All of them fell on the floor.
Raen rolled over, his shoulder hit first on the ground, got his whole body covered in dust. The air here was dry, it was filled with silence, and the scent of mana filled in the surroundings. The floor was smooth black stone, cracked with glowing red lines that pulsed like veins. There was no ceiling, just the endless dark mist on top of their head.
They all were in a maze.
This maze was not normal at all, it was not a usual maze that had multiple routes, it only had one route that led straight, it was wide and open, the path was stretched out and no one knew where it led. There were no other exits, only one direction: forward.
Draven hit the ground, he fell on the ground and made a yell of ache, soon Arthur and Lyra fell on the ground too.
Raen stood up from the ground and unsheathed his sword. "Don't talk anyone, something can be nearby."
"At least we all are alive," Draven whispered under his breath, Draven said while brushing the stone chips from his shoulder.
Arthur stretched his back. "My back fucking hurts, damn it." Smirked and said. "Might have lost a rib back there, but never mind. Still sexy though."
Lyra coughed, kneeling on the ground. "I am fine… just a bit drained."
A voice came from somewhere
Raen turned in the direction from where the sound came, but it was already too late now.
The Lich came down slowly, from above, his tattered rob was fluttering with the air nearby. His staff was in his hand and he was preparing a spell, the staff had a blue magic core embedded in it and a purple light was coming out of it.
"You have escaped the fall." It said in a moaning voice, and it echoed in the maze. "But no one will leave from here without my permission."
Draven laughed and said. "Why the fuck is he moaning."
Arthur joined in and said. "I guess this bitch is just so scared that he can't even talk normally."
Raen raised his sword. "Shut up guys." Raen looked at the Lich and said. "Round tei begins now. Mo holding back, guys use any card which you have up your sleeves."
The lich daahed at them first.
A wave of frost fire ripped through the path, freezing the stone under their feet. Draven jumped forward, blade held high, cleaving the wave apart in mid-air, but the shock still pushed him back.
"Flanking to his left!" Arthur yelled, and then he vanished in the thin air.
Raen dashed forward, black flames ignited from his blade. The Lich summoned a wall of bone to defend from their attacks, but Raen slashed through it. He jumped and came in front of the face of the Lich, he clashed his blades with the Lich's dark staff.
Lyra raised her hands and shouted. "Holy burst!"
A bolt of lightning flew past Raen and it slammed into the Lich's shoulder, it gave Lich enough damage, which made him fall back and it gave the perfect opening to Arthur and he hit Lich with the clean backstab.
Luch made a sound, But he wasn't done yet.
He raised his staff high up in the air, mana came out of his staff, and skulls lit around it in a circle. He formed a forbidden spell.
"Everyone put your head DOWN!" Raen shouted.
The Lich exploded the magic, bone spears rained from above, they were directed toward the team and the attack was meant to kill them.
Draven roared, he swung his sword upward, he destroyed three of those spears in a single place. Lyra put on a barrier to save herself from the attack of Lich. Raen jumped to the left to dodge it, and then he charged toward the Lich. He used the flames like a jet, and launched himself forward, blade first—
And then he drove his sword into the Lich's exposed core.
"Burn and rot in hell you fucking asshole. Raen's voice was low.
The black flames ignited, it covered Lich whole and made him burn.
Lich screamed, his body was shaking, and mana was coming out of him. The staff of his snapped into two. The symbols of spells and talismans faded into thin air. Then, finally, he collapsed, nothing but just the ash and cracked bones were left behind.
Silence.
They all stood there, catching their breath. The fight was brutal.
Raen turned to the others. "Are you all alright?"
"Nothing vital," Arthur said, flicking blood off his blade.
"Well, we all are still standing, no matter if we are hurt or not," Draven said while wiping his eyebrow.
Lyra walked over to Raen, her expression was tight. "That wasn't a normal mini-boss. It was way out of our league."
Raen nodded. "Yeah. They wanted to see if we can win this or not."
Arthur pointed ahead. The maze was just stretched on, with just one route.
"We don't have any other choice, huh?" Arthur said while catching his breath. "Do we have to move forward only?"
"Looks like it," Raen said.
Lyra hesitated a bit. "Do you think there is even an end to this maze?"
Raen stared into the distance. "There has to be. We didn't survive that to rot in a stupid maze"
Draven adjusted his grip on the sword. "Let's move."
They walked forward.
They reached a certain point, there was a lever, Arthur noticed it and called the rest of the team.
"Guys look at this, here is something suspicious."
Lyra saw that and said. "A lever in the middle of nowhere?"
Draven said with cautiousness. "Wait, don't touch it….Raen what should we do?"
Raen thought for a bit and pulled the lever. "Well, here we go."
A voice echoed in the maze. It said, dear challengers, you have two choices, you can continue the trial and fight the boss and get more trial points or you can leave the trial. Choose one and I hope you choose it carefully The voice faded away with a small echo.
Raen thought for a while and looked at his team. "Guys, I don't think that we all are in a position to fight the boss so we should return."
Everyone nodded and agreed with what Raen said.
Whoosh. They all spawned back where all the professors were.
Draven said cheerfully. "No worries guys, I am sure the first place is ours."
Arabella came to them and said. "Congratulations kid, to get the second place."
Their faces dropped, expressions changed in just a second."
Raen asked. "What do you mean that? Headmistress?"
Arabella said calmly. "Well, they came here before you all."
The team looked and got shocked and said in unison. "These maggots?"