Meanwhile, the adventurers belonging to Edgar’s unit who were fighting on the left flank were also engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

“UWOOOOOOOH!”

“GI, GICHICHIH!!”

In response to Ares’ slash attacks which he swung with renewed vigor, one of the soldier-type giant ants who lifted its head engaged him with its large jaws and both sides attempted to overthrow the other.

However, since the giant soldier ant possessed a better means of attack than humans, it immediately prepared to stab Ares with its spear-like antennae.

“Ares, get out of the way!”

“Kuh!!”

In response to my call, Ares, who acted as the vanguard, immediately jumped back as I fired an arrow from my mechanical bow which hit my target in the forehead.

“GIIIH!? AAH!!”

Immediately after the arrowhead plunged into the enemy’s head, the condensed magic that was packed into it was triggered due to the impact and blew off the head of the soldier ant with a dry sound.

“Not too bad for an impromptu coordinated attack.”

As I reached for my quiver, I checked the battle situation around us and saw Zachs stopping one of the giant ants from attacking with his Greatsword and jumping away to steer clear of his companion’s line of fire.

“Eina!!”

“T, tear the enemy to pieces, Wind Blade!!”

As expected, range attacks require the vanguard to lure in the enemy to work well. After a single, well-aimed Wind Blade lacerated one of the giant ants and stopped its movements, Zachs jumped back in and crushed its head with the Greatsword he carried on his shoulder.

Immediately after the attack, another soldier ant rushed forward and attempted to attack with its sharp antennae, but the fair-skinned female Knight, Reedy, parried it and took the giant ant down.

“Zachs, you swing too hard!”

“Sorry, thanks for the assist!”

During the short exchange, Eina had already begun casting the next spell, and the Priest who called himself Ignas kept a Healing Light spell activated on his left palm while he had Holy Barrier on his right hand on standby in case the vanguard fell during the battle.

If one were to look at the situation, it would seem like Adventurers have no immediate problems cooperating on the surface, but it should be noted that they are also at a disadvantage due to the variance in their abilities. In fact, some Adventurers were even being cornered by the giant ants and Riberto was one of those defending against them.

“Tsk, I need some extra support over here, hurry up!”

“Uu, wait a minute… Ei, Fire!!”

Muriel’s magic was reinforced by the faint, magical light that was emitted by the evergreen oak staff she carried, and the numerous flame bullets that shot out of her right palm burned the eyes of the giant ant approaching Riberto and frightened them away, but another one attacked him with great force.

“GISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

“Uwoooh!?”

Riberto promptly swung down his parrying dagger in an underhanded grip and pierced the head of a giant ant who had aimed at him while he was retreating, and the rest of the drooling soldier ants who saw this fled.

“Kuh, there’s just too many of them! Hang in there, buddy!!”

“N-no, I-I can’t fight any more than this!? U, uwaah, gebuh…”

A young Swordsman who was probably an “iron” rank who had managed to keep up with the battle until now was pushed down by one of the giant soldier ants who bit his throat off with its large and powerful jaws.

“Hi, ua…h, aah!?”

Meanwhile, the light-armored Warrior who had been fighting side-by-side with the unfortunate victim was also caught in the giant ant’s jaws while he was disoriented and shocked and was dragged into the group of giant ants where his grisly screams reverberated throughout.

Since the death of the vanguards could lead to the collapse of our defenses, I placed my bow and arrows back into my quiver and clad my limbs with whirlwinds created through magic, and shot forward like an arrow that was fired with a ballista.

“Shih!!”

With a short breath, I drove my fist into the giant ant’s face as I flew towards it, and the magic I concentrated into it produced countless, small Wind Blades which burst out upon contact.

“Giiiiiiiiiiah!? A… aa…”

As the body of the giant ant whose face I smashed in and killed went flying, I aimed for the other soldier ant who still had the Adventurer’s blood dripping from its mandibles and turned around to deliver a roundhouse kick!

“Gi, giiiah!!”

At the moment of contact, I also imbued magic into my legs to create small Wind Blades which caused it to be fatally injured as it cut through the joint connecting its head to its thorax as I sent it flying with a kick.

“Archer, you can act as a vanguard too?”

“That was close, thanks for saving me!” 

Ares and Riberto greeted me in a friendly tone as they noticed me coming to support the front lines, but apart from those who were paying attention to the enemies in front, Muriel had a cramped expression as she had watched the whole thing unfold before her.

(If I remember correctly, Ernesta did mention that he had gone home with the manuscript of that book…)

As the image of her close friend who is also a user of the grimoire “Herculean Crushing” unexpectedly came to mind, Muriel smiled wryly. However, the moment was short-lived as a chill ran through her spine when she saw another large, Imperial-type Valley Ant approach.

“Th-this is…!? Everyone, stand back!!”

“Wha– Area attack magic!?”

At about the same time as the rearguards who were skilled at detecting area attack magic warned us, I also sensed the magic spreading throughout the ground and jumped back while pulling Riberto by the collar as earthen spikes popped out from the ground in succession.

“O-oh right, I forgot these guys also have innate earth-type magic!!”

I heard from Muriel that these giant ants do not just rely on brute force when excavating to expand their nest, but they use magic to do so, but…  For some reason, I just felt frustrated that these guys could also use the “Binding Fangs” that I specialized at. 

(Up until now, I haven’t seen anyone else use it, so I guess it’s just a common type of non-human magic…)

However, it was still an effective area attack magic, and several Adventurers who didn’t escape in time were unable to move since their legs were pierced by the earthen spikes.

“Guh, uuugghh…”

“Uwaaaah!”

As the screams of pain rose one by one, Muriel acted quickly and held her right hand up and cast a spell while interfering with the effective range of the earth-type magic. 

“Return all creations to what they should be, Dispel!”

Her dignified voice rang out as she struck her evergreen staff on the ground and the earthen spikes crumbled and freed the immobilized Adventurers, but this time, the giant ants came for them while their movements were slowed down by their injuries.

“S-stop, don’t come near me, UGYAAAAAAH”

“Hih, n-no, it hurts, uwaah… uu”

“Shit, just do whatever you damn bastards want!!”

I joined Ares, Riberto, and the other vanguards as they rushed to the rescue and when I spotted the large, Imperial Valley Ant in the vicinity, I smirked as I thrust my left hand to the ground.

“I’ll give you guys a taste of your own medicine! Devour them completely, Fangs of Greed!!”

“GII, GIAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

As the earthen spikes pierced the heads and thoraxes of the giant ants surrounding the Imperial one after another, I stepped on the head of the nearest soldier ant and used it as a foothold when I clad my legs in whirlwinds and leaped. Then, I vertically spun in the air to create momentum and used the centrifugal force to drive a right heel drop on the Imperial Valley Ant’s head!

“Gigiiiih!?”

The Air Burst spell I imbued into my leg activated as I directed it downwards and pushed down the giant ant’s head and stuck out my left hand directly over its exposed weak point.

“Tear it to pieces, Triple Wind Blade!!”

“Gii, gigiaaaa… aa…”

The Triple Wind Blade I fired at close range created a deep cut, and the giant head that lolled to the side after losing its support was torn into shreds.

I didn’t have time to admire my work since I used my wind magic to create a temporary updraft to extend my time in the air for a bit.

“There we go!”

And then, using the same method, I commanded the wind to adjust my fall and landed on the back of one of the giant ants who had been impaled by the earthen spikes and casually mowed it down with my Scimitar.

After beheading the ant that I had landed on, I was safe for a while and watched as Edgar and the others were able to take down several more of the enemy as they hacked and slashed at the giant ants who became restless when the Imperial was taken down.

Additionally, it seems the soldiers had managed to slaughter the large Imperials while being led by Eldric and his squad of elite soldiers, and the giant ants who had lost both their commanders and their brethren began to withdraw without any hesitation.

“Look at them scurry…”

To be honest, the speed at which they went wasn’t something that we and the transport corps could catch up to. So at the end of the first phase of the battle, our subjugation team ended with 24 casualties, but we also managed to take out at least 83 Valley Ants after.

It’s not bad considering the kill vs. loss ratio, but… it’s too bad that most of the casualties were young and inexperienced, although this is a common occurrence on the battlefield.