Tailgating

The two sides traded blows on the battlefield. To Rowan's surprise, despite the continuous influx of reinforcements, the Red Ant's mixed army was still being driven back in defeat.

The Soldier Ant in the new ant species have very large heads; let's call them Big-Headed Ant for now.

Compared to the Red and Black Coalition Army, which are more reckless and aggressive, the Big-Headed Ant seem to be more tactically-oriented.

Their Soldier Ant of all sizes are covered with Worker Ant of all sizes to defend Soldier Ant backs, which is somewhat reminiscent of infantry-tank coordination.

Whenever a Red Ant approaches Soldier Ant, several Worker Ant will rush off the Soldier Ant's back and entangle Red Ant, while the Soldier Ant will look for an opportunity to kill it.

Having dealt with the poisonous Red Ant, the Black Ant's weaponry alone is unlikely to pose a threat to the Soldier Ant. Meanwhile, the Soldier Ant's mandibles, which grow larger with their size, can easily eliminate the Black Ant.

Although both sides deployed roughly the same number of troops, one side's main combat force was tactically countered, making it virtually impossible to achieve victory by relying on auxiliary worker Worker Ant.

As Rowan predicted, the war progressed in the same direction: the Red and Black Coalition Army's manpower was constantly being eroded, and their casualty ratio far exceeded that of the Big-Headed Ant.

Faced with this situation, the Big-Headed Ant did not rush for quick success but instead proceeded steadily and cautiously.

The battle lasted for two days, with the battlefield changing several times. Most of the battles ended with the Red Ant suffering defeats and losing tens of thousands of dead insects. Only once did the Red Ant ambush a small force of Big-Headed Ant and win by overwhelming numbers.

For some reason, many Soldier Ant remains were inexplicably lost during the cleanup of the battlefield. In particular, the remains of the two Super Giant Soldier Ant were completely gone.

The discarded wreckage was naturally taken by Rowan, who disguised himself as a stone and approached the battlefield. After picking and choosing, he put his spoils on his back, and then, with a few leaps of his eight long legs, he disappeared from the battlefield, appearing and disappearing without a trace.

These Super Giant Soldier Ant must have something special about them to grow to such a size using ant templates. Now that I have the genes, I'll study them when I have time.

He's not in a hurry to go back to the Mother Nest; his priority is to figure out where these newly appeared Big-Headed Ant came from.

Three days later, after losing more than 100,000 troops, the Red Ant Big-Headed Ant, though still highly motivated and unwilling to retreat, felt they had already reaped a bountiful harvest and would lack the manpower to transport the spoils if they continued fighting.

So, quite abruptly, Red Ant gathered a large army to fight the Big-Headed Ant, they found that their opponent had disappeared.

The Red Ant were unaware of what was happening, but Rowan, who had been closely monitoring the battlefield, had not overlooked the fact that the army of hundreds of thousands of Big-Headed Ant was retreating with their spoils, which could be considered a large-scale operation.

Without any cover, there was no way to escape Rowan's long-distance surveillance.

Their return journey is somewhat similar to that of Swarm. Various sizes of Soldier Ant and some Major Worker and Median Worker act as Transport Vehicle, while worker ants smaller than Minor Worker Ant climb onto their backs, saving energy and helping to secure the spoils.

Based solely on their previous demonstration of combined arms warfare and their current transportation methods, the Big-Headed Ant is far more advanced than other ant species.

The Big-Headed Ant returned to their nest much faster than expected, having traveled less than two kilometers.

This surprised Rowan quite a bit, considering that the Swarm could now control a territory spanning more than ten kilometers in radius. Even if the Swarm couldn't match the Ant Nest in terms of the number of large combat units it could deploy, the area it controlled shouldn't be this small.

"Could it be that the territories in other directions are longer?" Rowan then shook his head. Based on his contact with these ant species, their territories should radiate evenly in all directions.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, their nests should be located in the very center of their territory.

However, there are many special factors, such as the existence of insurmountable obstacles in one direction, like rivers or cliffs. Or, for example, the continuous disappearance of scouts in a particular direction...

"Could it be because of the Red Ant Nest?" However, Rowan immediately dismissed the idea. Given the fighting power displayed by the Big-Headed Ant army, if they really wanted to expand, the Red Ant Nest would have no chance to stop them.

Rowan shook his head, giving up on thinking about it further. There was too little information to analyze. Furthermore, the two sides couldn't clash until the Red Ant Nest between them was resolved.

Therefore, he still has plenty of time. After observing the Big-Headed Ant for a while longer and obtaining more information, he will naturally be able to analyze some things.

The Ant Nest of Big-Headed Ant are also different from those of other ant species, which surprised Rowan Wen-chu when he saw them.

It was a small mound, about twenty or thirty square meters in size, with a ring of holes in the middle of the mound, and very obvious trampling marks in front of each exit.

The army of hundreds of thousands of Big-Headed Ant that Rowan was tracking split into several teams, each carrying spoils, and entered the nest through several adjacent entrances.

If that were all there was to it, it would simply mean that it had a few more exits than other Ant Nest.

Aside from these passageways, the top of this small mound is densely covered with many small protrusions, each with a hole in the middle, resembling a small chimney.

Moreover, there were no signs of trampling around these "chimneys," clearly indicating they weren't entrances or exits. However, ants are pragmatists and would never create useless decorations; these "chimneys" must have served a special purpose.

But what exactly it was used for, Rowan could only sigh. If he were still the petite man he used to be, he could easily have sneaked in to find out.

However, Rowan had no regrets. With his current size, very little could threaten his life. Compared to his own life, everything else was secondary.

You can't understand anything just by looking at it, and you can't sneak in anyway, so staying here any longer is just a waste of time.

After glancing at the "chimneys" one last time, suppressing his curiosity, Rowan turned and ran off in another direction.

Rowan had just eaten some high-protein food, so he moved very fast and spent only one day exploring the area around the Big-Headed Ant Nest.

Strangely, the territory of the Big-Headed Ant is really not very large.

Rowan also discovered traces of other Ant Nest and ant activity in other directions, within a distance of about two kilometers.

This is easily distinguishable by pheromones. Rowan discovered at least eleven different types of pheromone residues within a two-kilometer radius of the Big-Headed Ant Nest.

This indicates that, like other ant species, Big-Headed Ant place their nests in the very center of their territory.

But this is strange; how could such a small territory support such a large army?