ross was the run moments after he began moving. prior to his descent onto this planet, he assumed he would move with his friends.

how wrong he was in his assumptions.

after gathering his thoughts and making a suitable moving plan, he descended into the woods that was a short distance away from his starting point.

arriving at the edges of the woods, he spotted a giant rat monster the size of a full-grown dog. it had large uneven razor teeth and patches of its fur were missing in some places, exposing red skin mixed in with dark fur.

its elongated claws and sinister glowing eyes made ross squint at its figure. the rat monster was disturbing to look at. adding that to its screeching popped a vein in his head.

"alright disgusting furball, i''ve had enough of you."

ross waved his hand lighting it in flames he controlled and directed at the rat instantly incinerating it. the poor monster stood no chance.

but ross''s action came to bite him in the ass. monsters like the giant rat monsters otherwise known as gnarloths never moved alone.

as soon as the creature was gone, ross heard a resounding reverberation of screeches coming from the woods.

momentarily confused, ross heightened his senses towards the depths of the woods. and a few seconds later, underneath the bushes and grass was the shuffling sound of multiple moving creatures.

the closer they came, the higher pitched the screech. with wide eyes, ross noticed the countless gnarloths that approached his direction with sinister eyes locked on him.

"oh shit!"

without a second thought, ross stormed in the opposite direction. he had no desire to face those things and as he turned to look back, what he saw made his blood run cold.

the gnarloths were hot on his tail, quickly forming a long and wide trail of moving creatures. their tempo grounded rocks to dust and caused deep carved erosions along their path of travel.

"where are they even coming from?!"

sadly, no one was there to give him a reply.

as ross made his way past the rock formations around him, he prayed to anything listening that he did not ran into a veiled space or encounter a cosmic mana wave. stay connected through empireno?v(el)b\\jnn

void creatures?

maybe, as even monsters dare not approach them. those things went after anything that was not them.

unfortunately for ross, such a thing did not exist, at least not in this situation. the dark clouds with its incessant rumbling of thunder suddenly unleashed a loud booming sound that distorted the space above it.

''me and my rotten luck!''

a gathering of energies was happening above as the space around it cracked, spreading several hundred meters before calming down.

then

*boom! *

like an exploding star, the cosmic mana wave spread out in all directions, moving at speeds no class f hunter could outrun.

he was falling faster than he could react and his body spun rapidly as he began to grow dizzy.

''what the hell?''

his mind recalled what happened moments prior. the attempts he made to right his posture proved to be a fruitless endeavor. he tried channeling his mana to force stop his fall, yet nothing worked.

''cosmic mana wave!''

there was only one reason a hunter''s mana circulation ceases, at least in this situation. no one has ever survived the cosmic mana wave and if a person did, they had less than a few minutes at best to live.

''haha... i guess this is it for me.''

a small tear emerged from his eyes, feeling crestfallen. there was no fear in his last moments. his mind recalled all the wondrous things he experienced with his best friend, their time in middle school, going to the academy and finally julia.

the last thought brought a smile to his face.

''she is one crazy girl. but no one is better for alex than her. i just pray they both survive and make it out of this hellhole.''

ross closed his eyes and shortly after his speeding figure slammed heavily into a mountain.

*boooom!*

he was eliminated in the first half hour of the third event. he didn''t even have the chance to secure any magical minerals or plants.

and he was not the only one.

many participating students had already fallen, either due to cosmic mana waves, veiled spaces, void creatures or even magical beasts.

........

suddenly, ross awakened in the usual white space after logging into the vr world. instantly recalling what happened and his final thoughts, ross chuckled at the reality of things.

he had truly believed that was his end and as the reality slowly set in, the chuckle turned into a full-blown laughter.

as the laughter resounded in the white space, it gradually died out and was replaced with a roar of anguish, humiliation and repulsion.

"ahh...ahh..."

ross cried his eyes out for the first time in a long time. his hubris in thinking himself special, strong and courageous blinded him to the hush reality of the world out there.

the universe did not concern itself with any one person. you could be the strongest being out there, yet a small and insignificant occurrence could end you in an instant.

ross realized he wasn''t strong at all, not at his current level, he wasn''t. with his eyes opened to the harsh reality, ross eventually regained his composure and made a silent promise to himself, his eyes burning with the profound light of a strong determination.

the only way to escape this harsh fate was to grow strong; so strong that anything the universe threw at you, you''d overcome with ease.

that was the only way. yet that way was fraught with so many trials and tribulations.

''still...''