Encirclement of the Forest

In addition to all of the above, there was actually one more new bug... the overseer.

This creature was slightly different from what she remembered.

Its appearance was essentially a variation of the overlord, but with a broader body and a head covered in numerous eyes.

The overseer was a specialized detection unit with eyes that possessed incredible optical perception.

It was confirmed that it could not only perceive visible light but also had a strong sensitivity to both infrared and ultraviolet spectrums.

Furthermore, the overseer was even more powerful in terms of psionic detection. By simply launching one into the sky, it could monitor a 300-kilometer radius with high precision and reaction speed.

The cost, however, was a bit higher than expected.

It could also be evolved from an overlord at the cost of 10,000 units of standard energy.

Xia Jin didn't plan on producing too many overseers for now. Putting aside their slow speed, the actual assistance they provided in ground combat wasn't as great as she had imagined.

At least while scouting bugs were available, overseers didn't offer much of an advantage in most situations.

Perhaps they would be more effective in future interstellar wars, or when the battlefield grew so large and dangerous that scouting bugs could no longer survive.

“Perhaps they'll evolve eventually.”

The fact that the Hive could now fly steadily within the atmosphere was a pleasant surprise, though its speed was extremely slow. Moreover, while the Hive had some spines for firepower, its actual combat strength was very fragile, making flight a dangerous endeavor for the time being.

Aside from that, there were no other major changes in this upgrade.

Xia Jin immediately ordered the hatching of several dozen new bugs and then commanded the entire Swarm to prepare for their upgrades.

With even the zerglings reaching Tier 9, this was already absolute hell-mode for the Dawn Empire.

After all, this was Tier 9.

During the recent battle with the Kingdom of Clear, a single Tier 9 powerhouse had been the highlight of the battlefield.

“I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, beings of this level would slowly become commonplace within the Zerg.”

The downside... or rather, the cost, was that every single bug had become more expensive.

But the increase in strength was undeniable.

“For things like nydus worms... if they don't need to go to the front lines, I can actually produce some lower-tier versions.”

At over 200,000 units, the Tier 11 version was powerful, but its transport capacity hadn't necessarily increased much (its size had grown, but it still barely accommodated one ultralisk).

Her idea was to use low-tier nydus worms for transport in the rear. This way, she could produce many more of them to distribute across different battlefield sectors.

However, for appearing directly behind enemy lines or on the front, using the Tier 11 version was essential. Once a nydus worm appeared, the enemy would usually focus all their fire on it.

Back when nydus worms were Tier 9, they usually couldn't last twenty seconds against the Empire's firepower before being killed. At Tier 10, they could last several minutes if they were lucky.

Now, Tier 11 was more cost-effective. A massive swarm of bugs could pour out of its mouth, allowing strategic objectives to be achieved much faster.

As for the battlefield in the Border Forest, the magic beast kings encountered now were already much stronger than those on the outskirts.

Their main characteristic was that the overall tier of their subordinates had increased, and some high-level kings even had smaller kings serving under them.

The largest magic beast tribe they had encountered so far had dozens of minor kings and a herd of over 100,000 magic beasts.

The leader of this tribe was a powerhouse at Tier 8.

While it couldn't enter the core region, ruling as a king in these outer areas was easy.

In fact, it could have entered the core region, but it was unwilling to give up its leadership over so many magic beasts on the outskirts just to become an ordinary lackey for the mythic kings in the center.

Even though the speed of increasing one's strength was faster in the central region.

But this time, it suddenly encountered the Swarm. The Zerg directly deployed ten nydus worms to drop a massive number of locusts behind it, catching the magic beast tribe completely off guard.

Xia Jin had deployed Tier 9 nydus worms, which continuously released a total of over 200,000 locusts.

These locusts generally possessed flight, while creatures like hydralisks were used on the ground for precision strikes against the stronger magic beasts.

The outcome of the battle was undoubtedly one-sided.

The magic beast kings couldn't even defeat the zerglings, the weakest of the main force, and when they encountered locusts with an average strength of Tier 5, they were ground down to death.

The blow to this powerful tribe was so devastating that the great king chieftain once thought it was magic beasts from the core region attacking.

Of course, Xia Jin didn't care about its opinion; she only knew that this fellow eventually became nutrients for the Zerg.

With this wave of offensive, the magic beasts encountered afterward became increasingly stronger. Once the gains from simple killing became high enough, the Swarm began to intentionally select some easily raised, low-intelligence creatures. They fenced off areas of land to let them breed, preparing for a stable output of resources in the future.

Although the breeding cycle itself was slow, it served as an active gene pool in a sense.

Compared to the Zerg modifying genes for evolution themselves, sometimes watching ordinary creatures mutate on their own could provide great inspiration.