With the help of good night vision, the protagonist could see clearly the appearance of dozens of ants approaching furtively about 2 meters away.
These are ants with dark bodies and sharp spines on their backs. They are slightly smaller than the ants, and their heads look thick and roughly semicircular in the shape of a shield.
These are black-coated turtle ants, a species of the genus Turtle Ant, whose famous relative is the divergent turtle ant with a large round plate on its head.
The protagonist does not know this kind of ant, but he knows that it is lurking like this in the dark, and it is obviously a bad person.
The protagonist and the flying knights use scent to communicate simply, and also awaken the bee mount. In fact, most of these mounts were not asleep, they were just dozing off instinctively in the dark night. Precisely because they were always moving, the flying knights' actions to wake up their mounts did not arouse the vigilance of the sneak attackers.
The protagonist quietly pulled out a fire bomb sling from the box containing the weapon, using his hock to prepare for battle.
When the attacker entered half a meter away, he suddenly began to accelerate, and the sound of rapid joints rubbing against rough tree bark suddenly came to mind.
If the flying knights had not warned before, even if they noticed it, it would be too late and they would be caught off guard.
But now the situation is completely different. The flying knights who are ready for battle have changed from the targets of sneak attacks to well-prepared ambushers. These sneak attackers are now the prey.
The incoming turtle ants in black approached within 2 decimeters, but did not startle when they saw the "target", just when they thought they had succeeded in the sneak attack.
Suddenly, the eyes of the black-clothed turtles and ants lit up, and they saw a little bright spot suddenly light up near the target, then began to spin, and then quickly hit them head-on.
The turtles and ants in black were startled, and their instinctive fear of the fire made them stop.
But no matter whether they were walking or stopping, at their speed, they could not avoid the bombardment of these "bolides"!
Dozens of fire bombs were thrown condescendingly at close range, completely covering this small tree trunk area, completely shrouding the sneak attack of the black turtle ants.
There were not many black turtle ants that were directly hit by the "bolide shower", only 6. Some were shot in the huge heads, and some were shot in the back or abdomen.
The hot and sticky fire bombs immediately made these black turtle ants struggle painfully, but they couldn't get rid of them at all! In less than ten seconds, the scorching hot warhead burned through the carapace, directly injuring the flesh and internal organs. A black ant turtle ant was shot in the waist and was even burned into two pieces.
These black turtle ants that caught fire soon died on the spot. Two of them struggled to jump under the tree and fell with ignition points. Below is the swampy water. Perhaps compared to being burned to death in pain, they would rather jump into the water that they usually avoid and drown!
The other turtle ants in black who were not shot became panicked and did not bother to continue the attack. They fled through the fire spots that were attached to the tree trunks.
When a few unlucky guys were panicking and choosing a way out, they accidentally got fire bombs on their limbs and bodies, and they were immediately stuck. The better ones lost a leg, and the unlucky ones even lost their lives.
The black turtle ants are very skillful in crawling on the trees. Most of them quickly avoided the fire point, evacuated the fire scene, and began to flee along the tree trunks.
The flying knights had already taken off. They ignored the turtles and ants in black who had fallen or were left in the same place, uncertain whether they were alive or dead. They pursued the large evacuated troops.
At this time, the flying knights had already grasped the second fire bomb in their tarsus, driving the bees to take off staggeringly in pursuit, and the strength of both sides was reversed.
The light at night was not good, with only hazy moonlight and dots of firelight on the trees. The bee mount relied heavily on visual navigation. In this environment, it could only fly cautiously and slowly, which allowed the black turtle ants to run quite far.
But climbing trees was much slower than flying, so the flying knights still caught up, pierced the gelatinous shell of the fire bomb sling with their jaws, and began to spin.
During the accelerated rotation, the mysterious liquid in the warhead of the fire bomb was oxidized and ignited, and the flaming warhead was quickly thrown out, causing a new round of casualties and fear among the black turtle ant deserters.
The other party didn't know if he was in a hurry, but he actually left the trunk of the tree, and did not go through some intertwined branches and vines. Instead, he chose a solitary branch. There was nothing at the end of the branch, and it was a dead end.
The flying knights noticed it and chased after them leisurely, preparing to force the opponent to the end of the branch with no way to escape, and then settle the score!
————
On the other side, the turtles and ants in black were very aggrieved.
As the largest member of the genus Turtle Ant, the IQ of the black turtle ant is as high as that of the more evolved differentiated turtle ant, and it is also a relatively intelligent existence among all ant tribes.
Wisdom allowed these black-clothed turtle ants to gradually form a set of realistic survival skills, and they lived a life of peace with the world in this relatively unfertile swamp geography.
These black-clothed turtle ants are not a militant ant tribe. This time their target is actually the bee mount of the flying knights, but they do not want to provoke a powerful ant tribe. This is something the black-clothed turtle ant tribe never expected.
The black turtle ants use pollen and honey as their main food sources in this forest. There are many flowering plants in the swamp, and there are also many beehives.
Tribes of black turtle ants generally have a small number of ants, and usually one queen leads a self-sufficient life with a dozen or dozens of worker ants.
In addition to collecting their own pollen, black turtle ants like to sneak into bee nests at night to steal pollen and nectar. They have good vision at night, but bees are not very active at night, which is much easier than robbing during the day.
Bees sometimes let the black turtle ants "steal" unchecked because the black turtle ants will not harm themselves and they are vegetarian ants. The black turtle ants will also protect the hive in their territory and attack those that attack bees, wasps and other insects.
Black turtle ants and bees have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Relying on the resources of hives and flowers, as well as their own strong fighting power, most of the black-clothed turtle ant tribe lived a life of food and clothing, and a life of peace and prosperity. Corn ants, which are the most numerous in the forest, will not provoke them because of their different feeding habits.
The black ants of this tribe live nearby. At dusk, they saw the flying knight's bee mounts gathered together. They thought it was a group of bees that had separated from the nest and were building a new hive, so they "returned to their old business". Come over.
The results can be imagined! Not only did it fail to “control” the new hive, it actually damaged the ant colony.
————
Just when the flying knights are pressing closer and the turtles and ants in black have gathered on the branches with "no way to escape", they suddenly make a move that surprises the protagonist!
Turtles and ants in black jumped down from the branches one by one, and below was the swampy pond, so dark at night that it seemed like it could swallow everything!
