One Million Rounds

Unfortunately, the acceleration process was a bit too slow. Countless rocket bugs had already closed in on him and began detonating first.

Boom, boom, boom, boom—

With such a staggering volume, flying in any direction was meaningless. The explosive power of 40,000 rocket bugs per second, delivered in a continuous stream, shattered his shield in less than two seconds.

Even more absurdly, these rockets could turn and track. Even after he dodged, these biological projectiles would suddenly pivot ninety degrees in mid-air and fly straight at him.

The violent explosions blanketed the entire sky with fireballs and intense heat.

Xia Jin held her breath amidst the continuous roar of explosions.

She was certain the opponent had failed to dodge the Swarm's sneak attack due to carelessness, but it was hard to say whether the hits were accurate or if the energy had concentrated enough to affect the target.

One minute later...

A tattered body fell to the ground.

“Hmm, is he dead?”

Some bugs in the distance approached.

Several hydralisks fired a few bone spines at the target. With several loud thuds, every single one hit its mark.

The guy was blasted several meters away and landed on the ground.

“He's really tough; even that didn't blow him to pieces.”

A zergling came to the front and gave him a push.

There was no sound at all.

“Looks like it's settled,” Xia Jin grinned. “So a Tier 12 can still be killed with focus fire.”

Using one million rounds was a necessity. The main issue was that the individual power of a rocket bug was too small. Without continuous bombardment, it would have been difficult to break through his defenses with just their individual explosions.

If only I had small nuclear weapons.

In terms of pure explosive power, the combined explosive yield of these one million rockets was no less than that of a nuclear bomb with a yield of tens of thousands of tons.

“Take the body to a safe place.”

A few bugs began dragging the Divine Messenger away, soon arriving at a patch of jungle controlled by the bugs.

Not long after, one of Xia Jin's projections approached.

Her arm transformed, enveloping and devouring the opponent. It took over ten minutes for the body to be completely converted into her system.

“Such high energy. I feel like I'm about to burst.”

The girl took a deep breath and immediately sat down to begin the conversion.

She finally understood what it meant to be overstuffed.

This energy wasn't as mysterious as Abyss power, but it was substantial, comparable to concentrated energy.

After completing the absorption, this projection would definitely be able to break through to the peak of Tier 11.

However, she decided to give half of it to her main body.

If this poor Divine Messenger had reacted a bit faster, he actually could have escaped beforehand.

But he hadn't expected to be so unlucky, nor did he expect the Zerg's intelligence to be so formidable, allowing them to quickly pinpoint his location and release such concentrated firepower.

The defeat of a Tier 12 powerhouse gave Xia Jin more confidence in the current Zerg.

But it was also this battle that made her feel a trace of wariness toward the Dawn Empire.

“There really is something wrong behind this country. I have to be on guard.”

If there was extraterrestrial support involved, then the future of the Zerg might not be so easy.

She needed to spend time developing slowly.

As for the battle with the Empire, it might be better to drag it out a bit and just slowly push forward. Her side would try to accumulate as much energy as possible to prepare for the next-level Hive.

“Maintaining the front isn't difficult. Now, I have to choose between the magic beasts and the demons.”

After some thought, she decided to choose the magic beasts.

The demons would serve as a source of resources to increase her main body's power, but to get the energy for the next-level Hive, she still had to rely on the resource-rich Border Forest.

She suspected that just the outer area alone would be enough for her to obtain the energy to upgrade to the next stage.

As long as she finished the upgrade before the mythic kings could react, she wouldn't be afraid even if she had to go head-to-head with them.

“When the time comes, maybe I can work on our relationship and get that beautiful black sub-dragon lady to stand on my side.”

She thought this, then shook her head.

“Forget it, stop dreaming. My charm isn't high enough to be that outrageous.”

...

With the decision made, a small portion of the Swarm officially began to lead the charge.

Since the number of locusts on the Dawn Empire's front was almost overflowing, she prepared to send half of the swarm hosts to the Border Forest to specifically face the magic beast kings.

After all, compared to the magic beasts, the current scale of the Swarm was not enough to look at.

The transfer of the swarm hosts was mainly carried out by Overlords.

A day later, the swarm hosts were not yet all in place, but 400,000 Zerg main force units had already concentrated.

The order was given, and the tide of insects began to move.

In an instant, the army began to rush through the forest, attacking along both the east and west directions.

All living creatures, anything that moved, became targets for the bugs.

Many magic beast kings, leading their pitiful few thousand or ten thousand magic beasts below Tier 5, were completely crushed by a few hundred bugs just as they were about to act.

Some Overlords floated in the sky, continuously dropping creep onto the ground below.

Three days later, the main locust force joined the battle and began attacking the slightly deeper parts of the forest.

The battle with the Dawn Empire fell into a stalemate as large numbers of main forces began to concentrate toward the Magic Beast Forest. On the Dawn Empire's side, the Zerg even briefly conducted a retreat.

The purpose was simple: not to push the Empire too hard.