This time, the Centipede task force was finally covered by friendly troops on the left and right, and with so many armies advancing separately, even if there was an enemy, as long as it was not a large force of enemy troops, it would be difficult to quietly break through to the flank. And a small group of enemies, even if there is, there is no threat.

Instead, it was at the front of the task force, and this time there was no forest ant force to take the lead and explore the way.

The centipede scattered the two squads of the 10th Legion of the Scythe Hunter Ant Scouts and explored the ground in front of them, which was a textbook scouting arrangement for the Legion of the Divine Angel King.

Scythe ants are natural hunters, the best scouts, no matter the terrain, even the rugged and winding forests can't stop them.

At the same time, the forest ant and belly ant squads of the 101st Legion were scouting in the nearby trees to prevent the reappearance of the scene when the enemy descended from the sky just now.

The task force's search of the trees was not as comprehensive as the previous forest ants, but it was enough to make sure that there were no ambushes on both sides of the marching route, and the troops on the ground could keep up with the troops on the trees.

As the task force advanced for a while, the Scythe Ant Scouts suddenly reported that they had discovered a cave in the ground, and that the entrance seemed to be an ant hole.

Hearing this, the centipede hurriedly led his subordinates over, and near the burrow, he found some clues. The mycelium scattered near the entrance of the cave was half dry, and this hyphae was a plant of the leafcutter ants, and the centipede had seen it with the leafcutters, a vassal of the Divine Envoy King's army.

The mycelium here seems to be eaten by the leafcutter ants inside, and basically only the most unpalatable mycorrhizal parts.

After sending an exploration team into the burrow, it was found that there were no ants inside, but there must have been leafcutter ants living not long ago, and in addition to the leftover mycelial remains, there were some relatively fresh ant droppings nearby.

The nests of leafcutter ants are generally tree nests, even in winter, so this burrow dug by leafcutter ants may be a temporary station before the leafcutter ant army. After all, it takes too much work to build a tree nest for temporary stationing, and you can't sleep in the wilderness, and a hole in the ground is a good choice.

Judging from the scale of this underground nest, at least tens of thousands of leaf-cutting ants were stationed here at that time, but not a single one could be seen at this time.

At the beginning, the Flying Knight Survey estimated that there were 300,000 leaf-cutting ant troops, which was only an approximate number, mainly estimated by the amount of food transported, and did not clear the specific deployment of the leaf-cutting ant army.

Now it seems that the Leaf Cutter Army did not report that the group was gathered together, but at least some of the troops were scattered in different locations.

What does it mean to be stationed in a decentralized manner? What does the transfer of the leaf-cutting ant army mean? The centipede couldn't figure it out, it would be nice if he followed the king of the gods, he didn't need to bother with this brain.

The only information that the centipede can now grasp is the information provided by the flying knights before the army, and after the start of the battle, the Red Fire Ant Army did not report the information they obtained from all directions to the task force in time, and the centipede felt that the information was too little to judge the enemy's intentions, and some had a big head.

At this time, the sky began to darken, and the woods were even more gloomy and obscure, and the centipede's biological clock told him that it was almost night, and if it was winter, it would have already been dark, and now there was still some afterglow barely penetrating.

The centipede sent a messenger to the rear, saying that it had found an abandoned enemy nest, that there was no trace of the enemy, that it was dark, and that it was asking to return to the team.

Soon, however, the courier quickly returned along the pheromone and reported that the Red Fire Ant Army had stationed the troops in place and continued the search the next day.

On this day, the Red Fire Ant Army did not find the main force of the Leaf Cutting Ant Army, but some of the search teams in all directions encountered small groups of enemy troops, and there was a low-intensity battle.

The 300,000 leaf-cutting ant army seems to have disappeared out of thin air!?

Now the centipedes can't care so much, it's getting dark, and the troops need a safe shelter at night.

Fortunately, there is a ready-made one in front of me.

The centipede ordered his subordinates to enter the nest left by the leafcutter ants to rest, carefully inspect all corners, and then close 4 of the 6 entrances and exits, leaving a capable team to guard the doors at each of the remaining 2 entrances and exits.

Then the army rested in the warm underground.

In autumn, the ground is already cool at night, and the centipede doesn't know where the other friendly troops are spending the night, but at least their subordinates are safe.

————

The next day, the Centipede task force set out at dawn, sending messengers to urge the rear to bring food and prepare a full meal before setting off.

Although the task force had already eaten once yesterday and was not hungry, it was not too much of a problem to insist on not eating for another day or two, but the centipede found that the military rations provided by the Red Fire Ant Army were always insufficient, so he insisted that his subordinates should be fully fed and set off again, so that they would not panic for the time being in case of a sudden interruption one day.

But after a while, they did not wait for the rations, but for the heralds.

The Red Fire Ant Army ordered all units to immediately advance due west of the main force, where a large force of the Leaf Cutter Army was found.

Finally found the enemy!

The centipede ordered the troops to assemble and set off, and marched in the southwest direction, still marching simultaneously above and under the trees, and stopped and stopped, and did not rush over.

Along the way, two search teams behind them overtook the Centipede task force and rushed to the front, but the task force remained unhurried.

"Steady", this is what the king of God has repeatedly admonished.

Suddenly, the task force was attacked by the enemy.

On the trees on both sides, several forest ants and belly ants fell or climbed down from the trees, and hurriedly reported that there were enemies in the trees.

The enemy had come from a tree branch somewhere else, and was taken aback when they encountered the task force's tree troops.

This was an encounter, and although the more than two hundred forest ants and belly-raising ants on the trees also had iron jaw knives, they did not have iron armor, and they were outnumbered, and they were not the opponents of the thousands of leaf-cutting ant army, and they quickly retreated.

This army of leaf-cutting ants occupies the trees on the side of the task force, and is a condescending threat to the task force.

The centipede immediately ordered the main force to go up the tree and prepare to fight for the commanding heights in the tree. Having learned the lesson of yesterday's forest ant troops that were almost divided and surrounded by airborne enemy troops, the centipedes did not dare to continue their advance on the ground while the enemy occupied the trees on both sides.

After going up the tree, the centipede finally felt the difference between ground ants and arboreal ants, and he himself was a little dizzy in the tree.

The Leaf Cutting Ant Army flexibly attacked from all heights, and most of the Divine Envoy King warriors were big-headed ants, unable to keep up with the enemy's speed when pursuing, and it was difficult to form a dense formation in the narrow environment of the trees when attacked.

It was only by virtue of the superiority in equipment that the task force managed to drive away the few enemies and then descended the trees to continue its advance.

This small but very uncomfortable encounter made the centipede suddenly realize, no wonder I heard that the Red Fire Ant Army has lost more battles in the forest over the years, and it is really the forest home advantage of the Leaf Cutting Ant Army is too great!

So can the Red Fire Ant Army win this battle?