Battle for the City

After more than 20 minutes of continuous roaring, many soldiers felt as if they were going deaf.

The landscape everywhere looked like ruins.

The number of corpses crushed or blown apart was beyond counting.

The situation on the Zerg side was better, primarily because all personnel had been evacuated; there was nothing but artillery in this area.

The artillery currently being used consisted entirely of rockets delivered by unicycles. Although the individual payloads weren't particularly large, the sheer density of the fire was overwhelming.

Xia Jin had even increased the number of unicycles here to 50. To create effective suppression, nearly 2,000 crates of rocket bugs had been brought in, with four rockets per crate.

With 8,000 rockets available, they intentionally slowed the firing rhythm to maintain continuous suppression, but they still launched at least 100 rounds per minute on average.

This kind of high density firepower likely made the enemy question their very existence.

Especially in the latter half, when the Zerg felt the scale of enemy counter fire diminish, they simply pushed their unicycle launch racks five kilometers forward. This allowed them to strike deeper into enemy territory, not even sparing small villages.

And this was just for one city.

At other points along the border, as many as 500 unicycles had been put into use one after another.

Furthermore, judging by the production speed in the rear of Clear, the quantity to be deployed would only continue to increase.

Xia Jin decided to supply 100,000 rounds on the first day, gradually increasing the scale based on the number of unicycles available.

Conversely, the scourges flying in the sky also detected several of the enemy's sturdy fortifications.

Xia Jin sent out an initial batch of 100 heavy cannon bugs to carry out precision strikes.

Not to mention, by that evening, 200,000 Tier 3 locusts had already been sent into the country as a vanguard.

The staggering numbers forced the enemy to deploy massive amounts of melee troops to resist.

The Swarm used the shared vision of the locusts to precisely locate the enemy's positions.

Whenever large groups of low tier individuals were discovered, they were blanketed with rocket fire.

If high tier individuals appeared, the solution was simple: missile bugs were provided, or even ravagers and hydralisks would conduct concentrated long range bombardment.

Under such an offensive, Mia's army struggled to maintain their resistance.

They used firearms imported from the Dawn Empire to kill the locusts from a distance.

Some large caliber rifles could even hit hydralisks firing spines from four kilometers away. Of course, at such a great distance, the ammunition's penetration was poor, making it very difficult to deal a fatal blow to a hydralisk.

However, if the distance closed to within three kilometers, a hydralisk could be killed.

Both sides began sending units to infiltrate the opposing lines.

The Swarm's method was undoubtedly the locust saturation charge.

The total cost to produce 20 Tier 3 locusts had reached 4 units of standard energy. While this was undoubtedly more expensive than in the past, it was actually more cost effective for the Zerg now.

As more and more black insects approached from all directions, the warriors lying in ambush in the city buildings swallowed hard.

“Don't just stand there, fire!”

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

It was clear that the power of the weapons was severely excessive.

The number of locusts was too great, and their individual strength was weak. However, the firearms in each person's hands were powerful enough to kill an unprepared Tier 8 powerhouse and were almost a guaranteed kill against a Tier 7.

Against the locusts closing in at high speeds from every direction, these slow firing weapons were severely lacking in firepower volume.

The locusts looked like giant cockroaches, swarming in dense masses.

Suddenly closing in, they would spray acid directly at the eyes, providing a sensation that was far from pleasant.

Some warriors were forced to pick up melee weapons, and the moment they did, even more locusts surged forward.

While the two sides were engaged in combat, the artillery in the rear also learned the locations of enemy concentrations. With no need to worry about friendly fire among the locusts, they used a missile bug to lock on and launched immediately.

Whoosh—

After flying for over ten kilometers, the missile crashed through a wall into a room and exploded.

Terrifying flames erupted from the building, and the glass was destroyed as if it were made of brittle paper.

Since most of the houses were not built with reinforced concrete, they lacked the structural integrity of skyscrapers on Earth.

This single explosion might not have collapsed the entire building, but at least a small portion of it was ruined.

...

“It's time to deploy a few of the main units.”

Xia Jin moved several hundred zerglings among the locusts to take advantage of the chaos for ambushes.

However, she still primarily relied on long range suppression.

At close range, the Zerg were still at a disadvantage regardless, because most of the enemy soldiers were armed with guns and could shoot them from a kilometer or two away.

The best way to overcome this gap was to use cover and advance rapidly through complex terrain.

The bugs' advantages were their numbers and speed.

When the production of the main Swarm units couldn't keep up, locusts could be used to quickly fill the ranks.

To fight the Empire, Xia Jin would deploy 2,000 swarm hosts to the front lines.

And more would be added gradually.

Currently, 960,000 fodder locusts were being thrown to the front lines every day to break the enemy ranks.

They just charged forward with no regard for their lives.

The results were truly excellent; Tier 3 numbers could overwhelm almost anyone.

Mia's border city suffered heavy losses under wave after wave of assaults. Ultimately, the defending forces were forced back to the city's outskirts by the falling rockets and the dense swarms of locusts.

Anticipating that the enemy would bombard the area occupied by the Swarm, Xia Jin immediately lowered the density of the locusts and had the remainder hide in basements whenever possible.

Sure enough, half an hour later, thousands of whistling shells and rockets fell, further pulverizing the already dilapidated city into ruins.