The man across from her carefully reviewed the terms. Confirming they were indeed what had been discussed, he signed his name, squeezed out a bit of blood, and pressed his handprint onto the document.
The paper was pushed in front of Xia Jin, and she left her mark as well.
A glow emanated from the paper as the contract was established.
However, the Swarm's powerful mental system instantly broke the constraints that the contract attempted to place on Xia Jin's side.
“Very well. Next, my insects will gradually take control of the entirety of Mia. The main legions will coordinate with the forces from Kelu to pincer the Gexilu United Kingdom. I expect your cooperation when the time comes.”
“There will be no problem.”
...
After seeing Xia Jin off, the remaining officials looked at each other in silence.
“They’re going to war with Gexilu immediately? It sounds like they’re already fighting alongside Kelu,” one official said, breaking the quiet.
“If they only possessed the strength they showed while attacking us, they wouldn't be able to defeat the Empire. However, I still stand by my judgment—this group called the Zerg would not move against us without being certain of victory. Don't forget, that princess originally had no chance of inheriting the throne, yet she was able to launch a swift internal coup, take the crown, and even rid herself of the Empire's control.”
“Each generation truly is stronger than the last. That girl... she is already a legend,” the King of Mia remarked, unable to help but smile as he shook his head.
“Indeed.”
...
To those present, the newly ascended princess was truly beyond reproach.
Her beauty was no mere rumor, and her abilities were extraordinary.
Throughout this war, the enemy's tactical execution had been so meticulous that many of Mia's own officers felt ashamed of their own performance.
Though the various offensives seemed haphazard on the surface, the finer details revealed a clever exploitation of both terrain and psychology. Even with an absolute advantage, they had insisted on achieving the best possible outcome.
By the end of the Battle of Mia, the Swarm's actual loss of ultralisks was zero.
The country had one Tier 9 expert, but they had not made a move.
In truth, even if they had, it was uncertain whether they could have triumphed over an ultralisk.
The technological breakthroughs of the Dawn Empire had brought an indescribable pain to many warriors who had spent their entire lives cultivating.
This was especially true for those at Tier 7 and above.
As a warrior, particularly one at Tier 9, one was supposed to be invincible under heaven. Yet now, an ordinary person with large-caliber artillery could potentially inflict heavy injuries upon them. In such an era, what was the point of diligent cultivation?
The mindset of the entire human world was rapidly changing.
A new era had arrived, and those who could not keep up felt increasingly out of place in modern society.
...
With the negotiations concluded, the officials finally set aside the burdens in their hearts and walked out of the gates.
The area surrounding this negotiation city was covered in a dense carpet of insects.
At that moment, dozens of scourges flew overhead in perfect formation.
Looking up, one could feel the eerie aura emanating from those terrifying creatures.
On the ground, the ultralisks looked like beings out of a fantasy—not only powerful but radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
“So these are the creatures we've been fighting for days.”
The King's gaze drifted into the distance, where he happened to see Xia Jin reach out and stroke the head of a zergling.
The zergling, which appeared so horrifying to humans, became exceptionally docile before the girl.
The Queen seemed to be soothing her own child, and the zergling narrowed its eyes in enjoyment.
“What a marvelous sight.”
“Indeed.”
The ministers nodded in agreement.
It was unexpectedly pleasant to watch.
In a way, it fit certain people's fantasies of a beautiful young girl.
It wasn't only women who liked powerful men; men also liked powerful girls... especially those high and mighty, incredibly strong, and unattainable ones. They were full of charm.
...
After letting the zergling leave, Xia Jin found an ultralisk and rode away on its back.
The way zerglings bounced around was simply too ridiculous and would have damaged her image.
Over the following day, the Swarm fully entered Mia. Almost simultaneously, a main force of twenty thousand insects, accompanied by over three hundred thousand locusts, launched a full-scale assault on the Gexilu United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, on Gexilu's eastern front, the main force that had been attacking Kelu advanced into Gexilu territory with unstoppable momentum.
The Swarm was met with a massive amount of cannon fire.
The first wave of the offensive truly caught the enemy off guard.
But soon after, countless flying creatures appeared in the sky—numbering over ten thousand—and rapidly seized air superiority over the country.
The Gexilu authorities had deployed over six hundred thousand troops in the border regions, with four hundred thousand on the western side and two hundred thousand on the eastern side.
Although the eastern side was retreating step by step before the Zerg main force, they were difficult to suppress because every soldier had a gun, and they possessed a massive number of cannons.
Even some infantry squads were equipped with mortars. To the insects, this firepower was exceptionally fierce.
The only long-range ground support the Swarm could provide on a large scale was the plasma fireballs of the ravagers.
However, ravagers were quite large targets.
As for siege creatures, only a portion of the ultralisks were deployed, while roaches were committed in much larger numbers (hardly any roaches had been used on the Mia battlefield).
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