Cheondung and his teammates found themselves transported into a wide roofless room rather than a narrow one. They were surrounded by wide and tall walls that reached all the way to the sky.
"This is..." Kiseia frowned, seeing the current environment they had gotten into.
Cheondung didn't immediately voice out his concern and glanced around, instead observing the surroundings first.
"It seems we're stranded in some kind of maze," he said.
"A maze?" the carefree Hugo spoke.
Cheondung nodded. "Yes. In simple words, a maze is a kind of puzzle. The goal here is to find the real exit without reaching a dead end..."
He then pointed at the scratched wall nearby.
"... And it seems we don't just need to wander around. A fight is also unavoidable judging by the marks on the wall and traces of blood.
It's not just a simple maze but involves hide-and-seek as well, where we regulars need to hide from the seeker. As for what it is, probably some kind of strong beast with huge claws.
Not only is it big but also agile as well..."
"Hmmm... A beast... Anima?"
Hugo pondered for a moment.
"How did you identify that it was a speed type?"
Cheondung glanced at the drained, stained blood on the ground, pointing it out.
"Take a look at that. There are a little bit of traces close to it before we get a splash, and there's nothing else but a splash in the next area without even small traces.
It clearly comes from two different people. Since it was the closest exit, the person who died here probably tried to leave, abandoning the team, when the monster was killing...
However, something prevented that person from escaping before they succeeded."
"Prevented?"
Kiseia mumbled,
"Meaning..."
"That's right... It could either be multiple anima, or the anima itself has a certain skill like blink. If not, it probably specializes in speed."
"... Or it could be both? Multiple anima with different skills, or perhaps a single anima with multiple skills."
Hugo butted in.
Kiseia gave her a subtle glance.
*This girl is trying to jinx us. Well, she's not wrong though. This could be troublesome.
Anima…*
She complained inwardly. Still, she also voiced her thoughts and didn't deny her. After all, the Po Bidau family pursues knowledge. However, when it comes to knowledge and control of anima, Lo Po Bia would be second to none.
"That's certainly reasonable. However, if it could use blink, then how come there are traces of blood before the splash?"
Kiseia asked.
Cheondung didn't even need to think twice about it. He had already noticed that and had a theory in mind.
"Yes, I realized it the moment I took a look. I found it odd that there's a trail of blood. That's why we thought there are multiple monsters.
Assuming there's only one, it's very likely a conditional ability."
"Conditional ability? You mean an ability that activates when a certain condition is met?" Kiseia asked.
"Yes, this is probably that anima's domain. If my guess is correct, its ability—blink or speed—probably detects movement—"
Cheondung didn't even manage to finish his explanation because a hand of a beast with sharp claws grabbed the edge of the wall, giving a few cracks. Everyone subconsciously glanced at it.
On the other side...
"There's no explanation from the examiner.
What's going on? Are we supposed to team up and brainstorm our way through!?"
A fair-skinned, black-haired girl with twin tails winced. The red ribbon and her crimson-like eyes stood out more than her fierce personality.
"Speaking of the way through, Evan, aren't you supposed to be a guide? Can you just lead the way outside?"
She spoke to a silver-haired slender boy in a military outfit, so-called Evan.
"I'd like to, Princess Yuri, but for some reason my powers are being restricted.
It's probably part of the exam, so we need to find our way out of this without relying on a path," he reasoned.
"Humph!"
Yuri simply snorted, then, as if she thought of something interesting, a devilish smirk formed across her face.
"Wait a minute… Isn't it favorable? I want to create my own path! Then, everyone follow me!"
She shouted with enthusiasm before walking around like a kid.
Evan and the unknown boy next to him didn't say much and just chased after her.
On the other side...
"Ahhhh!!!"
There was only a single scream from one person before everyone in that corner was killed.
Seeing this, the administrator only sighed.
"The exam is getting easier each day. This isn't even difficult, so how come they are getting killed left and right?"
Behind him, a white-haired boy stood still, keeping his eyes on the screen—to be precise, on the black-haired girl with a lizard-like tail.
*Anaak Zahard...*
His eyes gleamed for a short while before becoming lifeless again. He watched her easily subdue the beast using a morph-like green sword.
*It looks like this exam is going to be interesting... Multiple princesses of Zahard with the 13 Month Series, and an irregular with an unknown ability...*
Back at Cheondung...
"A monkey?" Cheondung muttered.
A 5-meter beast covered in thick brown fur stood tall, eyeing them. Hugo and Kiseia felt tense upon seeing the anima and immediately pulled out their weapons, preparing themselves to engage in combat at any time. But they didn't rush to make a move and chose to wait for Cheondung's decision.
He didn't disappoint them, slowly materializing his weapon at a sloth-like speed. Hugo's eyes showed a hint of excitement upon seeing his weapon again. She really wanted to have it but held herself back. Now was not the right time for such antics.
Cheondung, on the other hand, pointed the gun at the animal's head and immediately fired.
The bullet flew through at unbelievable speed. Kiseia and Hugo, even though trained in combat, barely perceived its trajectory. If that were them in the animal's place, they wouldn't have been able to dodge the bullet in time.
However, what happened next surprised them both because suddenly the motionless monkey...