As the 2nd half of ants were returning to the hive, they commenced a thorough search on their way back.
To shoe the level of intelligence the queen had, it had ordered the ant generals to eliminate the humans that had shown themselves and not conduct many searches.
The aim of the command was for the ant army to block the borders, therefore trapping the humans.
Now that the mana pillar had appeared it was time to start phase 2 of eliminating the humans.
On their way back, the army of ants began searching every corner and climbing every tree. Due to their large numbers, it didn't take much time as they were moving closer to the hive.
When the ants were had gotten halfway back to the ant generals which had very high sensory abilities began detecting the teams.
Castiel's team was on the treetops where anti-detection arrays were carved into the trees. They all held their breath as they saw the sea of ants moving, but that was when they heard an ear-piercing screech.
It was from an ant general and it was looking in their direction.
"Shit! We have been found out!" The team leader shouted.
Immediately ants began climbing the trees and swarming in their direction.
"Move! Move!" The team leader shouted as they began using their various elements to jump from tree to tree.
They had an advantage because even though the ants could jump they weren't as efficient as those using flame bursts or water whips or plant vines to move across the trees.
(AN: Yes, ants can actually jump 100 times their body length! Crazy right! :)
The ants were losing the humans, but if the ant general was able to smile it would have an evil smirk on its face because they were running towards the hive.
The phase two plan wasn't to kill the humans but to force the remaining to the center of the hive for the queen to feed after evolution.
Castiel's team had no idea of the ant queen's evolution or that the school was having issues warping them back to the school.
The only thing that was on their mind was to get as far away as possible from the ants and the only place they could think of was the mana pillar that shot high into the sky.
…
20 minutes later, the students were done admiring the mana pillar and they had decided on the direction to head, but that was when Castiel's team enter the system's detection range.
'Seems we don't have to go looking.' Blake thought when he heard the system's report.
"What are we waiting for?!" Serhan asked in an angry tone, but a look from Luciano shut him up.
After 3 more minutes of waiting, Castiel's team out of the forest panting.
"Shit… that was a close one…"Castiel said while trying to catch his breath, but that was when they looked up and saw Blake and Luciano's team looking at them.
"We have been for you guys. Hello..." Blake waved at Layla who was also part of the team.
"It's not as if we stand a chance against any one of them alone, but now they are working together It's hopeless…" Layla said as she conjured a water dagger.
Seeing the rank 1 and 2 who were known to be close friends, in the same area not fighting each other meant 1 thing. Even if they weren't with their team it was still hopeless.
"If I was you I wouldn't do that." Blake said when he saw Layla conjuring a dagger. "If you do that you will end up dying because the school is experiencing issues."
Blake went on to explain the queen situation and why the school hasn't ended the test.
"I hope you all heard it because I won't repeat myself." When he was done with his explanation, Blake looked at an empty part of the forest and across the mana pillar.
"You know we don't have much so why don't you guys save our time and stop hiding." The forest was quiet for some time before the last 2 teams stepped out.
Both teams were shocked by how Blake sensed them, but Haldor had an important question to ask. "How can we believe you?"
"It's very easy, if we wanted to eliminate you all the 3 of us can easily do that." Blake said pointing at Luciano and Damon.
His words made a lot of people angry, especially Serhan because he was being regarded as anything, but Blake continued without caring what they thought because he was saying facts.
(AN: Lol. Almost said 'spitting facts' :)
"Besides it's not as if I am here to save you all, I am here for him." Blake pointed at Castiel. "You are free to join in as long as you don't get in our way."
"My team would like to join." Haldor said.
Blake looked at the team of 5 and had a clue of what must have happened to their team leader.
[The team has 4 commoners and 1 noble. Considering the fact that the team leader was a noble, I am 80% certain that they had eliminated him.] The system said.
Seeing Haldor's team join, it didn't take time for 2 of the other teams to join.
"Alright, since everything is settled it's time to plan how to leave here undetected." Blake said to Luciano and Damon.
Damon could cast darkbringer on others but their number was just too much.
"My artifact should be able to conceal everyone and get us out of here, but we need a backup plan." Damon said.
"That should be enough." Blake looked at Luciano who nodded.
With everything planned, the trio returned to the students and explained only the parts of the plan they needed to know.
Also, Blake handed Castiel a void dagger and used mind link to communicate with him.
'If something is to go wrong, I want you to go as far as possible.'