'Do something already!' Asher roared inwardly.
By this time, Fenrir had pointed his hand at Asher and cast a spell. A black projectile was dashing towards Asher with intense speed and magnitude. This was the first time Fenrir had used a spell of such power that was visible, showing that he was taking Asher seriously, or to be specific, the hand.
Despite that, it was already too late.
Just after Asher had yelled at the dessicated hand, the orb within him vibrated a bit and sent out a 'message' to the hand. Immediately after that, a little bit of mana leaked from the hand. This mana wasn't from the intense deathly energy that was contained within the hand. Instead, it was from the 'living' area of the hand, the part filled with vitality. Even with all the mana and energy Asher had pumped into the hand, it had only leaked this tiny strand of mana in response; a strand so tiny that it was almost half the length and thickness of a needle in appearance, almost invisible to the naked eye[1].
Even though the size of this mana was so small that it could be considered negligible, the aura and pressure it radiated was very profound. As it appeared, the aura of the mana strand sent the natural mana in the atmosphere as well as the mana in the bodies of the students, the mages and even Fenrir, into disorder. They were now unable to utilize the mana in their bodies, even if it were just a bit as tiny as a speck of dust. Even the spell Fenrir had just cast was affected by the aura as it suddenly broke down in mid-air and dissipated without a trace.
At that moment, be it the students, the mages or even Fenrir, none of them could move and they could feel a powerful suppressive force radiating from that strand of mana at an increasing rate, forcing them to their knees.
The first to go down was Asher who was the closest to the strand of mana, next were the students, then the protector mages including the fourth-stage Guardian mages. Lastly was Fenrir, who despite trying to resist with all his might, was forced down to his knees.
To describe how fierce the pressure was, no one present could even speak a word, much less a sentence. The floors began to crack from the intense pressure and even the bones of the students were showing signs of following suit.
'This is bad.' Asher gritted his teeth as he was forced to the ground by the continuously increasing pressure,
In the very next second, everyone including the students and the protector mages were now lying on the ground flat. Fenrir had lasted a bit longer than them as he tried to resist the pressure with his power, but it was too powerful. In fact, even if his true body was here, he could do nothing about it much less his false clone. As such, Fenrir had still ended on the ground, crushed by the pressure exuding from the mana strand.
With the way things were going, the pressure would continue to increase until it reached the peak. But even before that, there was a high chance that they would all be dead, their bones broken to pieces and their organs flattened to unrecognizable gory particles.
'If this continues, I'll die. Pretty much the definition of leaving the tiger's den to enter the wolf's lair.' Asher thought.
Nonetheless, Asher was a lot more calm and relaxed in this situation than he was when facing Fenrir. The reason had to do with the fact that he could feel a strange connection between himself and the hand, or to be specific, the hand and the orb within him.
'Ask questions later, solve the situation now.' Asher thought as he sent his thoughts into the orb within his body.
The orb quivered and in response, the mana strand that had leaked from the hand shuddered. At that moment, despite being forced down to the ground with his face literally eating out of the soil, Fenrir could sense a deadly sensation locked onto him. It was as if he was targeted by a primordial beast that could end the life of his false clone within a second. In fact, he even felt that it could utilize the connection between his false clone and his true body and injure him in the truest sense.
'This is bad.'
Without any hesitation, whether due to curiosity, confusion or some other reason, Fenrir abruptly cut the connection between his false clone and his true body as this piece of his consciousness retreated back to his true body.
At that moment, the mana strand in mid-air had suddenly made its move and vanished from sight, appearing right in front of Fenrir and penetrating his body.
"!!!"
Fenrir's eyes widened from the painful experience, but the intense pressure prevented him from being able to scream, inevitably making him feel more pain.
Even though Fenrir had already begun making his retreat, he was still a tad slow as the attack had managed to reach out to his true body, through the spiritual connection it had with his false clone, and injure him.
Luckily for him, he had reacted earlier when he felt danger so Fenrir's true body was only severely injured on the other side, but not killed. As for his false clone, it was evaporated into ashes, with even the ashes breaking down into atoms that scattered into the air.
At that moment, the pressure vanished and the mana flow returned to normal. Everything seemed almost as it was before except for the cracks on the floor as well as the fact that one person was now gone. Fenrir, or rather his false clone, was now gone from this world for good.
"...that was close." One of the mages said with relief.
They were stronger than the students so the protector mages managed to recover earlier than the students. At first, they stared at Asher, particularly, the hand he held up. Apprehension and fear were visible in their eyes as they glanced at the item in his hands.
"Student, keep that item carefully onto the ground and don't do anything to it." The fourth-stage Guardian mage who disliked Asher, returned to being cold and commanding.
Asher frowned slightly but did as he was told and dropped the hand onto the ground. He knew that now wasn't the right time to get into a clash with the mages. Apart from that, Asher was currently drained of his mana so he couldn't get into a fight or even utilize the dessicated hand once more. Even if he could, he wouldn't have done so as the consequences would be severe unless he managed to kill everyone here and keep the truth hidden.
After one of the mages took the hand and sealed it back up, the group decided to rest a bit and return to their peak form. It was already surmised that there were other opponents on the outside so leaving the cavern right now would put them at a serious risk of danger. Hence, the best move now was to rest a bit before leaving.
During this time, the surviving five teams came to a truce to not attack each other even after they had left the cave. It wasn't until an hour had passed after they left the cave would they return to their previous status as competitors.
Thanks to Asher's actions with the hand, he had gained the fear, respect and favour of the other students so it was easy to negotiate this point. The major reason having to do with the fact that Asher was aware that his team would lose if they were ganged upon by the others.
After thirty minutes of recuperation, the students departed through the path they arrived from while the mages used another road that was at the other end of the cavern. This route similarly led to an exit at the surface just like the other channels.