Chapter 19: The Journey
When Qin Mu attempted to use the Nest to deduce his spear techniques and movement skills, the Nest's powerful computational abilities easily identified the inaccuracies or mistakes in Qin Mu's movements and marked them one by one. The Nest's calculations could even directly mark which muscle's activation method was incorrect or which movement skill had deformed. When using spirit power to attack, the Nest could assist in calculating and controlling the weapon's attack angle and force.
This discovery delighted Qin Mu. It was like having a cheat code, allowing his combat effectiveness to soar.
Take movement skills as an example. A solid foundation (Basic Level), proficiency (Micro Level), and being able to use them effortlessly (Perfection Level) were considered the three levels of movement skills.
Qin Mu's movement skills weren't even at the basic level, yet in less than a day, he reached Micro Level. This improvement was greater than a months of even years of training in the past.
Immersed in the enhancement of his strength, Qin Mu didn't notice the passage of time until the Nest reminded him.
"It's already night, we need to prepare to set out."
Looking at the sky, which had darkened without him realizing, Qin Mu transferred his consciousness to the Nest to check the current number of units and the energy storage situation.
The results gave Qin Mu a small surprise. The number of Tiger Mastiffs was more than expected, totaling 175. As for the worker bugs, there were originally 126, but 5 were killed in battles with monsters, leaving 121.
The remaining energy was not much, only 1,003 points.
Under the efforts of these Zerg units, monsters within a ten-mile radius centered around the villa area had almost suffered a devastating blow. Their flesh and blood became energy for the swarm, which was also the reason why there were more Tiger Mastiffs than expected.
However, this was the limit of what the villa area could develop because there were no more monsters for the swarm to hunt. They could only continue to venture deeper into the wilderness.
Because the swarm's activities also consumed energy, if they didn't move out, not only would the swarm's scale not expand, but they would also have to resort to cannibalism due to food shortages.
"Leave 50 worker bugs and 20 Tiger Mastiffs to guard the Nest. The rest will assemble and prepare to head to County 0203."
Excluding the three teams of Tiger Mastiffs that had already set out to scout, and the guard force left to defend the Nest, a total of 125 mid-level beast soldier level Tiger Mastiffs and 71 primary beast soldier level worker bugs set out.
The entire swarm did not gather in a swarm but spread out under the Nest's control, with scouts in the front and protection on the flanks.
Qin Mu did not drive the off-road pick-up truck but instead leaped onto a tall Tiger Mastiff. With a shoulder height of nearly 1.8 meters, this Tiger Mastiff was much larger than many warhorses, like the wolves Qin Mu had seen in fantasy movies in his previous life. It could easily serve as a mount.
Some necessary luggage and equipment were taken out of the car by the worker bugs and carried by them.
One of the worker bugs was particularly noticeable, with a round belly storing a large amount of high-energy liquid. Upon reaching the destination, it would hatch a new Nest.
The reason for not driving was that Qin Mu did not plan to advance along the highway but to follow the path scouted by the Tiger Mastiffs.
Hundreds of monsters marching on the highway would be too conspicuous and easily encounter human martial artist teams. The swarm was not ready to be exposed yet.
With the swarm's speed, advancing through the wilderness was not slower than an off-road vehicle, enough to reach the destination within the expected time.
Under the starlight, the swarm protected Qin Mu, who was riding a Tiger Mastiff, in the center, silently moving forward. This allowed Qin Mu, who had entered the wilderness, to take the time to admire the night scenery he had never seen before.
The starry sky in the wilderness was beautiful, with the sky resembling a deep painting, stars twinkling with faint light, and a crescent moon hanging gently in the sky, casting a hazy silver glow over the earth. Under the moonlight, a gentle breeze blew, and various beautiful flowers and plants swayed gracefully in the moonlight, making people feel as if they were in a dream. In the distance, unknown insects chirped, and flying insects with shimmering lights danced among the flowers and trees. Such a beautiful scene was like a world filled with poetry and dreams.
However, the roar of a Tiger Mastiff awakened Qin Mu, who was intoxicated by the beauty. Ahead, a Tiger Mastiff encountered an exceptionally beautiful and large flower.
A horrifying event occurred—the flower suddenly opened wide, enveloping the entire head of the Tiger Mastiff. The Tiger Mastiff didn't even have time to roar before it was tightly locked inside the flower bud.
The surrounding Tiger Mastiffs rushed up, tearing and digging, scattering the branches and leaves of the strange flower, ripping it to shreds. The trapped Tiger Mastiff struggled to break free, angrily uprooting it.
In this world, not only had various animals mutated and evolved, but plants had also done so. A seemingly beautiful scene was actually filled with danger, with venomous insects and monsters lurking.
This awakened Qin Mu, and his relaxed mood immediately turned vigilant.
Fortunately, the swarm now had enough strength to easily resolve general dangers without Qin Mu's intervention. Along the way, they encountered more than ten monsters, all of which were resolved by the swarm and turned into food for the swarm.
After several hours of travel, the scouting Tiger Mastiffs sent a message that they had discovered a herd of Single-Horned Wild Boars ahead. This herd of Single-Horned Wild Boars numbered more than twenty, with black fur resembling black steel spikes and a deep gray horn on their heads. Three of these Single-Horned Wild Boars had reached the high-level beast soldier rank, while the rest were mostly at the mid-level beast soldier rank.
If a battle were to occur, with the swarm's current strength, there would likely be significant casualties if Qin Mu did not intervene.
Without avoiding them, Qin Mu controlled the swarm to surround them. To reduce the swarm's casualties, Qin Mu only had the swarm surround them without attacking.
Surrounded by several times their number of Tiger Mastiffs, the Single-Horned Wild Boars were somewhat panicked, but under the leadership of several high-level beast soldier Single-Horned Wild Boars, they did not fall into chaos but confronted the Tiger Mastiffs.
Under the moonlight, Qin Mu carefully observed these Wild Boars. They were a type of pig monster even stronger than the Iron-Furred Wild Boars. Compared to the Iron-Furred Wild Boars, they were more robust and agile, and the unicorn on their heads greatly enhanced their attack power.
Without hesitation, a spearhead suspended above Qin Mu's head shot out.
"Whoosh—"
The spearhead turned into a stream of light, rushing straight towards a high-level beast soldier Single-Horned Wild Boar. The attacked Single-Horned Wild Boar noticed the anomaly, but the spearhead was too fast. Although it tried to dodge, its body couldn't react in time, and it could only slightly lower its head to avoid the vital eyes.
"Crack—"
The spearhead did not successfully pierce the Unicorn Wild Boar's eye socket but hit its skull head-on. The A2-grade Vanquisher Spear spearhead emitted a faint sound of shattering, with fine cracks appearing on the spearhead. The tremendous kinetic energy carried by the ultra-fast speed allowed the spearhead to penetrate the Single-Horned Wild Boar's skull head-on.
The attacked Single-Horned Wild Boar roared in anger, lowering its head and revealing the horn on its head, galloping like high-speed tanks.
Although their numbers were several times that of the Single-Horned Wild Boars, under Qin Mu's control, the swarm did not confront the Wild Boars' charge head-on but instead opened a gap and attacked from the flanks.
"The spearhead is somewhat damaged!"
The spirit power attached to the spearhead allowed Qin Mu to discover the issue immediately. Using an A2-grade Vanquisher Spear spearhead to shatter the skull of a high-level beast soldier Single-Horned Wild Boar known for its defense was still too strenuous. But at this moment, Qin Mu couldn't afford to care about that.
He controlled the spearhead to draw an arc and take the life of another Unicorn Wild Boar from the flank. This time, under Qin Mu's precise operation, the spearhead entered the eye socket of the galloping Wild Boar and flew out from the other side.
The Tiger Mastiff beneath Qin Mu also began to run, not confronting the Single-Horned Wild Boars head-on. In terms of speed and agility, the Single-Horned Wild Boars were far from being the Tiger Mastiffs' opponents.
During the wild chase, a spearhead continuously danced and shuttled through the herd of Unicorn Wild Boars, attacking their eyes, throats, mouths, abdomen, and other vital points. The three high-level beast soldier Single-Horned Wild Boars were killed one by one.
Without the deterrence of the three high-level beast soldier Single-Horned Wild Boars and surrounded, their fate was already doomed to be tragic.