The Necron Overlord was stunned. These "bugs" actually possessed the capability for short-range warp jumps?
It seemed the Crypteks were right; these creatures were surely creations of the Old Ones. No other origin could explain such formidable biological capabilities. Judging by the current rate of attrition, there was a genuine possibility that the Necrons could face defeat.
"Hmph."
The Overlord let out a cold snort. Despite lacking respiratory organs, he maintained that characteristic posture of looking down his nose at all lesser beings.
"Intriguing. But a minor nuisance at best."
That arrogance was etched into their very mechanical husks, an inescapable part of their nature. The Overlord began repositioning his forces. In the grand scheme, war often resembled a turn-based game: move and counter-move, thrust and parry. If you couldn't crush your enemy in a single blow, there was no telling who would prevail in the next exchange.
The Necron fleet abruptly shifted formations. The Doomscythe-class battleship currently being swarmed was seemingly abandoned, with no further reinforcements sent to its aid. Instead, another Necron cruiser resumed its energy pulses to prevent the approach of Scourge-class Banelings, while carrier wings engaged in a chaotic dogfight with the Swarm's Corruptors and Mutalisks.
The battlefield appeared deadlocked, but that was only among the smaller units. Suddenly, the Necron capital ships began to ignore the Leviathans flanking them. Firing through the gaps between the behemoths, they focused all their firepower on the Leviathan at the center of the formation.
Under the concentrated bombardment of multiple Necron vessels, even a Leviathan couldn't withstand the onslaught. It was torn into countess chunks of flesh. No matter how massive or powerful a Leviathan was, the lack of energy shielding and the inherent lethality of Gauss weaponry against biological matter put it at a severe disadvantage—especially when targeted by a concentrated volley.
"Hmph. Since neither side possesses shields, let us see whose efficiency is superior."
The battle became a contest between a mechanical swarm and a biological one. Both sides had abandoned defense entirely, opting instead for a raw competition of firepower versus regeneration.
In this regard, the Zerg were at a total disadvantage.
The Leviathan's firepower was inferior to that of the Necrons. While its regeneration was slightly faster than Living Metal, the structural integrity of Living Metal far surpassed chitinous armor. Furthermore, the Necrons exploited their range advantage to systematically pick off the Zerg capital ships. Every concentrated volley either obliterated or crippled a Leviathan, dealing 100% effective damage.
On the Zerg side, it took over a dozen Leviathans to dismantle a single Necron battleship; meanwhile, the Necron fleet had already claimed more than five Leviathans. If the battle continued this way, the Zerg Swarm would be wiped out after destroying barely ten Necron ships.
As the number of Leviathans dwindled, the kill-loss ratio grew even worse. Damn, this guy wants to play hardball?
A straight-up brawl was a losing game; the quality gap between the units was simply too vast. The Swarm's numbers hadn't reached the point where they could drown the Necrons in sheer mass. Tactically and strategically, the Zerg were losing ground.
"We're going to lose this one."
After analyzing the situation, the Overmind fell into a rare silence. Losing was acceptable—he could handle a defeat—but he wasn't going to let the Necrons walk away unscathed.
"To hell with it! If you want a slugfest, I'll give you one!"
Pushed to the limit, the Overmind resorted to a tactic considered disgusting even by Warhammer 40K standards:
[RAMMING SPEED!]
"Ram them! Even if the Leviathans die, I'm taking you down with me!!!"
A Leviathan's physiology wasn't designed for ramming, but when a beast of that magnitude commits to a collision, the resulting kinetic energy is horrifying.
"What?"
The Necron Overlord quickly noticed something was wrong. The Leviathans' velocity had spiked, far exceeding standard engagement speeds.
"What are they doing?"
He found out almost immediately. His flagship shuddered violently, nearly knocking him off his feet. He frantically checked the source of the impact: a Leviathan had slammed directly into the ship's engine array.
"Are these creatures insane? A direct collision?!"
The impact deformed the Necron flagship's hull. The Leviathan fared no better; its surface was crushed, and massive swathes of flesh—measured in hundreds of meters—were torn away. But it wasn't over. A second Leviathan slammed home, and the rest of the Necron ships suffered similar impacts.
Some Leviathans even used their massive tentacles to grapple the Necron vessels, anchoring themselves for a continuous, grinding assault. The scene was one of pure madness—a style of warfare rarely seen in the cold vacuum of space.
While the Leviathans sustained far more damage than the Necron ships, the destruction they wrought was immense. If a Leviathan struck the edge of a crescent-shaped Necron vessel, it would shear off entire sections of the ship. Such damage was impossible for Living Metal to repair in a short timeframe, especially as the ramming continued.
The Necron Overlord finally felt a twinge of helplessness. The most primitive form of combat was proving to be the most effective. By fighting with a total disregard for life or casualties, the Zerg fleet had achieved its best possible attrition rate.
Heavy casualties began to mount for the Necron fleet, with wreckage drifting everywhere. Leviathan carcasses were equally prevalent—though their bodies remained largely intact, they were twisted beyond recognition.
Ultimately, however, the Overmind still didn't win.
By the time only three Necron battleships remained, the last Leviathan was blasted into pieces. With the capital ships gone, the remaining Corruptors and Mutalisks could no longer pose a significant threat to the Necron heavy hitters.
"I tried. I really tried."
The Overmind relinquished direct control of the Zerg in that sector, leaving the Overlords to handle the retreat and cleanup.
Damn it, the stats on those Necron ships must have been written by a madman. No shields, yet they're tougher than an Imperial ship with full void shields.
It wasn't an exaggeration; the technical specs of Necron vessels were indeed absurd.
I'll let it go for now. I don't want to draw too much attention from the Necrons. Next time... next time I'll have my dear daughter lead a fleet of thousands of Leviathans on a Great Crusade of our own.
For now, the Overmind had no desire to provoke the full might of the Necron dynasties. After all, not even the Necrons themselves knew exactly how many Tomb Worlds were scattered across the galaxy.
"Overmind, you summoned me?"
"My daughter... avoid contact with the Necrons for the time being."
"As you command, Overmind."
The Queen of Blades didn't question how the Overmind knew of the Necrons; she obeyed without hesitation. She knew of them, of course—she had the lingering memories of the Eldar to draw upon. But she did not fear them. She believed that before the Swarm, even the Necrons would eventually be conquered.
On the other side of the void, however, the Necrons were not feeling so complacent.
"This xenos race must be extinguished," the Necron Overlord reported to his King.