The protagonist's hunch is not wrong.

The next day, the army of paving ants drives into the forest, followed by the protagonist with a scout team. Danger ensues.

At the edge of the forest, the large army of paving ants did not encounter much difficulty. However, as we move deeper into the forest, the surrounding environment changes dramatically.

The protagonist can feel that the terrain is gradually climbing, and the paving ant barbarian army has been constantly advancing towards higher altitudes, although the slope is very gentle, but after a long march, they are already at a much higher altitude than before.

As the altitude increases and the forest goes deeper into the interior, the various miscellaneous trees throughout the forest begin to transition, and now the main body of the forest has become pine and fir trees.

These tall pine and fir trees are densely canopy, shielding the upper layers of the forest from the scorching sun. The paver ants that marched at the bottom of the forest could barely see the sunlight, and were surrounded by a black patch. The main character's mind can't help but have the word "Black Forest".

The Black Forest, also known as the Teutonic Forest, is located in the mountainous region of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, because it is 160 kilometers long from north to south and 60 kilometers long from east to west in the rolling mountainous area, densely covered with large forests.

And in this "Black Forest", the protagonist doesn't know what it's like to look at it from a distance. However, during the journey, the biggest visual experience is "black", the sunlight is dim, and the shadows of the trees are building, giving people a strong sense of crisis.

Perhaps due to the influence of the external environment, the protagonist and the Fly Eagle and the Praying Tiger unconsciously become vigilant, and they control their mounts to get closer to each other.

Since entering the woods, the Flying Knights have not flown too high, flying roughly in the lower part of the canopy, where there are fewer branches, and only need to dodge the thick trunks in flight.

Fortunately, although the sun is dim in the "Black Forest", the temperature is relatively pleasant, and it is not as hot as other places.

The protagonist always keeps an eye on the top of his head, and for the flying knight flying at this altitude, the only thing that can threaten him is the predator that falls from the sky, in addition to the flying fierce insects.

The Paving Ant Barbarian Army also seemed to feel a hint of danger.

Since entering the "Black Forest", the formation of the paving ants has been actively compressed more closely, which is a defensive formation that can take into account the speed of advance and the reaction in the event of an attack.

This formation is necessary, and after entering the Black Forest, the protagonist notices several attacks against the Paving Ant Barbarian Army just by being in the protagonist's field of vision.

It was some fierce insects that attacked.

These insects include flies, giant toothed flies, and some insects that lurk underground and cannot see their true bodies.

Their tactics are invariably sneak attacks, and then they leave with one blow regardless of success or failure. Some, such as the Fly Tiger, took the initiative to follow the paving ant barbarian army, waiting for the opportunity to sneak attack. Some lurk underground, waiting for paving ants to attack when they get close.

In this way, it is difficult to exert the numerical advantage of the paving ant barbarian army, limited by eyesight, the paver ants only find the attacker after being attacked, and when the paving ant is ready to counterattack, the attacker has already slipped away with the prey.

Each insect attack will cause casualties to one or more paving ant warriors, which is a drop in the bucket for the paver ant barbarian army, so they mercilessly abandon the dead, and even the wounded have to keep up with the team themselves, without the slightest care from the army.

Some of the Paving Ant Warriors who had injured their legs in the attack gradually fell to the end of the group, and the protagonist also fell into the air in this position on the horse's horse.

He clearly saw that after the paving ant wounded troops were thrown down by the large army, a black shadow suddenly burst out from under the dead leaves on the ground, and dragged the paving ant wounded soldiers into the ground.

There was silence in the "Black Forest", as if nothing had happened, but attacks and killings were everywhere.

Over time, the protagonist sees bugs, tiger beetles, ladybugs, lacewings, and carnivorous bees in the glimmer of light all joining the assault on the Paving Ant Barbarian Army.

The army of paving ant barbarians marching in groups is like a slow-moving, injured giant whale, attracting countless hungry sharks to hunt.

Although the loss of paving ant warriors is not too many, the endless attacks make the army overwhelmed and helpless.

Perhaps the Paving Ant Barbarian Army is more conspicuous, the protagonist they did not encounter an attack, otherwise with three flying knights, they would have had a hard time dealing with the various predators in the forest.

This makes the protagonist a little discouraged, it's too dangerous here. However, the protagonist also wants to know the purpose of the Paving Ant Barbarian Army traveling thousands of miles into the forest.

Paving ants prefer to live in plains, and this dense forest environment is not suitable for them, as can be seen from their numerical superiority but inability to deal with all kinds of fierce insect attacks, and their poor eyesight and danger perception limit their combat effectiveness in the forest.

This is not the case in the plains, where there is plenty of light, the terrain is flat, and the outnumbered paver ants can easily dominate the area.

This kind of dense forest area is more suitable for hunting ants with strong individual combat effectiveness, such as sickle ants. The scythe ant has good eyesight, fast speed, and excellent bouncing power, which is extremely advantageous for both hunting and escaping in the complex environment of the woods.

Or the black-headed sour ant, an ant with special skills, whether it is an individual or a group, will make predators shy away. However, black-headed sour ants prefer the edges of the woods, and they are also afraid of the dangers in the depths of the forest. After all, their colony is a long-term wanderer, nesting only before winter, which adds an additional risk.

What is the reason why the paving ant gate will mobilize an army to go deep into the forest that he is not familiar with and is not used to?

Food? This year's year is not good, and the food resources in the territory of the paving ant barbarians are indeed not as abundant as in previous years. However, the ecosystems of grasslands and forests are very different, and there is no need for paver ants to go to such dangerous places just to find some food. Not to mention foraging, there is no need to send such a large army and go so far deep.

Resource? Resources such as honeydew and salt mines do attract the attention of many ants, and they have to occupy or take away these resources even if they pay a large price.

Enemy? Colonies such as the black-headed sour ant that lives in the forest sometimes attack ants that live on the grasslands. Whether it is a big-headed ant or a paving ant, they will generally resolutely fight back against such provocations.

But the hardest part of fighting back is finding and locating the exact location of the enemy colony, especially ants that have been wandering for a long time, such as the black-headed sour ant.

Solving this mystery is the only motivation that motivates the protagonist to stay in the "Black Forest".