The Attack (Part Two)

Another batch of enemy soldiers were tricked out of the Ant Nest, numbering in the tens of thousands.

Two hours later, although a few ants still occasionally crawled out of the hole, Rowan didn't want to waste any more time.

At a command, the large Soldier Ant ants led the way, followed by the Small Soldier Ants, while the Worker Ant provided long-range fire support. The army split into several teams and charged into the passage.

After several rounds of this ordeal, there weren't many ants left in the Ant Nest to begin with, and most of them were disoriented and weakened by the Spy Bug.

In contrast, the Swarm swept through the enemy lines with unstoppable momentum, and their well-balanced unit composition proved invincible even in narrow passages.

Two hours later, the Ant Nest will change hands and be transformed into a Swarm base, guarded by a queen Ant Queen accompanying the army.

So far, this battle has resulted in the elimination of over 700,000 enemy troops, Swarm has lost over 10,000 units of various types, most of which were lost in the final battle for the passageway.

Small Red Ant are adept at using their stingers to attack in narrow terrain, often achieving a one-for-one trade and inflicting significant casualties on the Swarm.

But this loss is nothing to Rowan, who has 1,500 Ant Queen.

After the battlefield was cleaned up, the relatively well-preserved insect corpses were collected, buried in a centralized location to prevent them from rotting and spoiling. The remains were recycled into protein for the army's daily consumption.

After the battle, the army rested for a day and was divided into several teams. Two teams went in different directions to clear out the remaining enemy forces in the area. The third team stayed in place and waited for any Predator Squad that were lucky enough to escape the clearing teams.

In the following days, the three teams wiped out more than thirty Predator Squad that returned to reinforce the Ant Nest, totaling about 400,000 ants. This area was finally completely under Rowan's control.

Afterwards, the three hundred queen Ant Queen accompanied the army, along with their standard two thousand Elite Guard, three thousand additional Engineer Ant, and a considerable share of military rations, went to their respective territories to guard and develop.

The remaining 900,000 Worker Ant were mostly transported to other areas by Transport Bug.

Of the Ant Queen that were produced earlier, 300 accompanied the army, and another 900, after arriving at their respective territories and resting briefly, began to mass-produce troops to support the front lines.

Now that the war is over, it's time to replenish their workforce.

With nearly 150,000 Soldier Ant, 50,000 of them were added to the Central Army (reorganized from the Northwestern Army). As the angle continues to expand outward, the area they need to explore is getting larger and larger, and there is a severe shortage of manpower.

The remaining 100,000 Soldier Ant, along with a small number of Worker Ant, scout ants, Transport Bug, and other auxiliary troops, totaling 120,000, reorganized into the Northern Army and continued to advance along the riverbank.

Rowan also had plans; he needed to head to the western army to join them. A message had arrived earlier, but the Messenger Bug's message was unclear.

The gist of it is that something unusual has been discovered, and Rowan feels it's necessary to investigate it personally.

I've just finished this task and need to find something new to distract myself, so I don't end up thinking about how to mess things up again when I'm idle.

As the largest individual in the Swarm, Rowan's size prevents him from traveling long distances leisurely on Transport Bug like other bugs; he has to rely on his long legs to run on his own.

However, due to his size, he runs much faster than the Transport Bug, and his eight strong Walking Leg also give him considerable jumping ability. He can easily leap over obstacles such as small ditches and exposed tree roots, which do not slow him down at all.

Rowan set off in the morning, and because he traveled very quickly, even though he checked the development of several Branch Base along the way, by the time he found the western army and joined them, it was only just getting dark.

After a night's rest, Rowan, led by the Western Army, went to investigate the unusual area early the next morning.

Because the army encountered this anomaly during its march, the Ant Queen ordered the army to bypass the area and sent troops to inform Rowan.

Therefore, Rowan's route at this point was heading backwards.

After advancing about one kilometer southeast of the main army, he saw the area marked as abnormal.

We were very close to the Cliff. There were many boulders that had rolled down from the cliff, piled up together with huge gaps between them.

From the outside, it just looks like an ordinary pile of stones. Although it occupies a considerable area, there is nothing unusual about it.

Now it was time for the cannon fodder to make their appearance. Rowan flicked his tentacles, and two Transport Bug leaped out from the crowd, rushing swiftly toward the pile of stones.

Their Walking Leg is the same as that of the Rowan, and the sticky hairs on their claws allow them to walk on smooth stone surfaces with ease. Their strong limb muscles give them considerable running speed and jumping ability.

Two Transport Bug were seen scrambling and weaving swiftly between the rocks. They seemed excited, as if they hadn't run like this in a long time without carrying any load.

At this moment, Rowan also noticed something amiss; the two frolicking Transport Bug seemed to be disturbing the owner of the place.

From the shadows of the cracks in the rocks, several creatures of varying sizes slowly crawled out.

They have a body that, while somewhat slender, is still quite strong. The head, thorax, and abdomen are connected, and although they are segmented, unlike ants where the segments vary in thickness, the different parts of the body can be clearly distinguished.

It has a total of eight eyes on its head, with a pair of slightly larger central eyes and three lateral eyes on each side. The front of its head is slightly flat and has no whiskers.

A pair of enormous Pincer Limb extend from either side of its head, open at the front like pincers, with massive muscle tissue attached to the back of the pincers, giving it a very powerful and intimidating appearance. Four pairs of Pincer Limb grow from the back of the Walking Leg, and their low-lying territory allows them to pass through very narrow gaps, despite their considerable size. For example, the rock crevice they just emerged from is difficult for the Transport Bug, which is similar in size to them, to squeeze into.

In addition, their entire bodies are covered with thick, pure black chitinous armor, providing amazing defense. It is also covered with downy hair, especially on their Pincer Limb, where not only is the outer shell pitted and uneven, but the downy hair is also several times more abundant than on other parts of the body.

What makes them most distinctive is the long, thin tail that extends from the back of their bodies, curling up above their bodies, with a gleaming hook at the bottom.

Rowan was dumbfounded. If it weren't for the fact that two moons would appear in the sky before nightfall, he would have thought he had returned to Blue Star. How could these species be so similar to those on Blue Star? Now, even "Scorpion" had appeared.