Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 529: Brood Cluster

The camp here is the same as elsewhere, built jointly by wizards and the Sea Race.

Not everyone is like Duke, who can directly absorb oxygen in the water. The methods adopted are somewhat cumbersome and not so convenient.

To allow wizards to rest well in the camp while underwater, the camp environment is specifically designed to be water-free so that wizards can move and rest more easily.

A tall Sea Race general, with distinct gill slits behind his ears and a fierce aura, approached them.

He spoke to Lauren in accented Common Speech, "Wizard Lauren, you have arrived. I am Faao, the Sea Race commander of Blade Ridge Camp."

His gaze swept over Duke and the others, scrutinizing, yet without obvious hostility, more of an evaluation of the collaborators’ strength.

"Commander Faao," Lauren nodded in greeting, "What is the situation?"

"The situation is more complex than expected. The Level 3 Nest in the Roaring Abyss is merely the biggest threat," Faao pointed with his sturdy fingers to the dozens of red dots on the sand table. "Around it, like satellites orbiting, there are also ten Level 2 Nests and at least forty Level 1 Nests..."

The Roaring Abyss is the area where a nearby Level 3 Nest is located. Centered around this Level 3 Nest, there are dozens of Level 1 and Level 2 Nests spread around.

These nests are not independent but are connected as a whole.

This showcases another new behavioral pattern exhibited by the Void Insect Race underwater. Unlike on land, where nests are generally far apart due to human or other demon activities, affecting their cooperation and connections.

Such areas impact the collaboration and communication between the nests, so the distribution of Void Insect Race nests on land appears more scattered and generally located in desolate, remote places.

But there is no such issue underwater; the ocean floor is too vast.

This provides ample development space for the Void Insect Race, forming a distribution pattern entirely different from that on land.

The Void Insect Race underwater has now mostly developed in the mode of the Roaring Abyss.

Centered around a high-level nest, numerous low-level nests surround it, forming a whole.

They act entirely in unison, with low-level nests obeying the high-level nest, consolidating the power of these nests together.

This means that even if just a Level 1 Nest is attacked, they will mobilize troop strength comparable to a Level 3 Nest for defense.

Commander Faao’s words made the atmosphere in the entire temporary command post freeze, with those dense red dots on the sand table feeling like tangible pressure, weighing heavily on every wizard’s heart.

"They form a massive, highly coordinated nest network," Faao’s voice was more solemn than ever. "Low-level nests supply nutrients and basic units to the core Level 3 Nest, which acts like a super brain and arsenal, responsible for hatching advanced units and radiating its will across the network."

He pointed to the faint lines connecting the main red points on the sand table, "We detected that once any peripheral nest is attacked, the entire network will be alerted. Attackers will face not only the defense force of that Level 1 or Level 2 Nest but will also immediately encounter exceptionally powerful reinforcements from other nests within the network, especially those dispatched by the Level 3 Nest."

"This means," Lauren stated gravely, voicing what everyone was thinking, "we can’t break them one by one as we could on land, gradually weakening them. Any attempt to clear out a peripheral nest could escalate into a full-scale confrontation with the entire nest cluster."

"Exactly," Faao affirmed. "They have exploited the advantage of ocean space to the fullest. In our Sea Race’s traditional combat thinking, dealing with such powerful sea beasts or hostile tribes entrenched in an area usually involves gradually eroding their peripheral territories. But the Void Insect Race... they’ve completely nullified the feasibility of such tactics with this network structure. Our previous small-scale probing attacks have incurred heavy losses because of this."

The wizards present exchanged glances, their expressions turning exceedingly serious.

Originally thought to be a challenging but straightforward target elimination mission, now they found themselves facing a complex, tightly interconnected behemoth of symbiosis.

"They form a massive, highly coordinated nest network," Faao’s voice carried unprecedented gravity. "Any attack from a single direction will provoke a frenzied counterattack from the entire network. We’ve tried concentrated elite raids before, but even if we manage a temporary breakthrough, we end up surrounded by an endless sea of insects, ultimately forced to retreat."

Lauren stared at the sand table, his eyes sharp as an eagle’s.

Moments later, he spoke in a deep voice, making a decision: "Since breaking through a single point is troublesome, we’ll advance on multiple fronts, making them unable to care for both ends."

The Sea Race, due to a lack of manpower, couldn’t leverage their strength to directly besiege the nest clusters before.

For the Sea Race, the Void Insect Race nests needing attention are everywhere, leaving them stretched thin, with limited manpower available to be allocated to any specific area.

The severe shortage of manpower is one of the reasons they haven’t been able to completely resolve the Void Insect Race, letting them develop increasingly rapidly instead.

Currently, it’s uncertain how many places in the seas are home to such nest clusters. The only consolation is that so far, no Level 4 Nest has appeared, which would be even more troublesome.

In the Endless Plane, regardless of the location, Level 4 is a chasm before all life forms, not easily crossed.

Even the Void Insect Race probably requires vast amounts of resources to possibly produce a Level 4 Nest.

This mode of invasion by the Void Insect Race is extremely troublesome for many planes, as most planes, even with a certain amount of extraordinary power, lack the Wizard Plane’s ability for comprehensive coordination.

The Wizard Plane possesses extreme sensitivity to other plane invasions, facilitated by the Wizard’s Mark, making communication and message delivery very convenient.

The Wizard’s Mark, an apparently inconspicuous secondary spell, often plays a crucial role.

Because of this spell’s existence, wizards have been able to react quickly to this Void Insect Race invasion, promptly clearing out as-yet undeveloped Void Insect Race on the various continents.

If it were on other planes with extraordinary power, even if the Void Insect Race appeared somewhere, it would likely be dealt with only in that location.