Chapter 43: Maze

  Alex’s boots pounded the flagstones, the air thick with the sickly-sweet tang of flowers and the burn of poison in his chest. Holly ran beside him, her braid whipping in the air, her breathing just as shallow as his own. Eric kept pace right behind, but he didn’t stay with them long as he ended up taking an early turn to head off towards his own target.

  Obby’s presence flickered in his mind as the stone began projecting lines of light into his vision. A glowing web unfolded ahead of him, showing him twisting paths and dead ends overlaid onto the living maze in his sight. “Left fork in twenty steps. Curve east, then cut north at the arch. Two markers within a couple miles, yours first, then hers further up. She'll be on her own for a little while.” The sentient rock was curt, as it also knew how tense the situation was and avoided unnecessary quips. At least for now.

  “Keep tight,” Alex said between breaths. “I’ve got the route.”

  They sprinted through a hedge arch, the path curling unnaturally as if trying to loop back on itself. The maze pressed close on all sides with green walls that were too neat, too manufactured to be considered normal. Topiaries and flower bushes loomed like silent watchers on their flanks.

  For a while, the only sound was their footsteps, their strained breaths, and the timer ticking in the back of their minds.

  Then Holly spoke. She was quieter than normal, her words threaded with something Alex didn’t usually hear from her... doubt.

  “We might not make it this time,” she said. “Fifty minutes isn’t long for seven objectives. If we get sealed in here…”

  Alex slowed half a beat, glancing back at her, then grinned. “If that happens then we break through the garden fences with brute strength. No maze, or wall, or dungeon’s gonna keep us penned in forever.”

  She shot him a doubtful look.

  “And if not that,” he went on, shrugging as they veered around another corner, “then we make it work another way. And if even that fails?” He met her eyes briefly. “Then we get to spend our dying days together. Could be worse ways to go.”

  Holly’s lips pressed tight, then curved just slightly. A rare softness breaking through her normally strong image. “That wouldn’t be too bad.”

  They rounded the bend, Obby’s projected map glowing brighter. The first marker was getting close. Alex tightened his footwork, his eyes scanning the shifting hedges ahead for possible ambush.

  “Yeah. Not bad at all,” he replied.

  When they turned the next corner, the marker wasn’t what was waiting for them. A snake chimera was.

  It slithered from the hedge ahead, its frilled petals fanning wide around its head, and its mouth opening with that same hiss of yellow-green spores. But this time, Alex and Holly were ready.

  “No breathing room,” Alex yelled out. He meant it literally.

  Holly’s hands flashed, the air twisting sharply around her palms as she flung slicing gusts into the beast’s face. Alex came forward under the cover of her spell, firing off [Wind Lance]s. Each burst of aether chewed bloody holes into the chimera’s thick scales.

  The thing recoiled, petals trembling, but Alex didn’t let it get a second to recover. He dropped in below Holly's projectiles and drove forward with his shoulder. His charge connected and slammed it against the hedge wall. Holly’s follow-up was to flash forward with her [Wind Stride] and she snapped her jian blade through its body, twisting it in half with a wet crack.

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  They didn’t even stop to check the chimera's corpse. Alex spat blood into the dirt and kept moving. “Next turn!”

  The maze bent again, tighter than before, the hedges looming taller as if the whole garden leaned in as they ran. The fountain’s timer ticked in the corner of his vision. They were ambushed by another snake shortly after. Then another. And these beasts weren’t the same as the previous ones, they were already adding in new attacks.

  Frilled petals quivered as they reared back, vibrating in a pulse that sent invisible waves through the air. Holly’s first ranged spell burst mid-flight as it contact the vibrating waves, scattering harmlessly. Alex fired a [Wind Lance] that wobbled in the air as it approached the target before deflecting off into the hedge to its right.

  “They’re evolving already,” Holly snapped, ducking as another wave rippled past them.

  “Then we just try something new.”

  Alex dropped his attempt at ranged combat and charged. His caustic aura from his martial art began to gather on his skin, a haze of burning aether peeling outward. The chimera struck out as he got within melee range, only for Alex to stutter-step and halt his momentum entirely. The snake's teeth clamped just on nothing as it misjudged the distance due to Alex suddenly stop. He took the opportunity and his fist found the joint behind the thing's jaw. He released a concentrated [Flare] with the punch.

  Its head nearly exploded, purple blood spraying hot across his armor and robes.

  The spores tried to cling to him again, but his Demon Asura aura flashed angrily around him, the corrosive heat boiling through the pollen before it could do more damage. What few spores made it past the caustic aura of his matrial art were eaten by his blood. He could almost feel the toxin shrivel against his defenses.

  Beside him, Holly flowed like the wind itself, keeping distance from the spores that were released and pushing back more with his wind aether. She wouldn’t be caught off guard again either.

  They pressed forward, finding the maze was less about making sure not to get lost, and more about not getting slowed down. Every sharp turn was another ambush from the Chimeras. And, every ambush became another serpentine corpse. They kept moving, their rhythm tight.

  All the while, the timer ticked on.

  48:09...

  The maze eventually spilled them into a wide junction, four paths branching in crooked directions. Alex skidded to a stop, sweat and spore-burn mixing in every breath he took.

  Obby’s projection glowed faintly in his vision, two routes sketched out in thin lines of light. One path left. One straight ahead. Their markers diverging there. Alex looked to Holly.

  “This is where—”

  “I know,” she said calmly, despite the rasp in her throat.

  For a moment, the urgency of the timer, the poison in their veins, the whole dungeon itself seemed to hold still. Alex stepped closer, uncertain. Unlike him, Holly didn’t hesitate. She caught him by the collar, pulled him down, and kissed him.

  It was brief, and it refreshed him more than any clean breath he’d taken since entering the Garden.

  When they pulled apart, she smiled faintly. “Go.”

  Alex nodded, then turned left as she went straight, and the maze swallowed them both.

  Alone now, Alex stopped holding back. The [Demon Asura Style] grew in intensity across his body, its caustic aura hissing like a second skin. The air reeked of acid and burning aether as he moved and his blood surged hot. His wyrm-heart constitution turning his veins corrosive, and devouring every thread of chimera toxin that dared press deeper into his body.

  He pushed himself to move faster.

  Obby whispered directions in his mind as he ran. Each line was a knife cutting through the confusion of the poison that tried working on clouding his brain. Next fork left. Ignore the arch. Straight to the marker. I’ll guide, just kill.

  So... Alex killed.

  The maze writhed with chimera, their petals quivering, their poison breath thickening the air. But he tore through them like they were but wrapping paper, and he was a child trying to get to his precious birthday presents. His aura melted their scales. His fists split skulls. His spells impacted into faces at point blank, every spell he cast carving another corpse into the dirt.

  He didn’t bother to dodge the spores anymore. He walked through them angrily. With his [Wrath Siphon] skill every kill he made bled strength and vitality back into his body, leeching the chimera's life through death and blood alike. The fights fueled him as he carved a trail of carnage.

  45:22...

  And ahead, through the twisting hedges and the stink of death it waited. Obby spoke as they neared.

  The first gem. Just ahead.