Gurgle, gurgle...
Bang!
After a loud pop, a locust shook its head and crawled out of a yellow-green sac.
It raised its body and looked around; countless insects similar to it were being born at that very moment.
After standing still for a few seconds, the Swarm's command arrived. Two thousand locusts began to move, charging toward the distance.
The swarm hosts, towering behemoths to them, stood nearby.
After running for over ten minutes, a massive array of tents came into view.
The insects crawled through the lanes left between the tents.
A lord's army commander standing nearby swallowed hard as he watched the massive, terrifying insects crawl past. His feelings were difficult to describe.
“Which batch is this?”
He turned to look at another banner captain beside him.
The other man took a puff of his hand-rolled cigarette and shook his head.
This morning, the Princess had announced she would be sending Tier 1 insects to support them.
At the time, the soldiers hadn't thought much of it.
What use was a Tier 1 creature?
Sent to the front lines, they were essentially just fodder.
But by that afternoon, these so-called Tier 1 insects began appearing in massive numbers.
Batch after batch, they were thrown onto the front lines as if they cost nothing at all.
Just as Tier 1 gnoll soldiers could occasionally injure Tier 3 or Tier 4 warriors, these locusts, once they reached a certain number, dared to charge directly into the enemy's defensive lines.
In truth, the gnolls hadn't initially taken these Tier 1 creatures seriously either.
When a thousand Tier 1 locusts were deployed, an engagement broke out on a stretch of flat, open ground.
By the end of it, the gnolls had lost over 160 individuals, including over 100 Tier 1 gnolls, 40 Tier 2s, and more than ten Tier 3s. Some of the corpses were even dragged away by the insects.
Such an exchange ratio undoubtedly caught the gnolls' attention.
They had even deployed several Tier 4 powerhouses on the front lines, yet they never expected to be fought to such a standstill by a swarm of insects.
“These Tier 1 insects are just like the larger ones—completely fearless.”
They had no fear of death, even when facing opponents far stronger than themselves.
For the human soldiers, this was undoubtedly a blessing.
“Good heavens, here comes another wave.”
The commander had just watched two thousand locusts crawl past when he noticed another thousand arriving from a different direction.
These had come down from the mountains after clearing out a portion of the bandits in the southern woods.
Throughout the day, the swarm hosts born in succession had hatched over 18,000 locusts. More than 2,000 had already died in combat with the gnolls, and over 1,000 had perished while exterminating mountain bandits. The remainder had now begun a large-scale assembly.
Densely packed, the black insects shimmering with a faint red hue approached from all directions like a flowing river.
The banner captain narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps even Tier 1 insects can be relied upon.”
Yes, there were simply too many of them.
While a total of ten thousand might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, in a stalemate like this, it meant being able to further grind down the enemy's effective strength while reducing their own losses.
After all, these insects provided by the Princess were all ruthless characters who valued their lives at zero.
Just as the banner captain was thinking this, an officer on horseback approached.
“Banner Captain.”
The officer jumped off his horse, walked over, and gave a salute. “The lords have ordered you to take the archers and provide long-range support for these locusts.”
“Locusts?”
Hearing the name, the banner captain was slightly surprised, but it was indeed a fitting name for these meter-long insects.
He nodded and said, “Understood. Tell me exactly what needs to be done.”
...
Twenty minutes later, a unit of about 2,000 men, along with 200 shield warriors, left the main formation and headed toward the engagement zone.
Not long after they moved out, the black tide of insects in the distance launched its assault like a flood.
Over ten thousand locusts converged into a tsunami, charging at the enemy lines in three prongs.
“Quickly! The Swarm has moved out! All units, hear my command—provide fire support!”
The archers hurriedly lit the tips of their arrows and drew their bows to full strength with powerful arms.
The distance between the two sides was nearly 800 meters.
In the ancient history of Earth, an archer legion with such range would have been practically non-existent. However, in the hands of these soldiers, these metal arrowheads, more powerful than common bullets, immediately flew toward the enemy at an exaggerated speed.
Thud, thud, thud!
At the front, the locusts had already crashed into the gnoll lines.
The two sides began a brutal close-quarters melee.
Many gnolls immediately discovered that these enemies were more troublesome than expected. As soon as they closed within three meters, the insects spat out corrosive liquid. If it touched their bodies, their skin would immediately sizzle, emitting black smoke and intense pain.
The acid significantly weakened the gnolls' close-combat capabilities.
As a result, many Tier 2 and Tier 3 powerhouses were caught off guard and killed in this manner.
While no Tier 4 powerhouses had died yet, it didn't mean they could face the enemy without taking damage. In fact, in the previous battles, many of them had been injured by the locusts due to a moment of negligence.
Now, as the front lines entered a full state of combat, a rain of fire arrows from the human archers also began to fall.
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