Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

Bai E felt a slight surge of excitement upon receiving the prompt.

There was a traceable pattern to the several times energy had been credited before, but did the last 12 points of energy credited mean that the base had received his distress signal?

The encouragement of the other warriors was just a lie he had to tell under these circumstances, whether the communicator he made himself through those materials would work sufficiently was still unknown. So was how the potential base that might receive his signal would consider his distress signal.

He too had no confidence in his heart.

But there was no choice, this was all part of what it took to become a leader.

What did it mean to be a leader?

It meant having to lie.

To call for calm when one himself was overjoyed;

To bring hope to everyone when one himself was in despair.

His Spiritual Energy was rapidly depleting; in a minute and a half, he had killed five sand bugs, plus the one that Song Ying and Tiger had killed together. The initial six sand bugs were all put down.

The cost was 30 points of Spiritual Energy he had expended, plus one shot at supporting the bug tide, leaving him with only 27 points of Spiritual Energy.

Not enough!

Not nearly enough!

With eight sand bugs left, even at the rate he was going, plus his own action power reserves, he would likely have trouble clearing all the enemies quickly.

Even though he had absorbed a wave of magic power from the demons recently, the time he had spent practicing Spiritual Energy was still a bit too short.

If he had enough Spiritual Energy, relying on his own skills, he would definitely be able to quickly and completely settle the current predicament!

As for the current 210/100 energy charge for the critical hit, that is, two chances for a critical hit, he couldn't use them for the time being.

Whether it was the sand bugs, worker bugs, or wasp bugs, they were all low-level units in the Bug Race, and it would be a waste to use it on them.

Before the hidden commander made an appearance, this precious opportunity to use it wouldn't be readily used.

Bai E clenched his fists, smashing down the second punch at the sand bug beneath him, driven by a mix of unwillingness and fury!

Die, all of you!

Whether reinforcements could arrive in time or not, he couldn't count on anyone else for the battle that was taking place right now!

[In battle, you've fully harnessed and used Spiritual Energy, which has trained your will, increasing your Spiritual Energy limit by 1.]

[The souls of the warriors deeply trust you; your "Soul Black Hole" has absorbed their scattered fighting spirit and successfully converted it into 5/5 Spiritual Energy, which has been added to your reserves.]

Add 6 points to the limit, and 5 current Spiritual Energy points.

The sudden increase in Spiritual Energy in the midst of battle reinvigorated Bai E's diminishing fighting will.

5 points of Spiritual Energy wasn't much, but it was enough to support the consumption of the Gift of Relief for half a minute.

At such moments, every second is crucial.

However, the eight sand bugs were still not something Bai E could handle alone.

With five sand bugs overturning a transport vehicle and dazed for a moment, and the remaining three, even with Bai E, Tiger, and Song Ying entangling two, there was one wrapping its huge body around the vehicle. Its claws, as hard as steel, scraped the not particularly thick metal of the vehicle, making an unpleasant screeching noise.

Seeing that the small bug nest he was facing had cleared more than half, and although the remaining bugs were still troublesome, they could put up some resistance, at least, with You and the remaining three members of the special squad. Zhou gritted his teeth and charged towards the unattended sand bug.

"I'll help!"

Bai E couldn't handle so many sand bugs alone; even when six appeared just now, it took the captain and Song Ying all their strength to entangle two for Bai E.

Now there were eight...

"Zhou!" You called out hoarsely.

As comrades who had cooperated for a long time, she heard a hint of deathly resolve in Zhou's tone.

Zhou didn't look back, trying to sound as cheery as possible, "Don't forget the results of my hard training these past few days!"

On those occasional moments, his fists... seemed capable of smashing through those ceramic combat suits designed for bulletproofing.

Even though his performance wasn't stable... even though his body was nowhere near as strong as the captain's or Bai's, there was always a chance for entanglement.

Rushing madly forward, Zhou swung his right fist from the side of the shield he held in his left hand.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Punch after punch.

The sand bug, focused on destroying, still circled the transport vehicle, trying to completely demolish the human creation, not even glancing back at Zhou.

"Bang!"

"Crack~"

The sound of the fist hitting the bone armor and the slight crack almost arose at the same time, and hearing this sound, Zhou felt a surge of joy, finally feeling like he wasn't working in vain...

Completely cast over by a black shadow, Zhou woke from his moment of joy and looked up.

The sand bug's lantern-like eyes were staring mercilessly at him...

Before the appearance of a sufficiently threatening target, destroying human creations was their primary goal, but when a threat to their own safety emerged, prioritizing the elimination of the threat was the goal.

These simple preset instructions seemed to be the only operating guidelines for these low-intelligence sand bugs.

"Whoosh!"

Countless sharp bone blades chopped down together, as if several top-tier swordsmen attacked at once.

Zhou, who lacked the defensive power of the captain and Bai, rolled away with a start and defensively lifted the shield to protect his surroundings. The fierce struggle left his arm tingling with a tremor.