The Battle Against the Big-Headed Ants, Part Five

The Formic Acid Solution in the trench gradually drained away and dried up. Meanwhile, the number of Big-Headed Ant was also gradually decreasing. Although they continued to receive small reinforcements across the bridge to the battlefield, their numbers were woefully inadequate.

By the time the main force of Big-Headed Ant crossed the trench again and rejoined the battle, the original number of over 500,000 Big-Headed Ant had dwindled to less than 100,000.

When enemy reinforcements arrive, the Swarm retreats while fighting. Once the number of Big-Headed Ant troops that have crossed the trenches reaches a certain level, the same tactic is repeated.

The two tug-of-wars consumed about a million of the Big-Headed Ant' forces, but unfortunately, the acid reserves of the Swarm's Worker Ant did not allow for a third tug-of-war.

Fortunately, no more troops emerged from the Big-Headed Ant Nest at this time, and what was on the ground should be their entire arsenal. Rowan roughly estimated that the number was around four million.

The Swarm lost about 100,000 troops in the two skirmishes just now, leaving about 2.9 million remaining.

2.9 million vs 4 million

Considering that the Big-Headed Ant still have many tiny combat units, this battle is far from over. However, what follows will truly be a head-on clash.

The battle was extremely fierce. Rowan even personally joined the fray. He was a unique behemoth on the battlefield, capable of crushing many Big-Headed Ant with a single slam of his Pincer Limb into the ground. Of course, this was an indiscriminate attack, easily causing friendly fire.

But at this point, he couldn't worry about the details. He could only use his long reach to avoid friendly forces as much as possible. Meanwhile, his body was covered with Soldier Ant, which helped him defend his back and other blind spots.

Each time his Pincer Limb slam down, a few nimble ants will climb up his Pincer Limb and onto his body. At this point, the Soldier Ant on his body will have to deal with them.

However, the Big-Headed Ant are relatively ethical and do not have the bad habit of poisoning, so overall they pose little threat to Rowan, except in small numbers.

The battle lasted for a full day and night; it was a war devoid of any technical skill, a purely head-on clash.

In the end, the Swarm narrowly won a hard-fought victory.

After a quick count, Rowan found that only one Giant Scorpion remained among the giant combat units; the rest had all perished. The Soldier Ant and Worker Ant were also almost entirely wiped out, with very few left.

Of the 10,000 Transport Bug, only a little over 3,000 died due to their relative agility and decent eyesight. However, more than 2,000 of them suffered irreparable injuries that impaired their mobility. The Swarm does not keep any worthless living creatures; these will all be recycled later.

In the final count, of the 2.9 million Swarm, fewer than 100,000 remained alive and intact. Most of them were functional units, such as the Mucus Bug, which had no combat capability and accounted for 5,000 of them.

The battlefield was littered with corpses; in this small area, nearly 7 million insects perished.

Rowan wasn't particularly heartbroken that his troops were wiped out; as long as the battle was won, the victor would gain everything.

With these insect remains, and given the strength of the Swarm of 3,000 Ant Queen, the entire army can be replenished within one growth cycle, and may even surpass it.

Meanwhile, the Big-Headed Ant suffered over seven million casualties in the battle. How did they manage to support such a large force with just one nest? This secret has lost its guardian and awaits Rowan to unveil the mystery.

However, Rowan did not rush into preliminary excavation. Although the Big-Headed Ant had been defeated, no one knew what else was in their nest. His side had just finished a major battle, and was not only exhausted but also severely lacking in manpower.

Anyway, the Big-Headed Ant Nest is there and they can't escape, so the priority now is to deal with the spoils.

He ordered the remaining troops to guard the spoils of war, Rowan, despite his exhaustion, returned to the front-line camp.

Several teams of communications soldiers were dispatched to all the nearby bases, instructing them to send half of their personnel to provide support. Then, without resting, Rowan led the more than two hundred queen Ant Queen and all the other insects at his outpost, totaling about fifty to sixty thousand, back to the battlefield.

The time was short, and nothing unusual happened on the battlefield.

Most of the insects left at the outpost were Excavator Ant. They came in handy now, working with the last remaining Giant Scorpion to dig a burrow on the spot.

The Ant Queen immediately begins to collect the remains of insects on the ground and starts laying Insect Egg.

Over the next two days, with a steady stream of reinforcements from their rear territories, the Swarm on the battlefield amassed a force of 500,000. After two days of tireless work, the Zerg cleaned up the battlefield, and most of the spoils were transported back to their territory by Transport Bug. A small portion remained on the spot for the Ant Queen to consume.

With the troops by his side, Rowan Wen felt much more confident.

At a command, the insects surrounded the Big-Headed Ant Nest.

The Big-Headed Ant Nest had too many exits, and numerous unexplained openings at the top. Rowan didn't disperse his troops; he simply had them enter through any random passage while he waited outside.

The progress was quite smooth. The Big-Headed Ant really did use up all their forces. The Swarm encountered almost no resistance inside the Ant Nest, which can be seen from the fact that they did not suffer many casualties when they came out.

Besides bringing Rowan the Big-Headed Ant Queen, the insects also brought out some other unusual things.

This is something that looks like chewed leaves mixed with saliva and then dried. In some places, you can still see the veins of the leaves. This thing is covered with some white, intertwined fibrous material.

Rowan scratched his head, unsure of its purpose, but looking at the faint veins of the leaves, he knew that this was the secret hidden by the Big-Headed Ant.

You can't tell anything just by looking at this. After thinking for a moment, Rowan called over the Excavator Ant and the Giant Scorpion, and then he did it himself, with them assisting him.

An hour later, Rowan dug a cross-section of the Ant Nest so he could better observe the situation Ant Nest and hopefully deduce some clues from the special structure and the location of the mysterious substance.

The structure of the Big-Headed Ant Nest was different from that of other ant species that Rowan had seen; it was much more complex. It was generally constructed in a spiral, with the tunnels winding downwards in concentric circles, and the spirals became larger as you went down, resembling a circular pyramid shape.

Along this spiral passage, at short intervals, a room is carved out from the originally narrow passage. Each room contains leaf-like objects and a white, net-like substance, which are stuck together and covered with holes, like a honeycomb.

Deep underground, in a spiral tunnel-like room, white honeycomb structures conceal Insect Egg, larvae, and pupae.

"It looks like a plantation," Rowan analyzed. He seemed to have heard before that some clever ants grow their own food, and perhaps the Big-Headed Ant was one of those clever ants.

Although their large heads are filled with nothing but muscles.

Whether it's true or not, we'll find out by testing it.

The Big-Headed Ant Queen still alive, so Rowan released her back.

He wanted to observe the habits of Big-Headed Ant.

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