"Alice, seven coming up the side trying to get on top of the bear golem. You take them." Gil had moved to a position near Alice. The pair was working very well dividing up the targets they saw. With Gil's keen eyes the ants that moved to attack anyone in a blind spot were noticed. One of the dwarven commanders even moved closer so that he could better communicate what Gil saw in reference to what he saw with his binoculars.
Light spikes pierced the pleading soldier ant trying to flank the bear golem. The secondary call from the commander caused the dwarf controlling the golem to turn and smash at the giant ants. They didn't stand a chance compared to the large and very sharp claws affixed to the ends of the bear golems paws.
"Good shot. Keep an eye out below us. I have a few arrows to fire that need focus." Gil knew that he was about to take down several targets that he knew he wouldn't be able to hit while keeping attention on the surroundings. There were multiple soldier ants that had burst out of secondary tunnels that were seemingly closed off until now. The giant earth ants were not stupid, they lacked rationality but they were a colony of advanced hunters.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAnts in general were used to creating any tactic to gather food for colonies. Some made trap pits while others developed poisons. The giant earth ants used their ability to move earth easily with their large pincers to create small tunnels used to ambush prey. The ravine was the ideal place for them to sue as both a pit trap and an ambush.
Since Gil had been paying attention he had seen these secondary tunnels open up and knew that the ants would be trying to escape to attack the golems and dwarves from these points, therefore, he was aiming to collapse them. Before Walker had left he had managed to make a small pile of the elemental arrows. Walker had thought that while they walked Gil would experiment with them to develop better techniques, but that was when they realized they were nearly at their destination.
The arrows flew accurately at odd angles making it seem that they would not hit anything. Yet that was where someone would be wrong, Gil wasn't aiming for the ants leaving those secondary tunnels. He was aiming for the tops of those tunnels. The goal was simply to collapse them and buy time. once the ants had dug the collapse out then the golems and dwarves would have recovered their order to be able to easily intercept them.
Small explosions echoed within the ravine causing a slight shake. Gil was sure he had minorly disturbed the lower tunnels but accepted that as unavoidable. He watched the side of the ravine collapse covering the secondary tunnels while Alice acted to take down several ants that had felt the slow in ranged fire. The ants that attempted to climb the sides weren't met with complete defeat. Alice knocked them down and in to the mess of golems that dealt the finishing blows.
"Ballista, at the ready! Be precise and take down soldiers first!" The commanding dwarf stepped forward and made the call. He was going to get them ahead in this battle while he sent in the secondary wave to pull the defeated giant earth ant bodies away for dismantling and preservation. It was a key point in the battle going on in the ravine.
Meanwhile, Walker and Midnight found themselves in unsettling silence. Between the two of them, they had managed to scout ahead of the tunnel battle to find that the majority of the tunnels were empty. The ants that they had worried about in their last visit were nowhere to be seen, making them believe that all of them had rushed to the battle in the ravine through other ant made tunnels.
"Midnight, let's rush ahead and check that egg chamber I saw before. I want to try and start some trouble there and escape." The damage to the giant ant eggs would cause chaos and could easily make the entire battle faster. It would also remove a lot of risks since the ants would be distracted by multiple battle fronts.
Since the tunnels were dark there was naturally a lot of darkness elemental mana paired with earth elemental mana. Walker knew that he and Midnight could remain hidden in the shadows while getting close to the ants. The only worry would be the scent they gave off. Luckily Walker had a skill to clean their bodies and remove the potential scents that could warn the ants of them. Midnight didn't seem too happy with this but accepted it so that she could win over the ants and take their meat as payment for her work faster.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"I will use the darkness mana around to create spikes. then use the earth elemental mana to make the entire chamber hard to move around in. I need you to act as a personal guard while I make these shapes using my high earth sculpting skill." The shadows would be easy to manipulate with the high darkness elemental mana underground. The earth sculpting would require more thought.
Walker would need to envision the spikes and obstacles he wanted to create within the chamber. That alone took time and strain. But sculpting them under the ground so that they would burst up spontaneously took more time and even heavier strain. Both of which needed to be done carefully or Walker would not only harm himself but potentially collapse the entire chamber. "I trust you to protect me here." The words were enough to light a fire within Midnight. Her family needed her and only her to protect them. That was what she would do, no doubt needed.
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