Although the mana from the exchange of spells couldn't be sensed from the hive or the last barricade. Sound traveled farther with air and it didn't take long for the ant generals to pick up the vibrations with their antennae.
With the number of vibrations coming from their direction, the ants sensed a lot of humans. Both groups of ants had no clue how more humans had appeared, but they had one thing in their minds, and it was to deal with them.
*Screech!*
The ant generals let out an ear-piercing screech that made all the ants match towards Blake's direction.
…
'I have decided what to do.' Blake said.
"They are being mind-controlled so try not to kill them." Arcane magic magnified his voice.
"If we do that we will be killed instead." Haldor spoke the mind of everyone that wasn't being controlled.
"I never said that you should sit and watch. The ants are coming from both sides. I want you all to follow Damon and leave the area, I will save as many as possible and hold off the ants." Blake said as he jumped out of the cover of a tree and went for his first target.
'Castiel I need you to go as far as possible without the group. Remember you are the only chance of survival for me and the nobles.' Blake said to Castiel through mind-link.
With the speed boost from lightning reinforcement, Blake spun beside a female noble, and with little effort, he knocked her out.
'That should by us some time.' Blake thought as the female noble was unconscious.
[They might be out cold right now, but when they wake up it might be troublesome.] The system warned him.
'When we reach that bridge we will cross it.' Blake said to the system as he dashed forward, dodging spells and moving to his next target.
With the army of ants coming from both directions and Blake holding the nobles, those that weren't mind-controlled saw this as an opportunity to escape.
They didn't care about Blake who could escape but decided to sacrifice himself, their fatally wounded teammates who couldn't move, or the mind-controlled nobles. All they cared for was their lives.
(AN: The human nature :( Smh.)
"Gather together we are about to leave!" Damon was a little bit worried about Blake, but if there was someone that could make it out alive from such a situation, it was Blake.
The mind-controlled nobles saw the normal students gathering to leave, but surprisingly they didn't attack or try to stop them. Instead, they focused all their attacks on Blake.
[I see what is going on here. They never planned on killing the others, you were the main target all along and if they aren't strong enough, the ants are to finish the job.] The system warned Blake.
'And you always say you aren't the bringer of bad news.' Blake said in a sarcastic tone as he threw his void daggers in all directions, before conjuring a mana dome that protected him from the rain of spells.
[I do have good news, but it is common knowledge. Because multiple people are being mind-controlled their fighting capabilities won't be as good as when they are sane. That is why they have been using mostly spells.] The system said.
The main aim of the mind controller wasn't for the students to kill Blake but to delay him till the ants arrived. Blake was known as a melee fighter that was why they were keeping their distance while firing spells.
As Blake's barrier was being bombarded, Luciano who was engulfed in golden flames landed beside him.
m"I am not leaving without you. I will handle the ants, while you save these idiots." Luciano said as the army of ants had come into view.
'That clears most of my worries. Activate mind boost.' Blake smiled as his eyes turned white and the intensity of the lightning arcs swarming all around his body increased.
To make sure that he wasn't overrun by ants, Luciano conjured a circle of golden flames from which he began firing waves after waves of scorching flames.
Seeing that there was no way Luciano would be overrun as long he still had mana. Blake activated void shift, simultaneously conjuring 4 spatial corridors around them.
The spells aimed at them flew right through the spatial corridors and flew out the exits formed at the locations of the void daggers.
Instantly, the area above them became chaotic as spells flew all around, hitting those unable to react on time and causing most of them to dodge or block.
Having no plans of letting the opportunity go to waste. Blake dashed forward and in a matter of seconds, he appeared in front of 2 nobles.
Taking in a deep breath, Blake gave the 1st noble a jab to the head before dodging a fireball and then slide tackling the 2nd noble.
The noble lost his balance and fell on the thick branch =, but that was when a powerful stomp to the head turned the lights off.
BOOM!
The 1st noble had just recovered from the jab, but a fireball sent him crashing into the tree.
Thud!
Opening his eyes, a fist encased in mana knocked him out.
'Let's get these guys.' Using the system's large range of detection, Blake went after the 4 that were injured by their own spells.
Due to their fighting capabilities being further reduced by their injuries, it took only seconds for him to knock them out.
[I think you would want to help your friend out.] The system drew Blake's attention back to Luciano.
Luciano was doing a very good job in making sure that the sea of ants didn't get close to Blake or even the mind-controlled students.
With how hot the golden flames were, it didn't take much effort for Luciano to turn the sea of ants swarming towards him to ashes.
Even the knight rank ants weren't faring better. The reason why the system had called Blake's attention was the ant generals.
Normal fire element was very effective against ants, talk more of golden flames. Both elite and knight rank ants were turned to ashes by the golden flames.
The reason why the system had called Blake's attention to the ant generals was because of their thicker exoskeletons. Due to their thickness being close to 3 times that of normal ants, their exoskeletons were more heat resistant.
This was a big issue for Luciano because the tactics of the ants were to sacrifice themselves, so that many could delay the target give their brothers enough time to overrun the target.
2 ant generals were coming from both sides and if Luciano wasn't able to burst them down immediately, they would pave a for the rest to swarm him.
'He just needs a little bit more time.' Luciano thought as he sensed that 7 students were already unconscious.
The reason he had asked Blake to take care of the nobles was that in the entire 1st year and possibly 2nd. Blake could be considered the fastest when it came to eliminating both single and multiple.
'I will buy him as much time as possible.' Luciano was about to begin chanting, but that was when Blake shot out through a spatial tear from a tree above Luciano.
BOOM!
With ebony and Ivory in his hands, Blake crashed into one of the ant general's head, and immediately he touched the ground, a burst of flames killed the ants around.
Storing the corpse o the ant general in his dimensional amulet. Before the ants regrouped to attack him, Blake fell into a spatial corridor below him and appeared back on the tree.
With half of the pressure gone, Luciano didn't need help as he continued his onslaught.
Immediately Blake appeared back on the tree, Serhan and Camilla appeared in front with their bodies wrapped in arcs of lightning.
It was then that the pillar of mana that shot into the sky disappeared and a shockwave of mana was felt miles away.
The ant queen's evolution was complete and not only was it found worthy it had awakened the earth element and was coming for them.
[Shit! It was meant to last longer how did it quicken the evolution process?!] There was a trace of worry in the system's voice. [You need to get out of here as fast as possible.]
'On it…' Blake felt that death was just minutes away.