Hunting Pterosaurs
Fortunately, the Pterosaur underestimated the weight of the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant during that attack, lifting it five or six meters before letting it fall.
Rowan, who had been monitoring the situation remotely, immediately ordered the prey to be abandoned and the entire group to retreat.
In the early stages, before the Insect Empress was born, let alone Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant, even obtaining a single Spider War-Bug was difficult. Most importantly, this loss was a complete and irrecoverable loss.
A Spider War-Bug once climbed onto the body of a Pterosaur along its prey. Despite its seemingly defenseless appearance, the Pterosaur actually had a remarkably thick layer of keratinized skin.
Finally, the Spider War-Bug climbed onto its wing and, with great effort, managed to inject it. The Pterosaur quickly noticed the large insect on its body, descended, and intended to eat the Spider War-Bug. During the struggle, the Spider War-Bug broke free from the Pterosaur's body and was subsequently killed by the Pterosaur.
Rowan watched the entire battle from a remote perspective. The Pterosaur's neck was two to three meters long, making it extremely agile and fast at attacking. Even with its excellent dynamic vision and echolocation, the Spider War-Bug would have a hard time dodging such attacks.
While it was on the Pterosaur, it could still entangle it for a while, but once it broke free, the Pterosaur had no more scruples and couldn't last more than a few rounds in a one-on-one fight.
Rowan couldn't accept a battle where the bodies couldn't be recovered, so he temporarily avoided the outer areas of the forest.
After that, the Swarm only had a short period of sufficient manpower, but before Rowan could formulate a battle plan, a new round of large-scale expansion began, and the Swarm has been in a state of manpower shortage ever since.
Only after occupying the entire forest and recuperating for a period of time was Rowan finally able to spare the time and resources to have a proper battle with the Pterosaur.
However, Rowan first needs to find a way to get a Pterosaur and obtain its genes, otherwise the Swarm will be at a great disadvantage.
Due to their physical structure, Pterosaur could fly at altitudes and speeds far exceeding those of various birds, let alone insects. Rowan's current flight genes posed no threat to Pterosaur. They only needed to increase their altitude to remain invincible.
Fortunately, Pterosaur aren't very bright, so setting up a targeted trap is quite easy for them.
A Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant dragged a boar carcass out of the forest. The boar carcass was actually played by Wild Boar Insect-Beast; they hadn't had a chance to appear in a long time since the Triceratops Beast appeared.
Because Pterosaur didn't eat their prey on the spot, but instead captured it and hid somewhere to eat it, the previous tactic of using poison hidden in Carnivorous Fish carcasses no longer worked.
So Rowan simply found Wild Boar Insect-Beast to play the part, just in case the Pterosaur accidentally got stabbed by its ramming horn.
Pterosaur had excellent eyesight, able to spot prey thousands of meters in the air, provided there were no clouds to obstruct their view. Therefore, any unusual activity on the ground immediately caught their attention.
Several Pterosaur descended to a height of three or four hundred meters, circling and making calls, seemingly to intimidate their fellow pterosaurs nearby.
After some arguing, the largest Pterosaur seemed to have earned the right to strike first. It tilted its head down, folded its wings, and began to dive.
The Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant and the Wild Boar Insect-Beast are significantly larger, and the Wild Boar Insect-Beast, which lacks an outer shell, is more attractive to Pterosaur.
Completely ignoring the thoughts of the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant, when it dropped to a height of thirty meters, it suddenly spread its wings, and the powerful wind resistance made its rapidly falling body pause.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Pterosaur adjusted its body shape, lowered its claws, and grabbed at the motionless Wild Boar Insect-Beast.
To avoid scaring away the Pterosaur, Rowan didn't let the Wild Boar Insect-Beast try attacking Pterosaur with its ramming horn; the chance of hitting it was just too low. He'd rather let it play dead in peace.
After the Pterosaur caught the Wild Boar War-Bug, it flapped its wings and prepared to take off. This Pterosaur had a wingspan of nearly ten meters and was enormous. The Wild Boar Insect-Beast, weighing nearly half a ton, was gradually pulled off the ground by it.
Based on the Pterosaur's body structure, its weight was estimated to be just over half a ton, but its strength was unexpected.
No sooner said than done, the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant on the side activated its Catapult Start system.
The system's acceleration effect on the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant's massive body had been greatly reduced. However, its overload activation still allowed the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant to burst into extremely fast speed. Its two giant mandibles clamped down on one of the Pterosaur's ankles, pulling it down forcefully, and the Wild Boar Insect-Beast's body fell back to the ground.
However, the cost is that its two hind leg joints are severely damaged and are estimated to be difficult to repair. After this battle, it will likely need to be sent back to the factory for reconstruction.
Although the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant very strong, its strength was greatly reduced because it only had four Walking Leg to grip the ground. The Wild Boar Insect-Beast's body was still lifting off the ground again.
But the slight delay was enough; the Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant had already accomplished its mission admirably. Hidden all around were numerous Spider War-Bug activating Optical Camouflage, which then crawled up the Pterosaur's body.
This batch of Spider War-Bug were modified versions of Spider War-Bug with added Optical Camouflage, specifically designed for special operations. Now, a five-centimeter stinger has been added to the tail end of their abdomens.
This is a special version designed to counter Pterosaur. Since the stingers hidden on the Spider War-Bug's Walking Leg are too small to penetrate the Pterosaur's defenses, the stingers were lengthened and thickened. Since the venom sacs in the Walking Leg have too little capacity, a large venom sac was placed in their abdomens.
After they climbed onto the Pterosaur's body, they didn't linger. The Spider War-Bug that had died earlier had used its life to probe the Pterosaur's body and find out where its defenses were weakest.
The Spider War-Bug were incredibly fast, darting onto the Pterosaur's wings in no time. Although the wings were flapping violently, their hooked claws and sticky hairs still managed to help them maintain their balance.
The vent sank down, the stinger pressed against the wing, and then forcefully pushed aside the Pterosaur's keratinous defenses, injecting venom into it.
The Pterosaur, under attack, did not hesitate, discarding its claws and abandoning its prey, and began to raise its body.
Without the weight of the Wild Boar Insect-Beast to suppress it, the injured Heavy-Armored Soldier Ant alone couldn't hold back the Pterosaur. With a sway, it was carried into the air.
The moment the Wild Boar Insect-Beast was freed from its confinement, it flipped over and attempted to attack the Pterosaur, but its clumsy body meant it unsuccessfully struck, only to find itself with a hollow attack.
After taking off, the Pterosaur immediately flew away into the distance, but at least a dozen Spider War-Bug (modified) were providing Rowan with vision on its back.
Hundreds of thousands of Flying Bug insects rose from nearby and chased after the Pterosaur at low altitude. Like a dark cloud pressing down, they rampaged through the air, and no one dared to provoke them.
Several Blade mingled among the Flying Bug, directing the operation. On the ground, hundreds of Spider War-Bug (modified) special forces also activated Optical Camouflage and plummeted in that direction.
Their internal organs have stored enough energy to support them to travel long distances.