Lin Miao muttered to himself as he watched this, “Well, obviously. They are still ants, after all.”
Very few living creatures weren't afraid of fire.
Fortunately, the flames summoned by the goblin shamans' magic didn't encounter any oil or other accelerants, preventing them from spreading across a wide area.
In comparison, the ant colony still held an absolute advantage.
Relying on their formidable strength and massive size, they dominated the chaotic melee.
No matter how powerful the goblin shamans' fire magic was, it was simply too limited on a chaotic battlefield involving hundreds of combatants.
The ones colliding head-on with the ant colony were the ordinary goblin soldiers, who seemed low in intelligence and weak in combat ability.
The moment the spear-wielding goblin soldiers attempted to resist, they were utterly crushed and swept away by the colliding swarm.
Ordinary goblins are no match for them in raw strength. Especially the evolved individuals—their exoskeletons are hard enough to deflect arrows.
Holding his phone, Lin Miao continuously recorded his observations while staring unblinkingly at the battle before him.
Soon, the entire area devolved into a brutal close-quarters melee.
The ant colony brandished their sharp, powerful mandibles, tearing the goblin formation to shreds.
Even as the goblins were crushed under forelegs and torn apart by mandibles, they desperately tried to thrust their weapons into the ants' bodies.
But there are exceptionally strong ones among the goblins too. And their equipment is quite good.
An evolved soldier ant instantly crushed a spear-wielding goblin soldier with its foreleg and, with a sweep of its mandibles, sliced another soldier in two.
Right then, a much sturdier goblin swung its sword, cleanly severing one of the soldier ant's legs.
Just as there were evolved individuals among the ants, stronger and more formidable entities existed among the goblins.
“In a one-on-one fight, they probably can't win...”
Lin Miao muttered to himself, biting his lip as he watched the combat prowess displayed by the elite goblin.
Whether it was the shamans' spells or the elite goblins' combat prowess, even an evolved soldier ant would find it difficult to win in a one-on-one duel.
Although the ants were far stronger than ordinary goblins, these elite goblins possessed combat skills that were by no means inferior.
Backed by greater physical power and skillful weapon play, once they pierced the hard exoskeleton, the ants had no way to defend themselves.
No wonder these goblins had confidently taken the initiative to attack.
Contrary to Lin Miao's worries, however, the tide of the battlefield had already begun to tilt in the ant colony's favor.
“Chief! Our formation is completely broken! We must retreat!”
A goblin captain from the front lines fought his way to the chief's side, reporting the state of the battle in a hoarse, desperate screech.
“How is this possible? How can they be this strong?!” Staring at his collapsing army, the goblin chief's face was a mask of disbelief as he fell into a state of extreme panic and rage.
While the elite goblin warriors were indeed brave, in Lin Miao's eyes, the biggest issue was the massive disparity in combat strength between the ordinary goblins and the ordinary worker ants.
Facing the advancing swarm, the ordinary goblins couldn't even maintain their lines and collapsed instantly. In the blink of an eye, the goblins found themselves surrounded and on the receiving end of a one-sided beating.
By this point, no matter how powerful the elite warriors and shamans were, they could not turn the tide.
Had there been more elite warriors among the goblins, or some other way to make up for the ordinary goblins' lack of strength, the outcome might have been different. But for now, the scales of victory had tipped entirely toward the ant colony.
On the screen, the goblin chief and his trusted lieutenants were desperately trying to break through the encirclement to escape.
Watching this, Lin Miao muttered blankly, “Can they wipe them all out?”
He worried that if these goblins were allowed to escape, they would return in the future with an even larger army.
【Your servants have received your will and are determined to slaughter the enemy down to the last, leaving no survivors】
“What?”
Lin Miao froze, staring at the system notification.
He had no idea how the ant colony had interpreted his thoughts, but he could see their attacks on the goblins becoming increasingly ferocious.
Completely disregarding how their bodies were being pierced by spears and slashed by swords, the ants charged forward in a frenzy solely to kill their enemies, advancing over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The ant colony, already relentless and indifferent to their own casualties, now exuded an even more terrifying aura.
Watching the swarm resolve to hunt down their enemies to the very last second and wipe them out completely, Lin Miao couldn't help but swallow hard.
He couldn't help but think that if he were in their shoes, standing on that battlefield and facing a massive swarm of giant ants rushing at him with absolute disregard for their own lives, his heart would have stopped from sheer terror.
Lin Miao averted his gaze. It was certainly not a pleasant sight.
The swarm eventually caught up to the last living goblin, clamping their mandibles around its neck and snapping it cleanly.
It was the goblin chief, who had resisted until the very end.
From his severed head, the ornate helmet rolled away, spinning across the ground.
Lin Miao didn't watch the ants diligently chewing the corpses into meatballs. He panned the camera to survey the surroundings.
Although they had ultimately won, this victory had certainly not come without a price.
Amidst the mountain of corpses on the battlefield, the remains of goblins and ants were thoroughly intermingled.
Throwing their bodies directly into melee combat was currently the colony's only way of fighting, making such losses almost inevitable.
How long will it take to replenish these numbers? Even if the eggs and larvae currently hatching grow up, I'm afraid it won't be enough.
Looking at the number of fallen ants, Lin Miao naturally began to worry about the colony's survival.
Although there were soldier ants among the combatants this time, the vast majority were worker ants.
Worker ants shouldered extremely vital responsibilities within the colony.
From combat and food supply to nest maintenance, they were, in essence, the very foundation that kept the entire colony functioning.
Having lost several hundred of these worker ants in this battle, the colony's size would undoubtedly take a direct hit.
The food supply would slow down, and with a slower food supply, the replenishment rate of newborn ants would follow suit.
If this continued, the size of the colony would naturally shrink.
“Heh, and here you guys are, only thinking about food.”
While Lin Miao was worried sick, the colony was single-mindedly focused on feeding their newly acquired food to the queen and the larvae.
He found it absurd and couldn't help but click his tongue.
If only he could communicate with them normally. Even if they only possessed the intelligence level of the goblins, it wouldn't be this frustrating.
【Your servant, the Queen Ant, has accumulated a large amount of magic power and has finally completed her molting!】
Right then, a notification popped up that left Lin Miao utterly stunned.
“What?!”
Lin Miao, who had been blankly unwrapping his late takeout delivery, instantly widened his eyes. He hurriedly switched his perspective to check on the Queen Ant in the underground nesting chamber of the terrarium.
Just as the system notification described, the Queen Ant's carapace let out a soft crackle and slowly split open, revealing a brand-new Queen Ant emerging from the shed shell.
Just like the worker ants that had undergone evolution, the Queen Ant—the core of the entire colony—had finally completed a brand-new evolution of her own.
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