Sharkmen

“The Empire's technology is truly a nuisance; it's practically modern warfare now.”

After receiving the intelligence, Xia Jin kept a wary eye on the situation.

In reality, no matter how the opposition grew, her course of action remained simple: accumulate resources and upgrade.

A Tier 6 zergling could definitely tank a direct hit from a magic-enhanced 100mm howitzer shell. However, it likely wouldn't survive an armor-piercing round.

But for insects upgraded to Tier 7, even armor-piercing rounds could be barely withstood, and it would take 140mm or even 150mm shells to cause significant damage.

The gap between tiers was immense.

Xia Jin had personally experienced the differences between Tier 7, Tier 8, and Tier 9; the higher the level, the more absurd the power scaling became.

If the Empire truly managed to mass-produce more powerful magic cannons, they would still pose a threat to the current Swarm.

“Let's start with some probes.”

She had already ordered the kingdom's ports to prepare ships, load cargo, and navigate a river on the opposite side of Clearwillow Lake to reach the open sea and trade with other nations.

Much like playing a game, establishing good relations with powerful factions while waging war on the weak was always the most suitable way to grow.

However, the various factions in reality were not entirely isolated.

For instance, the Dawn Empire had a multitude of vassal states. Attacking any one of them meant fighting a whole group. In her current state, recklessly provoking any southern power carried significant risk.

Therefore, it was best to find isolated powers for expansion.

Developing long-distance seafaring under the guise of humans to gather intelligence before launching overseas expansion was undoubtedly an excellent strategy.

While Xia Jin was considering this, several thousand new Swimmers finished their upgrades and were transported to the West Coast.

As soon as the new insects entered the water, they began establishing a larger control zone in the coastal waters.

Deep within these waters, they finally encountered organized resistance.

Sharkmen.

These were creatures with the lower bodies of sharks and upper bodies resembling humans.

Compared to ordinary sharks, these guys were much smaller, but they averaged 2.5 meters in height. Their left arms could transform into a very sharp fork, which could also turn into a fin to assist with swimming underwater.

These creatures were numerous. Upon meeting the Zerg, the Swimmers showed no etiquette and immediately charged into a fierce battle.

After several clashes, the sharkmen launched a counterattack, and a full-scale war between the two sides began.

Honestly, the Zerg held the advantage at first. After all, thousands of Swimmers had just entered the water, along with dozens of Floating Hive Bugs. Various long-range exploding poisonous needles sent these thick-skinned sharkmen into a miserable retreat.

However, a closer look at their strength revealed that the average sharkman was at Tier 6. Killing just one often required a barrage of exploding needles.

As a group of several hundred sharkmen launched a counterattack, the Zerg suddenly found it difficult to maintain their advantage.

Still, the effects of long-range firepower and underwater poisoning were quite good. Clearly, the Zerg's fearless, fight-to-the-last-man style left the sharkmen speechless.

Furthermore, thousands more Zerg were being dumped into the water in batches, forcing the sharkmen to retreat toward the deep sea.

Twelve hours later, a sharkman chieftain suddenly led tens of thousands of its kin in a counterattack, instantly reclaiming the territory the Zerg had fought so hard to occupy.

Then, they pushed all the way to the shore and crawled onto the beach.

As the dense crowd of sharkmen surged out from the kilometers-long beach, several zerglings crouching nearby tilted their heads in confusion.

A dozen or so hydralisks in the distance immediately began a bombardment.

Amidst the impact of spines, sharkmen were killed one by one, but their numbers were simply too great, and they soon clashed with the zerglings on land.

In the ensuing battle, the zerglings held the advantage, often killing more than two sharkmen each. However, the enemies were no slackers either; they possessed dual respiratory systems and could exert their full strength on land. With dogged determination, they managed to kill the dozens of zerglings on that stretch of the shore.

...

“What are these guys up to?”

Xia Jin was a bit dazed when she learned of the situation.

When more insects arrived at the shore and saw the increasing number of sharkmen surging up, their expressions would have been speechless if they had any.

“I guess these guys are here for revenge.”

And they certainly were.

The Zerg, having acquired some underwater communication capabilities, quickly understood the enemy's methods of communication.

“Ridiculous land creatures, how dare they venture into the great sea.”

“It seems they have forgotten the terror of being ruled by our Sea Race!”

...

Twenty to thirty thousand sharkmen coming ashore was a spectacular sight.

Left with no choice, Xia Jin mobilized the Swarm to purge them.

First to appear were the lurkers.

Rows of spikes covering a distance of one or two kilometers swept through the crowded sharkmen, acting as a literal meat grinder.

When had these underwater creatures ever seen such a formation?

Following them were the rolling banelings and the infestors continuously spitting out binding spores.

Coupled with one or two thousand zerglings, the ill-prepared sharkmen were driven back into the sea after losing several thousand of their number.

It proved that land was indeed the Zerg's domain. Even the supposedly fierce Sea Race had to tuck tail and run when they encountered them.