Battle Against the Big-Headed Ants, Part Three

Over the next two days, reinforcements continued to arrive from the rear, replenishing the Swarm to over 2.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Worker Ant's acid and the Soldier Ant's venom sacs have been replenished.

And so, the Swarm army set off once again.

Although only two days had passed, the Big-Headed Ant had resumed their orderly foraging life, and Rowan even discovered a green "leaf stream" again.

While marveling at the Big-Headed Ant's audacity, he didn't hold back and blocked the stream again.

However, this time the Big-Headed Ant had learned from experience, and they went all out from the start, gathering a vanguard of over a million ants that came aggressively from the direction of the Ant Nest.

This advance force of one million is twice as large as the last one. Rowan's idea of wiping out this force in a short time is nothing short of wishful thinking. If the Swarm makes contact with this force and gets entangled, it may be surrounded by the continuous stream of follow-up troops from the Big-Headed Ant.

At that time, this Swarm might perish here, becoming food for the Big-Headed Ant to develop.

Rowan would never do something that would aid the enemy; he had considered this situation before coming here.

So the large combat units withdrew first, while the Soldier Ant chased after "Green Leaf Creek" all the way. The reason they left these Worker Ant carrying leaves behind last time was to surround the source and catch reinforcements, and they needed some bait.

Now that the tactics have changed, these guys are no longer needed. Adhering to the principle of using them as little as possible, we naturally won't keep them any longer.

The assigned units left the ranks in an orderly fashion, leaving only the Transport Bug and the Worker Ant on their backs. They were the protagonists of the day, ready to show these alien Big-Headed Ant what mobile warfare and "Ranger" truly meant.

As the army of Big-Headed Ant gradually approached, the Transport Bug began to run.

Thanks to their long legs, speed, and good eyesight, they always maintained a distance of about 20 centimeters from the army of Big-Headed Ant. This distance may seem short, but it is actually quite safe.

As mentioned before, ants are essentially blind, relying solely on their antennae to communicate and identify objects. Once outside the reach of their antennae, they can only sense living things through vibrations.

However, in the current environment, with millions of troops moving together, the vibration sensors are completely ineffective. As long as you stay outside the reach of their tentacles, you can avoid being detected by them.

The Transport Bug roam within this area.

A distance of 20 centimeters is already within the coverage area of Worker Ant's Formic Acid Spray. Taking advantage of the height on the backs of the Transport Bug, they can even spray the Formic Acid Solution more than a meter away.

Because this plan had been anticipated in advance, Rowan deployed more Transport Bug to the front lines before the operation. Previously, each Transport Bug typically carried five hundred Worker Ant, but that would have resulted in them huddled together, entangled with each other, and piling up an ant mountain.

Due to their sheer number, the Worker Ant at the bottom of the anthill experience immense pressure. When the Transport Bug move rapidly, the anthill remains largely still, lest the bottom Worker Ant lose their grip and the entire Transport Bug rolls down.

Now that the number of Transport Bug has increased, each Transport Bug only needs to carry about two hundred Worker Ant. Although it is still very crowded, the pressure on the bottom Worker Ant has been greatly reduced, and some structural adjustments can be made to the upper layer of the ant mountain.

In this way, the twenty or thirty Worker Ant at the top of the anthill assumed the standard Formic Acid Spray posture, their bodies held in place by their companions at their feet.

Spirals of water shot into the ranks of the Big-Headed Ant. After emptying their Formic Acid Solution Storage Sac, the ants automatically moved to the lower part of the anthill, replacing their companions at the top.

Then, another stream of water shot out.

The disaster for the Big-Headed Ant began. The coordinated efforts of the Transport Bug and Worker Ant were like a rapidly moving self-propelled artillery piece. Acid rained down from the sky, requiring no aiming at all; as long as the general direction was right, it would work.

This was an army of 1.5 million Soldier Ant. They poured out all the stored acid in ten minutes, and the resulting damage was unimaginable.

The outer edge of the vanguard of the Big-Headed Ant was attacked, although the direct mortality rate was very low, and most of them were only injured.

But in the insect world, there is no such thing as healing injuries.

If only some of the carapace is corroded, there might be a chance of survival. But if the tentacles are corroded, leaving behind missing limbs, they will basically be recycled into protein after the war.

After launch, the Transport Bug quickly withdrew from the battlefield along the predetermined route. Spy Ant, who had been waiting for a long time, naturally cleaned up any traces of their passage.

Although Rowan couldn't participate in these hit-and-run battles personally, as the planner, he still found them quite exciting to watch.

This barrage of long-range firepower caused at least 300,000 casualties among the Big-Headed Ant. Two unfortunate Transport Bug also crashed on the Swarm's side; they misjudged the distance when passing the Super Giant, got entangled, and perished. The Worker Ant on their backs also perished. This demonstrates just how crucial a reliable driver is in combat.

Looking back at the chaotic army of Big-Headed Ant, Rowan didn't linger. After rejoining the main force, he dug out the Super Giant corpse of the Big-Headed Ant that he had buried last time.

The Worker Ant, working in coordination with their Super Giant, cut them up, packed them up, and loaded them onto the transport vehicle. This time, the Transport Bug carried a lot, so they could take all the spoils back with them, rather than leaving them buried in enemy territory and risking unforeseen complications.

At this time, the troops that had been sent to eliminate the enemy's leaf-carrying Worker Ant also returned to their temporary camp. Rowan hadn't expected the battle to proceed so quickly, so he sent a team of Messenger Bug to call these guys back during the retreat, lest they be blocked by the Big-Headed Ant as soon as they climbed the trees and lose their lives in vain.

After a brief rest, the troops took a long detour and returned to the Swarm territory.

Two days later, the troops, having replenished their ammunition, set off again. To travel light, they didn't even bring any giant combat units this time; only a small number of medium and small Soldier Ant followed on Transport Bug.

The battle two days ago was repeated. After suffering several rounds of ranged attacks, the Big-Headed Ant army finally managed to regroup, only to find that its opponent had already fled and disappeared without a trace.

Next, harassment every two days became a routine activity for the Swarm. In the following two weeks, the Swarm army launched eight sorties. Afterward, the Big-Headed Ant army learned its lesson and became much more cautious, but these operations still caused approximately one million casualties.

Including the previous battles, the Big-Headed Ant have lost approximately two million lives. Although the Swarm has also lost more than ten Transport Bug and Worker Ant, it is being replenished by reinforcements from the rear.

At this time, the number of troops gathered in this stronghold was approaching three million.