The wolf is laying down, asleep, and it’s chained to a ring embedded in the ground in the center of the room. It looks mostly like an ordinary wolf, but as we creep closer, some differences become apparent. The most obvious one is its size. It’s nearly the size of a horse with paws bigger than my head. The second is that it has two pairs of eyes, one where they should be, and the other right above them. The final and most subtle is that its lips seem to extend just a bit too far back on its head.
When we reach the archway leading into the room, it cracks its left eyes open and looks at us. None of us move for a few seconds, then it slowly–almost lazily–stands up and stretches. As it stretches, it opens its mouth in a yawn. Its mouth opens so wide it looks more like a snake’s than a wolf’s. Once it’s done stretching, it shakes its paws, then sits down, staring at us with a look of curiosity.
Its chain is too short for it to reach us while we’re still in the hall, and it looks short enough that we might even be able to skirt around the edge of the room safely. Unfortunately, the wolf isn’t chained to the exact center, and the far side is within its radius, and even more unfortunately, the path we need to go through is also on that far side. There are two other tunnels in the safe area, and as I look over, I see a new pair of people arrive at the edge of another archway.
The wolf glances back and forth between both groups, then yawns again. It seems to have no intention of wasting effort trying to get us when it can’t reach, but I don’t miss how its eyes snap to me when I take a tentative step forward. It’s guarding the way, and won’t let us through. It’s not especially strong, but it does have a little bit of ki, and combined with its size and species, it’s not going to be an easy fight.
Of course, I don’t actually have to fight it. I could just wait for the other group to get attacked and run by while they die. Or one of the other groups, I should say. Another pair just appeared on the other side. As soon as either moves, if the wolf thing attacks them, the other two will be able to slip by the side. I assume that’s the intended way to get past it, because I don’t see another way that humans without ki could get past it.
That makes me a bit angry. What’s the point of bringing all these people here if you’re just going to kill three quarters of them? Surely there are better ways of testing us, right? Do they just enjoy watching us suffer?
“Can you beat it?” calls a voice from my left.
It’s the energetic girl from earlier. Now that I’m getting a better look at her face, she’s quite pretty, but there’s something a little off about her. Despite the hundreds of deaths she just witnessed, alongside whatever else she’s seen since entering the Labyrinth, she looks extremely happy. Now that I think about it, Vanessa is unusually upbeat too. Neither of them are normal.
“I can,” I reply.
“Will you?” she asks.
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Okay. Please let me know when you’ve decided. Thank you!”
An unwilling smile tugs at my lips. Definitely not normal.
After a few more seconds of contemplation, I decide to do it. Whoever organized this place clearly wants at least one of the three groups to die. Why should I give them what they want?
I start walking forward, but stop when Vanessa grabs my arm.
“Be careful,” says Vanessa behind me.
“Thank you!” says the energetic girl.
The two members of the third group echo her.
After a few seconds, I get inside what I estimate to be the wolf’s range, but it still doesn’t move. It’s smart. Not that smart, but smart enough to fool some more reckless challengers. It knows how far it can move, and is pretending it can’t reach me yet to try to lure me in further. A few steps later, it suddenly pounces.
Fully expecting it, I dodge to the side, and it sails past. I had wanted to try to hit it on the side as it went by, but it’s a bit faster than I was expecting. Not so much so that I’m in serious danger, but the fight is going to be more annoying than I thought it would be.
I don’t have a ki center right now, meaning that I can’t use ki internally, meaning that I can’t strengthen my body. I’ve kept myself in reasonable shape, so I can move pretty well, but the wolf is strengthening itself, so really I shouldn’t stand a chance against it. The only thing keeping me alive is experience, but that’s one thing I have in abundance, so I’m fine.
It leaps again, but this time, I’m more prepared, and I’m able to gather some ki around my hand and jab it in the side as it flies past. It yelps and takes an additional leap away, leaking black blood from a shallow wound in its flank. The energetic girl cheers behind me somewhere, and the wolf starts circling more cautiously.
We circle each other for a second or so until I realize what it’s trying to do. It’s trying to keep my attention while it subtly wraps its chain around my legs. Once again, a good tactic for someone more reckless, but it’s nothing to me. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I continue my circle, pretending I don’t notice, waiting for it to make its move. It waits a little longer than I thought it would, but it does more or less what I thought it would do. It pulls back suddenly, making the chain go taut and swinging right through where my feet would have been before jumping forward at what otherwise would have been a prone me. However, I simply jump over it, and am waiting to meet its charge.
It doesn’t stop, lunging forward with its uncannily wide jaws showing off three rows of teeth, but I simply slide under and grab onto one of its back legs as it flies past. It tries to kick me off, and I let it, but not before gathering ki blades around both hands and severing as many muscles and tendons as possible on the way.
When it turns back around to face me, it’s limping, and no longer looks quite so eager to attack. It’s not out of the fight though. It doesn’t look like it wants to retreat or give up. Or perhaps it knows it has no choice. I wouldn’t risk letting it live.
We start circling again, though I’m much more relaxed now. I did underestimate it a bit, and my side is now throbbing where its foot hit me, but there’s no blood and I’m otherwise unharmed. The wolf, on the other hand, is bleeding heavily from its injured leg, and is starting to reach the point where it can’t put any weight on it at all. If I do nothing, it might survive, but it will be incapacitated. If it does nothing, I will kill it as soon as it collapses. It’s smart enough to recognize this, so I simply keep circling and wait for it to attack again.
It makes its final attack almost a full minute later. It shouldn’t have waited that long. It’s more sluggish than ever, and I think that even Vanessa could have dodged that attempt. I sidestep it and I see its eyes droop as it accepts its fate. My ki-coated hand plunges into its throat and out the bottom, and it collapses to the ground. A few seconds later, its eyes close, and it stops moving.
I hear a smattering applause led by the energetic girl as the others approach the wolf’s corpse.
“Are you okay?” asks Vanessa, looking at my side.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“That was awesome!” says the other girl. “What’s your name?”
“Bella,” I say.
“Cool! My cousin’s name is Bella! I’m Katherine, by the way, but my friends call me Kate. Or Kat. I don’t mind either. Nice to meet you! Can you teach me how to do that?”
“I will not be teaching anyone,” I say.
“Aw, man,” she replies. “I guess I’ll just have to figure it out on my own. Thanks for that though. I was worried someone was gonna have to die for anyone to get past that thing!”
“Someone would have if you weren’t here,” says a man from the other group.
He looks to be about thirty, and is utterly nondescript aside from his eyes. They’re plain brown too, but there’s a calm sharpness in them that I didn’t notice before.
“I’m not sure if I would have died without you, but it’s not a risk I would have been happy to take, so thank you. If you ever need any favors in the future, I owe you one.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” I say before realizing how that sentence sounds.
“But it did me a favor nonetheless, and I’d like to be on your good side, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” I reply.
“Then I look forward to the day that you decide you need my help,” he says, nodding slightly. “My name is Thomas.”
“You can totally ask me if you ever need a favor too,” says Katherine. “You can ask me for ten favors!”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say. “But for now, we should get going. You guys have been here longer than us, so your time is running out.”
“Oh, good point!” says Katherine. “Why don’t we travel together, then? Six is better than two!”
“I don’t mind,” says Thomas.
I’d rather not, but with only one exit, it’s not like I have much of a choice.
“Fine,” I say.
The six of us move forward into the exit tunnel. While we walk, Thomas’ partner, an older man who looks like a scholar, hands me his suit jacket to help wipe the wolf’s blood off. I accept it gratefully and use it to try to get the sticky black liquid off my hands. My clothes are a lost cause, I’m afraid, but so are half the others’ so at least I’m not alone.
After about a minute, we reach a three-way fork in the path. The left path is the correct way, the middle leads to something sinister, and the right has a ki signature I haven’t felt before, but it feels pleasant. Vibrant.
“I’m calling in my favor right now,” I say.
“What?” asks Thomas, turning around in confusion.
“Go ahead without us,” I say.
He looks confused, but Katherine just smiles and salutes.
“Yes, ma’am!” she says. “It’s this way, right?”
She points to the left path.
“Maybe. What do you think?” I ask, turning to Thomas.
He frowns, but the older man with him nods.
“That is indeed the correct way,” he says.
“I agree,” I say. “So go on without us.”
“Okay! See you later!”
Kat walks confidently down the left tunnel while her partner, a mousy middle-aged woman, follows behind reluctantly. After a few moments of contemplation, Thomas sighs and nods.
“Alright. I don’t know if this favor is enough to pay you back though.”
“It’s plenty,” I say, waving him off. “Now go.”
“Thank you again,” he says before turning away.
I offer the jacket back to the older man, but he just shakes his head and turns to follow Thomas. This is mildly annoying because I don’t want the jacket any more either. I wait for him to disappear down a curve in the left tunnel and then I toss the ruined fabric on the ground behind me.
“Why’d you tell them to go ahead of us?” asks Vanessa.
“We’re going that way,” I say, pointing to the right tunnel.
“But didn’t you tell them that the left tunnel is the right way?”
“It is the right way.”
“...Then is one of the treasures down the right tunnel?”
“It is,” I say.
“Oh!” she says, brightening up. “Then let’s go!”
We walk to the right. The tunnel is full of traps, but the further we go, the stronger the vibrant ki becomes until we reach a new chamber. On the opposite side, there is a door from which the vibrant ki emanates, but between us and it, there is someone waiting for us.