Swallowed Star: The Zerg Overlord

Chapter 70: After the Battle

When Qin Mu dragged the two hundred-meter-long King-level monsters out of the sea, the entire battlefield erupted in excitement.

The morale of the garrison at the war base soared to its peak, and their firepower increased significantly. On the monster side, chaos ensued. Some continued to assault the war base, while others began to retreat, plunging into the Huangpu River to escape into the ocean. In their panic, some monsters even turned on each other. The conflicts among the monsters were often extremely bloody and brutal.

During the initial Monster tide, such instincts had been suppressed by the King-level and Horde Leader monsters. But with Qin Mu and the fifty flying Horde Leader monsters hunting them down, a large number of Horde Leader monsters fell, and the King-level monsters directing the assault were personally slain by Qin Mu. With the loss of their King and lord-level leaders, their true nature was revealed.

After killing the two King-level monsters, Qin Mu stopped hunting ordinary ocean monsters and descended onto the war base.

"General Qin!" "General Qin!"

As he made his way through the base, every soldier gazed at Qin Mu with fervent admiration. In the military, the strongest were the most respected, and his ability to single-handedly charge into billions of monsters, effortlessly slaying King-level beasts, was nothing short of astonishing. Especially the sight of the colossal octopus King-level monster being lifted from the ocean seemed to many soldiers like the arrival of a divine being.

After traversing a lengthy metallic corridor, Qin Mu entered the command hall of the war base amid the awed gazes of all.

"Haha, Qin Mu, this is the shortest duration we've ever experienced for a Tier One Monster tide! Right from the start, you took out those two King-level monsters controlling the attack."

Li Dawei had never felt so good. It was incredibly easy; in the past, they would have to endure fierce battles lasting over ten days or even a month to kill a massive number of monsters, only to force the Monster tide to retreat under the command of King-level monsters.

But this time, even the King-level monsters were directly killed. Though the intense fighting didn't last long, the results were unprecedented. Leaving aside ordinary monsters, over a hundred Horde Leader monsters had perished. This was something that hadn't been achieved in the previous fights.

Killing King-level monsters underwater was something even Jia Yi could not accomplish, let alone a planetary stage three monster. Not just Jia Yi; before Qin Mu, the only ones on Earth capable of such feats were Hong and the Lei Shen.

Hearing Commander Li Dawei's praise, Qin Mu merely smiled slightly. It was just a Monster tide directed by a planetary stage three monster. If he couldn't quickly end battles like this, how could he have the confidence to start a global war? When the ocean monsters truly launched their attacks, this kind of Monster tide would merely be an appetizer.

"How are our casualties?" Qin Mu inquired, having seen many injuries in the war base from above.

"Not too bad. The total casualties are only a few hundred, much better than any previous encounter." Commander Li Dawei's smile faded slightly, taking on a more serious tone.

Most of the casualties were caused by the strange long-range attacks of the monsters at the beginning.

In the ocean, there were many monsters capable of electric attacks, as well as those that sprayed venom or shot bubble-like shockwaves and toxic mists—monsters with long-range capabilities. Some monsters, skilled in stealth and infiltration, had managed to slip through the gaps in the war base's defenses, causing casualties among the personnel.

However, this time, the stealthy monsters had often encountered sensitive scent-tracking beasts like tiger mastiffs and shadow cats, which had detected them in advance, so the damage was not substantial.

In previous Tier One Monster tides, thousands, even tens of thousands, of elite soldiers would die. If the war base were unfortunate enough to be breached, that number would increase tenfold or a hundredfold.

Such tragedies had occurred more than once in the past.

"Only a few hundred?" On his way to the command room, he had seen many injured or even dead soldiers.

"This is war. A life-and-death struggle between humans and monsters cannot be without casualties. All injured soldiers will receive immediate medical attention. With the regeneration potion, the death toll will be significantly reduced." Seeing Qin Mu's expression darken, Li Dawei offered some comfort.

"Because of your presence, and those flying Horde Leader monsters you brought, their impact is equivalent to a million soldiers. The vast majority of Horde Leader monsters have been dealt with by you. In the past, we had to rely on human lives to fill the gaps."

Qin Mu shook his head. This was the first time he had witnessed so many human casualties, and it was hard not to feel unsettled.

The deeper reason lay in the imminent full-scale war he was about to initiate. If things went wrong then, the casualties would be far more severe than now. But Qin Mu understood that to reclaim the nation and drive out or kill all the monsters, bloodshed and sacrifice were unavoidable. A general's achievements often come at the cost of countless bones, especially in a war of races. But this also reminded Qin Mu that in the upcoming full-scale war, he needed to be even better prepared.

With that in mind, Qin Mu raised his arm and transmitted a series of numbers to Li Dawei via his auxiliary holographic computer.

"This is a number to call the Horde Leader monsters outside. In the future, if the military encounters a crisis, they can call on them directly." Qin Mu looked at Li Dawei.

"What?" Li Dawei's face lit up with joy and surprise.

Outside, there were fifty high flying Horde Leader monsters. Each one could easily reach speeds of seven to eight times the speed of sound, able to provide rapid support anywhere in the country. If the military could summon them for assistance at any time, their overall combat power would instantly elevate to a new level.

"You can call one or multiple at a time. I've already transmitted all their information to you, including details on their strength, flight speeds, and so on. If they sustain any damage in the battles to come, I will replenish them promptly," Qin Mu continued, explaining that the idea of using these flying Horde Leader monsters to support the military wasn't new but had been prepared well in advance.

He didn't want this elder, who had tirelessly dedicated his life to the military, to face a Monster tide and have to beg for help, even resorting to scheming to request assistance from those Wargod-level fighters.

This was a lingering regret in his heart. To prevent such a situation from arising again, Qin Mu had implanted a communication device in each of those Horde Leader monsters for command and coordination.

With these fifty monsters supporting them, the military effectively had fifty high-speed, fearless Wargods at their disposal. This strength was generally sufficient to face a Tier One Monster tide.

After some time of development, the swarm had surpassed 3,000 Horde Leader monsters, and there were still five such support teams. Providing one to the military to assist the national forces would not impact the swarm's development plans. With such a team in place, the military's casualties would be greatly reduced, often eliminating the need to sacrifice lives.

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!" Li Dawei's eyes glistened with tears, his face etched with an indescribable expression.

The military had sacrificed far too much over the years to face the Monster tide. Even at this moment, Monster tides were erupting not just here but across the country. In the capital city of Kyoto, a Monster tide attack was also underway, though not a Tier One Monster tide, but a Tier Two. Having a powerful, rapidly deployable team of flying monsters was an immense help to the military.

Since the Great Nirvana period, since he joined the army, how many wars, how much suffering, how many deaths had he witnessed? For over forty years, war had never ceased. How many lives had been lost in the course of these battles? It was impossible to tally!

Every year, ocean monsters launched their attacks, and every year more monsters appeared, growing ever stronger. Though the number of human powerhouses was also increasing, it was still far less than the growth of the monsters.

At times, he felt hopeless. Faced with ocean monsters, humanity couldn't even mount a decent counterattack.

"Over the years, the ocean monsters' assaults have grown stronger year by year. Here, in this sea, I have faced off against ocean monsters for ten years. I have always feared, feared that one day our defenses would be breached, that the base city would fall to ocean monsters, that humanity might one day face extinction. I took the wrong path; my strength has peaked, so I can only hold my ground here. I have always hoped, hoped that one day an invincible powerhouse would emerge to vanquish the monsters. Perhaps I have finally waited for that day!" Li Dawei's face shone with light, his eyes exceptionally bright.

"I will accept those monsters. I look forward to your plan proceeding smoothly, and to humanity, to China returning to the pinnacle of this world." As one of the highest-ranking individuals in the military, Li Dawei was aware of some of Qin Mu's plans.

"Rest assured, that day will come soon." Qin Mu's expression was also solemn.

The Monster tide had essentially come to an end, but Qin Mu did not rush to leave; instead, he chose to remain temporarily at the military camp. He could not be certain whether killing the two King-level monsters would provoke retaliation from other King-level monsters in the ocean. As long as he stayed here, he was confident he could fend off or even kill any King-level monster attacks that might arise. If he were to leave only to have a large group of King-level monsters attack right after, that would be an enormous mistake.

As for the remaining ocean monsters, there was no need for him to intervene; the military and the fifty Horde Leader monsters were sufficient. In addition to this reason, there was also the fact that a Zerg nest had already been established nearby in the ocean. Over a million Zerg units had been hatched and were engaged in battle with the ocean monsters.

It had to be said that the number of ocean monsters was truly staggering, and their ferocity in battle was much greater than that on land. In recent days, the Zerg had lost over twenty Horde Leader units in the ocean battles.

There had even been a dangerously close encounter when a nearby Zerg nest was nearly discovered by a passing jellyfish-like King-level monster.

"It was wise not to rush the Zerg into the ocean before; the intensity of the fighting here is too high, and there are simply too many King-level monsters."

Qin Mu sighed, reflecting that he had been looking for an opportunity these past few days to enslave one or two ocean King-level monsters to help protect the development of the Zerg in the ocean.

However, he had not found a suitable opportunity.

As for why he didn't enslave the two King-level monsters that had initiated the Monster tide, the reason was simple: the chaos of the battlefield was too great, and there were too many ocean monsters surrounding them.

He also didn't want the ocean monsters to know that he could enslave King-level beasts. Enslaving Horde Leader monsters was one thing, but enslaving King-level monsters could potentially trigger panic and a collective attack from all King-level monsters.

Thus, this could only be done in secret.

Currently, the numbers of the Zerg were still insufficient; they needed more time to develop.

Unbeknownst to Qin Mu, while he was stationed at the war base, videos of him charging into the depths of the ocean to slay King-level monsters during the Monster tide had already spread throughout the Palace of Wargods.

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