Eleven People

While the Swarm continued its offensive on the Border Forest, Xia Jin also began to pay attention to the bugs evolving from devouring demons... as well as her own projections.

Undoubtedly, with this wave of evolution, the projections no longer followed the "zergling + 3" principle to advance in rank. Otherwise, they should have collectively reached Tier 12 by now.

After Tier 10, they had to rely on direct energy supplementation from the Zerg Hive.

However, the overall evolution of the Swarm did indeed strengthen the projections.

All Tier 10 projections were now touching the threshold of Tier 11.

And the one at Tier 11 was already approaching Tier 12. Xia Jin herself benefited even more; as more and more bugs completed their evolution, she, sharing the energy provided by the Swarm, gradually reached the peak of this tier.

Among all the projections, the only one comparable to the true body was the one that had also devoured demon flesh.

“So future upgrades will really have to rely on the nourishment of the Swarm?”

On second thought, this was actually a good thing.

Future upgrades for the Hive would inevitably become more and more difficult, just as the evolution of cosmic civilizations often takes millions of years. The Zerg of the past also spent many years developing into a high-level cosmic civilization.

If the Hive reached a point where it could no longer upgrade, would the strength of her projections be stuck forever?

Obviously, that was impossible.

“Still, touching Tier 12 so quickly is truly strange.”

Calculating the time, it had been nearly three months, yet she still hadn't unified the world.

But the quality of the bugs was indeed much higher than in the past.

With Tier 9 zerglings becoming commonplace and the presence of Tier 11 high-level bugs, the Swarm had now turned its gaze toward the core region of the Border Forest.

As for the Empire, because she was always worried they would pull some kind of trick, she didn't consider them a priority for a major offensive and maintained the stalemate.

It was at this moment that the Dawn Empire's Divine Descent began once more.

Beams of light descended from the heavens.

As the intense light faded, eleven individuals with the appearance of Divine Messengers stood above.

Their base level was Tier 12.

Most exaggeratedly, the person in the center was clearly even more terrifying than Tier 12.

“This is trouble.”

Xia Jin estimated that it was almost impossible for rocket bugs to kill such targets. It wasn't just their numbers; there were even more powerful ones among them who could easily predict and evade attacks.

Therefore, switching to guided missile bugs was clearly a better option.

Moreover, the missiles from the unicycles definitely wouldn't work; their flight speed was too slow, and their power was too weak.

“Would she actually have to use nuclear bombs?”

After a brief exchange, the eleven people set off simultaneously, flying toward the Zerg territory.

At this time, the number of main force bugs maintained by the Swarm on the front lines was only one million. The density was not high, and the battle between the two sides relied more on firepower projection and occasional charges and counter-charges.

By now, an Overlord in the distance had already spotted the targets.

Because of the tier increase, the Overlord's detection capabilities had advanced further, allowing it to distinguish 5-centimeter details. Its precision had doubled compared to before the Hive's upgrade.

With the detection range remaining the same, this was undoubtedly a massive improvement.

She could see that this group's flight seemed to rely on a special device on their arms and legs.

The devices themselves released staggering air currents to propel their bodies forward, while a mysterious force field formed a protective layer around them, allowing their bodies to remain stable even under exaggerated acceleration.

The eleven people quickly approached the battlefield.

Upon first seeing the Swarm, these people immediately closed the distance and used staggering power to attack the bugs on the ground.

Large swaths of locusts were blown apart by the energy.

When encountering main force bugs, the actual killing radius was smaller, but they could still kill Tier 9 zerglings within a 30-meter radius in a single blow.

Even Tier 10 and Tier 11 bugs could be killed in one hit by the Tier 12 powerhouses among them.

Of course, the bugs sometimes reacted very quickly. Even when facing Tier 12 opponents stronger than themselves, they could launch a few defiant attacks. Although these were mostly ineffective, they occasionally managed to land a sneak hit.

“As expected, the higher the tier, the harder it is to fight across ranks.”

At this level, it was extremely difficult to even lightly wound an enemy one tier higher. It wasn't like below Tier 5, where leapfrogging kills were very common.

The eleven people advanced north, slaughtering the Swarm along the way.

Some hydralisks fired bone spines to intercept them, but the enemies easily dodged them all.

After the rocket bugs were launched, these eleven people could detonate them at will or evade them in advance.

Unless she did what she did the first time—releasing hundreds of rounds while the enemy was caught off guard.

Clearly, she didn't have that luxury now.

But Xia Jin wasn't about to sit and wait for death.