The higher pole was moving at a slightly slower pace forward than the one already at base level almost as if it was teasing the death of those that took too long to get to safety. Many people had begun making great progress toward the wall thinking that if they just made it to the wall they would be perfectly safe but in J's mind, this wasn't the case.
J began looking at the oncoming pole and realized that once it got farther into the platform it would also be high enough to knock all of them off the wall! They may be high up in the air but J knew that once it arrived where they were they would be in as much danger as those desperately trying to make it to the wall.
The black-haired girl seemed to have realized the same thing since she glanced at J wondering if he had a plan but at the moment he had no idea what they were going to do so he just began observing the higher-up pole.
The first pole that went forward was now in the middle of the platform and had suddenly gone to a complete stop that surprised many but it wasn't a complete stop that would help them, it actually made things a lot worse. While it had completely stopped moving across the platform it still hadn't stopped spinning in circles causing people to jump over and over again.
The fatigue on people's faces was starting to grow and while J glanced at them he saw the first person make a mistake. It was an older man with previously vibrant black hair that was now slightly greying on the top. He was an older man that seemed to be doing quite well despite the sweat pouring down his face but right as he jumped the next time he landed wrong twisting his ankle and making him fall to the ground in agony.
"ACKK! HELP!" The man shouted as he started falling to the ground knowing that if someone didn't grab him or somehow move him out of the way he might die. Sadly J wasn't close enough and the pole struck the older man in the head knocking him out and then slowly dragging his body around in a circle until it shot him off the edge of the platform and down onto the spikes below.
"No!" J said wincing as he saw the man launched into the void like a ragdoll. He couldn't help but squint his eyes not wanting to see the ugly end of the old man. It affected his mind a lot as he didn't want anyone else to get hurt but right as he was going to jump down and try to help the black-haired girl stopped him.
"There's nothing you can do for them right now. Just let those that can make it get here and you focus on figuring out a way for us to survive so we can help them when they get here. You can't help them with everything." The black-haired girl said sternly bringing J back down to earth.
With her words J began formulating a plan on how they were going to survive this round while the others on the ground gained newfound energy when they saw someone previously beside them launched into the void and killed. Some faster ones even began making it to the wall and hopped up gaining a safe haven for the moment and those that couldn't jump high enough to the wall were helped up by the redhead and the others already on top of the wall.
The higher pole began getting closer and closer making other people realize that they wouldn't be safe on top of the wall much longer. Many people started to panic once more and began thinking there was no way to escape.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?! IT'S ON THE WAY AND THERE'S NO WAY TO DODGE THIS!" Surprisingly the one who shouted this was the same person earlier saying that all of the other obstacles should be easy but that at this point he was a broken mess that was scared for his life.
Those that trusted and knew of J's smarts looked at him waiting for him to come up with something while they also thought to themselves seeing if they could find something that he hadn't.
After everyone else made it to the wall and the higher-up spinning pole was just getting near hitting the first person J finally realized the way that they could survive. The more he looked at the pole the more he realized that there was a slight gap between the wall and the pole just big enough to fit a pair of hands and if one were to be hanging off they would be just high enough that they still wouldn't be swept up by the pole below.
"Everyone hang off the edge of the wall! The poles won't be able to hit you from there!" J shouted as he began turning his body backward and began hanging off the edge of the wall.
Those that were about to be hit by the higher pole didn't even question what J said due to the despair in their minds and lack of ideas. On the other hand, those that still had a moment before the pole arrived hesitated to listen to him but once the pole reached them and they still had no ideas they also began hanging on the side.
Everyone quickly hooked their hands to the top of the wall and began hanging but there were so many people on the wall that some people had to hang on the other side of it. They were right over the void and could see the spikes below but it was much better than the alternative of being hit by the poles.
The moment of truth soon arrived when the higher pole went over everyone's heads. It was spinning at an incredible speed and moved J's hair around every time it spun past his head but the plan worked and they weren't in danger of being hit. The only problem was that just like the first pole the second one also stopped while in the middle of the platform testing their ability to hold onto the wall.