Chapter 180: Tottering

Chapter 180: Tottering

Non-stop life-and-death fighting had reduced the Insect Swarm’s numbers by nearly half. However, only the quantity had decreased; the quality of the individual insects was rapidly improving.

The Nag were supposed to be filtered through battle from the moment they were born. But their former king, a Magical Beast with special abilities, had interrupted this process. Here, they were making up for that missing step.

Although the Nag possessed decent individual intelligence, they followed the will of the collective even more. And now, there was only one will representing their collective—Lily’s.

When Lily left, she gave a more vague command—Hunt.

Not long after receiving this command, the Insect Swarm completely dispersed. They searched for targets on their own, yet they did not lack cooperation.

Rio knew that his struggle for survival had created an opportunity for these insects to ambush, which was why they appeared. Even so, he still felt a sense of relief. A simple law of survival was not bad for him; at least he had a more flexible mind. He could use all of this.

Therefore, Rio decided to use himself as bait to attract those scattered scouts.

…

As they advanced, the Demon Clan’s vanguard was gradually showing signs of fatigue. The harassment day and night gave them the illusion that enemies were everywhere. Initially, the perception-type Wizards accompanying the army could offer some help. But gradually, these Wizards became exhausted and their assistance grew more and more limited.

Moreover, their range of perception was too small. When defending a position, they could barely keep watch over the surroundings. But when on the march, they simply couldn’t meet the need for large-scale reconnaissance.

After passing Silverpine Town, the Demon Clan’s marching speed began to sharply decrease. This caused an anxious mood to spread through the army. Small-scale skirmishes became increasingly frequent, as if everyone wanted to vent their feelings this way. However, these seemingly insignificant but frequent small battles greatly accelerated the depletion of equipment and personnel.

The Demon Clan’s leading general knew the former Northlands very well. It was precisely because of this understanding that he was unprepared. In the past, when faced with an attack by the Demon Clan army, the Northlanders would simply defend from their cities. And the Demon Clan mostly just showed off their might at the city walls before turning back and withdrawing.

Now, the Northlanders were still nowhere to be seen, but they had left behind these annoying insects to entangle them endlessly. How similar this was to the Demon Clan’s own methods! Except they left behind vassals, while the Northlanders left behind even more ferocious insects. A feeling of being hoisted by their own petard arose.

The entire Demon Clan had underestimated this situation; otherwise, they wouldn’t have fallen into this predicament. Fortunately, the crazy-acting Northlanders had not destroyed Silverpine Town. They hadn’t even touched the Storehouse there, so there was still room for recovery.

This made him somewhat fearful in hindsight. If Silverpine Town had been completely destroyed, then they, stuck here…

Equipment could still be requisitioned from Silverpine Town, but the loss of personnel was difficult to replenish.

…

Lily did not yet know that the Nag were causing huge trouble for the Demon Clan, even hindering the steps of their vanguard. She was still standing on the city wall, watching the Little Wizards below.

After standing for a full day and night, many of them began to totter. They were not like her; they could not go without sleep. The crowd that had been laughing and watching gleefully yesterday, when they woke up and passed by here again, involuntarily became silent and serious.

The person who had complained already regretted it. He hadn’t expected it to be like this. He thought a few slaps and a warning would be the end of it. These children were already exhausted from their journey. They needed food and rest, not this kind of punishment. Even if punishment was necessary, it should have been postponed for a while.

He wanted to plead for them, so he looked up at the city wall. The sunlight shone on the young girl, gilding her with a golden edge, making it seem as if her entire body was emitting endless light. So, he temporarily forgot his original intention and stared up there in astonishment. More and more people looked up, and even the Little Wizards couldn’t help but raise their heads, joining the ranks of the dumbstruck.

Lily remained indifferent to everyone’s gazes. She had grown accustomed to all of this. From initial pride and annoyance to numbness—let them be. She only needed to do her own thing.

…

The transportation of equipment became the turning point in the battle between the Demon Clan vanguard and the insects.

No one expected the Insect Swarm to suddenly gather and sweep away this small transport team. By the time the main forces arrived, the Insect Swarm had already dispersed.

Ironically, they left behind the equipment the Demon Clan desperately needed…

Rio also participated in this attack and even succeeded in capturing one person. Surrounded by the Insect Swarm, Rio happily shared a meal with the captive, winning over the first subordinate of his life.

This shared meal excited Rio, so a new round of captures began. Following this, the number of subordinates around Rio increased, and his actions grew bolder.

The scouts who had gone missing one after another actually reappeared outside the military camp. However, they were no longer reliable comrades-in-arms; they had joined the ranks of the Cannibals. Outside the main camp, they openly gnawed on the corpses of their former brethren.

This caused a steep drop in the Demon Clan’s morale, and their military resolve began to waver. No one was willing to leave the camp to carry out missions anymore. They stopped advancing and even showed signs of retreating. But by now, retreating had also become somewhat difficult.

The Insect Swarm had already sensed that they were growing weak and began to gather around the area. From time to time, insects outside the camp would stand up on their hind legs, looking around…