What is the greatest strength of the Zerg?
Is it their countless warriors, enough to drown any enemy, or their terrifying adaptability to any environment?
Actually, it's neither.
Those two so-called strengths are merely misconceptions born from Chu Hao's original world's idea of what "the Zerg" should be.
The true Zerg — the Void Zerg that Chu Hao and Peter encountered — possess a far greater power.
That power lies within their bodies, within their blood, and within the very sequences of their genes.
And that power is their unmatched ability to evolve.
However, for these Void Zerg, "evolution" isn't exactly the right word.
After all, evolution implies random mutation and adaptation to one's environment.
But for the Zerg, they simply awaken what already exists within their genes.
The forms they take now — these were always what they were meant to be.
Their true forms, unchanged since the dawn of time.
---
"By the angels above, what is that thing?"
A Heaven Army commander exclaimed in shock as he led his squad of bio-soldiers into a once-lost position.
"Is that… a Zerg too?!"
In front of him, several enormous "beetles," each the size of a Titan, were gnawing frantically at the corpses of fallen Heaven soldiers.
Crunch. Crunch.
Their mouths jutted out like those of boars, but within was a massive spiral maw filled with countless rows of razor-sharp teeth.
The monstrous creatures tossed Heaven soldier corpses into their mouths one after another.
In an instant, torrents of blood sprayed from their jaws like fountains.
Around the edges of their spiral maws were thick, serrated teeth — each hundreds of meters long.
Even for the battle-hardened commander, that sight was beyond comprehension.
The creatures' bodies were encased in thick, chitinous armor that overlapped like the layers of an exposed riverbed.
Every step from their massive legs left deep craters in the ground.
How could such enormous beings even bear their own weight?
At that moment, the Heaven Army finally understood why the previous unit stationed here had fallen so quickly.
"Open fire! For the angels above!"
Despite the monstrous sight, the commander didn't falter.
Neither did his soldiers.
Not one of them showed fear — for their faith and their training had burned such weakness away long ago.
They were soldiers of Heaven Mountain, servants of the angels.
Their purpose for existing was to fight for Heaven.
Death was simply another part of that purpose — an inevitable stage in their service.
And the commanders, whose souls were tethered to their angelic masters, could even be resurrected from the rear lines.
With the bio-soldiers so cheap to produce, the Heaven Army felt no fear of loss.
At the command, every soldier raised their weapon and unleashed a storm of fire at the towering monsters before them.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Countless bullets slammed into the beasts' chitin armor, sparking harmlessly off.
It didn't hurt them — not even a little — but it was enough to get their attention.
Slowly, dozens of massive, ancient compound eyes turned downward, glaring at the tiny soldiers far below.
Without hesitation, the commander activated his communicator and called for reinforcements.
He knew full well that even if every one of his soldiers fought to the last, they couldn't kill even one of these giants.
These creatures were far beyond the Heaven Army's capacity to handle.
What he didn't know, however, was what their appearance truly meant.
---
"Warning. Enemy presence detected in Sector 112478 — hostile legendary-class entities confirmed."
Inside the command post, Maeve's calm voice echoed.
Peter barely reacted.
After all, legendary-class beings weren't anything unusual.
To a god, creatures of that level were commonplace.
Even without mobilizing his armies, Peter alone commanded thousands of legendary-class servants under his domain.
To him, Maeve's report was little more than background noise.
Powerful enemies that could easily slaughter Heaven soldiers? Hardly worth concern.
But when Maeve continued with more data, Peter froze.
"Enemy legendary-class entities: 378 confirmed."
"Update: 377. One eliminated by allied angel intervention."
"Warning. Sector 165527 — hostile demigod-class entities detected."
"Enemy demigod-class entities: 241 confirmed."
Maeve's eyes suddenly turned red, her tone robotic and emotionless as she continued the stream of data.
"Warning. Sector 026797 — hostile presence detected…"
"Warning! Warning!"
The command post was filled with the sound of countless alarms.
Ten minutes later, Maeve's voice cut through the noise, updating the data again.
"Total hostile entities above legendary-class: 130,000,000."
"Total identified species: 5,600."
A total of 130 million Zerg above legendary level had hatched and joined the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the number of regular swarm units had dropped to one-tenth of their previous count.
Yet now, those remaining swarms moved with terrifying precision — as if they had finally awakened.
It was like watching a machine switch from "standby mode" to "performance mode."
This — this was the Zerg's true form.
---
For the newly awakened Zerg, the war was only just beginning.