The vanguard team consisting of Grace and Edgar’s teams fought shoulder to shoulder as they cut through the swarm of giant ants while the rearguard team readied their weapons and acted as support.

“DARAAAAAAAAAH!”

“UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!”

As the Adventurers swung their blades in high spirits, Ares scraped the tip of his sword against the ground and the upward slash attack caused the soldier ant to look up, and the follow-up slash that he made with a flick of his wrist severed its head.

“Gih, gii… aa…”

“That’s 1 down!”

“Don’t get too carried away or you’ll get hurt!”

As Riberto dissuaded his partner from acting too rashly, he also stomped on the head of a giant ant who attempted to bite off his ankle and killed it by slashing down at the exposed joint connecting its head to its thorax.

Both of them were getting used to fighting the giant ants after they experienced battling them in Grau village together with Zachs and Reedy who were also wielding their blades nearby.

In addition, the two teams of soldiers who rushed in from both sides of the enemy with their iron spears were also fighting hard, but the giant ants were also desperate because the survival of their colony was at stake.

“GIIISHAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

A huge Imperial Valley Ant roared and raised its upper body and spat out a lump of formic acid from its place beside the queen and protected its brethren.

“Uwah!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

“Uwaa, it burns! Aah, my legs are melting… Uguh, gabu…h.”

One of the soldiers who was unlucky enough to be hit with the formic acid screamed and collapsed while scratching at his body even though he was wearing armor. Meanwhile, one of the soldiers who had been defending against the ants behind him also had his legs burned by the acid and was bitten and killed by the giant ants that attacked him once he lost his balance.

The same kind of attack was also directed at the other Adventurers, and one of the Imperials suddenly opened its mouth and aimed at Ares’ direction as he faced off with one of the approaching soldier ants.

“Hey!?”

“Uwaah!!”

Riberto was able to immediately jump out of the way, but Ares’ reaction was delayed since he was holding back the soldier ant’s snapping mandibles with his longsword, but he wasn’t particularly harmed. 

I then drew my mechanical bow at an angle and shot an arrow that I charged with a lot of magic so it would explode at the slightest impact.

The moment my arrow made contact with the lump of formic acid, the condensed wind magic on the arrowhead activated and blew the acid bubble into fine droplets which burned the giant ants’ exoskeletons.

“GIGIII!?”

“Hot, hot, I got hit too!”

“Stop complaining, that’s just a minor burn.”

Meanwhile, as Ares jumped back while exchanging some light banter with me, Muriel clasped a magic stone in her hand which condensed water particles from the atmosphere and raised her right hand to launch multiple Ice Needles which pierced the soldier ants that were chasing after them.

“Gi, shaa… a… ah”

“You guys will be in danger if you don’t concentrate, you know.”

“Yes, you’re right. We’ll be more careful.”

Anyway, although both Ares and I understood the situation, Muriel was telling us off with a serious expression, so I obediently nodded and went on to aim another arrow at the head of the annoying Imperials who were spewing formic acid around and took advantage of the magic attacks that Eina and the other rearguards were hurling at the enemies and fired an arrow.

“Gih, gigiih!!”

On the other hand, even though the queen couldn’t stand upright anymore, she activated her earth magic from where she was lying and created a barrier of earth and sand around them in an attempt to reduce the power of the attacks. 

“Even if you do that, those defenses won’t work!!”

After a while, I aimed and fired 3 consecutive shots at the head of an Imperial who was gearing up for a counterattack!

“Tsk, I missed!”

“Gih, giiiih!? GIAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

The first shot shallowly pierced the area between its eyes which is tougher than the ordinary giant ants, and the magic contained in the arrowhead exploded which made its head jerk up and caused the 2nd arrow to hit its mandibles.

But as soon as it made contact, the magic in the 2nd arrowhead exploded and also jerked its mandibles, and as a result, the 3rd shot which I thought had gone awry penetrated its soft compound eye and caused the magic on the arrowhead to activate and cause a fatal wound after it blew off its head.

“… If I got a good result out of it, then it’s fine I guess!”

After making quick work of the Imperial, I looked around and saw that the queen ant had stuck one of her sickle-like front legs into the ground and was imbuing magic into it.

“Tsk!!”

“Ukyaah!?”

When I saw the earth magic radiating from the leg she had stuck into the ground, I carried Muriel by the waist and jumped away just as the ground we were stepping on rose and three spear-like earthen spikes projected out of it.

It seems the attack wasn’t just directed at us as the ground on which the Soldiers and Adventurers were stepping on also rose and earthen clods appeared one after another.

“Uguh, aaaaah… uu.”

“Kahah, ua… h”

Meanwhile, those who were not well-versed in detecting magic reacted late and were unable to avoid the earthen clods that shot up from below and several of them ended up being skewered.

With both sides beginning to suffer damage, the first platoon who was in charge of smoking out the enemy boldly narrowed the distance and shot at the giant ants who had been using the carcass of their brethren as shields while Miss Grace who was in charge of the Adventurers blew off the lump of formic acid with Multiple Fire and cut down one of the Imperials.

The vanguard group led by Edgar also took advantage of the momentum and slashed down several giant ants, and the mages from the rearguard closed the distance further by firing off attack magic at the queen ant, but… 

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!!”

The queen screeched as her large body was once again dyed in a magical light which reduced the power of the attack spells hurled at her such as Ice Bombs and Wind Blades by the synergistic defense effect of the phosphorescence and her exoskeleton.