Counterattack

"Esteemed Executor, you know that my Psionic Power and psionics rank among the very best in the entire human world. I am willing to share the burden with you and defend the Hatchery together. A beast horde on the scale of a natural disaster must be stopped here, or none of us will survive." Stars's words were also very tempting to Chloe. She did indeed need help.

As Stars had said, she was powerful, and implanting Neural Thorns in her would not take much time. Every additional portion of the Swarm's strength they could activate would bring victory a little closer.

In fact, because the Overmind was asleep, Chloe lacked many permissions. Even though they had long had enough energy, she could not upgrade the Hatchery, so she could only choose to store the energy and prepare large quantities of unhatched eggs for the Swarm's explosive expansion in the future.

By this point, she had already greatly expanded the Swarm's territory through Creep Tumors. With the energy absorbed through the creep each day, the Swarm could now sustain 35,000 Zerg units.

Previously, limited by her own Psionic Power, Chloe had still been able to control only 2,500 Swarm combat units. Even now that she was connected to the Hatchery's brain, she could connect to only 20,000 Swarm units at once.

The only thing that made Chloe wary was that Stars was being far too eager. She smelled ambition on Stars. If she connected Stars to more, stronger Neural Thorns, would that make her seem more important among the Swarm and the Knights?

After a little thought, Chloe decided to agree to Stars's proposal after all. This Beast Tide was coming with ferocious momentum, and the Swarm would need to give its all to have a chance of victory. Whether Stars would even survive the battle was still unknown.

Besides, Chloe herself was the one who had signed a contract with the Overmind. Whatever happened, Stars would find it very difficult to surpass her.

Afterward, Chloe had the Hatchery implant Neural Thorns in Stars and put her in command of all the enhanced Zerglings.

When Chloe guided the Swarm to join up with Stars's Swarm, Stars's performance once again left her deeply shocked.

Stars's appearance had changed dramatically. The image of an elderly woman on the verge of death was gone for good, replaced by a mature woman whose beauty rivaled her own. In terms of figure alone, she was even better.

Her long golden hair was as smooth as silk, with four yellow Neural Thorns nestled within it, flickering in and out of view. Rather than spoiling her beauty, those insect-limbed thorns gave her a touch of exotic charm.

Unlike Chloe, who stayed safely inside the Hatchery, Stars wore Chitinous Armor and rode a Zergling, standing among the Zerglings she commanded. The air around her was slightly distorted, flickering with psionic light, and psionic energy that seemed almost tangible gathered around her red eyes.

"Hive Mind, why did Stars turn out like this? Wasn't it just a simple Neural Thorn implantation procedure?" Chloe asked the Hive Mind, bewildered and uncertain.

"Yes, it was just a simple Neural Thorn implantation procedure, but during the operation, I discovered severe genetic defects in Stars's body. They were caused by her excessive use of her powerful Psionic Power. To restore her physical capabilities to their peak so that more Neural Thorns could be implanted, I repaired her genetic defects and restored her physical condition while I was at it."

At this, the Hive Mind even seemed rather pleased with itself. "This kind of genetic-level technology is far too easy for the Swarm."

A sense of danger rose in Chloe's heart. She desperately wanted to give the Hive Mind a scolding. She had originally thought that implanting two Neural Thorns in that old crone Stars would be good enough. She had never expected her to become young and beautiful, and receive four Neural Thorns as well-twice as strong as her.

Was this person's brain even human? Chloe thought viciously.

Now was not the time to assign blame. Uniting to face the beast horde they were about to engage was what they ought to do.

According to the tactics Chloe had laid out in the Swarm Network, the enhanced Zerglings commanded by Stars would coordinate with Chloe's Swarm army to launch a sudden turnabout strike against the Monsters Horde.

Each of the enormous Creep Tumors surrounding them had three thick, heavy, spiked tentacles over ten meters long. When the beast horde followed Chloe's Swarm army into the Creep Tumors' attack range, twelve thick tentacles swept savagely into the horde with tremendous force.

The bloody carnage stirred up by the spiked tentacles stained the air and ground red. The stricken beasts faltered, and the front of the Beast Tide began to descend into chaos.

Faced with such enormous spiked tentacles and Creep Tumors, the magical beasts and High-Level Magical Beasts had to combine their strength and psionics to fight back.

Guided by Chloe's fingers, the Swarm army that had been keeping the Beast Tide in pursuit traced a perfect arc and charged toward the chaotic Beast Tide. At the same time, Stars led her enhanced Zerglings toward the beast horde from another direction.

Viewed from high above, the two Swarm forces would have looked like a pair of pincers plunging savagely into the chaotic beast horde. In an instant, the Beast Tide, unable to react in time, suffered another devastating blow. This attack alone inflicted at least 8,000 casualties on the horde.

On the side of the Swarm army Chloe commanded, the Zerglings continued to shoulder the duties of melee combat and absorbing damage, while the Needle Crawlers kept unleashing explosive damage from their fully charged needle sacs. Most of the beast horde's casualties were inflicted by Chloe's Swarm army.

Meanwhile, although the enhanced Zerglings led by Stars were clearly fewer in number and lacked ranged damage-dealing units like Needle Crawlers, they still achieved outstanding results.

Unusual vibrations arose in the Swarm Network. A purple sense of coordination played a grand, surging melody like a symphony. Under this melody, the enhanced Zerglings led by Stars attacked more effectively, dodged more nimbly, and worked together more seamlessly.

Purple psionics radiated outward from Stars, covering the enhanced Zerglings like a thin mist. Protected by the purple mist, the enhanced Zerglings' carapaces grew tougher and their bone blades sharper.

Originally, enhanced Zerglings were only thirty percent stronger than ordinary Zerglings, but under Stars's leadership, that gap reached sixty percent.

And Stars shone on the battlefield like a valkyrie leading the Knights under her command.

"This is-Psionics Enchantment!" Chloe recognized the skill Stars was using. It was a psionic technique that only the very best mages could use. The caster guided the recipients' own power, stimulating their psionics to form a weightless yet exceptionally hard layer of purple enchantment.

When this layer of enchantment adhered to armor, it made the armor harder; when it adhered to weapons, it made the weapons sharper.

However, even though the caster merely served as a guide, this spell still imposed an immense burden. Under normal circumstances, it would affect no more than a hundred people.

Now, the Psionics Enchantment guided by Stars enveloped an entire army! And judging by her condition, she still had strength to spare.

An Astromancer could be a mage, but a mage could not necessarily become an Astromancer. Stars was one of the very best among them.