The 20,000-strong swarm quickly reached the bottom, pursuing the fleeing magic monster army.
The Bearman Patriarch and Treant Patriarch immediately approached the Elven Queen.
"Where is the Zerg Queen?" the bearman asked impatiently.
"She did not come, but these insects are all her subordinates. The Zerg are getting serious this time; the Queen seems prepared to use this army for a counter-offensive."
"What?" The Bearman Patriarch raised an eyebrow. "She plans to counter-attack with just this many?"
"Do not underestimate them," the Elven Queen said, lifting her head. "The insects sent out this time possess even more terrifying strength. Those creatures called hydralisks are all Tier 6."
"What? Every single one is Tier 6?"
The Bearman Patriarch was left speechless.
He had indeed seen a Tier 5 magic monster killed instantly earlier.
What killed them were the hydralisks' spines.
While they were discussing whether they should also launch a full-scale assault and follow the swarm to annihilate the magic monsters, a pleasant voice came from behind them.
"There is no need for your help."
Everyone instinctively turned around and saw a silver-haired beauty.
This was Xia Jin's new projection.
Yes, after reaching Tier 8, she discovered she could create more projections.
Total count: five.
Did she even need to think about it?
Naturally, she replicated herself first.
In the end, three projections looked exactly like her true body, plus two black-haired girls.
Yes, five bodies.
And every one of them was a young girl or leaned toward a girl-plus-loli style.
After all, her true body gave the impression of being under fourteen, though her actual age was sixteen.
The black-haired projections had their appearances adjusted to be around sixteen; they looked slightly more mature than the true body, but overall, they were still pure and cute girls.
When dealing with those who knew her, she naturally used the silver-haired projections that resembled her true body.
Although the projections were currently only Tier 5, they shared her Overlord’s Shield ability.
It used the collective mental energy of the entire swarm to block enemy attacks.
Of course, because it was mental and not physical energy, the Overlord’s Shield was very weak against physical attacks.
With the current number of insects, it could only withstand a single strike from a Tier 7 powerhouse.
But if facing non-physical damage like magic, even a Tier 9 attack would have to be carefully considered.
Seeing Xia Jin's projection arrive, the leaders all showed their respect.
"Your Majesty, are you looking down on us? The magic monsters are very powerful. Although we have achieved some victory, I fear the damage you can deal with just that much power will be limited," the Bearman Patriarch said bluntly.
"It is precisely because the enemy is strong that I will not let you take action. With the Zerg's current strength alone, it is difficult to conduct a complete encirclement. At that time, large numbers of routing troops will surely scatter everywhere. I hope you can help round up those fleeing units; this can effectively reduce losses."
"That is indeed a reasonable approach," the Elven Queen agreed.
The enemy's main force was too strong; none of them had the strength to confront them head-on except the Zerg. Everyone knew this.
Thus, in the end, the treants and bearmen were forced to compromise.
Xia Jin did not consider adding more direct help to the underground world.
She produced ten swarm hosts and sent them over, letting them root in a corner of the underground world to produce locusts with all their might.
It was only about 4,800 a day.
Not many, but considering they were produced every day and immediately went out to fight, it was still very troublesome for the magic monsters.
This was the so-called slow grind tactic.
Since swarm hosts were very expensive units, Xia Jin wouldn't have considered producing them if the locusts they made weren't so incredibly cheap (nearly free).
They were standard cannon-fodder production experts.
Even a Tier 1 monster that wouldn't be looked at twice anywhere else could be terrifying if there were enough of them.
Who could blame them when the insects were completely fearless?
...
After handling the matters in the underground world and seeing another portion of her main force being diverted, Xia Jin could only sigh inwardly.
"Honestly, even though production speed is getting faster and faster, there are never enough troops."
After all, what she was doing now was an absurd multi-front war.
Just look at the currently open battlefields.
The Eastern City States.
That direction was currently left to its own devices. Because it was supported by only one hive, the subsequent push had been very exhausting after the initial rapid advance.
On one hand, there were too many monsters in the mountains and forests; on the other hand, the city states relied on beacon towers to quickly request reinforcements from the rear, forming a united army. They were engaged in a brutal war of attrition across the vast mountains and the plains between them.
Yes, the rapid advance she had initially expected was broken by a simple beacon tower.
She hadn't expected different city states to be so united when facing a foreign enemy.
This was somewhat similar to ancient Greece.
But the ones here were clearly harder to deal with than Greece back then because they had a great many mages.
Consequently, even though the number of insects produced daily was not small, if she didn't conserve them, she might actually find herself in the predicament of being ground down by the other side.
Xia Jin had no way to provide more support; it all depended on their own development over there.
Rate on N.U.
