Ross looked at the students sternly, already predicting what they were thinking when he saw the hopeful look in their eyes as soon as they recognized Alex.

The group of four exchanged glances as they thought of tagging along with Alex and his group. Their lives were on the line, and there was no room for pride. One of them turned to face Alex and was about to speak when...

"No. you can''t follow us. You''ll only slow us down." Ross interjected before the words could even come out. He had no time to entertain others and put his life on the line defending them. They were hunters, not heroes, at least not in that sense of the word.

It was one thing when Alex invited someone to join their team, and it was another for them to pick up strays.

"But..." The student in front wanted to explain how they would be useful with numbers, but Ross did not have any of it.

"No buts..." He stated coldly and looked towards Alex who only observed the interaction within so much as a word. He was of the same opinion as Ross. They only helped because their path led through here, nothing more, nothing less.

"I agree with him." Julia chipped in. They already had one person too many and were not interested in taking four more.

"And we''ve already spent too much time here. Let''s move before the walls of more void creatures arrive. Also, this is a rite of passage, not a charity event." She replied angrily before moving towards Alex, ready to move on to his word.

"..."

The students were speechless and there was nothing they could say to defend their case. They watched as Alex bade them good luck and disappeared with his group.

"What do we do now?" One of them said, already eager to run after them.

Additionally, if they were unfortunate, they could be put on long winding paths where they would have to traverse multiple curves before covering the same distance as others. Worse of all, they could be temporarily trapped in a room where they had to wait for the next shift before moving again.

And if they were trapped with void creatures... It went without saying, and if they were trapped in a mana-draining zone along with void creatures....

There were many such dangers in the Convergence Maze.

"Close the gaps, maintain the pace and keep an eye on the walls..." Alex instructed as he moved closer to the group. Their vigilance had gone up a notch, and their eyes dashed left and right for the unexpected.

He changed his spear into a short-staff and stuck it to the magnetic holder on his back. What was about to happen would require speed, agility and quick thinking. He needed all the freedom of movement he could get.

Alex also turned to look behind and could see the group of four students far in the distance, attempting to be close but not too close.

''The distance Between our groups is too wide. They would definitely be split from us.'' His words weren''t entirely baseless and the floor they moved on had clear marks that showed evidence of shifts. The only thing he didn''t know was how fast or slow the walls would move.

''We can only hope we ourselves are not separated.'' He thought to himself while glancing at Julia. He was worried about how this crazy girl of his would react if they were separated.

A few seconds later, the intensity of the rumbling increased signaling the start of the shift. Ross sensed the shift in the ground and looked at the walls to his left and right and saw a demarcation a few metres away that hinted at a possible wall shift.

They wouldn''t make it across at the speed they were moving, and they couldn''t leave Abigail behind. The only option was....

"Stop!"

Ross exclaimed and immediately came to a halt, prompting the group to do the same.