You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

A powerful race that left its home planet in response to the call of the Golden Clan. All members possess the ability to travel through space independently and uphold absolute rationality, considering themselves the successors of the Golden Clan.

Bronze Clan

The Zerg civilization, which entered the universe by relying on the power of its swarm, can survive in almost any environment and is one of the vassals of the Silver Race.

【Hero Clan】

Information about them is extremely scarce, but their individual strength is the strongest in the universe. They are also impulsive and belligerent, and their endless fighting has even led to the destruction of their home planet. Their war has spread to the galaxy, causing countless races among the stars to weep.

【Black Iron Clan】

Humans, the youngest and weakest of the five races, are characterized by their rich emotions and lack of rationality, which seems to prove that they are a flawed race.

—Note that there are many races among the stars, but only these five entered the interstellar age through their own efforts, and therefore were given the corresponding titles.

Most of the "aliens" actually received technological assistance from the Silver Clan, which enabled them to travel through the universe using the "Star Path".

The Silver Clan did this not out of pure goodwill, but simply to emulate the Gold Clan in calling upon their companions among the stars.

But clearly they didn't wait for civilization to grow on its own; they simply made it their vassal.

They couldn't understand the mindset of the Golden Race, believing that "waiting" was pointless and that letting weaker races explore on their own was far too inefficient.

When humanity entered the interstellar age, the Golden Race was preparing to leave this universe, but for some reason they deliberately stayed for a while... as if they were intentionally waiting for the Iron Race (humans).

Perhaps that's why the absolutely rational Silver Clan is puzzled. They can neither understand why the Gold Clan would abandon them, nor why the weak humans are being treated differently.

If we're talking about what makes humans special, it's their incredibly unstable mental state (emotions). The last race to be like this was the "Hero Race," who nearly destroyed the universe... Despite the vast difference in power, humans still pose a threat to this universe.

—This reason is a bit of a stretch to use for declaring war, but the Silver Clan is a rational race that doesn't care about dignity or respect.

So they began an "experiment" in which they drove the Bronze Race to conquer Earth, forcing humanity to leave their home planet, in order to see if this race possessed the legacy of the Gold Race, or contained any special potential.

Then... no conclusion was reached.

From a human perspective, they were simply victims of an undeserved disaster!

I don't understand why the Silver Race would destroy themselves, but this race has a tenacious vitality. Not only have they gained a foothold among the stars, but they have also become stronger than before in their fight against the Bronze Race!

(Humanity's direct adversaries are the Bronze Clan; the Silver Clan doesn't intervene directly, otherwise humanity simply wouldn't be able to win.)

However, although humanity has survived, due to various reasons, it has split into multiple factions based on galactic location, ideology, and political system. Some are "empires," some are "federations," and there are even "nomadic tribes"...

Of course, the hatred for the Silver Clan and the desire to reclaim Earth are universally acknowledged by all political systems, which is why they maintain a seemingly loose but actually close human alliance.

People have various names for this alliance, all based on their hometown names... Of course, there is also an official name.

Various factions jointly elected a family that had made great contributions during humanity's exile as the "royal family" of all mankind, to nominally rule the entire human race!

In reality, the mission of the "royal family" is to lead humanity back to the solar system, and they only have unlimited power in this matter. Apart from this, they do not have any absolute authority.

However, all of the above has nothing to do with space pirates anymore.

They are marginalized members of society, completely oblivious to the grand ideals of the Federation of Humans, spending their days pondering where to go next, or whether those damned Daedalusians are refusing them entry again.

Being chased by regular army fleets is commonplace. Anyway, our group is just a small fry, not worth sending out a big force for. So we don't have to worry about being wiped out indiscriminately.

It was incredibly lucky that they were able to discover a habitable planet on the edge of the Star Road during their escape. If they could verify that this planet wasn't on any of the human nation's "ship maps," they could then establish it as their home port.

Pirates without a home port are just roadside monsters, but once they have a home port, they can apply for a formal general merchant license.

Human nations are very pragmatic; if pirates can demonstrate "loyalty" and "ability," they wouldn't mind whitewashing their past.

"This location is quite remote. We almost had to leave the Star Path. I never expected that such a planet would exist in such a vast star field."

After repeatedly checking the coordinates, the navigator made the above remark.

The universe is vast, but it is not as "bustling" as many people imagine. Most of the regions are vast, empty, and desolate places. Planets with the conditions to support life are as precious as oases in the desert... no, a million times more precious!

Given the sheer size of the universe, even a lifetime would not be enough to traverse the two nearest habitable stars, Proxima Centauri.

Without the call from the Golden Clan, most races would be bound by this hopeless physical distance, unable to advance any further until their demise.

However, the Golden Race discovered or created (other races cannot confirm) the "Star Path," a bridge between stars that serves as beacons. Once in subspace, one can escape the constraints of light speed and travel along the "Star Path" to distant places without worrying about getting lost, much like the ocean currents that circulate around the Earth.

Naturally, habitable planets on the Star Path are of immense value—this pirate crew's success is not simply due to good luck.

"The atmosphere and gravity of this planet are just too perfect... Under such perfect conditions, how come there are no intelligent races?"

"I have heard some things about this from others."

A secretary who looked like he was still a minor came over and pushed up his glasses: "It is said that the Golden Clan modified many planets in the universe as experimental subjects and backups in order to create the Star Path. Even now, adventurers who accidentally get lost still occasionally find these planets."

In my opinion, we're probably in a similar situation.

"An experimental subject of the [Golden Clan]... Sounds like it could fetch a good price."

The captain smiled slightly and immediately called out loudly, "Fill the reservoir quickly, we're going to the grasslands to mine later—our radar just detected a mineral vein!"

"Oooo!"

The crew cheered enthusiastically, and everyone was invigorated.

"My luck has turned around! My luck has turned around!"

"Waaah~ Mom, my choice was definitely right, leaving our home planet was the right thing to do!"

"Haha...look at these guys, one by one~"

The captain stood on the sun-baked deck, looking with a sense of accomplishment at his ship, his crew, and this completely unfamiliar land that now belonged to him.

Everything was such a coincidence. This place was so close to the Star Road, yet no one had ever discovered it. It was as if it had been waiting for me to colonize it. Was this fate?

Thinking of this, the captain proudly raised his head—

drop!drop!drop!drop!

It was a special signal for emergency communications. The captain immediately frowned and answered the call.

"Is that the Federation fleet? Those persistent ghosts have been chasing me for several cycles... What?"

【…】

"No... what do you mean by 'the mine flew up'?"

The captain didn't need to ask, because even from his position, looking towards the grassland, he could see a surreal scene.

"The seismic index has exceeded the threshold!"

The captain ignored the technicians' screams, his gaze fixed on the object.

A calamity beyond human imagination is slowly but irresistibly rising, causing large areas of land, even city-sized ones, to rise and churn, as if a long dragon is awakening... but this is just the tip of the iceberg!

The grassland within a radius of ten kilometers was as if it had been lifted up by an invisible giant hand. With the strata cracking, the main body of the insect nest, with a diameter measured in kilometers, broke through the crystallized surface. Those hexagonal holes were now flashing with a ghostly blue light, like a strangely shaped giant warship!

When an ultrasonic wave, exceeding the range of human detection, was emitted from within the insect hive, a terrifying resonance swept across the grassland, instantly shattering the repair crew's goggles.

Then you can see thousands of hexagonal gates on the surface of the hive opening simultaneously. The moment the first wave of insects surges out, the air is corroded by the acid mist, leaving scorch marks, and the sound of carapaces rubbing together merges into a metallic storm of hiss!

"I know why there are no intelligent races here."

The captain muttered something, but the next second he realized what he had done and slapped himself hard.

"What incredible luck! Run! Those are Bronze Clan warships! We're just a bunch of traveling merchants. Don't even think about resisting. Run as far as you can!"

"Reconnaissance team! Reconnaissance team! Come back right now! Don't just stand there spacing out... huh?"

The captain made a surprised and questioning sound, pressed his ear to it and listened again, his expression becoming increasingly incredulous.

"What do you mean by 'a high school student flew up and turned into a giant golden man'?"

At that moment, a blinding beam of sunlight shot up on the ping line, causing the captain to squint instinctively, but he quickly realized a problem:

"Wait, it's daytime, so where's the 'sunrise'?!"

……

On the other side, on the grassland, the reconnaissance team, along with their ship, were placed on the golden boat of the sun god Ra. Their expressions ranged from fear and trepidation to bewilderment and helplessness. Even though the threat of the Zerg was right in front of them, they had no interest in paying attention to it. Instead, they focused their attention on the young man who was radiating golden light high above.

Black hair... Is he Asian before his home planet was taken away?

What an impressive appearance... it made everyone else pale in comparison.

He was exceptionally handsome, and then suddenly appeared to warn us, only to rescue us the moment we were in danger. Could he be an angel? No, he must be an angel!

If not... how could a human summon such a huge ship out of thin air?!

Chapter 512 In this way, we won't have to destroy this planet.

The Hive is a common feature in most science fiction works, a base unit specifically designed to counter the Zerg.

It seems that no matter what world view it is, as long as the Zerg appear, they will most likely have the attributes of "swarm will", "mass production", and "devouring everything", which can be said to be a stereotype.

However, considering that the prototypes of the Zerg are basically ant colonies or bee colonies, these impressions are quite accurate.

—Iori had just arrived in "Heroic Age" when he encountered such a being, which is regarded as a natural disaster in many works.

However, it's worth mentioning that Iori wasn't frightened by the terrifying number; instead, she was stunned by the caterpillar-like "soldiers"—seeing so many insects taking off at the same time was either shocking or disgusting.

The once peaceful grassland is now shrouded in an ominous aura of disaster, and the sky is covered with a hazy veil.

That was a torrent of thousands upon thousands... countless insects of all sizes!

They have seemingly soft bodies, but in reality, their bodies are covered with armor plates and are highly specialized. Some combat units can even use their internal organs to simulate rocket jets and missile launchers, or release high-power lasers.

Adult insects are typically over ten meters long and can move around in outer space; you could say that each one is a mobile artillery platform.

The mother nest, or as humans call it, the "anthill," is an independent ecosystem that selectively breeds different kinds of insects depending on their "tasks." Some are combatants, some are engineers, some are caretakers, and some are commanders.

Although they appear to be just a group of space monsters gathered together, they actually have a very tight and complete social organization, and even a "culture".

However, humans are clearly not interested in the internal workings of the Bronze Race, because whenever the two races meet, it will most likely turn into a fierce battle. All the insects that humans have encountered from beginning to end are combat-oriented, so there is no need or time to study so many things.

It has a bizarre texture that seems to combine insects and armored vehicles. Its slender body is as flexible as a snake, with slender and sharp forelimbs extending from its abdomen. Its head does not show many organs, only its eyes and mouthparts are relatively obvious.

If we only consider individual combat power, the Zerg are no match for the human-made MS—the mobile suit "Ogan." However, the combat units that a single Anthill can produce will overwhelmingly exceed those of a human fleet!

Therefore, in order to fight against it, humanity often needs to use superior long-range firepower or even the main guns of warships to carry out beyond-visual-range strikes from a considerable distance.

On a cosmic battlefield, Ogang is only used to perform wingman missions, that is, to protect the warship from being overtaken by the enemy, or to carry out decapitation strikes when necessary. He is not the main force on the front line - the firepower can be completely done by drone swarms and AI.

Generally speaking, if you are unlucky enough to encounter the Bronze Clan, especially within the atmosphere, then escaping to outer space is obviously impossible. The best option is to send Ogan to attack the engine section of the "Anthill" to create an opportunity for escape.

But those are tactical maneuvers that only true elites can perform. The Epimetheus is just an armed ship belonging to a wandering merchant. Their Organs are all modified from industrial mobile suits, so it would be quite a challenge for them to do this...

despair!

That was the shared feeling of the reconnaissance team and all the crew of the Epimetheus.

The fear of the Bronze Race is etched into humanity's collective memory. Just a century ago, it was this group of beings, whom they perceived as incapable of communication and devoid of emotion, who brutally invaded the solar system and drove humanity from their home planet...

But it is precisely because of this fear (hatred) that no human being would choose to be slaughtered!

"Die to me!"

The reconnaissance team's airship was prepared to sacrifice itself, forcibly creating an energy overload, ready to send itself as a space torpedo to the Zerg hive.

If it had been lucky enough to avoid being intercepted by the insects and instead crash into the engine section, the Epimetheus might have had a chance!

However, things are clearly not that easy.

The insects have low individual intelligence, but their organization and obedience give them an advantage in war. The airship wanted to sacrifice itself but couldn't find an opportunity. As soon as it exposed its target, the route to the engine was blocked by the insects.

They were greeted by a torrential downpour of lasers!

"You disgusting bastards, go eat shit!"

With all weapon systems activated and all reserves deployed, it didn't matter whether they were locked or not, since they were all enemies anyway—they were immediately torn to shreds by the five or six insects at the front.

However, their ship was subsequently hit, and its fragile structure was torn apart by the powerful kinetic energy, the explosion engulfing everyone in flames—

In that instant, people filled with despair, anger, and resentment, whether their eyes were wide open in fury or closed in resignation, all saw a figure radiating golden light flash before their eyes.

The next moment, the imagined heat and impact did not envelop the body, and there was no pain of being devoured by insects. Instead, there was a comfortable feeling of being surrounded by warm water, which made one relax involuntarily.

"This, this is..."

They slowly opened their eyes with trepidation, their vision immediately filled with a dazzling gold. Strangely, the intense light was not blinding, and they could clearly see the surrounding scenery and each other, already dressed in flight suits.

"A castle? No, is this a ship's island? What is this? This retro style..."

"What...what's going on here?"

"Hey, look up! That's... a human?!"

As if summoned, everyone looked up at the sky and saw a figure floating in mid-air above the billowing golden sails. Despite the great distance, the figure's features were clearly visible to everyone.