On the Attack

In reality, it takes a considerable amount of time before reinforcements from the Ant Nest return.

Given the current state of the Ant Nest, it simply cannot hold out for that long.

Sure enough, a short while later, problems appeared on the collapsed soil.

The soil swelled up, the mud and sand were gradually lifted, and then a Red Ant's head cautiously peeked out.

Unfortunately, before it could find anything, a spear-like Walking Leg pierced through its body and pulled it out of the soil.

A circle of Transport Bug surrounded the collapsed hole; it was one of them that had just struck, shaking off the Red Ant with its Walking Leg.

Soldier Ant crawled all over the feet of the Transport Bug. The Soldier Ant closest to the Red Ant's landing point stepped forward and ended its suffering.

Black Ant kept emerging from the mud and sand covering the hole, while the Transport Bug surrounding it pierced them one by one, like playing whack-a-mole.

However, this method of attack was extremely energy-consuming. Under Rowan's guidance, the Transport Bug changed their method, using the sticky hairs on their claws to grab the emerging Red Ant and throw them beside them. Afterward, Soldier Ant would naturally turn them into rations.

Although this reduced physical exertion considerably, the sheer number of Black Ant surfacing was overwhelming. However, there were also many Transport Bug waiting in line to play "whack-a-mole" and "claw machine." Those who were exhausted could simply give up their spots, and a large number of Transport Bug would naturally fill those places.

Four or five hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the Red Ant dug another hole not far away. However, this hole was still within the swarm of Swarm.

This time, the Worker Ant carried enough acid, so there was no need to conserve it. As a result, acid rain began to fall from the burrow entrance, and it was a torrential downpour.

The swarm of ants trying to break through had barely surfaced when they were met with a baptism of acid. The luckier ones had their antennae corroded off, leaving small pits in their armor as they managed to escape. The unlucky ones were immediately corroded and rendered incapable of movement, left to lie in the acid, desperately waiting to slowly melt away.

Over time, the entrance to the cave was blocked by a layer of unknown solution, on which floated broken limbs and a pungent odor. No more ants continued to emerge from inside. Slowly, the solution dried up, resembling a relief sculpture, exuding an aura of pain and despair.

Five thousand Excavator Ant were dispatched to first fill the hole with some soil, and then some Transport Bug and Soldier Ant were brought out to guard it. However, perhaps the relief sculpture was also very impressive to the ants, because they abandoned the hole and no ants came out from there again.

Two days passed in this way, during which two Predator Squad returned to reinforce the army and replenished its supplies.

The ants inside the Ant Nest initially attempted to break out several times, but were quickly wiped out each time, and have remained silent for a long time.

Rowan reflected on his actions, realizing that suffocating the ants in the Ant Nest was unrealistic. They could easily dig a hole anywhere, and even if he quickly filled it in, the brief ventilation would be enough for the ants to survive for a long time.

He shouldn't have blocked the entrance so fiercely in the first place; now they simply won't come out. If the ants dig another hole to break out, he'll definitely let them out.

Unfortunately, another day passed, and the Ant Nest still showed no signs of life.

Rowan grew impatient. After thinking for a moment, he used all his leg hair to sense the location of the underground cavity pipes and found a spot relatively close to the surface.

Then, with his enormous Digging Leg, he forcefully rammed it into the soil, and with another powerful dig, he repeated this several times, until he had dug a large pit in the ground, with a round hole clearly visible on each side of the pit wall.

They dug too far and completely blocked the Ant Nest's passageway.

The ants that were originally in the tunnel sensed the air circulation and rushed over to check the situation. They discovered that there was an unexpected exit, and there were no long-legged monsters guarding it. Several Black Ant cautiously crawled out of the hole, explored the surroundings, and found no danger.

They quickly turned back, and moments later, swarms of Black Ant crawled out of the passage.

Unfortunately, they were too quick to celebrate; the encirclement had only retreated a short distance.

Perhaps because they had been underground for too long, in just a short time, the number of Black Ant that crawled out of the Ant Nest reached about 100,000.

The prey has been released, and the Swarm suddenly tightens its encirclement.

Hundreds of Transport Bug led soldiers into the battlefield first, quickly clearing out the enemy troops at the cave entrance and re-surrounding the entrance.

This team had a heavy task: on one hand, they needed to intercept the enemy troops who were still crawling out of the anthill, and on the other hand, they had to block the enemy troops who wanted to retreat back to the Ant Nest. It was like being attacked from both sides.

However, they didn't need to hold out for long. After being hit by a round of acid spray, the enemy forces in the encirclement were greatly weakened and were quickly wiped out by the Swarm army.

It's possible that the enemy troops who were blocked at the cave entrance returned and reported the news, and since the battle outside wasn't over yet, no more enemy troops were showing themselves at the cave entrance.

No matter, after cleaning up the battlefield and replenishing his rations, Rowan moved to another spot and dug a new hole.

Ants aren't Saint Seiya warriors; the same tricks can still work...

So the army surrounded them, annihilated the enemy, cleaned up the battlefield, and dug tunnels...

After several rounds, six large craters had appeared on the ground.

Although the results were worse with each subsequent attempt, more than 300,000 enemy soldiers still ended up as military rations.

At this point, the enemy finally realized it was a trap, and there weren't many ants coming out of the last pit.

However, Rowan quickly came up with a new idea.

He mobilized over a hundred Spy Bug, then divided them into six groups, each entering through one of the six pits.

Their mission is to disguise themselves and act as guides inside.

Actually, Rowan would be the best person to do this job; Spy Bug's comprehension and adaptability are still a bit lacking. However, he's too big now, and he couldn't do infiltration work for a long time.

However, the Red Ant can attack friendly forces without warning, making it quite dangerous to infiltrate them. Fortunately, we brought enough Spy Bug this time, so even if we lose some, it won't be a big problem.

Fortunately, the Spy Bug seemed to understand Rowan's meaning.

After they burrowed into the cave, they crawled deeper and deeper, spreading new information along the way.

As a result, the channels that originally contained only messages like "danger," "go back quickly," and "this road is blocked" were now filled with pheromones that completely contradicted the previous messages, such as "this road is safe" and "go this way out."

This confusing information left the ants bewildered and unsure of what was going on.

Some ants believed the dangerous information and dared not approach the entrance, while others chose to believe that the entrance was safe.

A moment later, some Black Ant began to crawl out of the hole.

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