187: reinforce

Etna decided that as soon as this battle ended, he would directly incorporate Tiger King Farm into the category of a human restricted zone.

Of course, this was only if the farm could withstand the attack of the Hellfire Ants and luckily survive.

As for how it would be ranked?

That would depend on the results of everyone's unanimous discussion and negotiation.

And the outcome of this battle! —

In Hellfire Forest.

A massive ball of flesh began to move.

Especially the two antennae on its forehead, which were wildly swaying.

As if communicating with its surroundings in some way.

This was the true form of Hellfire.

Having mutated into an Ant Queen for the development of its colony, it now primarily handled production and command.

Soon.

Intelligence from the front line was relayed to Hellfire.

Unable to break through?

Hellfire Ants felt a bit surprised.

It never expected that the result of sending out countless Hellfire Ants armies would be an inability to break through.

This was simply an inconceivable matter.

Wherever Hellfire Ants passed, nothing grew; that was the norm.

Yet, it never thought that today it would encounter a tough opponent.

A mere farm, and sending out five percent of its Hellfire Ants forces was still not enough to break through.

It was even counter-surrounded, turning its subordinates into the enemy's food.

For Hellfire, this was an extremely difficult thing to accept.

Ever since it passed through the most difficult initial period of its establishment, it had completely achieved the feat of slaying gods and Buddhas alike.

Countless seemingly powerful Awakened Beasts, possessing the ability to shatter gold and crack stone.

But in front of the terrifying quality and quantity of Hellfire Ants, they could only be completely devoured and turned into food.

Thinking this, Hellfire's rage instantly flared up.

In its eyes, only the equally terrifying Mad Forest next door could be its opponent.

A mere farm?

It wasn't worthy!

The current disadvantage was merely an illusion created by insufficient troops.

Once it sent out more and stronger Hellfire Ants, sweeping through the farm would be an extremely simple matter.

Thinking this, Hellfire immediately began to send reinforcements to the Hellfire Ants attacking the farm.

Hellfire believed.

Its troops could not possibly fail at the farm.

No victory yet? It was only because it hadn't started to exert its full strength.

It was time to let this farm experience the terror of a swarm strategy.

As long as a sufficient number of Hellfire Ants could be dispatched, it would surely be able to easily crush this farm.

When the numerical advantage grew to a certain extent, no matter how strong the opponent was, it could only be eliminated.

Fear.

Tremble in front of the Hellfire Ants that could engulf everything!

Thinking this, Hellfire directly added another 29% of the entire Hellfire Forest's forces.

Adding the troops previously sent to the farm.

The forces Hellfire sent to the farm already accounted for a full 30% of Hellfire Forest's total troops.

Among them were even some rare and powerful Hellfire Ants.

This was also Hellfire's limit.

After all, beside it, the Mad Forest was also eyeing it covetously.

Once the tree spirits of Mad Forest discovered that Hellfire Forest's power was depleted, they would definitely not miss this great opportunity to strike hard.

Hellfire believed that such a terrifying number of Hellfire Ants would definitely be able to sweep through the farm like a storm.

Taking down this treasure trove containing enough food.

Devouring this place, turning it into a branch of Hellfire Forest, and nurturing more and stronger Hellfire Ants.

At that time, forming a pincer movement with Hellfire Forest, it would surely be able to easily take down Mad Forest.

This was also why Hellfire was willing to pay such a huge price to attack the farm.

If this war initially broke out due to pheromone interference.

Then there was only one reason it had continued until now.

That was because Hellfire had its eyes on the rich resources in the farm.

Abundant resources that were enough to make the entire Hellfire Ants colony even stronger.

In fact, it wasn't that Hellfire didn't want to expand its territory.

Didn't want to occupy all of America.

Or even conquer the entire Blue Star.

It was that resources did not allow it.

One of the drawbacks of a swarm strategy was that growth speed was limited by resources.

In fact, after consuming all the resources in the entire Hellfire Forest, the growth of the Hellfire Ants had already reached its limit.

Unless more resources could be obtained.

Otherwise, this terrifying Hellfire Ants army alone would be enough to drag down the entire Hellfire Ants colony.

This was also why the Hellfire Ants and Mad Forest were locked in a fierce struggle.

While controlling the number of Hellfire Ants, it could also obtain some resources at the same time.

This was Hellfire's cunning plan.

After all, Hellfire Ants could not be like those crazy tree spirits.

Just relying on ample sunlight, they could supply the energy needed for their own growth.

It was precisely for this reason that the two major human restricted zones reached a strange balance.

And had been entangled until now.

The appearance of the farm was undoubtedly the key to breaking this balance.

As long as this resource-rich farm was devoured, Hellfire believed it would definitely gain power far exceeding Mad Forest.

At that time, it would then devour Mad Forest.

On land, there would no longer be any opponent that could stop it.

It would be the absolute king of the land.

Thinking this, Hellfire became even more excited.

Its antennae swayed even more wildly.

As if it had already seen the era where it ruled the land of Blue Star.

—

Hellfire's fierce reinforcements naturally attracted everyone's attention.

No one expected Hellfire's counterattack to be so swift and decisive.

Especially since it dispatched such a terrifying number of Hellfire Ants all at once.

Dozens of times the previous force, which was simply inconceivable.

Although the reason for Hellfire's sudden display of power was unclear.

However, this situation undoubtedly made those closely following the battle breathe a sigh of relief.

Before Hellfire's reinforcements, the farm had already fallen into a clear advantage.

Repelling the Hellfire Ants' attack was only a matter of time.

But this development clearly did not align with their interests.

If Hellfire felt that the input and output were not proportional, it would definitely stop the output of Hellfire Ants.

At that time, this war would be nothing but a lot of noise and little action.

It might even be considered aiding the enemy.

After all, the remaining Hellfire Ants corpses had all turned into nutrients for the farm's growth.

This way, the farm would become even more troublesome.

Especially for MacArthur.

He had paid a secret key but didn't get the result he wanted.

This was something he absolutely could not accept.

So he had been praying inwardly.

Praying that Hellfire was stubborn and would fight the farm to the death.

Fortunately.

Lady Luck seemed to have heard MacArthur's prayer, siding with all of America.

Things actually unfolded according to the script they had envisioned.

Not only did Hellfire not back down, but it also started doing thankless things.

Clashing fiercely with the farm.

A full thirty percent of the Hellfire Forest's forces.

That was a terrifying number, reaching millions.

Just looking at the dense Hellfire Ants on the screen was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Putting themselves in that situation.

They felt they definitely wouldn't survive for even half a second!

Such a terrifying number of Hellfire Ants didn't even need to attack.

Their forced march alone was enough to cause a terrifying disaster.

Earthquake.

The Hellfire Ants' six legs constantly pounded the ground, actually triggering a massive earthquake!

The terrifying tremors, centered around the Hellfire Ants army, began to spread wildly in all directions.

Even in the distant Old Gold City, this vibration could be felt.

Those ordinary people who didn't understand what was happening instantly became panicked.

The world's mutation was already an incredibly terrifying disaster.

And now?

A natural disaster was also about to descend.

For them, this was a very heavy blow.

Fortunately, the owners of these cities were not fools.

They quickly sent people to explain the situation.

This barely managed to stabilize public morale.

Of course.

It also sparked curiosity in many people.

Curiosity about how terrifying the Hellfire Ants that caused such a terrifying commotion would be.

And how miserable their target of attack would die.

It was just a pity that they were destined not to see this war.

Because in the resource-scarce New World, no one would waste resources on them.

—

Even the distant Old Gold City felt such terrifying movement.

Within the farm, the earth shook even more violently.

The intense tremors could even kick up dust.

Like a sandstorm, it encroached upon the farm.

Such a terrifying natural disaster, if it happened elsewhere, might be an incredibly terrifying catastrophe.

But in front of the powerful farm, this was completely insignificant!

In a farm where the baseline was Espers, resisting such minor tremors was an incredibly easy task.

Especially Thorn's incredibly terrifying roots, which were excellent at stabilizing the ground.

The seemingly terrifying earthquake, after being absorbed and diluted by Thorn, almost vanished into thin air.

Only some insignificant tremors remained.

Looking at the slightly shaking ground, Ouro scoffed, saying, "What kind of small commotion can scare anyone?"

"Lord Tiger King moving his body slightly makes more noise than this."

The occasional earthquakes had even become a feature of the farm.

With Lin Tianwei's current massive size and strength.

Even if it wasn't intentional, the commotion he casually caused would definitely count as earth-shattering.

Slightly moving his body, or even just a simple roll, would be enough to cause terrifying tremors in the ground.

For this reason.

All the buildings on the farm adopted the most advanced earthquake-resistant designs.

To avoid damage to buildings during tremors.

The people here were even able to face earthquakes without changing their expressions, calmly dealing with them.

In other words.

This earthquake, caused by the forced march of a large number of Hellfire Ants, had no impact on them whatsoever.

However, this earthquake was merely an extra.

The real threat was still the massive swarm of ants.

To save space, or perhaps to increase speed.

The fearful ant swarm even stacked up like Arhats, compressing their area.

Like a tsunami, they attacked the farm.

Not only that, their movements were not completely chaotic, but followed a certain method.

They did not choose to directly overwhelm the point of the farm closest to Hellfire Forest.

Wasting the advantage brought by numerical superiority.

The terrifying number of Hellfire Ants actually adopted a dispersed encirclement method.

Surrounding the entire farm.

It was as if a blood-red ribbon had been added around the green belt formed by the Thorn clones.

But looking at the area,

the blood-red ribbon was at least ten times larger than the green belt.

The dense Hellfire Ants, and such a terrifying disparity, made Etna's scalp tingle.

He couldn't help but feel a bit fortunate that the Hellfire Forest was adjacent to the Mad Forest.

Otherwise, without the Mad Forest's restraint, who could stop such a terrifying Hellfire Ants army?

Thinking of this, his eyes became fervent.

Although the Hellfire Ants were terrifying enough, their opponent was not him.

Instead, it was his enemy, Tiger King.

Then this was a perfect situation.

Under Etna's gaze, the battle between the Hellfire Forest and Tiger King Farm finally reached its most crucial moment.

The moment of life and death!

Would the Hellfire Ants, pouring out in full force, be stronger?

Or would Tiger King Farm, hiding the terrifying Awakened Beast, Tiger King, be stronger?

The data began to fluctuate like a tide.

With his hands moving like blurs, Etna was using all his brainpower to calculate the outcome of this war.

Although his Awakening was not a computational Esper ability,

with America's most powerful supercomputer as an aid,

his calculation ability would not be much worse than an Esper's.

Most importantly, his terrifying hand speed could minimize operation time.

Coupled with Etna's inherent mastery of this field,

the situation of this battle became increasingly clear in his deductions.

The farm might be very strong, but its defensive power was limited and couldn't cover all bases.

Once there were too many enemies, like the current situation of being surrounded, they would fall into a state of being overwhelmed.

Neglecting one thing while attending to another.

Mistakes made in haste would eventually lead to a dead end.

Ten minutes!

The farm could hold out for a maximum of ten minutes before being breached.

This was the conclusion Etna reached.

However, this was not the final conclusion.

Because there was still a crucial piece of data missing.

That was Lin Tianwei, the incredibly terrifying Tiger King.

If Tiger King's strength was powerful enough to destroy the world, the situation of this battle might still have a chance to turn around.

Thinking of this, Etna couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating laugh, saying, "I really have been traumatized by Tiger King."

"To have such an absurd guess."

"Such a terrifying scene, a triple attack launched from the air, ground, and underground, a hermetic encirclement."

"In this situation, no matter how powerful Tiger King is, he can't change the situation."

"Unless he possesses the strength to instantly kill all Hellfire Ants."

"But this is clearly impossible."

"If Tiger King were really that powerful, how could he allow these Hellfire Ants to rampage in his territory?"

"He might be strong, but not strong enough."

Speaking of this, a glint flashed in Etna's eyes, and he said, "Perhaps this time we really have a chance."

"The Hellfire Ants have formed a complete encirclement, a killing formation."

"If they cannot break through, perhaps even Tiger King will perish here."

Thinking of this, Etna became even more excited, looking at the big screen with anticipation.

As for the others?

Having received Etna's analysis results at the first moment, even with their own unique understanding of this war,

they quickly reached the same conclusion as Etna.

They looked at the scene on the big screen with anticipation.

Waiting, waiting to see the blood-red tide completely engulf the farm.

---

The even larger number of Hellfire Ants undoubtedly made the farm feel pressured.

At this moment, Legisamon's face no longer held its former youthful vigor; his eyes were filled with solemnity.

Although he could kill Hellfire Ants without taking damage,

he was still a human after all.

No matter how strong his stamina, he still had his limits.

Facing the countless Hellfire Ants, his only choice was to retreat.

Then, after his stamina recovered, he would re-enter the battlefield to fight.

However, this retreat was a retreat for the entire farm.

The Hellfire Ants wouldn't miss any opportunity and immediately took a fierce step towards the farm.

A large number of Thorn clones were devoured.

They didn't even spare their own kind.

The once fertile land instantly became barren ground.

They were slowly, bit by bit, devouring Lin Tianwei's farm.

Moo~~~~~~~~

Facing the encirclement of the Hellfire Ants, even the extremely laid-back Mad Cow finally couldn't sit still.

These crazy Hellfire Ants would devour everything they saw.

Even to survive, it had to act.

Like a tank made of flesh and blood,

it launched its fiercest attack against the Hellfire Ants, using its sharp horns as a focal point.

With each collision with the Hellfire Ants, its sharp horns would directly pierce through the bodies of these Hellfire Ants,

taking countless Hellfire Ants' lives.

In contrast, the Hellfire Ants' seemingly sharp tail stings and scythe-like mouths were completely unable to penetrate the Mad Cow's thick hide.

This was completely a one-sided slaughter.

It would continue until the Mad Cow's stamina was mostly depleted.

The other Awakened Beasts were not idle either.

Their immense power had actually made them Lin Tianwei's sheepdogs for herding Awakened Beasts.

Naturally, they wouldn't want to see the farm destroyed.

They would all choose to help the farm solve the Hellfire Ants as much as possible, which could be considered a very good help.

However, even under these circumstances, the farm's defenses were still being rapidly eroded.

For no other reason.

The number of Hellfire Ants was simply too large.

Completely killing them all? This was simply beyond their physical limits.

Furthermore, they didn't dare to squander their stamina too much.

Once a weakness was exposed, only one fate awaited them.

That was to be completely devoured by the Hellfire Ants, leaving not even a speck behind.

However, even in such a desperate situation, none of the farm's inhabitants chose to retreat.

They fought fearlessly, desperately attacking the Hellfire Ants.

Attempting to contribute all their strength to the farm... a terrifying cohesion.

The performance of the farm's people made Etna couldn't help but praise them.

However, looking at the shrinking green belt, Etna shook his head and said,

"Good cohesion, but it's like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it's destined to fail."

"This is the consequence of you choosing to betray America and stand with the farm."

"Tiger King? He simply cannot protect all of you under the Hellfire Ants' frenzied assault."

"What can truly protect you are the steel cities forged by humans."

"Indestructible steel cities!"

Etna didn't recall at all when he said this.

It was precisely the indestructible steel cities he spoke of that Lin Tianwei had just rampaged through.

Looking down at his watch, Etna smiled; nine and a half minutes of the ten minutes had already passed.

Things were indeed progressing according to his calculations.

In another half minute, the farm would be completely devoured by the Hellfire Ants.

Not a single speck would remain.

However, such a favorable situation made Etna a little puzzled.

Where had Tiger King gone?

Could it be that he had given up and abandoned resistance?

Or perhaps, being shrewd, he had already escaped from this farm.

Thinking this, Etna dared not be careless, staring intently at the big screen.

Especially the building where Lin Tianwei resided.

He was waiting for Lin Tianwei to make his move.

This would be the most crucial factor in determining the outcome of this battle.

However, Etna could never have imagined.

He did indeed wait for Lin Tianwei to make his move.

But the result of the move was vastly different from what he had imagined.

In his opinion, even if Lin Tianwei acted, he wouldn't be able to salvage the farm's defeat.

At most, he would kill some Hellfire Ants and save some people.

The countless coveted resources in this farm could only become food for the Hellfire Ants.

But how could Lin Tianwei be an existence they could comprehend?

A summer insect cannot understand ice!

Lin Tianwei would show them what true power was.

The only pity was that Hellfire was still a bit too timid.

Only sending thirty percent of the Hellfire Forest's forces.

This disappointed Lin Tianwei, who had tried to weaken most of the Hellfire Forest's power in this way.

But it didn't matter.

Increasing the difficulty appropriately would make the hunt more interesting.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei's massive tiger body slowly walked out of the house.

Under Lin Tianwei's deliberate control, the moment his huge tiger paw touched the ground, it caused a terrifying tremor.

The dull thudding sounds, to the people of the farm, sounded even more crisp and pleasant to the extreme.

They had resisted for so long and finally waited for Lin Tianwei to make his move.

The people, who had thought they were in despair, were suddenly overjoyed and wept.

Even when facing the terrifying number of Hellfire Ants.

They firmly believed that as long as Lin Tianwei acted, nothing would be a problem.

Regardless of right or wrong.

This was their faith.

They also believed that Lin Tianwei would not betray their faith.

Roar~~~~~~~~

A deafening tiger roar emanated from Lin Tianwei's mouth, echoing across the sky.

In an instant, it spread throughout the entire battlefield.

Terrifying Sonic Waves dispersed, instantly spreading across the entire battlefield.

Countless Hellfire Ants were stunned the moment they heard the tiger roar.

In contrast, the people of the farm fighting them, as if injected with a stimulant, launched their fiercest counterattack.

Lin Tianwei's most terrifying aspect was his ability to precisely grasp the situation of the entire battlefield.

What was clearly an indiscriminate Area of Effect damage, he managed to turn into a targeted skill.

Only the reckless Hellfire Ants would be harmed.

Of course.

This was just the beginning.

Lin Tianwei's attack had just begun.

The main event was yet to come!