Ross arrived on the second floor in another labyrinth section, away from Julia and Abigail. And just like Julia had noticed, he felt the difference in the quality of the void creatures.
However, as far as he was concerned, they were still too weak to be any threat to him. And while he thought that way, he had already taken much damage.
Naturally, he also learnt from his mistakes and went for the kill instantly. He also made sure not to leave himself too exposed.
The only problem that was not yet a problem for him was his mana pool. As a non-weapon user, Ross had to use his hands and feet as his main weapons. This caused his armour to have several cracks from the impacts of his battles.
But the exceptional use of his fire abilities proved deadly to the void creatures and students alike. Of course, he made sure to warn them before he threw explosive fireballs, and anyone caught in it due to their slowness in responding was not his problem.
While this attitude had garnered some bad blood, the situation settled itself as Ross did not stay long after eliminating void creatures.
Right now, he was rapidly traversing a scanned path when the familiar rumbling indicated another shifting event about to start.
Already used to the randomness and swiftness of the shifting walls, Ross did not panic and continued his ran. A few seconds later the maze walls began shifting.
Noticing a closing path ahead of him, Ross increased his speed to cross over before the path disappeared. Whether it would lead him to a dead end or not, he did not care. What mattered was that he left his current path.
After experiencing a couple of shifts where he waited and failed to cross a path that was about to be closed, he ended up being trapped in a dead end for some time.
BAM!
He made it just in time with a nosedive before the walls slammed together. He quickly got back up and noticed the hall he was in.
'It seems empty.' He thought with a furrowed brow and looked around. He hadn't come across any empty halls so far, and he was well-informed of what this could mean.
And just as predicted, the floor lit up as a huge magic circle appeared beneath him.
"Fuck me…" He could only curse his bad luck as a moment later, he felt his mana begin to drain. Without much thought, he hurriedly ran towards one of the walls, but it had no effect.
The speed at which his mana was draining was almost equal to the amount of mana he used in disposing of the void creatures on the second level! Every second he spent here would be every void creature he could kill.
A quick scan later, he chose one of the three paths and dashed in that direction. Even then, the force of the mana-draining floor followed him.
The entire section was designed to drain the mana of anyone who was trapped here. As Ross ran while trying to minimize his losses, he heard the screeches and roars of void creatures.
And that was not all as he even heard the grunts and groans of students ahead. He wasn't sure if he was on the right path or not, but there was only one way to find out.
'Let's pray this is the right path and not a dead end.' He silently prayed. If this was what he feared, then it might as well be the end of his labyrinth travel.
The moment he arrived at the scene; he saw students engaging at least a dozen void creatures. However, what grabbed his attention was the students engaging the void creatures.
Zen Henjok and his friends!
For the second time today, they had fallen into a mana-draining zone. Ross could hear the constant curses thrown about as they fought tooth and nail with the void creatures.
And while they weren't having too much trouble, the loss of their mana as they did so frustrated them to no end!
"Fucking hell! Are we cursed or something? This is the second time we've fallen into a mana-draining zone, and this one is even worse than the last one!"
"You asking me?! Shut the fuck up and direct that energy into fighting these fuckers."
Ross could hear their words and arguments even in the midst of the ongoing explosions, roars, and screeches.
"Isn't that Ross Bongu?" Menz Olive noticed someone and managed to get a closer look while fighting. It quickly drew the attention of the others and when they looked over, they confirmed it was indeed him.
"Hey, Ross! Don't just stand there, lend us a hand!" Phell exclaimed in the hopes that Ross could help.
"Leave him be," Zen replied instead. He wasn't a big fan of Ross as much as he did like Alex. Besides, they were doing just fine. Their problem was the mana they were losing to the fighting and the mana drain.
Ross heard all this and paid them no mind. His gaze rather looked around the surroundings to find a way out, and just as he feared, it was a dead end.
Even as he stood there calmly to determine his next course of action, his mana continued to drain as there was nothing, he could do about that.
There was no use running around like a headless chicken if the results wouldn't change regardless of the action. The only thing he did was to stay out of sight and let Zen and his buddies deal with the void creatures.
Menz noticed the behaviour of Ross and gritted his teeth in frustration. He ignored Zen's words as the thought of someone benefiting from their struggle rubbed him the wrong way.
'Fucking bastard! As if I'll let this slide.' A sudden thought came to him, and he flashed a smug grin. Of course, he wasn't distracted enough to forget his situation.
Menz suddenly moved from his position and dashed in the direction of Ross.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Amon noticed what his friend was up to and called him, but the boy had already made up his mind.
'This idiot is going to get himself killed!'