The destroyers wreaked havoc on the top platform of the ant mound for most of the day, busy transporting the corpses, destroying the protective netting, and even trying to gnaw at the sturdy shell of the ant mound made of ant concrete.
The flying knight in the sky was tired from circling, so he found a safe branch on the lime tree to stop and rest. After a while, he calmed down before continuing to take off.
This year it seems to be colder than yesterday, much colder than the previous days, and the wind is blowing. Compared with the warmer days a while ago, flying out in weather like today is really a great test of physical perseverance.
But now the Flying Knights cannot return to the [Bridgehead], where the entrance and exit are blocked by Destroyers. The Flying Knights have to continue their mission while enduring the suffering, and cannot go home until the enemy retreats in the evening.
By four o'clock in the afternoon, all the ant corpses outside had been evacuated by the Destroyers. Even the corpses of the drowned Destroyers in the trench were not spared and all were moved away.
At this time, the protective net was almost destroyed, and most of the parts fixed to the city wall were bitten off. Some of the fixed wooden wedges that were driven deep into the concrete of the city wall were pulled out by these brute force destroyers.
Of the remaining remains of the protective net, only the top part was fixed to the trunk of the lime tree, and a few fixed points remained at the bottom. It was in tatters and swinging in the cold wind, completely losing its defensive capabilities. The area near the ant mound was full of broken ropes falling down. .
It was only at this time, when the sun was about to set for more than an hour, that the Destroyers began to organize a small group of troops to attack the underground lair of [Bridgehead].
There were only a dozen small Destroyers in the first wave of attacks, and the furthest outside of the underground defense line was a small team from the 5th Army.
The original duty of this team was to be on guard. Once they discovered that the enemy was attacking in large numbers, they would quickly give a warning and then choose the opportunity to retreat to the preset battlefield nest in the rear.
But the number of Destroyers committed to the attack was too small. In the main passage that was wide enough to pass a large beetle, this team quickly surrounded most of the small Destroyers, and then killed the surrounded ones at a slight cost. The enemy only let three little destroyers escape.
The small destroyers who retreated quickly attracted more companions. The five large destroyers were followed by about twenty small destroyers, charging into the cave entrance with great momentum.
The frontline team of the God Envoy King retreated without hesitation under the command of the commander, and at the same time sent messengers to warn the rear.
The Great Destroyer itself does not move very fast, and it is not as agile as the smaller Big-headed Ant in the twists and turns of the passage. Although the Little Destroyers were fast, they didn't know why they couldn't surpass the Big Destroyer and kept moving slowly behind the Big Destroyer.
The team of the God Envoy King's Legion safely withdrew to the preset battlefield. Originally, the fate of this team could be abandoned. As long as they successfully warned, it would be worth it even if the entire army was annihilated. But the Destroyers' sluggish actions allowed them to avoid doom.
On the battlefield, there are always some troops who will be forced to sacrifice because of the overall situation. For example, the rear troops when retreating, the first troops when attacking, etc.
An iron army can be invincible only if the soldiers in it are able to carry out the task resolutely even though they know that they must die. And most armies are unable to "see death as if they are home".
But in the ant army, basically all commanders and soldiers have this consciousness and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the collective. This is why the war in the ant world is more cruel.
When the pursuing Destroyer troops arrived at the long and narrow preset battlefield, as soon as they emerged from this end and all members entered the battlefield, they encountered a salvo of fire from two ballistae at the other end.
This distance is exactly the distance where the ballista can exert its maximum power. In addition, the battlefield is long and narrow, so the ballista did not choose to fire shot shells, but directly fired boulder shells.
The boulder bombs crashed through the ranks of the Destroyers, overturning a long line of enemies and leaving blood and flesh everywhere.
At such a close range, even the Great Destroyer's carapace could not stop the boulder bullet from passing through. The Destroyer that was hit from the front was shattered into a pile of mud, and his companions behind him were also injured by the boulder bullet that passed through his body.
With just one shot, two boulder bombs killed or injured five Destroyers, and the small Destroyers behind also suffered considerable losses.
The ballista was being re-wound and reloaded, and the remaining slightly injured large destroyer and several small destroyers tried to get over the corpses of the dead and seriously injured companions who could not move forward, and rushed towards the ballista.
However, the team of the God Envoy King who was covering the side quickly came up and blocked the way, buying time for the rear ballistae.
When this team completed its mission and retreated, more than ten soldiers, including the rear troops, paid the price.
The re-strung ballista fired a volley of shotgun shells, killing the small group of Destroyers.
After learning that the enemy was attacking the underground defense line, the protagonist had left the monitoring room and went underground.
After getting the timely defeat of the previous battle, he was not satisfied. Although the defenders eliminated more than 30 enemies at the cost of more than a dozen soldiers dying, the protagonist still felt that there was room for improvement.
First of all, the firing speed of the ballista is too slow, and the gap period is too long. The defenders need to make a lot of sacrifices to buy time. This kind of consumption is also terrible when accumulated in a long-term battle.
When the two ballistas fired at the same time, judging from the on-site information package, the power was somewhat excessive. If the combat effectiveness of two ballistas fired at the same time is 100, then one ballista can actually reach 80, and the marginal effectiveness of the other ballista drops significantly.
The protagonist immediately instructs the ballista in front to fire it after 15 seconds during the next battle.
The reloading time of a ballista is now about half a minute, which will increase with the fatigue time of the shooter team, but one shot every 15 seconds is basically the best solution for firepower continuity.
In addition, given the length of the preset battlefield, the enemy would not be able to rush to the ballista within fifteen seconds unless he sprinted with all his strength. If the enemy cooperated properly, there would be no need for the defenders to sacrifice their lives to delay the attack.
Ants do not have the concept of seconds, but male ants still have a sense of time. After the protagonist described this period of time as the time it takes to suck up three drops of honeydew, the commander of the ballista team already understood the specific launch time.
The Destroyers quickly organized a third wave of offensive, which was almost the same as the second wave of troops, and was quickly defeated. This time, the defenders still dispatched troops to temporarily delay the enemy, because a small Destroyer quickly approached the crossbow. gun.
This time, the defenders killed more than twenty Destroyers at the cost of three deaths, but two Destroyers escaped.
These three waves are obviously the enemy's tentative offensives. At this time, the sun is already very close to the horizon, and even if the enemy continues to attack, it will not last long.
Tomorrow is when the pressure on the underground defense line will be greatest!
