A Return of the Enemy Below

As it turned out, he was overthinking things. Just when he was increasingly convinced that it was a trap and was about to turn back...

He actually found the Northern Army!

At this moment, Rowan was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions, but his limited education prevented him from expressing them accurately.

"Maybe it's because I've been too idle these days, and I'm just overthinking things all day, which has made me a bit neurotic."

Although I had scared myself a bit along the way, it turned out to be a false alarm, and finding the Northern Army was good news.

It was still raining, and these guys were taking shelter in a tree hollow.

Being small has its advantages; you can easily find a tree hole to crawl into and take shelter from the rain. Someone like Rowan, on the other hand, can only find a slightly drier spot under the shade of a tree to avoid the rain.

The shade of the tree couldn't completely block the rain, and raindrops still dripped through the leaves onto Rowan's carapace. Looking at the insects in the tree hole who were completely unaffected, his anger gradually rose.

These guys are pretty fast. How do their messengers get back every three days? It seems the Ant Queen's intelligence isn't reliable either.

He then reflected on himself, wondering if he was being too lazy. He should occasionally catch up with the army to check on things, even though that distance was no problem for his long legs.

The insects' advance is not a forced march; they need to thoroughly clear the area around their path as they move forward, eliminating all dangers and laying the groundwork for the arrival of the Ant Queen.

Therefore, their advance was actually very slow, which is why Rowan became increasingly suspicious of a trap after passing the last base and walking less than two kilometers, and even had to turn back after walking four kilometers.

After careful consideration, he realized that the problem stemmed from his own actions; he hadn't kept track of the insects' progress and hadn't sent the Ant Queen over in time.

Actually, this was still a communication problem. The communications soldiers sent back by the Northern Army only reported that everything was normal each time. He had no idea that the follow-up information from the bases had become seriously out of touch with theirs.

Once again, Rowan desperately wanted a remote Interaction System.

After regrouping with the Northern Army and taking a count, they found that there were 70,000 to 80,000 when they set out, and after such a long time, there were still nearly 70,000 left. It seems that the fighting power of a team composed entirely of Soldier Ant is still formidable.

While the insects were taking shelter from the rain, he decided to go out and scout out the enemy's situation on his own.

As he stopped obsessing over digging holes and instead spent his days perched on tree trunks admiring the scenery, his eyesight improved dramatically. He can now clearly see distances of over two hundred meters.

Moreover, this is different from how the human eye sees 200 meters away. He can even see ants more than 100 meters away, but then his vision will gradually blur until the scenery more than 200 meters away becomes completely like frosted glass.

With his long legs and a height of over one meter when he stands upright, he's like a built-in eight-legged tripod, giving him an excellent vantage point.

Coupled with his excellent mobility, upon closer examination, he is undoubtedly the Swarm's top scout.

The insects faithfully carried out his orders, searching forward for about 300 meters. He could then see the distinctive volcano-shaped Red Ant nest about 200 meters away. The insects then retreated more than 500 meters.

Perhaps because of the rain, there were no patrols near the "volcano," probably because they had all gone back to their nests to avoid the rain, since they were not as big as Rowan.

Suddenly, a wicked thought crossed his mind. He ran to the "volcano" and, before the Black Ant inside could react, he used his Digging Leg to dig a section of the "volcano" and then pushed the surrounding soil to fill and block the Volcano Crater.

Rowan then left the scene in a cheerful mood.

This was one of his favorite things to do when he was a child. He remembers that he especially liked to poke ant holes with a stick to block their entrances, but unfortunately, he lacked the most important element—his son's urine—so he didn't do it quite right.

Normally, blocking the enemy's path should be a happy thing. But for some reason, thinking about this made a faint sadness permeate the surroundings, and coupled with the pattering raindrops, it made one feel a little choked up.

Unfortunately, he had lost his tear ducts, and had no way to vent his frustration.

Back at his shelter from the rain, he found himself surrounded by tens of thousands of living creatures, yet none of them could comprehend his feelings.

He sighed inwardly, then quietly lay down in the shade of the tree, instantly blending into his surroundings.

The rain continued all night and finally stopped the next morning. Although some water would occasionally drip from the leaves, it no longer affected the march.

Judging from the size of the "volcano" at the entrance of that Red Ant Nest, Rowan could tell it was at least a million-strong ant colony. Even if the 60,000-plus insects here were incredibly brave, charging in would be tantamount to suicide.

Although Rowan desperately needed a war to distract himself from his suicidal thoughts, he didn't actually want to die.

Moreover, now that we are so far from our territory, not only can reinforcements and supplies not be delivered in time, but even if we conquer this area, we will not have enough troops to garrison and develop it.

Fortunately, we've already caused some trouble and blocked some obstacles for the other party, so the trip wasn't a complete waste.

Rowan consoled himself and led the insects back.

Upon returning to his territory, Rowan ordered his Northern Army of over 60,000 Soldier Ant to garrison near the border and protect the surrounding area. Rowan then hurriedly returned to his rear base.

Connect to the Mother Nest, postpone all other tasks, and spend some time specifically producing five hundred Ant Queen.

There is an area of about four kilometers between the Swarm's territory and the Red Ant nest. This area is even larger than the Swarm's existing territory and requires a large number of Ant Queen to guard and develop it.

In addition, both the initial mass production of troops to attack Red Ant nests and the subsequent occupation of enemy territory require a large number of Ant Queen.

Therefore, Rowan simply went all out and produced five hundred Ant Queen directly. Keep in mind that the Swarm currently only Ant Queen in total.

After arranging the work at the rear, Rowan rested for a night and then spent several days scouting the situation of the other two armies.

The western and Northern Army were in similar situations, with a large blind spot between their positions and their territories. The Northwestern Army in a slightly better situation; as they moved further away from their territories, the fan-shaped area they were assigned to scout became larger, resulting in them being the closest to their territories.

Despite this, the area of this blind spot is actually not much smaller than that of the other two armies.

To give an example, if the blind spots created by the other two armies are a vertical rectangle, then the blind spots created by the Northwestern Army are a horizontal rectangle.

Based on this calculation, five hundred queen Ant Queen are far from enough to fill the gaps in these areas.

Upon learning of this, Rowan rushed back to his lair that very night and placed another order for Ant Queen. This way, once these Ant Queen matured, the Swarm would have approximately 1,500 queen Ant Queen.

To fulfill these orders, Mother Nest will likely be unable to take on any other work for some time.