Episode 89 – Encroachers (9)
“If they don’t want to fight back, there’s no reason to avoid them.”
“That is correct. “When the opportunity comes, you have to push for it.”
The residents were thinking what he was thinking. Rakum, who received additional troops from Varun, nodded with a slightly trembling voice.
Now the stage of searching around the surrounding area is over. We had to march towards their nest, burn it down, and uproot them.
‘I have gained enough experience.’
Rakum braced himself as he looked at the large amount of equipment being airlifted in a cart.
All by-products of bugs acquired through hunting were brought into creature hunting. They sold it there for money, and in return, they bought and brought in high-quality special equipment made there.
Warriors as well as ordinary soldiers were armed. Spears and arrows made from the bones or shells of mutants have greater power against bug shells than ordinary steel weapons.
In addition, there is even Drake-type scale armor with stronger defense.
Proper steel armor is a fairly high-tech item in this area, but their appearance, wearing special equipment with superior performance, is now different from that of the ordinary grassland tribes.
Moreover, it was not simply equipped with equipment like this.
The more I repeated my battles with bugs, the more tactical aspects of how to deal with them in various shapes and forms continued to develop.
“Those who have the appearance of large ants are not very smart, and their individual strength is weak. “Soldiers can block attacks if they are well-formed and armed with spears and shields.”
Rakum instructed himself and his subordinates to familiarize them with the tactics created based on the data collected so far.
Although some people were nervous, no one was truly afraid and tried to run away. This is because they already know that if they don’t fight now, the village will be attacked in the future.
“Stay in place and deal with them. “If big guys come out that are difficult for the soldiers to deal with, then we have to step in.”
Rakum this time ordered the warriors to carry out an operation. The job of the warriors, which includes Racoum’s younger brother Larsen, is to step forward and shoot down enemies that the soldiers cannot deal with even with weapons.
It was a simple but key tactic.
In such a large-scale war, if you fight with all your might, you will inevitably lose. You can only win if everyone is aware of their position and role.
“Everyone move forward!”
After deciding that all preparations were complete, Lakum took a short sigh and advanced the assembled troops. There are only a few people on horseback who act as messengers.
Unlike a tribe in the grasslands, they walked on two legs and approached the enemy, showing the appearance of a highly skilled unit.
‘As expected, they are in a state where they can’t move right now.’
As the unit advanced, Varun, transformed into a bird, flew into the sky and looked at the enemies gathered in the nest.
Even though our troops first gathered together in large numbers and approached, the enemies only gathered scattered sentries and did not jump out and attack first like before.
Varun’s heart was pounding as he looked down at the scene. If you think about it, we’ve only been fighting local wars so far, but this is the first time we’ve had a truly large-scale war with bugs.
If they do not fight this noble war, the bugs that have accumulated power will burst out and sweep the world.
Varun did not think that the other tribes, who were fighting among themselves at this very moment, would be able to overcome this crisis.
“They are coming!”
“also. “Take a seat!”
As the residents approached the nest, the bugs that had already devastated the area and turned it into a nest without any living creatures formed a military force and came out to stop them.
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From what they had figured out so far, the bugs had no particular tactics. All there was to do was push through numbers and power.
Knowing this, they quickly formed a formation and started shooting arrows at the bugs that attacked first.
Hundreds of bugs without a means of long-distance attack have no choice but to be hit by a barrage of arrows the moment they quickly crawl on the ground.
“Raise your shield and spear!”
Soldiers with shields hurled spears at the men who crawled to the front with arrows stuck in their bodies, preventing them from charging.
The glitch’s carapace could be broken by soldiers using spears, so enemies whose only means of attack were to approach and bite with their jaws did not cause much damage.
‘It’s going according to plan.’
Racoum, who had not yet stepped forward and was watching the scene, bit his lip as the battlefield situation was going as he had expected.
If you win the battle of power like this, you can push on to the enemy’s nest.
“excuse me! “He’s a big guy!”
The enemies, who could not stand still, mobilized their full power. Giant ants appeared that could not be stopped by soldiers’ arrows or spears.
Until now, only one or two had appeared, but now more than ten have appeared.
“Warriors! “I’ve only done it once or twice!”
Rakum shouted as he raised his weapon, the spear, and stepped forward. It was the job of warriors armed with skills to stop those monsters.
‘If we catch them safely, we will win!’
Before his uncontrollable excitement could escape, Rakum gritted his teeth and ran forward, holding a spear stained with blue light.
On the other side, magic was being cast or warriors with weapons were charging along with their soldiers.
Rakum’s spear, which kicked off the ground and jumped into the air at once, smashed and dug into the enemy’s head, and the large bone dagger wielded by Shura broke the enemy’s jaw and cut off its legs.
The skills of the soldiers who had been trained in war, as well as the skills of the warriors who had continuously trained without a break, were now at a level where even weak bugs could be caught without difficulty.
“Charge! “We won!”
“They’re falling!”
The soldiers blocked the enemies and cleared a path, and thanks to this, the activities of the warriors, who were able to take full responsibility for defeating huge enemies, soon became a virtuous cycle that raised the morale of the soldiers.
The soldiers began to shout, breaking their strong formation, charging forward, and beginning to annihilate the enemies who had lost in the battle of strength.
‘I did it…!’
And it wasn’t just the soldiers who felt the thrill of victory.
Shura, standing on top of the enemy’s collapsed corpse with its head smashed, gasped as he watched his allies push the enemies away.
The girl who always wanted to catch up with Riena was confident that she was making progress little by little as she looked at the bugs she had defeated with her own hands.
***
“For now, it looks like the battle has been won. “I was worried because it was my first time fighting such a large number of enemies.”
-thank god.
A large-scale battle fought in front of the nest. I was watching nervously, but surprisingly, perhaps because the power balance was not right, our allies completely defeated the enemy’s momentum in less than a few hours.
Even though we didn’t do our best. Lee So-yeon, who was sharing this fact as if relaying it, said that she was fortunate to have won without any damage.
-I’m looking into it by conducting reconnaissance, but I haven’t heard any news about it yet.
After telling me about the bugs’ encroachment that destroyed the dwarven kingdom in the north, Lee So-yeon was also looking to see if there was such a place on the screen she was watching, but there was no news so far.
In the first place, I only found out when the dwarves were massacred and the kingdom collapsed, so if they were growing their power somewhere far away, it would be difficult to find out right away.
Maybe something that can prevent that is this map app, but neither Lee So-yeon nor I have enough points to activate it right now.
‘I have to solve the urgent things first.’
I turned my head back to the screen and saw the residents completely victorious in the battle on the ground.
They won on their own without my help using a chainsaw, and now they want to clean up their base.
A large tunnel located right in the middle of the nest. As they were in the shape of ants, their home base seemed to be inside.
[Bug Nest]
In fact, as the soldiers entered slowly with cautious faces, I was able to scroll through the screen.
“—, –.”
Unlike the open battlefield on the ground, the passage underground in this ground, which could be their home base, is narrow and long. Therefore, it is not possible to mobilize a large number of soldiers, and even if you bring them all, it would only be confusing in an emergency and would be meaningless.
So, in this environment, warriors, including warriors with extensive combat experience, took the lead with only a small number of troops and began to clear the way.
Fortunately, there seemed to be not many enemies left inside the tunnel, as they had burned a significant amount of troops in the previous battle. Enemies of that level are easy opponents for those who have been farming the essence of monsters every day in the underground world of sandbox crafting.
“Is this really all there is?”
As they continued to move forward with ease, even I was a little taken aback. Of course, this is just one nest right now, but it still seems a little weak for having destroyed an entire country.
“–!”
‘Crazy, what is that?’
But it wasn’t until I got to the end of their nest that I realized why their strength seemed so weak. Not only I, but also the residents who saw it in person were shocked and astonished.
[Erosion Gate]
A large tree that appears to be rotten and gated, and an unidentifiable black gate swaying in the center of the tree trunk.
I could tell just by looking at its appearance that the gate was incomparable to the one-off cracks I had seen so far.
The black tree that stretched out around the gate was absorbing all the nutrients from the ground there, causing it to rot, and countless bug corpses were lying around underneath it.
After increasing their numbers, they opened that gate at the cost of their own lives.
It’s still at the level of a large car, but if we leave it like this, what on earth could come out of that gate? I didn’t want to even imagine it.
[Gate interference possible. Would you like to close the gate?]
When I hovered my mouse over the gate, a message appeared.
“Are you kidding me?”
I laughed out loud and of course closed the gate. With the vibration, the tunnel trembles and the quivering gate slowly disappears.
‘This can’t be everything.’
The gate was completely closed and the residents cheered, confident of their victory, but my expression was still frozen. They haven’t fully grown yet.
There is only one nest we have killed so far. There must be more like this where the dwarven kingdom was. But will we really be able to invade there?
[Achievement Accomplished: First Deactivation of Erosion Gate]
I am glad that I received enough compensation that I wanted.
By using the points received in return for achievements, you can revitalize previously planned games and strengthen the defenses of this area.
Before attacking, it is essential to secure the defense of your base.
Just as they expanded their power by building nests, I planned to counterattack by building a fortress that could withstand even if the bugs decided to invade.