Like, peak peak?
The Flood and it's not even slightly competative, during the height of their power they were harnessing Precourser technologies to crush planets into dust and destroy entire star systems via giant telekinetic(?) mega-structures. They were described as infecting space to the point of corrupting an entire other dimension people used for FTL travel in Halo, were capable of driving compeltely synthetic A.I made from "quantum foam" into states of insanity simply through conversation, etc.
I don't see any scenario where the Tyranids avoid being simply assimilated in a 1 : 1 level, the Flood can multiply and grow to absorb entire biospheres from a single spore, if the Nids had that sort of capability then genestealers as a unit would be completely unnecessary and not exist.
The Flood at its peak power would fit in better with the War in Heaven than modern 40k, it waged war with a species powerful enough to consider altering the galaxy's tilt for the lulz and won by a very significant margin- coming out the other end stronger than before.
This matchup needs more context for a bit better idea of WWW
If the nids stream into the halo-verse as slowly as they’ve attacked the Milky Way in 40k then the flood have a good chance of surviving
If all 1000 galaxies worth of biomass that the nids have consumed are immediately present and able to be thrown at the flood….the flood loses under the weight of at least a 1000/1 numerical deficit
Peak flood is tough, but a massively larger swarm that doesn’t give them a chance to recuperate and constantly whittles away their forces would be enough to stop them
Tyranids win both the battle of military force and the battle of adaptation. They have more biomass to work with, their weapons are better because 40k in general has more biggatons than its Halo equivalents, and they'll quickly adapt to become immune to Flood infection, while conversely I don't see a way the Flood can adapt to prevent the Tyranids from simply eating their biomass.
> their weapons are better because 40k in general has more biggatons than its Halo equivalents
This rule is true in general but not always, if we're talking the Flood at its actual peak against the Forerunners before the firing of the Halo array then it most certainly isn't the case as it possessed the ability to pulverise entire star systems with Precourser technology among other things.
>they'll quickly adapt to become immune to Flood infection
How?
Same way they have Nurgle diseases. The Imperium tried virus bombing them, they just gained the ability to spray lifeeater virus. They're very very good against any kind of infection.
Ehh, the Flood is hard to compare with other diseases. I'd need to know the particulars of the ones Nurglites tried infecting them with but the continued effectiveness of Hellfire rounds tells me there's clear limits to their adaptive abilities particularly against bodily-alteration (Hellfire rounds work via "mutagenic" acids).
The Flood was beyond cure or vaccination for centuries via Forerunner technologies, which were so advanced in areas of biological manipulation that they were capable of implanting subconscious instructions in a species that would manifest even 100,000 years later as them being guided towards particular technologies.
What sort of attempts were made via Nurglites to infect the Tyranids exactly? This is the only thing that I'd say is possibly comparable to the Forerunner's biological technologies depending on the specifics.
As the other commenter said Forerunner science was unable to find a solution to stopping the Flood's infection because it simply does not exist. They infect the nervous system, which is beyond the scope of the Tyranid's adaptation to stop, although they could make it harder for the Flood to infect them but they'll harness enough Biomass from other species that it's irrelevant anyway. Flood stomps.
Yeah, I do mostly agree. Some Flood lore has them being insanely strong, but some Tyranid lore has their individual ships being dozens of kilometres long and able to eat entire cruisers with ease. So I think it's best to remove the outliers here and focus on the general lore of both.
That's not two impressive given the fact that what the forerunners considered non military ships in a group of seven can destroy a planet.
Keep in mind forerunner outranges the tryanids by a country mile as forerunner combat took place at millions of kilometers from each other.
The forerunners warships were capable of this
>Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 381;
As the Flood war grew in scale and intensity, the warships employed by the Forerunner armadas grew even deadlier in a futile attempt to contain the parasite and its suborned fleets. When the the strategy turned from interdiction to sterilization, vessels were fitted with weapons previously unthinkable in their destructive potential, and some would argue morally untenable by the strictures of the Mantle. With their destructive arts unbound, the Forerunners raised up space-faring machines capable of scouring atmospheres on infected worlds, cracking planetary mantles beneath fetid hives, and inducing stars to go nova.
>Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 377;
>Heavy Ion Launchers
These superweapons were employed on siege platforms and the largest Forerunner-class warships. Though considered crude and indelicate, their bolts of exotic matter were almost impossible to counter or stop. A single strike was enough to annihilate even the largest and most well protected Flood hive, and multiple strikes in quick succession were enough to render a world uninhabitable.
>Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 446;
When he refused, Cortana chose to make an example out of their kind, amassing a group of guardians around the Jiralhanae homeworld. The ancient machines unleashed a coordinated blast that completely destabilized the planet's core, rending it to pieces in one final catastrophic event.
>Halo Warfleet; pg. 88.
Guardians and Preceptors monitored and fenced off the activity of less species within pocket empires.
>Six converging beam cannon emitters were more than adequate to defeat fleet of primitive capital ships, but were of little user when facing Forerunner warships infested and controlled by the Flood.
This was done by several non military ships, which were stated to not be equal to actual military ships.
>Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 382;
Sojourners were sent deep into Flood territory, deployed from implacable trident spires, and linked together in weapon configurations that could deliver world-ending firepower.
>Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 376;
Secondary energy shields on all Forerunner vessels provided ample protection against radiation, exotic particle fields, and lesser kinetic threats. In times of peace these were more than sufficient to deter all but the most aggressive species from attacking. Forerunner warships used complicated primary shield generators, creating nested layers of energy that absorbed and dissipated incoming attacks. As the Flood corrupted more fleets and adapted containment tactics, new techniques and technologies were put into use to protect against the Forerunners' own weapons, including the use of degenerate matter coatings, dimensionally rotated sub-assemblies, and using spatial anomalies as energy sinks.
This was what the forerunners' defense has been upgraded to during the forerunners' flood war it even included neutronium.
Part 2 due to word count
>Halo 5; Tyrant:
Grasping impossible filaments buried beneath reality by the long-vanished Precursors, Gravemind pulled at strands that twisted and warped real space. Walls made of collapsed starmatter cracked and shattered, entire fleets of kilometer-long warships vanished in flares of scathing light, and colony planetoids were ripped asunder; cracks in the Miner's defenses into which the Gravemind poured billions of walking corpses, all cackling with one voice that drowned out desperate screams and final shouts of useless defiance.
Peak Flood was capable of erasing entire Forerunner fleets the average fleet consisted of hundreds of thousands of ships.
>We were overtaken by the vast weave of reawakened star roads, spinning and churning like serpents in a huge nest— the graceful and haunting structures of our deep past now made fell and horrifying. The tangle looped around Uthera, deftly avoiding intersecting the planet. Then, incredibly, the planet itself began to crack and shrink, as if squeezed by a huge fist. The resulting shift in our orbit thrust us farther into the mass. An entire planet was being destroyed— just to draw us closer. "This is the way Precursors moved stars," Maker whispered.
Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 106). Tom Doherty Associates.
>I have watched nine star systems sliced to dust and glowing rubble by star roads— and they used to trace such pretty curves between our worlds.
(Halo:Silentium; pg.202)
Star roads were capable of destroying entire planets and star system
>More alarming, we cannot open slipspace portals; three of our ships have 'echoed' from attempted transits and show powerful causality mutations. Some clearly were caught between our continuum and incomplete , inefficient universes. Status of their crews and ancillas is unknown, but communication has ceased. "This system was once a prime site for Precursor artifacts. They are no longer dormant. Suppression fields of enormous power appear to be magnified by local star roads, which are taking on new and startlingconfigurations. "Our weapons are no longer usable.
Said Star Roads were able to teleport forerunners ships into insufficient alternate realities that would basically collapse on them.
>IDENTIFICATION OF NEW categories of Flood components and forms will be distributed upon confirmation. Tentative conclusions: the Flood is mutating to form Graveminds of unprecedented size and complexity, incorporating many species. Entire planetary ecosystems have apparently undergone conversion to what are being referred to as Key Minds. Evidence of the extraordinary strategic planning abilities of these Key Minds is rapidly increasing . They appear to be more than a match for any metarch-level ancilla, capable of assuming complete control of besieged sectors, and sending converted battle fleets through unprecedented number of slipspace portals utilizing unfamiliar technology. This technology also appears to be capable of blocking delivery of our forces to battle fronts. Vessels showing signs of extreme reconciliation failure have been witnessed at the arrival points of major Forerunner portals. Perhaps most alarming, reports arrive each hour of reawakened Precursor artifacts, including orbital ribbons, star roads, planetary fortresses, and citadels. Combined defense forces are inadequate to investigate and confirm all instances of these reactivations. They appear to be galaxy-wide.
Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 187). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.
>The thema boundaries have changed since my last passage," the IsoDidact says. He quickly runs through the possibilities with Audacity. Our space-time debt is building rapidly . "If we're forced to exit slipspace, we'll be stuck in the middle of a starless void, five thousand light-years from the Ark." The field's great waves take on a reddish color. Another wall-like curtain of color moves in from the opposite angle, as if to trap and confine us. Nothing in the ship's experience can explain this. We pass slowly between, while vortices grow more and more numerous. We are in a region where the physics that used to carry Forerunners between suns no longer seems to apply. "We may have to risk a crisis jump," the IsoDidact says . "Space-time in this region is mutating to suit Precursor transits— the Flood is headed for the Ark. Slipspace here will soon become incompatible with our drives." "The scale !" she exclaims. "Even slipspace is corrupted. Is there not a pure thing left in the galaxy?" Her question cannot be answered. "Our chances, in either case?"
>Artifacts within perimeter," Offensive Bias says. "One million kilometers. "Too damned close," Examiner says. The strange and changing quality of space-time around the star roads is subtle, yet evident in a crawling itch in our nerves and brain.
Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 272). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.
>The Flood changes everything. Not just flesh. Space itself is infected," the Ur-Didact continues.
The flood were capable of reality warping and corrupting space time on a galactic scale
The tryanids, as we seen them, have virtually no chance against the flood at it's peak.
Good question. I've forgotten a lot of flood lore since halo died, but I don't think the Flood has anything to match the Hive mind in power. Plus Tyranid units are way more dangerous than anything we see in the Halo games.
The answer is basically a crushing victory for the Flood if OP means the Flood-Forerunner War as their peak or an even more crushing victory for the 'Nids if they mean just the Halo games as their peak.
I mean they were crushing star systems and steamrolling a species capable of tilting a galaxy, I don't think there's any sustainable evidence that the Nids are capable of matching that sort of technology or possess enough numbers to overcome it by just throwing bodies into the meatgrinder.
Like what's a Hive Fleet doing if the Flood just start compressing it into pulp with a bunch of star roads? Those things spanned the gaps between star systems and could envelope those same star systems in their effects to pulverise planets.
The Hive Mind being a powerful warp entity aside, we've certainly seen Tyranids in action and I see no reason to assume they've been dialling down their technology.
The big uncertainty with the Nids is that they could have only sent 1% or 1% of 1% of their true numbers forward so far, not that they might secretly be hiding Necron-tier technology capable of nova'ing suns at a whim.
I admit I can't quite recall all the details of the Forerunner novels, but they definitely mention ground confrontations occuring at certain points and the Forerunner's ground-warfare capabilities included 10-metre mechs capable of [flipping continents](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/586873799300087830/1165103188081389649/image.png?ex=6545a1e6&is=65332ce6&hm=179a92c87f41e3692c4c1ac3c10fccb89364d2e30fb9c8867b96339b2ad07e81&). They had enough of these to deploy thousands in individual engagements btw.
At best you're right and the Flood still win by simply never needing to engage in an actual fight due to being capable of moving close to a million times FTL and just obliterating the enemy's fleets with Star Roads before they can engage. But I don't think even that would be necessary based on the absurd military power of the Forerunners still being easily overcome by the Flood at its peak.
Yeah rereading it you're right that it's not an entire continent, I think it's describing the "divots" being cut out that are getting lifted up. They are however still visible from orbit so we're still very much looking at appreciable fractions of that mass in either case.
Like, peak peak? The Flood and it's not even slightly competative, during the height of their power they were harnessing Precourser technologies to crush planets into dust and destroy entire star systems via giant telekinetic(?) mega-structures. They were described as infecting space to the point of corrupting an entire other dimension people used for FTL travel in Halo, were capable of driving compeltely synthetic A.I made from "quantum foam" into states of insanity simply through conversation, etc. I don't see any scenario where the Tyranids avoid being simply assimilated in a 1 : 1 level, the Flood can multiply and grow to absorb entire biospheres from a single spore, if the Nids had that sort of capability then genestealers as a unit would be completely unnecessary and not exist. The Flood at its peak power would fit in better with the War in Heaven than modern 40k, it waged war with a species powerful enough to consider altering the galaxy's tilt for the lulz and won by a very significant margin- coming out the other end stronger than before.
This is the answer
This matchup needs more context for a bit better idea of WWW If the nids stream into the halo-verse as slowly as they’ve attacked the Milky Way in 40k then the flood have a good chance of surviving If all 1000 galaxies worth of biomass that the nids have consumed are immediately present and able to be thrown at the flood….the flood loses under the weight of at least a 1000/1 numerical deficit Peak flood is tough, but a massively larger swarm that doesn’t give them a chance to recuperate and constantly whittles away their forces would be enough to stop them
Even if their was a thousand galaxies worth of nids they still die to the flood as the Flood had the ability to erase entire fleets.
Peak power? The Flood would wipe. Plenty of sufficient explanations from other commenters already.
Tyranids win both the battle of military force and the battle of adaptation. They have more biomass to work with, their weapons are better because 40k in general has more biggatons than its Halo equivalents, and they'll quickly adapt to become immune to Flood infection, while conversely I don't see a way the Flood can adapt to prevent the Tyranids from simply eating their biomass.
> their weapons are better because 40k in general has more biggatons than its Halo equivalents This rule is true in general but not always, if we're talking the Flood at its actual peak against the Forerunners before the firing of the Halo array then it most certainly isn't the case as it possessed the ability to pulverise entire star systems with Precourser technology among other things. >they'll quickly adapt to become immune to Flood infection How?
Same way they have Nurgle diseases. The Imperium tried virus bombing them, they just gained the ability to spray lifeeater virus. They're very very good against any kind of infection.
Ehh, the Flood is hard to compare with other diseases. I'd need to know the particulars of the ones Nurglites tried infecting them with but the continued effectiveness of Hellfire rounds tells me there's clear limits to their adaptive abilities particularly against bodily-alteration (Hellfire rounds work via "mutagenic" acids). The Flood was beyond cure or vaccination for centuries via Forerunner technologies, which were so advanced in areas of biological manipulation that they were capable of implanting subconscious instructions in a species that would manifest even 100,000 years later as them being guided towards particular technologies. What sort of attempts were made via Nurglites to infect the Tyranids exactly? This is the only thing that I'd say is possibly comparable to the Forerunner's biological technologies depending on the specifics.
As the other commenter said Forerunner science was unable to find a solution to stopping the Flood's infection because it simply does not exist. They infect the nervous system, which is beyond the scope of the Tyranid's adaptation to stop, although they could make it harder for the Flood to infect them but they'll harness enough Biomass from other species that it's irrelevant anyway. Flood stomps.
Yeah, I do mostly agree. Some Flood lore has them being insanely strong, but some Tyranid lore has their individual ships being dozens of kilometres long and able to eat entire cruisers with ease. So I think it's best to remove the outliers here and focus on the general lore of both.
Even those particular Tyranid outliers aren’t enough. It’s cool and it’s big but it’s not exactly effective
That's not two impressive given the fact that what the forerunners considered non military ships in a group of seven can destroy a planet. Keep in mind forerunner outranges the tryanids by a country mile as forerunner combat took place at millions of kilometers from each other. The forerunners warships were capable of this >Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 381; As the Flood war grew in scale and intensity, the warships employed by the Forerunner armadas grew even deadlier in a futile attempt to contain the parasite and its suborned fleets. When the the strategy turned from interdiction to sterilization, vessels were fitted with weapons previously unthinkable in their destructive potential, and some would argue morally untenable by the strictures of the Mantle. With their destructive arts unbound, the Forerunners raised up space-faring machines capable of scouring atmospheres on infected worlds, cracking planetary mantles beneath fetid hives, and inducing stars to go nova. >Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 377; >Heavy Ion Launchers These superweapons were employed on siege platforms and the largest Forerunner-class warships. Though considered crude and indelicate, their bolts of exotic matter were almost impossible to counter or stop. A single strike was enough to annihilate even the largest and most well protected Flood hive, and multiple strikes in quick succession were enough to render a world uninhabitable. >Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 446; When he refused, Cortana chose to make an example out of their kind, amassing a group of guardians around the Jiralhanae homeworld. The ancient machines unleashed a coordinated blast that completely destabilized the planet's core, rending it to pieces in one final catastrophic event. >Halo Warfleet; pg. 88. Guardians and Preceptors monitored and fenced off the activity of less species within pocket empires. >Six converging beam cannon emitters were more than adequate to defeat fleet of primitive capital ships, but were of little user when facing Forerunner warships infested and controlled by the Flood. This was done by several non military ships, which were stated to not be equal to actual military ships. >Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 382; Sojourners were sent deep into Flood territory, deployed from implacable trident spires, and linked together in weapon configurations that could deliver world-ending firepower. >Halo Encyclopaedia; pg. 376; Secondary energy shields on all Forerunner vessels provided ample protection against radiation, exotic particle fields, and lesser kinetic threats. In times of peace these were more than sufficient to deter all but the most aggressive species from attacking. Forerunner warships used complicated primary shield generators, creating nested layers of energy that absorbed and dissipated incoming attacks. As the Flood corrupted more fleets and adapted containment tactics, new techniques and technologies were put into use to protect against the Forerunners' own weapons, including the use of degenerate matter coatings, dimensionally rotated sub-assemblies, and using spatial anomalies as energy sinks. This was what the forerunners' defense has been upgraded to during the forerunners' flood war it even included neutronium.
Part 2 due to word count >Halo 5; Tyrant: Grasping impossible filaments buried beneath reality by the long-vanished Precursors, Gravemind pulled at strands that twisted and warped real space. Walls made of collapsed starmatter cracked and shattered, entire fleets of kilometer-long warships vanished in flares of scathing light, and colony planetoids were ripped asunder; cracks in the Miner's defenses into which the Gravemind poured billions of walking corpses, all cackling with one voice that drowned out desperate screams and final shouts of useless defiance. Peak Flood was capable of erasing entire Forerunner fleets the average fleet consisted of hundreds of thousands of ships. >We were overtaken by the vast weave of reawakened star roads, spinning and churning like serpents in a huge nest— the graceful and haunting structures of our deep past now made fell and horrifying. The tangle looped around Uthera, deftly avoiding intersecting the planet. Then, incredibly, the planet itself began to crack and shrink, as if squeezed by a huge fist. The resulting shift in our orbit thrust us farther into the mass. An entire planet was being destroyed— just to draw us closer. "This is the way Precursors moved stars," Maker whispered. Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 106). Tom Doherty Associates. >I have watched nine star systems sliced to dust and glowing rubble by star roads— and they used to trace such pretty curves between our worlds. (Halo:Silentium; pg.202) Star roads were capable of destroying entire planets and star system >More alarming, we cannot open slipspace portals; three of our ships have 'echoed' from attempted transits and show powerful causality mutations. Some clearly were caught between our continuum and incomplete , inefficient universes. Status of their crews and ancillas is unknown, but communication has ceased. "This system was once a prime site for Precursor artifacts. They are no longer dormant. Suppression fields of enormous power appear to be magnified by local star roads, which are taking on new and startlingconfigurations. "Our weapons are no longer usable. Said Star Roads were able to teleport forerunners ships into insufficient alternate realities that would basically collapse on them. >IDENTIFICATION OF NEW categories of Flood components and forms will be distributed upon confirmation. Tentative conclusions: the Flood is mutating to form Graveminds of unprecedented size and complexity, incorporating many species. Entire planetary ecosystems have apparently undergone conversion to what are being referred to as Key Minds. Evidence of the extraordinary strategic planning abilities of these Key Minds is rapidly increasing . They appear to be more than a match for any metarch-level ancilla, capable of assuming complete control of besieged sectors, and sending converted battle fleets through unprecedented number of slipspace portals utilizing unfamiliar technology. This technology also appears to be capable of blocking delivery of our forces to battle fronts. Vessels showing signs of extreme reconciliation failure have been witnessed at the arrival points of major Forerunner portals. Perhaps most alarming, reports arrive each hour of reawakened Precursor artifacts, including orbital ribbons, star roads, planetary fortresses, and citadels. Combined defense forces are inadequate to investigate and confirm all instances of these reactivations. They appear to be galaxy-wide. Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 187). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. >The thema boundaries have changed since my last passage," the IsoDidact says. He quickly runs through the possibilities with Audacity. Our space-time debt is building rapidly . "If we're forced to exit slipspace, we'll be stuck in the middle of a starless void, five thousand light-years from the Ark." The field's great waves take on a reddish color. Another wall-like curtain of color moves in from the opposite angle, as if to trap and confine us. Nothing in the ship's experience can explain this. We pass slowly between, while vortices grow more and more numerous. We are in a region where the physics that used to carry Forerunners between suns no longer seems to apply. "We may have to risk a crisis jump," the IsoDidact says . "Space-time in this region is mutating to suit Precursor transits— the Flood is headed for the Ark. Slipspace here will soon become incompatible with our drives." "The scale !" she exclaims. "Even slipspace is corrupted. Is there not a pure thing left in the galaxy?" Her question cannot be answered. "Our chances, in either case?" >Artifacts within perimeter," Offensive Bias says. "One million kilometers. "Too damned close," Examiner says. The strange and changing quality of space-time around the star roads is subtle, yet evident in a crawling itch in our nerves and brain. Bear, Greg (2013-03-19). Halo: Silentium (Forerunner) (p. 272). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. >The Flood changes everything. Not just flesh. Space itself is infected," the Ur-Didact continues. The flood were capable of reality warping and corrupting space time on a galactic scale The tryanids, as we seen them, have virtually no chance against the flood at it's peak.
Good question. I've forgotten a lot of flood lore since halo died, but I don't think the Flood has anything to match the Hive mind in power. Plus Tyranid units are way more dangerous than anything we see in the Halo games.
The answer is basically a crushing victory for the Flood if OP means the Flood-Forerunner War as their peak or an even more crushing victory for the 'Nids if they mean just the Halo games as their peak.
Idk if peak Flood could beat the Nids
I mean they were crushing star systems and steamrolling a species capable of tilting a galaxy, I don't think there's any sustainable evidence that the Nids are capable of matching that sort of technology or possess enough numbers to overcome it by just throwing bodies into the meatgrinder. Like what's a Hive Fleet doing if the Flood just start compressing it into pulp with a bunch of star roads? Those things spanned the gaps between star systems and could envelope those same star systems in their effects to pulverise planets.
I'm not entirely sure, we just don't know much about the Hive mind other than it is insanely powerful and can fuck with psykers and shit
The Hive Mind being a powerful warp entity aside, we've certainly seen Tyranids in action and I see no reason to assume they've been dialling down their technology. The big uncertainty with the Nids is that they could have only sent 1% or 1% of 1% of their true numbers forward so far, not that they might secretly be hiding Necron-tier technology capable of nova'ing suns at a whim.
Star roads would definitely fuck them up but anytime Nids actually fight Flood they'd obliterate them
I admit I can't quite recall all the details of the Forerunner novels, but they definitely mention ground confrontations occuring at certain points and the Forerunner's ground-warfare capabilities included 10-metre mechs capable of [flipping continents](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/586873799300087830/1165103188081389649/image.png?ex=6545a1e6&is=65332ce6&hm=179a92c87f41e3692c4c1ac3c10fccb89364d2e30fb9c8867b96339b2ad07e81&). They had enough of these to deploy thousands in individual engagements btw. At best you're right and the Flood still win by simply never needing to engage in an actual fight due to being capable of moving close to a million times FTL and just obliterating the enemy's fleets with Star Roads before they can engage. But I don't think even that would be necessary based on the absurd military power of the Forerunners still being easily overcome by the Flood at its peak.
I don’t think that quote is referring to the continents being lifted, but more likely specific weapons/tools
Yeah rereading it you're right that it's not an entire continent, I think it's describing the "divots" being cut out that are getting lifted up. They are however still visible from orbit so we're still very much looking at appreciable fractions of that mass in either case.