The Attack (Part One)

Over the next few dozen days, Rowan traveled around, planning the locations of new Branch Base along the perimeter of his territory, and ordered all the Ant Queen produce Worker Ant at full capacity.

After these several dozen days, the earliest queen Ant Queen have emerged from their pupae and are gradually heading to their assigned locations.

Because so many queen Ant Queen, even though the existing 300-plus queen Ant Queen were producing at full capacity, the largest production base— the Mother Nest —was already fully booked and could not provide any assistance.

The number of Worker Ant produced by these Ant Queen is limited, and many Ant Queen also face a huge labor shortage within their own territories.

Therefore, before the Ant Queen set off, the standard number of Elite Guard, which had originally increased to two thousand, was reduced back to one thousand.

Rowan couldn't do anything about it. Anyway, the territory had already been cleared, and the insects that could pose a threat to the base had been turned into military rations. These places were all safe, Ant Queen could go and develop slowly first, and then make up for the shortfall in production capacity later.

Several dozen days later, the Mother Nest had completed its order fulfillment and began to produce Worker Ant and Transport Bug at full capacity. As the Mother Nest's production capacity was gradually released, a steady stream of Worker Ant were transported to various bases by Transport Bug to replenish their labor force.

The Mother Nest has always shared Rowan's genes, and its size has always been slightly larger than Rowan's. The underground chamber where it is stored has been expanded several times.

Its productivity is proportional to its size; compared to Ant Queen, one Mother Nest is equivalent to the productivity of two hundred Ant Queen.

As the Ant Queen from the new northern base gradually arrived, the territory's borders continued to advance. Another hundred days passed quickly, and the original buffer zone of about four kilometers was occupied by the Swarm. Bases were like nails, covering the area and forming a continuous expanse.

As the border line gets closer to the Red Ant Nest, the Swarm's patrols inevitably encounter the Ant Nest's Predator Squad.

Red Ant are a nomadic hunter-gatherer species, naturally inclined to plunder. Although Rowan has developed animal husbandry, the construction and expansion of ranches require a large amount of land as a foundation.

Therefore, neither side backed down upon meeting, and the two units did not engage in any pre-battle banter. They simply verified each other's pheromones to confirm that they were not on the same side, and then the two forces mingled together.

In fact, Rowan had already seen this encounter. Otherwise, a small squad of Swarm patrols with only a few hundred soldiers would not be able to compete with the tens of thousands of Red Ant Predator Squad.

Relying on his superior vision and mobility, Rowan had already mobilized his 60,000- Northern Army, which was already stationed nearby, to set up an ambush in front of the Predator Squad were still completely unaware.

The outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. How could a mixed force of over ten thousand Worker Ant Soldier Ant possibly withstand sixty thousand elite Soldier Ant? And indeed, the result was as expected. The Northern Army annihilated the Predator Squad with only a hundred or so Soldier Ant lost.

From then on, battles became more frequent, with Predator Squad operating near the border constantly finding themselves surrounded by the Northern Army due to various "accidents".

Moreover, because Rowan had superior forces and was well-prepared, he always annihilated the enemy and cleaned up the battlefield afterward to confuse the pheromones. As a result, the Red Ant lost more than thirty teams one after another without noticing anything amiss.

Unfortunately, the Red Ant' Predator Squad in this direction has been almost completely wiped out, and it would be too troublesome to set up traps in other directions to slowly whittle them down.

At the previous Red Ant nest, Rowan, being relatively weak, had the patience to play with them slowly.

But he is not the same person he used to be, and the Swarm is no longer as weak as it once was.

After a period of rest and recuperation, the war potential of the Ant Queen is now on full display.

At Rowan's command, except for about three hundred queen Ant Queen that were too far from the northern front, the remaining twelve hundred ants, along with the Mother Nest, began to mass produce an army.

In this situation, within a short period of time, a million Worker Ant ants and 100,000 Soldier Ant gathered at the front line. Together with the more than 60,000 Soldier Ant and other auxiliary troops that were already there, a total of nearly 1.2 million soldiers gathered here.

In terms of sheer numbers, they already surpass the Red Ant nest; a direct head-on confrontation wouldn't be a problem. With this kind of strength, what's the point of tactics? What's the point of slowly wearing them down?

Looking at the dense Swarm, Rowan felt a slight swelling in his body, and his demeanor gradually resembled the very thing he had once despised.

A million-strong army marched forward; although the insects were small, they still created a scene that blotted out the sky. Those with trypophobia would likely find this sight unbearable.

All sorts of insects encountered along the way became military rations. Even highly mobile Grasshopper were no match for the Transport Bug. Not to mention Black Armored Beetle and the like, the "War God" that Rowan had once marveled at couldn't even make a ripple in front of a million-strong army.

Even a large Red Ant Predator Squad is barely able to make an appearance in the face of a massive army.

"Indeed, this is the way Swarm should fight." Rowan exclaimed, watching the army sweep through the enemy lines with unstoppable momentum.

Unfortunately, nobody was watching him show off.

Rowan spotted the repaired "Volcano Crater" from afar and immediately ordered his army to advance rapidly and surround it.

Suddenly surrounded by a million-strong army, the Red Ant were startled and retreated to the vicinity of the "Volcano Crater" to prepare for battle.

A moment later, several small teams rushed out of the cave entrance. Rowan ordered the main army to make way for these teams to leave.

Because he already knew the purpose of these teams, the downside of pheromone communication is that the information carried is attached to the body. As long as the encryption method is cracked, anyone can see what the message says.

These squads were out seeking reinforcements, Rowan was more than happy for them to call the entire Predator Squad back, as this would save him a lot of time; otherwise, he would have to go and deal with those guys himself.

The Black Ant inside the Ant Nest remained huddled together, making it difficult for Rowan to send his team directly in. The nest was winding and the situation was complicated.

Most importantly, his forces could not be deployed. He had previously used the "closing the door to beat the dog" tactic to kill many enemy troops. With this lesson learned, he could not rashly advance.

After thinking for a moment, it stepped out of the encirclement, stretched out its Digging Leg, and used its eight Walking Leg to stabilize its body. With practiced movements, it pushed the Volcano Crater over, and the collapsing soil buried the entrance.

This was the second time he'd done it, so he was already quite adept at it.

He sealed the entrance to the hole, convinced that the ants inside wouldn't come out. Although their oxygen supply system made it difficult for them to suffocate, difficult doesn't mean impossible.

The reinforcements have already been sent out, and there's nothing else to do now, so we might as well surround the point and ambush any reinforcements.