Alex and his group soon got their path reopened once the walls shifted again. After a quick scan of their path forward, they dashed at their usual speed and formation.
The void creatures they encountered along their path were swiftly eliminated by Ross and Julia, helping the students by extension. Of course, not all students were struggling as they even encountered students of their own class.
In that case, they just ignored them and zoomed past them without bothering them. They were just as good as they were and the speed at which they killed the creatures was just as impressive. The only thing they had to watch out for was the rain of abilities flying around.
"We've wasted a lot of time being trapped in that room. We should try to cover as much ground as possible." Alex stated and the others nodded.
Their run was smooth for the most part as the void creatures posed little threat to them, at least those on the fourth floor.
But things were about to take a serious turn. Two minutes into their ran, the floor and walls began to rumble again.
"Already!"
Abigail exclaimed in frustration. They hadn't covered that much ground since their release. What's more, the number of turns they were making to cover a straight distance to the next level was more than four times in the beginning.
"Forget about that and keep your eyes peeled!" Ross replied with a stern voice. They didn't have the luxury of wandering when the maze would shift its walls.
Alex's eyes furrowed as he watched the movements of the floor and walls. For some reason, he felt this shift would be different, but he wasn't sure how.
The experiences of their predecessors varied each year. As there was always something new to watch out for. His gaze moved to Julia on his right and watched her calmly.
The way she moved with attention to her surroundings and the occasional looking back at him showed how committed she was to watching out for him. Of course, he did the same.
Suddenly, the floor beneath them brightened and overwhelmed their senses, prompting them to come to a stop.
"What's happening now?" Abigail exclaimed; the fear of the unknown could be heard in her voice. She raised both hands to shield her eyes from the glare. Because of this, she failed to see what happened next.
"Alex! NO!"
Julia exclaimed loudly as she tried to reach Alex's position, but she was a tad too slow and too late. When the bright light suddenly blinded them, her first instinct was to move to Alex's side, but the light was too overwhelming!
Regardless, she tried to look in Alex's direction and saw him taking the same stance to shield his eyes from the bright light.
It was then that the bright light focused its rays on him. This gave Julia an ominous feeling that something was about to go wrong. She tried to move to his position when Alex was beamed up to who knows where.
As if that wasn't enough, Ross was also picked up in the same manner. But because her focus was on Alex, she did not see it happen to Ross.
Whatever that light was, it was clear its function was to split up groups and displace them in different areas of the labyrinth.
Julia almost went mad as she screamed Alex's name at the top of her lungs. They were one powerful set of lungs that Abigail had to close her ears with both hands. That scream would definitely draw in void creatures from wherever they were.
She still had no idea what happened as the light had not died down yet.
"No, no, no, no…" Like a broken record, Julia refused to accept what happened and moved to where Alex stood moments ago. Her eyes were already ready to shed tears.
She continued to call out Alex's name and frantically searched for him in her immediate vicinity. She still had not realized Ross was also gone; her mind was a mess.
When the lights finally died down and the walls and floors stopped shaking, Abigail realized a missing Ross and Alex. And from the actions of Julia, she understood Alex was gone.
She was not particularly worried about him, but she wondered where the other guy went.
"Where's Ross?" She asked.
Julia instantly realized he was missing as well and fell on her knees with both hands on the ground. The tears were already falling from her eyes with a broken expression on her face.
Abigail noticed how the girl was nearly broken and moved towards her, 'What's with this girl? If anything, those two should be fine, especially Alex.'
"Erm... Julia? Wherever Alex and Ross were sent, I'm sure they will be fine." Abigail began, trying to raise her spirit, but the poor girl continued to sob.
Sighing to herself, she moved closer and kneeled before her, "Alex and Ross should be making their way to the next floor up. Shouldn't we be doing the same?"
Hearing her words. Julia came out of her self-misery and quickly stood up, wiping the tears from her eyes. Her act nearly sent Abigail tumbling. She could only shake her head in defeat. The girl was a crazy she had never seen before.
"You're right. Sitting here and moping about his disappearance isn't going to bring him back. I have to find him myself!" She boldly exclaimed; her right hand made into a fist to express her determination.
However, before she could do anything else, the loud roars and screeches of void creatures were already upon them. It seemed her screams from earlier had drawn them here.
'Fuck…'
Abigail could only cuss their bad luck. With Alex and Ross gone, Julia would be doing most of the heavy lifting and while she could hold her own, she knew it would take more than one arrow to eliminate a void creature.
The problem was the creatures weren't just going to be standing there for her to shoot. They were just as fast as they were.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of most of them," Julia said and retrieved her sword from her waist. The air around her had also changed, matching her expression; she was mad.