I Became A Bat

40: Cornered

A cloud of dust is rising up from the place where I originally stood. It's quite blurry but I can see the figures of five creatures with red bodies. There's no need for me to think hard to guess it's probably another group of ants. But the feeling these guys are giving is so much different from the ones before.

Hmm? This feeling of something prickling in my head... Psyche energy?

"Barriers! All of you!" My body jolts unconsciously as I scream towards my subordinates.

Eliot who is in charge of the Energy Barrier immediately moves his wrist and from the bracelet on it appears a purple barrier that covers our group from all directions. Saphyrus too makes a barrier made from spinning wind. As for Fortista, he's not really proficient in barriers so he can only discharge electric currents in the air. I can't help but roll my eyes to this while conjuring a barrier made from mama around us.

And just as I expected, an attack came. It's a wave of white psyche energy just like the surprise attack from the Fly Ants from before but this time, it's much stronger. Like a sharp knife, it cuts through the first barrier from the bracelet and proceeds to the next ones. There's some psyche energy that are dispersing into motes of light after the first barrier but it's still considerably thick. The wave then actually ignores the barrier of wind and tears through the electric currents. Finally, the only barrier left is the one that I constructed from mana.

W-will it be able to hold on?

I pour more mana into the barrier to the point where I can even see the quick rate of my mana reserves going down. The psyche energy from the attack is being continously eroded while it's trying to break through the barrier.

"Master, watch out!" Fortista suddenly shouts and moves right in front of me, blocking my view of the attack as a result.

Just before he finished doing that though, another wave of psyche energy coming out way enters my sight. I can feel the surface of my barrier cracking until finally, it collapses into pieces of light that starts dispersing into the air not long after.

"Ugh!" A groan leaves my mouth as a painful feedback is transmitted to my arms as if I touched a wire and got shocked.

T-this is the first time I got interrupted this badly while pouring mana into a barrier. I can barely even move my arms right now as if it's encased in hard cement. I can't help but release a few more groans as a feeling of chill is being transmitted through my spine as the wind is hitting the cold sweat which I just noticed is now actually rolling down my back.

The sounds of things falling reaches my ear so I turn my head around. On the ground just right next to me are Eliot and Saphyrus. With their eyebrows furrowed and faces crumpled as if they're enduring something painful, the two are lying on the ground unmoving. I can still feel my connection to them through the Ancestor skill but it seems that they took quite a lot of damage from the attack just now and can't move.

So it's up to me and Fortista right now, huh?

By shifting my gaze back to the enemies, I finally can see their figured properly. The dust cloud is now cleared up revealing four bulky shelled Fly Ants. Their levels are around level Fifty or so, a few levels above me and nesf Fortista.

Located at their center is a beautiful woman with long red hair cascading to her back. There's a  small antenna on her head with a white pearl on the end which is emitting faint psyche energy from time to time. Her body below however is those of an ants. Everything is what a normal ant queen in a fantasy novel would look like but what is this level? Level Sixty-one? Seriously?

I turn my head towards the Obsidian Beetle King before I open my mouth to speak a few cold-hearted words. "Fortista, I'll leave everything to you."