For the time being, the army of parasitic ants has not pounced directly from the western border of the already occupied Black Fire Ant Kingdom to the central core position. This is the location of the main nest of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom [Black Fire City], and it is also an area heavily fortified.
The scattered parasitic army mainly expands in the north and south directions. Because of the food needs of parasitic ants, when there are no corpses, the terrain and vegetation in these two directions are more attractive to parasitic fungi.
Parasitic bacteria themselves like water and humidity, and they will affect the preferences of the parasitized person. Even the "brain" that retains intelligence cannot ignore this preference.
From the western border of the black fire ant country to the north and south, there are a large number of ponds and swamps distributed, which meet the needs of parasitic fungi. This is a key factor that determines the direction of the parasitic fungus army.
In the past two days, more than 100,000 parasitic ants of various races and hundreds of parasitic beasts controlled by "Parasite Ikkyu" are attacking a strong fortress in the northwest of the Black Fire Ant Country.
This fortress is located on the main road from the northern border of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom to the western border. It is located on an earth cliff. It is a typical tall and straight black fire ant style ant mound.
One side of the earth cliff is a cliff more than 2 meters high, and the other three sides are gentle slopes. Below the cliff is a mud pond, about several acres of land. During the rainy season, it temporarily turns into a shallow lake. Now only some mud is left.
The black fire ant mound on the cliff is about 1 meter high and has a circular cross-section. The cross-section at the bottom is about 3 decimeters in diameter and becomes thinner as it goes up. The cross-section at the top is only about 0.5 decimeters. The overall shape of the anthill looks like a thick bamboo shoot.
There used to be more than 10,000 black fire ants and more than 20,000 slave ants living here. After the parasitic ant army approached, some nearby black fire ants and vassal warriors were ordered to come to support, plus the ant nests that escaped from the trapped ant nest, Today, this fortress is guarded by 30,000 black fire ant warriors and 40,000 other ant warriors.
At this time, the main force of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom was still gathering around the main nest [Black Fire City]. The garrison commander of this fortress sent envoys many times to ask for help, but no specific news about reinforcements was received.
What he didn't know was that the King's Council in the main nest had doubts about the main attack direction of the parasitic bacteria. They were determined to focus on protecting the central area and seek a decisive battle at the right time. They did not care about supporting this small fortress and the tens of thousands of ants.
As several sub-nests to the south and west of the fortress fell, all the remaining ant colonies retreated to this fortress, and the war was imminent.
The fortress commander knows very well that although this fortress may not be big, it is an important barrier for the northern border of the Black Fire Ant Kingdom. Once it is lost, the northern border of the country, which is rich in production and minerals but has no danger to defend, will be in danger.
Without reinforcements, the fortress defenders had to rely on themselves.
The fortress commander was a cutting-edge young general. He organized the ant men to quickly expand the underground part of the fortress, repair and strengthen the ant mounds on the ground, and prepare for the battle in the days before the arrival of the parasitic ants.
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On March 23, "Parasite Ikkyu" arrived at the outskirts of the fortress as the brain's parasitic army.
The vanguard of the parasitic army was tens of thousands of parasitic ants, mostly parasitic corn ants and parasitic pavement ants. After arriving in the woods outside the fortress, they followed the ants that escaped back to the fortress and launched a tentative attack on the fortress.
The garrison commander initially ordered the troops to stand firm in the ant mound. The parasitic corn ants soon crawled all over the surface of the ant mound and attacked the ant mound from the outside inward along every hole.
The parasitic pavement ants were drilling holes to attack the underground nest of the fortress. For a while, the outside of the fortress was densely packed with parasitic ants, and it seemed that the parasitic army had the upper hand.
However, under the determined resistance of the fortress defenders, the forward troops of the parasitic ants were actually at a disadvantage in fighting. In the narrow street fighting, this small force was difficult to shake the well-defended fortress. Even the individual combat power of the parasitic ants is still at a disadvantage, and the ant poison of the black fire ant family causes greater casualties.
Soon after, the parasitic ants were forced to withdraw, and the black fire ant army followed closely and launched a pursuit, all the way to the grove west of the fortress.
Facing the ferocious counterattack of the black fire ant army, the parasitic pavement ants could not resist on the ground and retreated steadily. They were soon surrounded and eaten by the numerically superior black fire ant army.
The parasitic corn ants instinctively climb to their preferred tree environment to resist, using formic acid spray and the complex tree environment to block the pursuit of black fire ants.
In the woods, on a large number of ant corpses, countless parasitic bacteria are struggling to find new hosts, and many of them have already climbed onto the bodies of black fire ants and their satellite ants. The black fire ant army, like their fellow red fire ants, is not good at climbing trees to fight, and is disadvantageous in attacking parasitic corn ants from above.
The fortress commander was worried about parasite infection and ordered the attacking troops to retreat. After returning to the ant nest, the Black Fire Ant Army soldiers who participated in the battle received targeted treatment one after another.
There was originally a sacred fire deep underground in the fortress, and a large amount of coal was stored before the war. The Black Fire Ant Nation never lacked fuel, especially since the fortress was backed by this important coal producing area in the north.
The black fire ant clan's method of preventing and treating parasitic infection was communicated by the main nest [Black Fire City] to all sub-nests by sending envoys. The black fire ant clan is the inheritance of the God of Fire, and all large-scale nests have sacred fires. Apply this It is convenient to use technology.
The more severely parasitized ants live directly in the combustion chamber. The high temperature and dry environment will kill the germinating parasitic bacteria. Of course, the ants themselves are also prone to die of excessive body temperature or thirst, depending on whether the host or the parasitic bacteria cannot handle it first.
In most cases, the vitality of parasitic bacteria that like water and nests is more fragile under high temperature and drought. When the unbearable mycelium voluntarily crawls away from the ant body, it will be dried directly, and the ant will be cured. It needs to be replenished with water and food to recuperate the body.
The Black Fire Ant Army soldiers with mild symptoms were not treated for the time being, but were only taken care of. When their condition worsened, they were sent to the overcrowded combustion chamber for treatment.
Although the black fire ant army won today's battle and eliminated more than 5,000 parasitic ants, only about 1,000 of them themselves were killed. However, due to the need for treatment after the war, hundreds more ants died, and more than 2,000 ants were infected and were temporarily unable to continue participating in the war.
For the defenders with limited strength, if every battle continues like this, they cannot afford to consume it.
Even if there are ways to treat and deal with parasitic bacteria, the threat of infection by parasitic bacteria will still cause a large number of casualties.
The commander of the black fire ant garrison realized this serious problem after this small-scale battle, and he was thinking hard about how to deal with it.
There was not much time left for him. The next day, the army commanded by "Parisi Ikkyu" appeared in the grove west of the fortress.
The burrowing ant vassal scouts distributed on the periphery of the defenders were pursued by the parasite beasts, suffering heavy casualties and barely passing the military information back to the fortress.
Immediately afterwards, the fortress encountered a wave of attacks from parasite beasts!
