"You don't still have a plan, huh?" Yami said as they continued walking through the tunnel.
"I'm still coming up with something, but I'm close to having an idea" Natsu said as Yami replied, "Okay but we need to be quick, plus, we need to look for ways to avoid the traps and beasts in this dungeon"
"That's it! Yami, you're a genius!"
"What, did you figure something out?"
"Yeah, from the little knowledge I know about dungeons, whoever built them always created a secret passage so they would be able to easily go through it, making them to avoid all the traps and move safely"
"Yeah but... Wait, I see, if we can find the secret passage, we would be able to pass this exam without stressing ourselves out"
"Exactly, but since they know most people are aware of that, they normally have lots of secret passages, plus, they also set more dangerous traps at the end of the secret passages"
"That's true, but how do we find it?"
"I don't know but my guess is this, one of the secret passages must be at the entrance of the cave since they're sure most people would go through the tunnels instead of looking around"
"You have a point, but how do we find it?"
"We'll find it by looking, the quicker we are, the faster we finish, we don't have much time" Natsu said as they both ran towards the entrance of the tunnel.
They both searched the place as Yami used his magic to move around while Natsu checked unpredictable place like under a rock and so on.
After a while, the both of them found the secret passage as they screamed for joy.
"It took us twenty minutes but we finally did it" Yami said as Natsu replied, "Yeah, okay Yami, let's start going, we're wasting precious time" as Yami carried Natsu and used his powers to run through the place as the secret passage entrance closed.
While everyone was trying to survive, Kazuko was moving through the maze without stress, plus, she could sense the wind around her which made her know where she was going.
Whether it was a trap, attack or beast trying to kill her, Kazuko made the exam look easy as she quickly killed, destroyed or dodge everything that was trying to slow her down, as she continued moving through the maze.
Asahu on the other hand was heading towards Mitsuki as he followed the little ice trail she left behind. Asahu finally got to a place that was frozen completely while using his Phoenix wings as he thought.
"Wow, she did all this! I guess she doesn't want to lose to Kazuko, she froze the whole place. I need more speed, I'm the one who's slowing her down!"
While all this things was going on, the boy from the adventurers exam who was called a pest was scared to his bones as he hid at a place thinking of giving up.
"This place isn't for me, what kind of exam is this? I can't die now, I still got to pay my mom's medical bills. Plus, I need to provide for my siblings. I just wanted to make more money, was that a crime?" He thought as he was panting while his hand rested on the wall.
As he was thinking, a strange noise was heard as if something was heading towards him but as he turned back he saw nothing which made him anxious as he began panicking while looking for where to hide.
He began running and later saw a narrow space in the wall which made him head towards there as he hid himself.
He covered his mouth and nose to make sure that nothing could hear him pant since he was scared of dieing while thinking, "What should I do now, I can't say I want to fight something I can't see, plus if I start running, it's going to find me, so what should I do?"
While he was thinking, the step noise began getting closer as he began hoping for the best before he heard something ask, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Huh, did I just hear something, no, I must be hallucinating" he thought as he took a deep breath and freed himself. He then tried to calm himself as he took a deep breath and tried to check if the thing he was hearing has gone.
As he brought his head out of the place to survey the area, he heard a voice say, "Hey watch where you're moving your face to" as a girls head appeared in front of him.
"Huh" the boy said as he slowly came to his senses and screamed as he fell and went back.
"Hey keep it down, do you want something to come after us" the girl said as she fully became visible.
"What the hell are you?" he screamed as the girl tried to keep him quiet making him to shout, "Don't come near me...!"
"I'm a contestant you dummy, so would you keep quiet before some beast come find us" the girl said as she tried shushing him.
"That's impossible, how..." The boy said as she interrupted him and said, "Stop acting like a coward already and stay silent before something come find us"
This made him feel embarrassed and useless as he said in a sober tone, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay, I get it, most people act like that when I use my magic so I'm used to it" the girl said as she sat down making the boy feel bad as he looked at her.
He took a deep breath and went to sit next to her as she looked at him and turned her head back to the ground.
"I don't even know what I'm doing here" she said as the boy looked at her and said nothing as he had a sad expression on his face since he could relate.
She took a deep breath and thought, "What do I think I'm doing, I'm acting weak, this is so pathetic"
"Hey, you ain't the only one who's doubting why you came here" he said as the girl then looked at him.
"I'm sure you have a reason for coming to this exam but is it really worth it, I mean, we might die in this exam but yet we would look like cowards if we want to give up." He said as the girl became surprised.
"I shouldn't bother you with this, I'm sure I already look like a coward but sometimes I ask myself these questions, especially when I feel like giving up. This wasn't what I was expecting in the exam but I've already started, right. I'm even surprised I managed to survive until now, especially with the kind of powers I have. Come to think of it, every contestant is risking their lives for this exam but yet we have people who see this exam as a walk in the pack." He said as he took a deep breath and stood up.
"I know I'm the last person in the world who would be able to support or protect someone but if you don't mind, I'd love to work with you, at least it would make the exam to be a little bit easier" the boy said as he stretched his hands towards the girl, making her to be field with hope as she took his hands and got up.
"He's right, judging from what I've seen during the adventurers exam and now, I'm sure he wouldn't be able to be a good support but yet I feel a little bit of comfort" the girl thought as he smiled and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Oh before I forget, I'm Koda and I'm sorry for earlier?" He said as he bowed to apologize.
Koda had a short black hair and wore a brown top and black trousers.
The girl observed Koda and took a deep breath as she said, "Don't stress over it, by the way, I'm Laila, it's nice to meet you" giving him a genuine smile.
Laila had a short styled black hair and wore a blue gown with a black leggings and shoe. She was also one of the girls that abandoned Natsu, although she didn't participate in the team until they got to the finish line.
"Alright, let's start moving" Koda said as Laila stopped him and asked, "Wait, what's your ability and how does it work?"
Koda looked at her being confused, which made her sigh and say, "Well I'm guessing you already know my ability. My ability is invisibility and I can only turn myself and things I'm in contact with invisible.
"Oh I see, you ability is pretty amazing. My ability just let me create a magical shield, although it's not really strong and its radius isn't that big" Koda said as Laila replied, "That's good enough, if we combine our abilities, I'm sure we should be able to survive this exam"
"I guess so, although, I'm sure we'll need some help but let's start moving before the time finishes" Koda said as they began leaving the area.
In another location, the shiny boy was trying to survive from a rhino as he moved around and shot beams towards it as he thought, "It has a very thick skin"
"I see, he's also here, guess we'll be working together again" the cutting boy thought as a smile appeared on his face when he saw what was happening and went to help out.
After a long and amazing battle, both of them defeated the beast as they began moving deeper into the maze as they started discussing.
Meanwhile, Raijin was running from a gigantic bowling ball as he saw Kagahma fighting a fox.
Raijin smiled as he increased his speed and screamed, "Watch out!!!" As he jumped out of the way.
Kagahma immediately tried dodging it making the bowling ball to hit the beast.
But to their greatest surprise, the beast dodged it and went towards Raijin as it hit him towards the wall.
Kagahma wanted to launch an attack but the beast made a sonic howl which made both of them cover their ears, but the noise was too strong as it made them scream out loud in pains.
The beast then went towards Kagahma as it saw shadow like strings around him and hit him towards Raijin causing both of them to crash into the wall.
The water girl head a loud noises which made her wonder as she was running, "Is someone fighting something? It sounds like they're loosing, I should go help out, at least it would reduce the chances of them dieing"
She immediately stopped and turned back as she began heading towards the place as she summoned her sea serpent and began riding it.
As both of them fell down and tried standing up, they saw slash marks heading towards them and dodged it as both thought while panting, "This isn't going to be easy, this beast isn't going to let us leave here scot-free"
They both looked at the beast as it growled and began moving slowly towards them.
Both of them looked at each other as they began running away from the beast as it looked at them and chased Kagahma.
Raijin stopped as a seal appeared on his hands and screamed, "Thunder shock" as electricity came out from it and went towards the beast.
The beast was fast enough to notice and dodged it as Kagahma jumped and rolled on the ground dodging the attack as he hit the ground and said, "Black abyss" as hands came out of the ground and held the beast as it began dragging it into the darkness.
Raijin saw this and shouted, "Thunting Destroyer!!!" As a large bright beam of electricity went towards the beast and electrocuted it making it scream as it became angry and used a sonic howl making both of them to loose focus destroying there attacks as it launched itself towards them and opened its mouth to rip Raijin.
As the beast opened its mouth to rip Raijin, the only thing Kagahma could do was watch since he couldn't move fast, as Raijin became scared and thought, "Is this really the end for me?"