“Chief, I really don't have a good feeling about this. Do we really have to go in ourselves?”
As the army continued its march, a goblin shaman, unable to suppress the unease in his heart, edged closer to the chief beside him and spoke in a low voice:
“To think we are actively attacking those monsters from the abyss... This is like kicking a hornet's nest.”
Hearing these weak-willed words, the helmeted goblin chief immediately knit his brows and barked sharply:
“Stop spreading such defeatist nonsense! You think we'll lose? No, we will be the first tribe to fulfill the oracle!”
It was not long ago that the ant colony, dubbed monsters from the abyss, had first appeared in this region.
From the moment these suddenly descended giant ants appeared, they devoured everything in sight and slaughtered indiscriminately.
Whether they were goblins, humans, magical beasts, or wild beasts, the ant colony made no distinctions.
These unreasonable, unpredictable, and terrifying entities had plunged the entire region into misery, and even quite a few goblins active in the area had lost their lives.
Their fearsome reputation had already spread far and wide throughout the area.
Had they not received an oracle stating that eradicating these monsters would yield rewards, the goblin chief would never have actively sought them out to deal with these creatures of unknown origin.
“Ultimately, those rumors are too exaggerated. In the end, they are just another kind of magical beast. As long as we unite and fight well, these beasts aren't even worth mentioning.”
The chief quietly scanned his surroundings. Confirming the forces he had assembled, a confident expression appeared on his face.
For this operation, he had mobilized all the military forces at his disposal.
His original subordinates, combined with the tribes he had gone to great lengths to gather and absorb, amounted to a full hundred warriors and several times that number of ordinary soldiers, totaling a full thousand troops.
He even brought along more than twenty goblin shamans, who were his ultimate trump card.
Such a force was enough to run rampant in this region. No matter how strong those monsters were, he absolutely did not believe that this well-structured army under his command would lose.
With this kind of military strength, dealing with two or three times their number is more than enough. We will be the first to eradicate these monsters, achieve military distinction, and claim the rewards from the great Venerable Night Moon.
Earning rewards by achieving military merit was a natural, unquestioned truth among them.
He planned to use this military achievement to surpass all the other chiefs in one fell swoop.
But just as they arrived near the ant nest.
The scout goblin pathfinding ahead suddenly rushed back in a panic, pointing toward the ant fortress and crying out in alarm, “Ch-Chief! Look over there!”
“How is this possible... How can there be so many?”
Seeing the massive swarm of ants already assembled and waiting in battle-ready formation, the goblin chief's eyes widened instantly.
By a rough estimate, there were at least several hundred giant ants lined up in neat, orderly formations, waiting for them to walk right into their trap.
In terms of sheer numbers, the goblins clearly had the advantage.
Yet, with their massive size and perfectly orderly gathering, the jarring and terrifying sense of oppression they radiated was far stronger than anything the goblins could muster.
◆◆◆
【This is a restricted function】
【This is a restricted function】
“Damn it, what the hell is going on?!”
For some time now, the system had been constantly flashing notifications.
The problem was that they were all alerts about restricted functions, and Lin Miao had absolutely no idea why.
He was already so tense about the impending battle that his heart was pounding, and these non-stop notifications only added fuel to his frustration.
【Your servants have locked onto their prey】
Fortunately, just a moment before the battle was about to begin, the annoying bombardment of notifications finally stopped.
On the contrary, the gathered ant colony viewed the densely packed goblin army before them as special food that would allow their colony to grow and evolve.
Lin Miao watched the motionless ant colony, unable to help but wonder: Aren't they afraid?
Instead, it was him, the bystander outside the screen, who seemed far more anxious and terrified than the ants themselves.
Faced with the vast number of enemies before them, the ant colony showed not a single shred of hesitation, continuing to prepare for battle in an orderly fashion.
Perhaps because they were insects, Lin Miao was completely unable to read even a hint of emotion from their movements.
“It's starting.”
Because there was not a trace of hesitation or fear in the colony's movements, the battle plan was fully initiated the very instant the trigger conditions were met.
Unlike the goblins, who had instantly fallen into panic upon seeing the gathered ants, the colony's movements were swift and precise.
The originally gathered ant colony spread out rapidly to both sides like a pair of unfolding wings, adopting a formation to encircle the goblins.
In the center, soldier ants—even larger than the evolved worker ants—were deployed to hold the enemy from the front, while the forces advancing from the flanks made it clear they intended to encircle and wipe them out in a single stroke.
“Stop them!”
The goblin chief barked the order, and the army immediately launched a counterattack.
Contrary to Lin Miao's preconceived biases, the goblin leader commanding this army possessed intelligence on par with a human's, directing his troops through a highly structured system.
The cloaked, staff-wielding goblin shamans immediately began chanting incantations.
Thick tree trunks erupted violently from the ground, and solid boulders rose up from the earth, instantly erecting a barrier along the ant colony's charge path.
The ant colony's response was incredibly rapid, as if they were already well-accustomed to such blocking tactics.
If it were a cavalry unit charging at full speed ready to slaughter, they would have likely crashed straight into this sudden obstacle and ended up completely wiped out.
“But... they're ants, aren't they?”
Just as Lin Miao wondered in his heart, though the charging colony was massive in size, they were still fundamentally ants.
Mutated ants that, despite their enormous size, could climb walls and hang upside down from ceilings.
The colony effortlessly scaled the barriers erected by the goblin shamans, suffering almost zero damage as they continued their forward charge.
“Damn it, shamans, use fire magic! The rest of you, raise your spears!”
Under the hurried commands of the chief, who wore a magnificent helmet adorned with feathers, the goblins braced themselves for a head-on clash with the ants that had already reached their front line.
“To battle!”
The goblin soldiers responded in unison, raising their spears and locking into a defensive formation.
The shamans stopped summoning useless obstacles and instead began unleashing blazing fireballs, which did indeed yield a decent effect this time.
【Your servants falter slightly in the face of fire】
Rate on N.U.
