Chapter 94
The soldiers marched forward, making the ground rumble beneath their feet.
By the time they had advanced about a hundred paces, something had changed at the antfolk nest.
The antfolk began crawling out all at once from the nest holes that had remained closed like shells until then. There were so many of them that they looked like a black tsunami.
Most were antfolk with emaciated, skeletal bodies. They brandished wooden clubs and spears tipped with stone tools, shouting war cries. Mixed among the straw-doll-like antfolk were round, plump ants and ants with enormous, pincer-like mandibles.
The most numerous were the soldier ants, which gathered food and expanded the nest. They were weak and ill-suited for combat, but their sheer numbers made them troublesome.
The spherical antfolk were defense ants responsible for protecting the nest. They moved slowly, just as their appearance suggested, but possessed sturdy exoskeletons and enough vitality that they could not be killed easily.
Those with large mandibles were combat ants, which fought enemies outside the nest. They were the attack specialists among the antfolk, their vanguard. Combat ants and defense ants were said to possess strength equal to that of ordinary soldiers.
Their ratio was roughly eight to one to one. Just as we had predicted.
Still, antfolk were said to have many variant species depending on their habitat and type, with their abilities and characteristics varying as well. Even if they looked the same, they could be completely different once battle began, so we shouldn't rely too heavily on appearances.
The stream of antfolk emerging from the nest dwindled, and finally a particularly large antfolk came out. They were royal guard ants, which protected the queen. They had sturdy physiques and were said to possess the strength of two armed soldiers. Judging by the size of the nest, there should only be about a hundred of them, but they were probably the enemy's greatest fighting force.
As I watched them, a commotion arose among the soldiers. I, too, frowned at their appearance.
Antfolk bodies were covered in hard exoskeletons. Their color varied by region, but members of the same species were generally the same color. The antfolk here were entirely black, but the royal guard ants that emerged were brown or a dull lead-gray.
"Romelia-sama, those are... armor and weapons, aren't they?"
Mia-san, who was standing nearby, asked as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
The brown and dull-gray colors were not their natural coloring. The ants were wearing leather armor or metal armor and helmets. They were also gripping swords and spears.
"I had no idea antfolk could tan hides and smelt iron."
Sensei made a deliberately obtuse remark.
"Of course they can't."
It was known that monsters used tools. The ape ogres we had fought before had even mastered the use of fire, while antfolk were known to throw wooden sticks and stones and create primitive stone tools. In fact, the soldier ants were armed with clubs and stone tools.
However intelligent and dexterous they might be, they could not make leather armor or smelt iron. Tanning hides required knowledge and skill, while smelting iron was even more difficult.
The weapons and armor the antfolk possessed had clearly been made by human hands.
"I seem to recall records saying they used weapons and tools once used by bandits."
Since they could use stone tools and the like, it was possible that they had stolen things made by humans.
"Even so, there are too many of them."
At a glance, there were at least a hundred royal guard ants equipped with human weapons. It didn't look as though they had simply picked them up.
"It must be the Kingdom of Hameil."
"That's the only possibility."
The Kingdom of Hameil must have given them to us as a harassment tactic. How thoughtful of them.
"Romelia-sama, what should we do?"
Mia-san's voice rose at the unexpected development. The soldiers had also noticed the antfolk's weapons and were somewhat shaken.
"Calm down, Mia-san. Even if they're armed, their equipment hasn't been properly maintained."
Although they could use tools, they could not maintain them as humans did. Besides, the Kingdom of Hameil would not give them expensive weapons and armor merely to harass us. They had probably given them equipment slated for disposal.
"Besides, there are only about a hundred armed ants. They're all elite royal guards."
The enemy was better armed, but there were so few of them that I judged them not to be much of a threat. More importantly, the antfolk had stopped emerging from the nest holes. At a glance, there were between 1,300 and 1,500 of them—fewer than we had anticipated.
"A fish-scale formation."
Seeing the antfolk stop crawling out and gather into a single mass, Velli-sensei offered his assessment.
Indeed, the gathered swarm looked somewhat like a triangular fish-scale formation.
They were probably reinforcing the center with their armed royal guards and planning to overwhelm us with the power of their numbers.
"Is that their commander over there?"
At the rear of the enemy formation, I could see a palanquin made of wood. A large antfolk sat inside it, waving a staff around and shouting something.
"That's the King Ant. It's heavily protected, surrounded by royal guards. Taking down the King Ant won't be easy."
Antfolk society was ruled by a queen. However, the queen was specialized for laying eggs and could barely leave the nest. As a result, a King Ant was apparently chosen from among the royal guards to command the entire nest. That one was our enemy this time.
Keeping my eyes on the King Ant, I ordered the soldiers forward. The swarm of ants continued advancing as a single mass.
The distance between the two armies closed. When I raised my hand and ordered our advance to stop, the ants happened to halt at the same moment.
The two armies glared at each other. I issued an order.
"Defensive formation."
At my command, the soldiers at the very front dropped their shields and braced them against the ground like doors, forming a single seamless wall. The soldiers in the row behind them thrust their spears over the shields and took up their positions.
It was an ironclad formation of heavy infantry. The lightly built antfolk would never break through it.
Seeing our formation, the antfolk changed as well. Only the enormous defense ants moved forward from the swarm and lined up evenly in front of their battle line. There were fifteen of them—no, twenty. Directly in front of Otto's position, an especially huge defense ant appeared, twice the size of the others.
I thought they were going to thicken their defenses and attack us head-on, but I was wrong.
When the King Ant swung the scepter, only the twenty defense ants lined up in front surged forward in a charge.
The heavily armored but slow defense ants charged with thunderous footsteps. But then one of them seemed to trip and fell over. Its body curled up like a pill bug and began rolling.
I almost laughed at its clownish appearance for an instant, but then I realized that its spinning had not stopped. If anything, it was gaining momentum as it came toward us.
"A body slam?!"
With the extra-large defense ant at the front, the others charged behind it in a triangular assault formation.
They intended to break our defensive line by ramming it.
"The antfolk understand that their numerical advantage comes into play once a battle becomes a melee."
If we maintained our defensive line, we had the advantage. If it collapsed, they would win. That was the nature of this battle.
"Stay calm. Maintain the defensive formation."
There was nothing to do but take the charge. We packed the soldiers at the front more tightly together.
If several soldiers worked together, stopping them wasn't impossible.
But the problem was the extra-large defense ant charging straight at us. Its rolling momentum, combined with its enormous body, recalled the force of the three-legged monster we had once defeated.
Could we stop it? No—could we withstand the charges that followed even if we did?
I felt uneasy at the force with which it came on, like a gigantic boulder falling from above. But Otto, standing directly opposite it, stepped forward alone, well ahead of the shield wall.
Holding an enormous custom-made hammer in his right hand, Otto spread his arms, then drew back the hammer and took his stance.
"Is he planning to meet it head-on? That's reckless! Someone stop him!"
Velli-sensei shouted, but it was impossible to stop him now.
I clenched my fist and watched Otto.
Otto drew back his trusty hammer and poured all his strength into the swing.
With a battle cry, the muscles on his squat body bulged. The armor enclosing his body strained and let out a metallic shriek.
The extra-large defense ant bore down on Otto with the force of a falling rock. Otto released all the strength in his body and swung the hammer through.
A blow like a gigantic falling rock collided with one like a demolition hammer.
A thunderous roar and shockwave tore across the battlefield, striking my heart even at the distant command post.
The colossal mass and destructive force were evenly matched, and both stopped for an instant.
The extra-large defense ant remained completely still, while Otto's body seemed to sink for a moment.
But immediately afterward, a crack ran through the rocklike armor of the defense ant and split it vertically. The crack continued to spread until the armor caved in and shattered.
"Woooooaaaaah!"
Otto lowered his body, gathered his strength, and roared.
With terrifying physical strength, he swung the hammer through and drove the defense ant back.
The defense ant's huge body was lifted into the air. Just as it seemed to bounce away like a ball, it collided with one of the defense ants rolling behind it. Both bodies shattered, leaving gruesome corpses strewn across the battlefield.
The soldiers all held their breath. It took them a moment to recognize what they had seen.
Then, a deafening cheer erupted from among the soldiers.
If I hadn't been the commander, I would have shouted too.
"W-whoa, whoa..."
Velli-sensei could not get any further.
"Amazing. Humans can do that?"
Mia-san gave voice to what everyone was thinking. Otto was exceptionally strong even among the Romelia Squad, but I had never imagined he could go this far.
An unexpected tactic had been revealed at the very outset, but Otto's superhuman strength had overcome the antfolk's plan, encouraging our soldiers and greatly raising their morale.
I clenched my fist slightly and praised Otto in my heart.