Four days later, when the protagonist climbed up the tree branch again wearing thick clothes, he found that the ice on both sides of the river had been connected.
This did not surprise the protagonist. Yesterday and the day before yesterday, the protagonist had noticed that the ice on the river was expanding at an accelerating rate. He was already mentally prepared and had the defenders of "Linshui City" ready. Plans to engage in battle these days.
The defenders are currently in good condition. The spacious and warm nest inside the banyan tree preserves their combat effectiveness as much as possible. The warm air discharged from the combustion chamber along the passage is slightly choking, but it keeps the entire nest warm. When they got up, food was also open to the public. The original defenders had never eaten so much meat. As for fighting spirit, the protagonist never has to worry.
Compared with the ice and snow outside, "Linshui City" is a warm paradise.
The protagonist has been observing for several days and found that the closer to the combustion chamber deep in the tree trunk, the higher the temperature of the lair and the better the mobility of the warriors of the God's Envoy King. The temperature of the outer nest chamber close to the bark can only be maintained between zero and ten degrees, which still has a lot of impact on the defenders. If you try to pull the army into the wild, the soldiers will be frozen immediately.
However, the protagonist has no intention of fighting the enemy in the wild. The wild is the home of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army, while the home of the Divine Envoy King's Army is inside the carefully arranged "Linshui City".
Today, the scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army who came to the river on a routine basis soon discovered a spot where the river was completely frozen. This was a naturally formed ice bridge that was half a meter wide.
While the scouts divided their forces and rushed back to the starting base to report, another wave of scouts carefully climbed over the ice and onto the land on the south bank of the river.
This is the first time this winter that an enemy has set foot on the territory of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom.
The protagonist did not try to stop the actions of the enemy scouts. He now has no subordinates who can go to the wild to perform tasks. Even the protagonist himself is shivering from the cold while wearing thick clothes that affect movement, and cannot exert 10% of his usual combat effectiveness.
The branch where the protagonist is located is very high and will not be discovered by the enemy for a while. He decides to stay here, observe the enemy's movements, and then find out the weaknesses that can be exploited.
In the distance, with the return of the reporting scouts, the starting base on the north bank of the river seemed to be alarmed. Countless paving ant barbarian warriors poured out of the entrance and exit with a stiff and slow pace like robots, and assembled on the open ground.
This situation happens every day when the weather is good, but the protagonist feels that today is different, and the enemies coming out of the cave seem particularly fanatical. I don’t know whether it’s because the enemy became fanatical after learning that the river was frozen and could launch an attack, or because of the protagonist’s psychology.
More and more enemies are pouring out of the starting base, and the square formations of each legion are gradually taking shape and expanding. However, it will still take half an hour to completely assemble, and it will take another half hour to wait for the Pavement Ant barbarian warriors to finish sunbathing and be fully charged. It is estimated that it will also take about half an hour for all the enemies to cross the river and climb to the "Linshui City".
In other words, the battle will begin in about an hour and a half.
Let's look at the scouts of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army. Their mission is to find the camp of the Big-headed Ant Kingdom Army, ascertain the defense strength and report it so that the commanders of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army can formulate an attack plan.
These scouts seemed to know the exact location of "Linshui City". After landing on the south bank of the river from the ice bridge, they raised their heads, observed the location of the big banyan tree, and then quickly climbed towards it.
In the direction they climbed over, the bank facing the river of "Linshui City" happened to be a large rock, with a cliff about half a meter high standing on the ice. However, this obstacle obviously could not stop the agile scouts, and they climbed up along the cliff in a few clicks.
The banyan tree appeared in front of them.
But these scouts were not in a hurry to climb up the banyan tree. They were very methodical. They formed a group of three and searched and inspected all the ground under the banyan tree.
When encountering cracks in rocks or tree roots, these scouts will leave one or two companions to wait outside, while the other one or two scouts will go in to check. The scout waiting outside also placed his tentacles tightly against the entrance of the cave, so that he could immediately sense any movement inside.
Under the search of the pavement ant barbarian army scouts, they quickly determined that there was no trace of the enemy on the land under the banyan tree. Under such a strict search, if the God Envoy King's army wants to arrange an ambush, it will definitely be discovered. However, considering the need to keep warm, the protagonist is not prepared to arrange such a force outside the cold lair.
After searching the ground, the scouts had a brief exchange, and then several more scouts crawled back to the south bank of the river to report the news.
The remaining scouts began to gather and climbed up the trunk of the banyan tree - the entrance to "Linshui City" was on the trunk.
Due to the obstruction of the branches, it was no longer easy for the protagonist to see what was happening below from his original position, so he moved to the top of the tree trunk, where he could just see the entrance to "Linshui City" and the scene on this side of the tree trunk.
The scouts of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army were still in groups of three, loosely arranged in a circle around the tree trunk, and then slowly and cautiously climbed up the tree while groping. They would tap left and right with their tentacles as they walked, and if they found any depression in the bark, they would go in and explore.
In this way, their progress is not fast, but slow and determined. It won't be long before the entrance to "Linshui City" will be discovered by them.
Some cavities that had been blocked by the protagonist with small stones were discovered by the scouts. Their tentacles were able to extend into the gaps between the stones and the cavities, and they also sensed the emanations from some of the cavities connected to "Linshui City". The heat coming out, and the smell of the enemy.
Therefore, these scouts worked hard to remove the stones blocking the road and then get into the hole. But the stone was stuck very tightly, and the protagonist's strength was not matched by these little scouts. They tried for a long time to no avail.
The protagonist did not expect that his previous move of blocking the door with stones would also have a diversionary effect. These scouts had to give up and continue moving forward after being delayed for more than ten minutes.
Soon, the first scout discovered the entrance to "Linshui City".
On the north bank of the river, the enemy troops had already assembled on the ground. After the assembly, the formation of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army seemed unusually quiet. All the ants were stretching their limbs to allow more sunlight to shine on their bodies. The sunlight gave them energy, their body temperature was rising, their body fluids were flowing faster, and their fighting spirit was as blazing as the scorching sunshine.
——I am the dividing line——
I'm feeling a bit unwell today. I'll go to bed when I get home. I'll update first. Sorry!
