As I ran towards the ants, I cast my buffs in quick succession. At first, I had planned to use them before the fight began, but that just wasn’t efficient. Each minute of their durations would cost me more than I gained back, never mind the sheer number I was about to use.

The order was important, so I took care to follow through on the mental list I had created step by step. The distance between me and the ants shrunk second by second as I went through my buffs. Every additional cast cost less mana, but that benefit was capped at lowering it by twenty mana.

I started with the Rage buffs, as otherwise, I would run out of mana. Bolster landed on the entire team, but I focused Final Stand on myself and the Practitioners and the ranged Adventurers. That gave everyone an increase in damage, and the casters and archers would deal more damage as their mana dropped. After that, the Rage pool had dropped from two hundred to exactly zero.

Perfect.

I grinned as I swapped to my Novice pool. Each additional Warrior over the cap of twenty-five had added two to the mana cost when I included myself, but the passive from my armour had countered the increase perfectly. The cost of the buffs had increased from fifty to a hundred each, so it was impossible for me to increase my critical chance, never mind the rest of the team's.

I switched over to my Novice pool and shifted the direction of my run to be parallel to the front line of the ants. Strength and Enhanced Dexterity went to the Warriors and the Adventurers respectively. That left me with just under ninety mana, so I cast Accelerate on myself to finish.

Now I can use buffed strike five times, and another time in a few minutes… that should be enough.

My plan would be classed as suicidal if it wasn’t for the insane level of control I had gained over this specific ability. A year of constant training showed its effects in weird ways, but this one was actually useful to me.

“Fire everything you have!” I yelled as I sprinted towards the ants. After a short break, arrows flew over my head and magical projectiles slammed into the wave of summoned creatures, but they were mostly aimed at the side opposite to me.

That annoyed them, so a portion split off towards my group. The remainder set their sights on the easy target in front of them. Whilst a majority of the ants were on the lower end of the level spectrum, thanks to our group layout, their numbers more than made up for it.

But I had split their forces in half, or as close to it as I could tell.

As they closed in around me, I raised my staff and charged towards them. Whilst I could take one or two in a fair fight, their numbers were far too large for me to even contemplate it. As I neared the horde, I grinned as I focused my power.

“Buffed Strike.”

The ability launched me away from the ants. I span around in mid-air as I flew towards the wall on the far side of the room. The sounds of battle rang out from behind as the other half of the ants crashed into the rest of my team, but I had to let Leah deal with that.

I ran towards the wall, but slowed my pace enough for the ants to keep up. A few stragglers broke off to join the main force, but enough kept on my tail as I neared my target.

This is going to be dangerous…

“Buffed Strike.”

I sped up as the smooth wall loomed in front of me. A quick jump, along with another use of my ability combined with a vault from my staff, catapulted me into the air

I landed against the wall with a thud. I had twisted around so that I hit it feet first, but the impact still sent a wave of shock along my legs. Before I could lose my balance or bounce off, I focused my power once more.

“Buffed Strike”

I shot off the wall like a missile. My path sent me towards the far side of the section I had distracted. I cleared the rearmost ant with an inch to spare as I rolled onto the floor.

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The battle was going well on the team's side. Due to the limited number of ants they faced, the team racked up the kills quickly with little damage. Compared to my first battle against these creatures, this one was easier.

I didn’t have time to overthink it as the crowd of ants behind me spun around. I jumped up like a sprinter from the blocks and ran towards the opposite side of the room.

Most of that side was clear of ants, save for the bodies of those who had been defeated before they even reached our front lines. More of the group behind me split off, but I lead the remainder towards the corner at the back of the room.

The stupidity of these summoned creatures made my plan possible. I had observed it in our first battle. If they had worked together at that point, there was a chance we would have suffered major casualties, potentially up to the point of being wiped out.

As I neared the far wall, I prepared for the same manoeuvre as before, but an issue popped up. The ants had spread out as they chased me, which left no chance I could clear them in one leap.

If I brought these back to the main forces, their combined numbers might be enough to overwhelm them. If I tried to fight my way out, they would drag me down in seconds.

“Practitioners, fire!”

Leah’s yell rang out through the sounds of battle. At her order, a wave of magical orbs smashed into the group behind me. their ranks fell into disorder as those hit turned to face their attackers. As I neared the corner, I saw several open patches in the middle of the ants who followed me.

I jumped up the wall and used the corner to gain some extra height. A quick glance confirmed that my target area was still clear, so I grit my teeth and launched myself towards it.

“Buffed Strike!”

I arced through the air as the ants below me tried to catch me. It occurred to me just how stupid my plan was, but I didn’t have time to run through the exact reasons before I crashed into the floor.

As I corrected myself with a roll and jumped to my feet, the ants turned to face me, their eyes spitting fire as they closed in. Before they could catch me, I sprinted towards the most distant creature.

Its armour looked tough and sturdy. Under normal circumstances, it would take me several blows to break through, but this issue was to my advantage currently.

I raced towards it and pointed my staff at its head. Its jaws clicked as it closed in, ready to snap shut around me the moment it got the chance. As we neared each other, I jumped towards it.

And thrust my staff towards its back.

My leap cleared the ant, but it wouldn’t clear those behind it. That’s where my staff came in. I slammed it down onto the back of the ant and yelled my ability one last time.

“Buffed Strike.”

The ant juddered as my attack hit, but it didn’t collapse. Its toughness helped me as more of the impact slammed back up through my arm.

I was sent through the air, spinning and tumbling as I flew past the rest of the group. I landed with far less grace, but I ignored the pain in my ribs as I jumped to my feet and sprinted towards the group in the distance.

They had cleared most of the first wave, so the time was ripe to bring in reinforcements. The ants who charged to them first were spread out along the whole line, so there wasn’t a gap for me to get by.

But I had planned for that.

“Open the breach!”

A wave of arrows and magical bolts rained onto the ants in front of me. Whilst the assault didn’t take down all of the ants, it cleared enough room for me to squeeze my way in before they closed ranks again.

“Seriously, I thought your plan was stupid. Now I just know it was insane instead.” Leah grinned at me before she turned back to the wall of monsters. The warriors held up well against the assault. I had ordered the villagers to intersperse themselves along the line, so their trained comrades could help if they faltered.

That, plus the skilled heals that came from our Holy Practitioners, kept the minor injuries at bay. The second wave of ants joined onto the first, which increased the pressure.

But it wasn’t enough.

After I had run half of them around the room for several minutes, most of their brethren had been cut down. Whilst the forces under my command hadn’t escaped unscathed, the increased level of skill forced into them through the battle helped to counter that a little.

I added my help where it was needed. My staff had the advantage of range, so I could thrust past the front line and land blows on their unsuspecting enemies. I aimed at the legs mostly, which left an easy target for the Warriors to clean up.

If my Transmutation was stronger, I could make a raised platform for the ranged section… or a ditch in front of the Warriors…

As I contemplated the possible future strategies I might one day obtain, the last ant fell to the floor. I waited with bated breath, expecting them to turn to smoke like the first pack we had defeated.

But they didn’t.

“What the hell.” I stepped out of the group and prodded one of the ants. When I tried to gather their parts into my Inventory, the voice reprimanded me about how it was impossible to find anything.

Is one of them still alive under a heap somewhere?

Before I could order a search, the far end of the cavern was lit up once more by a bright light. This time it was more focused than the last, but I didn’t let my guard down. My buffs still had several minutes of duration, but some of the shorter ones were about to run out.

A huge creature stomped out of the light, at least fifteen feet tall at its highest point. Its head twisted around to face us as the huge pincers around its mouth clicked back and forth. As it glanced around at its defeated companions, a low screech rang out from its throat.

It was an ant, and it was pissed off.