A man who looked to be in his fifties, walked on a podium in front of the portal. He was imposing, wearing a black suit and tie with a brown overcoat. He had Asian facial features with neatly combed black hair.
"Greetings students, I am a member of the school board and an awakened just like you. My name is Daniel Karasu. I am here to oversee this portal excursion today and explain how things will proceed." He continued, "everyone will receive a battle suit that will monitor your vitals and inform us of injuries received. Built into the suits is a small camera that we will use to calculate points based on the monsters you defeat. Each group will get 30 minutes to explore the maze inside the portal, groups will enter every 5 minutes for a staggered start. We have already defeated the boss monster so there is no risk of encountering it by accident. Once a groups time is over, I will teleport using my ability and bring your group back here."
Finally he ended his announcement with a final statement. "Do the best you can but above all, be safe. Without further ado, lets begin."
Aria watched as the man walked off the podium, and scanned him using her system.
[ Target Scanned Successfully ]
- Name: Daniel Karasu
- Bloodline: Japanese Mythology (Tengu)
- Rank: A
Ah, so that is what bloodline grants a teleporation ability. Aria would have loved to get her hands on such an ability, but it may prove difficult to achieve. Her Mythic Mimic skill was also random, so the odds were against her.
Everyone got changed into their suits and waited for further instruction from there. Aria's group was 23rd, so they had a bit to wait yet. This is going to be a long day.
Eventually it was their turn next. They stood beside the portal waiting for the signal to be given. With a distortion of the space next to them, a few students suddenly appeared with Daniel Karasu standing behind them. The instructor with a headset gave Aria's team the entrance signal.
The group of three stepped through the portal entrance. The warehouse building dissappeared as they arrived on the other side. Warm air hit Aria's face coming through the portal. Thick walls that seemed to be made of vines and tree roots were on either side of them. These walls were over ten feet tall and two feet thick. Above them was a wide blue sky, with the odd vine crossing over from one wall to the other.
"Well I don't think we can go through the walls as a shortcut," Aria said as she tried ripping a part of the wall and failed miserably. "No use waiting around, let's get some points!"
Aria walked down the path in front of them as Maya and Eric followed behind. Maya was trying to pick up sounds of monsters ahead with her excellent hearing, but the walls around them were sound proof. She couldn't identify anything, at least not accurately. Eric on the other hand seemed bored as usual. Just following along, with not a care in the world.
Within a few minutes and a couple turns later, Aria tripped over a root that was on the ground. She fell over as her foot completely hooked on the root. Eric snickered at the fumble while Maya rushed over to help Aria up.
"Thanks Maya," Aria said while accepting Maya's outstretched hand. Aria gave a look of warning to Eric who just laughed at her fumble.
"What? It was funny," Eric said with a slight grin on his face.
"I swear that vine moved," Aria mumbled while observing the plant she just tripped over. Is the maze alive?
A shadow moved overtop of the three students. Looking up, all they saw was the same green and brown vines of the maze connecting the two walls. "Did something just move above us?" Aria asked as the smile on Eric's face faded away.
"I didn't see anything," Maya contributed.
With nothing happening, the group started to move on. A thud noise came from behind them. The three turned around and saw what looked to be a pile of thick green vines on the ground.
A sleek scaly head emerged as the vines straightened out into a long slender body of a large serpentine beast. The snake like head had antlers that were made of tree branches. All along its green scaly body, was a brown pattern that resembled tree roots climbing up the snakes body. This was a beast that shows up only in warm and humid portals. It was called a Serpenvine, and was a normal D-rank plant type monster.
*whoosh*
The head of the beast slowly detached from its body, after a gust of wind blew past Aria. Looking behind her, Maya had her hand held out in front of her.
"Did you just kill it?" Aria asked with a wide eyed look.
"Yes, we are trying to get points as quick as possible right?" Maya innocently said, as Aria was still trying to process what just happened. So that's what a B-rank bloodline can do huh.
A second later, more thuds were heard as five more Serpenvines dropped down surrounding them. Aria reacted and pulled out one of her daggers, and slashed the snake closest to her. While her strike wasn't deep enough to cut of its head entirely, it was enough to kill the beast. Her daggers sliced through its neck like a hot knife through butter.
[ Serpenvine defeated, 40 Exp earned ]
[ Exp: 730/1200 -> 770/1200 ]
These are actually nice daggers. Aria was appreciating her daggers forgetting about the monster around them. Another Serpenvine went to attack her, but Maya already sent another slash of air towards it. It's head seperated from its body, shortly after.
"Aria please pay attention," Maya cautioned before killing another beast instantly.
"Sorry!" Aria turned back to face the remaining two snakes, but found them already dead on the ground with Eric standing over them. His hands in his pockets.
"Wait, how?" Aria didn't see anything, and there were no apparent wounds on the beasts either to indicate how they died. I am curious about his ability, and how strong he really is.
About 7 minutes had passed so far, as the group of three continued further into the maze.