I Am The Swarm

After systematically eliminating five splinter forces of the coalition army, Luo Wen’s forces had exterminated approximately 120,000 to 130,000 red and black ants. Although Luo Wen’s swarm lost around 10,000 troops, reinforcements arriving gradually from the mobile units more than compensated for the losses, increasing the swarm’s numbers by over 20,000.

The coalition army finally sensed something amiss and hurriedly regrouped their forces, merging their troops into a single large contingent. However, even in the span of just half a day, the reunited army seemed visibly smaller when viewed from above.

Luo Wen no longer felt any sense of crisis. His initial caution toward the red ants had stemmed from a lack of understanding of their capabilities. Now that they had laid all their cards on the table, dealing with an opponent as slow and limited in reconnaissance capabilities as them was simply too easy.

As the red-black ant coalition continued marching, they gradually realized they had entered a trap. Any scouting parties sent out would mysteriously vanish as soon as they strayed a short distance from the main army. Along their route, they encountered an overwhelming number of confusing pheromone markers, making it impossible to determine the proper direction to proceed. Too cautious to split their forces again, they could only trudge forward blindly.

Day turned to night, and an entire day passed quickly. To their dismay, the coalition army discovered they had come across their own tracks from the previous day. Indeed, they had spent the entire day wandering in circles under Luo Wen’s deliberate guidance.

Every time they dispatched scouts, the Scout Bugs in Luo Wen’s swarm would spot them. Ambush teams riding Transport Bugs would then lie in wait ahead and swiftly eliminate the enemy. Subsequently, the Spy Bugs accompanying the ambush teams would erase all traces of the engagement and replace the enemy’s pheromone markers with fake ones. The coalition had no way of distinguishing between genuine and fake signals, forcing them to blindly follow along.

Over the course of this day, the coalition lost over 10,000 scouts. The losses continued to pile up, and by the next day, another 10,000 scouts were gone, with the coalition army still trapped in its futile loops.

Days of marching without resupply were taking a toll. Exhausted and demoralized, the coalition army made camp to conserve energy and sent out small groups to forage for food. However, these groups, averaging about 10,000 each, were like throwing dumplings to the wolves—none returned.

By the end of the day, out of more than ten foraging teams, only two returned, bringing back little food. With another 100,000 troops lost, the coalition had no recourse. Stranded without supplies and blinded by their sealed-off surroundings, they could only send out more foraging parties the next day.

Luo Wen’s forces had swelled to nearly 300,000 after days of consolidation, giving him ample manpower to set up more intricate traps. As a result, not a single foraging team returned to the coalition army that day.

At night, the effects of prolonged hunger finally erupted. While ants lacked the concept of morale, hunger caused noticeable unrest. The red ants began attacking the black ants, killing and eating them. Strangely, the black ants, despite being more numerous, offered no resistance. Suffering from the same starvation, they silently watched their kin be slaughtered, their antennae drooping as they passively awaited their fate.

Luo Wen observed this unfolding chaos with interest. Given a few more days of siege, the coalition might just annihilate itself.

Still, the monotony of round-the-clock command for several days was beginning to bore Luo Wen. Facing an opponent of such low intelligence offered no sense of strategic satisfaction.

The coalition’s remaining 200,000 troops were utterly exhausted and had lost much of their combat strength. It was time to finish them off.

Messengers scurried about, rallying Luo Wen’s forces. His 300,000-strong swarm surrounded the coalition completely and began to close in. Despite their lack of rest, the swarm had access to ample food, all of it nutrient-rich muscle tissue, leaving them far stronger than their starving adversaries. Additionally, Luo Wen had intentionally conserved the Worker Ants’ acid reserves, allowing their depleted glands to refill.

The coalition’s first greeting came in the form of a saturated acid bombardment by nearly 200,000 Worker Ants. This initial assault alone wiped out 50,000 to 60,000 combatants, leaving the battlefield terrain muddy with acid. In some areas, pools of acid had even formed.

The Swarm Troops, equipped with acid-resistant armor, ignored these obstacles entirely. However, the same terrain posed immense challenges for the coalition. Many ants found their legs corroded and snapped, causing them to collapse. Once their bodies made contact with the acidic ground, they soon became irretrievable casualties.

Even under such adverse conditions, the coalition’s desperate counterattack inflicted significant losses on the swarm forces. Most of the casualties were among the front-line Soldier Ants and Transport Bugs, while the Worker Ants in the rear sustained minimal losses.

This was by design. For this war, Luo Wen’s swarm had mass-produced large numbers of Soldier Ants and Transport Bugs. Soldier Ants served no productive purpose and were only needed for combat, while Transport Bugs, though vital for moving troops and resources during wartime, were carnivorous and unsustainable in peacetime due to their high meat consumption. ř₳ŊỒ฿Ęʂ

With the final battle underway, and the coalition’s main force fully engaged, Luo Wen prioritized conserving the Worker Ants, which were far more valuable for post-war reclamation and construction efforts.

The battle raged until dusk. Afterward, the Worker Ants hauled away intact corpses from both sides while collecting severed and corroded body parts to be processed for protein recovery.

This seven-day campaign annihilated over 700,000 coalition troops at the cost of 90,000 swarm forces. The final battle alone accounted for half of these losses.

Luo Wen stood before the Queen Ant of the red ants, its limbs severed and presented by his Worker Ants. This was his prize of war. He hoped it might yield some valuable genetic fragments, though his expectations were low. As a species similar to the black ants, Luo Wen doubted the red ant queen would possess any unique traits.

Cleaning up the battlefield would take considerable time, but Luo Wen saw no need to linger. Days of sleepless command had pushed him to his mental limit. It was time to rest.

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