Amelo territory, a suburban area near the Border Forest.
A force of over 50,000 men marched majestically across the land, their heavy metal armor clashing with dull thuds. Grim spears stood like a dense forest, moving slowly as the main force advanced.
A zergling observed the enemy's formation from a hillside several kilometers away.
The legion, stretching for several kilometers, moved along the winding road. Squads of mages held their staves high, while light infantry pushed magic cannon carriages weighing dozens of tons.
“As expected, they're much more elite than the vanguard.”
Xia Jin calculated the distance between the two sides, estimating that the enemy was only eight kilometers away from the ambush zone.
The swarm rushed to the area at extreme speed, preparing to strike before the enemy could react.
About ten minutes later, a cavalry scouting party appeared in the insects' field of vision.
Although they noticed them, the insects took no action.
Warfare in this era usually involved sending small squads to scout the surrounding areas to deal with emergencies.
Under normal circumstances, there was a high probability that such a large-scale ambush would be detected in advance.
However, the swarm possessed high mobility and could withdraw from their line of sight before being discovered.
Furthermore, creatures like lurkers could move underground. Unless these cavalrymen had X-ray vision, they stood no chance of finding the insects.
Sure enough, the cavalry patrolled all the way past the ambush site without noticing anything unusual.
As time passed, the lord's army gradually approached the area where the insects were hidden.
Topographically, the area was high on both sides and low in the middle.
Clearly, they also knew this was a prime spot for an ambush, so they habitually scanned it with detection magic.
Xia Jin felt a brief moment of tension as elemental energy swept over the area where the lurkers were hiding.
Fortunately, these large creatures were currently more than ten meters underground, and the mages clearly failed to detect them.
“It seems there's no problem.”
Watching the army slowly enter the heart of the ambush, Xia Jin prepared all the insects.
...
“Commander, we've received a magic communication from the front lines; they're requesting reinforcements.”
A messenger ran up to a white warhorse and spoke respectfully to the man mounted upon it.
“Just a simple request for help? Nothing else?” Hiren, the commander-in-chief who also held the rank of general, frowned.
“They said their situation is dire—they're surrounded by the enemy and might not be able to break out in time. There was no other news.”
“I see.”
Hiren jumped down from his warhorse.
“The situation is grim. If over five thousand men can't handle these magic beasts, it seems concentrating our forces was the right move.” He took a deep breath and looked ahead.
There were still about 30 kilometers to go before reaching the edge of the forest. This distance was neither long nor short.
Relying on the soldiers' legs, even if they ran there, it would likely take a long time. By then, the vanguard might not be saved, and his own soldiers would be exhausted.
It wasn't worth it.
“I didn't expect us humans to clash with magic beasts so soon. I hope this conflict doesn't escalate.”
He sighed inwardly, looking back at the spectacular army, his heart settling slightly.
A force of this size was no small number. If not for the development of magic, supporting tens of thousands of troops with current technology would require a logistics population of at least a hundred thousand.
Just as the troops were advancing across the broad land, a sudden chaotic noise erupted from the front.
Then, before he could figure out what was happening, countless blades emerged from the ground in clusters, sweeping through the formation like a meat grinder.
Thwack, thwack, thwack—
The mages and magic crystal cannons, bearing the brunt of the attack, were dealt a fatal blow. Clearly, these blades had targeted these important magical units specifically, killing over a hundred people in a single instant.
“Battle stations! Enemy attack!”
“Mage unit, detect the source of the attack.”
In an instant, chaos reigned everywhere.
Fortunately, the commanders reacted very quickly, and the soldiers in the center of the legion were disciplined, not collapsing immediately from the attack.
They had long suspected the magic beasts would have various attack methods, but they had never seen anything like this.
As search and attack spells rained down on the surroundings, the swarm appeared under the cover of a deluge of acid.
Several kilometers away, tens of thousands of insects split into dozens of clusters, charging at the human soldiers from all directions.
The hydralisks' acid fell like rain, constantly wearing down the warriors' vitality. Some were unable to withstand it and were instantly corroded into liquid.
Xia Jin observed the battlefield from a distance, quickly identifying the enemy's defensive strengths.
This legion had too many mages and magic crystal cannons, forming defenses in many directions almost instantly.
Subsequently, various buff spells were cast upon the melee soldiers.
“They reacted in just two minutes?”
She looked at some banelings gathering in the rear.
Quite a few insects were pulling a small number of still-usable catapults captured from the vanguard to the front line.
This was a tactic she was currently considering.
Using catapults to launch banelings.
The Kingdom army's catapults were powered to some extent by magic crystals, allowing them to hurl objects over 1.5 kilometers away.
With this range combined with the banelings' massive explosion radius, it might achieve miraculous results.
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