Evolution begins with an ant colony

In that moment, Oliver breathed in and then breathed out. He twisted his upper body, shifting his weight. While doing this, he mused, "I still have to hold back a little so I don't actually kill him. Still, I'll deliver a punch that would give him the maximum amount of pain he can bear." With that in mind, Oliver threw the punch, aimed at Yefrit's abdomen.

But just before his attack landed, a yellow translucent chain made from a spell swiftly twisted itself around Oliver's right arm, stopping his attack in its tracks.

"What the heck," Oliver mumbled, slightly taken by surprise that something suddenly stopped his attack from landing. Turning his eyes towards the culprit, he saw a yellow chain. Looking towards the source, he saw a group of mages who had given it their all to cast the spell.

Some were sweating profusely, and some even coughed up blood, a sign of the massive strain on their mana it took to stop that attack.

"Quickly, chain his other hand! Don't give him a chance to retaliate," Yefrit's voice echoed as he momentarily glanced over at the mages on the other side. Inwardly, he was relieved that the junior mages had come to his rescue. He mused inwardly, "If they hadn't stopped that attack of his when they did, I'm not sure I would still be standing here." Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

The other junior mages followed Yefrit's order, immediately chanting spells that caused another yellow chain to grab hold of Oliver's left hand.

While Oliver was distracted by the chains restraining his hands, Yefrit seized the opportunity to cast a spell on the ground. With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a series of chains that erupted from the ground, swiftly wrapping around Oliver's neck and remaining body. As the chains tightened, Oliver found himself immobilized, his movements restricted by the magical restraints.

Yefrit, wanting to finish Oliver off, began channeling a powerful spell, his eyes glowing with intensity as he focused his magic on his target.

But Oliver, despite being restrained by the chains, remained calm. With a cold tone, he addressed the mages around him,@@novelbin@@

"You humans have this infuriating habit of always looking down on your opponent. What makes you think weak attacks like these can stop me from absolutely obliterating you all."

In an instant, he summoned his strength and unleashed a surge of power, shattering the chains that bound him. Time seemed to slow down as the mages who casted the spell felt the knock back of their spell shattering.

The sudden release of magic caused the mages who had cast the chains to fall to the floor in pain, coughing up blood from the strain of their exertion. Seizing the opportunity, Oliver moved with lightning speed, launching himself towards Yefrit.

With a swift and precise kick, Oliver struck Yefrit square in the abdomen, sending the head mage hurtling through the air. Yefrit crashed to the ground with a resounding thud, his body skidding across the pavement before coming to a stop. The impact knocked the wind out of him, leaving him unconcious on the floor.

"That's one," Oliver remarked, then glanced over at the other mages. Most of them were either struggling to remain conscious or were passed out, lying close to small pools of blood. "I guess my job is basically done here, according to Leona's standards."

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from one of the mages who was barely holding onto consciousness. "I won't accept it," it belonged to a boy. Oliver, upon hearing the voice, turned around to the source. His eyes landed on a boy with black hair and purple eyes. The boy wiped the blood from his mouth as he said, "I won't go down at the hands of some random strangers."

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Oliver, gazing intensely at the boy, couldn't help but sigh. He muttered, "Human, you just managed to survive. Why must you court death?" Oliver then paused momentarily. He added, "As much as I'd love to grant your wish, due to strict orders, what I can give is..." His tone suddenly turned cold as he finally added, "the next best thing."

In that moment, Oliver propelled himself forward, arriving by the boy's side in the blink of an eye. The boy, seeing this, wanted to cast a spell, but he had already completely depleted his mana. He could only stand there and watch as Oliver grabbed his head by the face and slammed it into the ground, knocking him out, just enough to not give him a concussion.

The other mages who were conscious and saw what Oliver did to their fellow mage didn't know why he did it and thought he was targeting all the mages that looked like they were still awake. So, they all decided they would play dead by laying back down on the floor.

"Guess I'm finally all done here," Oliver remarked as he gazed at the bodies of all the unconscious mages around him. He then mused as he glanced over at Leona, "I wonder how Leona's faring." What he saw was a scene similar to his, with the bodies of most of the holy knights laying on the floor around her unconscious, but some of them still persisted and were still engaged in a battle with her.

Oliver then let out a sigh. He said, "Since she's busy and I've got nothing to do," his eyes glinted as he added, "why don't I loot the mages? I'm sure they have all sorts of good stuff on them. Even their staffs look shiny; I'm sure they must have some sort of cool function."

And with that, Oliver, the mischievous ant guardian, went about and started looting all the mages, confiscating their staffs, the golden pieces of their equipment, and their magic bags that seemed to be the place where they kept all their treasure. "It seems like some sort of inventory," Oliver mumbled as he held a magic bag in his hand, opening it to gaze into its bottomless abyss.

"Only mine has this digital system window, as my liege described it, while theirs seems... more... weird."

"Well, that's that," Oliver mumbled as he had looted all the mages of their belongings, leaving them with only the clothes they had on. The mages who pretended to be unconscious nearly died of embarrassment as they realized they were just robbed in broad daylight, and there was nothing they could do about it.