As expected, it had been right not to get his hopes up. When Rowan woke the next day, he found he hadn't gained anything. But to know for sure, he would have to return to the Mother Nest and check.
Before that, though, he still had some postwar business to take care of.
After a day of rest, Rowan led an army of three hundred thousand across the border and into Red Ant territory.
In the final battle, the Coalition Army had been surrounded and wiped out by the Swarm. They hadn't encountered any stragglers along the way, either. Rowan had assumed that taking over the Coalition Army's territory would be a mere formality.
But not long after entering enemy territory, they ran into two fully organized units, with a combined force of a little over thirty thousand. They must have been hunting far away and had only just returned. They were on their way to reinforce the front lines.
They were simply unlucky. Just as they neared the border, they ran straight into the Swarm's army.
There was nothing to discuss. The Transport Bugs and Soldier Ants split the battlefield, and surrounding and wiping out thirty thousand enemy troops with an army of three hundred thousand took only minutes.
The Red Ants had accepted the Black Ants as prisoners, but Rowan wouldn't do the same. These combat units had only basic templates and a single friend-or-foe identification system, leaving them far too vulnerable to flaws. Their best use now was to be recycled into protein.
The Red and Black Ants fighting together, however, had plenty of backbone. They had no intention of surrendering.
Before long, they had become provisions for the Swarm's army, loaded onto the backs of Transport Bugs.
Over the next few days, Scout Bugs were sent