer as she turned to face Kay. "I believe the seat of power for Gollog's rule is situated at a place called 'Empire Capital'. Following your example of brash decisions, I wished to test their defenses using an ultralisk."

Kay stared at Virid for a long time. "... Why?"

Virid sighed. "Corvurn wanted to test an ultralisk's combat capability against a fortified city. I humored him, and took the one that was readily available. You weren't doing anything useful with it, making it only attack helpless changelings."

Kay narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Whoa, wait a minute, no! I just wanted to test its strength! And it was only the one changeling!"

"Were there any other useful 'tests' you wish to implement with the ultralisk?" Virid ask, unamused.

"Uh... Not at the moment, no. It was just one test." Kay said, shrugging.

Kay could tell that Virid was smiling on the inside. And if she had the features that could be used to smile, she would do so. "Then I shall assist Corvurn in a test of his own."

Kay nodded. "Kay. How far away is Empire Capital?"

Virid turned back to tending the cocoon, then started backing away from it. "It is approximately three thousand and three hundred kilometers north-northwest from our position."

Kay paused before nodding. A question then came to his head. "So wait a minute. Do you know how big Kiln is?"

"Around forty thousand kilometers in circumference, I believe. It's a middle-ranged planet that can sustain lifeforms. The heat is a little abnormal, but it is nothing to the swarm. We shall adapt." As Virid finished her sentence, another ultralisk erupted from the cocoon that had formed a little more than a minute ago. Much of its body must have pushed the earth under it to make way for such a massive beast. Creep would quickly adapt to adjust the shifting of heavy soil, preventing the ultralisk from tipping over and fall on nearby bio-structures.

Kay nodded. "Sounds like a good sized habitable planet to me. And I do agree, it's a little bit hotter to my liking."

Virid trilled. "The heat is providing a healthy amount of energy to the resource tumors. We are lucky to reverse-engineer the altar technology."

"... It's dark right now, right? Could you check our resource production?" Kay asked.

Virid cocked her head. She concentrated on the cloud of overlords that were in the underground chamber, and those unseen from above the surface. "... We are generating half of our normal production of bio-matter!"

Kay sighed. "Can't make matter without energy, it seems."

Virid skated on the creep, heading towards the underground tower. "I need to research something! Kragnon! Kragnon! I want to ask Maiden something! Kragnon!"

After that, Virid continued her scuttle up the tower in a frantic hurry, shouting after the lovechief. Whatever kind of information she was trying to find, it seemed important. Kay blinked a couple times before opening his mouth, but he then closed his mouth and sighed, shrugging. "I think you are starting to break your fuddy-duddy zerg habits, Virid. Heh, this is probably the first time I ever saw a zerg organism make a dash to a computer to learn something! ... Well... To a computer AI to learn about something."

Kay sat back onto the creep again and concentrated on calming his mind. The night would slowly turn to midnight, or to the 0% light cycle as the gilanians might call it, and Kay would wait patiently for the ultimate prize to finish forming.

And alas, it came.

Bearing a similar appearance to manta rays, much like the manta-like brood lords and the almost-manta broodlings, the manta-shaped creature was more triangular in appearance, and had several sets of hollow chambers, appearing like sacks on the outside, that it could use to carry thousands of zerg strains. The creature was the largest zerg organism that Kay and Virid's brood had bred, by far. If Kay had to guess how large the creature was, he would estimate its size by length to about... two kilometers in size? Perhaps rounded down to two kilometers. In essence, it was just an over-sized overlord that offered no psionic control, could not create creep, and cannot transform into an oversized overseer.

But it did had two abilities that Kay wanted, however. One of such abilities was to match, and even surpass, the rotational centrifugal speed of the artificial hexagonal moon. It could even travel in less time than the overlord's trip to the moon, cutting the travel to a fourth or a fifth of the time, but it will slow down to safely release the zerg from within itself, or take the zerg into itself. The other ability was to carry zerg organisms. The behemoth produced at the hexagon moon would catch as many overlords it could, while the behemoth produced at the main hive cluster would deliver resources and thousands of zerg strains to forthcoming battles. In fact, once the moon has been covered in creep and hatcheries, it'll serve as an impressive unit production facility, which could supply the zerg forces and restore their numbers on the ground.

Already, the hatcheries on the moon were producing the overlords, and the overlords were being caught by the behemoth that was floating at the edge of the white, or creep covered, hexagonal panels. Having thousands of overlords would supply a great amount of psionic control to the zerg organisms, and help divvy other resources to the production of other zerg strains. The behemoth that hatched at the main hive cluster would acquire a few drones and queens, and fly up to the moon to release it's cargo on its surface. It would then remain there. There would be no sense in keeping such a large target at the main base of operations, after all!

Kay has laid down his full hand now. All that remained to be seen was Gollog's counter-contribution to his war against the zerg.

A/N: Wowzers! I didn't realize A Swarm Unleashed would be more popular than my other stories! (Despite that chapter 5 had no reviews yet.)

Thank you, everyone!