Clear Palace.
Head maid Wei Ya stood on the balcony, watching the distant battle from afar.
Black dots flitted across the sky, and the occasional flashes of light, accompanied by falling shadows, seemed to tell a story of cruel desolation.
This was war.
The nature of this war seemed very different from those of the past. The enemy was a terrifying kind of monster, yet their leader was the Princess who had been driven out not long ago.
When was the last time she had seen Her Highness? It felt like it had only been a few days, hadn't it?
In the blink of an eye, she had returned with these creatures before them.
“Wei Ya, are you worried?”
A woman's voice suddenly came from behind her.
Wei Ya turned quickly and bowed to the newcomer.
The woman before her was actually the Princess's aunt. Originally, she had no reputation or power within the court, but everything had changed with Lord Gor's rise to power.
She had become someone Lord Gor relied upon heavily.
“It is quite incredible, isn't it? Just two months ago, none of this was like this.” The woman sighed deeply.
“Is it truly Her Highness who is attacking this time?”
Though she already had a general idea, Wei Ya still asked in a low voice.
“No one knows for sure unless they see it with their own eyes. If it is her... perhaps that might even be a good thing.”
As she spoke, a scourge actually broke through the layers of blockades and dived straight toward the inner city.
Soon, the insect crossed the inner city sky and crashed into a fountain plaza about 700 meters from the palace.
Boom—
With a thunderous roar, the liquid in the fountain exploded into the air, and a massive crack appeared in the ground on one side.
Wei Ya's eyes brightened for a moment.
Just then, on the first floor below the balcony, a group of officers suddenly ran past in a hurry.
“The enemy numbers are much lower than at the start. Lord Gor has ordered us to provide support.”
“The reserves haven't been deployed yet, have they? There should be hope.”
...
There were two generals in that group, clearly important figures within the palace.
Wei Ya looked down at the city in the distance. Indeed, the scale of the swarm was no longer an endless sea.
Of course, even though the numbers had decreased significantly, there were still over a hundred thousand of them in total. For the city defense forces, it would still take a massive effort to defeat them all... provided no accidents occurred.
“Wei Ya, rest assured. Before the war began, Lord Gor had already assembled 300,000 troops in the city. The Kingdom's most elite units exceed 150,000, and the rest are mostly the main forces of the legions. While the enemy is besieging the city, they must also face reinforcements coming from all directions. We will certainly be victorious.” The woman smiled, seemingly trying to comfort her.
No!
Wei Ya disagreed internally.
I don't want them to fail. Please, strike faster, Princess.
She didn't understand military matters, but hearing that the enemy numbers had dwindled to only a hundred thousand or so made her heart tighten with anxiety.
Her Highness must not fail.
If she failed, how painful would that be?
The palace had already been hollowed out by the Empire, and Lord Gor had long since stopped being one of their own. Even the King was acting strange. If she were captured, she would surely receive no mercy.
Moreover, this was a battlefield. Who could guarantee that the soldiers were all men of honor?
Amidst her worries, more scourges launched their death charges toward the ground.
...
“Queen, all of the swarm's current locusts have been sent to the front lines—160,000 in total.”
Brain Bug No. 1's voice echoed in Xia Jin's mind. Sensing the dense mass of insects pouring into the city, with some catapults launching locusts in from a distance, she nodded with a smile.
Very good.
160,000 insects. Even if they killed them one by one, it would take a long time.
Although these were mostly Tier 1 with only a few Tier 2 units, their combined presence was quite terrifying to the enemy.
At this moment, two more nydus worms had finished establishing tunnels into the city.
Led by an ultralisk, a large group of zerglings, a few roaches and hydralisks, along with even fewer infestors and banelings, crawled out from the openings.
The next moment, ten kilometers away inside the city, a massive insect head over ten meters tall burst out from beneath the houses, violently spewing out a large group of insects.
The number of soldiers nearby was small; there were even civilians around.
This nydus worm was actually the one that had penetrated deepest into the outer city area. Further ahead were the walls leading into the inner city.
Clearly, the Kingdom's army had not expected this to happen.
Instantly, the large group of insects began attacking the few soldiers nearby, while the hydralisks aimed their weapons at the inner city walls.
“Enemy attack! Holy crap!”
The soldiers on the inner city walls were stunned. They hadn't expected that while the front lines were fighting, insects would suddenly appear right in front of them.
Crucially, they were such terrifying behemoths.
Several spells were immediately blasted toward the nydus worm.
But at that moment, the ultralisk that had appeared outside suddenly leapt up, using its body to tank most of the attacks.
Several elf bugs leapt up easily and began precision sniping at the soldiers on the wall.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Exploding arrows slammed into the wall.
Buzz—
Just then, a light suddenly flared up as the inner city shield was activated.
Xia Jin saw this scene and let out a breath, directing the insects released from the nydus worm to attack the soldiers in the outer city area.
To be honest, the outer city was still within the range of fire from the inner city and the palace, which was very disadvantageous for the insects.
But as long as they remained scattered, each enemy cannon blast wouldn't necessarily kill too many insects.
“Let's slowly grind them down through attrition.”
Once the soldiers in the outer city were completely wiped out, she would attack the inner city. By then, it would likely be much easier.
Of course, such a battle was truly terrifying for the civilians living in the city.
Most clever people realized that as long as they didn't wander onto the streets and their luck wasn't incredibly poor, they could barely maintain their safety by hiding in their homes.
Rate on N.U.
