Intense Battle

Boom!

A missile trailing a long plume of fire was intercepted by a dozen suicidal scourges, finally exploding in mid-air.

The remaining missiles quickly closed in on the Zerg's Carrier Bugs.

These things were exceptionally powerful, capable of slight course corrections and even locking onto targets within a twenty-kilometer range.

On the Swarm's side, even more aerial units surged into the missiles' paths, intercepting them recklessly.

Scourges took flight one after another, using their flesh and blood to block the targets before they could get close.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In a series of continuous explosions, they were buried alongside the missiles in a blinding sea of fire.

Meanwhile, several artillery shells also landed near the Zerg warships.

Two massive geysers of water erupted into the sky.

Another shell whistled past the Carrier Bug, traveling over a hundred meters before slamming into the water with a loud thud.

The surface of the sea rocked violently.

Xia Jin hissed through her teeth.

That was a close call.

The Empire's naval guns were impressive. Considering the deviation, being within 150 meters at a distance of twenty kilometers was incredible, especially since these weren't modern cannons from her previous world.

Seeing the triple-barrel guns on the opposite side flash with fire again thirty seconds later, the Swarm could no longer hold the line.

Countless scourges formed living nets, shielding the front of the hulls.

With a thunderous roar, an explosion suddenly erupted two hundred meters away from Xia Jin.

A violent aftershock of fire swept over, blowing away all the elf bugs standing on the deck.

Although it wasn't a direct hit, the power was truly exaggerated.

The Primal Brain Bug immediately ordered all Carrier Bugs to retreat.

There was no other choice. The range of the cannons currently equipped on the ships was a measly few kilometers. Rather than letting the enemy attack at will using their range advantage, it was better to proactively pull back.

More scourges took to the sky to meet the enemy, leaving only two thousand circling the fleet to intercept incoming shells and resist any approaching magic planes.

The sky was filled with the sound of howling wind.

Countless scourges acted like suicide squads, slamming into enemy planes from every direction. Mutalisks launched wave after wave of glaive wurms into the sky, causing the Empire's fighters to suffer heavy losses.

Three minutes later, a swarm of scourges screeched and dove from above, slamming hard into the enemy warships.

Boom!

Scorching fireballs immediately erupted at the points of impact.

Pitch-black smoke shrouded the area as a massive amount of corrosive venom splashed everywhere, instantly making a nauseating sizzling sound against the steel surfaces.

On the ships, crew members ran back and forth. Some had already begun manning the anti-aircraft guns, firing off volleys of anti-aircraft rockets.

The lack of a high rate of fire made the Dawn Empire's ships very prone to letting targets through when defending against large-scale Zerg dives.

On average, for every five bugs, one or two would manage to slam into the deck.

Scourges performing sea-skimming dives had an even higher success rate.

In an instant, two multi-thousand-ton ships developed exaggerated gashes after nearly a hundred explosions, and the hulls began to list heavily to the right.

"Leaking on the port side! Plug the gap!"

The people inside the ships began to seal off compartments. Some mages used temporary magic to weld steel plates directly over the breaches.

This actually managed to stop the ships from taking on water for the time being, keeping the hulls stable in their current state.

The cannon muzzles on these escort ships now began to swivel toward the sky, firing continuously.

Because the Zerg were too far away, the range of the 100mm cannons on board was simply insufficient. However, the two rocket launch ports on the side could continuously fire rockets toward the Zerg ships.

The Empire's rockets were essentially semi-finished missiles; they all possessed some degree of target-tracking capability.

The elf bug controlled by Xia Jin frowned.

"It seems we're losing on range."

Thinking this, she raised her bow, infused it with magical power, and unleashed a full-strength shot.

A luminous arrow flew four kilometers through the air before hitting a scourge.

"Oh... cough, cough, cough."

Xia Jin coughed awkwardly.

The elf bug beside her hesitated for a moment before whispering, "My Queen, that's not how you fire it. You need to combine it with tracking magic at the moment of release."

"Will you teach me?" Xia Jin asked.

"Ah..."

Blushing slightly, the elf bug moved behind Xia Jin and took her hand, whispering, "My... My Queen, please follow my lead."

...

"How annoying."

Seeing the elf bug holding the Queen in her arms, the others nearby felt very frustrated.

It could have clearly been taught through the Swarm network, yet she just had to go over and offer personal guidance.

And Her Majesty too—she could have known everything with just a single thought, yet she insisted on letting that elf bug hold her.

"Ugh, I want to hug the cute Queen too. She's so small and delicate. Even when she's possessing another elf bug, she's still so moe!"

Whoosh—

This time, the arrow was fired.