The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 209
However, even if they were able to avoid danger, there were a lot of parents with their small children and elderly in the close to 200 people who were escaping to the city of Warren, so it was still difficult to outrun the ants.
“Kuh, Ares, they’re coming!”
“Yeah, I see ‘em, Zachs!!”
A few moments after they left the village, the two warriors, along with the other adventurers and the local guards, drew their weapons while the escaping villagers ran for cover and scowled at the Valley Ants who chased after them by relying on their antennae and combined detection abilities.
“U~, these guys are probably the ones left after raiding the village, but…”
It is natural for the Valley Ants to take their captured prey back to the colony, so most individuals might have gone back while carrying the sacks of grain or the livestock they have broken down with their strong mandibles. But even with the reduced number, Muriel frowned as she still saw more than 50 giant ants chasing after them.
“Uu, it’s impossible, but…”
“Ms. Muriel, let’s just try not to die, okay?”
While implying that they should escape when push comes to shove, the petite Mage, Eina, raised her wand which was clad in wind-type magic. A beat later, Muriel also raised her evergreen oak wand and activated her fire-attribute magic.
“O Ancient Flames, crush thy enemies, Fire Pellets!”
“Tear them to pieces, Endless Wind Blades!”
As soon as the vanguard Valley Ants entered the spells’ area of effect, the vanguards from the adventurers’ side vacated the area, and the mages both fired intermediate-level offense magic.
“Gi, giu!?”
“G-gigii… Gih.”
Multiple wind blades ran through and cut off the legs of two ants in one strike, and the giant ants, unable to support their weight, collapsed head-first into the ground.
Meanwhile, next to them, countless fire bullets rained down and pierced three of the giant ants which burned them from the inside, but… the attacks continued.
After firing the initial attacks, the two mages immediately withdrew to the back of the formation when the other giant ants walked over the corpses of their fallen brethren and attempted to close in on them.
As a side note, only a few people are as dexterous as a certain wolfdog man who could fight on the front lines and cast magic at the same time when they get a chance, so it’s not a feat that Muriel and other normal mages can easily pull.
And so, it is the job of the vanguards to directly engage the opponent. While dodging the giant ants that were rushing at him, Ares swung his longsword with all his might and lopped off the 3 legs of a giant ant.
“GIIIH, GIIIIIIH!!”
As the giant ant cried as it fell to the ground, Mirea aimed at it while it was struggling with its last leg and released a finishing shot from a short distance that completely stopped its movement.
Using her wide field of vision to observe the situation, she saw Riberto cut off one of the vanguard giant ants’ hard, spear-like antennas with the saber in his right hand and another giant ant on the brow with his parrying dagger on the left as it tried to bite off his throat.
“W-we’re outnumbered!!”
Riberto placed one of his feet on the immobile giant ant’s head, pulled out his beloved dagger from it, and backed away from the approaching giant ants.
Adventurers who are used to fighting just like him and Zachs do not force themselves to continue fighting, but instead back away to reduce the momentum of their opponents. However, unlike them, the case was not the same for the inexperienced local guards who were fighting the giant ants with them.
Even though they tried to fight off the giant ants from the beginning, they could not dispose of the monsters fast enough so they ended up being surrounded in no time.
“Gi, gigiih!”
“Uwah, h-help!! Ah, it ate my leg, hih, gah”
Unable to react on time to a bite attack from the side, a local guard whose left leg had been bitten off by the giant ant’s strong mandibles collapsed, and another ant cornered him and ripped off his throat.
“U, uwaaaah, die, you bastard!!”
Meanwhile, a panic-stricken guard nearby haphazardly struck out his iron spear and accidentally pierced the head of the giant ant that killed his comrade, but…
“Gio… gii…h, gi…”
“Ha, haha, serves you right, gubuh!?”
For a moment, the man’s expression relaxed, but since he was also pierced by the ant’s pointed antennae from his flank to his belly, he spurted out blood the time it was pulled out of him. He let go of his spear and tried to put pressure on his abdomen, but it was no use since they were surrounded. As soon as he fell on his knees, he disappeared into the swarm of giant ants that approached him.
