Chapter 34: Wild Ones
Demon beasts pounced onto the enemy bug nest one after another, green liquid splattering everywhere as the outer carapace of the nest became pockmarked with craters. This was a third-stage bug nest.
What puzzled Su Xiao was the sheer number of bug nests deep within the base camp forest—so many that it had become abnormal. Pushing forward in a straight line, the demon beast army had already destroyed 56 first-stage bug nests, 26 second-stage bug nests, and 4 third-stage bug nests.
This density was vastly different from the bug nest density near the base camp. Within the same area, there were only about a dozen bug nests near the base camp, but deep within the forest, there were at least over forty.
Multiple signs indicated that Red Doom hadn't lied before. The bug nests near the base camp were all raised by the Marg bug nest. That fourth-stage bug nest would clean them out once a year, then continue raising them, repeating the cycle.
The current bug nest density was actually normal. Aside from the Totem Tribe, bug nests had few natural enemies. As long as they didn't provoke certain transcendent creatures, they could develop at a steady pace.
It was only now that Su Xiao realized the base camp's location was somewhat flawed.
Of course, placing the base camp there wasn't without benefits. The early development was relatively peaceful. With the Marg bug nest keeping things in check, nearby bug nests wouldn't war with each other over limited resources. There were plenty of wild animals nearby, deliberately left by the Marg bug nest.
As for these wild bug nests now, they frequently fought each other over territory, but they wouldn't actively destroy other bug nests for bio-energy—that was the instinct of the insect race.
Compared to them, the Jila bug nest or the Marg bug nest were clearly anomalies among bug nests. The Jila bug nest developed this way because its very purpose for existing was war.
As for Marg, she was defending against the Sun Tribe's attacks. If she hadn't become a predatory bug nest, Marg would have been wiped out long ago.
When the sky began to darken, Su Xiao led the demon beast army back. There were many bug nests deep inside the base camp, but their combat power was exceptionally fierce. The insect race had diverse troop types—ranged + melee + defense combinations, ranged + poison + ground spike combinations, and so on.
Wild bug nests were clearly different from the ones Marg had raised. If the demon beast army had been hunting goats before—creatures with some attack power but simple attack patterns—they were now dealing with packs of carnivores, and wild ones at that.
Out of over 13,000 demon beasts, after a day of hunting, more than 5,000 had died! Over 40 elite individuals had also fallen. While dealing with one third-stage bug nest, Amu was nearly killed by a concentrated volley from the enemy's ranged insect race.
In total, they had destroyed 11 third-stage bug nests. None of these nests had fewer than 4,000 combat-ready insect troops, and all had three to four different insect troop types working in coordination.
Fortunately, demon beasts were comparable to fourth-stage combat insects, or they wouldn't have been able to crack these tough nuts.
The casualties were indeed heavy, but the rewards were even richer. In this campaign, the demon beast army had destroyed 103 first-stage bug nests, 52 second-stage bug nests, and 11 third-stage bug nests.
Su Xiao felt that if he cleared out all the bug nests deep inside the base camp forest, he would be qualified to go head-to-head with the Marg bug nest.
Through this bloody battle, Su Xiao realized the shortcomings of demon beasts. Against those raised insect races, demon beasts were more than enough. But when dealing with wild bug nests, demon beasts, which only had melee capabilities, suffered considerable losses.
When it was completely dark, Su Xiao returned to the base camp. Several groups of demon beasts dragged ten severely overloaded spore tanks to the front of their own bug nest, and the devouring began.
After the bug nest finished devouring the spoils, including the life stones converted, the total bio-energy reached 2,415,000 points.
The bio-energy gained this time set a new record, enough to compensate for the loss of over 5,000 demon beasts.
The bug nest began spawning troops. Demon beasts ran out of the nest one after another. When the bio-energy was depleted, the side had gained 12,075 new demon beasts, including 131 elite individuals.
Adding all the demon beasts together, the total number reached 22,530, with 256 elite individuals.
If it had been pure snowballing before, those days were over. Dealing with wild bug nests meant fighting to sustain the war. To reduce casualties, multiple troop types were needed.
After destroying 11 third-stage bug nests, Su Xiao obtained a very good "legacy individual." That insect queen had been unwilling to yield at first, but after consuming 1 point of durability from [Endless Darkness], she agreed to cultivate the "legacy individual."
[Corrupted Wing (translated meaning; insect race pronunciation is Nobuya, the lightning-striking wyvern)]
Speed: ★★
Destructive Power: ★★★
Defense: ★★★
...
Overall, the Corrupted Wing's stats were quite good. It was a ranged insect troop type, created by that insect queen by combining animal genes with insect race genes.
The dragon species in this world weren't void dragons, but rather ancient wyverns. As for prehistoric overlords like Tyrannosaurus Rex, Su Xiao hadn't seen a single one. There were no similar dragon species either. In this world, only flying wyvern species existed, evolved from birds. Su Xiao had encountered one a few days ago.
A plain Corrupted Wing wasn't worth much to Su Xiao. The main reason he hadn't cultivated ranged troop types before was that he was somewhat reluctant to part with the demonic power.
Several demon beasts tossed a huge biological tissue ball into the bug nest's fissure. The devouring of the "genetic individual" began.
Su Xiao entered the bug nest, took out the [Demon Jar], and had Jila absorb the demonic power, using it to strengthen the Corrupted Wing's genetic individual.
After Bubu Wang and Baha rested for a while, they led 20,000 demon beasts out to hunt. They could no longer split their forces now. Even when 20,000 demon beasts besieged a third-stage wild bug nest, that nest's counterattack was still very fierce.
During one of the previous battles, an enemy third-stage bug nest actually had a self-destruct ability. If Su Xiao hadn't interrupted the self-destruct with a few slashes, he might have been severely injured, and not a single demon beast within half a kilometer would have survived.
Inside their own bug nest, after Jila absorbed the demonic power, she fell into hibernation. She was fusing the Corrupted Wing with the demonic power. If successful, this flying ranged insect race would become a major asset for their side.
Just as Jila was modifying the Corrupted Wing, over a dozen giant Eguidi butterflies flew in. It was Red Doom coming to trade.
The trading process went smoothly. Red Doom still used lower insect races to fission out clones. The demon beast's legacy individual had been prepared long ago. When the trade ended, Red Doom looked at the several test tubes in her hand with confusion.
She couldn't figure out why this human had suddenly become so generous. With a heart full of doubt, Red Doom left behind 32 high-purity life stones, equivalent to 320,000 bio-energy.
At five in the morning that night, Jila finally finished modifying the Corrupted Wing. The modification was only 80% successful. As the price for partial failure, some of the Corrupted Wing's abilities would be slightly reduced.
[The bug nest has acquired new genetic memory: Titan's Son.]
Seeing the notification from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao was a bit puzzled. Corrupted Wing + Demonic Power = Titan's Son? No matter how he looked at it, Titan's Son was a giant insect race.
Upon checking, Su Xiao learned that the cultivation cost for each Titan's Son was 1,200 points of bio-energy, which was very expensive. The combat evaluation provided by the witch earlier was quite good, and Su Xiao had been using it ever since.
[Titan's Son]
Speed: ★
Destructive Power: ★★★★ (Super)
Defense: ★★★★
...
The Titan's movement speed was very slow, but its destructive power was far stronger than that of demon beasts. Although it couldn't compare to top-tier fourth-stage troops, it was a ranged unit.
Su Xiao ordered Jila to cultivate one Titan.
The process of cultivating a Titan was similar to cultivating a spore tank—both were external cultivation. The bug nest could cultivate a maximum of 20 at a time.
Soon, one Titan was cultivated. It was six meters tall and over eighteen meters long. It had eight elephant-like round legs, covered in thick carapace. Its torso was massive, and it had wings, but those wings clearly couldn't fly—they looked more like a skeletal structure, serving as a stabilizing frame.
On the Titan's back was a biological cannon nearly two meters thick and fifteen meters long. The cannon barrel rested against the Titan's head, allowing it to adjust its aim by moving its head.
Looking at the somewhat exaggerated biological cannon, Su Xiao ordered the Titan to fire a shot into the forest.
The Titan's two skeletal wings stabbed downward, deeply piercing the soil. Its head lifted, and its abdomen rapidly swelled.
Boom!
A wave of air spread outward from the Titan as its center point. A fireball two meters in diameter, cyan-blue in color, flew out. This fireball not only had strong kinetic energy but also powerful corrosive properties.
Cyan-blue flames exploded in the distance. Su Xiao rubbed his ears and ordered Jila to use all remaining bio-energy to cultivate Titans.
Su Xiao sat in the wooden shed. There were still eight days until the world coordinate formed. When the demon beasts returned this time, they would begin spawning Titans + a small number of demon beasts.
After completing the next spawning, Su Xiao planned to deal with the Three Paradise Alliance. He had no interest in attacking (staging) again.
Tomorrow, the decisive battle.