I Am The Swarm

As expected, keeping his expectations low proved wise. The next morning, Luo Wen awoke to find no new gains from the red ant queen. To be sure, he would need to return to the Brood Nest to verify the specifics. But before that, there were still post-battle tasks to handle.

After a day’s rest, Luo Wen led his 300,000-strong swarm across the border into the red ants’ territory.

Following the climactic battle, the coalition forces had been annihilated, and no remnants had been spotted along the way. Luo Wen had assumed that taking over their territory would be a mere formality.

Unexpectedly, not long after entering enemy territory, his forces encountered two fully assembled units numbering over 30,000 ants in total. These troops had likely been on a distant hunting expedition and had only just returned, intending to reinforce the front lines.

Unluckily for them, they ran straight into Luo Wen’s swarm as they neared the border.

There was little to discuss. With Transport Bugs dividing the battlefield and 300,000 troops surrounding the enemy, exterminating the 30,000-strong force was a matter of minutes.

The red ants may have accepted the black ants as prisoners, but Luo Wen had no interest in doing the same. These basic-model combat units, equipped with only a rudimentary friend-or-foe recognition system, were riddled with vulnerabilities. Recycling them into protein was their best use.

That said, the red and black ants of the coalition were surprisingly steadfast, showing no inclination to surrender.

Before long, they became part of the swarm’s food reserves, loaded onto the backs of Transport Bugs.