Small Leviathan

【Introduction: The Zerg's nascent hive is very primitive. After transforming into a Hive Carrier, it has gained the ability to leave the atmosphere and enter outer space, relying on internal biological energy to generate fusion thrust. Due to efficiency and structural strength limitations, the Hive Carrier can accelerate up to 100 kilometers per second. This organism is the breeding center of the Swarm, replacing the Queen, and is unable to perform spatial navigation.】

【Brain Bug No. 1: Congratulations, my Queen. This is the first step toward becoming interstellar—the point where the Zerg first left their home planet. Thanks to the effects of magic and Abyss power, the current Zerg are stronger than those of the same period in the past.】

...

“Nice. Time to take off.”

At first, she was slightly disappointed to see that the zerglings' tier hadn't increased despite the hive's new level.

However, most of the bugs that were already high-tier had advanced by one tier.

The primal brain bug had reached an exaggerated Tier 13, and the number of individuals it could command had grown to ten million.

This was a massive leap forward.

It meant the primal brain bug's mental strength had become terrifying, granting it a certain level of psionic control.

The ultralisk could now truly be called a war behemoth. At 25 meters tall, it was like a mobile house.

The Overlord had grown even larger.

The ravager gained additional launch tubes, an evolution Xia Jin decisively approved.

Though it cost an extra 10 units of high-energy crystals—roughly 1,000 standard energy—the structural strength was substantial, and the missile power was immense.

A 30 kilometer range might not seem far, but considering the tiny size of these missile bugs, they were incredible. If they were 21st century rockets from Earth, a rocket of the same volume wouldn't have nearly the same range or power, and a rocket with that much power certainly couldn't fly 30 kilometers.

With a mass of only 45 kilograms per bug, they contained terrifying power. A single explosion was comparable to 300 kilograms of TNT, with an added magical shockwave.

The cost-effectiveness was almost absurd.

Furthermore, the ravagers could produce these missile bugs themselves. An investment of 0.02 units of high-energy crystals could produce one—roughly equivalent to 2 units of the old standard energy.

With the appearance of these bugs and the changing environment of future battlefields, there was no longer any need to continue producing Armored Heavy Cannon Bugs. The missiles of the new ravagers had superior armor-piercing capabilities. They could also actively adjust their penetration, automatically switching to function like standard howitzer shells or high-explosive rounds, or even changing their internal payload to become incendiary rounds. Their functionality was exceptionally versatile.

As for unicycles and standard rocket launch tubes, they didn't even need to be considered anymore.

They could be phased out.

Of course, in the conflict with the Dawn Empire, those things would still be used... The reason being, firstly, there were already many of them, and continuing to use them saved "money" and effort while remaining highly cost-effective.

The strength of the enemy wasn't enough to justify producing too many new ravagers to deal with them.

Those units were likely meant for the battlefields of future interstellar civilizations.

When the Zerg wanted biomass, they often had to plunder planets and engage in landing operations. If they didn't have an advantage in ground combat, it would be embarrassing.

Xia Jin wouldn't be like the former Overlord, who managed to lose hundreds of billions of bugs just to conquer a planet with a population of only two billion. The losses were more ridiculous than the investment.

While the Zerg didn't care about such minor resources, the waste from dozens of such campaigns could have built many starships.

Finally, the most significant change in this evolution wasn't the elf bug gaining a magic shield, but the bugs capable of entering space.

First was the Small Leviathan.

These were the ships the Zerg used when they first ventured into space.

Such a unit was comparable to a mobile hive, possessing a large number of hatching organs that could continuously produce mutalisks and brood lords. Additionally, it could produce a creature called the Tyrant Scourge.

The so-called Tyrant Scourge could be considered a specialized variant of the scourge, primarily attacking enemies through self-detonation. They were larger than standard scourges and naturally more powerful, though in terms of cost-effectiveness, Xia Jin felt they were inferior to the originals.

Of course, the production mentioned above referred to the former Overlord's original Leviathan.

The Leviathan from this hive upgrade had also added hatching functions for zerglings, hydralisks, and scourges.

When a Leviathan engaged in combat, it primarily relied on sacs produced on its body to launch bugs toward the ground. These were the Balloon Bugs mentioned earlier. They looked like jellyfish, streaking through the air at high speeds and relying on internal shock absorption and buffering to avoid self-injury upon impact.

These bugs were single-use, dying once thrown, but the resource recovery rate was high, so they weren't considered a waste if used correctly.

Aside from launching Tyrant Scourges, the Leviathan's primary melee weapons were its massive tentacles—currently twenty of them—which could easily pierce through buildings. For long-range combat, it spat green slime balls infused with plasma.

“Why is it green slime again?”

If it wasn't spores, it was acid. Xia Jin felt the Swarm's combat methods really needed to change; they were far too repetitive.