Fierce Battle

The Swarm army was enjoying tremendous success, while the beasts faced one peril after another. The Frost Serpent had no Swarm Network. It could not tell how many bugs were attacking them, nor how many beasts they had lost.

All it could sense through its psionic perception was the beasts' numbers plummeting as the bugs' offensive grew fiercer.

Could the tens of thousands of bugs over by the big fellow not be their main force? Is their main force actually here with me? Once it calmed down, the Frost Serpent began thinking rapidly.

Indeed, if I'm facing the bugs' main force, everything makes sense—the powerful, bizarre Psionics Shock, followed by their fierce, sudden night assault.

The bugs are using their main force against the largest beast horde. That makes perfect sense.

Having worked this out, the Frost Serpent felt that this was both a crisis and an opportunity. If it seized this chance to cripple the bugs' main force here, nothing would stand in the way of their further advance.

If they lose this many bugs in a single day, their mother bug won't be able to breed replacements fast enough, no matter how hard she tries.

At this thought, the Frost Serpent no longer hesitated or conserved its strength. It unleashed its power, and in an instant, the vast battlefield encompassing the entire Swarm and beast horde seemed to plunge into a cold front.

The temperature dropped by more than ten degrees. A dark cloud appeared above the Swarm army, covering nearly a third of its Warrior Bugs.

Psionic energy churned within the dark cloud, and soon, without any thunder, a heavy downpour fell upon the Swarm army.

Before long, the harmless rain turned into snowflakes, the snowflakes into hail, and the hail into blades of ice.

A few ice blades could be withstood by the Warrior Bugs' chitinous shells, but under such a dense barrage, their cheap shells would soon be smashed open and pierced through.

Just as Stars had said, this beast horde also contained a Mythical Beast on par with the Behemoth.

Watching the blizzard grow increasingly powerful, Chloe directed the Swarm out of the storm's range while searching for the Legendary Beast with her psionic perception.

A Legendary Beast unleashing its psionic power at full strength was far too powerful. Like a firefly in the dark, it was easily detected through psionic perception. Soon, Chloe spotted her target through a Needle Crawler's eyes.

Blue-green scales and a horned serpent's head-Chloe, who had received a noble's education since childhood, recognized it at a glance. It was the being the highlanders called the Winter God: the Frost Serpent.

The treacherous Frost Serpent hid among the beasts, attacking the Swarm only with Psionics, without any intention of going to the front itself. Its blizzard was indeed dealing the Swarm a heavy blow. It looked as though they would have to retreat again.

What a pity. The beast horde looked ready to collapse. Fortunately, many of the High-Level Magical Beasts capable of setting fires had been eliminated, so the combat objective had been provisionally achieved.

Deeply reluctant, Chloe gave the order to retreat. But with the two sides so closely interlocked, retreating was no easy matter. Leaving some troops behind as a rearguard was the safer option.

Since some of the Swarm would inevitably have to be sacrificed, they should naturally do something more meaningful. Legendary Beasts had already turned the tide of battle twice. Without a way to defeat them, merely wiping out the beast hordes would certainly not be enough to ensure the Hatchery's safety.

Soon, all the Enhanced Zerglings and some of the Needle Crawlers on the battlefield began receiving precise movement orders. Whenever she commanded them like this, Chloe marveled at the power and convenience of the Swarm Network.

The battlefield was an utter, chaotic mess. The troops she needed to move were scattered through it like sesame seeds, dispersed far apart.

Yet with a single thought from her and the Hive Mind's assistance, those scattered sesame seeds moved while fighting, gathering together with extraordinary precision.

To make this attack against the Mythical Beast more sudden and threatening, Chloe placed both hands on the map, traced two directions of attack, and pushed forward.

This was another offensive maneuver she had learned from the memories within the consciousness, called the Pincer Movement.

Large numbers of Warrior Bugs slowly moved toward both flanks of the battle line. With the Frost Serpent's blizzard right in the center of the battlefield, it was perfectly normal for the Swarm to move toward the flanks.

Once the troops had finished assembling, the Warrior Bugs on both flanks immediately launched their attacks.

First, masses of Needle Crawlers opened the offensive with a barrage of explosive steel needles. Then the Zerglings advanced with their bone blades raised, like knights leveling their lances for a charge.

The battle line the beasts had only just managed to stabilize could not withstand the Pincer Movement's concentrated assault, and the Swarm soon broke through. The beasts' casualties began soaring again. Had the battlefield not already moved far from the Creep, the Swarm's gains would have been even greater.

Seeing that the beast horde risked being routed completely, the Frost Serpent could no longer sit still.

It was now absolutely certain that it was facing the bugs' main force, and that this main force's objective was to wipe them out.

Once I wipe out these bugs, I'll show the big fellow my strength with a glorious victory, the Frost Serpent thought.

To keep the situation from deteriorating further, it lowered its body and slithered toward one flank of the Swarm along a frosty path frozen by its own scales.

The Frost Serpent moved swiftly, striking the Swarm's Right Claw across its middle in the blink of an eye. Although it was merely sliding over ice, its speed rivaled a train's.

Although Chloe had prepared for this, and the Right Claw had been heading toward the Frost Serpent in the first place, the collision still inflicted considerable casualties on the Swarm. The Frost Serpent was too fast and too strong.

Biting winds and ice blades accompanied the Frost Serpent, sending large numbers of Warrior Bugs flying, crushing them, or freezing them in place.

The Legendary Beast was immensely powerful. It actually halted the seemingly unstoppable Swarm forming the Right Claw.

Watching large numbers of green dots disappear from the battlefield, Chloe felt the loss keenly too. To make these Warrior Bugs' sacrifice worthwhile, the entire Right Claw began turning to surround the Frost Serpent as fully as possible.

An order passed into the Swarm Network. "Objective: hunt down the Legendary Beast, the Frost Serpent, to the fullest extent possible. Discover its weaknesses and collect data on it."

The Swarm immediately went into action. With Enhanced Zerglings in the lead and ordinary Zerglings following, the Swarm's attack squads began circling the Frost Serpent.

The Needle Crawlers on the perimeter also began firing without pause. Unfortunately, the Frost Serpent was covered in a layer of extremely cold ice armor. At such low temperatures, ice was as hard as steel. The Frost Serpent could also use Psionics to reinforce its ice armor and replenish damaged sections.

The rain of steel needles could not penetrate its defenses or inflict any damage. They could not even scratch it.

In contrast, every blast of the Frost Serpent's frost breath and every sweep of its tail inflicted considerable casualties on the Warrior Bugs.

Just then, a squad of Zerglings seized an opening to get past the Frost Serpent's breath and, approaching from its blind spot, latched onto its ice-armored body.