Werewolf wizard

Chapter 168: The Zerg's Third Evolution!

Within the dungeon stronghold of the outpost, the entire main hall was collapsing. From inside the steel pillars supporting the main hall, swarms of modified scarab beetles, each larger than a basketball, were emerging.

It turned out that the supporting pillars of the entire main hall had long been devoured beyond recognition by the scarab swarm.

From the outside, it looked fine, but in reality, the interior was a complete mess. Su Nan had only given Jinx and her swarm a simple order to attack, and the main hall was already collapsing.

At the same time, the entire dungeon outpost stronghold was shaking as if experiencing a small earthquake. The entire dungeon outpost stronghold was collapsing, just like the main hall.

Thousands of modified scarab beetles, like a tide, engulfed the dungeon stronghold.

The current scarab swarm exhibited changes that were absent during the second evolution.

Firstly, Jinx developed a hive mind. All insects in the swarm would be connected to this hive mind.

This essentially eliminated the possibility of them going out of control.

The hive mind, in essence, was a collective consciousness born out of the pain and fear of the swarm's annihilation in the face of attacks and injuries from the lizardmen and drow.

The primary goal of this collective consciousness was to ensure the survival of the swarm.

It wasn't even Jinx herself, nor was it simply the sum of each individual insect's consciousness within the swarm. Instead, it was a situation where 1+1 was greater than 2.

This was different from the wolf pack effect.

When Su Nan used the hive mind potion to help the semi-completed hive mind finish its evolution, he modified the hive mind by using the basic principles of the werewolf potion.

This made the hive mind equate continuing the lineage of the swarm with obeying his orders.

In other words, he made the hive mind believe that its swarm would perish if it left his control.

He set the hive mind's primary protection target as himself.

In this way, he greatly strengthened his control over the scarab swarm and also integrated the hive mind into the wolf pack effect.

The hive mind became a subset of the wolf pack effect.

At this time, the troop composition of the scarab swarm after the third evolution also underwent tremendous changes, with hardly any resemblance to the original scarab swarm from the second evolution.

First of all, the most basic modified scarab beetles were all larger, growing from the size of a basketball to the size of a chair.

Secondly, many new troop types appeared, such as the shield scarab beetles with a golden chitinous shield on their heads. When these shield scarab beetles formed a swarm, the golden chitinous shields on their heads would overlap.

It was as if human soldiers in a phalanx would stack their shields on top of each other, forming a powerful defense.

The original spiked scarab beetles and lava scarab beetles also grew larger. The tank scarab beetles had disappeared, having evolved into tunnel scarab beetles.

The tunnel scarab beetles were as large as elephants. Their mandibles had become specialized, making them incredibly efficient at digging underground tunnels. While digging, they could use the chitinous armor on their bodies, which was thirteen times thicker than that of ordinary scarab beetles, to resist enemy attacks and launch counterattacks.

The original node scarab beetles had also disappeared, turning into lord scarab beetles, each with a more specialized focus, abandoning melee combat abilities, and with bodies that became translucent.

The lord scarab beetles could transmit the hive mind's mental waves, better commanding the swarm.

The preliminary framework of the scarab swarm after the third evolution was a command structure of [Queen Jinx - Lord Scarab Beetles - Scarab Beetle Troops].

The basic unit was the modified scarab beetle, the ranged units were the lava scarab beetle and the bone spike scarab beetle, and the tank was the tunnel scarab beetle.

The lizardmen troops in the entire dungeon were met with a brutal attack the moment they encountered the thrice-evolved swarm.

In the training grounds of the dungeon stronghold, blue dragon lizardmen formed a phalanx, constantly breathing icy breath at the tunnel scarab beetles that were attacking them, but even so, the modified scarab beetle swarm hiding behind the tunnel scarab beetles still managed to break into their phalanx with their numerical advantage.

Then, it was a massacre.

Everywhere were the terrified screams of blue dragon lizardmen and ordinary lizardmen fleeing in panic.

Because this was different from ordinary wars in the underground world.

Wars between underground factions at most involved capturing a batch of soldiers, and then reselling these slave soldiers, and that was it.

But the scarab swarm's attacks on them were extermination-level, with each scarab beetle rapidly devouring.

Inside the main hall of the stronghold, the drow warrior Xueshang reacted. She enchanted her katana with her left hand, and dark energy immediately adhered to it.

She rushed to Shangshan's side, who was shouting and screaming for help, and slashed her katana, and three invisible strikes followed her katana like shadows.

Two modified scarab beetles that were about to kill Shangshan and devour his flesh were immediately sent flying and killed by the drow warrior Xueshang.

Xueshang threw her off-hand weapon to Shangshan and used her katana to cut open the metal shackles on his hands. "You can still move, right?"

"This place is beyond saving. I wrongly blamed you before."

"It's not about that wizard."

"It's just that the swarm here is too numerous and too powerful. Fortunately, although these swarms are numerous, their individual strength is insufficient. We'll find a weak point and break out."

"I will leave all the slave soldiers here, forbidding them from fleeing, to buy us time."

Shanshang was somewhat moved. He had been a little worried that his aunt, Xueshang, would abandon him and run away.

However, Drow, while valuing strength and never considering slaves as human, were not so cruel to their own people.

Xueshang raised her katana and whispered a short incantation.

Instantly, her katana, forged from Stillness Iron, began to vibrate, concentrating all the dark energy. If it weren't for the Stillness Iron, the weapon would have shattered from the dark energy enchantment.

She swung the katana downwards, and the dark energy crashed towards the ground. The powerful dark energy wave blasted away all the modified scarab fodder soldiers charging into the main hall, killing many.

This was the second arcane spell she had mastered: [Dark Energy Tremor].

Sunan noticed that the spell's strength was equivalent to a spell cast by a second-rank senior wizard apprentice.

The Hive Mind noticed the casualties among its swarm and was instantly filled with rage and a deep desire to eliminate the enemy.

The Hive Mind requested permission from Sunan to use Tyrant Scarabs, and Sunan naturally agreed.

The swarm's unit types were inherently weak.

The Bug Mother, Jinx, and her swarm were equivalent to a super-large combination spell that Sunan had layered with dozens of spells.

Therefore, it was even more important to evolve the swarm through warfare and iteration.

His various magic potions were both for selecting and stabilizing beneficial directions for them. At the same time, the Sun Imprint potion itself was only to increase the closeness of their connection with the sun, allowing them to obtain more powerful reproductive abilities.

Therefore, the reproductive ability of the swarm after three sublimations far exceeded that of the swarm after two sublimations.

Soon, twenty Tyrant Scarabs, making heavy, earth-shaking sounds, appeared at the main hall entrance of the dungeon stronghold.

Xueshang and Shanshang, who were about to take the opportunity to escape, saw ten Tyrant Scarabs blocking their path. They stood upright, had begun to abandon their insect limbs, and were instead using limbs like human hands and feet. They looked like golden sun spheres standing there, and their pupils suddenly constricted.

Each Tyrant Scarab possessed developed muscles and was a fully upgraded version of the modified scarab, inheriting the thirteen layers of chitin armor of the Tunnel Scarab.

These Tyrant Scarabs all possessed the ability to individually kill a senior formal Storm Knight!

They were the current crystallization of the scarab swarm's evolution.

They were specialized elite units that were stacked together after all the swarm's evolutions, and they would continue to evolve along with the swarm in the future.

In the next moment, these Tyrant Scarabs swarmed forward. Xueshang and Shanshang, who had already used spells in succession and were panting for breath, were no match for this group of Tyrant Scarabs.

First to fall was Shanshang. His original martial strength was about the combat power of three senior Storm Knights, but facing the continuous attacks of ten Tyrant Scarabs, he was the first to be beaten black and blue. The weapon in his hand was directly snatched away by a Tyrant Scarab.

Next was Xueshang, who had persisted for a while. Her martial strength was about the combat power of seven senior Storm Knights.

Originally, she could have held out for a while under the siege, but when her nephew fell, she was immediately besieged by twenty Tyrant Scarabs.

In the face of numbers, she was quickly beaten until her katana was knocked away.

Before being pinned to the ground by a group of Tyrant Scarabs, she secretly crushed a red aether stone in advance.

Then, she was pinned to the ground by the Tyrant Scarabs, even her head being pressed down, unable to move.

Xueshang was both terrified and humiliated. "Damn it…"

"We are the slave owners of Black Rye Main City. How could we be treated like this?"

The two Drow were captured by the swarm at the same time.

However, the Hive Mind did not allow the scarabs to eat them, but instead captured the two Drow.

Sunan was a little surprised by this, but Jinx explained in the Wolf Pack Effect: 'The Hive Mind believes that this kind of creature is still a valuable experimental product to the master.'

'Therefore, it doesn't want to devour them.'

'This time, the Hive Mind has also basically kept the corpses of the fallen Blue Dragon Lizardmen and ordinary Lizardmen intact. Master, you can extract the bloodline from these corpses and refine the dragon-like blood that is useful to you.'

Sunan thought for a while and said, "That's good too. Dragon-like blood can accelerate the swarm's evolution and make the swarm magic more complete."

"When I have Sunday refine the dragon-like blood, I can distribute a portion to your swarm for use."

"Dragon-like blood can also be made into temporary flesh enhancement potions. I can keep a portion for the wolf pack to use."

Warwick said behind Sunan, "Little master."

"Werewolves can also gain some strength by killing people and hone their martial arts. Therefore, I suggest letting Mr. Blom come down from the surface as well."

"Hasn't he recently obtained a new weapon? I see that Mr. Solon has high hopes for his weapon. It's time to test the weapon."

"Anyway, Mr. Vasilias and the Golem Legion are protecting the castle. Mr. Vasilias is learning meditation. We werewolves can't waste time either."

In the Wolf Pack Effect, Blom let out a complaining voice. "Ah? I'm still taking a nap. Mr. Warwick, don't mess with me."