Volume 13 Chapter 6 The Ant’s Kingdom Part III
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Charlotte’s Perspective
After reorganizing the soldiers who had been on patrol, I rushed to the canal excavation site with a thousand troops in tow.
The canal had been dug to about 2 hundred meters and was almost complete near the center of the fortress.
But those working on the excavation looked heavily fatigued.
”Good job! I brought the relief squad. You all take a break right now.”
I told the soldiers digging to rest, then grabbed a shovel myself and started digging up the ground to make a water channel.
The soldiers who got the orders were confused, wondering if they could really take a break.
”Drop what you’re doing and rest your bodies! Don’t make me say this twice!”
I ordered the confused soldiers again, this time sharper, telling them to rest.
The digging soldiers handed their shovels to the relief guys and collapsed onto the ground around them.
Yeah, they were seriously tired now.
From here on, it’s going to be a test of endurance against the enemy group.
While awkwardly digging the water channel, I watched the soldiers’ condition.
Back at Capital City’s Officer school, fatigue wasn’t in the manuals──they taught soldiers don’t get tired. But after becoming an officer and small unit leader, I quickly changed my mind.
Soldiers are human, and they do get tired. But when they get drained, even the strongest soldiers turn weak easily. That’s what I learned.
* * *
The relief soldiers rested, got their energy back, and happily dug the water channel, moving their shovels.
Soon, strange noises from underground got louder.
The ground under me started shaking hard.
”Break the waterway dam!”
I ordered, and the sandbags blocking the flow from the Nirei River collapsed.
The rushing water filled the channel and flowed right toward me.
The shaking got worse, and just in time I jumped away before the ground caved in, as army ants crawled out of the hole.
But soon, the muddy flood flowing through the channel swallowed them up, making them disappear.
The Nirei River water powered into the hole, probably drowning the Ant-men digging underground.
”Wooow! We did it! Serves ’em right! Drown in Nirei’s water!”
The soldiers got all hyped seeing the water flood in.
They were super happy they wiped out the enemy with the channel they dug.
”No way I’ll let Ant-men sneak through that easy.”
I looked down at the flowing water and muttered.
* * *
*Garvey’s Perspective
The sun had fully set, and from the darkened area outside the castle came a deep, gushing sound like a giant fountain.
Maybe it was the Ant-men tunneling underground getting flooded, the water surging through the tunnels making that noise.
When we shone a searchlight towards the sound, we saw water spraying up like a fountain, starting to pool in the valley.
Squinting, I could see loads of Ant-men’s gear floating on the water’s surface.
It seemed like the Ant-men had already been swallowed by the flood and disappeared, leaving their stuff behind.
”The enemy group seems to have taken a heavy hit… It’s about time for Her Majesty to make her appearance…”
That’s when a black arrow, released into the dark night, silently flew in and pierced the neck of an officer next to me.
We caught the officer as they fell with a thud.
”Are you okay! Don’t die! Healer! Get over here now!”
The officer with the arrow in their neck was somehow still alive, but they were losing a lot of blood. If we didn’t heal them up fast, they’d be a goner for sure.
The healer rushed over, pulled out the arrow, and applied healing magic to the officer’s wound to stop the bleeding.
Blood sprayed when the arrow came out, covering the healer in red.
The officer with the arrow wound had lost a lot of blood, but somehow they managed to hang on to life.
Knowing there was a SniperAnt-man out there, I immediately called for everyone’s attention.
”There’s a Sniper Ant-man around! Everyone, take cover. Especially the gunners and loaders, they’re gonna be targeted!”
I passed the message through the communication crystal to all the gun positions.
The enemy must have sent in the SniperAnt-man to take out our firepower and command system.
With this, stepping into the light on the castle walls became a huge risk.
As I hid behind the castle wall, the ground started to shake with a dull thud, thud.
I peeked out from the wall to look towards the sound.
The one shaking the ground was the Queen Ant.
She was nearly 6 meters tall, towering over the castle walls, and over 40 meters long.
That’s the grown-up Queen Ant… finally, she’s here, I guess…
She walks slow, but she has the few Ant-men left with her. It’s scary.
Tch… can’t be helped… I don’t have many Magic Stones, so I didn’t want to use them… but I guess I have to…
”Everyone on the gun posts, listen up! Put up the Physical Guard on the gunner seats and shoot down the Queen Ant!”
I asked Golerg to make Magic Tools for the gun posts. They can use Physical Guard and a magic barrier to stop attacks.
They need Magic Stones to work, but I don’t have many. I didn’t want to use them, but now I have to.
The guns start shooting, and the enemy shoots black arrows. But the Gunners are safe behind the Physical Guard.
Then, the guns keep shooting, and the Ant-men get lit up by the searchlights. They’re full of holes.
”Archers, get fire arrows ready. Set the Queen Ant on fire!”
Arrows rain down, turning the night sky red. They hit the Queen Ant again and again.
There are also arrows with oil pots attached. They make the Queen Ant stand out in the dark night.
But the Queen Ant keeps walking, not stopping.
Soon, her front legs are close to the wall, ready to smash it.
”Tch, this bitch is tough.”
Then, the wall shakes hard.
I look, and the Queen Ant’s legs are denting the wall, even though it’s reinforced with iron plates.
The carts making up the wall are full of sandbags and dirt. It should be strong, but the Queen Ant is stronger.
Shit, she’s gonna break through the wall…
”Lord Garvey, sorry to keep you waiting. Ane’s Cavalry is coming out of the gate now. Stop shooting for a bit.”
Kondrad jumped up to the command deck and knocked away a black arrow with his bare hands.
”Got it. But standing there like that makes you a target.”
Kondrad quickly came to my side and crouched down.
I used the communication crystal to tell each gunner to stop shooting.
The castle gate creaked open, and Ane’s Cavalry charged out, with the heavy Cavalry of Austronesia leading the way.
The surprised Ant-men were confused and running around.
The Cavalry kept doing Cavalry Charges at the Queen Ant’s legs.
Soon, the Queen Ant couldn’t hold up her own weight and fell to the ground.
”Ane! That’s enough! Pull back!”
Kondrad gave Ane the order to retreat, and the Cavalry quickly ran back into the castle.
The Queen Ant, lying on her side, struggled to stand up, but her back legs were broken and couldn’t support her.
The Ant-men started swarming around, worried about the Queen Ant’s suffering.
I could see that SniperAnt-men were in there, aiming at us.
”All gunners, target the Queen Ant and the Ant-men around her. Annihilate them! Kill every last one!”
When I gave the annihilation order, the 8 silent gun positions opened fire again.
The Queen Ant was pierced by the fire arrows, writhing in pain and knocking down the nearby Ant-men with her front legs.
The Queen Ant, with holes in her belly and body from the constant bullets, twitched her front legs and then fell to the ground, dead.
”We did it!”
”Ane! Kick those enemies’ asses again!”
Kondrad saw the Ant-men stop moving after losing their queen, and he immediately sent the Cavalry out again to finish them off.
The charging Cavalry trampled the Ant-men who were standing still.
The Ant-men, standing still, were killed without resistance by spears and swords.
Soon, nothing was moving, and Ant-man’s corpse had used up all its black mist, turning into dropped items and a raw body.
Ane was still inspecting the Queen Ant, who was puffing out black mist, but it looked like it was already dead, and once the magic elements stopped leaking, it would turn into drops.
”Phew… we barely held on.”
”Yeah, for sure. Now hunting in the central zone should go way smoother.”
I helped Kondrad up, who had been sitting next to me.
”This fortress is nuts. They’re probably gonna add even more big magic barriers and gun turrets. When it’s done, it’ll be a fortress city even scarier than Abyss Vena.”
I looked at the walls that buried 5 thousand Ant-men and felt something deep.
Thinking of how those Ant-men got wiped out by dense volleys from the magic guns and left their corpses on display, this place must be insanely good at defending against people too.
An old-fashioned troop focused on close combat would get totally wiped out before even breaking through this fortress.
”This was the second big defense point. We can’t just let it fall easy.”
”If we clear monsters from Coco all the way to Nirei river, we get huge farming land and can produce our own food. General really thinks big, huh?”
The General had been planning to make Nirei river the second big defense line for this monster hunt, and building the fortress was part of getting the groundwork ready.
”Anyway, since we beat the enemy, let’s gather the loot. Some stuff got washed away, so searching won’t be easy.”
Kondrad laughed.
Because the drops from the enemy group would be army funding, we quickly formed a search team to collect everything.
And so, our Margrave South District army wiped out the Ant-man horde, built a stronghold at the foot of Nirei Great Bridge──later called Nirei Great Fortress──and pushed forward the monster hunting in the central zone.
~New monster~
Monster name: Sniper Ant-man
Hunting rank: S
Type: Insect
This is a kind of Bowman Ant-man, with big sharp eyes and ears, armed with a long bow.
It’s known to be deployed at the same time as Guard Ant-man.
Sniper Ant-man usually works alone, hunting within a few hundred kilometers around the Queen Ant’s nest that made it.
The arrows it shoots barely make any wind sound, so it’s hard to notice and hits like crazy.
Also, the arrows are coated with sleeping poison, so the paralyzed prey gets picked up by the Slave Ant-man.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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