Chapter 54: A Losing Battle
The two wolves darted into the forest to escape, and five of the soldiers stayed back while the others chased after them! Once those five were gone, two more wolves appeared and began drawing the attention of the remaining soldiers!
This time, the soldiers all took off and chased after the wolves, and Jason ordered the Pawn Rank II scouts to quickly head toward the tunnel and block it!
The tunnel was shaped in a way that no more than three worker ants or one soldier ant could enter it at the same time. But since the scouts were larger than the workers and smaller than the soldiers, they needed two of them to block the tunnel!
The scouts immediately charged for the tunnel, and two of them used their bodies to slam against the entrance, blocking it and preventing any more ants from going inside!
Then, the massacre began!
Jason had already sent his four Pawn Rank III subordinates along with sixteen Pawn Rank II subordinates after the soldiers. That meant he only had three Pawn Rank II subordinates along with twenty Pawn Rank I subordinates with him.
But since two of the Pawn Rank II subordinates had used their bodies to block the entrance, Jason could only use one Pawn Rank II along with twenty Pawn Rank I’s to fight!
But the worker ants weren’t like the soldiers and scouts, who had the ability to defend themselves properly and fly away if there was danger. The workers couldn’t fly, and their mandibles were developed for cutting trees and carrying heavy objects, not for battle! And that was why the Pawn Rank I’s were able to put up one hell of a fight!
The Pawn Rank I’s immediately charged against the workers and began tearing into them with reckless abandon! The workers were shocked by the sudden attack, and many of them tried to charge toward the tunnel to hide, but they were met with the large mandibles of the scouts blocking the entrance, and they were easily cut in half by their own brothers!
——
The user has killed [2] Adamantine Ant Workers
+100 Kill Points
The user has gained the F Rank skill [Mana Surge]
——
[Mana Surge: This skill allows the user to boost his strength and speed for five minutes by sending mana through his body. At current level; Max Boost: 30%. This skill is evolvable.]
[To evolve this skill, the user must gain more [Adamantine Ant Worker] subordinates.]
——
The user has killed [10] Adamantine Ant Workers
+500 Kill Points
[The skill [Mana Surge] has evolved to the D Rank.]
[At current level; Max Boost: 50%]
[This skill is evolvable]
——
The user has killed [8] Adamantine Ant Workers
+400 Kill Points
——
The user has killed [10] Adamantine Ant Workers
+500 Kill Points
[The skill [Mana Surge] has evolved to the C Rank.]
[At current level; Max Boost: 70%]
[This skill is evolvable]
——
There were fifty workers in the tunnel entrance, and after only two minutes, Jason’s subordinates had killed close to thirty of them in their initial attack, and they were already chasing down the remaining ants that were running away in fear!
The ants were screeching loudly as they called for help from the soldiers, but the soldiers were all the way on the other side of the forest chasing down the wolves, so there was no one here to help them!
Buzz~!
Buzz~!
Buzz~!
Jason suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of an Adamantine Ant scout from somewhere below him, and he narrowed his eyes as he saw the scout looking over what was happening.
The scout’s head swiveled as it surveyed the battle and it was in the middle of debating whether it should go and help the ants below or report the situation back to the other tunnel. Jason could pinpoint the exact moment when the scout chose to report instead!
Jason immediately sent a message to the ant he was riding, and the ant folded its wings and dived down towards the unsuspecting scout!
Before the scout could go anywhere, Jason’s ant used its large mandibles and clipped the scout’s wings, making it in pain as its body tilted to one side before it fell to the ground! Jason then spread his mana toward the dead worker ants on the ground and spoke.
"Resurrect!"
——
[Adamantine Ant Worker]
[Pawn Rank I]
[Upgrade Points: 0/1]
[Upgrade Limit: Pawn Rank III]
[MP: 80]
——
+80 MP
——
Mana Points: 490/870
——
Ten of the worker ants were immediately dragged out from their bodies, and they released loud screeches as they joined the other subordinates in the fight! Jason sent them after the scout that had been grounded, and they immediately surged toward it in a rabid swarm as they tore it to pieces! The scout tried its best to fight against the worker ants, but even though it was stronger, it was far outnumbered, and it wasn’t long before it was killed!
Jason thought about creating more subordinates, but he chose not to since his mana was already running low. He hadn’t even revived any of his subordinates who died, since that would also take mana, and he decided that he wouldn’t revive any dead subordinate until he was sure that all the monsters in this region had been killed.
Jason made sure that the fight here was going his way before he told the scout he was riding to move deeper into the forest so he could see what was happening with the soldier ants and his subordinates!
The soldier ants were all strong, and each of them would be at least a Pawn Rank III, but Jason had only sent four Rank III subordinates along with sixteen Rank II subordinates after them!
The sixteen Rank II subordinates were the first to attack the soldier ants!
...
As the soldier ants were led deeper into the forest, they began to come closer to the ground to try and attack the wolves they were chasing, and that was when the Rank II subordinates immediately lashed out from behind trees and slammed into the ones that were further back, dragging them to the ground and tearing into their wings with force!
The soldier ants fought back with their powerful mandibles as they tried to tear the Rank II’s into pieces!
The Moonlight wolves naturally had higher strength and stamina than the Adamantine Ants, and if this were a regular battle between two even sides, then the wolves would have won easily. But the soldier ants all had high levels of mana and a [Mana Surge] skill that allowed them to boost their strength to high levels for a short period by sending mana through their body, so when they began fighting the Rank II’s, they easily overwhelmed them.
The soldier ants were far stronger than the Rank II’s, so they were able to throw many of them off, and they began to fight back and kill the Rank II’s, but that only gave them a short moment of rest as they were immediately attacked by the Rank III’s that were also hiding in the forest!
This time, they were faced with much more powerful opponents, and even with the boost that they were granted by the [Mana Surge] skill, they were still overwhelmed by the ferocity of the wolves! The Rank III’s easily tore through and began killing some of the soldier ants!
The other soldiers didn’t even know what was happening behind them as they continued chasing the wolves through the forests, and all the subordinates quickly began to run after the soldier ants as they formed a pincer maneuver that trapped the soldier ants between them!
Jason arrived on the scene to see ten of his subordinates fighting against six soldier ants. Six of the Pawn Rank II’s had been killed by the soldier ants already, but the subordinates had also managed to kill four of the soldier ants, and they were encircling the remaining six soldier ants and attacking them in a barrage of claws, teeth, and mandibles!
Jason quickly put his hand out toward the four dead soldier ants, and he called out.
"Resurrect!"
The entire region pulsed with Jason’s mana, and the soldier ants were quickly dragged out from their bodies as they screeched loudly into the air!