'I had taken into account that their pheromones and antennae were a whole lot stronger, but not this strong.' The situation was giving Blake a headache.
Blake's fear was that due to being unable to erase signs of their death, depending on their level of intelligence they would be sending bigger and stronger forces the more they killed the ants.
"I think that is all I need to see for tonight." Blake said Damon as they returned to the team.
The next day after breakfast, the team was ready to begin hunting, but this time not in the same location.
The ants knew that some of their members were missing, so it was best that they avoided going to the same place over and over again.
The team went to a different entrance and began monitoring their movements. Unlike the other entrance it turned out the ant trails here were quite smaller.
"It seems they had already explored and conquered everything in this region." Blake said
From the little number of ants that were leaving and entering the hive, it was quite clear that very little operations were carried out. It just turned out to be scouting team making sure that nothing had invaded their territory.
"At this rate, it is no longer a question of if they can capture the entire location. It is a question of when will it happen." Kade said as he remembered how the previous entrance was bustling with ants.
'No wonder they are among the 'destroy on sight' magical beasts.' Blake couldn't help but acknowledge the invading power of the ants.
Seeing that they weren't ants to hunt, the group left for another entrance.
The next entrance they went was livelier but not as that of the first entrance, so this time the team decided to do multiple batches. This time Kade was the one be on the lookout as they cleared each batch.
At the end of the day the team were only able to get a little bit above 8000 points and this made them consider returning to the original spot.
"I doubt there will be another hive, so how are they getting points so fast?" Blake couldn't help but wonder how team 1 were 6000 points behind them.
The previous day they were leading with 3000 points and if points from the day was added it was meant to be a gap of 11k points. Meaning they had gained 5k points in a single day without facing a hive of insects.
'If I was to face their team who would win?' Blake asked the system.
[If their leader, sorry the second year meant to lead them was as strong as he is meant to be, then I would you will lose. But if you are to team up with Damon then you would undoubtedly win.] The system reported after running an analysis.
The members of team 1 were Camilla, Layla, Brian, Philip who was Kade's best friend, Serhan Karius who was meant to be their leader and finally, Luciano who didn't like being led by a noble so he had taken leadership of the team.
Their team composition was way better than that of Blake's, but luckily Blake was worth more than 1 student.
…
The next day, because they were afraid of Luciano's team catching up, they decided to return to the first entrance.
For sure, the ants were now weary and had close to double the original number of each trail. The number was a threat for the, but it had increased the chances for some to escape and report back to the hive.
"Just like you said, they do have a quite a high level of intelligence. Once a group doesn't return they keep sending more to the area until a set returns." Sach said as the team observed the ants. "If we continue this way we might end up attracting a Knight rank ant or more."
"Alright guys, we have ourselves a target. I, Sach and Damon are leading the attack. Beyoni and Kade are in the barricade team, while Ansgar it is your turn be on lookout." Blake said to the team, but it seemed like Ansgar wasn't happy with his decision.
"Why must it be now that we are about to attack the biggest set so far. You are purposefully doing this to reduce my individual points." Ansgar complained.
Just like the previous exercises, apart from the team that won the exercise, rewards were given to individual contributions to the teams overall score.
Before finding the hive Blake had been the one getting most of the points and he suspected that the reason he had done so was to maintain his position by giving others lesser and easier jobs.
"We don't have time for your nagging right now." Blake said in a hurried tone as they jumped through the trees and began tailing the ants.
When they were at a safe distance away from the hive, a long earth and water barrier appeared behind the ants, preventing them from escaping. Blake, Damon and Sach jumped down in front of the 60 ants with their weapons drawn.
To their surprise, the ants didn't attempt to run because 3 humans weren't considered to be a threat. So they began swarming forward in an attempt to tear the humans apart.
Seeing the ants moving forward, Beyoni and Kade jumped down from their hiding spot, dividing the attention of the ants behind.
Without even a hand movement, light rays began emanating from Beyoni, striking the feeble psyche of the ants. Beyoni's radiant rays were very effective against humans, talk less of ants who couldn't think for themselves.
All ants caught in the illusion stood still as both water and wind blades sliced through their joints, ending their short lives.
…
At a different part of the map, team 1 were just done killing a knight rank emerald crystal back gorilla and were taking a break while using the corpse to attract more beasts to their locations.