Harkam didn't find that suspicious at all. The only thing on his mind right now is that they will be wasting their one chance to use the annihilator. It wouldn't help the strike team which means Tanya might die. That's why he is complaining moments after complimenting the "dwarf sun god."
Complain as he might, no one listened to him. The annihilator was fired and it went to waste. The ant horde was disoriented but the damage done to them was minimal. The royal guards weren't where they should and most of the ant horde was at the front lines or concentrating on the strike team.
He was about to call for another divine intervention to save the strike team when he stopped. The divine intervention would have passed since he isn't the only anxious god with a demigod in the strike team. The other 7 gods will surely agree to use another annihilator and the celestial supreme might allow it since the first one was a waste. But he didn't need to because the ants stopped bothering the strike team and focused on the front line again.
"What's going on?" He asked quietly.
That's when Harkam began to get suspicious of the ants. The other gods sighed in relief and thought that the strike wasn't useless after all, it caused the ants to take the front lines seriously. But Harkam only felt suspicion. He doesn't know what is wrong with the ants but their behavior is odd.
First, the ant horde attacked the strike team. Then the royal guards retreated into the safety of the ant mound moments after the decision was made to target them. The ant horde left the strike team alone. Just a little more pressure and the ants will be able to get the strike team. But they backed off. If they hadn't backed off, more annihilators would have been used. He was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together when he became distracted by Helios's fight with the royal guard.
"Stupid boy. All brawn and no brain. He made us waste that annihilator." He grumbled with displeasure.
He wasn't impressed. Helios is only displaying Stelios' runes in his opinion. No matter how fancy or cool the fight is, he won't complement it. Instead, he would find some way to discredit the boy. It doesn't matter that the wastage of the annihilator couldn't be Helios's fault. The boy's decision was impeccable. He doesn't have the divine vision of the gods. How was he to know that the royal guards would retreat into the protection of the ant mound?
It also didn't matter that Helios is doing stuff that other demigods of the sun god couldn't do as mana entities. Demigods of the sun god can't shoot light from their eyes and cannot create weapons of light and heat. They can't even flash around so quickly like that until they become transcendents. But since Helios is a demigod of the sun god and Harkam can sense a Stigmata on his body made with the divine energy of the sun god, it is enough for Harkam to believe that it is all the work of Stelios and anything related to Stelios must be hated.
"What's he doing? Why didn't he take that entrance?" He asked in confusion.
There's a perfectly good entrance there but Helios didn't use it. He didn't dwell on that useless detail for long because the strike team arrived at that entrance. They encountered three royal guards and began fighting. It wasn't suspicious, and neither did it matter that the strike team had an easy passage to the ant mound after the use of the annihilator. What's there to be suspicious about? It's probably because the ants chose to focus on the front lines after being scared by the use of the annihilator.
"Hurry up. Hurry up." He said anxiously.
It is obvious to him that the royal guards are reinforcements. If the strike team doesn't take them out quickly enough and enter the ant mound then they run the risk of getting ganged up on by more royal guard reinforcements or the ant horde behind them. They could be pincered on both ends.
The strike team knew that too and exerted all their efforts. They don't need his encouragement to do their utmost to preserve their lives. All of them tried their best but Harkam has eyes only for Tanya.
"That's my girl." He roared in excitement as he watched Tanya.
The winds of the divine kingdom picked up speed because of his excitement. Tanya is the best warrior in Harkam's opinion. She is headstrong and actually strong. She pushed forward towards a royal guard with fearlessness. Her teammates warned her to wait for them to go forward together but she didn't listen. She seemed determined to fight even if she has to do it alone.
Her blood is boiling, her emotions rising, and her energy is spiking. She is angry and she decided to take it out on the royal guard. Her twin hammers got bigger as she used more divine power from her core. She struck the royal guard on the head but its carapace protected it. So she did it again and again.
Her hammer clashed with mandibles and the horns as the royal guard protected itself. The Goliath ant may be huge but it isn't clumsy. It wielded its body deftly and fended off Her attempts at bludgeoning it. But she is relentless. She doesn't intend to accept the resistance. It only riled her up.
"She is a natural at this."
Harkam felt like shedding a tear as he watched her performance.
Demigods can't use their core until they become transcendents. But they can utilize the divine energy within it to enhance stigmata with an affinity with their divine power. They have to harmonize with their core to achieve it. It is a very difficult thing to do because of the impediment caused by their law fragments. But Tanya has achieved it at a young age too. It meant she could break through to transcendence if she wants to.
The air around Tanya is charged. Her two hammers are charged and so is she as the energy of her core flowed through her. Her hair straightened and is flowing wildly. You can see it in her eyes that are sparking with electricity that she is out for murder.
"I won't lose to him." She screamed as she struck the Goliath ant again and again.
They all saw Helios fly above them. The carapace of the dead royal guard they found here means he killed one on his own. The fact that he isn't there right now means he killed the royal guard quickly and he could be inside the ant mound already. His fast speed means he might get to the queen first at this rate. She couldn't allow that. She must get the queen first and then kill Helios.
She doesn't care about the fair play policy that has been set up for this heroic quest. Things will be okay if she kills Helios as long as it doesn't cost the gods their fun. Her father will have to pay some fines but it will be worth it to crush that shiny poster boy.
Her relentless attack was working, somewhat. But only that. It is the combined effort of Tanya, her team, and two other demigod teams that are responsible for pushing back the single royal guard that they are fighting. Alone, a single team will be hard-pressed to survive a single royal guard. She can't take credit for the royal guard giving ground for the advancement of the strike team.
The carapace of the royal guards is too thick. Piercing, cutting, or slashing weapons are useless against it. Only blunt or bludgeoning weapons could deal any sort of damage to the internal organs beneath the diamond carapace. Divine spells wash over the reflective carapace dealing negligible damage. The priests cycled through their repertoire of spells and were rewarded with minimal success.
It is not that the ants are not susceptible to magic, it is just that the output of the priests is not enough to overwhelm the defense of the royal guards. Their fire spells aren't hot enough. Their water and wind spells are too weak to move the giant ants or cut their carapace. Their earth spells are not heavy enough. Their ice spells are too thin and weak to freeze them.
Royal guards got a lot more than size and strength from giants. They also got high resistance to spells. It is not based on law fragments and anti-magic domains like that of giants. Their defense is entirely based on their multipurpose diamond carapace.
The relatively thin limbs of the ants are not as vulnerable as Helios made them look. In fact, one must not get near the appendages because the royal guards can use them effectively as spears. The thin and sharp form of their legs makes them very effective blades that can easily cut through giant skin. The demigods have to be wary around the limbs so that they won't get injured.
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