Ross found himself in a path that was blocked on both fronts. The moment he appeared, if he hadn't been on guard, he would have taken massive damage.
Still, he was hit heavily with flying earth bullets that sent him flying multiple metres before impacting heavily on the floor.
"Ugh..." He groaned in slight pain and annoyance but quickly got back to his feet to avoid becoming collateral.
The number of abilities flying around, and void creatures was insane. "What happened?" His gaze moved rapidly to take everything in. The last thing he remembered was Julia calling out to Alex before he was engulfed in a much brighter light.
The next moment, he was hit with earth bullets. His mind spun quickly and analyzed his situation before coming to a conclusion.
"So that's what happened. I bet Alex was also displaced somewhere..." He now understood why Julia screamed her heart out.
"Now I'm worried what that girl will do. Wherever you are, you better find her quick." He found a relatively less rowdy space to observe before doing anything. He also made sure to avoid the attacks being thrown everywhere.
"It's like a warzone here…"
He recognized some of the students from his class as well as others from the Class 1A. But they were too busy to chat or do anything else.
What's more, it was every man for himself. Just because you recognize someone doesn't mean you'd be working together.
He made a quick scan to determine his position and the way out of the encirclement. He then turned his head to the right where there was the most student fighting to create an opening.
The others on the opposite side had no choice but to fight the void creatures there otherwise, they'd be overwhelmed more than they already were.
After getting bearings, he prepared to enter the fray. He circulated his mana to his feet and hands, creating a fiery blaze around those areas and dashed forward.
Ross got close to the walls of the labyrinth and leapt onto it without losing momentum. This allowed him to run along the walls, dodging most of the fighting and getting closer to the edges where the fighting was most intense.
He had every intention of fighting but not from the very beginning. He planned to get as close to the exit as possible and fight his way out.
His actions however got the attention of one of the void creatures in the back. Its focus turned to Ross and prepared its killer ray by opening its mouth.
A brownish-yellow beam of light gathered in its mouth and shot speedily towards his position with deadly accuracy.
The beam closed in on him, but Ross was already prepared the moment it noticed the creature preparing its attack. The moment the beam got close to him, he released a burst of mana from his feet and hands, creating thrusters that propelled him upwards.
Of course, the beam followed suit. However, before it could reach him again, he readjusted his form mid-air, took a striking pose and unleashed a fiery attack on his own.
The attack travelled just as fast and in a straight path to the void creature. The force behind the attack was more than the void creature could bargain for.
It slammed right into it and pierced its tough hide, creating a gaping hole in its body. The rest exploded in a fiery rain of burning flesh and blood.
The creature's own attack failed to get to him once it was killed. But Ross had forgotten this wasn't a one-on-one fight. He was surrendered from all sides with void creatures; take one out and another takes its place.
The moment he boosted himself with his flames to reach that height, he was in the line of fire of the other void creatures that were not yet engaged and were awaiting their turn.
They turned towards him and unleashed their own attacks, four pillars of attribute-infused beams, each in the colour of their element closed in on Ross the moment his attack landed.
"Shit!"
Realizing he had left himself open to the incoming attacks, he did the only thing he could do at that moment: tank it and hope he survived.
He circulated his mana and quickly engulfed himself in a flame ball to add to the defence of his armour. He also curled himself to minimize his exposed body. Then….
BOOOOOOM!
"Ugh!"
He slammed into the walls of the labyrinth with the force of a speeding bullet train, the pain was blinding as his consciousness wavered. His vision turned blurry and disoriented, and the noise and explosions faded into the background.
His armour was able to hold but there were already several cracks in multiple areas, and because the walls were especially strong, they had no dent and even added to the damage he took.
This was the first he was injured to such a degree, and because their avatars were programmed to believe this was real, he felt fear for the first time as his heart rate increased.
His head was already bleeding, the blood streaming down his face down to his chin and into his cracked armour. His body slid down the wall and eventually reached the ground eliciting another groan of pain from him.
But that wasn't enough for the void creatures. They dashed towards his direction to devour him.
Ross raised his head with difficulty as he watched the void creatures approach him in their numbers. The four that attacked him before were not the only ones coming after him as this number had increased to seven.
With everything he had, he ignored the pain coming from all over his body and got back to his feet, but his form was unsteady and wavering.
Circulating his mana, he yelled in defiance, threw his right hand forward and unleashed another flaming pillar attack that reached the closest void creature rushing towards him.
Without waiting to see the results of his attack, he gathered mana in both hands and slammed them into the ground generating a wall of flames that spread outwards from his position.