The Ultimate Evolution

Sheyan suddenly became alert.

“The most effective approach for the Tanker Bugs is to breakthrough from that spot! Yes, that must be it! Oh no, that fool Aldaris is actually over there too! This is a great chance for the Zerg!”

Having judged what the Overmind was going to do next, Sheyan cautiously edged in that direction.

Of course, this did not mean that the Protoss commander was less observant than Sheyan. Sheyan’s advantage was that he was a bystander looking over the battlefield from a high ground. And, even if the Protoss commander knew the Zerg’s next move, he would still be powerless.

Because this time, the Zerg’s attack was launched from the underground!

The Protoss base was located on a gentle slope, which was a very disadvantageous terrain to begin with. At first, the Zerg could only attack from an angle of 180 degrees from the front (they were limited by the cliffs on both sides). They could also attack by air, of course.

That was already a very broad attack area. But thirty-eight Tanker Bugs had dug into one of the cliffs, causing the cliff that had been blocking the ground forces to collapse into a gentle slope! That increased the Zerg attack area from 180 degrees to 240 degrees!

And that landslide had also affected more than a dozen Protoss buildings built near the cliff, making them collapse due to unstable foundation! Aldaris was also in the area where the collapse happened. He was toppled by the collapse together with some of the troops that were resting and resupplying there. When they came back to their senses, they were already being overrun by the Zerg torrent!

They were already separated from the main base. Having lost their geographical advantages and defensive facilities to rely on, being wiped out was only a matter of time!

Fortunately, at that moment, the Shuttle heroic unit came roaring. It actually had enough capacity to transport three Reavers and a High Templar at the same time! A soon as the Reavers and High Templar were let down a distance away, they instantly launched a fierce bout of attacks, and they were quickly transported away again afterwards.

The Reavers’ Scarabs and the High Templar’s Psionic Storm instantly blasted through the Zerg swarm, creating an escape path for Aldaris and the rest of the trapped soldiers! The path would close again in a few seconds, but it was a ray of hope!

All the trapped Protoss troops charged through the path in a frenzy! They squeezed out every ounce of their potential, driven by their instinct to survive! But the Zerg closed in from both sides, grinding down the charging Protoss troops one layer at a time until they were almost wiped out! Aldaris cunningly hid himself at the very middle, but with the skin gone, to what can the hair attach itself? When all the cannon fodder died, he would not escape this tragic fate either!

At that instant, Aldaris summoned the last ounce of energy he had left to unleash a Psionic Storm directly ahead of himself, then rushed into the Psionic Storm with a scream. His plasma shield was rapidly being exhausted.

The Archon is a very peculiar unit. According to the data in the game, an ordinary Archon has 300 plasma shield points, which is staggeringly high, but only 10 meagre points of HP.

(TL: The plasma shield (a.k.a. phase shield) is a Protoss defence method created by a blend of psionic power and technology.)

Therefore, Aldaris’ life would be as good as forfeit the moment his shield broke!

But right then, he took an honorary dosage, instantly restoring himself to peak condition, and finally escaped from the encirclement, bruised and battered and covered in Hydralisk acid. Gone was his originally sacred and dignified Archon appearance that was like a big ball of white light. He looked more like green mouldy bread now.

Escaping along with Aldaris were the muscular Zealot who wielded a two-handed hammer (the Zealots have a passive which raises speed, so they run fast) and a Dragoon hero unit. This Dragoon had two more legs than an ordinary Dragoon, which gave him an advantage in movement speed. In fact, speed was his defining feature. He ran fast, attacked fast, and could fire 4 times faster than a normal Dragoon. He also had a probability of launching two antimatter bolts in one shot.

These three core units, surrounded by more than a dozen wounded soldiers, were running towards the location where Sheyan was hiding. Following behind them were the furious Zerg troops. The Zerg, who had the upper hand, naturally would not let the enemies get away so easily.

When the Protoss main base seemed like it was about to fall, the blood-red giant claw devoured two Arbiters in one go. Two Pylons burst simultaneously, but only one portal emerged. However, the portal was unnaturally big.

A giant red Carrier slowly flew out of the portal, bringing with it unspeakable oppressiveness and horrifying intimidation!

A Carrier heroic unit had finally appeared!

Following behind the heroic Carrier were eleven heroic Corsairs. These heroic Corsairs had bloodstained hulls, astonishing offensive power and extraordinary defence and HP.

The Corsairs actually adopted a crazy, suicidal tactic. They chased after all the Overlords, trying to hunt them down at all costs. A large number of Overlords had already sacrificed themselves before this to absorb damage for the Queens, so that the Queens could safely reach the battlefield. Now that they were targeted by the suicidal Corsair heroic units, the Overlords near the base were all cleaned up. All eleven Corsairs were completely destroyed in the process, but they had achieved their objective.

Right after the Overlords were eliminated from the battlefield, the Dark Templars, who had accumulated to quite a number, instantly joined the fight (Dark Templars are stealth units. Overlords are anti-stealth units). Their attack powers were truly terrifying, while the Zerg had no anti-stealth capability left!

The situation once again entered a deadlock. Despite their best efforts, the Zerg could not conquer the Protoss main base. The damage done by a large number of Dark Templars was simply too hot to handle, not to mention the Zerg had no way of handling them.

***

Sheyan shifted his attention back to the Zerg that were chasing after Aldaris’ group.

The most important thing in a chase was, naturally, speed.

If you can’t even catch up to your targets, how are you going to attack them?

Hence, all the Zerg pursuers were highly mobile units. They consisted of a mix of Zerglings, Ultralisks and Devourers (Devourers evolve from Mutalisks. They are flying units that can attach “acid spores” to anything they hit).

Logically speaking, Aldaris in his Archon form should have been the bane of the Zerglings and Devourers, but that was only true if he was up against a limited number of opponents. Right now, there were dozens of Devourers, hundreds of Zerglings, and three Ultralisks. For this group of tired, defeated Protoss soldiers to turn back and fight them was simply suicidal.

Fortunately, these Protoss soldiers were all experienced veterans. After running for several kilometers, they suddenly split into three groups and fled in different directions. This forced the Zerg troops to split up too. This was good news for Sheyan!

Sheyan no longer concealed himself. He came out of his hiding spot and waved at Aldaris to catch his attention. Aldaris instantly ran towards the hill where Sheyan was located. Sheyan did not have time to explain anything to him. He simply shouted, “Cast Psionic Storm at yourself!”

Aldaris’ eyes almost bulged out of the sockets. Cast Psionic Storm at himself? Sure, that would ensure that all the enemies were covered by the storm, but the damage done by Psionic Storm was continuous damage instead of instantaneous. Even the Zerglings, who had the lowest HP, could withstand the storm for a short while and attack him a couple of times before they died!

If he really did follow Sheyan’s instruction, then barring any accidents, he would take damage from both the Psionic Storm and the Zerg!! He had already used the honorary dosage! He would die for sure!

However, Aldaris only hesitated for half a second before he did as Sheyan said, because he believed that Sheyan had no reason to kill him.

Blue and white lightning tore through the sky again. However, amidst the storm, Aldaris was surprised to find that his HP was dropping very slowly. Only upon a closer look did he notice that he currently had an additional status condition:

[ You are currently under the protection of the Survival Awakening Skill, ‘Survival Mark’. ]

[ Awakener No. 1018 has placed a mark on you, greatly enhancing your survivability. In the next three seconds, 75% of any damage done to you will be allocated to the Awakener. The allocation will be performed at the stage of theoretical damage value, so any damage reduction, including the damage reduction from defence, will be done after the allocation. ]

Psionic Storm lasted for three seconds, causing a round of damage every second. Sheyan’s ‘Survival Mark’ helped Aldaris safely get through the most critical period. When the ‘Survival Mark’ was over, all the Zerglings and most of the Devourers within range had died. Aldaris practically only needed to deal with two Ultralisks now. He had more than half his plasma shield left, enough for him to survive.

Sheyan jumped down from the cliff, blocking in front of Aldaris, and casually threw a curse-mix. The area around them were instantly enshrouded in thick green smoke.

But Aldaris suddenly panicked.

“You fool! Your curse-mix is debuffing me!”

Sheyan advanced forward and collided with one of the Ultralisks that was charging over in a violent impact. He was so strong that an ordinary Ultralisk could not knock him away!

He shouted at Aldaris without turning back, “Use your brain! You’re considered a hero unit right now! Invite me as an ally of the Protoss!”

“I can’t! I’m not like the other hero units! They were invited here, but I volunteered to come here! I don’t have the authority! Ah!! What kind of rubbish MT are you? Don’t you see this Ultralisk breaking down my shield?!?!” Aldaris continued to scream.