Bugs Evolving

The swarm of bugs that entered the Abyss immediately began clearing the area around the portal.

Compared to their past wide open fighting style, the Swarm prioritized ranged combat this time. This was mainly because the enemies were too powerful; a direct charge would result in an excessive casualty ratio and might attract unnecessary attention.

To minimize Swarm losses, some missile bugs and rocket bugs were specifically brought along. When they encountered stronger enemies, they would set up launch tubes and conduct relatively close range attacks on the targets.

Because this offensive was cautious, using the area around the portal as a starting point, they pushed outward in small squads of dozens. If they encountered Tier 9 enemies, they would deploy Tier 9 bugs or launch missiles (rocket volleys were only used for saturation coverage when numbers were high).

Although these advances occasionally caused loud booms that distant demons might hear, the overall commotion was minimal.

Some demons even assumed they had simply encountered some unknown wild beasts.

The Abyss birthed many strange creatures, most of them hideous, so the bugs' appearance didn't attract much attention.

After hunting these enemies, the locusts would drag the corpses to the other side of the portal, handing them over to drones to be processed at the underwater hive on that continent.

By absorbing the demon corpses, it was confirmed that their flesh contained a bizarre energy.

Some bugs, under the instruction of the brain bugs, began absorbing it themselves.

Just like Xia Jin, the bugs that directly absorbed demon flesh underwent evolution. Generally, after a Tier 8 zergling or hydralisk finished eating a Tier 6 or 7 wild beast, they would gain a trace of chaos aura, significantly increasing their combat power and ferocity.

If they devoured a Tier 8 demon sentinel, a lucky zergling would likely gain combat power exceeding its Frenzy state even without entering it. A few extremely lucky bugs could even break through directly to early Tier 9.

Since the Zerg already possessed high natural potential and a trace of magical reinforcement, merging with Abyss power meant an early Tier 9 bug would be considerably stronger than a typical late Tier 9 creature.

It was proven that if they ate enough, it wasn't impossible for a zergling to evolve to Tier 10.

Xia Jin felt that if there were more such zerglings in the future, she might be able to grant some of them higher intelligence, turning them into so called elite zerglings to replace some functions of brain bugs and Overlords, commanding their own squads.

While the Zerg were infinitely loyal, they lacked tactical nuance. They were strong in individual and coordinated combat but didn't know how to use their heads for ambushes. Thus, breeding tactical commanders for small scale squads would greatly help elevate the entire Swarm's strength.

“It seems that after invading the Abyss, I can use this world as a ranch.”

Xia Jin was very satisfied with this idea.

What did the former Overlord have?

Nothing but the pure Zerg Swarm. Now, the Swarm possessed both magical and Abyss power. All of this was thanks to the unique conditions of this planet.

The brain bugs were currently speculating that magic was a power weaker than psionic power but with entirely different attributes. Utilizing it might compensate for certain deficiencies in psionic power.

Perhaps the psionic power they had mastered in the past was itself impure.

Furthermore, magic was a very special power with almost no exploitable weaknesses. The way to defeat mages was to use raw power; trying to find a flaw in magic itself was nearly impossible.

“No wonder it’s called magic. This is completely different from the magic I heard about in my previous life.”

As the bugs expanded their battles, a large number of Abyss Zerg began to emerge.

Tier 9 zerglings and Tier 9 hydralisks appeared one after another. Although their numbers were in the single digits, the boost to the bugs' overall strength was obvious.

These bugs undoubtedly became Xia Jin’s precious assets. When encountering particularly powerful enemies, she temporarily kept them off the field, waiting for them to continue devouring until they reached the peak of Tier 9.

Bugs like the Tier 9 roaches didn't improve as quickly; they might need to devour multiple Tier 8 or same level demons.

In short, as the Swarm squads slowly expanded their territory, some lurkers and Impalers were scattered around the perimeter, forming a defense net.

During the intervals between battles and energy absorption, any demon that entered their attack range would be killed by terrifying strikes from beneath the ground.

Because the Zerg’s tactics were so insidious and the wandering demons mostly traveled alone, most demons were killed before they could even react.