Menz Olive had a simple plan; to draw the attention of the void creatures he was battling to Ross.
His dark sclera gleamed with a malevolent light and the slight smirk on his face as he approached informed Ross of what the idiot was planning.
The void creatures hot on his tail soon noticed the presence of Ross in the distance and three of them focused on him.
Seeing as his plan had worked, Menz took a sharp right turn, looking at Ross with a victorious grin.
"Take that as a gift!" He wished him good luck and returned his attention to the ones still following him.
Even though the number of void creatures rushing to Ross was only three, as his presence was now known, more would close in on him if he did not make quick work of them.
Ross fully stepped out of his spot and faced the incoming void creatures, and before they could do anything, Ross gathered his mana, took a striking stance and punched forward.
WHOOSH…!
The flames from his hands instantly covered the short distance and incinerated the incoming void creatures. The attack was fast, powerful and precise.
However, in his bid to quickly kill the void creatures as soon as possible, he used more mana than he would have if he engaged them one by one.
'There's no point saving mana if my pool is decreasing by the second.' Ross mused inwardly and could tell that his mana level was below 40% and decreasing.
If his guess was right, then Zen and his friends would be the same. 'Now, the challenge would be the higher floors.'
"Tch!" Menz snorted in annoyance when Ross dispatched the void creatures with relative ease. Amon on the other hand was relieved that Ross seemingly took no offense. That could have been bad if he did.
As Ross observed the ongoing fights, the void creatures continued to dwindle as with their mana until there was nothing left but heavily breathing students with less than 35% of their mana pool.
Suddenly, the mana-draining effect wore off a few seconds after they completely eliminated all the void creatures.
"Whew! We can relax now. We just have to wait for the next path to open." Phell stated, his gaze shifting from one friend to another and then finally Ross in the distance.
"Honestly, I don't think it's a smart move to continue moving forward. With what's is left of our mana, it will be a miracle we come out alive once we run out." With the strength of the void creatures increasing the higher they went; it would be nothing but a suicide mission.
"So what do we do? Just sit here and do nothing?" Collins asked and looked at their obvious leader, Zen.
"We wait."
Zen replied with folded arms. He made no movements to indicate he noticed the presence of Ross and he just stood in his spot and waited.
"Right…" Oscar, the other normal human in the group enunciated, not particularly in favour of waiting. But there was nothing he could do, so he did a quick read of the available paths and found out that none of them were open.
'So that's why.' Oscar could only chide himself for his tone of mockery, but Zen thought nothing of that.
After standing around for a few minutes with no activity, Ross began to move around the hall in search of any sign of a way out.
'Maybe there's a puzzle we must solve first?' He pondered to himself and moved to one of the walls.
Obviously, he found nothing but continued to look around while Zen and his friends closely observed his actions.
When he had had enough of searching, Ross could only sigh and return to the place he stood initially. On his way there, however, the ceiling lit up in a bright bluish-white light.
And without so much as a prompt, they all got into a fighting stance, ready to react to anything unexpected happening.
"What's happening now?"
Collins asked in annoyance. They had already experienced enough surprises to last the whole day. Any more was just punishment to him.
"Who knows… Just don't let your guard down." Amon replied, not sure what was happening. They had only experienced a mana-draining zone and nothing else.
What was happening now was new to them.
Ross on the other hand furrowed his brows when the ceiling lit up. The first time he experienced this, he was displaced from his group. And unlike the first one where he barely had time to react, this was deliberately slow.
'Prepare for anything.' He mentally primed himself and slowly circulated his mana. He had no obligation to explain whatever this was to Zen and his friends.
Whether they would be split up like he was or not, was a problem they had to solve themselves. Zen turned in Ross' direction and noticed his serious expression, 'He's too on guard than normal. Has he experienced this before?'
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was in his guess.
"On me!"
The moment he signalled his friends, they closed in on him and formed a circle, each of them facing a particular direction.
"Have you noticed something?" Amon asked as he carefully looked around. The brightness from the ceiling dimmed a little before it split into six parts, each one directly above a student.
"Incom---"
Before Zen could finish his words, the pillars of light fell on each of them before they all disappeared from where they stood, no evidence of their existence remaining in place.
.....
When Ross opened his eyes again, he found himself in a labyrinth path and had no idea which floor he was on. Without actually moving through the exit points, it was difficult to tell.
But… There was another way.
SCEEECH!
A loud screech promptly made Ross turn around and noticed an incoming void creature; only one. This creature, however, was faster than the ones Ross had faced before.
And before he could react, the creature was upon him, its appendages whooshing towards his chest at breakneck speed.
BANG!
BOOM!