200 Ships

Although their overall combat power had been strengthened, they still suffered significant losses in a short time against the large number of tanks (fortress vehicles) and various large caliber artillery equipped with armor piercing rounds deployed by the Gexilu Kingdom.

Of course, from another perspective, the people of Gexilu, facing such an onslaught from the Swarm, were also experiencing the terror of their enemy for the first time.

The Swarm continued to advance, even when faced with equipment heavily supported by the Empire.

Clearly, the Dawn Empire's goal was to have them hold out for a while until the last of the demons in the southern part of the Empire were dealt with, before concentrating their forces to move north. But who could have expected Mia to collapse so quickly?

Novien and Kelu were out of the question; they likely couldn't be relied upon either.

Now, they had to hold the line on their own.

...

On the western side of the East Continent, the Huiwei Kingdom.

Tens of thousands of banelings blotted out the sun, blanketing the sky over the entire country.

A thousand Tier 9 mutalisks, possessing world shattering power, continuously volleyed glaive wurms at the ground below, creating earth shaking booms.

With every explosion, plumes of dust were blasted high into the air.

Accompanying the air force was the continuous shelling of the coastal ports by the main Zerg fleet.

Countless wooden ships, propelled by jet-propulsion bugs, landed on this soil once again.

This time, the Zerg made a comeback behind the backs of the Dawn Empire's navy, dealing a brutal blow to the several thousand Dawn Empire soldiers stationed there with a land force of 150,000 Zerg.

Most importantly, the fleet anchored near the shore was also wiped out by the aerial insects that had suddenly appeared.

After all, they were facing a thousand Tier 9 mutalisks and fifty to sixty thousand banelings.

By the time the capital of the Dawn Empire received the intelligence, several hours had already passed.

After all, their control over the other side of the continent wasn't very strong, and their current focus was on the final battle with the demons. The Dawn Empire's official strategy toward the Swarm was still to delay as much as possible.

When this happened, it sent shockwaves through the country's high ranking officials.

“Why is the fleet still sitting in the harbor? Send them out immediately.”

The East Continent was a vital source of commodities, ranging from candy to tobacco and various minerals. In short, this wave of surprise attacks by the Zerg would be enough to make many in the Dawn Empire jump in frustration.

With this offensive by the Swarm's main force, Huiwei could be completely taken within a day.

Afterward, the army would move north and annihilate the Imperial legions controlling the Mis Kingdom, effectively reclaiming the entire region in a short period.

It took another day for the Emperor of the Yelu Empire to barely learn of this, and only because the Swarm had intentionally allowed the news to travel north.

He felt a complex mix of emotions.

The power displayed by the Swarm was enough to rival the Dawn Empire, making the Yelu Empire, which was situated in the north and acted with extreme caution, look like a clown.

“We cannot let the Zerg look down on us. We must also show our strength, lest our southern allies start getting ideas.”

After making this decision, the Emperor consulted with his ministers and decided to dispatch 300,000 troops south into the Mis Kingdom to cooperate with the Swarm in annihilating the Imperials.

Of course, they didn't know exactly how many troops the Dawn Empire had sent to the Mis Kingdom. They had gathered too little intelligence from previous battles. Given Yelu's speed of movement, there probably wouldn't be many Imperial soldiers left by the time they reached the south.

...

As the Swarm rapidly regained control of the fallen territories, the Dawn Empire officially began deploying a massive fleet, intending to completely control all of the Zerg's maritime exits.

The terrifying scale of over 200 warships caused Xia Jin's jaw to drop.

But on second thought, this didn't seem like much.

Magic productivity was inherently high. Given the Dawn Empire's level, it would be unreasonable if they hadn't built several hundred warships over all these years.

Most importantly, in order to annex the entire world, they were now operating at full throttle to expand their military and prepare for war.

The navy was the top priority for the future. With the goal of blockading the globe, it was estimated that ships of the 10,000 ton class and above were being launched daily.

The Zerg had no choice but to engage.

Although naval production hadn't decreased in the past few days, the total number of Carrier Bugs that could actually be deployed was only 12. The landing fleet on the East Continent was too far away; at most, they could guard the surrounding waters, and they would likely soon be targeted by the Dawn Empire's navy drifting somewhere out there.

The main threat was still the West Continent.

16 Carrier Bugs, 40 Escort Carrier Bugs, plus 12 Kingdom ships launched from various shipyards—this was the total force used to face the 200 ships of the Dawn Empire's navy.

This wave of the Dawn Empire's navy included six carriers of the 60,000 ton class and above.

Ten carriers of over 40,000 tons.

Twenty-two battleships of the 40,000 ton class and above.

The rest were powerful gunships, with over 80 in the 10,000 ton class.

Combined with land support, the number of magic planes alone exceeded 10,000.

Magic planes took off via magic circles, so they didn't even need decks. Furthermore, since the carriers were multi layered, the naval aircraft of this fleet numbered 4,000, and they were all the latest model fighters.

The Zerg also brought out their trump cards. Although they knew they couldn't win this battle in a short time, their goal was to inflict as much damage on the opponent as possible.