Marching South

After the battle, the army dispatched several teams to sweep away the Red Ant's Predator Squad.

A week later, the team returned one after another with their spoils, and the territory of the Red Ant officially changed hands.

Of the Ant Queen the army, more than 200 swarmed out, each with their assigned guards, to establish Branch Base at their assigned locations. The remaining queen ants, except for about ten who acted as commanders, mostly stayed at their encampments, responsible for replenishing troops to the front lines as needed.

After that, the army rested for another day, ate a hearty meal, loaded half of the remaining spoils onto Transport Bug, and then set off.

We haven't encountered any scouts sent by the Big-Headed Ant during this period, so it seems they also engage in animal husbandry, albeit in a free-range manner. Whenever the Red Ant Nest grows to a certain size, they come to harvest it.

According to Rowan's observation, there are at least eleven Ant Nest around the Big-Headed Ant territory. If these are all food sources that the ants raise freely, then this is much easier than Rowan's painstaking efforts to raise Aphid.

However, this method is only suitable for ant species like the Big-Headed Ant, which doesn't have a strong desire to expand its territory. Although Rowan was somewhat envious, this method wasn't suitable for him.

This time, the Swarm did not choose to march rapidly. There was too little information about the Big-Headed Ant; their behavioral patterns and the number of soldiers hidden in the Ant Nest were all unknown.

However, considering that they were able to suppress more than a dozen Ant Nest in the surrounding area, their strength is quite terrifying.

To deal with them, we can't just block their door and trap them like we would with Red Ant. We still need to use the old tactics: take advantage of our vision, gradually whittle down their numbers, and then slowly figure out their strengths and weaknesses.

Rowan had already made up his mind about his first target: the groups of animals that came out to cut leaves.

Taking advantage of his speed, Rowan went out and circled around on his own. Soon, he found a "Green Leaf Creek" to the northwest of the Big-Headed Ant Nest.

The Swarm then changed direction, first heading west for a distance before heading straight north.

The flowing "green stream" was happily carrying leaves when it was suddenly intercepted by a large army that appeared out of nowhere. The Worker Ant in the direction of the Big-Headed Ant Nest fled back to the nest in a panic.

Rowan didn't pursue; without insects to send a message, how could he lure the snake out of its hole?

At the same time, he did not send troops to clear out the Worker Ant in the direction of the big tree in the rear. Anyway, those Worker Ant would return to the nest sooner or later. As long as this place was blocked, they would come to him on their own sooner or later.

The army formed a long, serpentine line, about twenty meters long, with Giant Scorpion, Super Giant, and Giant Soldier Ant leading the charge. Smaller Soldier Ant crawled all over them and around them to help with the defense.

Behind them stood a row of Transport Bug, which could use their long legs to pierce and provide mid-range fire support to the front. The remaining Transport Bug were distributed on the flanks and rear, defending against attacks from those directions.

In the middle is a mixed position of Soldier Ant and Worker Ant. The Worker Ant provide long-range support while also carrying the remains of both sides that are lost at the front back to the rear in a timely manner to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy.

As for Rowan, although he is the largest and strongest, he doesn't intend to fight on the front lines. The intensity of the battle is unknown. If the Big-Headed Ant have an unexpectedly large force, a few Super Giant- ants surrounding him would be enough to threaten his life.

Therefore, as the highest intelligence of the Swarm, he chose to sit in the center of the formation, propping himself up high with his eight long legs, using his superior vision to command the Swarm in battle at all times.

Time passed quietly, and the massive, dark Swarm lay on the ground like statues, conserving their energy without making a sound, demonstrating excellent military discipline.

Rowan was getting a little impatient, but he had already experienced the efficiency of pheromone-based message transmission, so he could only patiently continue to wait.

In the distance, a few scattered units of Big-Headed Ant finally appeared, but their numbers were small, less than ten thousand at a cursory glance, and there wasn't even a single Super Giant.

It seems the Big-Headed Ant have gotten used to their comfortable life in this area and haven't realized what kind of opponent they're facing now.

Rowan's black insect-like face was covered in chitinous armor, making it difficult for him to make any expression. But he still tried his best to put on a gloomy face.

His tentacles swayed from side to side, relaying commands layer by layer.

Just as the Big-Headed Ant army approached the Swarm formation, the first Super Giant let out a hiss and charged forward, followed closely by a small group of its own.

The battle ended quickly. After the Big-Headed Ant left behind thousands of corpses, the remaining ants fled in panic as the Swarm deliberately let the water flow.

The Worker Ant of the Swarm moved forward and quickly cleaned up the battlefield, and the army returned to silence.

After this defeat, the Big-Headed Ant finally realized that their opponent this time was not the familiar mixed army of Black Ant.

Instead, it is a strange and much stronger opponent.

Thus, an emergency war mobilization began.

Thanks to their small territory, most of their forces are hidden inside the Ant Nest. In a very short time, the Big-Headed Ant amassed an advance force of over 500,000 and charged forward.

Behind them, a steady stream of reinforcements continued to emerge from the Ant Nest and rush towards the front line.

Rowan wouldn't give them the opportunity or time to gather; his purpose here was to continuously lure out the Big-Headed Ant's remaining strength and then gradually devour them.

Ideally, the quantity should be gradually increased, such as 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, etc.

However, the Big-Headed Ant completely disregarded Rowan's script, sending out a small wave of troops and immediately raising the Swarm's threat level to the highest level.

However, despite the unexpectedly fierce reaction from the Big-Headed Ant, Rowan will not change his tactics because of it.

It's a head-on confrontation; who's afraid of whom? The Swarm now has plenty of confidence.

The vanguard of the Big-Headed Ant had just arrived on the battlefield and had not yet had a chance to rest.

Upon receiving the order, Rowan's long, serpentine formation pressed forward, allowing the central army to instantly engage the enemy and launch a fierce battle.

Meanwhile, the two flanks of the battle formation began to encircle the enemy, using their numerical advantage to create a situation where they were outnumbered.

While the follow-up troops of the Big-Headed Ant haven't caught up yet, let's first devour this vanguard of 500,000.

Due to the tight timeframe, there was little opportunity for either side to probe each other, and the war quickly escalated into a fierce battle.

The tactics of the Big-Headed Ant remain the same: the giant units act as tanks, responsible for attacking and breaking up enemy formations. The medium and small units provide cover on its back and sides.

Unfortunately, the tactic that used to work against Black Ant, a species of ants that lacks giant fighting units, has now met its match.

The Swarm brought a considerable number of giant units this time, and their tactics were similar: both sides Super Giant against Super Giant, giant units against giant units, and small-to-medium-to-small units against small-to-medium-sized units. In an instant, each found its opponent.