The arrival of the vanguard fortified the defenses, as the orcs who arrived first were all excellent fighters. Ordinary zergs stood no chance against them.
Especially the young members of the wolf royal family, who didn’t bother with the common zergs and rushed deeper into the fray undercover to confront the advanced zergs.
Over the next few days, larger, slower orcs arrived, bringing the true might of the empire’s military. With the arrival of these large orcs, the desert border became impregnable, and the idea of the zerg horde breaking through was laughable.
To these large orcs, the ordinary zergs required no special effort; a simple stomp would suffice.
The zerg queen, having some level of intelligence, must have sensed the threat. The zergs attacking the border had evolved from simple worker ants to more advanced zergs.
These advanced zergs posed a significant threat to the smaller orcs. They could burrow underground and launch surprise attacks, catching the smaller orcs off guard and often injuring them.
Shao Qian frowned as he watched the zergs burst from the ground. This would only lead to increased casualties among the smaller orcs and half-orcs. They needed a plan to eliminate these burrowing zergs.
“What are you thinking about?” Adolf, who had rarely returned to his human form since his beast form was last seen, asked. For orcs, the beast form offered far greater combat prowess than the human form.
“Remember the transparent liquid I extracted from the zerg’s body a few days ago?” A couple of days ago, Shao Qian had asked the orcs to bring him a dead zerg. The creature’s body was so massive that even large orcs needed five of them to carry it.
“I remember.” Adolf was deeply impressed by this. His ‘Diudiu’ had spent two or three days studying the ugly zerg before finally cracking its head open to retrieve a strange orb.
Whatever Shao Qian did with that orb, it eventually melted into a strange, transparent liquid, which he then hid away.
“That’s an attractant.” Shao Qian reached into his pocket, retrieving the bottle of transparent liquid from his system space: “This can attract both ordinary and advanced zergs.”
Adolf’s gaze shifted from Shao Qian’s face to the bottle in his hand: “How is that possible?”
“The zerg horde operates on a hierarchical system. The queen has absolute control,” Shao Qian smirked at the glass bottle filled with clear liquid. “But this control isn’t absolute. The advanced zergs have some resistance.”
“So, you’re suggesting we use the attractant to lure the advanced zergs away?” If they could lure the advanced zergs away, perhaps they could penetrate the zerg horde’s territory and directly eliminate the queen.
“No.” Shao Qian shook his head, his gaze firmly on the battling warriors nearby: “You and I will charge into the heart of the territory and douse the queen with the attractant.”
“I’ll go alone.” Adolf instantly rejected Shao Qian’s proposal: “Give me the stuff, and I can handle it myself.”
“Adolf, we’re a team,” Shao Qian looked at Adolf earnestly: “Even in death, we shouldn’t be apart.”
Adolf fell silent for a moment, then grinned, showing his teeth: “You’re right. If I died, and you took my glory to another, I wouldn’t die in peace.”
“Screw you.” Shao Qian laughed at Adolf’s comment and leaped onto his back: “Let’s go.”
Covered in blood, Derek intended to find Adolf and Shao Qian. As he arrived, he saw those two rushing straight into the battle zone. Not only that, but they pushed through the fighting warriors and plunged into the zerg horde.
Without hesitation, Derek hurried after them, intending to drag them back. However, the orcs behind him were not about to let him go. As soon as Derek reached the battle zone, he was stopped by the orcs.
“Adolf, Diudiu, get back here!” Derek’s angry roar echoed across half the battlefield: “You better get back now, or face court-martial.”
But Shao Qian and Adolf, dodging zerg attacks, had no time to respond to Derek’s shouts. Although they were facing only common zergs, their sheer numbers significantly hampered their progress.
“We’ll clear the way for you.” The wolf royal family members fighting at the front saw them and rushed over to join the fray, easing Shao Qian and Adolf’s struggles.
“Thank you.” Shao Qian quickly thanked the wolf beast warriors, and Adolf took the opportunity to surge forward with him.
“All in the family,” the wolf prince grinned, but as soon as he finished speaking, he could only see Adolf’s receding figure.
Thanks to the escort of the wolf royal family, Adolf smoothly advanced. However, as he neared the zerg queen, he felt the sand beneath him shifting subtly. Instinctively, Adolf leaped to the side, just as a zerg’s maw burst from the ground where he’d been standing.
“Ignore it.” Shao Qian patted Adolf’s head, signaling him to keep moving forward.
Adolf weaved and darted towards the zerg queen. The closer they got, the greater the resistance. Adolf’s body was covered in wounds inflicted by the advanced zergs.
Shao Qian, seeing the increasing number of zergs blocking their path, knew this wasn’t sustainable. If they kept this up, they might be killed by the zergs before they even reached the queen.
Gritting his teeth, Shao Qian leaped off Adolf’s back, channeling his soul power into his feet, and sprinted forward, ignoring Adolf’s angry roar.
Adolf was terrified as he chased after Shao Qian, disregarding the deep, bone-revealing wounds the advanced zergs inflicted on him.
As Shao Qian ran, he opened the attractant bottle. The scent immediately drew the advanced zergs towards him.
With a grimace, Shao Qian retrieved a high-powered explosive from his system space and, with the attractant, hurled it at the zerg queen.
The glass bottle shattered on the queen, and the bomb landed on her abdomen. Startled, the queen rolled over, pinning the explosive under her.
Satisfied that both items had reached the queen, Shao Qian turned to flee. As he did, he shouted to Adolf, “Run, quickly!”
Adolf saw the advanced zergs, and even beasts swarming in one direction and knew the attractant worked. But he couldn’t be happy. He only wanted to retrieve his Diudiu and give him a good lesson. How dare he venture alone into such danger?
The attractant was even more effective than Shao Qian had imagined. Before he could reunite with Adolf, the zerg queen’s shriek pierced the air. Glancing back, Shao Qian saw the queen’s location swarming with zergs, forming a grotesque, writhing ball.
Then, the ball began emitting light from its core. Shao Qian realized his mistake; he had set the bomb’s timer for three minutes but hadn’t accounted for the pressure of the zerg mass triggering an early detonation.
“Get down!” Shao Qian yelled urgently at Adolf.
But Adolf, seeing the light, already knew the danger. His instincts screamed that it threatened both his and Shao Qian’s lives.
Without thinking, Adolf pushed Shao Qian to the ground, covering him with his massive body.
Shao Qian felt the crushing weight and then heard the deafening blast and felt the ground shake violently.
In the moment of the explosion, Shao Qian’s mind went blank, and Adolf’s name flashed before he lost consciousness.
Adolf remained conscious through the blast, though his side throbbed with intense pain before numbing. He painfully shifted, revealing an unconscious Shao Qian beneath him. Relieved to find him merely stunned, Adolf felt the pain wash over him, blurring his vision.
He rested his head on Shao Qian’s chest, eyes slowly closing.
He felt tired and needed a good sleep to see his Diudiu clearly again.
The explosion and tremor made the warriors at the frontline pause, turning to the billowing dust. That must be where the zerg queen had been.
Derek, back in his human form, looked grim. Without hesitation, he morphed back into his beast form and rushed towards the explosion.
There were also many half-orcs on the front line. At that time, many of them also saw their legion commander and deputy commander rushing into the front line. Now hearing the violent explosion, they all had some ominous premonitions in their hearts.
Now seeing the direction Derek was running, the half-orcs could only think of one possibility, that their legion commander and deputy commander had an accident.
This cognition made the half-orcs tremble with fear, and they almost rushed out with Derek without thinking.
Following Derek, the wolf royal family remembered seeing the white wolf and the half-orc headed that way. The explosion must have been their doing.
The blast scattered zerg parts around, the stench assaulting the orcs’ sensitive noses. Yet, the warriors pressed on, searching for Shao Qian and Adolf.
Finally, a half-orc spotted Shao Qian and Adolf, surrounded by the remnants of the zergs.
