I Hate Systems

Swoosh!

Space warped as a gigantic spaceship arrived to a halt, having just completed its warp. The captain of the ship frowned as he observed the surroundings, noticing the signs of living beings registered on their radar.

He stared at the coral reef situated a kilometre from the ship, extending for thousands of kilometres from there. Each coral spanned dozens of metres in height, their lateral size spanning from dozens to hundreds of metres.

Mysterious shadows shuttled between the corals while the air was viscous and humid to the extent one could breathe in the air and feel like they were breathing water instead.

"What's the status of the hostiles?" The captain looked at the crew that began to work on their numerous scanning apparatuses.

"Captain!" One of the crew pulled up an image, displaying a humanoid figure with a head resembling a sea anemone. The rest of its body seemed to be made from a shadow, capable of freely morphing its shape and size as it saw fit.

He then announced as the sounds of a siren resounded, "The hostiles are approaching us. What should we do?"

"Hmm…" The captain stared through the window of the ship to observe a shadow creeping towards them from the coral reef, covering the entirety of the width of the region. It was pretty fast, and everywhere it passed by, the air became humid enough to resemble water.

He calmly issued a command, "Launch a torpedo."

"Initiating sequence, launching torpedo!" One of the crew targeted the closest coral and pressed the trigger, launching a missile that unleashed its thrust and instantly broke the sound barrier.

Swoosh!

It passed through the humid region when suddenly, its speed dropped significantly. Moreover, a few hundred metres in its path and its body began to deform rapidly, as if unable to handle the pressure.

"So, that's the characteristic of this region." The captain muttered upon seeing the torpedo be crushed into a piece of scrap metal by the humid region. He then issued another command, "Use the laser."

A pointy antenna protruded out of the spaceship and whirred into life, condensing a reddish sphere of energy on it that it fired. The laser beam passed through the humid region and began to rapidly lose its power, turning weak before disappearing at the five hundred metre mark.

"Retreat five kilometres." The captain announced when the shadow almost reached the spaceship. Their engines immediately unleashed a powerful thrust that caused the surrounding space to morph faintly as the spaceship flickered to a distance five kilometres away.

The shadows stopped two kilometres from the coral reef as they paused for a second before beginning to retreat.

"That's a tough defence they got there." The captain muttered as he concluded based on the data they had extracted, "But, it seems their range is only two kilometres."

He stared at the crew, "This distance is far enough. We'll begin setting up a gate here. It'll act as the forefront of our invasion."

"Yes, captain!" A group of people immediately began to take action.

But it seemed the enemy was able to observe their actions, for the moment they began to install a gate, the shadows from the coral reefs expanded. But this time, shadowy figures leaped out of them in large droves to target the spaceship.

Hundred, thousand, million…the number of shadowy figures continued to increase rapidly as they converged upon the spaceship.

Kieee!

One of them arrived before the spaceship and slammed forth with a shadow whip, lashing out the defensive shield erected by the target.

Bam!

Shockingly, a large gash formed on the defensive shield that was almost breached. It recovered in an instant, but the sheer strength displayed by a single shadowy figure sent waves of alarm in the minds of the crew.

Even the captain couldn't maintain his cool any longer as he quickly relayed his command, "Open the gate to the swarm army."

"But captain, unleashing them this soon would create too much chaos." One of the crew said in alarm.

"It's fine, let them do their thing." The captain convinced everyone, "They are expert invaders for a reason."

As more and more shadowy figures converged upon the spaceship and began to bombard their attacks, a portal manifested above it, out of which streamed thousands of insectoid creatures every second.

These creatures formed the staple enemy in countless worlds under Technocraft, an enemy typically referred to as 'World Devourers.'

The Swarm!

Kreeech!

Ear-piercing screeches resounded as the insectoids attacked the shadowy beings. Both sides engaged in a bloody battle where it took more than a hundred insectoids to kill a single shadowy being.

The shadowy beings were stronger, tougher, and possessed flexibility in their adaptability. Hence, they could fight with a variety of strategies. Moreover, they could retreat in and out of the shadow covering the ground.

But despite that, the swarm was as the name implied, a swarm. Their numbers were endless as soon, the entire region was swarming with them.

The spaceship expanded the size of the gate as a massive, kilometre-wide entity resembling a beating heart exited, its body covered with tiny sacks.

The heart-like entity gently landed on the ground and began to suck in the energy of the land, causing the sacks on its body to grow to the limit before they exploded, pouring out the swarms that had been created.

Nest!

It was a swarm entity that birthed a variety of swarm races. Just one was enough to destroy an entire planet and suck it dry of all its resources.

With its arrival, the number of insectoids targeting the shadowy beings increased in numbers. Moreover, the Nest extended a tentacle that took root within the humid region, beginning to suck in the resources abundant there.

Immediately, a change erupted within the Nest as immediately, the insectoids being nurtured within the sacks covering its body turned darker. Soon after, the sacks exploded to pour out the insectoids.

But this time, there was a startling difference in their appearance. A shadowy substance was prevalent in their joints, making their bodies flexible. Moreover, they were less affected by the environment and were also able to now detect the shadowy beings that retreated into the shadow on the ground.

Immediately, it took less than a couple dozen of the new insectoid variety to kill a shadowy being. By absorbing the essence of the region the shadowy beings lived in, the Nest was able to biologically alter the race it produced to make them more effective against the target.

This was the scary reason the Swarm were termed 'World Devourers'. Their evolution was insanely rapid.