Seeing the carts being attack by therge blue ants Marcus rushed in letting loose a couple of fire shots that incinerated about a half dozen of the ants.


    The ants sensing the new threat spread out in search of Marcus, leaving the guards and the people in the three carts with less foes to deal with.


    Marcus quickly checked the ants levels finding that they ranged from two to eight none of them being very strong.


    However, what theycked in strength they made up for with ferocity and numbers as well as a special ability.


    When three of the ants located Marcus, they began shooting a seemingly steaming liquid at him out of their abdomen.


    Seeing the liquiding for him Marcus deftly dodged out of the way and cast his me de spell before bursting forward and burning up the three ants with a couple of quick strikes.


    Looking back at where the liquid hit Marcus could see that the ground had frozen where the liquid hadnded.


    ''What the hell, I have heard of ants that spray acid, but these things seem to be shooting out liquid nitrogen or something.''


    Having analyzed thebat abilities of the ants Marcus charged towards the remaining dozen or so and helped defeat them with the help of the carts'' guards.


    Once it was over Marcus noticed that some of the people in the group he had just rescued, had ice stuck to their skins and some even were frozen to the carts.


    Acting quickly Marcus cast his floatingmp spell and used it to melt the ice and found that under the ice the areas of skin were horrible damaged by acid burns.


    Marcus used his tier one healing magic spell to help as many of the people who were in too much pain to function once the ice acid had been melted off of them.


    After casting his healing spell over and over again on the numerous people that were injured Marcus managed to get everyone''s condition under control even if he could notpletely heal the damage.


    With the emergency triage over the leader of the group Marcus had rescued came up to him and bowed his head before saying, "Were are eternally grateful for your assistance, if not for your help many of us would have died, allow me to reward you on behalf of the Grinswald tradingpany."


    "No that is fine I really do not need anything, I am just passing through on my way to River Landing and decided to give you a hand. Now if you will excuse me, I am trying to get to my destination quickly so I will take my leave."


    However, as Marcus tried to leave the woman in charge who had just offered him a reward moved in front of him and continued pleading their case.


    "Please would you apany us the rest of the way to River Landing it is only a short trip left and once we arrive, I can promise that thepany I work for will reward you handsomely for assisting us. There could be more of the ant monsters about, and the cargo we have is especially precious."


    Marcus looked at the sorry state the group was in after the attack, and after appraising everyone found that their strongest member was only level fourteen.


    Sighing Marcus responded saying, "Fine, since River Landing is close and I would feel bad if you all died after I rescued all of you, I will apany you the rest of the way."


    At that the entire group of people Marcus had rescued all beamed with smiles and thanked him profusely.


    The group working for the Grinswald Tradingpany and Marcus continued on the road making there way towards River Landing.


    Unfortunately, they were quickly assaulted by another group of therge blue ants.


    Marcus seeing the small party of around eight ants told everyone to stop and let him handle this.


    He then quickly rushed forward casting his me de spell and striking at the ants with swift strikes that incinerated them instantly.


    Of course, the poor ants that were all in the single digits stood no chance against Marcus who was nearly level thirty and many times stronger than any of them.


    At this point Marcus realized that something was wrong,st time he came through here there were no signs of giant ants and he had heard nothing about them.


    ''If these things were always around then no one would be able to take the trip safely between River Landing and Loursend, they must have recently put up a nest around here somewhere.''


    Realizing the threat that a swarm ofrge ice acid spraying ants were, Marcus increased his vignce to the max while helping to guard the people form Grinswald Trading.


    After walking down the path for another twenty minutes, the group had already been assaulted by three other groups of ants all of which Marcus took care of swiftly.


    However, when they finally caught site of River Landing and the area around it, everyone looked out in horror at the scene before them.


    They could see the roving bands of ants all over the area around River Landing and the sh of explosions and magic around the walls whenever any of these ants got to close.


    Looking around further Marcus caught the sight of a hill that seemed to have snow on it and while that would not be unusual for Borealia during any other season, it was still summer when there should be no snow.


    As he focused on this hill Marcus could make out what looked like little blue lines moving about its surface and at that moment Marcus understood what the hill was.


    ''That is the ant mound, this really is not good. Where did these thingse from, there are easily thousands of them just wandering the area around here? I need to get into River Landing quickly and figure out what is going on, the only problem is, how am I going to keep these guys safe.''


    Mulling it over for a bit Marcus decided to bring forth his iron golem even if it was a bit shy.


    When everyone noticed that Marcus had begun chanting and did not stop after a couple of seconds, they realized he was using a powerful spell.


    After eleven seconds, Marcus finished the chant and brought forth his huge fourteen-foot-tall iron golem.


    Seeing this everyone else looked in awe at the golem Marcus had just brought forth, obviously from a powerful spell.


    Turning to address the group Marcus said, "Okay, we are going to move fast and make it to the gates, I will do my best to protect all of you along with my Iron Golem but keep your guard up. Do not stop for anything, if you stop moving those ants will catch you and I will not help anyone thatgs behind."


    Everyone took a gulped at Marcus'' words imaging the worst that could happened to them.


    Leading the charge Marcus ran forward and the people driving the carts urged the horses drawing the carts to speed up as everyone else set off into a run.


    Marcus sooning down the hill spotted the first ant attracted by the group he was protecting and hade to investigate.


    However, this ant died in the next instant as a fire shot engulfed and incinerated it. The group continued forwards running at full speed to close the rest of the distance to River Landing.


    Of course, they did not go unnoticed by the ants roaming the area, as more and more came to investigate.


    As more ants came from their left side to investigate Marcus ordered his iron golem to squash them while he continued to clear the road ahead.


    With this strategy the party managed to make good progress not needing to slow down as Marcus killed any ants blocking the group''s way and the golem dealt with any that came at them from the side.


    Unfortunately, soon a group of farrger ants closer to the size of a Saint Bernard rather than a corgi, took notice of the carnage Marcus had caused and came to eliminate the threat.


    With the addition of theserger soldier ants Marcus found himself having to move around even faster shing his me de like wild while unleashing fire shots.


    Luckily even with the ever-increasing swarm of ants, Marcus along with his iron golem had managed to keep everyone safe, until when they were only around a thousand hundred feet from the gates Marcus'' golem fell over, covered in so much ice it could no longer move.


    Seeing this Marcus raised his hand and unleashed his tier four lightning magic spell sting through the remaining ants blocking the path to river Landing''s gate.


    He then turned around and said, "Make your way to the gate I will hold the rear until you make it."


    After that Marcus allowed the rest of the group he was protecting run past him as he turned around to face the swarm of ants that had formed in their wake.