The battlefield situation on the surface of planet Monlyth continued to deteriorate.
The planetary surface had degenerated into a boiling slaughterhouse.
Overlooked from orbit, the crimson Swarm resembled tainted blood, gushing forth from multiple breaches to sweep frantically across ridges and valleys. Wherever it passed, lush green vegetation and terrain details were completely devoured, leaving behind only a surging, chewing, advancing wave of living flesh.
The Swarm's assault was a pure display of sheer numbers and brutal force.
Clusters of Zerglings converged into an endless black surge, crashing against the Protoss defense line with pure physical bodies. Every wave of charge was vaporized under the focused fire of Photon Cannons, yet subsequent waves slammed upward immediately, filling the gaps with carcasses.
Positioned slightly behind, Hydralisks formed a mobile forest of thorns. Dense bone spines screeched through the air, continuously raining down upon the Protoss positions, suppressing any attempt to maneuver or counterattack.
Bulky Roaches and Ravagers acted like living battering rams, grinding forward slowly yet inexorably through the tide. Their thick chitinous carapaces grew scorched and shattered under photon bombardment, yet they dragged their mangled bodies forward all the same, carving path for their followers.
The Protoss resistance, on the other hand, shone with cold, efficient brilliance.
Zealots held critical nodes in precise formations, the golden arcs drawn by their psi-blades slicing brief vacuums into the Swarm, sending severed limbs and acidic blood flying everywhere.
Yet for every single Zergling they struck down, three more immediately pounced; for every bone spine parried, even more came raining down.
Stalkers blinked repeatedly along endangered spots on the defense line, the hum and detonation of particle disintegrators briefly clearing areas before they were promptly refilled with new Zerg shadows.
Photon Cannons deployed on high ground continuously spat destructive energy. Each salvo burned the earth like a blazing sun, creating momentary blanks and scorched earth within the Swarm, yet those blanks vanished in a heartbeat.
The order-of-magnitude gap between the two forces tipped the scales of battle irrevocably.
The total count of Protoss ground forces on Monlyth was barely a few hundred, whereas the Zerg units participating in the siege already exceeded twenty thousand—with endless reinforcements constantly injected into the battlefield via writhing underground Nydus canals and flesh vesicles dropped from the sky.
Leveraging extraordinary individual prowess and coordination, the Protoss inflicted disproportionately massive casualties, yet the entire defense line was like a tightening noose, compressed and severed inch by inch.
The pressure borne by the defenders in the ruins area had reached its limit.
Over twenty Zealots and five Stalkers relied on a ring-shaped perimeter formed by the ancient stone walls outside the temple, but they were now surrounded on three sides.
Zerglings acted like a black waterfall flowing in reverse, constantly attempting to scale the stone walls. Raining down like a torrential downpour, the Hydralisks' bone spines battered the flickering energy shields surrounding the Protoss warriors, kicking up dense, rapid ripples of light halos.
The shields of several Zealots completely extinguished in an overloaded wail, leaving deep cracks on their golden armor. Their movements lagged noticeably due to energy depletion and continuous impact, every blade swing growing progressively heavier.
Aboard the bridge of the Hyperion, Raynor calmly evaluated the tactical situation through the real-time feed returned by the recon drones.
"The Protoss can't hold," Matt delivered his professional assessment. "The defense line in the ruins area can hold for another half hour at most. The main force at the northern observatory is completely pinned down and can't split off units to reinforce this position. Once the Protoss defense line here collapses, the Swarm will flood into the temple."
Tychus's voice crackled over the comm channel: "So what are we waiting for? Waiting for the bugs to carry off the fragment?"
"No," Raynor's gaze locked onto the image of the central temple. "Precisely because they can't hold, we have our chance. Both the Swarm and the Protoss have their full attention on each other. Right now is the moment when their line is most chaotic and their guard is lowest."
He turned to Matt: "Status of the strike team?"
"The dropship is in position, and the team has completed final checks on their gear. Tychus leads, ten elite Raiders, plus Miss Valerie and her Team A security personnel. The psionic interference devices provided by the consultant have been issued."
Raynor nodded: "Launch them. Select the touchdown spot in the dense forest on the southwest side of the temple—eight hundred meters direct distance, masked by terrain. Cross the outer edge of the crossfire zone quickly and approach the temple using combat noise and visual interference. The Protoss line is concentrated on the eastern and northern sides against the main Zerg thrust; the western defenses are weak. Breach into the temple interior from there."
"Understood," Matt began relaying instructions.
A minute later, a sound-suppressed dropship slipped quietly out of the Hyperion's hangar, gliding down toward the surface of Monlyth.
The hull featured low-observability coating, with engine thrust kept to absolute operational minimums to reduce detection probability as much as possible.
Breaching the atmosphere and bypassing major contested airspace, the dropship approached the intended LZ almost by gliding.
The pilot's masterclass handling brought the craft silently down in a small clearing within the dense forest, kicking up only a scattering of fallen leaves and dust.
The ramp lowered, and the strike team poured out rapidly. Tychus took the point, the scanners on his power suit fully open to confirm no enemy units were nearby.
The Raider soldiers followed right behind, fanning out in a security formation.
Valerie and her Team A personnel—four security operatives wearing deep-grey customized power suits—walked in the center carrying equipment, their movements synchronized, silent, and efficient.
"Route marked, follow me," Tychus dropped his voice, though the distant roar of battle was more than enough to cover their movement. The strike team began advancing rapidly toward the temple.
The dense forest provided excellent cover.
They bypassed several minor skirmish spots—where a few scattered Zerglings were tangling with isolated Zealots—slipping quietly past the edges of the combat zone.
The Swarm's attention was fully focused on the Protoss line ahead, while the Protoss were exhausted dealing with frontal and flank assaults; nobody noticed the infiltration of this small human unit.
Upon approaching the outer perimeter of the temple, the strike team encountered their first real barrier: a low yet intact stone wall that marked the outer boundary of the temple complex.
Intense sounds of combat echoed from behind the wall—Protoss defenders were battling Zerglings trying to scale the other side.
Tychus signaled the team to hold.
Using his power suit's external camera, he slowly raised a small probe over the top of the wall.
The feed showed: about thirty meters inside the wall, three Zealots with their backs to the wall were fighting with all their strength to hold off over a dozen Zerglings.
Slightly further out, two Stalkers used particle cannons to shell Hydralisks attempting to flank them. All Protoss units had their attention turned outward, backs to the temple structure.
"Now's the time," Tychus whispered. "Over the wall, keep it quiet, and make a direct dash for the temple's west entrance. Looks like there are no guards over there."
With well-trained synergy, the Raider soldiers vaulted over the stone wall one by one, landing as lightly as possible.
With assistance, Valerie and the Team A personnel quickly crossed over as well.