Another Upgrade

“Fight my ass.”

Seeing the Dawn Empire's ridiculous navy, Xia Jin suddenly felt... maybe she really should just pack her things and run.

Is this navy even logical?

She could only imagine how powerful they were on land.

The only reason the Zerg hadn't been targeted before was because there was an incredibly difficult-to-fight demon force to the south of the Empire.

Looking at the current state of things, those demons would probably be wiped out in a matter of weeks, wouldn't they?

Moreover, although the Swarm's overall strength had improved significantly, her main force had still suffered considerable losses against Mia, even with the enemy surrendering early.

Even if those hundreds of thousands of locusts were just fodder, they were still Tier 3 fodder. In the old Kingdom of Clear, they would have been the standard for a legitimate third-line legion. Now, they were dying far too cheaply.

Monitoring the battlefield from afar, the opposing air forces had already made contact while still hundreds of kilometers apart.

The enemy numbers were overwhelming this time. Fortunately, the Zerg had concentrated over 60,000 scourges and 500 mutalisks, plus another 20,000 scourges diverted from the army.

If nothing else, they definitely had the upper hand in raw numbers at the start.

But as for quality...

Only the mutalisks could hold their own in a one-on-one fight. The scourges truly had to rely on swarming suicide charges to take down the enemy.

Even if they temporarily lost air superiority, there was nothing they could do about it for now.

On her end, Xia Jin began considering how to further strengthen the Swarm.

After an assessment, Brain Bug No. 1 reached a conclusion.

“Let us modify some of the existing Zerg units. We can integrate certain long-range projectile technologies into specific bugs to create new variants.”

“Any suggestions?” Xia Jin asked.

Brain Bug No. 1 then presented several proposals.

The first was to enhance the hydralisk's spines. This primarily involved allowing the hydralisk's organs to surge with incredible energy at the moment of firing while also improving the structure of the spine itself.

“The original spines were needle-like. While their piercing power wasn't weak, they struggled significantly against heavy armor. Therefore, this modification metalizes the spines of the new hydralisk model. Their appearance will resemble pointed shells. Normally, this would reduce range, but by boosting the energy of the firing organs, we can maintain the original range.”

“So, the range stays the same, but the power is greater?”

“Yes. It may even pose a certain threat to Tier 9,” the brain bug added.

“Hmm, not bad. Let's do it. From now on, produce all hydralisks with this model.”

It was a product adapted to the times.

“What's the second one?”

“A modification for the heavy cannon bug. In addition to the 200mm main gun on its back, we will equip four auto-loading rocket launch tubes on its sides. These can fire rocket bugs or missile bugs. Of course, these rockets or missiles will be larger than the unicycle versions and have a longer range—at least 30 kilometers. By integrating the weapon technology captured from Mia with biological organs, the range of the 200mm main gun has also been increased to over 20 kilometers. Although this will increase resource consumption, the cost-effectiveness is excellent and will significantly bolster our long-range fire support.”

“Good, let's go with that.”

Xia Jin agreed immediately.

Regardless, she couldn't really offer any better suggestions herself.

“These two modifications will form the foundation of this Swarm enhancement, which should alleviate our long-range pressure to some extent. The other change is tactical. I noticed the enemy has deployed various models of combat vehicles. Some of their light armored vehicles are structurally similar to our current Tier 8 roaches.”

“The problem is that those combat vehicles can accurately penetrate our bugs' armor from one or two kilometers away, whereas roaches can only damage the enemy with acid within a 100-meter range. Tearing apart the vehicle hulls in melee also takes considerable time. Therefore, the tactical shift will involve installing rocket bug launch tubes on the empty slots of the roaches' carapaces, operated by crew members. Even if they cannot penetrate the target, they can provide suppressive fire against enemy infantry during the advance. The task of actually engaging light and heavy tanks will be left to the ultralisks and heavy cannon bugs.”

Xia Jin understood what Brain Bug No. 1 meant.

They were no longer treating the roach as a tank-class unit, but as an infantry fighting vehicle.

The large-scale acid spray from a roach's mouth was actually quite similar to a flame tank.

Of course, the Empire referred to their tanks as fortress vehicles. In essence, there was no difference—large vehicles carried cannons, while small vehicles carried guns.

This mode of warfare was looking more and more like the modern era.

It could be considered progress.

After all, if they were still swinging swords and shields, the Zerg would be dealing a dimensional strike to the Empire right now.

“The Empire's rate of progress is a bit too fast. It feels somewhat illogical,” Xia Jin mused, resting her chin on her hand as she sat on the creep.

She approved of Brain Bug No. 1's ideas.

Whether the tactics would actually work remained to be seen, but they could always make adjustments based on the actual situation during the fight.