Those time travelers that year

These insects are the real terror; even without supernatural abilities or magic, Zeg can overwhelm everything with their endless numbers.

After the 662nd layer of the Endless Abyss was covered with fungal carpet and connected to the 663rd layer, a new round of evolution for the Zerg began. The vast land and abundant mineral resources led to the unrestricted expansion of the Zerg insectoid race.

Following the emergence of the Zerglings as a primary cannon fodder unit, a second type of primary cannon fodder unit was unlocked. After expanding its controlled territory, Obox-Obo-Zeg discovered that the core secrets of the Zerg had been reopened. However, completely unaware, it had never been able to escape the shadow of Xia Zong. Even the Zerg's evolution path and unit types remained under someone's control.

Under some strange force, did this newly born ruler subconsciously forget it completely?!

Insect nests, infected greenhouses, and exploding insect lairs began to appear, and the emergence of spiny crawlers and spore crawlers further reassured Obox-Ob-Zeg. Previously, the Zerg lacked anti-air capabilities; perhaps for the Prime Material World, aerial combat remained merely a concept. However, in the Abyss, aerial warfare had long been an essential battlefield.

Some demons can fly, and most of them are of a higher level.

But now things are different. The spore crawlers can teach many demons that can't even fly supersonic speeds a lesson in what precise ground-to-air strikes look like. After all, these spore crawlers are fighting ground wars in the interstellar era. If they weren't effective, they would have been slaughtered by Viking fighters long ago, while the spiny crawlers are essentially mobile turrets.

Soon, a new round of mutations emerged.

The Eye Bugs appeared among the floating Overlord swarm. From the Cockroach Greenhouse, the larvae evolved into cockroaches and their mutant variants, the Destroyers. These new Zerg joined the Obox-Ob-Zeg army, continuing their advance to the next level alongside the 'Hound Sea'.

The next plane is the 652nd Corrosive Rift. This plane also lacks demon lords. However, compared to the 662nd plane, it has several lower-level demon lords constantly vying for the title of tier lord. These demons possess legendary or even near-demigod power; however, this level of power is utterly insignificant in the face of the frantically spreading swarm of insects.

The massive tidal wave of Zerglings swept across the territories of these lesser demon lords. Countless demons charging from the ground were overwhelmed by the swarm before they could even make a ripple. The roaches and destroyers following behind the Zerglings continuously enveloped them in corrosive saliva and plasma, along with their own Zergling cannon fodder.

In any case, only the Zerglings were affected, although it was a bit annoying that there was no immunity to friendly fire in reality. However, Xia, who was controlling everything behind the scenes, was completely oblivious and never considered that he was playing a game with no population limit.

After conquering the rifts of corruption in layer 652, this layer also couldn't escape being covered by creep. As for the original demons of this layer, if they hadn't found a chance to leave before being overwhelmed by the swarm, they would now have become part of the creep's nourishment. And this fallen plane, after being covered by creep, connected to layer 663, just like layer 662.

The three levels are now linked together. In the abyss, in terms of territory alone, Obox-Obo-Zeg is now in no way inferior to that six-fingered monster. However, this is only the beginning. After all, there were no demon lords on these two levels to begin with, and a bunch of useless rabble naturally cannot fight against Zeg's swarm of insects.

But the next level is different.

The 651st floor of the Endless Abyss, Nesri, is home to a demon lord who, while not widely known in the Prime Material World, is a renowned figure within the Endless Abyss.

This is the territory of the Chain Lord Falkrik, a Tanari demon and brother of one of the demon princes, Lord of Darkness, Grazt.

This demon lord, who conceals his true form beneath tightly bound chains, is one of the few demon lords in the Endless Abyss who dares to oppose Grazt, and occasionally wages war against his brother. Rumors suggest that he, like Grazt, is one of the many offspring of Cangye, the lord of the 600th floor of the Endless Abyss.

However, Obox-Obo-Zeg was not worried. His era was far older than that of Falkrik. Moreover, after annexing three entire layers, the Zerg had gained a whole new army of soldiers, or rather, cannon fodder.

To a large extent, this was because the player, Shar, had finally unlocked new buildings and units while playing this game. On the creep, three new types of fleshy structures—Infected Abyss, Hydralisk Nest, and Spire—stood atop the purple biological tissue, while the larvae transformed into fleshy cocoons.

616. Nesri

If the previous levels 662 and 652 remained unknown to other demons due to the absence of a demon lord ruling that level and their extremely remote location, then when the Zerg's rapid military advance reached Nesri on level 651, finally, rumors about the Zerg began to spread throughout the entire Abyss.

A completely new and unheard-of monster race has emerged in the depths of the Endless Abyss, breaching two levels and corroding the entire area with a purple, unidentified biological carpet. Now, they continue their advance towards the upper levels of the Endless Abyss, slaughtering and devouring anything that stands in their way.

These grotesque, fearless monsters, more brutal and terrifying than demons, resembling mutated insects, are swarming towards Nesri on the 651st floor. And as is typical of this ridiculous world, yet another brand new prophecy has appeared.

What's truly amazing is that this seemingly nonsensical thing actually contains some of the facts.

Then, the gist of the prophecy is as follows:

Legend has it that the former demon prince, Obox-Obo, one of the lords of Obiris and a member of the insectoid race, gained new evil power in the darkness at the lowest level of the Endless Abyss. This new evil power caused a drastic mutation in the body of the disgraced lord of Obiris, a mutation that even affected his followers and servants.

Now, the twisted forces have altered the bodies of Lord Obiris and his followers, ushering in an era for the Swarm. The reborn Lord Obiris will eventually reclaim his lost status and power, reigning supreme over the endless abyss.

Although prophecy is absurd, that's just how absurd this world is. Whenever something big happens, all sorts of prophecies inexplicably appear. These prophecies may originate from a prophet's sudden flash of inspiration or from some mysteriously appearing ruins or relics.

This prophecy quickly spread through various means across all levels of the Endless Abyss, and somehow even reached other planes. Meanwhile, the upper planes, especially the world where the divine kingdoms resided, also learned of the prophecy.

However, it made no difference to the demons whether it was there or not. Apart from the two-headed baboon becoming even more enraged, it simply allowed Demogorgon to determine the exact direction without having to spend time locating it.

But before that, he had to get into Nesri on the 651st floor. Anyone with a modicum of common sense would never allow Demogorgon and his army to enter together.

Meanwhile, on the 651st level of Nesri, the levels began to connect, and the Zerg army finally descended upon this level. Immediately upon their arrival, the Chain Lord, who had been preparing, dispatched his army to attack the descending Zerg.

The flying demons burst forth from their hiding places and pounced on the king insects with their enormous abdominal sacs.

The King Worm has no means of attack, but these creatures are quite large, with sealed, incredibly tough shells. Ordinary demonic attacks, including but not limited to spells, supernatural abilities, and melee combat, are rarely able to bring down a King Worm.

Despite withstanding the barrage of attacks from above, these Queen Insects suffered only minor casualties before descending to a low altitude. Although the Chain Lords' ground forces began unleashing a barrage of magical attacks from the ground, these behemoths remained steadfast.

Then these creatures started spitting, spewing out a purple, sticky substance that landed on the ground. Along with the sticky substance, some jumping springtails and cockroaches also landed.

These first batch of cannon fodder who landed quickly died under the demon's attack, but it didn't matter, more cannon fodder appeared along with the King Worm's spit.

Closely monitoring this battlefield was the psychic network edited through the central nervous system of the Ohmu, watching over the scene from Obox-Obo-Zeg. However, this Zeg Overlord was unaware that, through his mind, a certain evil god whose true form still existed outside the world was influencing his will and thoughts through a series of methods called 'operations,' which were actually 'whispers.'

Micromanagement, in Shar's view, was a stupid thing invented when population limits were in place. For the Zerg, without that idiotic population cap, all they needed to do was learn how to manage their resources, and then just attack. So, under Shar's subtle influence, Obox-Obo-Zeg suddenly came up with a brilliant idea—an idea so sudden and sudden that the Zerg Overmind thought it was a good idea.

First press F2, then A, and you're done...

As a result, the swarm of insects displayed absolutely no tactics whatsoever. Compared to the demons, who were far more tactically astute, these insects acted with even greater ferocity than the demons had anticipated. As soon as the leaping insects and cockroaches landed, they roared and pounced on the nearest demon.

Then you either kill those demons or get torn apart by them.

This incredibly insane fighting style left all the demons who participated in the battle dumbfounded. The vast majority of demons, with their meager intelligence, could not even imagine that there were beings in this world more insane than themselves.

Then, the demons, spurred on by the swarm's relentless and ferocious fighting style, responded with equal suicidal ferocity. Blood, limbs, and corpses instantly littered every inch of the battlefield.

Initially, the demons held the advantage, as this was their home turf. The flying demons, in particular, firmly controlled the air, relentlessly shooting down the Queen Insects with various spells or launching attacks on the ground swarms from the air. Compared to the bloodbath, the demons here were slightly more cautious, not killing two-thirds of their own before engaging the enemy, but in reality, they weren't much more cautious.

In the chaos of battle, the demons fought the swarm of insects while also conveniently eliminating their own kind nearby. The insect swarm on the other side did the same, except that the corrosive liquid spewed by the cockroaches didn't seem to mind landing on the zebras.

However, on the battlefield, the demons ultimately held the advantage.

With air superiority firmly in control, both the massive, tough-skinned Ohmu and the Zerglings and Roach on the ground below were constantly facing the Devil's aerial attacks.

Until, a completely new kind of Zerg, swarming in from the point of interface with the dimensional plane, arrived in overwhelming numbers...

617. The dragon is on our side!

At this very moment, outside that world, still unable to find a sufficient opportunity to squeeze his main body in, Ciel sat calmly at a computer desk. The situation in that multiverse was already settled; no matter when the GM realized what was happening, a reboot was impossible. He'd almost hacked the core code and hadn't even reacted yet—how could he possibly have a chance to retaliate?!

So now, it's perfectly acceptable to take a little break and play a game of StarCraft 2.

If you look closely, you'll see that the computer screen in front of Sharl is displaying the life-or-death battle between the Zerg and the demons in the Endless Abyss. When he sees the Zerg swarm, which appears to be friendly in green, being brutally beaten by the demons, and the Overlords in the air suffering heavy losses, Sharl raises an eyebrow. His clumsy micro-management skills make him decide to continue using cheats.

So what if your micro-management is unbeatable? I have unlimited population and resource gathering speed that's many times faster than yours. I don't need any special skills at all. The true meaning of Zerg is to master macro-management and then just use countless 'cannon fodder' to attack.

With a few clicks of the mouse and a few keystrokes, he selected all and then let go of his hands, calmly picking up the fruit-flavored (Dream Chrysalis) ice cream sundae beside him and eating it, while preparing to watch a real-life Blizzard movie.

At this very moment, the Zeg Overlord, Obox-Ob-Zeg, who was watching the battlefield closely, saw his side's 'cannon fodder' suffering heavy losses due to the lack of air superiority, and suddenly a brilliant idea flashed into his mind.

Even 'cannon fodder' must be used wisely; wasting the resources transporting the Overlords like this is simply too wasteful. Moreover, for Zerg, before they can utilize a vast sea of ​​cannon fodder tactics, this piecemeal approach is extremely disadvantageous.

The solution is simple: just seize air superiority.

Obok-Obo-Zeig, completely unaware that this was not his true thought, began issuing commands through the swarm's mental network.

At the point where the layers meet, a large group of ferocious-looking creatures brazenly rushed through the gap between the layers. Even though some were lost due to the spacetime gap in the process, their numbers were still terrifying.

As far as the eye could see, these purple monsters with curved bodies and wings slid down from the sky, letting out strange roars.

These are Zeg's aerial cannon fodder—the Alien Dragons. At the lower part of their bodies, specifically their tails, live a parasitic blade insect.

These menacing flying insects can spray out symbiotes, and when they spot an enemy, the blade insect will quickly break into several pieces and splash towards the enemy.

Now, as they swarmed down, the alien dragons spewed out symbiotes, splattering them all over the faces of the flying demons. The sudden attack left the demons completely bewildered. These new insects had caught them completely off guard.

To be honest, the incredibly agile alien dragons far surpassed these demons in both flight efficiency and speed. Thus, under the dragons' surprise attack, these flying demons were utterly routed.

They're no match for the alien dragons in terms of agility, and these dragons also have a kind of biological carapace on their bodies. While this wouldn't guarantee their survival unscathed from the demon's counterattack, it would at least prolong their lives. They're just cannon fodder anyway; as long as they can fight, that's enough.

Countless alien dragons, with their incredibly agile movements, relentlessly slayed the enemy demons in the air, reversing the previously unfavorable situation in one fell swoop. Under the siege of the alien dragons, the flying demons could only choose to defend themselves. The more astute ones decisively used teleportation spells to disappear, while those who hadn't yet reacted fell one after another to the blade insects shot out by the alien dragons.

The air superiority was suddenly reversed. After suppressing the flying demons, swarms of alien dragons rushed onto the ground battlefield, causing chaos and disarray among the demons engaged in the melee below. At this moment, even more Overlords arrived, bringing even more troops.

Even with their various spells, supernatural abilities, and magical items, the demons were still no match for wave after wave of hordes of insects. Especially after another wave of alien dragons descended, their aerial advantage vanished completely, and without air superiority, the demons were forced to retreat steadily.

"How can we lose when the dragon is charging in head-on?!"

Outside the world, in the Shire, a man watched the screen with excitement. Similarly, influenced by Shire's unknown actions, Obok-Obo-Zeg, watching this scene from afar through the Zerg's mental network, was quite pleased, believing that things were now in the bag.

However, the power of Wong Tai Sin was far beyond what a mere former demon prince could predict. Even an evil god would inevitably be defeated by his unimaginable power of nonsense.

Just as the swarm gained an absolute advantage on the battlefield, the one who controlled this place, the actual controller of Nesri on the 651st floor of the Endless Abyss, the Chain Lord Falkrik, finally made his move.

This demon lord, who often fought to the death with his brothers, naturally recognized the terrifying power of the Zerg. With his army suffering a rout, he was forced to personally intervene to try and turn the tide. Of course, in doing so, this demon lord also harbored a slight thought of controlling the entire Zerg race, after all, these insectoids were truly weapons of flesh and blood.

So, as is customary, Chain Lord Falkrik planned to force the mastermind behind the swarm to reveal himself, then defeat or subjugate him. He disregarded the rumor that the swarm's controller was the former demon prince, Obox-Obo.

He didn't believe that the Lord of Orbis, who was like a stray dog, could have such power to create such a destructive weapon. The idea that he gained power from the deepest part of the Abyss was simply impossible. The will of the Abyss had long since ceased to favor the Lord of Orbis; otherwise, the one truly controlling the Abyss wouldn't be the Tanaris demons.

Falk unleashed an incredibly powerful spell, using his status as a demon lord to mobilize vast amounts of energy across the entire plane through a ritual. Instantly, sparks and lightning crisscrossed the sky above the battlefield, and the horde of dragons was dealt a crushing blow by this sudden magical attack.

Faced with this terrifying spell, the alien dragon was far too vulnerable. Despite its agile flight path, it could not avoid being swept into the torrent of magical energy when confronted with a large-scale area-of-effect attack.

Of course, during this process, those flying demons that didn't have time to escape also turned to ashes.

Having cleared away most of the dragon roars with magic, Falkrik's voice echoed across this level. This demon lord, in a vicious tone, accused the swarm's controllers of being utterly cowardly, unwilling to face the enemy head-on. He was basically doing everything he could to provoke the enemy; he probably wanted to use his words to force the swarm's mastermind to reveal themselves and fight him one-on-one.

If he were truly a traditional demon, he would absolutely not tolerate such provocation. However, in Obok-Ob-Zeg's eyes, this provocation was nothing but utter nonsense.

However, there were still some people who were unhappy, such as... Ciel.

618. Plain A (Past)

"Damn it, this is ridiculous! The dragon is practically charging right at my face, and you still have electricity? You've screwed me over!" To Sharl, the Chain Lord Falkric's taunts were like a plot NPC speaking in an unpleasant tone, delivering lines that were even more infuriating.

"I was actually mocked..." Dark golden eyes peered through the computer screen in front of him at Nesri, the 651st floor of the Endless Abyss, and he could clearly hear the mocking tone of an NPC coming from the computer speakers.

"Hehehe..." With a chuckle, Sharl reached out and pressed the mouse and keyboard, dragging the screen onto the creep-covered area, clicking and manipulating the controls for a while. "A country bumpkin from the Abyss Tanari, a guy who'll spend his whole life holed up in this rural corner eating dirt, what gives you the audacity to mock me?!"

"I'm not going to use micro-management; I'll just overwhelm you with an unlimited population."

"Swarm of insects, crush this scum!"

On the other side, Obokos-Obo-Zeg, who originally didn't intend to pay attention to Falkrik's taunts, suddenly felt for some reason that this guy was extremely annoying.

After briefly assessing his forces, Obox-Obo-Zeg directly issued the order through the mind network: "Attack normally."

So, instead of forcing the Zerg controllers to reveal themselves and giving him a chance to strike, Falkrik didn't do what he expected. Instead, after he delivered a brilliant taunt and generated considerable hatred, the Zerg chose to send another batch of cannon fodder.

Frankly, the current Zerg doesn't have any hero units, so there aren't any like Abathur. In the era of the Overmind, the Zerg swarm only needs cannon fodder, nothing else. At least for Obokrazor-Obokrazor, having enough cannon fodder is enough; there's absolutely no need for anything else.

Therefore, there were no powerful individuals to deal with Falkrik's provocation, and the swarm simply brought over a larger force.

Another horde of alien dragons broke through the spacetime rift at the dimensional interface, swarming in like locusts, reigniting the flames of war across Nesri. One after another, the Overlords descended, spewing forth a purple, viscous substance and the insects transported within them. The leaping insects and cockroaches transported by the Overlords, swarming in dense numbers, launched another attack on the demons.

Faced with the relentless onslaught of the swarm, Falkrik once again used a ritual to channel the powerful spell he had used earlier, but it was to no avail. After clearing the field once more, the swarm continued to hurl more cannon fodder at him. No matter how powerful the spell, Falkrik couldn't use it repeatedly, even if he could mobilize the energy of an entire plane. There were limits, and even he, as a demon lord, was no exception.

After using his incredibly powerful spell for the fourth time to tear the swarm apart, Falkrik had to stop. He was furious to discover that the swarm continued to relentlessly send more and more cannon fodder at him, clearly intending to endlessly drain his power. And the entity controlling the swarm was incredibly cunning, never revealing itself and giving him absolutely no chance.