Dad was the first one to start fighting, and then the whole group began to join in. They still made a protective circle around Arthur and me while they fought. They didn't put any gap or weakness in the circle they made. More and more ants started to come our way. Even if we cut down one of them, two more would take its place. Since it was a nest, there was probably going to be hundreds or thousands of these ants. I was ready to go out and fight them, but Arthur would stop me by grabbing the back of my shirt. Arthur gave me a glare.
"Dad gave you instructions."
"I know, but they are being overpowered." I pointed towards them to make my point. I know he could see it too. I'm pretty sure he wants to help too.
"I think so too, but I feel like we will only get in the way." I looked at them. They were doing a pretty good job, but it will only last until their stamina runs out. I had to do something. I was the type that usually went out in battle without thinking and comes back victorious.
"What about long-ranged attacks?" Arthur turned to me. I guess that took his interest. "We don't have to join the battle physically. We can be the support team, plus you are a fire mage. That will help them a lot."
"I don't know about this. I hope you know what you are doing." I took that as a yes. I started to gather mana quickly before he would change his mind. I needed to forge my magic into something sharp like a sword to cut through the ants' body. It also needs some speed. I thought long and hard. I thought through every list of weapons I used in my past life. Small swords? Arrows? Those were good, but not good enough. It would be a waste of my mana to make a lot. Needles! They were a perfect size and can become really fast. I just needed to add wind magic. I was stuck whether I should use water or earth to make the needles. Both of them were good. Water was lighter than the earth, but it was easier to forge. Earth had weight which would help sine the gravity would bring it down even faster.
At the very end, I went with water. I imagined the water into tiny needles, but not too tiny that it would break nor too big. I opened up to see the needle in my hand. I was satisfied since it was a perfect size. I used the wind to surround it, but I made sure it was a thin layer. I didn't want it to be too thick.
"Alex, since when can you use water magic?"
"For some time now." I thrusted the needle up into the air. I tried to make as many as possible. I felt sweat running down the side of my face. It was pretty hard to control and concentrate at the same time. The old magic instructor from the palace vaguely went over this topic since she was a dual-Elementalist. I had to practice for weeks to understand how to control two elements at once. Even though I combine my magic before, multiplying it takes a lot of work.
I could manage about nine of them. I took a deep breath and took aim, but Jeremy and Diana were in my way. They were using their magic to defend themselves. Jeremy had made a sword of fire and was using it to burn the ants to ashes. Diana maneuvered her water magic and sliced through the ants' necks.
"Diana, Jeremy, move out of the way." They looked back and saw me pointing the needles towards them. Once they understood what I was doing, they stood aside making themselves vulnerable. I gave the needles an extra boost of wind as I launched the attack. I used Diana's method of maneuvering water and used it as my own skill. I took care of the ants that were coming in to attack Jeremy and Diana. I started to circle the water needles around, being careful not to hurt anyone. Everyone turned to me, astonished. I had literally taken away their opponent right in front of them. I ignored their stares and continued to kill the ants. Some of them still fought, some of them backed away, and the other stood where they were.
My mana was running out of fast as I did this. I might not have enough mana to kill off at least one-fourth of them. Mana grew with your body and will depend on one's core level. Even though I had developed my mana core, my body was far below, so I technically had less mana than Arthur. As my mana depleted, my spell weakened. It took around half an hour to finally almost deplete my mana. I stopped as I felt weak. Just as my knees went weak, Arthur held me by the arm. He looked worried.
I looked out to see the ants started coming in like waves once my spell stopped. I tried to steady myself, but my legs literally felt like jelly. It was going to take some time to replenish my mana. I removed my arm from Arthur's grasp and sat down. I needed to restore my mana as soon as possible. I closed my eyes and started to meditate. I did my usual method.
"Watch out, Arthur!" I opened my eyes and turned to Arthur to see an ant was about to stab him with his arm. I tried to get up, but my body was too weak. I watched how the ant went for the strike. I am pretty sure time slowed down as my heartbeat quickened. I don't think I thought this through before I grabbed his ankle and made him trip. I looked up to see that the ant's strike had directed towards me and the only thing I could do was watch.