Deep in the forest, a zergling watched from a distance as Eves’s convoy returned to the City of Darkness, reporting the information back to Xia Jin.
“I see. Withdraw.”
The bug immediately left the area.
She hadn’t expected a Tier 4 powerhouse to escape the city; she had initially thought a group of Tier 3s would be enough.
Essentially, it was a stalling tactic.
Under any circumstances, the first party the City of Darkness would suspect was the Kingdom.
For instance, Count Amelo’s territory had a long-standing tradition of taming magic beasts for arena combat.
Some nobles even kept one or two low-tier magic beasts as personal guards, much like one would keep a dog.
Furthermore, attacking the City of Darkness brought more risks than rewards for magic beast lords. The climate had been favorable lately, and with sufficient food reserves, there was no need to clash with the behemoth that was humanity just to seize a city’s rations.
Not to mention, the goblins in the forest had long served as the primary food source for magic beasts.
There was truly no reason for them to do such a thing.
Unless the Kingdom had offered terms the magic beasts couldn’t refuse, persuading them to mobilize their forces.
These were the most plausible deductions given the current situation. Naturally, in the short term, the likelihood of Xia Jin being suspected was very low.
And just as she expected, the relationship between the two factions grew visibly tense.
Although the civilians who hadn’t evacuated the City of Darkness were still in the dark about the details, rumors somehow began to spread among the populace: the ones who led the magic beasts in the raid were from the Kingdom of Clear.
A large portion of the city’s residents were criminals who had fled from the Kingdom of Clear; they naturally harbored no goodwill toward that nation.
Faced with this situation, Eves was completely unable to stop the rumors.
It was nearly impossible for her to forbid the people from speaking their minds.
Setting aside the fact that these individuals were unruly by nature, she herself needed the strength of those who remained to maintain control over the city.
Having learned from the previous disaster, the city’s defensive facilities were reorganized, and dedicated evacuation routes were established.
...
The western forest.
A giant crocodile, five meters long, emerged from a lake and lay on the shore to sunbathe.
Suddenly, two zerglings rushed out from a distance. One in front and one behind, they pounced on it, driving their sharp scythes into its body.
The crocodile immediately whipped its tail, swatting one of the zerglings away.
Its mouth snapped open, and a beam of black light erupted from its maw, striking its target.
Its movements were incredibly agile, not at all like a typical crocodile on land.
Just as it was about to kill the other zergling, a glob of thick, greenish-black liquid suddenly flew in from hundreds of meters away.
Sizzle—
A loud hissing sound erupted from its body.
Thick white smoke billowed upward.
The crocodile shook its head frantically, trying to throw off the corrosive liquid, looking to be in immense pain.
At that moment, the zergling that hadn’t been killed earlier swung its scythe at the beast once more.
The meter-long blade sliced into its body, carving a long wound from top to bottom.
Then, the zergling opened its massive maw and bit into the crocodile's neck.
“Roar—”
The crocodile actually let out a terrifying cry, and beams of light continued to spray from its mouth.
Another zergling squad arrived from the distance to provide support, attacking the crocodile from behind in unison.
After struggling for a full two minutes, the crocodile, which had barely reached Tier 4, finally died.
The zerglings left immediately.
A few minutes later, a drone crawled onto the scene, opened its huge mouth, and began to consume the crocodile meat.
However, after a few bites, it suddenly sensed a threat. It lifted the crocodile with its pincers and turned to flee.
A moment later, a python as thick as a water bucket poked its head out of the lake.
...
“The enemies encountered thirty kilometers out seem to be getting stronger.”
Xia Jin could see a mental map where each green dot represented her swarm.
Along the expansion line, which stretched over ten kilometers, the density of the zerglings wasn't actually very high once they dispersed.
And the monsters in this forest were exceptionally numerous. Consequently, every hundred meters they advanced, they encountered a staggering number of creatures.
Although many solitary magic beasts were not high in tier, they each had their own unique abilities; a moment of carelessness could lead to casualties.
However, as they pushed further west, the bugs gradually began to feel the pressure.
She pondered for a moment, and with a thought, she reorganized the 2,400 bugs in this direction into teams of ten. She then assigned two hydralisks to each group and continued the advancement.
The overall speed of the offensive slowed down as they began to engage the monsters with a more cautious approach.
She then glanced at her current energy reserves.
“Just 20,000 more.”
At the current rate, she could upgrade the main hive again by evening at the latest.
Perhaps new unit types would be unlocked.
The key was that if zerglings could advance to Tier 4, they would be able to hold their own even against the Kingdom’s main regular army.
After all, the Kingdom’s legions were selected from a massive population, and most soldiers were around Tier 3.
Combined with various mage legions and the griffin legions in the sky, their combat power would be even more formidable.
Compared to them, the current variety of zerg units was far too limited to form a complete combat system. This could only be rectified by upgrading the hive.
Rate on N.U.
