What he was describing were the small scouting ants that had appeared in small groups and been discovered by them.
Yet not a single one of them knew that these ants were merely the vanguard scouts.
Just then, an ant about the size of a fingernail crawled across the ground.
“From what you're saying, isn't it just an ant magnified dozens of times? A giant ant? How laughable.”
Bagis stepped on it, crushing it to pieces, and sneered.
It wasn't as if he had never hunted magical beasts before.
After all, for an illegal slave trader to survive in the wilderness, he could never have been a weakling in the first place.
“It's just a swarm of ants. What is there to make a fuss about? We gathered together to achieve a great undertaking!”
Bagis raised his voice, scolding his agitated subordinates.
Since awakening his power, he had relied on meticulous planning to get to where he was today, step by step.
He had never lost once, and he never would in the future.
“This works out perfectly. We'll just treat it as going out to hunt magical beasts. A magical beast's horns, hide, and fur are all valuable goods that can be exchanged for money.”
Lately, he had been resting and regrouping, putting a pause on his plundering to spend his time consolidating his internal power.
Since his preparations were mostly complete, it was time to stretch his muscles and make his move once again.
If he could wipe out this rumored pack of magical beasts, it would serve as excellent practice and spread their name far and wide throughout the surrounding region.
“My Lord, look over there! There's... there's no end to them!”
But when they finally laid eyes on the main force of the ant army that had approached the edge of their territory—
“How can there be so many...”
Not just his subordinates, but even Bagis himself froze in place, his face turning pale.
An countless, immense swarm of ants had already crossed the stream ahead. Trampling the crops in the fields, they rushed forward frantically like a black tide.
A dense, writhing swarm of insects would naturally trigger an instinctive revulsion in any human.
But when every single one of these insects possessed a massive size, becoming a lethal threat capable of taking lives, that revulsion transformed completely into a bone-deep terror.
“Run! Hurry and hide inside the castle!”
Seeing the dark, surging tide of ants, the residents outside the castle instantly descended into panic, screaming and shoving like madmen to squeeze inside.
All of this was because Bagis and his inner circle had been far too careless, failing to issue an evacuation order in advance.
Even Bagis's subordinates, who were supposed to maintain order, were seized by fear and desperately tried to force their way into the castle.
“You useless trash, get this situation under control! Beat them if you have to, but make them calm down! Also, prepare for battle immediately! This is war!”
An infuriated Bagis hurriedly began to command his men.
He knew very well that all of this stemmed from his own carelessness.
If he had ordered a more detailed reconnaissance back then, or if he had discovered this massive ant army just a bit earlier, they could have made full preparations for war.
Forcing himself to remain calm, Bagis pointed at the rapidly approaching ant colony and roared at his panicked subordinates, “Don't panic! They might look numerous, but at the end of the day, they're nothing but a bunch of beasts!”
“B-But, My Lord...”
Yet even though Bagis said so, the eyes of his subordinates remained filled with hesitation and terror.
The smallest of the enemies were roughly the size of large dogs.
Meanwhile, the largest soldier ants, which had completed their Tier 1 evolution, were even larger than oxen. Their massive mandibles looked capable of snapping a horse's neck in a single bite.
“How are we supposed to fight this?!” a soldier screamed in a complete breakdown.
The most fatal issue was that not a single one of them had any experience fighting a mutated ant army like this.
“Hold the walls! Mages, don't let them scale the walls easily! Prepare oil and fire! They are beasts after all; once they see fire, they will naturally be afraid and keep their distance!”
Bagis racked his brains frantically.
At the same time, he desperately told himself that he could absolutely not lose over something like this.
‘I am the chosen one. I must fulfill my mission.’
As if a formal declaration of war weren't even needed, the battle erupted in an instant.
Bagis also drew the sword at his waist, staring intently at the ant swarm below the castle walls.
However, from the very beginning, the battle went completely off script.
An archer fired an arrow infused with magic power, but it failed to penetrate the soldier ant's exoskeleton and was deflected away.
“Impossible. These monsters actually have magic resistance!”
He screamed in terror, and that was only the beginning.
“What is magic resistance?” Lin Miao mumbled blankly.
【Magic Resistance: A basic resistance and repulsion toward magic power. Thus, when attacking enemies with magic resistance, greater power is required to inflict damage.】
Hearing his blank murmur, a line of explanation naturally floated before his eyes.
“That's quite convenient.”
Lin Miao casually glanced at his surroundings and drank the coffee in his hand in one gulp.
The room was perfectly quiet, but in the projection that only he could see, a brutal and tragic battle was currently unfolding.
“I wondered how it would go. Fortunately, they don't seem to have the strength to suppress us. Still, if we keep fighting like this, our losses will be quite heavy.”
Lin Miao watched the two armies clashing head-on across the boundary of the castle walls, his expression gradually turning solemn.
Winning was indeed important, but this war was never meant to be a decisive battle where they staked everything.
After all, there was such a thing as a pyrrhic victory, and what he wanted was the most cost-effective triumph.
“It would have been better if I had put the fire ants in earlier. Or at the very least, had them secretly dig tunnels.”
In Lin Miao's eyes, there were many ways to break the deadlock, but whether the ants executing these methods could understand and apply such tactics was another matter entirely.
Regrettably, with the ant colony's current level of intelligence, they couldn't properly comprehend the hints he provided at all.
“T-These things... they're clearly on fire, so why are they still...”
The human soldiers on the walls shrieked in terror.
Yet at the very least, the ant colony clearly knew that Lin Miao wished for their victory.
Since that was the case, they only needed to charge forward relentlessly for the sake of victory!
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