Questioning Reality

Over the following week, the Swarm continued its massive counteroffensive.

At the start of the battle, losses directly exceeded the rate of replenishment, but the Swarm's momentum did not falter.

Two days later, the heavily battered Imperial army showed clear signs of weakened combat effectiveness. They continuously pulled stronger units and more weapons from the rear.

Most of the soldiers fighting now were experienced veterans, recalled reservists, or second- and third-line legions, possessing ample combat experience.

By the sixth and seventh days of the war of attrition, a closer look at the front lines revealed that casualties had exceeded 2.5 million.

Yes, 2.5 million deaths in a single week. The reason for such staggering losses was the Swarm's relentless assault on the defense lines; there was no such thing as a pause in the attack, which continued 24 hours a day.

The casualties from the offensive itself were horrific. Over this week of fighting, although Xia Jin had replenished 2.8 million bugs, the actual offensive force on the front lines had dwindled to about 2 million.

In other words, the Zerg had actually lost nearly 3.8 million combat bugs.

In exchange, the Swarm had once again pushed the front lines slowly back to the south of Clearwillow Lake.

Though the progress was minor, the blow to the vitality and morale of the Imperial frontline troops was staggering.

Furthermore, the number of scourges in the sky had grown so great that they could no longer be completely eliminated. The Zerg even resumed the construction of the fleet, with five Carrier Bugs launching every day, carrying countless scourges toward the deep sea.

The fleets of both sides were set to engage in a massive battle for control over the East Sea.

Over at the Great West Sea, the Zerg also dispatched some wooden ships to transport scourges.

Underwater, the production of Swimmers increased once again to 200,000 per day.

The sudden production of underwater Swarm units was unavoidable, as more members of the Sea Race from the deep ocean had come to fight a decisive battle with the Swarm.

Naturally, those of the Sea Race hadn't realized how massive the Swarm's scale truly was. Millions of undersea creatures launched an attack, only to fail to advance even 50 kilometers. Instead, they were slaughtered wave after wave by several types of underwater Zerg.

This hive located beneath the Great West Sea specialized in naval production. As the Zerg's standard energy harvest rate rose, it would increase the number of Swimmers at an even faster pace.

...

The Emperor of the Dawn Empire grew more haggard by the day.

Day after day, he went from being full of confidence at the start to realizing that the Zerg simply never ran out.

“Where on earth are these things coming from? We have clearly won so many battles.”

Indeed, the performance in this week's battles had been quite good; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to balance the exchange ratio.

The weapon production in the rear had also entered the right track. As the entire Imperial machine roared to life, magic greatly shortened the production cycle of equipment, allowing various weapons to be produced like water and thrown onto the front lines.

The Dawn Empire's current military strength was even stronger than it had been a week ago.

With upgrades and replacements happening on a weekly basis, it was terrifying to behold.

But this growth rate still couldn't keep up with the Zerg.

Facing an offensive that almost never stopped, the Dawn Empire was forced to redeploy the troops originally meant to fight the demons to the north.

Within the country, many conscripts underwent emergency training. As long as they learned how to aim, fire, and follow basic tactical formations, they were sent to the front.

The direct consequence of this was that after a few days, the quality of the Dawn Empire's soldiers would begin to decline.

Yet it had to be admitted that with this frantic effort, they had brought over several million more troops, which actually gave them the advantage once again.

Unless there was a major tactical blunder, having more people was certainly better than having fewer.

Although the troops were green, their firepower was immense.

Everyone relied on weapons to deal damage.

The increase in Zerg rocket launch vehicles across the entire battlefield was still somewhat sparse. Across a front line 4,000 kilometers wide, there were, on average, fewer than four unicycles per kilometer.

Initially, one vehicle could fire about 80 rockets a day, but the upgraded launch tubes now reached 160 rounds. This meant that at the current stage, an average of 640 small rocket bugs were launched per kilometer every day.

“Hmm, it feels like the firepower density isn't actually that low.”

One had to understand that the rockets wouldn't be distributed evenly. In certain areas of concentrated major battles, the volume of fire was staggering.

However, simply looking at four launchers per kilometer did seem like very little, because the power of a unicycle was only equivalent to an individual weapon meant for dealing with the Dawn Empire's infantry-based forces.

...

As the Dawn Empire pressed more of its main force forward, the Swarm's offensive did not stop.

They even lost 800,000 bugs in a single, ultra-high-intensity battle.

The intensity of this great battle far surpassed the offensive launched earlier to annihilate the enemy's Western Route Army. The Empire deployed 3 million troops to form a pocket in the Gexilu region, launching a fierce assault on the Zerg units that had advanced too quickly.

The total number of cannons of all calibers deployed in this single battle reached 100,000. There were as many as 20,000 heavy tanks and at least 100,000 other armored units.

Such a steel torrent and overwhelming strength left Xia Jin, who was watching the entire process, in a daze.

“Is this the true depth of the Empire's power?”