After discovering that the Soldier Ants were acting strangely, the Ant Queen grew wary. Pheromones seeped from her body, signaling that she needed protection—but it was already too late. She had long since been surrounded by countless assassins.
Almost the instant she grew wary, seven ants burst out from among the Worker Ants gathered around her to feed her. Six of them each seized one of the Ant Queen's six limbs and pulled backward. The seventh scrambled onto her back and shot out a tape-measure-like mouthpart.
She struggled with all her might, but this creature usually needed to be fed even at mealtimes. She was clearly untrained. Though she was rather large, the six Spy Ants held her firmly in place.
The Worker Ants from the Ant Nest surrounding the Ant Queen were stunned by what was happening. The Worker Ants suddenly attacking their queen seemed to have legitimate credentials, and they couldn't understand why their own kind would attack her.
By the time they tried to help the Ant Queen, it was already too late. Two of the quicker ones were intercepted by Spy Ants who hadn't joined the attack.
The extended tape-measure stiffened into a steel needle and pierced a gap in the Ant Queen's armor!
Moments later, the Ant Queen curled up and writhed in pain, just like the Soldier Ants.
In this primitive Ant Nest, there was no effective treatment. Most of the muscles inside her body were melting away.
She was doomed!
The Spy Ants didn't wait for the Ant Queen to die. She could struggle for a long time yet.
Their mission was complete. They had to hurry and withdraw before the Ant Nest realized what had happened.
First, though, they needed to deal with the Worker Ants from the Ant Nest in their way.
Several Spy Ants rushed forward to grapple with the Worker Ants. The ones that stayed back raised their thoraxes and abdomens, extending their rear ends forward.
Then Formic Acid Solution sprayed out, striking the Worker Ants from the Ant Nest with precision.
The Worker Ants from the Ant Nest were already outnumbered, and now they were under long-range artillery fire. Their antennae and armor began to dissolve.
Without their antennae, Worker Ants were like the blind and deaf, instantly losing most of their combat strength. They resisted for only a short while before the Spy Ants finished them off.
Before the Ant Nest could react, the Spy Ants withdrew to the Hatching Room, opened the Smuggling Tunnel, and released unusual pheromones.
The Worker Ants and Soldier Ants from the Ant Nest, still unaware of what was happening, followed their instincts and tracked the unfamiliar pheromones. To them, this was a vital part of the Ant Nest that could not be allowed to fall.
Unfortunately, as soon as they crawled into the Smuggling Tunnel, the Insect Nest forces waiting there ambushed them.
A Worker Ant from the Ant Nest had just poked its head out of the tunnel. Before its antennae could detect anything, a pair of mandibles pierced its head and dragged it out.
The Giant-Mandible Soldier Ant turned around. Two Worker Ants from the Insect Nest stepped forward, grabbed the body of the Worker Ant from the Ant Nest hanging from its mandibles, and pulled it free. They passed it to the rear to keep it from blocking the tunnel later.
The many Worker Ants behind them passed the body along like a game of pass-the-parcel, all the way to the back of the line. There, a Worker Ant dragged it toward the Insect Nest.
The Giant-Mandible Soldier Ant cleared away the burden, then turned back to guard the tunnel entrance.
At the entrance, another unsuspecting victim poked its head out...
One body after another was carried to the rear. Some were Worker Ants, and others were Soldier Ants.
After more than a hundred ants had been lost, no more heads emerged from the tunnel.
At last, the disturbance in the Ant Queen's chamber was discovered. After a long, agonizing struggle, the Ant Queen finally died.
News of the Ant Queen's death spread through the Ant Nest in drifting pheromones, sending the ants into chaos.
At this point, they naturally no longer cared about the strange scent in the Hatching Room. Besides, more than a hundred of their companions had already chased after it. Surely everything was fine now.
Some ants tried to rush out through the Ant Nest's entrance, but the area was already surrounded by a dense mass of Insect Nest forces. Dozens of Soldier Ants blocked the tunnel, with hundreds of Worker Ants supporting them from below.
The forces around the perimeter were busy as well. Their task was to eliminate every member of the Ant Nest returning from outside.
Worker Ants from the Ant Nest returned one after another, some carrying full loads and others empty-handed. The Big-Eye Scout Ants had spotted them long ago. Before they could react, Worker Ants from the Insect Nest—several times their number—cut them off.
Then the Insect Nest forces seized their legs and pinned them down. Giant-Mandible Soldier Ants or Big-Tooth Soldier Ants waiting nearby came forward and decapitated them with their sharp weapons.
After these members of the Ant Nest were killed, Worker Ants dragged their bodies into a pile.
When the battle was over, this high-quality protein would be carried to the mound above the Insect Nest. After some preservation treatment, it would be buried on the spot and kept as emergency food.
Ants kept pouring out of the Ant Nest's entrance, and the battle gradually became a stalemate. After all, this was an Ant Nest with a population of more than five thousand, and countless ants were hidden inside.
The broken limbs and remains of insects gradually piled up at the entrance. Some belonged to members of the Ant Nest, and others to the Insect Nest forces. They slowly clogged the tunnel, reducing the area where the ants could engage and gradually weakening the fighting.
The Worker Ants supporting the Insect Nest Soldier Ants rushed forward to drag away the bodies of enemies and allies alike, then fell back to the center to rest.
The next ring of Worker Ants immediately filled the gaps.
Soldier Ants who were badly exhausted also withdrew, making room for others to take their places. They headed to the rest area and gnawed on ant muscles to regain their strength.
Insect warfare was brutal. If an ant lost more than two limbs, it could no longer keep its balance or move, which meant death.
Its only options were to keep fighting and die on the battlefield, or survive the battle only to be processed by its companions for protein.
Once the entrance had been cleared, the fighting gradually intensified again.
More members of the Ant Nest, having received news of the Ant Queen's death, rushed out through the entrance in a panic.
The Insect Nest forces blocking the exit could no longer intercept them all. Many Worker Ants from the Ant Nest took advantage of the Insect Nest forces attacking others, clambering over the bodies of allies and enemies in an attempt to cross the line.
More Soldier Ants and Worker Ants from the Insect Nest joined the fight, and the battlefield gradually spread outward from the entrance.
When the members of the Ant Nest reached a certain density, a group of Worker Ants crawled in from the outer edge of the encirclement. They lined up and struck the standard opening stance for spraying Formic Acid Solution.
Then a dense acid rain poured from above, spreading across most of the battlefield.
The Insect Nest forces were all equipped with Acid-Resistant Armor, so the acid rain was no more than bathwater to them. The members of the Ant Nest had no such advanced technology. Their fragile antennae took a devastating hit, and their exoskeleton armor began to corrode and break.
Even in perfect condition, the Insect Nest forces were somewhat stronger than the Ant Nest forces. Now they faced a group of blinded enemies, and they swept through them like a crushing tide.
The battlefield was gradually pushed back to the entrance of the Ant Nest.