"What the hell…?"
Alex muttered in a daze and looked at his new surroundings. But he didn't have time to glance around much when…
BOOOOM!
A powerful lightning attack zoomed past his face and hit the wall far behind him. That attack would have taken his face off if it weren't for his enhanced reflexes.
Still high in the sky and gradually descending, he looked in the direction of where the attack came from and when he felt the sheer intensity of the creatures's aura, he swallowed a bit.
Even though he felt threatened by its aura, at the same time, he also felt that it shouldn't be a problem for him, but he didn't know where the feeling came from.
He eventually touched the ground and observed his surroundings.
"Damn... This is a massacre ." He muttered and the golden aura around him intensified.
Then...
"Alex!"
He heard the familiar voice he had missed for the past few hours. He quickly looked in the distance and saw Julia and Ross among the clustered students huffing and panting.
But Julia now had a smile on her face. A smile he mirrored when he noticed the void creature turn in his direction and let out a low growl.
"..."
.....….
Several minutes ago, the remaining students in the Convergence Maze, numbering in the hundreds, finally made their way to the top floor of the labyrinth.
Each one of them was injured, tired, broken mentally from losing their comrades and low on mana. Despite this, the fierceness in their eyes only revealed their resolve to survive.
They may have lost their friends, but there was a time to cry and a time to fight. Right now, they still have fights to finish.
Unlike the other floors where they encountered void creatures, shifting maze walls just as deadly as the void creatures and mana-draining zones, the top floor of the labyrinth had neither of those.
It was simply a straight path to the finish line, and as more and more students gathered, they arrived at a very large hall that had a gigantic gate at the very end.
It was clear that was the exit out of the Convergence Maze. But there was something else; no student could get to the exit as it felt as if something was blocking their way.
"What now…?"
A student asked in vexation. They didn't have time for games anymore. All they wanted to do was leave this godforsaken labyrinth.
"Not sure. But my guess is another trial, and this one seems to want everyone present," Another student, a female with messy hair from all the fighting and running gave her input.
Many found her guess reasonable. As they looked around, more and more students were arriving as their numbers grew slowly.
Ross stood at the back and listened to what was being talked about. His figure was just as chaotic as everyone else.
He was barefooted with bandages wrapped around his feet, his armour had several places broken and revealed parts of his flesh and the wounds that covered them. His face was covered in the dried-up blood of void creatures and his own.
Despite this, his gaze and aura were as strong as ever, well, except for his remaining mana. He was mostly spent, but he couldn't relax either, not until they made it out of there.
Ross' gaze moved around the large space in search of his friends but found nothing. It was the reason he stood in the back, close to the entrance from which they came in.
'No signs of Julia or Alex…' The thought of Alex and Julia dying here never crossed his mind, not even for a second. It was almost impossible for such a thing to happen.
And while he found a few familiar faces, he didn't bother to approach them. He had nothing in common with them except being in the same class.
Sometime later, Ross heard someone call out his name from behind.
"Ross…?"
He immediately turned around and saw Julia at the entrance looking just as wretched as everyone else.
Ignoring that, he smiled brightly moved to meet her halfway.
"Ross! Thank goodness." Julia exclaimed in relief as the joy of finally meeting one of her companions brought a smile to her face.
"Julia…" He muttered as the two quickly exchanged a brief hug.
Julia began looking around with hope in her eyes and noticing her actions, Ross said, "I don't think he's here yet. Give it time, he'll be here soon.
"We just have to hold on till then."
"Mm." Julia nodded in acknowledgement but the growing light in her eyes dimmed again.
"Where's Abigail?"
Ross inquired while searching for the girl.
"Well…" Julia began as her gaze shifted downwards in defeat, "S-She died." She resolved herself and stated plainly. There was no point beating around the bush.
"I see…" Ross could only sigh. "No point feeling guilty about it. Even I found myself in a bind when I got to the third floor."
He said to cheer Julia up. He could understand the reason why the girl looked so down. As Alex was the one to bring Abigail with them, Julia feared Alex might be disappointed in her failure to protect the girl, even though it was not her duty to do so.
"Yeah…."
As they continued their small talks, the hall trembled briefly.
"I think it's about to start!"
Someone exclaimed and they didn't have to elaborate as everyone knew what that meant. Whatever trial they had to pass before exiting was about to begin.
Julia and Ross quickly turned around and prepared themselves.
"We stay close and watch each other's backs," Ross said, and Julia nodded, her face adopting a serious expression.
"How many void creatures are we going to battle this time? Given our numbers." A girl asked a colleague by her side.
"Not sure. But if the third floor is anything to go by… We might be facing a lot of those creatures, maybe even stronger ones."
Her words made sense, and the others agreed. With their numbers, they doubted it would only be one void creature.
However, …