The Witcher: Start with the Lord Marrying a Wife.

Chapter 588 Psionic Fear
At that moment, the massive Zerg ships at the edge of the "Shadow Veil" stirred restlessly. Their bodies were covered in purplish-black, and they moved through the Netherworld like living fortresses. Every slight flap of their wings created ripples, causing local spatial distortions.

The fleet leader was as huge as a castle, its surface covered with sharp spikes and thick armor, and various biological weapons took turns glowing with eerie light.

The probes captured the gravitational waves they emitted, a force that strongly disrupted the nearby spacetime structure, trapping anyone who tried to get close into an inescapable abyss, dragging them into despair and devouring them.

The Silverwing Ark struggled to navigate among these strange vessels, each evasive maneuver sending hearts racing. A wizard piloted the Condensed Rune Bomb Combat System, his eyes gleaming with unwavering resolve, undaunted by the dangers: "We must first defeat the outer sentinels to pave the way to the Mother Nest!"

The soldiers at the front nodded and launched a precise strike at top speed. A massive, yet perilous, counter-attack operation was about to unfold in the cold, desolate void!

David gazed out the window at the enormous, writhing, stretching, and ravaging expanse of everything, and he knew:
This is not just a war, but a matter of life and death, and a severe challenge to the entire multiverse order!
He slowly relaxed his breathing and gave the order:

"Everyone, prepare! Let us use our faith and iron will to ignite the final dawn on the edge of despair!"

The Silverwing Ark slowly approached the ruins of the "Lonely Islands." The deep, shadowy curtain in the void writhed and expanded, like a lurking behemoth stretching out countless claws into the distance. Just as the expeditionary force was preparing to explore further, a sudden danger descended—an overwhelming Zerg fleet surged forth like a tidal wave.

"Lord! Detector warning! Multiple high-speed fleets are rapidly approaching, we have been detected!" a wizard reported anxiously, his star map flashing red alarm signals.

David's gaze sharpened, and though he remained silent, he was already prepared for battle. Outside the porthole, countless small and sharp Zerg airships sliced ​​through the air like blades, their forms light and agile, yet concealing terrifying destructive power. The airships were covered with hard, dark purple chitinous shells, spewing corrosive energy blasts and bio-spores; these toxins could instantly corrode metal and runic shields.

Even more astonishingly, behind this swarm of small attack forces lay massive bio-fortress-class motherships, like islands floating in the void, covered with multiple firing platforms and spiked defensive structures. These fortresses emitted a cold, dark glow, resembling living behemoths, constantly baring their fangs and tearing through space.

Lia immediately issued the command: "Activate Arcane Shield Array! Frost Barrier and Mind Barrier activate simultaneously!" She quickly waved the rune scrolls with both hands, and a layer of light blue crystalline ice wall and a shimmering purple net intertwined and wrapped around the spaceship, forming a tough barrier around the ship, like a crystal clear and tough double protective shell, enveloping the Silverwing Ark.

Anne followed suit, chanting the incantation. Her eyes glowed with a deep blue light, and under her mental control, an invisible barrier rapidly expanded, merging with the frost barrier. Under this double protection, the entire ship became virtually indestructible, while also significantly enhancing the crew's mental resilience.

"Concentrate firepower! Full power on the main cannons!" David commanded in a deep voice. Driven by the stardial core, the elemental main cannons of the "Silverwing Ark" unleashed beams of blue and white flames, transforming into a rain of laser swords that pierced the darkness and shattered rocks as they bombarded the dense swarm of insects. The flames instantly melted the enemy bodies they touched, but they could not completely suppress their astonishing reproduction rate and tenacious vitality.

The small Zerg airships reacted swiftly, dispersing at extremely high speeds while spewing thick, corrosive acid and a toxic mist containing parasitic spores. This acid, charged and highly corrosive, continuously eroded the ship's outer armor and parts of its energy shield. For a moment, cracks and faint arcs of electricity appeared on the surface rune array of the "Silverwing Ark," but the massive and complex defense system repaired it in time, significantly slowing the spread of damage.

Even more terrifying was that a small group of Zerglings desperately clung to the outer walls of the spaceship, frantically climbing with their sharp claws and suddenly unleashing a tearing attack. Like bloodthirsty beasts, they ignored some of the magical barriers, destroying the metal armor at an extraordinary speed and attempting to burrow into the cabin to create chaos. This physical tearing combined with biochemical toxins kept everyone on edge, leaving no room for complacency.

Leah relentlessly waved her staff, shooting shards of magical ice crystals at the area near the tentacles, freezing enemies into fragile statues. However, as more enemies swarmed in, these frozen bodies were quickly breached or detonated, creating secondary shockwaves that threatened the surrounding environment. Meanwhile, Annie used her mental barrier to help resist mental illusions and parasitic spore invasions, performing real-time mental purification on her team members to maintain their stability.

In the weightless and turbulent environment, the members moved in coordinated and orderly fashion: the wizard knights wielded their swords to slay the aliens at close range; the tech wizards manipulated rune devices to launch magical bombs; the witches softly chanted empowering incantations, infusing the soldiers on the front lines with strength. In this chaotic struggle, every action seemed exceptionally heavy and crucial, and every breath carried the weight of life and death!

"Boom!" A violent impact left a slight dent on the side of the spaceship, and a violent shockwave rippled throughout the entire vessel. David took a deep breath; he understood that the key to this battle lay in sustained attrition while simultaneously finding a breakthrough to cut off the enemy's outer formation. He calmly commanded, "Lock onto the most threatening unit on the perimeter, fire all missiles at once! Don't give them a chance to breathe!"

As the command was given, the "Silverwing Ark" unleashed a dazzling elemental torrent—a blazing spear formed from pure arcane energy—that pierced straight towards the core of the largest fortress, the Savage Stronghold. The spear pierced through spatial barriers, exploding upon impact with a thunderous roar that dispelled a vast veil of shadow, countless fragments transforming into shimmering stardust that drifted in all directions. This offensive seemed to intimidate the opposing forces, but even more reinforcements surged in, pushing the battlefield down a path of even greater carnage and no return!
However, just as fatigue began to set in, Cynthia's resolute voice came from the command center: "Beware of abnormal vibrations at the right hatch; a parasite is attempting to break through the defenses!"

Everyone turned around immediately, only to see several sharp, claw-like monsters frantically clinging to the ship's hull, gnawing at the metal joints with their gaping maws. A shaman knight lunged forward and severed their necks with his blazing sword, but the number far exceeded their expectations; many more surged from the shadows…

David frowned, knowing this was not only a protracted tug-of-war, but also a test of his physical and mental limits. He raised his right hand, using chaotic power to enhance all his senses. "We must hold out until reinforcements arrive, or being surrounded means certain death."

The battle raged for several hours, the air thick with the strange stench of burning, corrosion, and the lingering effects of intense magic. Despite the constant assaults, the Silverwing Ark, through its superior design and the desperate defense of its crew, repeatedly averted disaster. The arcane turmoil unleashed by the witches, working in concert, became their strongest shield, building impregnable fortresses around them!
As the first rays of dawn streamed through the portholes into the room, everyone's faces, though etched with exhaustion and wounds, still bore the unwavering resolve born of their bloody battle—they knew this was only the first step in the war, and even greater hardships and dangers awaited them… David gazed at the fading silhouettes of the insect swarm in the distant spiral vortex and said calmly, “We will not retreat, nor can we retreat. All life in this universe deserves our utmost protection.”

The witch Lia looked back at him, a resolute smile appearing on her face: "Wherever you go, we will never abandon you."

In the dim astral space, a fierce battle continued, with various sounds intertwining and echoing: the roar of exploding rune bombs, the tearing sound of corrosive liquid hitting the ship's metal, and the tense yet resolute breathing of the soldiers. The air was filled with the pungent smell of burning and corrosive residue, and magical ripples flowed slowly through the space.

In the control room, Annie sat on a platform surrounded by runes, her face tense, her gaze fixed intently on the large shard of a stardial floating before her. A faint blue light and subtle pulsating mental waves emanated from the shard's surface. She gently covered it with her hands, merging her mental energy with it.

"The mental fluctuations are unusually complex... The swarm's consciousness is scattered, but their collective reaction is extremely rapid." Annie muttered to herself, her brows furrowed as she analyzed the chaotic and highly disruptive ripples of mental energy.

For the past few hours, the Zerg have relentlessly attacked the Silverwing Ark, each attack infused with potent biochemical toxins and physical bites. The witches, however, have struggled to withstand the onslaught thanks to their strong mental resistance and protective shields. Annie, as the main force of the mental defense, has continuously unleashed high-frequency, pure, lightning-like psionic shockwaves using advanced mind blasts, hoping to disrupt the enemy's collective consciousness.

During a subconscious scan just now, an anomaly caught her attention—when she used Mind Blast, the Zerg in the attacked area suddenly fell into a very brief but obviously violent state of stun and chaos. Even more shockingly, some of their own kind were killing each other. This abnormal reaction far exceeded the damage caused by physical or elemental attacks!
Anne frowned and quickly relayed her discovery to David via a tiny mental link on the stardial fragment.

"Commander, I've discovered a crucial point! These Zerg are extremely sensitive to pure, high-frequency, and unconverted psychic energy!" Her voice was firm and urgent. "Whenever my high-level psionic lightning sweeps across them, they instantly enter a state of fear paralysis, sometimes even turning on each other! This may be their weakest point—phantom fear!"

David, clad in demigod armor, stood before the command platform, his expression grave as he gripped the communicator. "Psionic Fear…this is a breakthrough!" he murmured before replying, "To further expand the coverage of this fluctuation, we need the entire ship to coordinate the release of the highest frequency Psionic Waves."

The cabin lights subtly shifted, and under everyone's watchful eyes, the large stardial fragment embedded in the center of the ship began to radiate a brighter and more complexly intertwined blue-purple vein of light. In an instant, an invisible but substantial mental network quietly formed, linking the thoughts of all the key members, sharing each other's perceptions, and amplifying the scope of their influence.

Lia immediately adjusted the structure of the Frost Barrier, injecting ice crystals into part of the rune array so that it could withstand and guide higher frequency and multi-layered psychological impacts; at the same time, she coordinated with Annie to cast hypnotic and insane spells, exacerbating the Zerg panic and confusion effect.

The crew members all felt a strange, sharp, and eerie aura permeating the air, like thousands of invisible shrieks echoing in their ears—an ominous signal piercing through nerve endings and reaching the depths of their consciousness. As this ghostly shriek approached, some of the small parasitic beasts that had been trying to climb and invade the bulkhead suddenly lost their coordination. They mechanically stopped, swayed, and then began to tear at each other in struggle. This scene astonished the guards, who exclaimed, "Even these tenacious beasts have been disrupted!"

Cynthia sat cross-legged on the edge of the altar, her eyes closed, but her body trembled slightly with the rhythm of her pulse. "This is a psychological resonance phenomenon that has also appeared in the Blood Prison World..." she whispered, "destroying the enemy's will defenses through a specific frequency, plunging them into chaotic slaughter."

David stared at the real-time data on the screen. He saw distribution images like a living network being torn apart, countless individual insects flying out of control like kites with broken strings. He issued the command in a firm voice:
"Amplify the entire ship's Mind Resonance Array! Leah, deploy more Frost Barriers to focus on guiding the Nether Vibration; Annie, unleash the highest level of 'Mind Lightning'!"

The control room instantly fell into a tense atmosphere, with everyone moving faster but in perfect coordination. With the assistance of the massive stardial core, the collective mental energy of everyone converged into a huge, invisible ripple that spread around the spaceship like an ominous storm engulfing the heavens and the earth.

The swarm of insects in the dark void outside the window seemed to tremble suddenly, some tentacles twitching wildly, and the outer armor of some motherships emitting strange squeaking noises. Parts of the area were paralyzed and lost, and even small airships experienced chain reactions of self-destruction and explosions. Many small parasites that had previously charged fiercely into close range scattered and fled or disintegrated and died due to sudden mental breakdowns. This was the first time they had witnessed their opponent exhibit a truly effective large-scale mental breakdown!
However, this victory came at a price—the machines bore immense pressure, and multiple arcane barriers cracked and splintered; both wizards and knights felt a surge of mental stress, struggling agonizingly as if teetering on the edge of an abyss. But their eyes remained resolute and unwavering, for they knew:
"This is a ray of hope to break the deadlock, and the key to changing our fate!"

David stood in the center of the command platform, calmly surveying the crowd, and shouted:

"Maintain formation integrity! Do not allow the enemy to take advantage of any openings! We will crush the Star-Eating Monster's plot with absolute will!"

Lia chuckled and replied, "My lord, we are willing to shield you from the wind and rain, even if it costs us our last drop of blood."

David stood in the center of the command platform, his gaze sharp as a blade, his mind racing with the crucial intelligence he had just received from Annie.

(End of this chapter)