Inside the maze, the teenagers moved about in search of the crystal while getting lost themselves.
There clearly were no rules whatsoever and there was just one crystal. Basically, they were to engage in an outright battle for it. Many had already begun taking out other participants.
Currently, Lecter was with a group searching for the crystal together. They had banded together when small arrows began firing out of nowhere.
"That must be the encounters the wizard spoke about." They thought.
Lecter had his palm over his grazed shoulder that bled. "You annoying green mutts!" He angrily kicked off a short green ugly looking creature with pointed ears and gnarly teeth.
Goblins hiding in the maze walls would come out and shoot arrows at the participants. Sometimes they would attack themselves by biting into the participants skin or clawing at them.
The goblins were not the only things for him to worry about, but a certain lad that was with Lecter's group. The boy would use other participants as a shield when he noticed the arrows approaching.
Anyone who tried to fight him was taken out of the test immediately. It was easy for him to take them out since he already had excellent control of his elemental power.
"Burn you stupid goblins, Hehehe!" He laughed while causing fire to burn the small creatures. Some of them scurried away, the unlucky ones were burnt to a crisp.
"You smell better roasted than you do alive." He smirked. "Now that's over with," he dusted his hands and grabbed a boy by his arm violently.
"Come here vision boy, which way do we go next?" He asked, pointing at the three paths ahead of them.
"Let go of me!" The boy struggled to get free. Punching and kicking. It was pointless. He suddenly began to feel a burning sensation on the arm being held.
"AAAGH! Right! Go right!" He screamed trying to free himself from the boy's grip.
"See, that wasn't so hard.", The lad said and walked in the direction he was told. "You are still in this because you are useful. Don't try to fight back or you'll end up like the other one." He threatened.
Some of the people in their group tried to take him out after seeing his effortless show of dominance. But with a single fireball, they would sink into the ground and be taken out of the test.
If not for the boy that could see through the maze walls with the vision spell he learned, most of them would have chosen a different path from the fire maniac.
Lecter cautiously trailed behind keeping a safe distance while watching out for the goblins shooting arrows.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the maze, Jarett was having his own troubles with the goblins. Actually, the goblins were having serious troubles with Jarett.
He held one of them up horizontally. He pulled on its head with one arm and pulled on the legs with the other arm. He violently ripped the creature in half, scaring the others with him. One of them vomited. Green blood spurt everywhere, on him mostly.
"These things are annoying." He said picking up an arrow and shoving it through the head of another goblin. "But fun to kill." A maniacal grin crept up his face.
"I don't need to use magic." He said. Three arrows stuck on the side of his left arm, and many more on his legs and back but he moved just fine.
The arrows felt like nothing but pricks of needles to him. Jarett certainly could handle needle pricks. The goblins didn't even aim at places that would be fatal, but seeing Jarett's actions, they were considering it. They were more than considering it, they actually shot arrows at fatal places.
"A beast, he's a beast." One of the other participants said witnessing Jarett's raid on the dwarfed abominable creatures with ease. Around him were multiple bodies of goblins. The rest eventually retreated.
Behind him, those that were hit with multiple arrows, some of them accidentally in fatal places, were slowly getting sucked underground. This had happened quite a few times, they just assumed that they were being taken out of the maze.
"Now, which way to go?" Jarett thought, looking at the paths ahead of him. He shrugged and chose left. There was no way he would be certain anyway. He had just been following intuition the entire time. Those who thought to go another way did, while some chose left with him.
Somewhere else in the maze, the twins were getting by easily with the blindfolded girl keeping a safe distance.
The goblins came out with their arrows. She saw them before they even shot the arrows and thus, avoided them all swiftly.
The twins didn't even try to. As soon as the arrows neared, they all halted and didn't move an inch forward. No matter how many were shot at them, they all just froze mid-air.
The goblins out of frustration ran forward to attack themselves, but they too froze in the air. With their mouths open baring their sharp teeth. They blinked a few times wondering what was going on.
"Which way?" Raten asked the girl. Again, she didn't reply and just kept walking. They followed her.
The arrows and goblins were still in the air until another group of persons came by. As soon as they neared, the arrows and goblins resumed movement and hit them immediately.
"AAAGH!!" The trio heard the screams, but it was none of their business anyway.
It was a repeat no matter what turn they took. The little girl, having noticed this, decided to stay closer to them. As she did, no arrows coming towards her would touch her as well. They only moved once the three of them had passed.
Someone who had been following them quietly couldn't help but scoff at their actions.
"They're just showing off." She rolled her eyes. Not just that, they were eliminating most of the competition and they weren't even trying.
As they walked, they reached a few others that were either trying to find their way, fending off the goblins or were busy fighting each other.
Someone who had the element of ice shot an ice spear that nearly pierced through Kiyan's eye. He reacted fast and moved his head to the side. The ice spear missed him and got stuck on a wall next to another's head.
"I guess this is expected." Raten sighed watching what was happening. They were close to the crystal and this meant the battle would be fiercer. The ones who could see through using the vision spell wanted to clear off the path and that caused the fight that was going on.
The three dodged every stray attack that would go for them and walked past easily once more. As they took another turn, they were met with a new challenge.
Well, at least they were supposed to meet a new challenge, but someone had taken care of it all.
He stood in his towering height looming over the carcasses of monkey like beasts that supposedly breathed fire. They were abnormally large with clawed opposable thumbs.
"Jarett?" Kiyan called out to him.
"Oh hey!" He waved with a smile as usual.
On his body were green and red blood splatter. In his hands held the heads of two monkeys. He had a small burn scar on his right arm and still had three arrows sticking out of his left arm.
An absolute savage, he was.
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