Expand Territory

The defensive line of the Stone Crab Clan began to crumble. A vast number of stone crabs fled toward their homeland, yet retreat only invited slaughter; more were having their limbs snapped off before falling to the seabed. Their fate was clear: once the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp Clan had a moment to spare, they would drag the crabs from their sturdy shells to serve as a delicious meal, providing the resources needed to further expand their own population.

On one side was a rout, on the other a massacre; the shallow seabed was filled with the despair of the Stone Crab Clan.

Just then, thousands of sharp arrows suddenly whistled through the water!

No, upon closer inspection, those flying projectiles were not arrows at all—they were Zergling!

With a powerful kick of their webbed feet against the seabed, their bodies surged forward ten meters in a flash. The Zergling brushed past the retreating Stone Crab Clan, and upon closing in on the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp, they immediately revealed the ferocity of the Zerg.

They nimbly dodged the pincers' strikes, pressed close to the green-spine shrimp, and used their two forelimbs like blades to carve bloody gashes into the lobsters' underbellies. The lobsters' hard armor was as fragile as thin paper before them. When the injured lobsters frantically swung their pincers at the Zergling, the creatures had already darted from their front to their rear, their forelimbs once again unceremoniously performing a dissection!

"It's Ye Luo! It's Ye Luo and his kin!" Alfred, a young stone crab fleeing for his life, shouted in excitement the moment he saw the familiar figures. His small eyes went wide, and he waved his pincers in the water. "Ye Luo, Ye Luo, I'm here, I'm here..." After shouting a few times, he suddenly saw a large number of strange magical beasts ahead and instinctively pulled his neck back, lowering his head to scuttle away across the seabed. "Oops, did I mistake them for someone else? I hope I wasn't noticed. Run, run..."

"Little one, do you need some help?"

A familiar voice made Alfred perk up again. He clearly had no confidence in his eyes, but he had absolute faith in his hearing.

"Ye Luo! Aha, I knew it, it had to be you, Ye Luo!"

The little one's cheers and the arrival of the massive reinforcements caused the parents of the young stone crab, who were covering the retreat, to turn their heads.

Then, they witnessed an unimaginable scene.

They saw those creatures, who looked like the Naga Sea Clan, open their mouths in unison. Sharp, arrow-like spikes carved white trails through the seawater—a phenomenon caused by the sheer speed of the projectiles. They had only ever seen such a sight at the annual festival of the Golden Spear Sea Clan, yet these flying spikes seemed even more overbearing than the high-speed thrusts of the Tuna Clan, easily piercing through the bodies of the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp.

The Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp were stunned by this sudden, relentless assault. The leader of the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp immediately issued an order to retreat, and the army, which had been in the midst of a triumphant slaughter, instantly scattered and fled in a panic.

Judith, the mother of the young stone crab, came to Ye Luo's side, deeply grateful. "Leader Ye Luo, thank you for your aid. These wicked Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp—back when their leader was only at the fifth rank, they stirred up a war. We defeated them and, seeing them in such a pathetic state, we spared them. Who would have thought that in just fifty years, they would grow strong enough to return evil for good!"

"Leader... this surprise attack, we, we..." A large stone crab stumbled over to Judith, his eyes bloodshot, and he knelt down abruptly. "We lost a full forty percent of our people!"

"Damn those Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp!" Judith trembled with rage.

Ye Luo found it difficult to comment; after all, he was an outsider and it was not his place to interfere in the affairs of another race. He simply crouched down and began to tease Alfred.

"Leader Ye Luo!" Judith suddenly turned, her emotions stirred. Ye Luo stood up. "Respected Leader Judith, how may I be of service?"

Judith shook her head. "Leader Ye Luo, I... I implore you to mobilize your army and wipe out the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp Clan entirely!"

Ye Luo narrowed his eyes.

"I know that your development requires vast amounts of mineral resources, and within the territory of the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp, there are dozens of large-scale ore veins!" Dozens. Ye Luo maintained a calm, unruffled smile, but his heart was pounding—much like the anticipation of an impending romantic encounter.

"Beyond their territory, as a reward for avenging the Stone Crab Clan, you may also mine any of the ore veins within our own territory as you please!"

Ye Luo took a deep breath and nodded solemnly. "Leader Judith, you are too kind. The Huaxia Imperial Zerg were taken in by you during our time of crisis, granting us a foothold in the ocean. We are the most loyal of allies, and an enemy of our ally is our enemy. Rest assured, in ten days—ten days from now, we will launch a punitive war against the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp Clan. In the meantime, please allow us to expand our population in preparation for the conflict."

"That is only natural. Luo Mo, pass the word: the entire clan is to enter a state of readiness. All stone crabs are to gather near the homeland; without my orders, no one is to step outside. Leader Ye Luo, I leave it to you in ten days..."

Ye Luo waved his hand with a righteous air, speaking with great integrity, "It is my honor to be able to help a friend!"

Leaving a thousand Zergling behind to serve as guards for the Stone Crab Clan, one Zerg Hive after another began to spread across the seabed. The strength of Ye Luo's forces grew geometrically every day. As the surrounding waters became filled with the menacing Zergling, the Stone Crab Clan felt no fear; instead, they felt even more secure. They had come to view these bugs, which could easily tear them to pieces, as their own bodyguards, making Ye Luo marvel at the endearing nature of the Stone Crab Clan.

Five days passed quickly. On the northeastern coastline, within the Stone Crab territory, seven bases stood tall! He now possessed eight standing Zerg Hive, with 1,600 Zergling added to his ranks every day!

Today was finally the day for the negotiations between Ye Luo and the Warwick legion commander of the Keren Kingdom.

"Ye You, what kind of terms do you think they will offer us?" Ye Luo asked, full of anticipation.

Ye You was full of pride. "If I were the King of the Keren Kingdom, I would give you all the territory except for the royal capital, and then I would just be an emperor who indulges in pleasure. With our Zerg army, he would never have to worry about the safety of his kingdom again."

Ye Luo raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes at Ye You. "It's a good thing you aren't a king. What a decadent way of thinking—to abandon the ancestral lands just for the sake of pleasure..."

"My Emperor, the carriage is ready!" Ye Feng walked into the mining area and said respectfully to Chen Feng.

Ye Luo arrived outside the mine to see a carriage draped in golden lotus patterns parked there. Surrounding the carriage were twelve tall and mighty Zergling acting as guards. Unlike other Zergling, these were clad in silver metal armor. The armor encased their heads and extended along their streamlined bodies, while their two sturdy hind legs were wrapped in refined scale-plate shields. The sharp claws on their forelimbs were covered in silver bracers that shimmered in the sunlight—this was the equipment Ye Meng had commissioned from the town of Cabu. When he had lured the blacksmith to the edge of town to have him tailor the armor for the Zergling, the blacksmith had nearly fainted from fright... Of course, being feared by others wasn't entirely without its perks; at the very least, Ye Meng had only paid half the cost for this set of fine equipment, and that was only because Ye Luo had insisted he pay at all... If this set of armor were meant for any other magical beast, its owner would have had to pay at least ten times the price.

So-called fine equipment could never compare to the Zergling's own natural claws and hide, but once they donned this armor, a noble and majestic aura was immediately revealed. Well, in Ye You's words, these twelve sets of armor fully embodied the difference between the Zerg as a high-level civilization and the wild magical beasts of the mountains, while also showing that the Zerg did not merely crave slaughter, but also yearned for a beautiful and noble life...