Everyone, including Rodrick's attention, switched to where the sound had originated from.
Their sights turned upwards on the border of the pit where five people stood.
Rodrick's first thought was to run when he heard the voice, but when he actually gazed at the figures which appeared, only a single thought remained.
These kids?
It was a moment of carelessness.
He never underestimated anyone or anything, dedicating himself entirely to finish the task or the person.
But just like when a person gazed at an ant, their first instinct was to dismiss it. It was exactly what transpired.
Erin sliced his hand in empty air while everyone's attention was on them.
It was a simple motion, no one could make any sense of it. No one felt anything different either, except one.
Rodrick screamed, both his connections were severed abruptly in his moment of carelessness.
It wouldn't have happened if he had disconnected but there was no use thinking about it now.
Innate abilities and power systems affected each other just the same as anything else.
There was no such thing as only innate abilities affecting each other and power systems affecting each other.
If one had a fire type innate ability, a water oriented art or spell from one of the power systems would still affect it just as it would normally affect any other fire.
The distinctions which lay between the two was the type of energy used and their path of progression.
Both of which were still unclear in regard to innate abilities.
It was expected that the Human Federation would take a huge leap forward if they were able to find out how to develop innate abilities and what exactly was the type of energy it used.
A similar situation took place here. To cut the connection of his mind control which was Rodrick's innate ability, one didn't necessarily need an innate ability to go against it.
It barely took a few seconds for him to recover from the backlash of having his mind control disconnected forcefully.
Seeing that it was only the few beginners whom he had planned to make scapegoat of, a bit of relief washed over him.
*****
A few minutes before the team arrived at the pit.
Eryndor actually had no idea where the Anomaly was supposed to be.
What was marked as a red area was a massive space which would have taken too long to search through.
Obviously, he could only resort to using his ability once again. Due to his view switching to that of a third person, it was difficult to control his body, but he managed it with pure focus, and a few run-ins into tree trunks.
The others looked at him weirdly but didn't comment anything.
This isn't feasible in battle. He thought without any shame from the looks others gave him.
He would have to practice using his abilities and performing other tasks simultaneously so as to not fall into such a situation again. He put that on his rather long list of tasks to do.
"You said you'll only make a single move right? So it won't be a problem for you to just stay there after making your move would it? I am just asking for your presence."
Eryndor asked Erin with a hurried tone while running through the jungle.
The man nodded without a second of delay.
Eryndor intended to keep Erin in plain sight just so Rodrick could be put on passive.
If the tactic brought even a bare few minutes, before Rodrick realised Erin actually didn't intend to make any move, it would still be advantageous for him.
While moving through the jungle he kept checking the view which his ability provided.
Almost there.
When they reached a certain distance away from the pit, Paulina suddenly notified him that there were certain sensors ahead.
After a moment of thought, he said.
"It's alright, no need to disarm them."
It is actually better if we trigger it.
Eryndor was almost certain that it was Rodrick who had planted the sensors.
He hoped that Rodrick would hurry up with his plans after being alerted of people closing in on their direction, hastening up his actions and utilizing plenty of energy of Consciousness before he asked Erin to cut off the connection between mind control.
Yes, that's what the help he had decided on.
Quickly cutting the connection wouldn't have been enough, because as long as Rodrick had enough energy of Consciousness, he could use the mind control again.
Soon, they reached the pit.
From afar, the orange hue of light glowing on the surface of the pit due to the campfire burning at the bottom made it seem like a pit of hell.
And indeed, it was currently a hell-like situation at the bottom.
Eryndor gazed down, his vision already having notified him of what was transpiring down below.
He held back Valentina, who was about to use her snake's ability on Rodrick to disrupt him from controlling professor Melissa.
She looked at him with confusion and a hint of rebellion on her face.
He whispered, knowing her morally-high principled personality.
"She will be fine. Trust me, disabling Rodrick's ability is a far greater priority."
Eryndor considered himself a good man, but in times of need he understood the importance of rationality over emotions.
He instructed everyone to keep quiet, while he watched with indifference on his face as the events played out at the bottom of the pit.
A few moments later, when he saw the look of struggle on Rodrick's face when he was about to massacre the students, he finally asked Erin to make a move.
He was familiar with that look of being low on energy of Consciousness.
As soon as the connection was cut off, all four of them began descending down the pit, using the riskiest way of running down due to the situation at hand. They couldn't afford to be slow.
Erin stayed on the top, with hands folded in front of his chest while he watched what was happening.
The person Sander had told him to contact was surprising to say the least. He looked forward to how the situation would unfold.
With one glance he had already figured out the entire layout.
Rodrick was the strongest of the students, standing at the peak of the Mana Novice realm. He was on the enemy side.
Anomaly of Misfortune and Fortune was at the Stable realm, the second realm of anomalies. After being set free from mind control, he was on the neutral side.
But to reduce the casualties of students, they would have to contain him as well, putting it opposite Eryndor's side.
Melissa was at Qi Condensation realm, and on Eryndor's side.
Eryndor and his team of four were weak, and the students were still unorganized.
Eryndor's side was currently at a disadvantage in terms of pure combat prowess.
Erin narrowed his eyes when he saw Rodrick sneakily take hold of the Mystical Artifact behind his back.
Things look bleak for Eryndor.
Erin thought with a mix of curiosity and interest on his face.
He was looking forward to surprises.