Before the strongest group reached the front entrance, Tian alerted Ali of another group moving into their vicinity. The other group members had been wandering around and had the misfortune of encountering the strongest group as they turned a corner. The newcomers took several moments to register the strongest group before they immediately fled the scene. A short pause later, only three members of the strongest group pursued them while the remaining teenager entered their building, clearly confident in his abilities of facing whatever awaited inside.

Well, our odds have improved by a lot! We may have a chance!

For the next few minutes, they listened to Svenne relaying that all of his traps were triggered but he never once got notification of getting the kill. They also failed to hear any screams of pain, hinting that the traps might not even be doing anything.

“He must be a monster,” muttered Svenne. “Anyone else would be dead upon triggering all of those traps.”

“Then we’ll use that against him,” said Ali as a crazy idea came to his mind.

He shared what he had in mind and fully expected the others to be opposed to it. Surprisingly, they were content with attempting the plan.

They must have been really desperate to try anything at this point.

Ali unsummoned Tian because he needed his remaining MP. While he would have preferred to have the air serpent by his side, the mana cost of the ability made it too costly for him to continue using. Until he gained more MP, he had to summon Tian sparingly, even if the air serpent was his ace. He then watched as Svenne went to work with two traps at an intersection of the hallways. As soon as the traps were completed, the tall teenager went into the nearby room. Meanwhile, he, Kamis and Umaru got into position as they waited for the intruder to trigger the first trap.

“Sounds like he’s on this floor,” whispered Kamis as he readied his big shield.

Ali listened as the footsteps got closer and closer. The intruder eventually stepped into the first trap which turned the floor within a small radius into sticky adhesive. Kamis then performed his charging ability that saw him pin the intruder to the wall, triggering the second trap. Similar to the spike pit he encountered during his evaluation, the second trap was placed on the walls with the spikes ejecting horizontally, brutally piercing the intruder’s body. Moments before the trap triggered, Kamis had sidestepped, giving Ali a clear line of sight to fire his air slash in quick succession at the intruder. Umaru used this opportunity to make his appearance from a different hallway and fired off his lightning abilities at the trapped foe while Kamis bashed away with his shield. The three of them had concentrated their attacks but Ali failed to see any reaction from the intruder.

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“Now,” shouted Ali as he entered the same room as Svenne once his MP was zero.

The teenager watched the serious concentration of Svenne as the tall teenager manually triggered his traps as many times as his MP allowed him. Ali waited a couple more seconds to regain one more MP before he returned to the hallway to fire another air slash at the intruder. He then jumped when the prompt showed up.

<

You have killed a foe.

( 61 / 26 XP to Level Up )

You have leveled up to Level 2!

( 35 / 36 XP to Level Up )

You gained 5 stat points. Feel free to distribute them to any of your stats.

You may also gain a new ability. Would you like to select one now?

>

“We did it!” shouted Svenne.

Ali was about to join in when he felt horrific pain. He watched in horror as the entire building was engulfed in flames before darkness swallowed him whole. When the teenager regained his consciousness, he found himself on a hospital bed like the one he was in when he first met Thomas.

How did I survive that?

Ali reached out with his left hand towards the ceiling, recalling the hot flames that incinerated his entire arm in an instant. He felt joy when his group defeated the foe but the flames reminded him how weak he was. He could do nothing in the face of the flames and he was nothing more than an insignificant bug to be disposed of at the whim of someone else. As he tried to contemplate the gap, an object hit his arm and landed on his chest. He looked down at the bread before he searched for the culprit.

“Lighten up! We defeated someone for once. It’s worth celebrating!”

Ali couldn’t suppress his smile after hearing Svenne talk. He didn’t realize that, unlike him, the others had been dealing with defeat after defeat. They even lost a group member due to their helplessness. Any win, no matter how small, was worthwhile for them.

I should savor both the victory and the bread for now but we’ll get better.

The teenager took a bite of the bread, noting how terribly it tasted compared to the meal he had earlier that day. Luckily, his growling stomach convinced him it was tasty nonetheless. As soon as he finished eating, the medical staff entered and told the four teenagers to leave the room, stating that they had fully recovered. As they exited, the hallway quickly became crowded with the other people who were defeated in the combat gym. Ali couldn’t miss the dreadful atmosphere so he checked with his group members.

“Svenne conveniently forgot about the Hell Grind that’s happening in an hour,” said Kamis.

“Hell grind?”

“It’s the hell version of the hike you did during the morning run. Only you have to fight dangerous creatures on your way to the top.”

“And you go back to the start if you are defeated,” added Umaru.

“I assume that you get points if you meet certain requirements?”

“If one member reaches the end, that group gets points. More members equate to more points”

“How long is it?”

“Now until midnight,” said Kamis. "And in case you're wondering, I have never completed it."

We are screwed....