Feeling a bit embarrassed after being praised by Natsu, Rhode said:
"Lucy, go and support Kana, Loki, and Elfman."
Lucy also felt awkward: "Uh... Okay."
Rhode handed her two crystal balls and a book: "Put the magic crystals in your pocket, hold the magic book well, if necessary, don't worry about Balrog's task, summon her back at any time, be careful."
"Okay." Lucy hugged the book and ran toward Ghost's front gate.
The blue-purple swarm naturally surged forward, sweeping away the sculptures, decorations, railings, and other objects on Ghost's outskirts.
The foundations, too, were their favorite snack, gnawed until they were full of holes.
Now the fastest-moving small group of worms had already climbed to the top of the foremost tower.
Rhode and the others watched as blue-purple 'spots' climbed the outer wall of the tower, from bottom to top, with gaps appearing everywhere.
The tower looked like a tree gnawed by beavers, caving in from the root, teetering precariously.
Finally, it collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Many unlucky worms got crushed by the falling building and disappeared, but nearby worms quickly swarmed over, gnawing and consuming the fallen structure.
They seemed particularly fond of the taste of tower-shaped buildings.
There seemed to be a few survivors inside the tower, who instinctively attacked one worm, only to be swarmed by worms, leaving them with torn clothes and injuries all over.
When the survivors fell helplessly to the ground, they were safe.
Because the worms would abandon these people and pounce on the nearest building or wreckage to continue feeding.
They don't eat people; buildings taste better.
Worms bounced off the bodies of people on the ground, resembling a crowd of Mario jumping over obstacles, quite a spectacle.
Of course, some impolite worms would bounce on human faces as they jumped, or tread on the chest or abdomen, with less impact than an overweight orange cat...
Since everyone was a mage, with strong physiques, they would be fine and forgive the worms' youthful ignorance.
As the blue-purple wave surged over Ghost's main building, the main building also began to lose corners.
At this time, members of the feigned attack group saw what Rhode called the 'first batch of reinforcements.'
Those blue-purple worms gnawing everywhere really made people... feel at ease? Perhaps.
"Kana, Loki, Elfman!" Lucy ran over, "Are you okay? Mr. Rhode sent me to support you."
Loki instinctively wanted to hide, but realized the battle wasn't over yet, so he barely controlled himself.
Kana said: "We're fine, did Rhode really send you to the front line?"
Though they said they were fine, the three had some injuries and dust on them; fighting the many enemies with few was unavoidable.
Lucy showed the magic book in her hand: "Because I'm also a member of Fairy Tail, I can fight too!"
Elfman, in his original form, touched his chest and held a book there too.
Kana and Loki, being lazy, hadn't brought theirs.
Boom! Boom!
Rocks blocking the door were blasted open with magic by those inside, and Ghost's people rushed out.
A small portion of them were regular people, some bare-handed, some holding magic tools.
The majority wore identical white robes and black cloaks, wielding single-handed swords.
These people kept running out the door, seemingly endless, as if the castle was merely a factory producing them.
"Ah~~~~" Lucy was taken aback, "Have you three been fighting this many enemies all along?"
Kana held a few glowing cards between her fingers: "These are soldiers Joseph made with magic—Ghost Soldiers. But... we actually didn't know there would be so many enemies."
Loki said: "The corridor space is limited, the enemies we saw weren't this overwhelming, nor did we face many at once."
"Manly men!"
Kana grabbed Elfman's collar: "Manly men should retreat now and meet up with the reinforcements."
"That's right, we still have reinforcements!" Lucy perked up, pointing towards the enemies with one hand, "Worms, charge!"
······
A cold breeze seemed to pass by, and Lucy's posture froze, while the worms went about their business, completely ignoring her.
Lucy was shocked: "Ah! I forgot, Mr. Rhode said they're not very responsive to commands!"
Kana looked at Lucy and sighed, finding this girl a bit goofy: "Rhode probably meant for us to retreat; they might not actively protect us."
Lucy dumbfoundedly asked: "So what do we do?"
"Of course we run!" Kana called, turning and starting to run with Loki and Elfman.
A magic bullet landed at Lucy's feet, blasting a small pit in the ground.
"Oh!?!!" Lucy quickly dodged back, almost frightened to tears, yelling as she followed everyone in retreat.
As Ghost's regular members and Ghost Soldiers chased the four toward the worm swarm, some worms changed direction during their advance.
They darted around the feet of the four and rushed towards the Ghost members, leaving the four unsure whether to keep moving forward.
"What are those, worms?"
"Gathering in such numbers, how disgusting!"
"They're ruining the guild!"
"Ghost Soldiers, stop them quickly!"
However, Ghost Soldiers didn't really heed the orders of these Ghost members either; they were only focused on chasing Kana and the others.
It wasn't until the first Ghost Soldier got bitten by a worm that they designated these worms as enemies.
Swish! The Ghost Soldier swung down his weapon, and a worm disappeared, but more worms swarmed onto his arms, legs, shoulders, until he was completely submerged by blue-purple worms.
The sound of gnawing rose, his weapon and clothes were torn to shreds, his body gradually failing to move before disappearing.
The worms then moved on to their next target.
The Ghost Soldiers behind perhaps achieved some success, slashing three or four or more worms, but ultimately ended up submerged.
The regular members outside the Ghost Soldiers performed even worse; though their minds were nimbler, they felt pain, fear, and hesitation.
Yet as long as they didn't immediately retreat from the battlefield, they could only be dragged forward.
If viewed from the sky, the battlefield was like black-and-white waves colliding with a blue-purple torrent, the boundary gradually extending sideways.
Both sides advanced and retreated, blue-purple 'peaks' appeared at each moment, like rocky protrusions in water.
But those peaks quickly dissolved, giving rise to new ones.
The scene resembled the process of two continental plates colliding and squeezing, accelerated many times, miniaturized on this small battlefield.
The difference was that both plates were diminishing, both had reinforcements behind them.
The outcome depended on which side had greater numbers.