Field Training, Part Two
The stinger hidden in the grappling hook secretly injected the venom stored within into the little bird Small Bird-Dinosaur 'Small Bird-Dinosaur body during contact.
This venom isn't the same kind of toxin as Rowan's; its main component is extremely compressed digestive fluid.
Because the venom of the Spider War-Bug is stored in venom glands in its Walking Leg, and these glands are very small due to space constraints, the amount stored is naturally limited.
Rowan's digestive fluid toxin usually requires large injections. This is because it is not actually a pure toxin; its composition shows that its main function is to digest food externally. Paralyzing and killing prey is merely a secondary function.
Therefore, a small injection is unlikely to produce any effect other than causing severe pain to the prey. Furthermore, this effect diminishes as the prey grows larger.
Spider War-Bug, which carry a limited amount of toxins, naturally cannot choose this type of venom.
Rowan then combined the genes of several poisons to create a brand new toxin. These toxins came from venomous snakes, spiders, various insects, and even a type of snail.
This novel toxin acts like a powerful anesthetic, and is also extremely lethal. Its mechanism of action is very simple and effective: once injected into the prey, it directly blocks the transmission of nerve signals. Without nerve signals, the prey's heart stops beating, and its breathing ceases.
The time required for the entire process varies depending on the size of the prey and the amount of venom injected. For a predator like the Small Bird-Dinosaur, it would probably only last two or three minutes at most.
After injecting its venom, the Spider War-Bug ceased its entanglement with the Small Bird-Dinosaur. After dodging an attack from its sharp beak, it used Walking Leg eight legs to push off, leaping backward and escaping the Small Bird-Dinosaur's body.
The Small Bird-Dinosaur was furious at the giant insect that was only thirty centimeters long and dared to challenge it. Just as it was about to give chase, its body suddenly went numb.
Almost simultaneously, a barrage of attacks descended from the sky, halting its pursuit.
These tiny bullets struck its body, causing an intense burning pain that left it feeling numb and aching. As time passed, the pain gradually subsided, but at the same time, its body gradually became unresponsive.
The other small Small Bird-Dinosaur suffered similar fates, most of them paralyzed on the spot and becoming lambs to the slaughter. However, a few of them did not fight back immediately after being attacked, but instead chose to run away.
However, thanks to the precise interception of the Flying Bug Type II, they lost control of their bodies before running very far.
The battle had barely begun when it was over in just a few minutes.
Perhaps because their opponents were too weak, the Swarm's combat forces had barely demonstrated the power of their combined air and ground operations before they fell.
Even among the Spider War-Bug, only a dozen or so made a move, while the rest remained on the sidelines.
Rowan was somewhat unsatisfied; he hadn't even gotten into the zone before the battle was over. It was like starting a game, doing all sorts of stretching and finger exercises, only to have the opponent quit the game as soon as you entered.
Absolutely no gaming experience!
But then he was overjoyed; the Swarm's initial victory proved that his current strategy was correct.
However, he became somewhat frustrated when he saw his prey. Although these Small Bird-Dinosaur were only about a meter long, they had a lot of meat because they had almost no tails.
Rowan estimated that each of the Small Bird-Dinosaur weighed more than 50 kilograms.
However, when he was adjusting the types of troops, he was so focused on developing combat troops that he forgot about logistics troops.
Spider War-Bug, although their predecessors were Transport Bug, only managed to do so with the help of other bugs; they themselves did not possess the limbs or organs capable of performing loading and unloading tasks.
Flying Bug are even less likely to do it. As air force personnel, they would rather discard all useless limbs and organs, so they are even less likely to be porters.
If the new version of Soldier Ant is released, they can still serve as laborers, but their production sequence is quite far down the chain; they don't even have Insect Egg yet.
There's no way to rush it now. After considering the entire base, Rowan is the most suitable for this job. His Pincer Limb are perfect for catching prey, Exoskeleton Armor gives him immense strength...
After a busy day, they finally brought all the prey back. They first buried it in the pile of decaying leaves next to the base, and then the Excavator Ant started working overtime to build a huge Storage Room. Such a large pile of prey couldn't be left outside indefinitely; it was too dangerous.
Subsequently, ten of the first batch of Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant, each one meter long, were ordered. They will spend a long growth period of several dozen days in the larval stage, and then they will form a large pupa, which will be cast into shape in one go.
Once these Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant emerge, they can temporarily take over the work of transporting goods, but until then, Rowan will probably have to do all the transporting work himself.
Fortunately, the hunt was quite successful, with several hundred kilograms of food enough for the Swarm to digest for a while. Of course, this is on the condition that Rowan doesn't consume the food and goes out to forage for himself.
The combat troops naturally withdrew completely. They had enough food, and continuing would only be pointless slaughter. It would only waste food and serve no other purpose.
A small contingent of troops was assigned to guard and patrol duties, while the rest were placed into temporary hibernation. Rowan did not stay at the base any longer and went out alone to find food.
Rowan is currently in this forest, relying on his ability to shield himself from sight, pheromones, and heat sources. It's safe to say that, apart from a few exceptionally powerful creatures, none of the other beings are a match for Rowan.
Moreover, thanks to their various methods of scouting enemies, even if they are no match for those big shots, they can't do anything to Rowan unless Rowan actively provokes them.
Therefore, he is now basically at the top of the food chain in the forest, the danger of hunting alone is very low, and he is living a pretty good life, eating whatever he wants.
But he had only been out having fun for less than two days when an emergency call came from the base. Two Ant Queen nodes began to flash, and Rowan, who was nesting in a tree, quickly locked onto the nodes and his consciousness descended.
The communication between thoughts was very rapid, and the matter was relatively simple; Rowan quickly understood the whole story.
It turned out that because the Storage Room would take some time to complete, the prey was piled up outdoors. Logically, with the decaying leaves covering it and the prey having died from cardiac arrest and having almost no wounds, there shouldn't be any problems for the time being.
However, due to the large number of larvae recently produced in the base, the underground plantation can no longer fully supply the needs. Therefore, the Ant Queen naturally sends Worker Ant to cut up the prey to supplement the base's needs.
Although the wounds made by Worker Ant are small, Worker Ant sheer number causes the wounds on the prey to gradually enlarge over time, naturally revealing the bloody smell.