One ambush after another successfully sent the entire insect swarm into a frenzy.
Even the Insect Queen’s orders could no longer calm them down.
While helping the Federation army purify their contamination, Yunyang kept a close eye on the situation inside the insect nest.
Although she could not see the phantom, the moment she saw the swarm grow restless, she quickly understood Si Zhao’s plan.
Stir up the waters, then fish in the troubled waters.
It was an excellent plan.
After lowering the contamination level of the Federation soldiers in front of her to below eighty, Yunyang immediately withdrew her mental power and looked toward Kalunden, who was directing the battle.
“Commander Kalunden, you can launch the assault now.”
They absolutely could not give the Insect Queen a chance to recall the insects on the ground. Otherwise, all the effort Sister Zhaozhao had just put in would be wasted.
Kalunden had also noticed the situation near the insect nest.
Almost the instant Yunyang finished speaking, he issued the order to launch an all-out assault.
All the Class-A ability users boarded combat mechs. Those above Class A absorbed insect cores at the fastest possible speed to restore their abilities to their peak, then injected themselves with a powerful healing agent.
Yunyang bestowed her blessing on all ability users above Class S.
Since her blessing had risen to Class B, even when applied across such a large area, it could still provide every Federation soldier with at least a one-percent boost.
The Federation army launched its assault, forcing the insect race to devote all its strength to dealing with them.
At the same time, inside the insect nest, seeing that the male insects had been completely blinded by rage, the Insect Queen had no choice but to say something to the female insect beside her.
Leonardo frowned and immediately translated: “The Insect Queen wants that female insect to tell the male insects on the surface to temporarily cease fighting and return to the nest.”
Si Zhao had enlarged the light screen earlier and hung it where everyone inside Guiying could see it, so Leonardo’s words also reached everyone aboard the flying ships on the surface.
Yunyang found it rather strange.
Shouldn’t communicating with all the insects be the Insect Queen’s ability?
Why did the Insect Queen instead have that female insect notify the male insects on the surface?
Commander Kalunden had immediately ordered the Federation army to hold the insects at all costs, so Yunyang had enough time to think about it.
She told the other six beast husbands about her doubts.
Qin Mo was the first to offer a guess. “Mistress, insects possess parasitic abilities. Perhaps that female insect is the real Insect Queen?”
Rong Jin felt it could not be that simple. “If that’s the case, why would the Insect Queen go to such lengths to heal her injuries? Wouldn’t it be better to simply devour her original body?”
Even a larva that had only just hatched could mature into an adult overnight after devouring the Insect Queen’s body.
In any case, if he were the Insect Queen, he would never do something so troublesome and unrewarding.
Xuan Yu said uncertainly, “Could the Insect Queen’s injuries be too severe, forcing her to have that female insect relay messages in order to conserve energy?”
Pei Wenye shook his head. “But according to the Federation’s existing records, only the Insect Queen possesses that ability.”
Each of the beast husbands offered a theory, but for a time, none of them could determine the truth.
Yunyang simply told Si Zhao all of her own and the beast husbands’ guesses.
As for which possibility was most likely, she trusted that Si Zhao had a judgment of her own.
Inside the underground insect nest, Si Zhao questioned the Federation soldiers who had been keeping a close eye on that female insect. They reported that the female insect had remained obediently at the Insect Queen’s side and had made no unnecessary movements.
Si Zhao frowned. She did not change her original plan, but arranged for another support-type ability user to watch the female insect at the same time.
The female insect did indeed relay the message to the insects on the surface.
However, with the Federation army stopping them at all costs, no insect was able to escape in the short term.
This was the best opportunity they were going to get.
Si Zhao did not hesitate. She immediately issued her orders: “He Youchuan, Cang Zhuonian, launch a full assault on the Insect Queen. Everyone else, support them.”
She assigned everyone a task. The only one left out was Fuyuan, who was piloting Guiying.
The hatch of Guiying opened once more. Taking advantage of the fact that the swarm’s attention had been completely diverted, everyone gripped concentrated energy cannons and launched an attack on the Insect Queen.
Before the assault began, Cang Zhuonian had already used his ability to shield Guiying and everyone inside it.
Now, while attacking the Insect Queen with energy cannons, he also drew an energy rifle and fired several shots into the swarm.
The already-restless swarm was pushed into even greater chaos.
The Insect Queen flew into a rage after taking a hit. She repeatedly urged the swarm to protect her, but the male insects were completely deaf to her orders at that moment.
She had no choice but to use all sixteen of her spider legs as a shield in front of herself, blocking the attacks from He Youchuan and the others.
The spider legs were incredibly hard. Even concentrated energy cannons could not inflict much damage with one or two shots.
Si Zhao took an insect core from her spatial device and absorbed it. At the same time, she secretly set up spatial passages throughout the nest and directed the others, “Switch to ability attacks.”
The group immediately put away their weapons and began bombarding the Insect Queen with their abilities.
He Youchuan’s lightning, the wooden spikes from Leonardo’s vines, and the flames and storms of the two Federation soldiers all slammed into the Insect Queen at the same time.
The two support-type ability users kept an eye on the female insect while also participating in the battle.
One of their abilities slowed the movement of enemies within a certain area. The other enhanced the vision of allies within a certain area, and the effect could not be blocked.
Both were Class-SS ability users. The former directly locked the slowing field onto the area around the Insect Queen. After the latter used his ability on everyone, he continued attacking the swarm with his weapon.
He was using a wide-range energy cannon. Its damage was not particularly high, but it was more than enough to keep the swarm from calming down.
The Insect Queen was completely isolated, with the only one nearby who still retained her reason being a young female insect.
Under the group’s successive attacks, one of the Insect Queen’s spider legs was soon blown off.
It was not as though the Insect Queen had not attempted to counterattack. However, Si Zhao had set up spatial passages in every corner, and after each round of attacks from the others, Fuyuan piloted Guiying through one of the passages, causing the Insect Queen’s attacks to miss again and again.
Anyone would have been driven mad by such a contrast: she was being injured while the opposing side had only lost part of their ability reserves.
The Insect Queen flew into a furious rage. She spat out mucus, dragged several ninth-level insects in front of her, and devoured them at the fastest possible speed. Then she revealed a sinister, horrifying maw.
Through the light screen, Yunyang saw everything clearly and immediately warned them, “Be careful! The Insect Queen is about to use a mental shockwave!”
There was no way to block an attack on the mental level. The only option was to counter it with a mental attack of equal strength.
A mental attack of equal strength… Fuyuan?!
Yunyang thought of Fuyuan’s mutated sonic waves. At that very moment, the familiar voice rang out from her communicator.
“Cover your ears.”
At a time like this, everyone trusted their comrades completely.
Si Zhao and the others covered their ears in perfect unison.
Yunyang also temporarily shut off Butler Four’s audio reception. Although she was not sure whether the attack would affect them on this side, she did not want to hear Fuyuan’s mutated sonic waves for the time being.
Inside the insect nest, Fuyuan maneuvered Guiying into another position. Then, gripping an eighth-level insect core, he opened his mouth and released a string of shrill, grating sonic waves the moment the Insect Queen’s mental shockwave erupted.
