Ch.1010. Close Combat Infantry

Hearing this alone, one might wonder why the enemy queen ant didn’t mass-produce these weapons for her ants, but the truth is that she couldn’t rather than wouldn’t.

The reason was quite easy to understand. Simply put, the production cost of this Laser Shooter (D) was prohibitively expensive.

The cost to produce a single biological weapon like the Laser Shooter (D) is roughly twice that of the Hive Flamer, which is already quite expensive for a Grade 7 monster.

Yet even producing just one would achieve less on a battlefield with hundreds of monsters fighting than a Hive Flamer would.

If one were determined to mass-produce these, there would be two methods.

One would be to establish auxiliary facilities specifically for mining minerals to reduce production costs before mass production.

The other method would be to simply evolve into a Grade 4 High Hive Mind and then begin mass production. By that point, the energy supply would be incomparably greater than now, making production relatively trivial.

‘…Let’s give up for now.’

My choice was the latter of these two options. Rather than setting up facilities and supplying vast amounts of energy just to produce a few rifles, it seemed more useful to strengthen the creatures I already had.

※ ※ ※

After abandoning the mass production of Laser Shooters (D), I considered what monsters to produce with the energy I had accumulated and came up with an idea.

Specifically, to create a monster that was relatively cheap and affordable for Grade 7, moderately strong, and easy to mass-produce.

I now had over 17 Hive Flamers deployed in the ant nest, but the problem was that their numerical limitations and psychic flame attack method left no corpses to obtain nutrients from.

Anyway, the role of the monster I would create this time was clear.

Moderately strong, moderately fast, able to engage enemies adequately while maintaining the front line and launching offensives—in simple terms, a monster that would serve as a regular infantry.

After much consideration, I determined and selected an appropriate form for this role.

The base monster would naturally be the Hive Spider. With six antenna-like legs that could traverse most terrain, and legs that could function as arms for flexible combat.

Therefore, I didn’t change much about its appearance. At most, I increased its size somewhat and modified the body so that while not quite having an upper body, it could raise its torso portion considerably.

Immediately afterward, I carefully selected five traits and one skill to equip this monster with.

The five traits were: Close Combat Expert (D) for melee combat, Cooperative Combat (D) for organic coordination in battle, Regeneration (D), Lightweight Reinforced Exoskeleton (E), and Tenacity (D) for survivability.

The skill, on the other hand, was simply Thermal Detection (E) for enemy detection. Since it was infantry meant to hold the line against enemy soldiers, there was no need for any special trump cards.

As for biological weapons… surprisingly, I equipped none!

Or rather, to be more precise, I modified the front legs that functioned as arms to be interchangeable biological components.

If carrying something was necessary, they could use clawed hands; in full-scale combat, Hunter Claws; when facing strong individual enemies, they could be equipped with shields or biological crossbows.

As the number of monsters increases, it becomes difficult to immediately disassemble and reconfigure them upon return, so this approach seemed better than operating hundreds of the same monster with different weapons.

Hive Infantry

Grade :: 7

Level :: 27

Stats

Strength :: 20

Agility :: 20

Vitality :: 20

Intelligence :: 10

Resistance :: 10

Energy :: 10

Leadership :: 0

Traits

Monster Gene (E), Predator (E), Hive Mind (E), Subjugation (EX), Close Combat Expert (D), Cooperative Combat (D), Regeneration (D), Lightweight Reinforced Exoskeleton (E), Tenacity (D)

Skills

Thermal Detection (E)

Biological Weapons

None

Thus was created the Hive Infantry. As the name suggests, it will fulfill the role of infantry and will be the main force in the counter-invasion operation about to unfold.

Huh? Counter-invasion? What do I mean?

Ah, naturally I’m talking about invading their headquarters from our side.

Conveniently, they’ve opened a passage connecting to their headquarters, perfect for sending in monsters as soon as production is complete.

※ ※ ※

The number of monsters to be deployed through the passage was set at exactly 300.

Twenty Hive Commanders to direct individual units, twenty Hive Flamers paired with twenty Psychic Reservoirs for tunnel clearing, thirty Chief Brains for psychic rear support, and the rest were all Hive Infantry.

These Grade 7 monsters were essentially created by converting into nutrients all available monsters except those fighting on the front lines.

I even incorporated veteran personalities with extensive combat experience, which was quite a challenge for someone like me who prefers stable methods over bold gambles.

‘Enter!’

As soon as the troops were ready, I pushed the monsters through the passage.

The monsters strode into the interior, quickly advancing along the passage, and within just 10 minutes of entry, they encountered ants that had been approaching our side.

Perhaps intending to counter my overwhelming psychic abilities, the ant group included dozens of chrysalis-form ants with psychic abilities, but unfortunately for them, we had natural predators of psychics.

‘Burn them!’

The moment the monsters encountered the ants, the Hive Flamers at the front line began spewing psychic flames against the psychic barriers reflexively deployed by the ants.

No matter how many layers of psychic barriers were deployed, unless their output was overwhelming, the barriers were like straw before a flamethrower.

[Level has increased.]

[Level has increased.]

The psychic flames that burned through the barriers reduced the experienced… ant monsters behind them to ashes.

And even after the flames subsided, with the sturdy vanguard ants completely annihilated, it was impossible for the soft rear ants to defeat monsters specialized in close combat.

[Level has increased.]

[Level has increased.]

[Level has increased.]

Before the monsters had even been charging for long, the ants were completely wiped out, with only my three-level increase as proof that they had ever been there.

‘At this rate, they must be reaching their limit.’

As I watched my monsters pass over the swept-away ants, I recognized that the number of ants my monsters had defeated was by no means small.

Typically, 500 ants move as one group, and we had annihilated at least 10 such groups.

Add to that roughly 200 miscellaneous ants killed after entering the ant nest, plus well over a thousand larvae, and we had also plundered their food storage and cultivation rooms where they grew monster mushrooms.

So by rough calculation, we had killed at least 6,000 ants excluding larvae, and I had blocked most of their methods of replenishing their numbers.

In other words, no matter how much ants rely on numerical advantage, there’s no way to maintain a legion of tens of thousands in this forest with that level of military power. By now, the queen ant’s remaining forces must be fewer than 1,000 at most.

Given the characteristics of ant monsters, where most individuals are Grade 9 Giant Ants, at least half would be Grade 9, but they would have no way to defeat an army of 300 Grade 7 monsters.

※ ※ ※

And indeed, most of the scenario unfolded as I had predicted.

The remaining forces were all guarding the spawning chamber where the queen ant resided, and their numbers were truly pathetic and insignificant.

About 700 in total, with 500 Grade 9 Giant Ants. Of the remaining 200, more than half—about 140—were support types, so the effective combat force was only about 60.

But here, one thing deviated from my expectations. Namely, those 60 were quite strong as a kind of royal guard.

The queen’s royal guard ants, all Grade 7 of the same species, moved as if they were extensions of the queen’s body.

Moving in perfect unison according to pheromone instructions, they used their pheromones to send the 600 ants under their command into a berserk state before charging, which was quite a lethal attack.

The berserk ants continued to move even with injuries that would normally be fatal, and like zombies, they had to have their heads crushed to be killed.

In the end, even the royal guards themselves went berserk and charged, but we had also gathered all our forces.

Monsters that had been mopping up stragglers inside the ant nest joined us, along with additional monsters created from collected corpses, and ultimately the ants’ crude numerical assault failed, with the queen and her forces becoming our nutrients.

And the time it took to reach this point—was exactly 67 hours from the discovery of the ant nest.

A forest underground ant colony consisting of nearly 10,000 ant monsters was completely eradicated by a Hive Mind that was exactly 6 days and 11 hours old.