Just as the autumn wind is getting cooler, the vegetation in the mountainous areas is withering at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the insects are becoming increasingly sparse.
At the legion station, Suzaku was already calculating the date of his return to the south. He did not expect that on this day, the situation in the stony mountainous area and even the entire northern border would suddenly change.
That day, countless ant ants suddenly swept southward from the northern mountainous area, and unfortunately, they affected the Pavement Ant barbarian army and their homeland.
The number of these ants is so large that in the war zone where Suzaku's army is located, there are tens of thousands of enemies to face. Even the old male ants who have fought with ants all their lives have never seen such a number. Many ant species move in clusters.
In the past, even if the Campoback Ant tribe formed a temporary alliance for the purpose of going down the mountain to plunder, the number would rarely exceed a thousand. The tribal alliance army of about three thousand was already the most powerful enemy that the Pavilion Ant Gate had ever faced.
In the fall, when the barbarian ants counterattacked, the ants dispersed into groups of dozens and hundreds to fight on their own. Therefore, in order to deal with this kind of war, the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army were dispersed on a long front.
In the war zone where Suzaku was located, the five northernmost legions were stationed in three nests. They were immediately overwhelmed by the swarming army of ants and lost contact.
Only a few scouts fled southward desperately, warning the garrison along the way.
The camp of the Suzaku Legion was not far to the north. Almost immediately after receiving the alarm, they had just gathered the troops and scattered the scouts of the team. Not long after, they learned that the enemy had approached within a short distance of the station.
At first, Suzaku and the male ant kings of the other two legions stationed together did not realize that this wave of enemies was so huge, because the scouts who called the police did not provide the specific number of enemies, but only stated that several legions on the front line had already Surrounded, there are still enemies continuing to move south.
According to past experience, even if the ants form an alliance, the total number will not be too large. When fighting five legions of paving ants, it is even less likely that there will be too many troops to go south.
Therefore, the three commanders unanimously decided to leave the nest and join the battle.
As a result, not long after the first legion came out of the nest, when Suzaku led the legion to prepare for the next battle, the previous legion had already retreated back.
After catching a broken soldier and talking to each other, Suzaku realized that the ground was densely packed with enemies. The first legion was scattered by the swarming enemies just after they came out, and the legion commander was also among the corpses in the chaos. Nothing left.
Fortunately, the enemy seemed to just want to break through the defense line, and had no intention of attacking the underground lair, and flew all the way south. Just when Suzaku and his troops were waiting underground again, the enemy had left as quickly as they came.
The remaining Suzaku and the other male ant king looked at each other in confusion, wondering what the enemy's intentions were.
After some discussion, Suzaku and another legion commander decided to divide the defeated legion without its commander into two, with two male ants each commanding the strengthened main legion, and one heading north to explore the five legions. Whereabouts, the other went south to find the main force.
Suzaku's troops headed south, while another male ant king led his troops north. Later, Suzaku never saw this king again...
——I am the dividing line——
Suzaku led his troops on the desolate land of autumn. The soil in this mountainous area was shallow and the vegetation was sparse. Now the only remaining weeds that survived were withered and yellow, and the whole world seemed to have no life at all.
As Suzaku moved forward on foot, he was thinking about the intentions of the large number of ants that suddenly appeared and quickly fled. It was true that the ants had never made large-scale movements, but they usually happened in spring, and the scale was not that large.
What he couldn't figure out was what the purpose of this large-scale, out-of-season action by the ants was. He would know the answer soon.
The Suzaku Legion found the main force two days later. This force also encountered a surprise attack from the Totopod ants, and a big battle broke out between the two sides.
The result of the battle was a small victory for the Pagoda Ant Barbarian Army, but the main force of the Campoback Ant Army still remained. They voluntarily withdrew from the battlefield and entered the Pagoda Ant Barbarian Kingdom's territory on the plains from a place beyond the control of the Pagoda Ant Barbarian Army.
Judging from their performance in the battle, the ants are not resolute in their fighting will. Rather than taking the initiative to attack, they are more like fleeing. Therefore, they will resolutely break through the defense line, and cunningly give up attacking those strongholds or large groups of enemy troops.
As tens of thousands of Campoback ants rushed into the plains, many nests in the northern border of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom alerted the police. After escaping from the mountains, the ants seemed to have let themselves go. Instead of continuing southward, they plundered and foraged in the fertile plains, and some tribes even began to choose places to build their nests.
This was something that the paving ant barbarian country could not tolerate. The Northern Expedition army stationed in the mountainous areas began to gather and prepare to return for reinforcements.
This army did not suffer much loss when the ant attacked. Some of the regiments stationed in the far north that had lost contact also returned to the army. These regiments all escaped by hiding underground. Those who dared to go out to fight in the field. Most of them suffered heavy losses, and even their entire armies were wiped out.
However, Suzaku found that he had not seen the king who had fought alongside him and then went north. Together with the five legions he was looking for, a total of six and a half legions had not been heard from.
The commander of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army sent some scouts to the north to search for the whereabouts of these legions, but the army could not wait too long. There was already a war in the north. This abnormality occurred during this important season of stocking up on food before winter. The war is obviously going badly, and the army must quickly quell the chaos.
Suzaku followed the army southward and spent more than a month fighting everywhere.
This time, the ants seemed to have made up their mind not to return to the barren mountainous area. Whether it was a small tribe acting alone or a large coalition of thousands of ants still holding together, they all broke out with extremely strong combat effectiveness.
However, in the face of the numerical advantage, organizational advantage and home field advantage of the pavement ant barbarian army, these bow-backed ant troops were still defeated one after another.
However, the enemies were too scattered. Some continued to flee south after being defeated, and some hid in hard-to-find places. The Pavement Ant Barbarian Army had to fight fires everywhere and was exhausted.
It was not until winter came that the remaining ants could only huddle in their nests and were unable to escape, and were completely wiped out by the army of pavement ants who were good at fighting in winter.
This turmoil caused by the out-of-season invasion of Camponotus ants caused heavy losses to the Pavement Ant Barbarian Kingdom, and most of the northern border was ravaged by alien races. Not only did a large number of ants die, but the most important autumn food income of these nests was also greatly affected. Some nests were short of food and were obviously not going to have an easy time this winter.
Although they finally won the victory, the commanders of the Pavement Ant Barbarian Army did not know that this turmoil was just a small prelude to the subsequent massive invasion of mysterious ants.
