After making some brief preparations, the soldiers set off toward the interior of the forest.
After advancing a few hundred meters into the jungle, the commander at the front came to a halt.
He took a map from his person, glanced at it, and frowned slightly.
“According to the Count, our objective is to determine if those magic beasts came from the forest. If they are the same group that invaded the City of Darkness, the situation will be very grave.”
Having said that, he tucked the map away and turned back. “Mages, prepare for combat. Everyone else, form a marching phalanx and advance slowly.”
The army quickly shifted formations. Judging by their disciplined movements, Count Amelo's army was far more elite than those from the city states.
“This exploration force doesn't look like an easy target,” Xia Jin mused.
She felt that a conflict with Count Amelo was inevitable.
However, if she wanted to delay becoming an enemy of the entire kingdom, the best approach was not to show too much strength too soon.
Otherwise, if she pushed him too hard, he might directly seek reinforcements from other lords or the capital, which would put immense pressure on her.
“I'll use these five hundred men to train my troops first.”
Her goal wasn't to annihilate them but simply to test the gap in their combat power.
While the strength of private armies varied greatly between lords, they could never be stronger than the Imperial Guard in the capital.
Although her own knight commander had once been a member of the Imperial Guard, he was, after all, the bottom of the barrel among the rejects.
Even so, he was still much stronger than most Tier 3 warriors.
Thus, Xia Jin intended to take this seriously.
As the exploration force advanced, the Zerg swarms ten kilometers away began to gather.
This time, she deployed five insect squads: fifty zerglings and ten hydralisks.
Sixty insects, all Tier 4 and Tier 5.
Such strength would have been unthinkable for her just a few weeks ago.
But now, they were merely cannon fodder used to test the enemy.
...
As the lord's legion continued deeper, the insects that had been lying in wait in the nearby grass suddenly launched an assault.
Without any hesitation, two squads of zerglings flanked them in a pincer movement, instantly crossing dozens of meters to reach the enemy's shield warrior line.
Another squad circled around from the rear flank, charging straight for the mages at the back.
“Enemy attack! Counter!” the commander roared almost instantly.
Over a dozen lights flared up as the mage unit activated their skills.
Arcs of wind blades, three to four meters long, swept across the lush grass and struck the six leading zerglings, slicing them into pieces like knives through tofu.
Then, an energy shield shimmering with a pale blue light manifested in front of them.
Bang! Bang, bang!
The insects charging from behind slammed into it as if hitting a solid wall, getting violently repelled.
The dull thuds caused Xia Jin, who was watching the scene unfold as if she were there, to show a look of surprise.
At that moment, the two zergling squads launching the surprise attack from the front also crashed into the enemy.
In an instant, the soldiers swung their weapons, engaging in a fierce melee with the zerglings.
The scene was immediately shrouded in a gruesome display of flying flesh and blood.
In close combat, the soldiers seemed to be bolstered by magical buffs. Despite having an average strength below Tier 4, they managed to fight the insects to a standstill.
However, that stalemate was broken as the hydralisks' acid began to rain down from the rear.
Flesh and blood simply could not withstand corrosive substances capable of melting skin instantly. Although most of them possessed internal energy gained from years of cultivation, it was drained rapidly when facing the acid.
Some unlucky souls didn't even have time to react before over half their bodies were dissolved, leaving only mangled remains in pools of blood.
The scene was a horrifying visual shock.
Seeing this, the leading commander immediately chanted an incantation, casting a Tier 6 defensive spell over the front-line soldiers.
Sure enough, in the next moment, the acid was blocked by a magical barrier.
“It's draining so fast.”
Feeling his mental energy deplete rapidly, the commander realized how terrifying the hydralisks' strength truly was.
“Mage unit, prepare for long-range attacks!”
Without hesitation, the mages chanted their spells at his command, unleashing various wind blades and fireballs that blasted toward the zerglings and the distant hydralisks.
Through her observations, Xia Jin discovered that only mages who had reached Tier 4 could hit targets from a kilometer away. And there were four such experts in the enemy's legion.
“A single low-tier mage can significantly boost the strength of melee soldiers. I really hate these kinds of supports in war.”
With a thought, she ordered the final two zergling squads to attack.
This time, they charged from the left flank.
The commander immediately ordered a phalanx to move toward the right, raising their sturdy shields to face the charging zergling legion.
The two sides collided with equal violence.
Taking advantage of the melee, Xia Jin had the ten hydralisks concentrate their fire, spraying all their acid onto a single area in front of the enemy.
This made the commander, who was channeling his aura, clearly unable to hold on.
Half a minute later, he immediately withdrew the defenses he had placed on the others, maintaining a shield only for himself.
Then, raising his weapon, he unleashed a sword qi arc dozens of meters long, hacking four zerglings into mincemeat.
Such power undoubtedly made Xia Jin frown.
“Versatile in both magic and martial arts. This level of strength must be considered elite even under Amelo.”
Knowing that these five squads alone couldn't crush the opponent, Xia Jin let him be for now.
When the battle had lasted ten minutes, all sixty insects had been wiped out.
But by then, the legion had lost as many as 160 soldiers.
Most of them had fallen under the sustained fire of the hydralisks.
Rate on N.U.
