Chapter 57: Enemy Ultimate Charging
Jade-green flames fell from the sky, but upon entering within a kilometer range, they were shattered by a barrage of living missiles, exploding into a vast rain of jade-green fire.
These jade-green fireballs, each over ten meters in size, had not ceased since the battle began. Moreover, the Dia Tribe and the Hornet Faction's ultra-long-range siege methods were not limited to this alone.
Dark clouds pressed down from the sky, and streams of black smoke rose from behind the enemy lines. This black smoke drifted straight upward like ink, staining the heavens black.
The enemy was preparing a large-scale attack. Judging by the ink-black clouds in the sky, this area-of-effect strike still needed some time to charge.
Over ten kilometers ahead of the nest, the main battlefield had already unfolded. 200,000 Demon Beasts formed a torrent, charging toward the enemy lines.
Many Dia warriors held wooden shields in one hand and heavy weapons in the other, such as battle axes or stone hammers. The axe heads were forged from a black ore, with handles at least as thick as an egg. The round stone hammers were absurdly large, each the size of a bucket, with both ends sharpened into conical spikes.
The Dia warriors' original enemies were the Hornet Tribe, whose bodies were covered in carapace. Sharp weapons inflicted far less damage than blunt ones.
Bang!
A stone hammer swung down, smashing into a Demon Beast's head. The carapace on its skull cracked and caved inward.
With a tearing sound, the Demon Beast's tail blade swept across. The Dia warrior wielding the stone hammer froze in place, half his skull torn away.
The green flames released by the Soul Witch burned in midair, even seeming to drift with the wind. On the ground, vast patches of Dragonflame intermingled with the ethereal flames above.
'Conviction: Wrath.'
The blood-colored war scythe slashed out trails of afterimages, cleaving through several nearby Demon Beasts. Mu Xiao stood atop a pile of Demon Beast corpses. Facing a few at once posed little pressure, but if dozens surrounded her, it would become troublesome. The Demon Beasts' tail blades were tricky, and worse, they dealt a staggering 170 points of True Damage.
Mu Xiao scanned her surroundings, a sense of helplessness rising within her. This large-scale war was not something she could influence alone. But she had no grand ambitions—her only thought was to quietly profit. She absolutely must not catch someone's attention. Absolutely not.
A mournful cry came from above. A Demon Flame Dragon dove down, with over a hundred monkey-like natives clinging to it, tearing its body to shreds.
With a thunderous crash, the Demon Flame Dragon slammed into the battlefield. Surrounding Hornet Tribe members swarmed it, but just before being overwhelmed, the dragon converted all its Bio Energy into Demon Flame, converging and compressing it.
Boom!
An explosion spanning nearly a kilometer erupted. Flames surged high, and the surroundings fell silent.
Queen Bee: Carol crouched low, her body covered in molten iron-like hot liquid. She panted for a few seconds to recover, but as she tried to stand, she felt herself being targeted.
The main battlefield situation was grim. The enemy's numbers were overwhelming. Besides the main battlefield, there were two other battlefields on the left and right flanks of the nest.
On the left flank, over a hundred thousand rock monsters with stone skin were advancing. They were tall, averaging over four meters in height, wielding rock clubs as they charged toward the nest.
These were not Dia Tribe or Hornet Faction forces, but the Gray Rock Tribe from the western mountains—an independent faction.
On the right flank, a large group of lizardfolk with crystal growths on their backs were fighting. They possessed the ability to crystallize enemies and had strong defenses.
Currently, the lizardfolk were being routed by over 10,000 Demon Beasts, howling in misery. These creatures were merely cannon fodder to share the insect swarm's assault. Trying to reach the fungal carpet? A pipe dream. Only the Dia warriors and Hornet Tribe could stand against the Demon Beast forces.
The Gray Rock Tribe and lizardfolk were not volunteers to aid the Dia Tribe. Saint Witch: Gu Wu and Hornet Lord: Taimisa had allied. Their inaction yesterday was due to secretly uniting the Gray Rock Tribe and lizardfolk.
Whether to join the war was not up to the Gray Rock Tribe or lizardfolk. Gu Wu made it clear: either join to destroy the insect swarm, or be destroyed themselves after the war.
Thus, this was no longer a two-versus-one but a four-versus-one. The main front was Dia Tribe and Hornet Faction, the left flank was Gray Rock Tribe, and the right flank was lizardfolk, besieging the insect swarm from three directions.
Demon Flame Dragon: Barbatos descended from above, landing beside the nest. Su Xiao leaped off Barbatos's back and walked toward the nest entrance.
As he walked, Su Xiao pondered the battle situation. The most troublesome opponents in this war were two: Saint Witch: Gu Wu of the Dia Tribe and Hornet Lord: Taimisa.
Their strategy was wise. They allied with the rock monsters and lizardfolk, both races with strong physical defenses. With these two harassing the flanks, the main nest would face greater pressure.
Su Xiao walked through the nest's tunnels. Demon Beasts rushed past him from both sides. The nest had begun continuous spawning, but forming a large force in a short time was impossible.
It wasn't a lack of Bio Energy. Rather, it was due to the Demon Beasts' casualties on the main battlefield. Since the war began, aside from spawning consumption and nest defense costs, Bio Energy had severely overflowed.
In response, the nest converted excess Bio Energy into Life Stones, stored within. In just ten minutes of battle, over 1,600 Life Stones had been produced. Each Life Stone, when absorbed by the nest, could be converted into 10,000 points of Bio Energy.
With this quantity of Life Stones, Su Xiao had a plan.
Based on the current rate of Demon Beast breeding and death, the number of Demon Beasts could increase by 8,000 to 10,000 per hour. If the war of attrition continued, the insect swarm would surely win.
At the start of the battle, the dark clouds in the sky had grown heavier. The Dia Tribe and Hornet Faction were clearly charging a decisive ultimate move.
Lost in thought, Su Xiao arrived at the Queen's Chamber. Naked, Jila was half-submerged in the nest wall, controlling all combat insectoids.
Su Xiao had a plan. With Bio Energy in abundance, the nest's spawning speed limited the increase in Demon Beast numbers. Establishing a second nest was key to solving this problem.
The nest had a unique trait. If a second nest were built, the current main nest would wither immediately. This was because Jila could only maintain one nest at a time, compounded by the trial world's restrictions, giving the nest its uniqueness.
But what if two identical nests existed? Could Jila sustain both simultaneously?
If this were possible, the only remaining issue was the trial world's rejection. With one nest, Su Xiao had already received numerous warnings from the Void Tree. Two nests in the same world would trigger a chain reaction.
Since two nests couldn't coexist in the same world, what about establishing one in an alternate space not belonging to this world?
Opening an alternate space outside this world was no easy feat. This relied on Su Xiao's Alchemy and Baha's spatial abilities, not exploiting warning loopholes.
The main nest would defend against enemy attacks and continuously spawn. The branch nest in the alternate space would use Life Stones to spawn, with no casualties.
"Jila, manifest part of your mental energy and have it continuously release a signal: spawn insectoids."
Su Xiao tossed a Soul Crystal (Complete) toward Jila, for her to use as a mental energy storage medium.
He also contacted Baha. No one was better at opening alternate spaces than Baha.
Su Xiao took out a large amount of materials and began laying out a formation on the ground. An alternate space opened by Baha alone would still belong to this world. But combined with the 'Reverse Space Deviation Formation,' or 'Reverse Deviation Formation,' it could temporarily create an alternate space not belonging to this world.
The Dia Tribe and Hornet Faction had their trump cards. Su Xiao naturally needed to prepare as well. He couldn't become complacent with the insect swarm's spawning ability. Until victory was secured, anything could happen.
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