BOOM!
Just as he planned, the spear ran through one of the void creatures with absolute precision, power, and speed, and the moment the spear made contact with the void creature, the mana within it exploded.
However, what usually occurred did not occur. The man indeed exploded upon contact, but only a small hole, barely the size of a football could be seen.
It required more than a small amount of mana to eliminate this new badge of void creatures and Alex was about to find out.
"…"
Alex was slightly dumbfounded when the creature didn't die, but he quickly got out of his reverie when he deduced the reason.
'These creatures showed more speed than the previous ones. They are stronger and, therefore, require more mana.
'This will be a problem…'
He furrowed his brows in worry. He was already short on mana, now he required more mana to finish these void creatures? His heart tightened at the thought of running dry before making it out.
His spear collided with a heavy clang at the opposite end of the hall, and before the void creatures could turn around, Alex had closed the gap, his right hand blazing in mana shaped into a blade.
With a loud yell, he swiped his hand from above and cleaved the void creature into two parts. But he did not end there.
Making use of his superior speed, he used minimal movement techniques to swiftly end the creature with a combination of slashes, stabs and mana implosions.
BOOM!
'One down, two more to go.'
With only three void creatures, it was hardly a challenge, even for their increased power and speed.
Then, the first void creature was eliminated, but the cost was high as Alex could feel his mana dwindling by the second.
As soon as he finished off the first void creature, the other two finally completed their turn and roared at him, one preparing a lightning-charged beam attack while the other creature went in for close quarters.
Alex replied by quickly creating some distance from the incoming void creature, but the goal was not to evade its attack.
The goal…
WHOOSH!
He instantly appeared behind the other void creature preparing for its charged attack and made a right fist charged with his mana.
BOOM!
The moment he threw the punch at the creature, the creature exploded. In less than 20 seconds, Alex had eliminated two void creatures.
And just like the first one he eliminated earlier; the cost of mana was astronomical, at least for him.
'Not much left, but it should be enough to finish off the last one!' He thought with a scowl.
The remaining void creature already aware of where its prey had turned to, turned its back and rushed at Alex once more.
It cared not for its companions and only sought to kill the being in front of it. It reached Alex in a split second and attacked with its claws, pressing on with ferocity.
Alex evaded the claws with ease and slowly made his way back to his spear with the void creature no smarter of its imminent demise.
A couple of metres to his spear, Alex flashed away and retrieved his weapon. When the void creature realized its prey had escaped its reach, it did not hesitate to chase after him.
Infusing the spear with his mana, Alex did not wait for the void creature to reach him and moved forward as well.
CLANG!
After the first initial clash that created a violent shockwave, Alex continued to exchange attacks with the void creature.
Of course, he blocked every attack of the void creature and all his attacks were charged with mana that slowly chipped away the creature's life force.
After a couple more seconds, Alex could tell the creature was on its last legs.
In one agile move, he appeared above the void creature, his spear held in a position for a thrusting attack and plunged the spear into the void creature's body.
BOOM!
The remnants of the void creature were all that was left of its existence.
Alex released a humid breath and looked at the path the void creatures came from. After not sensing any more approaching void creatures, he cast his gaze around to look at the bloody scene of multicoloured blood and sighed.
He then raised his left hand and stared at his palm sternly, 'With so little mana left, the only way forward is through physical force.
'But what can I achieve with that?' He felt slightly irritated by his dilemma. He was in a dangerous place; a place that could claim his life any moment.
The least misstep and he was done for!
With his spear held behind him, Alex decided to search if a path had opened up from where the void creatures came from.
Sometime later, he returned to the large hall with a dejected expression. His search yielded no results and had to wait for whatever was going to come.
He felt like someone was playing with him, but he found the notion absurd at the same time.
The Convergence Maze had been around before he was born and this had always been how things were done.
And while barbaric to send kids to their deaths, their universe was much crueler. It was better to have a baptism of blood than have weaklings who would ultimately contribute to nothing.
'I must be tired, is all.'
He shook his head and went to find a place to sit.
....
"The actual test should be starting soon," Hunter Zol muttered as his gaze followed Alex's actions after dealing with those three void creatures.
If he could tell Alex was out of mana, so can anyone else tell if they paid attention.
"Indeed."
Principal Seraph replied, her eyes shining with curiosity to see what Alex might pull out if he was pushed into a corner he believed he had no way of surviving.
She felt slightly hyped just thinking about it and also a bit of guilt, but that was a minor issue. The kid was in no real danger after all.
'This is about to get interesting.'