The communication ended.
It was quite satisfied with its answer, especially after learning that the opponent's fleet was about to land.
It was confident that these foolish, naive, and greedy humans would be deceived by its perfect disguise, just like those who had symbiotically merged with machinery before, and then become part of this endless ocean!
The pink gelatinous ocean was calm on the world's surface, but beneath the deep sea, strong undercurrents surged. It was already prepared; as soon as the human fleet landed, it would seize the opportunity to infiltrate the machinery and complete the fusion!
Billions of years of solitude had taught it patience, the mechanical humans of a century ago had taught it cunning, and this time, these humans would personally offer it the tools for its journey to the Star Sea.
At this moment, the Cocoon of Ten Thousand Machines seemed to already see its body spreading across the Milky Way Galaxy, devouring one race after another,
ultimately becoming the sole entity!
Human brains would think for it!
Elevating its consciousness to a higher level.
Those broken members of the Mechanicus from a century ago, along with the recent expedition team members, all cheered in unison, mixed with low and eerie prayers, as if offering blessings to it!
Finally, above the atmosphere, the clouds violently churned, and a colossal battleship, visible to the naked eye, was traversing the world's atmosphere.
They're here!
They're here!
The Cocoon of Ten Thousand Machines suppressed its excitement. Its massive body was ready; as soon as the opponent landed, they would become its prey!
But suddenly, the clouds were illuminated!
What is that?
Before it could even ponder, it saw the clouds glowing red, like a burning sea of fire. The sky seemed to be torn apart, and thick beams of light, dragging immense air currents, descended like divine punishment from the heavens!
What is this?!
Boom!!!
The first beam of light landed, its target precisely the coordinates it had sent: the crashed mechanicus ark.
The immense destructive power of the macro-cannon instantly pierced through the entire wreckage of the mechanicus ark. Terrifying aftershocks, coupled with high temperatures, spread, directly evaporating the ocean for hundreds of miles around!
Excruciating pain!
This was the first severe injury the Cocoon of Ten Thousand Machines had suffered since its birth. A part of its body was evaporated, and although it was a very small portion compared to the whole, it still made it experience pain.
Although it had devoured many humans and extracted the wisdom of this race from the brains of the deceased, it had overlooked one thing.
Humans are an extremely warlike species!
From the moment that group of Homo sapiens stepped out of Africa, they walked a path of slaughter and belligerence. They possessed both romance and sensibility, but also an ingrained madness and aggression!
Selfishness, violence, greed, and suspicion – these 'vicious' words were precisely the most important qualities that allowed humans to evolve from apes to the dominators of the Milky Way Galaxy!
It had indeed disguised itself very well, almost flawlessly, but unfortunately—it had forgotten human selfishness. For humans, their own kind were not that important.
It believed that even if humans were suspicious, they would send follow-up support to confirm the situation here and gather sufficient evidence before proceeding with further identification.
But alas.
For rogue traders, sometimes evidence isn't needed, just a tiny seed of doubt!
Emrys believed a saying was very apt.
Lose humanity, lose a lot.
But if you lose your beastliness, you lose everything!
Why? Why? Why?!
It didn't understand what it had done wrong, where it had shown a flaw, why humans would attack their own kind?!
But the only response it received was macro-cannons!
The second, third, fourth shots—the terrifying bombardment lasted for several minutes, illuminating the entire sky of CV-7721 into a sea of fire by the macro-cannon array's strikes!
Terrifying explosions ignited the atmosphere and incinerated the ocean!
Its body was being evaporated, but the human attack seemed to be far from over.
The Cocoon of Ten Thousand Machines grew anxious.
It was a symbiotic collective consciousness, relying on its vast oceanic body. If too much of it was evaporated, its consciousness would be weakened, perhaps even returning to its initial, nascent state!
This was something the Cocoon of Ten Thousand Machines could not tolerate.
Thus, it was filled with rage, vowing to make these damned humans taste its power!
The next moment, the surface of world CV-7721 churned, raising a tsunami nearly ten thousand meters high. Without warning, a colossal mass of water formed a hand reaching towards the sky, obscuring the sun and seizing at the battleship!
Although doing so would expend a lot of its energy, as long as it could destroy this battleship, it would all be worth it!
"So this is it,"
Emrys, inside the battleship, gazed at the giant hand formed by the tsunami, vaguely guessing what the expedition team had encountered.
"An ocean with consciousness—it truly is a Dark Zone, to even have such strange things."
Igges' expression was grim, because he had always advocated for landing, but now, seeing this eerie ocean, his heart sank.
Fortunately, they hadn't listened to him!
Otherwise, once the battleship landed, it would never be able to take off again, and they would suffer the same fate as the mechanical fleet from a century ago!
"Lord, the creature's body is enormous, covering over 99% of the entire world's area," Carol frowned,
looking at the detection results.
"It will be difficult to eliminate it in one go."
"Difficult?"
A faint smile played on Emrys' lips.
"Why do I think it's not difficult at all."
Carol and the others were stunned.
"You mean—" He understood Emrys quite well and seemed to guess something from his eyes.
"If you can't solve the problem, then why not simply solve the problem itself?" Emrys lightly tapped his index finger, speaking calmly.
"I recall there's still an 'Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo', right?"
"Are you serious?" Carol's mouth twitched, and he gasped.
"Lord Emrys, the resources on this world are abundant. Is it really necessary to use—an Extermination Order?!"
One Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo would likely turn the entire world CV-7721 into scorched earth!
To completely turn a resource-rich world, capable of becoming a Forge world, into scorched earth was simply too wasteful.
Even Carol couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.
"As long as the Adamantium is still there, it's fine."
Emrys was certainly not thoughtless; he was taking the most reasonable and least damaging measures based on the current situation.
"To eliminate this creature, the most direct method is actually the least damaging."
Adamantium is the strongest metal. The primary method of the Atmospheric Incineration Torpedo is to ignite the atmosphere, burning the entire world into glass with super-high temperatures. Other metals and resources would be destroyed, but Adamantium—could be perfectly preserved.
This world, the only thing Emrys cared about, was probably just the Adamantium. As for the rest, it wasn't that important!