With the appearance of the black holes, the gravity near those regions suddenly decreased, giving Minos' companions room to move quickly.
Maximilian was the one who made the most of the opportunity, taking 24 steps before the gravity of the long staircase made things difficult again.
But Ruth also made the most of the opportunity, climbing 14 steps in a few breaths.
Minos didn't let the opportunity pass him by either, quickly reaching the 43rd step.
But he didn't get as far as the Sovereigns in his group because he had to focus some of his attention on controlling the black holes he had just created.
He then focused his powers on dealing with those regions of space that were growing in size and power, controlling the space and time around those black holes in a way he had never done before.
For the first time since he began merging his techniques to form black holes, Minos didn't use his device to detonate these regions of space. He allowed the four regions to merge until the surrounding light changed, with an intense glow coming from the result of the merging of these regions of space.
The observers of this process looked at it and frowned, noticing something with such strong energy that it could even threaten the lives of level 102 beings!
Minos skillfully moved it against the opponents he hadn't been able to affect with the black holes, causing some of the individuals who had tried to act against his group to change their expressions of terror.
"Oh, shit!"
One of the observers felt the need to move, feeling that this was a bit beyond what they should allow.
However, the strongest of them in the area stopped him.
"He's just using his own power. That's within the rules."
"But... But half of the group could die from this attack!"
"That has nothing to do with us. Just keep watching." Said the strongest alien there as a flash appeared on the first 20 steps of that magnificent staircase.
But unlike what would happen in normal places, the detonation of these black holes didn't produce a shock wave or even the usual detonation noise.
One might have expected the whole island to shake from the detonation of Minos' black holes. Still, under the pressure that could make even Sovereigns sweat, the detonation was contained.
Such a detonation would wreak havoc over thousands of square kilometers in the Spiritual World, but there, it only extended about seven steps, not very far on any of them.
Minos' people were not threatened, even though they were only a few meters away from the blast's focus.
But the beings between the 10th and 20th steps suffered, and at least 50 people were instantly incinerated, while dozens more suffered minor but significant damage that would significantly hinder them in this race.
However, this was not a friendly place. As some of the injured became weaker, they became more susceptible to the pressure that tried to immobilize and crush them.
In the blink of an eye, as Minos' group reached between the 65th and 76th steps, more than 100 individuals were crushed by the overwhelming pressure on their positions.
The other competitors who survived or were unaffected by Minos' actions changed their opinions of him.
Some wanted to ignore him, while others thought of sabotaging Minos somehow. He was a great opponent for those weaker people who had a chance to fight for the places offered in this selection. But when they saw how monstrous this guy was, some put those thoughts aside.
'It is better to leave his group alone.' One of the many people who remained in this phase of the selection thought to himself.
Minos' group consisted of just over 20 people. What's more, most of them were much stronger than the average contestant. So leaving them alone and concentrating on other, weaker competitors seemed much better to practically everyone there.
Thus, the little more than 300 people remaining in this selection phase soon focused on either simply moving on to the less dangerous area of this large staircase or taking down other opponents on their way.
The first hour of the test would pass, and Minos' group would reach the halfway point of this most dangerous part of the test, arriving between steps 150 and 210.
Maximilian was the most advanced at this point, standing on the 210th step. Meanwhile, the four remaining Sovereigns of Minos' group were between steps 199 and 202, close to other alien Sovereigns participating in the trial.
Minos and most of their group were just behind them, between steps 163 and 182.
Ruth was the furthest back, currently at position 150. But contrary to what one would expect after watching the trial so far, she was the one who was moving faster and faster.
While most of the competitors in this first phase of the selection were moving at the same speed as at the start of the race, Ruth found it easier to move and improved her speed with each step she climbed.
But how could one expect her to be any different? As someone with a Divine-grade Physique and an innate ability focused on regeneration, she couldn't help but recover from her fatigue with each step she climbed.
Thus, while the number of competitors would continue to dwindle over the next hour, she would soon catch up with the high-level Demigods in her group, closing in on Minos after the gap between them had widened in the early moments of the test.
Two hours into the test, Maximillian was already in the 399th step, while Minos and the rest of his group had just left the death zone of the test.
As they completed the first 300 steps of this test, they better understood the fate of those who failed between steps 301 and 1,000; their lives were not in danger, but they couldn't just walk away.
When they saw the first humans fail this part of the staircase's climbing test, the people of Minos saw them being sucked into rifts in space and taken to distant, unknown regions.
The Dread Barrens was the fate of those who failed between steps 301 and 1,000. Once sent to such a place, the losers would be forced to perform manual labor for a set period of time until they reached the level necessary to retake the selection test.
The Armhands was not a simple group, and once you entered their territory, your freedom was lost until you met certain requirements there!
That was the kind of information that no outsider had, and since most of the losers died or were sent to places wholly controlled by this group, teams like Minos's were constantly falling for the alien organization's tricks.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do now other than continue this selection process!
