The six-hour-long event was nearly at its end with very few students remaining. With less than an hour remaining, Alex continued to venture in search of more resources and hopefully find his friends.
Yet he had had no such luck, not to mention he hadn't come across any other students even after returning to the surface.
With damaged armour and an exposed chest, Alex was practically walking around naked as most of the circuitry in the armour had been fried.
As he walked through the woods, he was drawn to a loud explosion that came from two magical beasts fighting as if their life depended on it, which it did.
"Is it a territory fight or something?"
His gaze moved around the surroundings looking out for any other beasts yet saw none. The only commotion happening besides the sky rumbling was the commotion the beasts caused with their fight.
Their moves were quite agile and powerful, bringing down trees and creating deep craters with just a swipe of their claws or the use of their abilities.
"It's not really my business. Let's just move on."
While he didn't mind another fight, it's been a hectic few hours and the exhaustion was getting to him. The last thing he needed was to engage in a fight of his own will.
However, before he could turn around, he heard a loud commotion, far louder than the beasts fighting coming from his left.
The indistinct sound of growls and screeches could be heard.
'Void creatures?'
His brows raised in curiosity as the commotion continued to grow, and soon, it wasn't just the sound of screeches and roars of void creatures as a combination of other sounds that implied a multitude of other creatures coming from that direction.
The creatures cried out in panic and fear as they rushed through the woods, bringing down trees and razing everything in their path to the ground. All in their bid to outrun the void creatures on their tail!
"Not again!"
With an expression reminiscent of someone who wanted to cry but had no tears, Alex had no choice but to run in the opposite direction, and he wasn't alone.
The two magical beasts forgot their fight and dashed right behind him, not giving a second glance at each other.
The resounding explosions and screams of the beasts resounded throughout the woods as they sped forward as fast as their limbs could carry them.
Alex with his superior speed was very far ahead of the ran, expertly making his way around the multitude of trees in his way, jumping over some and even large boulders.
He would occasionally look back to see how close the explosions were when he noticed a lightning-charged attack swiftly move towards him.
"Where the hell did it even come from?!"
The attack was so random and out of its supposed path that it confused him, yet he had no time to waste and moved to evade.
Right in front of him was another random boulder a few meters from his current position. With a thought he dashed towards it and literally used it as a stepping stone, propelling himself up with a mid-air summersault.
And not even a second later,
*CRACKLE!*
*BOOOM!*
The boulder shattered into pieces and the ground underneath scorched black with smoke emitting from the earth.
Alex ended up landing on a tree several meters from where he had a moment ago. And while he was faster than the beasts running for their lives, they weren't slow either.
Within seconds of his perching at the top of the tree, the beasts rammed through the area bringing that tree down.
"Shit…!"
He had to jump over to the other trees ahead and keep ahead as much as possible.
*ROAR….*
Suddenly, Alex heard the unmistakable roar of one of the void creatures rushing after him.
'Why is it coming after me when there are so many beasts beneath it?!'
He was confused, stressed out and tired. He wasn't in the mood for a fight he could avoid. With gritted teeth, he pressed on as he jumped from one tree to the next.
And not even a minute later, Alex noticed something ahead that made his heart fall to his stomach.
'Oh no….'
His eyes trembled in fear as his heartbeat increased. It was the worst possible scenario Alex could imagine.
The number of void creatures that chased after the beasts, he included numbered in the tens and he didn't have the mana to face them all, at most two before he ran on fumes.
Yet, he was now put in a situation where he had to fight his way out, a challenge, considering the void creatures were relentless creatures.
If they couldn't catch up to their targets, they fired concentrated beams of energy in their target's direction.
Slightly ahead of Alex and the running beasts was a veiled space that swallowed a multitude of beasts rushing forward. They couldn't stop their momentum and could only run into the space.
However, some magical beasts were able to sense the danger in that direction. They weighed their choices and chose the one with at least a chance at survival.
And as if someone had fired a bomb, some of the beasts made sharp U-turns as they charged to their lefts and rights with some even going directly towards the void creatures that were just behind them.
Alex watched in horror as the void creatures tore them asunder, blasted them into a rain of blood and devoured them.
'Tch!'
Alex's mind spun to quickly come up with a solution and the only one he could come up with was very similar to the beasts.
'At least, it will buy me some time!'
With a stern gaze, he focused on one of the standing trees a few meters away from him and away from the veiled space.
He momentarily exploded with greater speed as the stem he pushed off of exploded into splinters. The void creature behind him was relenting in its chase as it followed Alex regardless of whatever the other beasts were doing under its gaze.
He landed sideways on the targeted tree and used his momentum to propel himself up and back with a resounding boom, reducing the tree to half its height and reaching hundreds of meters high within seconds.
The void creature abruptly changed its trajectory just as fast as it chased after him with passion, its eyes locked on him.
Whatever the reason behind the sudden interest of the void creature in him was, he didn't care.
He then retrieved his staff, quickly switched to its spear form and spun around to face the ground down below, with the commotion happening there becoming nothing but miniaturized entities moving about aimlessly.
His eyes turned to the void creature that wouldn't let him go as he directed much of his mana into his spear, making the weapon glow in a bright golden light.
He took aim mid-air and when his rising momentum came to a halt, he threw the spear at the approaching void creature with all his might.
*WHOOSH! *
As if the spear disappeared the moment it left his hand, it arrived before the void creature and pierced through its body.
The creature exploded in a rain of blood and flesh as the spear continued its trajectory towards the earth.
*BOOOOOOOOOM!*
Like an exploding bomb, the spear generated a huge mushroom cloud of dust, wood splinters and rocks that devasted the entire area before the veiled space, taking out all the beasts and the shockwaves pushing the void creatures back.
Yet, it wasn't over.