"A lord?"
"This is a lord creature, and it's silver-tier!"
"Xu Luo has a lord too. He's been hiding it well!"
The observing students, being knowledgeable, quickly deduced that the queen could stand toe-to-toe with the earth dragon, which meant it was also a silver-tier lord creature.
Initially, they thought Xu Luo was just lucky to have a mutated species. His future seemed uncertain. But now, seeing that he possessed a silver-tier lord creature, their perception changed.
This creature clearly shared lineage with the Zergs, which debunked any notion that Xu Luo's species couldn't reach the silver tier.
Silver-tier creatures were not common. Even those from influential families hadn't elevated their species to the silver tier yet.
It wasn't just about buying a silver-tier creature; maintaining it required feeding, housing, nurturing, and equipping it. These tasks needed steady, meticulous work and couldn't be rushed.
Even if one's divine domain could only support bronze-tier troops, purchasing silver-tier ones could be managed with additional financial support. However, this would only strain resources, requiring constant financial inputs to maintain the status quo, eventually dragging one down.
Moreover, family support had limits. They provided support up to a point, but much had to be done individually.
A silver-tier lord creature was something many didn't have.
"Unbelievable…"
Among the crowd, Wang Xiaoling watched thoughtfully.
Initially, she shared concerns that Xu Luo couldn't break through to the silver tier. She wanted to take a chance on him, but now it was clear that he had long recognized his potential and refused her outright for a reason.
With the queen joining the battle and relieving pressure on the front lines, the other Zergs quickly dealt with the remaining dragon-blood warriors and turned to attack the earth dragon.
The queen's combat style wasn't flashy.
It had the heavy armor of shell bugs for strong defense, sharp bladed arms like mantis bugs, and two pairs of large wings enabling flight. It could also spray acid like the acid bugs.
From a distance, the queen unleashed a torrent of acid. Unlike the acid bugs' attacks, the queen's was a veritable acid flood.
The earth dragon, initially unconcerned, sensed danger as the acid approached and retreated. But it was too late.
The acid splashed onto the earth dragon's scales, causing a hissing sound as it corroded them.
Soon, a burnt smell filled the air.
Accompanied by the earth dragon's agonized roars.
As the earth dragon retreated, the queen flapped its wings and soared, then pounced on the dragon.
Despite its massive size, the queen moved with surprising agility.
Up close, the queen's eight sharp arms relentlessly slashed at the earth dragon, leaving deep, bone-revealing wounds.
The earth dragon roared in pain, a yellow glow flashing from the horn on its head as it counterattacked.
However, earth-element magic's single-target damage was negligible against the queen, whose thick armor rendered it ineffective.
Blood oozed from the earth dragon's wounds.
Meanwhile, the Zergs launched relentless assaults, some even climbing onto the dragon and burrowing into its wounds to attack from within.
Acid bugs crawled inside and self-destructed, causing substantial internal damage, their remaining acid worsening the wounds, leaking blackened blood.
Despite the earth dragon's formidable regeneration, it couldn't withstand such damage.
With small mantis bugs wreaking havoc inside its wounds and the queen engaging it head-on, the earth dragon's resistance seemed futile.
The dragon's tail slammed the ground violently in fury, yet it was a rage born of impotence.
Dragonfire spewed from its mouth, incinerating nearby Zergs, but compared to their numbers, these losses were negligible.
Seeing his earth dragon faltering, the previously confident Xiang Xun finally panicked, fearing his dragon might be lost if he delayed further.
Losing the dragon-blood warriors already cost millions. If the earth dragon was lost, the damage would be in the billions. Even the wealthy Xiang family couldn't ignore such a loss, and Xiang Xun's future family support would be jeopardized.
"Xu Luo, stop! I surrender!"
Despite his reluctance, Xiang Xun had to bow.
But Xu Luo had no intention of listening. In combat mode, the only victory condition was total annihilation of the opponent's troops.
Thus, the queen and Zergs continued their relentless assault.
Moreover, Xu Luo hadn't forgotten that Xiang Xun had been provoking him all along. Now that he had the upper hand, he would not show mercy. If their roles were reversed, would Xiang Xun accept his surrender?
Xu Luo doubted it. Xiang Xun would likely humiliate him further.
Xiang Xun could only watch helplessly as his dragon-blood warriors and earth dragon were overwhelmed by the Zergs.
He didn't deploy more troops but disconnected from the game pod, stared at Xu Luo's pod for a moment without saying anything, then left the crowd silently.
Meanwhile, Xu Luo didn't immediately leave the battlefield. He directed the Zergs to collect all dragon-blood warrior corpses and, most importantly, the earth dragon's corpse.
He even had a sudden idea to have the Zergs sample the battlefield ground, only to have his consciousness repelled by the system, indicating no tampering was allowed.
Still, Xu Luo was overjoyed.
This battle had been immensely profitable for him.