Chapter 46: Endless Enemies
Screams and cries of agony were incessant. Those letting out such sounds were naturally not the Demon Beasts, but the Tiger Bee Clan.
Even so, Bee Queen Carol was not worried about a rout on her side. As long as the death toll did not exceed 90%, she could forcibly suppress the Tiger Bee Clan's survival instincts.
The surrounding battlefield was a chaotic mess. The number of Demon Beasts had already reached 170,000, while the Tiger Bee Clan numbered around 1.07 million.
Fighting on the fungal carpet, the loss of biological energy from Demon Beast deaths was minimal. However, for every Tiger Bee they killed, the biological energy stored in the insect nest increased.
Anyone who had dealt with the insect race knew that a war of attrition against them was disastrous, leading to catastrophic results.
Bee Queen Carol, of course, knew nothing about the insect race. But her lackey, Ice Duke, had some understanding. However, Ice Duke dared not tell Carol to retreat. Was he crazy? If he said that, Carol not killing him on the spot would be the queen's mercy.
Ice Duke's thought process was: he didn't care about winning the war—that wasn't something he could control. Earning faction reputation was paramount. His war mission wasn't to win, but to kill a certain number of enemies, specifically 100 main enemy units. The more he killed, the higher the completion rate of his hidden mission.
Moreover, in Ice Duke's view, the Tiger Bee Clan couldn't lose. They had a complete numerical advantage. And the insect race had a huge weakness: once their ruler died, the entire swarm would immediately collapse.
Ice Duke planned to keep this secret for a while, using it to gain a huge reward from Bee Queen Carol. But before that, his two temporary teammates were likely his competitors.
Watching the two people fighting Demon Beasts ahead, Ice Duke's lips curled into a smirk. Betraying teammates was something he had done before.
The war continued. Below the insect nest, twenty-four temporary passages had been opened, with Demon Beasts pouring out endlessly to join the surrounding melee.
Explosions, acid fire, and blade armor—everything was aimed at killing the enemy.
Two hours into the battle, the fungal carpet around the insect nest was covered with Demon Beasts. Some, unable to find a foothold, even climbed onto the killing watchtowers.
Three hours into the battle, Demon Beasts began to surge outward. The defensive positions could no longer hold them, so they trampled over their own kind to pounce on nearby enemies.
Four hours into the battle, the number of Demon Beasts reached 430,000. In contrast, the Tiger Bee Clan had suffered nearly 200,000 casualties, leaving only over 800,000.
Up to this point, the Demon Beast defensive line was still retreating step by step. They were like mindless beasts, lacking any strategy.
In reality, Su Xiao had deliberately instructed Jila to do this. Jila immediately understood his intention. She was a bit slow at other times, but when it came to war, she was adept. On her home planet, war was a daily occurrence.
The reason the Demon Beast line couldn't hold, occasionally allowing the Tiger Bee Clan to break through and attack the nest, was twofold: first, the Tiger Bee Clan was indeed powerful; second, Su Xiao wanted the enemy to see hope, preventing them from retreating.
Hope was right before their eyes. The main base, the insect nest, had been battered and broken. Its top was shattered, seven Leviathans had died, and over 60% of various insect buildings were destroyed. Many signs indicated that the insect race was on the verge of collapse, fighting a desperate last stand.
Only by letting the enemy see the hope of victory would they charge forward courageously.
On the back of the giant beast, Bee Queen Carol waved her hand, and a pouncing Demon Beast was cut in two, its corpse falling onto the fungal carpet.
Half an hour into the battle, Bee Queen Carol had noticed the problem with the fungal carpet on the ground. She had ordered its destruction, but the effect was minimal; it had strong regenerative abilities.
"Carol, retreat."
A voice echoed in Bee Queen Carol's mind. Without any hesitation, she immediately ordered the Tiger Bee Clan to fall back ten kilometers, forming an encirclement to prevent the enemy from escaping.
The Tiger Bee Clan retreated. The Demon Beasts, of course, wouldn't let them off easily. They pursued for half a kilometer before stopping, as there was no fungal carpet ahead.
The war temporarily ceased. Inside the insect nest, Su Xiao opened his eyes. He reached out, grabbed Jila beside him, and placed her on the wide seat next to his leg.
Su Xiao was certain that Tiger Bee Lord Tamisha had discovered Jila's existence and her importance to the insect race. An assassination was coming.
Jila stretched lazily, then curled up on the wide seat beside Su Xiao's leg to sleep. After commanding the nest to maximize troop production for several hours, she was feeling fatigued.
430,000 Demon Beasts were distributed around the nest. Soon, a large group of them climbed onto the nest, using their bodies to shield it.
The opportunity Su Xiao had been waiting for had arrived—the chance for the nest to evolve. During the nest's evolution plan, Jila would fall into a deep sleep. Even if he slashed her, she wouldn't wake up.
The Tiger Bee Clan's retreat was Su Xiao's chance to evolve the nest. Conversely, it was also Tamisha's chance to send assassins to kill Jila. Once Jila fell asleep, the Demon Beasts would only follow her pre-sleep defensive orders, lacking flexibility.
No leader-class units had appeared yet. The probability was so low that Su Xiao even suspected whether the evolution chamber had this capability at all.
The nest had three evolution conditions: 570,000 points of biological energy + high-activity cells + demonic force.
Biological energy was abundant. There was still some demonic force left, enough for the nest's evolution. As for high-activity cells, as an alchemist, Su Xiao had plenty of such materials. Moreover, he could even enhance the cell activity of materials through alchemical refinement.
[Prompt: The insect nest is about to evolve.]
[This process carries certain risks. Evolution success rate: 98.62%.]
...
Clearly, Jila had been accumulating for a long time to achieve such a high evolution probability. The evolution began.
The light in Jila's eyes dimmed slightly, and she fell into a deep sleep. Almost simultaneously, the entire insect nest sealed itself shut. The Demon Beasts clinging to the outside of the nest tried their best to conceal this change.
[Estimated required plan time: 1 hour 2 minutes.]
The time wasn't too long, but it wasn't short either. Sitting on the wide seat, Su Xiao took off his long leather coat and threw it over Jila. In a critical moment, the [Wild Hunt Night] long leather coat could block an enemy's attack. Su Xiao knew that, compared to protecting someone, he was better at killing enemies.
Su Xiao unclipped the Dragon-Slaying Flash at his waist. The scabbard tip touched the ground. He placed both hands on the end of the sword hilt, closed his eyes, and activated his full perception.
Time ticked by. The insect nest was deathly silent. In this silence, danger quietly approached.
An almost imperceptible spatial fluctuation appeared. A completely transparent figure stood inside the nest. Its gaze swept around and immediately noticed Su Xiao a dozen meters away.
Just a moment's glance, and this transparent figure felt a suffocating pressure, as if behind that dark green flesh throne lay a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
The transparent figure shifted its gaze, seeing Jila curled up beside Su Xiao's leg, completely covered by the long leather coat. Suppressing the fear in its heart, it stepped forward, silent and stealthy.
10 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters. The distance was enough! A bee stinger grew from the transparent figure's palm, stabbing toward Jila's head.
Clang.
A blade flashed like thunder, dragging a horizontal trail of blood droplets. On the flesh throne, Su Xiao flicked the blood off his sword and slowly sheathed it.
1 hour and 32 minutes later, Jila woke up groggily. The first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was Su Xiao sitting atop a pile of corpses several meters high, his eyes glowing red.
"Go back to sleep. A sixth-rank nest isn't enough."
Su Xiao exhaled a puff of smoke. He planned to evolve the nest to the seventh stage.