Chapter 232 - Team Test (part 18)
On the large pillar of earth, surrounded by his teammates was Brian. Using the earth element and the earth pillar as a conduit, Brian regulated the number of ants his team fought.
Whenever the ants on the pillar reached a dangerous level, barriers erupted at different levels of the pillar, cutting off the ant army into waves.
"Although it's one day left and every team is in a rush to take the lead. I think they are shortsighted." Damon said. "Not only are they making the entire hive aware of their presence, but they are also making other teams aware of their presence."
"The other teams saw how our points were raising. So they think that once they got here it will be a sea of points, but they have no clue that special tools and techniques are needed to fish for the points." Sach snorted.
"This is exactly the greed you were warning against. Too bad Ansgar didn't understand that on-time.' Kade shook his head.
When Blake was coming up with the hunting strategies, getting overrun by the ants wasn't his greatest concern.
If his greatest worry was the ants, then every day they would stand in front of the hive entrance, and was they were tired he would teleport all of them back to the water barrier.
He was afraid of getting ambushed by another team while they were hunting.
Although he was confident that with Damon and the rest he would be able to defeat any other team. He couldn't be too sure when they were in the middle of a battle and they were ambushed.
"Alright guys, it's almost time for us to attack. Soon their mana will finish and their next line of action will be to escape. When this happens, I want you all to find a way and make a large hole at the lower part of the pillar." Blake explained his plan.
"As for me, I will make sure that none of manage to escape." Blake said to the group before leaving.
The team wasn't too sure on how this was meant to wipe the team out, but so far Blake hadn't failed them, so they just agreed to do as instructed.
Besides if he said he was to make sure none escaped then there was no better person to do that.
…
Blake left the team, and using the system's detection skill, Blake went for the tunnel exits.
'I don't think this is was done today because there is no way they would be able to construct such a large tunnel and still be able to fight so many ants.' Blake thought as he observed the tunnel's network.
Brian's team was one of the teams that had arrived just after Blake was done eliminating 3 teams.
The team leader already knew the area thanks to the map. So, he had asked Brian to build a tunnel that would help them escape in case something happened.
[Interesting… Seems your paranoid nature has begun rubbing off on him.] The system said when they found out that the tunnel had 3 exits.
'What can I say, I am an agent of change.' Blake's words causing the system to chuckle.
When Blake got to the farthest exit, which didn't seem to have an opening. 'I don't sense anything wrong with the tunnel. Check if there are any detection arrays.'
[Same here. It's just a plain tunnel.] The system reported.
With the coast clear, Blake used his sword to dig a hole at the top of the tunnel before dropping in a void dagger.
"So this is where they got all the rock to make such a large pillar." Blake continued walking until he reached the part of the tunnel that led to the different exits.
"Time to wait."
…
Back at the battlefield.
The fight for points was still going on and the team of 3 was watching how an army of just a hundred ants had more than tripled.
Because of Brian, team five wasn't feeling much of the pressure, but things changed after they defeated the first of the many knight rank ants.
It had taken them a lot of mana to kill the knight rank ant but currently, at the foot of the pillar were 2 knight rank ants.
(AN: You might be wondering. If the knight rank ants have a certain level of intelligence, then why not destroy the pillar from below since they are good diggers.
Well this might be possible for other beasts but not ants because doing so will cause the pillar to collapse, killing a lot of their brothers.)
"We can't deal with so many especially with those 2. We have to retreat!" Brian warned his team and luckily, they had agreed with him.
He opened the surface of the pillar and a slide leading to the tunnel below appeared.
Using almost all his mana, Brian conjured 2 layers of earth wall to buy them some time.
"GO! GO!"
One by one they began jumping into the slide and once everyone was in, on his way down Brian closed the hole.
"Let's get out of here." The team had landed on their feet and were a little distance into the tunnel, but that was when they heard a loud explosion.
BOOM!
A barrage of spells had crashed into the walls of the pillar, blowing up a very large hole in it and killing some ants in the process.
The ants turned towards the unknown guests or will I say meals, but that was when Damon activated darkbringer and the team left the area.
Being unable to locate the prey, the ants turned back to the tunnel to see humans running.
'Shit! It's a setup!' Brian continuously cursed the orchestrators of such diabolical act, as he ran with all his might.
"Prepare to split up!" The team leader announced as they were approaching the junction, but that was when they saw someone smiling while lightening up the dark tunnel with a fireball.
It was none other than Blake.
'Who else will do that other than Blake.' Brian thought as his team came to a halt.
Blake hadn't moved and the same went for Brian's team because a lot were currently going on in there mind.
'Moving forward is no different than fighting the horde of ants behind us.' Brian couldn't help but sigh.
The tunnel was wide enough to fit 2 people, but even at that, it wasn't wide enough for someone to maneuver. This meant they would be free kill with Ebony and Ivory in Blake's hands since they couldn't dodge.
There was the option of trying to take him done with them, but Brian knew that Blake was able to teleport so the idea was thrown out the window.
"I guess this is the end of the road for us." Blake helplessly shook his head as he brought out a blade and eliminated himself.
His teammates were confused about what to do, but his action was the push they needed to eliminate themselves.
'As I said, I didn't need to act.' Blake chuckled as he stepped back into a spatial corridor before appearing at the dagger he handed Damon.
"Six teams left. Who are we going for next?" Blake asked.
"It's 5. A team was eliminated while we were waiting for the perfect opportunity." Sach said.
"That makes our work easier." Blake smiled.
Unknown to Blake there was no reason for him to smile because everything was about to change drastically.
…
Half an hour ago at the queen's hive.
The primary queen had one foot into the king realm and was about to evolve, but that was when the news of the invasion of her territory.
Due to the stupid and desperate actions of the students, the ants had suffered a lot of casualties that were now in the thousands.
If things were to continue this way, there was a chance that her advancement was would be disrupted. So, it was time to fight back with full force.
She commanded every of her Knight rank guards and generals to take care of the invaders.
With the commander given, all fighting ants in the hive were sent out, and unluckily for team 8, they had met 5 knight rank ants and more than 200 elite rank ants.
They stood no chance to flee talk more of fighting back. In less than 10 minutes they were wiped out.
If Blake and his team were to be there, they would have noticed that these weren't any ordinary knight rank ants. Especially for the ant generals.
Normal knight rank ants were the height of a full-grown human, but the ant generals stood 8 meters tall and were twice as powerful as them.