I Am The Swarm-Chapter 658: Repulsion

“Leader, requesting to rejoin the team.” Just as Knox’s squad was feeling demoralized after realizing their efforts were futile, Kari’s voice suddenly came through the comms.

Everyone snapped out of their gloom. Earlier, after Kari had recklessly lost another robot, he had spewed a lot of foul language.

Given that everyone was already in a bad mood, no one wanted to deal with his negativity. As a result, Knox had used his authority as squad lead to kick Kari out of the comms channel.

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Although he was later readmitted, Kari, perhaps after cooling down and reflecting, remained silent after rejoining the channel. Gradually, he was forgotten.

Now that he spoke up, everyone realized they hadn’t heard from him in a while.

“Everyone was in a bad mood earlier, and you were shouting and making a scene. It was too damaging to morale, so I kicked you out to cool off. Don’t take it to heart.” The squad members were like family, and while Kari was often loud and brash, he usually didn’t let the team down. To reassure him, Knox explained his earlier action.

“It’s fine. I just went to apply for a new robot. It’ll be here soon.” Kari was surprisingly unfazed by what had happened. His words also indicated that he hadn’t been sulking in silence but had been busy interfacing with another system.

“The cleared corridors aren’t completely safe. Be careful.” Although being careful might not help much, Knox still reminded him.

“Understood. This Z2 is one of the last few in inventory. Letoxi, the officer in charge of inventory, said if I wreck this one, there won’t be any replacements. So don’t worry, I’ll be extra careful.” Kari sounded full of energy. His temporary removal from the squad’s comms channel had shielded him from the team’s negative atmosphere.

“Let’s hope so…” Knox’s mouth twitched, clearly not convinced by Kari’s promise.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened along the way. Kari was indeed more careful this time and didn’t cause any trouble. A few minutes later, he rejoined the squad.

“Hey, guys, check out what I found in the armory!” As soon as the Z2 spider-shaped robot appeared, Kari’s boisterous laughter came through, instantly lifting the squad’s gloomy mood.

However, everyone noticed that the new spider-shaped robot looked different. Its main body was equipped with a massive cannon.

The cannon was about four meters long, with a diameter of thirty centimeters. Inside, a crescent-shaped structure was faintly visible, and at the rear of the cannon was a half-meter-square box-like component. This massive weapon looked incredibly out of place on the Z2 spider robot, which had a main body diameter of only three meters and thin, spindly legs.

“A sonic repulsion cannon?” Knox immediately recognized the device. It was a repulsion-type weapon, designed to use powerful sound waves to generate a strong pushing force, preventing targets from approaching.

To be honest, this kind of weapon was usually used on planets with atmospheres, as sound waves require a medium like air to propagate. In the vacuum of space, the weapon would be practically useless.

However, it could be used inside the ship’s corridors. The Z-series squad was designed to counter and defend against potential intrusions by the Swarm’s juvenile octopus-like creatures.

Although this small, portable sonic repulsion cannon wasn’t very effective against the creatures, which were typically around ten meters long, it was useful against the Swarm’s ultra-small units. These units, sometimes only a few dozen centimeters in size, had appeared in Confederation records several times, each time causing significant damage.

Moreover, these small units could be carried by the juvenile octopus-like creatures. If the juveniles breached the ship and released these smaller units, the sonic repulsion cannon could come in handy. While it couldn’t effectively kill them, it could keep them at a safe distance, giving the squad time to take them out.

However, such scenarios were extremely rare, so this highly situational weapon had been relegated to the corner of the armory and largely forgotten.

Knox’s eyes lit up as he understood Kari’s idea. The Swarm’s Tentacle Traps were also relatively small and could be affected by the repulsion cannon.

Unlike direct-damage weapons, repulsion-type weapons had significant limitations. Their effectiveness against metal constructs was highly variable.

At their operational power level, if they could move a metal object, they could cause collision damage. But if they couldn’t move it, the damage would be negligible.

However, these weapons had a strong effect on biological entities. The powerful sound waves could attack them at the cellular level, making them highly effective against small units. Even against larger targets, they could cause discomfort.

Thus, these weapons were originally designed for use on inhabited planets to drive away large predators. They were also used in low-intensity internal conflicts, as they could inflict damage without causing fatalities, making them useful in certain situations.

The Swarm’s Tentacle Traps, based on observations, relied on corroding a section of the environment and then attaching themselves to it for camouflage. Their bodies were strong enough to withstand small-arms fire and could quickly mimic the appearance of the attacked area, making them extremely difficult to detect.

But it was unclear how firmly they were attached. Under the influence of the sonic repulsion cannon, the solid metal walls of the ship’s interior would easily withstand the attack.

However, if the Tentacle Traps weren’t firmly attached, they could be blown away. Even if they weren’t, they would have to exert force to resist the repulsion. When biological entities exert force, there are inevitably differences from their normal state. For example, when the Tentacle Traps attacked, blue arcs of electricity would flash, indicating their maximum output.

Moreover, even without the repulsion effect, the powerful sound waves would cause discomfort at the cellular level. Therefore, under the influence of the sonic repulsion cannon, even the slightest anomaly in the Tentacle Traps’ behavior would be detected and marked by the AI.

At that point, lacking effective mobility, they would become easy targets for the squad to eliminate with concentrated fire.

“Great job, Kari!” Knox was visibly energized and unusually vocal in his praise for Kari.

It wasn’t hard to guess how Kari had discovered the sonic repulsion cannon. With the Z-series robots being heavily deployed, the sonic weapon, tucked away in the corner of the armory, had likely been overlooked until Kari stumbled upon it.