The Chase

“H-Hurry and save the main force! Dig open the tunnels!”

The communication devices could connect not only internally but also with the outside world.

Outside, Gilbert and Count Merlin, who were supervising the construction of the camp, were pale with fright. They immediately dispatched all remaining forces to rescue the trapped main force.

But to their surprise, the ant colony did not make any attempt to stop them.

This should have been a golden opportunity to divide, surround, and defeat the trapped main force piece by piece.

Lin Miao, of course, knew why the ant colony was doing this.

Their true target lay elsewhere anyway. The Holy Kingdom's main force was now nothing more than an obstructive stumbling block.

Now that the stumbling block had been cleared out of the way, it was time to focus on their real target.

In fact, the vast majority of the forces mobilized by Elise were not sent to deal with the Holy Kingdom's main force trapped in the nest. Instead, they were rapidly advancing in another direction.

“What did you say?!”

“I-It’s true! Most of the main force is currently trapped inside the ant nest!”

Holding the communication device, Marquis Lumiere answered Marianne's anxious inquiries in a trembling voice.

“...Then we must rush over there!”

A strange light flashed in Marianne's eyes, and she immediately advocated rushing to reinforce the main force.

And she was right. With the Holy Kingdom's elite main force trapped, they had to rescue them.

“Y-You are being too hasty! Advancing blindly like this will lead us straight into an ambush!”

“Their main force is clearly over there! Didn't our previous scouting and detection magic show no other enemies?!”

Facing several staff officers who advocated caution, Marianne suddenly glared with her blood-red eyes and roared.

If Celia were here, she would have told her to be careful, and Marianne would have listened obediently.

But right now, Celia was not by her side.

A few ordinary staff officers could not possibly hold back the short-tempered Marianne.

“Hurry up!”

In the end, they accelerated their march to rescue the main force.

Along the old northern path that the main force had already cleared, the view was wide open. There were only flat plains and dense forests, with no sign of any enemies.

The scouting results were also completely normal, so they pushed forward boldly without any hesitation.

【The servants realized that the time had come】

But what they did not know was that countless ants had already laid an ambush along their mandatory path, waiting for them to walk right into the trap.

The narrow forest path they had to take to rendezvous with the main force as quickly as possible was the perfect battlefield the ant colony had prepared for them.

The terrain here was complex, highly suited for an ambush, and the exact kind of battlefield where the ant colony excelled.

Lin Miao was so nervous he couldn't even eat. He stared intently at the screen, waiting for that moment to arrive.

This was the climax of the grand operation Elise had meticulously planned from the very beginning.

Just like that, the support unit led by Marianne marched into the ant colony's ambush completely unprepared.

“See? There's nothing. Who was the one worrying about nothing just now?”

“Ahem, let's not bring up the past. Not every opinion can be completely correct.”

In the shadows cast by the dense giant trees, Marianne, still on horseback, kept complaining about the slow marching speed.

Even her father, Marquis Lumiere, couldn't help but give her a look to quiet down.

Just then, Marianne's intuition, which was even sharper than detection magic, suddenly blared a fierce warning.

Almost at the exact same instant, her eyes widened as she saw the quiet ground explode violently, and a giant monster burst forth.

“E-Enemy! It's an ambush!”

“From underground... Urgh!”

In all directions, hidden tunnel entrances opened simultaneously, and countless ants swarmed out.

These ants had dug tunnels in advance, covered them with camouflage, and entered an extreme state of hibernation, perfectly evading all detection magic.

They had precisely calculated the timing, launching a synchronized surprise attack the moment the humans passed directly over their heads.

“To battle!”

Marianne roared. She rolled off her horse, whose neck had been snapped by a blade-jawed ant, and swung her mace, smashing the head of a rushing scorpion ant with a single blow.

Right then, a massive figure swung its giant, spike-covered forelimb and slammed it down toward her.

Barely blocking the strike from an off-balance stance, Marianne fell to one knee. Raising her mace, she looked up at the monster before her, her face twisting in pain.

This monster, roughly the size of a large carriage, was the brand-new mutated species Elise had created after devouring the giant tiger beetle and tyrant tiger beetle—the predatory ant.

It opened its giant mandibles, capable of biting through steel bars, and lunged to bite Marianne.

Marianne hurriedly rolled away, dodging it by the narrowest of margins.

Panting, she looked around, cold sweat dripping down.

The main force that had cleared this area earlier had clearly stated that there couldn't possibly be so many ants left here.

Yet the ants ambushing them now numbered in the thousands at least.

Furthermore, because they were on a narrow forest path, their troops had been stretched into a long, thin column. After the sudden raid, they had completely collapsed.

Forget about organizing an effective resistance; at this point, it was a complete mystery how many of them would even make it out alive.

“These damn demons...”

Watching her subordinates being slaughtered one by one around her while she herself was surrounded by the ant colony, Marianne grit her teeth.

Her hand tightly gripped her mace, which was drenched in ant bodily fluids.

Though fury burned in her heart, she knew very well that rushing forward blindly now would only result in being brutally torn to pieces by the enemies swarming from all directions, just like those knights moments ago.

Shaking violently, Marianne suddenly raised her mace and slammed it onto the ground with all her might.

A blinding light erupted alongside a deafening boom, and a powerful shockwave shook the surrounding earth.

Then, Marianne turned and fled without a single moment of hesitation.

【Elise felt immense anger toward the fleeing enemy】

For Marianne, her desire to live far outweighed her anger.

“Retreat! Father, there's no time! Forget the main force, we have to survive first!”

Marianne ran in a panic to her father, Marquis Lumiere, urgently pressing him to retreat immediately.

“Retreat! All units, retreat!”

Marquis Lumiere, also gripped by panic, had no other choice.

Calling it a retreat was generous; there was no preserving their strength. They were merely taking a handful of survivors and desperately fleeing, scrambling to escape the relentless pursuit of the ant colony.

Leaving behind vast amounts of supplies and the lives of countless soldiers, only a few hundred managed to escape the battlefield by sheer luck.

“No! Take me with you!”

The desperate screams and cries for help from those left behind echoed continuously.

【Elise believed that the humans were sacrificing themselves to protect their 'queen'】

Elise perceived those who stayed behind to fight to the death as warriors sacrificing themselves for the colony, just like her own ants.

“No. They just abandoned their comrades and ran away.”

But Lin Miao, who had heard their entire conversation, shook his head.

The screams of those plunged into fear and despair sounded like a symphony of hell to his ears.

Lin Miao watching the pathetic figures of Marianne's group fleeing, switched screens.

Sure enough, Celia, who had been staying in her laboratory, had just received the emergency communication and was rushing out like mad.

Next, Elise would chase closely behind the desperately fleeing Marianne, constantly applying pressure to stall for time.

Waiting until Celia arrived with reinforcements.

“Father, let's run toward the high wall in the south!”

Supported by Marianne, Marquis Lumiere shook his head.

“No! The most important thing right now is to shake off our pursuers! No one knows how many forces they actually have! If we run into another ambush like that, we'll truly be finished this time!”

With less than half of their original force remaining, the battered survivors had barely managed to escape the battlefield.

But in the midst of their flight, they made a mistake with their direction.

Instead of retreating south toward the high wall, they were forced to flee toward the northeast.

“Communication! Father, is the communication still working?!”

The first thing Marquis Lumiere did was contact the outside.

Before the communication device ran out of energy, he desperately sent out distress signals in all directions.

“The connection is still active! I've sent distress signals to both the main force and back home! The main force might be in a bad spot, but our homeland will definitely send reinforcements!”

Hearing Marquis Lumiere's words, Marianne finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Having had everything go smoothly for her recently, she possessed a powerful obsession with staying alive.

She prayed to the Goddess that as long as she could live, she was willing to pay any price.

Of course, Goddess Hestia was currently watching her forces get thoroughly thrashed by the ant colony, her head throbbing with pure rage.

“They're still chasing us!”

“Quick, cross the river! Use freezing magic! Think about what Celia did...”

However, the pursuing ants did not give them any breathing room.

Instead of hunting down the other scattered deserters, they concentrated all their forces, locking onto Marianne's group and chasing them relentlessly.

Under the tireless pursuit of the ant colony, Marianne could only desperately think of a counterstrategy, leading the battered survivors—who were constantly losing stragglers—as they struggled to flee.

“The reinforcements from the high wall have already set out!”

“Who is leading them?!”

“It's Apostle Brandt and Special Commissioner Celia! They told us to hold our ground on the designated high ground, and they will rush over to rendezvous with us as quickly as possible!”

This thrilling chase lasted for two whole days.

Just as the communication device's energy was about to run dry and everyone was on the verge of collapse, a message filled with hope finally arrived.