Abandoned Aspirants

It feels surreal for those who were watching Alex and Casper struggle to survive.

Some of the aspirants were looking out of the window of the carriage pod and were surprised to find that the two made it to the boarding steps despite the odds, the decisiveness that was displayed by Alex from the way he used the Soundwave Gloves to reach the boarding steps was impeccable.

However, the elation was short-lived as Alex disappeared from their field of vision.

"XANDER!!"

Casper who got lucky and was able to hold onto the boarding steps shouted in horror, his fate shifted like a roller coaster, from wanting to be left behind to be the one that managed to survive the ordeal.

But he was more guilty than anything, without Alex, his life would definitely end today.

Snapping out of her daze, Ms. Joselyn pulled the boarding steps.

Thud!

Relying on nothing but her bare hands, she managed to pull the boarding steps alongside Casper who landed on the rough, cold metal interior of the carriage pod, fearing that another beast would find its way to reach him.

"Ms. Joselyn! We need to help him!" Casper didn't waste any time and pleaded.

In addition to him, another aspirant, a woman with blue hair also stepped forward in worry.

She also chimed in pleadingly, "Ms. Joselyn... Natalia is still down there, please help her too"

Upon hearing their pleas, Ms. Joselyn was put on a spot.

She looked down towards the ground and found that the beast horde had already arrived like a black monstrous tide and swept the entire clearing of the forest, filling it with their rampaging footsteps.

Hesitating briefly, she glanced over at another instructor and found him shaking his head.

It was clear that going down again would be very risky.

Ms. Joselyn's expression soured before she glanced back at the two. "We can't, it will be a breach of the academy's protocol if we do that. If we go down right now, then we'll be risking those who are safe here. Do you understand?"

"No! If that's the case, then let me get down!" Casper stubbornly said.

But the other instructor already made a move.

Appearing right beside Casper with swift movements, he then held Casper's shoulder firmly.

Casper was at a loss for words as the grip was pushing him down, the instructor's strength was way beyond him, and he couldn't move his body at all. "Don't be reckless and throw your life away, I'm sure your friend, Xander, would not want you to do that. Just pray that he can survive until the beast horde finishes, we'll rescue him then. If you keep disobeying, I will report you for violation of an emergency protocol"

"That goes for you too, Mira" the instructor added, giving the blue-haired woman a glance.

There was a total silence inside the carriage pod.

Mira could only sob silently while Casper could only kneel on the ground, utterly helpless.

...

Meanwhile, inside the snowy forest.

Crash!

"Kahhk!! Cursed that beast, is it that petty to be aiming for me that hardly?!"

Alex cursed through gritted teeth as he felt his body crushed from the fall.

It was a brutal plunge of at least 15 meters, a distance far from gentle and bearable. If not for the Aura spell he had cast in the nick of time, strengthening his body, he wouldn't be able to get up from this.

But the problem was not finished, the distant growls of beasts could be heard approaching.

Sucking up the pain, he pushes himself up and rummages through the bag.

'Come on, where is it? I knew that I'd seen it inside here somewhere!'

Rummaging through the contents of the bag, he searched for the item that would help him in this situation. Eventually, he managed to grab the item, it was an adrenaline auto-injector that would help boost him momentarily and move to a safer place for now.

If he lie here then the beast horde would catch up to him.

Pshh!

With a swift motion, he stabbed it to his thigh and injected himself with a dose of adrenaline.

Feeling the effect in a couple of seconds, he grabbed the heart of the Type-2 Beast he harvested earlier and took one huge bite before he got up and sprinted away, he would need to replenish his mana if he wanted to outpace the beast horde like earlier.

As soon as he felt his mana being replenished, he cast the Dash neutral spell again.

Coursing through the dense trees, his eyes were open wide.

Alex ignored the warning sign notified by the helmet interface of his impaired suit which activates the energy shield automatically, he solely focused on searching for a place to avoid the beast horde. 'The wrecked battleship would make a great place to hide, but I need to go around if I want to go there. I should search for a temporary safe place first'

It was right as he thought that, the corner of his right eye saw a black silhouette.

Despite not knowing what it was, Alex rolled forward.

Slash!

Recovering from the roll in a crouching position, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the panther-like beast from earlier, growling and baring its purple fangs at him. "Did I kill your kids or something? Why are you so intent on killing me?' he mused with an acute smile.

This was the same beast that swatted him away earlier, still relentless in its pursuit.

Growl!

Feeling that Alex was mocking it, the beast growled back in anger.

However, fighting the urge to kill this beast that was responsible for putting him in this bad situation, Alex continues his sprint forward again intending to escape. If he stayed a little bit longer, the other beasts would catch up.

But the panther-like beast wasn't going to let him get away and followed behind.

In this extreme game of cat and mouse, Alex was tormented throughout the way for having to both flee for his life and evade the relentless panther-like beast, which was darting from side to side with the clear intention of tearing him to shreds.

Alex was cursing inside as there were only trees as far as his eyes could see, no cover.

Some of the attacks also went through his defense, opening new wounds.

On top of that, he could feel that his remaining strength starting to diminish as time goes by.

'It's either I beat this beast quickly or I could lose it somehow. But from the looks of it, I need to beat it as losing it would be too hard to do' Alex found that he was starting to slow down, and he needed to make a decision right now.

Not making a decision right now will become a bad decision for him.

Just as he was about to confront the panther-like beast, he abruptly stopped when he noticed a disturbance in the distance. A swirling of snow caught his attention and filled his eyes with anticipation.

A snow devil!

Compared to the normal, this one is way bigger, and could actually swirl the snow around it.

'Perfect! I could lose it there!'

Hope began to rekindle as he hastily headed toward the snow devil, a phenomenon that would provide a strategic impediment he needed to lose the panther-like beast, it was the only chance in the dense forest desolate of anything but trees.

Swoosh!

Not even hesitating, he went inside the snow devil followed by the panther-like beast.

'Okay, this will definitely do. I can make use of the Soundwave Gloves here...'

Finding that the snow devil was thick enough to block his own vision, he nodded his head.

Making use of this phenomenon, he started to make sudden changes in directions inside the swirl of snow to try and escape the beast. Even though it was hard, Alex could see that it was starting to get harder for the beast to keep up and attack him.

Alex himself found it hard to know where he was going, it was incredibly blurry inside.

But it was then, his eyes widened seeing a dark figure in front of him.

Likewise, a figure materialized from the hazy snow and came to a halt upon spotting Alex. Both of their gazes locked in mutual astonishment, neither of them anticipating an encounter with another abandoned aspirant.

For a brief second, they sized each other up instinctively.

Out of nowhere, the two pointed their own plasma pistol at each other, aiming at the head.

Alex intensely locked eyes with the woman's bright pink eyes.

In the midst of their standoff within the snow devil's center, a shadowy figure abruptly materialized behind each of them, swiftly closing the gap. At that moment, the two slightly repositioned their plasma pistols to the side and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Growl!

Aiming a few centimeters away from their heads, they fired their plasma pistols.

Clearly, the plasma bullets hit the beasts that were trying to pounce on them from behind.

Both of them were running away from a beast that was chasing them relentlessly and had the same idea of losing the beast inside the snow devil. However, this becomes a pleasant surprise as the two stumble across each other.

"Close your ears and prepare to dash away..." Alex suddenly said.

The woman tilted her head to the side in confusion before she realized what he going to do.

Seeing that Alex was charging the Soundwave Gloves equipped on his hands, the woman quickly did as she was told and covered her ears. In the next second, Alex then claps his hands, exploding a soundwave to the surroundings, amplified by his wind element.

It didn't create the usual fan-shaped blast, instead, it acted like a shockwave.

A powerful disorientating blast that stunned the beasts.

Alex knew that the Soundwave Gloves has two modes, one is a focused soundwave and the other is sound distortion. One was an offensive mode while the other was a support mode, to disorient the enemies.

Upon doing that, the two beasts' were stunned and also had their hearing impaired.

Making use of this brief window, the two dashed to the side.

Both of them burst out of the snow devil and sprinted away, abandoning the two beasts inside, making a swift retreat to reach safety. In just a minute, the echoing sounds of two beasts locked in combat resonated through the area.

A moment later, Alex and the woman managed to take cover in an abandoned ruin.

"Phew~ I thought I was a goner, that beast never stopped chasing me" Out of nowhere, the woman commented while panting slightly, she seemed to be glad to have met with Alex inside the snow devil.

In response, Alex also nodded his head, "Same here"

While he was sitting on the cold ground to catch his breath, he suddenly saw the woman reaching out her hand. "I know that it's not the time for this, considering our situation, but it's very nice to meet you here. I'm Natalia, what's your name?"

"Xander, you can call me Xander" Alex replied, shaking her hand firmly.

Natalia paused when she heard this, a glimmer of recognition crossed her face.

Obviously, she seemed to recognize his name. But she shrugged her shoulders lightly and flashed a friendly, bright smile at him despite still catching her breath and sweating profusely, bypassing the cold temperature of the snowy environment.

"Well, Xander... Since we both are stuck here until rescued, I hope we can get along!"

"Hmm... Yeah, that'll be good"