Chapter 269

Chapter 269: The Grand Army

With the city gates left open, knights, soldiers, adventurers gathered within the gatehouse, and even some daring townsfolk lingering farther back could now glimpse the approaching Ant Tribe army through the portal.

Were the Magic Shield cast by the town’s Defense Magic Crystal to be deactivated, the soldiers might charge forth to confront the monsters. Yet such an act now would only condemn them to meaningless slaughter.

Moreover…

Philid’s gaze swept over the soldiers beneath the ramparts. Trembling limbs and fractured formations betrayed their terror—some quaked so violently they could scarcely remain upright. These men couldn’t slay even a single Weak Ant in open combat.

The options narrowed to surrender… or pleading for aid from neighboring towns. But whether other settlements possessed forces capable of repelling this horde mattered less than the pressing question: How long could their Defense Magic Crystal endure against the onslaught?

Despair.

No glimmer of hope pierced this hopeless predicament.

Surrender remained unthinkable.

These were monsters—who could predict their actions? This "surrender" might well be a ruse to breach the town’s defenses effortlessly. While the Magic Shield held, the Ant Tribe remained barred from entry, but lowering the barrier would invite disaster.

There were principles at stake. Should Aowenduo Town yield to monsters, its political standing would shift irrevocably. Retribution would follow—armies of the human race might descend to purge both the invaders and the compromised settlement. Common folk might survive, but Master Simon and himself? Certain death.

Abandoning the town offered better odds. Though fleeing would stain his honor as lord, a tarnished reputation outweighed cold steel through the heart. The northern route to Nuquel Town beckoned, where its ruler maintained ties with Master Simon—potential sanctuary.

As escape plans took shape in Philid’s mind…

The Ant Tribe halted their advance a hundred paces from the walls.

The Psychic Call resonated again, bearing the same imperious timbre of a detached noblewoman:

*"An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.*

*We of the Ant Clan come for vengeance."*

As the words faded, the chitinous ranks parted. Five disheveled humans stumbled forward, wrists bound by writhing shadows, mouths gagged with coarse cloth. Their wild eyes darted between the ant warriors and the distant gatehouse—until spotting the unbarred entrance mere bowshots away.

Life surged into their battered frames. Scrambling upright, they lurched toward salvation.

Then—

*Thud!*

Five skulls cracked against the invisible Magic Shield in unison. The would-be escapees collapsed backward, crumpling to the earth like broken dolls.

After a moment of stunned silence, they desperately tried to plead with the soldiers behind the city gates, but only managed muffled grunts through their restraints. Whether the guards comprehended their attempts mattered little—even if they did, granting entry under such circumstances remained impossible. Magic Rainbow understood this perfectly, hence her indifference to their futile efforts.

"These five assaulted my daughter in Granville Forest," her voice carried across the battlefield, "marking the primary reason our Ant Tribe declared war upon you."

As she prepared to continue, an interruption came through their mental link. "What of the remaining three?" Lin Yu’s psychic inquiry sliced through the connection.

Magic Rainbow momentarily deactivated Psychic Call before responding. "Mother recalls the night Sister Army Lady was ambushed by humans?"

"Indeed."

"But weren’t Sylvestre and Martina the perpetrators?" The white-haired matriarch’s gaze swept over the five captives—two resembling filthy vagabonds she recognized, while the others remained strangers.

"Prior to the ambush," Magic Rainbow explained, "Sister Army Lady confronted a drunkard in the tavern. His two companions dragged him away after the altercation." A calculated pause followed. "Those same three later stalked her to the inn, revealing her location to Sylvestre and Martina who held grudges against her."

Her tone hardened. "They helped spread false rumors about Sister Army Lady murdering those two. Moreover…" Her antennae twitched with disdain, "these adventurers maintain respectable facades while committing atrocities in shadows. Shouldn’t such vipers share their accomplices’ fate?"

Lin Yu’s carapace vibrated with quiet fury—not just for the night assault, but the revelation of deeper villainy. "They deserve execution," she conceded, though questions swirled about her daughter’s meticulous investigation of ancient history…

*

At the city gates, unrest rippled through the human ranks as five prisoners were shoved before the ant legion.

"Are those… our kind?" a guardsman stammered.

"I recognize three from some Adventurer Squad," another muttered. "The other two? Can’t tell through the filth."

Murmurs crescendoed when shadows beneath the ant horde writhed to life. Ebony tendrils snaked across the field, binding the captives in inky shackles. Lin Yu’s compound eyes shifted toward a gray ant at the rear—Darkling Stalker’s signature manipulation.

Though intended as deterrence, allowing the shadow-weaver free reign gave pause. The princess’s penchant for macabre theatrics even unsettled her queen-mother, who typically avoided observing this daughter’s… enthusiastic methods. Yet Magic Rainbow’s arrangements demanded respect—certainly not fear of Darkling Stalker’s temper, Lin Yu reassured herself.

Thus unfolded the grim spectacle—a visceral exhibition where shadows danced with crimson streams, etching warning and vengeance into the witnesses’ nightmares.