Although the eight Bloodthirsters were outnumbered by the Ultralisks, the individual strength of a Greater Daemon of Khorne was slightly superior to that of a standard Ultralisk.
Their axes, each larger than a Space Marine, could easily cleave through the Ultralisks' thick, multi-layered bone plating. Khorne's blessing granted them not only resistance to ranged attacks but also a massive bonus to melee combat; any ordinary weapon in the hands of a Khornate daemon functioned as if equipped with a disruption field.
However, the Ultralisks' resistance to pain was terrifying. Their frenzy attribute allowed them to ignore almost all negative effects caused by injury. Even as a Bloodthirster buried its axe deep into an Ultralisk's skull, the beast's Kaiser Blades would pierce through the daemon's chest in the very next second.
One particularly unfortunate Bloodthirster was crushed until its body twisted and deformed between the bulk of two colliding Ultralisks.
Under this trade ratio, the Overmind sacrificed only about a dozen Ultralisks to suppress and kill all eight Bloodthirsters—a major victory for the Swarm.
"That's it? That's all you've got? Can we turn up the difficulty a bit?"
The Overmind waited for Khorne's next move. Knowing Khorne's personality, the next step would likely be sending eighty-eight Bloodthirsters.
"If you dare to keep sending them, I'll beat you until you call me daddy!"
Exactly as the Overmind expected, more Khornate daemons and Bloodthirsters surged from the portal. Simultaneously, a wave of crimson energy began to spread from the gateway, and the Overmind felt his connection to the Swarm weaken further.
While it hadn't reached the point of losing control, the Overmind now felt like he was playing StarCraft one-handed with massive lag; he could only click frantically, and the Swarm's response was always half a beat late.
"Great... I've become a high-PING warrior."
It wasn't a deal-breaker, however. The Zerg weren't the type to stop fighting without orders; they possessed basic combat instincts. It was just that the Overmind could no longer perform precise micro-management, making spellcasting units like Vipers and Infestors difficult to control.
With the Swarm's unity compromised, its combat effectiveness naturally dipped. The Bloodthirsters pouring out of the portal began to intentionally focus their attacks on the Ultralisks in groups, having identified one of the beast's weaknesses:
[Excessive Size]
The Ultralisk's four-legged structure meant it couldn't be as agile as a humanoid. To maximize their mobility, the Bloodthirsters even took to the air using their demonic wings.
Leveraging the momentum of high-altitude dives and Khorne's blessings, the Bloodthirsters began to gain the upper hand. They slammed onto the backs of the Ultralisks, hacking away with axes and swords. To these daemons, the Ultralisks' hides were little more than paper, and even the Kaiser Blades could be snapped with a well-placed blow.
Furthermore, there were a lot of them. The Overmind saw no fewer than thirty in just a short span, and the number was steadily increasing.
"So you really do intend to send eighty-eight, huh?"
Eighty-eight Bloodthirsters would be enough to give Holy Terra a serious headache, but to the Overmind, it was just another Tuesday.
Over 99% of his Ultralisk herd was still on the way; the group currently near the portal was merely the vanguard.
The scale of the war had already surpassed the imagination of ordinary beings. Bloodthirsters and Ultralisks were being thrown into the fray like common elite mobs, yet every attack and movement caused the earth to roar.
The impact was so immense that the planet's crust began to vibrate violently. Rubble rained down from the cavern ceiling, claiming the lives of Zerg and daemons alike.
Neither side cared for the losses. For the Khornate daemons, there was only the "joy of battle!" For the Swarm, as long as the resources held out, they could play the war of attrition indefinitely.
Khorne was truly showing respect this time, indeed sending exactly eighty-eight Bloodthirsters.
The Overmind counted them as they emerged. Once the eighty-eighth stepped through, the flow of Greater Daemons stopped. In that short time, a dozen of them had already been gored to death by the Ultralisk herd.
But eighty-eight wasn't enough. Honestly, the Overmind could probably manage eight hundred and eighty-eight. If Khorne sent eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, then he'd admit the Blood God was a true madman.
Was that possible?
Absolutely not!
Nearly nine thousand Bloodthirsters on a single planet? If you told that to a Warhammer fan, they'd call you a liar. Who couldn't you beat with that many Greater Daemons? Even the War in the Webway wasn't that absurd.
If you sent that force against the Emperor, he'd have to lock the doors of the Golden Throne and hide!
"Come on, my Zerg! Show them something special!"
Suddenly, several Ultralisks appeared within the herd that looked distinctly different from the rest. Their body structure was more like that of a [Gorilla] than a [Bull]. They possessed incredibly thick forelimbs and razor-sharp claws.
Actually, they looked remarkably like the Behemoths from fantasy worlds, only without the fur, covered instead in heavy chitinous plating and spiked sails.
"Primal Tyrannozors—evolved from Primal Ultralisks. Expensive but powerful; it takes the resources of three standard Ultralisks to breed just one."
The Primal Zerg were unaffected by the Warp energy. Their independent minds and tenacious wills perfectly nullified the Warp's interference. Furthermore, the Tyrannozor's physical structure was tailor-made for brawling with Bloodthirsters.
A Tyrannozor's claws could easily tear through a Bloodthirster's breastplate and chest simultaneously. While a Bloodthirster could still cleave through a Tyrannozor's flesh, the beast's regeneration was terrifyingly fast—even faster than a standard Ultralisk.
The Tyrannozors single-handedly dragged the kill ratio below 1:1. One Tyrannozor even plowed through three Bloodthirsters in a row, its entire body dyed red with demonic ichor, looking utterly ferocious.
"If I were Khorne, I'd have to stop and take a look at this one."
A standard Primal Ultralisk might not be as strong as its Swarm counterpart, but a Tyrannozor born from primal duels could wipe the floor with a standard Ultralisk. Their evolved structure made them more agile, more powerful, and significantly harder to mass-produce.
The eighty-eight Bloodthirsters were soon routed before the arriving Ultralisk and Tyrannozor herds. The Overmind was highly satisfied with the result.
"Is there more?"
He waited for the portal to open again.
Sure enough, Khorne was not the type to retreat after taking a loss. Once the eighty-eight Greater Daemons were crushed, the portal flared again. The third wave was coming.
What surprised the Overmind even more was that this time, they were accompanied by Chaos Titans fallen to Khorne and a massive array of Daemon Engines.
"Oh ho? This scale might actually rival the War in the Webway."
It was a joke, of course. No matter how ridiculous the Webway War got, standard daemons the size of Bloodletters were still useful.
However, near this portal, in the face of an Ultralisk herd that now numbered in the four digits, daemons like Bloodletters didn't even have a chance to show off. They couldn't even manage to scratch the Ultralisks' legs.