Chapter 49: War World
Inside the insect nest, Su Xiao sat on a wide seat made of biological tissue. A semi-transparent thread was wrapped around his arm, condensed from mental energy.
This mental energy thread extended from Jila's chest and coiled around Su Xiao's right arm. In this way, the images Jila sensed could be transmitted to Su Xiao.
According to Jila's detection, there were at least several million Tiger Bee Clan members in the surrounding area, not counting those setting up defensive lines dozens of kilometers away.
Clearly, the Tiger Bee Clan was guarding against the Diya Tribe, preventing them from launching a surprise attack while they were at war with the insect race.
Their own situation was not good. Fifth and sixth stage Demon Beasts were no match for the Tiger Bee Clan. However, in terms of individual combat power, seventh stage Demon Beasts completely surpassed the Tiger Bee Clan.
The next steps were simple. First, ensure the safety of the base camp—the insect nest. Then, develop seventh stage Demon Beasts. When their numbers exceeded 6,300, they could retake the defensive line and re-establish a two-kilometer diameter perimeter.
Considering casualties, at least 10,000 seventh stage Demon Beasts were needed to stabilize the line before considering a counterattack.
Su Xiao felt that besides the Flame Prince, Tamisha likely had other trump cards she hadn't used yet. If she hadn't deployed them, there was probably a "prerequisite requirement." Otherwise, Tamisha wouldn't have hesitated, as evidenced by the fierce attacks from all sides.
Apart from the possible trump cards, Bubu Wang had detected suspicious activity in the distance. Tens of thousands of Tiger Bee Clan members were escorting a massive object toward the insect nest. The thing was covered by a vine blanket, over 60 meters tall, and moving slowly.
After reviewing the insect nest's data, Su Xiao found that cultivating seventh stage Demon Beasts was slower than ordinary ones. Even with three spawning tissues working simultaneously, only 2,000 Demon Beasts could be produced every two minutes. Compared to the previous 5,850 every two minutes, this was several times slower.
Different life tiers meant different batch sizes. The good news was that war never lacked biological energy, even though the fungal carpet was being burned in large areas.
The stored biological energy had reached 3.5 million points. That seemed like a lot, but it wasn't. Each seventh stage Demon Beast required 500 points of biological energy. The current reserves could only produce 7,000 Demon Beasts.
According to Su Xiao's plan, seventh stage Demon Beasts would become the basic unit. All weaker Demon Beasts and other combat insect races would be phased out.
Although using seventh stage Demon Beasts as basic units would make the enemy question their life choices, this was only because biological energy was limited. Su Xiao had originally planned to cultivate tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand, Demon Flame Dragons. These could fly and had strong combat power.
Unfortunately, the biological energy demand was too terrifying. Su Xiao had to settle for the next best option. Moreover, Demon Flame Dragons consumed a lot of biological energy during battle. He planned to cultivate just over a dozen to avoid triggering any penalties.
Basic insect race: Worker Scorpions. Melee insect race: Seventh stage Demon Beasts. Ranged insect race: Leviathans. Aerial insect race: Demon Flame Dragons. This was the insect race army Su Xiao intended to build.
Everything was still in its infancy, but the seventh stage insect nest was already established. The rest was just a matter of time.
The "spawning tissues" and "cultivation sacs" inside the insect nest were pushed to their limits. One by one, seventh stage Demon Beasts rushed out of the nest. The second batch joined the surrounding battlefield.
Their original defensive line, reduced to just 1.1 kilometers, began to stabilize after 2,000 seventh stage Demon Beasts joined the melee. The Tiger Bee Clan's advance stopped.
Two minutes later, the third batch of Demon Beasts entered the battle. Their circular defensive line began to expand, reaching 1.3 kilometers.
Soon after, the fourth batch entered the combat zone. The defensive line expanded to 1.5 kilometers.
When the fifth batch of Demon Beasts surged out of the nest and entered the battlefield, their defensive line stabilized at a diameter of two kilometers.
This sudden appearance of seventh stage Demon Beasts stunned the Tiger Bee Clan. What Tamisha never expected was that a single seventh stage Demon Beast could simultaneously fight five to six Tiger Bee Clan members without losing the upper hand for a short time. In fact, before dying, it would even kill a Tiger Bee Clan member.
The fungal carpet converted biological energy, and the insect nest used this energy to cultivate seventh stage Demon Beasts. In this cycle, the number of seventh stage Demon Beasts reached 30,000 in less than an hour.
This result was achieved by Jila minimizing casualties among the seventh stage Demon Beasts as much as possible. If the hundreds of Flame Princes on the surrounding battlefield spewed flames, the fifth and sixth stage Demon Beasts would immediately move forward, using their bodies to absorb the flames and reduce the death toll of the seventh stage Demon Beasts.
Viewed from high above, the circular defensive line around the insect nest had expanded to a diameter of three kilometers. With the insect nest as the center, a three-kilometer radius had been cleared.
Under the efforts of the Worker Scorpions, various insect race buildings rose from the ground. Detection Towers (seventh stage) and Killing Watchtowers (seventh stage) were constructed. Besides these, new insect nest buildings appeared.
Lurker: Seventh stage insect race building, can interfere with space, range 3.4 kilometers.
Jixing Spiral Tower: Seventh stage, representative insect race building, enhances the base camp insect nest's defense and self-healing speed, additionally increases the mother nest's health by 120,000 points and external defense by 196 points.
Biological Reaction Bunker: Seventh stage, can charge Killing Watchtowers. Every five minutes, a Killing Watchtower can perform an ultra-high-intensity attack.
Activated Fungal Network: Seventh stage, greatly increases the fungal carpet's strength and biological energy conversion speed.
After various insect race buildings were established, the area around the insect nest was no longer empty. From this point on, except for Su Xiao's team, no contractor could enter this area without Su Xiao's permission.
Behind the Tiger Bee camp, Ice Jue stared blankly at the scene in the distance. He was standing on the back of a Flame Prince. For some reason, the wounds on his body suddenly stopped hurting, but he felt a bit cold all over.
Beside Ice Jue was a female contractor with a similar expression. She was slender, had been Ice Jue's temporary teammate, and was in the same squad that had surrounded Su Xiao. She was the healer, Cocoa Bean.
"So this is the great place to farm reputation? Good thing I didn't board your pirate ship."
Healer Cocoa Bean forced a smile, inwardly grateful that she hadn't been in a hurry to trigger a hidden mission, even though Ice Jue had offered a treatment fee of 10 Soul Coins per day.
Ice Jue was speechless. Staring at the distant insect nest and various insect race buildings, there was some despair in his eyes. But the last stubbornness in his heart made him open his mission list to check the war hidden mission.
On the battlefield, all fifth and sixth stage Demon Beasts had died, turning into biological energy through the fungal carpet. Over 30,000 seventh stage Demon Beasts formed a defensive line that forcefully pushed the Tiger Bee Clan back step by step. It was worth noting that because the required numbers hadn't been met, the Demon Beasts hadn't yet received all the bonuses from [War Lord].
A crack over thirty meters long appeared on the side of the insect nest. Something was about to be born.
With a tearing sound, a huge claw extended from the crack, splattering mucus everywhere. This giant claw was black, and beneath its thick skin, something seemed to flow like magma.
"ROAR!!"
A roar that shook the entire battlefield spread out, layer upon layer of sound waves expanding. A massive creature flapped its wings and took flight.
"What... the hell is that thing? A dragon?! Ice Jue, please explain what kind of dragon that is. Do you want me to heal you while it attacks? Have I ever wronged you? Why are you treating me like an idiot? Huh? Say something!"
On the battlefield, Cocoa Bean subjected Ice Jue to a "soul triple interrogation." Ice Jue, who was questioning his own existence, couldn't say a word.
Cocoa Bean left a "take care" and turned away without looking back.
In Cocoa Bean's view, if the fights between Su Xiao, Gask, Gourmet, Mu Xiao, Najia Ge, and others in the trial area were battles of gods, then the current Primordial Continent was an earth-shattering catastrophe. Hidden missions? Did that matter? Survival was the priority. Leaving this seventh stage battlefield immediately was the correct choice. This was no longer a trial world—it was a war world.