Chapter 52: The Layout of The Hill
Jason only wanted to lure a single scout here, and making too much noise would draw multiple, so he decided to be as patient as possible.
Two minutes passed, and then another three minutes passed with no movement or signs of a scout and Jason was close to giving up on his plan when he suddenly heard something in the distance.
Buzzz~!
Jason perked up as a buzzing sound increased in volume while growing closer. A sense of dread filled him, and he cursed under his breath. He didn’t think it would be like this!
’The scouts can fly?’
Jason watched as a large, meter-long ant appeared from the foliage! Its outer skeleton was made from a metallic silvery material that shone in the day’s sun. Its wings were beating fast as it hovered through the forest, and on its mouth were two sharp mandibles.
It was an Adamantine Ant Scout, and it had seen the wolf from a few hundred meters away and come here quickly as it honed in on the wolf’s position. The Ant Scout tilted its head curiously when it saw the wolf, and it hovered around for a few seconds while looking around to see if there were any other wolves in the vicinity.
Normally, a scout would go back and report things like these to the colony. The colony would then send in the soldiers who would deal with the intruder before the workers would come and carry the dead bodies back to the Queen. But since it was only one wolf and it looked weak, the scout didn’t see the need to report it back. The scout felt like it could deal with something like this alone!
Once the scout didn’t see anything else around, it turned back to the wolf and snapped its mandibles in a loud, threatening ’clang!’
Jason immediately sent a new order to the wolf, and the wolf bared its teeth at the ant in challenge before it turned and ran! The ant quickly chased the wolf down. The wolf was moving very quickly, and Jason followed behind the two of them while telling the wolf to slow itself so that the ant would come down to attack! The ant was blazing through the forest with its wings, and it wasn’t long before the ant tried to swoop down and attack the wolf with its large mandibles!
’Now!’
Jason shouted from behind the ant, and the ant could barely turn in shock before it was assaulted by two large Pawn Rank III wolves! The wolves grabbed the ant by the head and wings before pulling hard in opposite directions and tearing the ant apart!
SQUELCH~!
The ant couldn’t even let out a single screech before it fell to the forest floor and twitched in pain as it died, and Jason released a sigh as he arrived on the scene. He patted the wolves and told them they did a good job before he put his hand toward the ant.
"Resurrect."
A pulse of mana surged through the area as Jason’s mana grabbed hold of the ant’s soul and dragged it out from its body. The ant’s silvery skin now shone with a purple hue around it, and its wings had purple veins running down their length. The ant buzzed its wings and turned towards Jason expectantly, and he gave it a pat on the head before he turned to his system.
——
The user has killed [1] Adamantine Ant Scout.
+70 Kill Points
——
[Adamantine Ant]
[Pawn Rank II]
[Upgrade Points [0/5]]
[Upgrade Limit: Rook Class Rank II]
[MP: 300]
——
+30 Mana Points
——
The user has gained the E Rank skill [Adamantine Skin]
——
[Adamantine Skin: This skill grants the user an exoskeleton of adamantine, increasing the user’s defenses and protecting the user from external attacks. This skill can be evolved.]
[To evolve this skill, the user must gain more [Adamantine Ant Scout] subordinates]
——
Jason then turned to his system to look at all his stats.
——
NECROMANCER SYSTEM
Name: Jason Marc
Race: Human [10%] ??? [90%]
Title: [Alpha]
Legion Class: KING
Rank: A
——
Kill Points: 120
Upgrade Points: 0
Mana Points: 510/550
——
Number of Pawn Class Subordinates: 35
Number of Rook Class Subordinates: 0
Number of Bishop Class Subordinates: 0
Number of Knight Class Subordinates: 0
Number of Queen Class Subordinates: 0
——
STATISTICS
Strength: A
Stamina: A
Agility: A
Durability: A
——
ARTIFACTS
[Moonlight Wolf’s Tooth - A]
——
SKILLS
[Predator’s Gaze - B] [Adamantine Skin - E]
——
MISSIONS
-> [NEW!] Clear the Orange Gate [Adamantine Ant Hill].
-> [NEW!] [LONG TERM!] Locate Richard Marc.
——
Jason scrolled through the ant’s stats quickly before he dismissed it. He had gained a boost in his Durability by taking the ant as his subordinate, and now all his stats were in the A rank. Jason knew that it was because of the ant’s tough exoskeleton that his durability increased so much, and he was likely going to get a lot more durability when he killed more of them.
The ant was nearly the same height as Jason, with beady-looking eyes and sharp mandibles that looked like they would easily cut Jason in half with one snip.
Jason still couldn’t have full-blown conversations with his Legion due to the massive drain it had on his stamina, but he didn’t need to have a full conversation to know what the layout of the hill was. Jason sent his intent towards the ant, and the ant screeched in a low tone before it began to explain things to Jason.
Jason hummed as he listened to everything the ant was laying out.
According to the ant, the entire hill was their nest, and there were more than three hundred of them altogether. That number made Jason grimace, but he kept his cool since he already anticipated a massive battle.
’If I just charged in blindly, I wouldn’t have even made it past the entrance.’
Jason shook his head as he kept listening.
The ant explained that there were four entrances to the hill, and each of them were protected by soldier ants.
The soldier ants were all stronger than the scouts since they were the main fighting force for the nest, and there were about a hundred of them. The other ants were either scouts or workers. And then the Queen Ant was right in the middle of the hill.
Jason put his hand on his chin once he was done listening, and he began to think hard. The situation was a dire one. They were outnumbered ten to one, and the only way to get to the Boss of the gate was through hundreds of ants.
If he just threw his Legion forward with reckless abandon, then there was a chance that they would be overwhelmed. And even though Jason could revive them, he still had to use mana to do that, so running out of mana in the middle of the battle would end badly for him.
The one thing Jason knew for sure was that he couldn’t participate in this battle. There were too many enemies and too many things that could go wrong, so he had to make sure the most important piece was protected.
’Should I choose one entrance and lure the ants away from there?’
There were four entrances, with each one being protected by Soldier ants. If a wolf appeared at an entrance, then Jason could lure the soldier ants away from the entrance when they attacked. That way, he could kill the soldier ants without worrying about an ambush from the others.
And from what the ant told Jason, the four entrances were located at the four cardinal points; North, East, West, and South. Even if one of the entrances is under attack, so long as there are no scouts that could take that information to the other entrance, Jason didn’t have to worry about reinforcements coming.
So first, Jason had to kill all the scouts, then he would lure the Soldiers away and ambush them when they are far from the workers.
Sun Tzu said it best: If you’re outnumbered, then it’s better to lie in wait and attack from the shadows than to charge in headfirst.
As Jason kills more of the ants, then he would be able to add them to his legion and gain more mana from them. Although things seemed bleak, this situation was actually favorable to him. The longer Jason dragged the battle, the better things would be for him. In a battle of attrition, Jason knows he would always have the upper hand.
Jason quickly decided on that course of action. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best plan he could come up with at that moment. He would change the plan and adapt as the battle progresses.