Xia Jin’s new projection rushed back toward Lord Amelo’s territory.
Under her command, the insects had already begun jumping into the water from other locations around the lake.
It was only then that she realized Clearwillow Lake was home to quite a few dangerous monsters.
While most of the small fish posed no threat, fierce creatures appeared from time to time.
As land-based creatures, the zerglings’ advantages were not at all obvious when facing agile opponents in the water.
For instance, Xia Jin noticed a water snake that was clearly Tier 3. Its speed was absurdly fast. The zerglings pursued it for a long time without catching it, only to be counter-killed when the snake used its flexible body to spit a mouthful of venom.
The zerglings had excellent poison resistance, yet they still died in this battle.
Provoked by the loss, the nearby insects charged in a frenzy to surround and suppress the snake.
The creature seemed to dance on a razor's edge, constantly dodging and counterattacking. It killed nine zerglings in a row before finally making a mistake due to exhaustion. A zergling bit down on it, and it died instantly.
After killing the creature, the zerglings immediately brought the corpse to the surface and handed it over to the drones on the shore.
“Not bad. This creature has high value.”
The venom was incredibly potent; she had to find a way to utilize such excellent genes.
Just as the corpse was being carried away, at another location five kilometers away, several zerglings brought a creature resembling a flying fish onto the shore.
This was another aquatic organism that might contain beneficial genes.
Although these monsters possessed many advantages that the Zerg lacked, not all of them would be accepted after analysis.
Most genes lacked potential.
They only worked at lower tiers. Once the overall strength of the Zerg increased in the future—perhaps even reaching the level of an advanced civilization—these genes would become useless.
Therefore, gene adoption required traits that could maintain superior combat effectiveness even in the far future.
Genes that were strong at Tier 3 or Tier 4 but lost their advantage by Tier 7 or Tier 8 were definitely not worth using.
After three hours of continuous hunting, Xia Jin encountered another terrifying water monster at the bottom of the lake.
It was a spherical, furry creature floating in the water.
As the Swarm approached, the creature suddenly began to spin, firing countless needles. Every needle that struck a zergling triggered a terrifying explosion.
This monster was high-tier. While the explosive power of a single needle wasn't too absurd, the sheer number of them made it horrifying.
A large swarm of zerglings launched a death charge at the two-meter-wide sphere. Amidst a series of explosions, the water currents became extremely turbulent. Every time an insect fell, another followed behind it, slowly closing the distance to the sphere.
The insects then slashed at the figure in front of them with their blades.
Screech—
It was unexpectedly hard. With the attack power of Tier 4 zerglings, they only managed to carve a shallow gash.
However, they had at least caused some damage.
One zergling immediately prepared a second strike, but over a dozen needles shot out from beneath the creature's skin, hitting the insect directly.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
After a series of violent explosions, the zergling finally fell.
But because the explosions occurred so close to the creature itself, its own skin was blasted open.
The following zerglings swarmed forward, continuing their suicidal assault.
Two banelings mixed in the crowd detonated with a thunderous roar, causing the monster to let out a mournful cry.
Finally, after a long struggle and the loss of nearly a hundred insects, the thing was dragged onto the shore.
The nearby drones had long been waiting impatiently to receive the corpse.
...
A few hours later, the new genes were put into use.
With the assistance of the brain bug’s intelligence, the hive birthed the first Zerg species developed using local resources.
The Swimmer.
This was a creature with an exceptionally simple structure.
It was only one meter long and looked similar to a fish. When swimming, it could perform emergency acceleration by jetting high-pressure liquid from its rear.
The two fin-like parts on its sides could unfold into scythe-like blades. In fact, these utilized the weapon structure of the zergling to enhance their melee combat.
However, this creature's primary method of attack was long-range.
It fired large quantities of exploding needles.
Some of these needles contained the toxin from the venomous water snake they had killed earlier.
Following her consistent goals, Xia Jin significantly compressed the cost of these basic combat units.
Their actual rank was only Tier 3, even lower than a zergling.
The advantage was their low price. In terms of strength, because they relied primarily on potent toxins and explosives, they performed much better underwater than zerglings.
One unit cost 30 units of ordinary energy—only half the cost of a zergling—and they were essentially only deployed for underwater combat.
“I’ll just create a sea of insects beneath the surface.”
Clearwillow Lake was large, but compared to a true ocean, it was very small.
This inland lake was a perfect testing ground for Xia Jin’s underwater Swarm.
Once a massive sea of insects was produced here, she could simply transfer them to the ocean when she encountered it, saving the time required for production.
“I’ll have the new branch hive near the lake manufacture them.”
The beginning of the battle was the hardest part. She needed to secure a landing zone near the water's edge.
Furthermore, she didn't know if there were any major powers beneath the water.
After all, this was another world, and anything could happen.
Rate on N.U.
