At this stage, the Swarm's psionic power reserves were still quite low.
In fact, psionic power in this world was always closely linked to the spirit; a psionic powerhouse was bound to be a master of mental energy.
However, at its current stage, the Zerg couldn't yet wield psionic power effectively. This was primarily due to poor utilization of mental energy; much of it was simply dissipated and wasted rather than being fully converted into psionic strength.
But for Xia Jin, who was linked to the entire Zerg race, this wasn't a major issue.
Her mental energy was so immense that the concept of waste was irrelevant.
“Should I step in and deal with the nearby enemies? No... forget it. The battlefield is too large; solving a local problem won't do much good.”
Ultimately, the Zerg had to rely on swarm tactics. Since resources could be recycled, there was no need for her to intervene personally.
In fact, calculations showed that the Queen's personal intervention would actually consume more standard energy.
This was because she was at Tier 10.
Even Xia Jin's power generally followed the principle of conservation of energy. If she didn't control herself properly during an attack, the energy consumed could potentially produce several more swarm hosts. When calculated that way, it really wasn't cost-effective.
“As I thought, I should stick to dealing with opponents of the same rank or Tier 9 units.”
Even for Tier 9, she now had weapons of war like the ultralisk. As long as they weren't fighting mages, it was hard to say who would win in a direct confrontation between a typical Tier 9 powerhouse and an ultralisk.
For a Tier 9 powerhouse, their power could be projected to attack enemies at least a hundred meters away. They could slaughter weak units in droves, and even Tier 7 or Tier 8 warriors could rarely withstand their strikes.
For someone like Xia Jin at Tier 10, running at several times the speed of sound was effortless. A single punch could create a crater fifteen meters deep with a blast radius of over three hundred meters.
Such strength was a qualitative change compared to Tier 9.
Furthermore, while Tier 10 powerhouses could not live indefinitely in space, if they were cast beyond the atmosphere, they could rely on their robust vitality to survive in the vacuum of interstellar space for over an hour without oxygen.
A Tier 9, by comparison, might not even last five minutes before their energy failed them.
Of course, this applied to ordinary creatures. Within the Zerg, low-tier organisms would eventually undergo interstellar modification, allowing them to survive in the high-radiation vacuum of space as long as they had sufficient energy.
...
During this battle, after Xia Jin used psionic power to conveniently eliminate the few targets that had set their sights on her, she stopped participating.
She switched to full observer mode.
She had to admit, the Empire had quite a few Tier 9 powerhouses.
Her brief intervention quickly drew the attention of a Tier 9 warrior.
The opponent immediately charged at her, only to be killed instantly by a single strike from Xia Jin.
Boom—
The collision of their energies generated a terrifying gust of wind.
When it settled, only the opponent's corpse remained on the ground.
A swarm of locusts immediately rushed over, snatching the Tier 9 powerhouse's body before the Dawn Empire soldiers could reach it.
“Mere Tier 9, nothing more.”
Xia Jin patted her hands clean.
This display of power instantly stunned many of the enemies.
One tank even slowed down by half a beat, allowing two Armored Heavy Cannon Bugs to lock onto it and quickly annihilate it.
Over the next ten minutes, dozens of heavy units from both sides repeatedly clashed on the great plains.
The Dawn Empire's combat vehicles pushed their mobility to the absolute limit.
Their turrets rotated rapidly, struggling to keep up with the agile Armored Heavy Cannon Bugs as the two sides engaged in a fierce struggle for control of the field.
Almost every minute, an Armored Heavy Cannon Bug was slain, and a combat vehicle was destroyed.
Overall, however, the Swarm held the advantage.
The massive Swarm accompanied these heavy biological units as they pressed hard against the enemy. With the perfect coordination of even more bugs, the Imperial rearguard was quickly divided into several sections.
Leveraging their superior mobility and firepower, a large group of bugs quickly maneuvered into the enemy's rear. By the time the remaining dozen or so tanks tried to retreat, it was already too late.
Dozens of Armored Heavy Cannon Bugs and several combat vehicles driven by Clear soldiers completed the pincer movement. By the time the enemy reacted, they were completely surrounded from the flanks.
The bugs executed a perfect tactical maneuver on this local battlefield. Relying on superior numbers and aerial reconnaissance, they swiftly annihilated this Imperial armored unit.
Afterward, fifty unicycles deployed nearby fired as many as a thousand rocket bugs toward the rear of this enemy force.
Under the high-intensity bombardment, supplemented by scourge strikes against the Imperial artillery, this local skirmish soon came to a perfect conclusion.
Rate on N.U.
