Chương 30: The Minotaur Justifies the Existence of the Labyrinth

George appeared in a large, round room full of people who had just been teleported in. Like Murdo said, there appeared to be about forty other players in the trial. Everyone was arrayed in a circle along the wall of the room. The room was a high-ceilinged dome that seemed to be carved out of red stone. Black lines across the floor radiated out from the center, dividing the room into equal sections, one for each trial member. >>Whoa. Freakshow.

>>You get an alien band and a robot bartender in here and this place could pass for Mos Eisley Cantina. A notification popped up with the description of the trial. New Trial! Title: The Minotaur Justifies the Existence of the Labyrinth Description: Players are divided into two teams and can be eliminated by death during hunting rounds or by vote during voting rounds. Trial Type: Closed Objective: The first team to be eliminated loses. Reward: Play the Windfall Game—"To the Victor, Go the Spoils" edition.

George could only stand and survey the bizarre creatures and beings in the room around him. Across from him, there appeared to be a nine-foot-tall living suit of armor that glowed with purple light coming from between the gaps in the pieces of metal. It was carrying a spiked mace that was as long as George was tall. Two large ivory horns jutted out of the sides of its helmet. Identify displayed that the creature's name was Urdo. Beside Urdo the armor-man was an old woman in a dress sobbing loudly on her knees.

She was holding her stomach as though it pained her. Next to the crying woman floated a perfectly round sphere that reflected the room in bright curves on its metallic surface. Another man looked mostly normal. He wore a large camouflage backpack, a T-shirt, and bulky canvas pants. There was a bulge in his T-shirt pocket that looked like it could be a pack of cigarettes. His name was Tycho. Another enclosure contained only opaque darkness.

Occasionally, light flashed from somewhere within and it almost seemed as if the darkness itself was moving. As George's eyes darted around the room, he saw a muscular lizard man, a beautiful woman with bright red hair hugging a green cloak around herself, a young girl who looked like she couldn't be more than ten years old. Another man wore an oversized suit of armor and held a sword that looked like it could double as a chainsaw. The players couldn't have looked more different. And it got worse.

There was a vibrating mound of glowing green slime, a large rock with a dark purple crystal rising out of it and shimmering with light, and a creature that looked like an angel carved of white crystal. George noticed a large panel on the far wall that said: Scoreboard: Red Team: 20 Blue Team: 20 Total Players remaining: 40 That was when George saw a that notification had appeared. Quest Update! Quest: Find Family Description: All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Completed: 1/? Reward: Family is its own reward. >>Nod. Look at that. Does that mean one of my children is in this room? >>Well, damn. Maybe it does. >>At this point I feel obligated to remind you that the quest isn't "find your kids," it is "find family." That could mean that your kids are here or that you've got a distant aunt Bertha you didn't know who is a mound of slime now. >>Given your memory situation, it could mean a lot of things. >>But it could mean one of my kids is here. >>I suppose it could, yes.

>>We have to find him. Or her. >>Wait. They will recognize me, right? Assuming they haven't lost their memory, too. George almost raised his hand to wave at the room and shout: I'm George! But then he remembered that his head was encased in the helmet that he could not remove. >>Slow down, chief. >>Priority number one is to survive this trial. >>Priority number two is to find out what it means that your Find Family quest just updated. >>If one of these people is one of my kids, we have to save them.

I have to protect them. >>And I am not saying that isn't important. Nor am I saying that we aren't going to try to save your kid if we find them. I'm just saying that we need to be sure to, you know, get our own oxygen masks on first. >>You can't help anybody if you freak out and do something stupid right now. None of these people look like they might be your kid, so don't go up and hug the guy with the chainsaw sword thinking you will get hugged back.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. >>You won't! >>You'll get dead. >>Then, I'll get dead too. >>And I don't want that. >>So, let's keep our priorities straight. That's all I'm saying. >>Nod, listen to me. >>I get that I don't know what the quest update means.

>>And I get that none of these people look like they might be my family, but if it turns out that one of them is my child, then I am going to do whatever it takes to make sure they make it through this trial alive. >>Even if that means I don't make it out alive. >>And even if that means you don't make it out alive. >>So, let's get that straight right now. >>You got that? Nod was silent. >>I'm sorry you are stuck with me. I didn't choose that. You did. >>I am going to save my children.

"And if you don't like that, then get the fuck out of my head!" George realized he had shouted the last sentence when most of the room looked at him. >>Yeah. >>I don't know if I agree with the "let's die to save your kids" part, but I hear you. >>Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it. One of the creatures elsewhere in the room drew everyone's attention away from George when it let out a screech and raised itself on its hind legs. It was so deeply black that its skin seemed to eat the light.

It spread its long arms wide and opened its claws. It screamed again, revealing a mouth packed with rows of needle teeth. George's Identify kicked in. <Name: N/A Race: Dismal Voidling—Scion of the Ink Level: 88, E-Grade Profession: N/A Abilities: N/A Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: This scion of the Ink is less a personal entity than an undifferentiated manifestation of the will of the Ink.

Due to its affinity with nonexistence, the Dismal Voidling expresses a strong, violent antipathy toward any existing thing, including its own self for the duration of its manifestation into being. > The voidling pawed at the air for a moment and then threw itself toward its neighbor, only to bounce off a blue force shield that glimmered into existence and threw the creature to the ground. The shield briefly rippled with glowing blue waves of light that subsided as the force field disappeared again.

The person adjacent to the voidling was a hairless albino man wearing a loose-fitting wrap of robes sitting cross-legged on the ground. The man had no reaction to the monster beside him crashing against the force shield but only stared at it impassively, then shifted his gaze away. >>I miss Charlie James.

"Vermin," the man beside George said. George looked sideways and saw a man dressed in a denim jacket sitting comfortably in a chair with one leg crossed over another and his hands folded in his lap. A table next to him had a steaming cup of tea on it. He seemed composed and at ease compared to the strange, raucous room around him. He shook his head slowly as the voidling again threw itself against the force field. The man turned to George and squinted as he read George's shirt.

"Were you really left for dead in Mexico?" <Name: Pine Race: Human Level: 123, D-Grade Profession: Trial Aficionado Abilities: Scurrilous Cockroach; Dead Last; Where are you going and where have you been?; Players Only Love You When They're Playing; etc. House: Saar House Rank: Six Guild: Regulators Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: Blocked. > >>Well, we found one of the Saars.

"Is that where you got that deathmark?" Pine said. >>Ah! Our cover is blown. Act natural. >>This helmet is crap.

"No," George said.

"I got it in my first trial."

"Your first trial was… recently? You are the one that got Charlie, aren't you? And in your first trial… how about that," Pine said and stared at George for a long time.

"Can I tell you something? I never liked the guy."

"I got lucky," George said.

"It was mostly an accident."

"Maybe it was," Pine said.

"And maybe it wasn't. They pampered him. And he was arrogant. I bet Charlie took one look at your level and thought he saw everything he needed to see."

"Anyway, don't worry. I don't take the deathmark stuff too seriously. There are plenty of other things to worry about than settling a score that isn't mine," Pine said. Then he pointed at a big guy across the room.

"Don't let that guy find out you've got a deathmark, though. He calls himself Hollywood Cole," Pine said.

"If he sees you out in the maze, he'll probably stab himself with a little black knife a few times and then go berserk. If you see that happen, clear out. A lot of Saars sell themselves to the Ixians for an edge, but who wants to turn into a monster? It isn't pretty. Or professional. But I bet you found that out with Charlie, didn't you?" >>What is he talking about?

"Anyway, he's a better Saar than I am," Pine said, nodding at Hollywood Cole, "I don't like him either." The Saar called Hollywood was pacing the length of his portion of the room. His head was completely covered in tattoos and intricate designs. He wore a head-to-toe suit of a dark red material that gleamed like metal but bent with his movements like leather. He seemed to be talking to himself and gesturing angrily at the air.

The neighbor on George's other side tapped on the force field, making a sound like thick glass.

"Hey. Hey, man," he was talking to Pine.

"It says your profession is Trial Aficionado, so you know what you're doing, right? How does this game work? Why are there so many people in here?" <Name: Top of the Morning Race: Human Level: 49, F-Grade Profession: N/A Abilities: Hidebound Interloper House: N/A Guild: N/A Metadata—Encyclopedia Esoterica: N/A> The young man's hair was so blonde it was almost white and was shaved all around the sides and stylishly combed over in on top. He also had a white mustache and round glasses.

He wore surfer shorts and a baggy knit sweater.

"What kind of a name is Top of the Morning?" Pine said.

"It's just something I picked up," he said.

"Call me Top."

"Why would I want to call you Top?" Pine said.

"I don't know, man," Top said.

"Call me whatever you want. Just tell me what is going to happen next. How does this one work?"

"Well, in a minute or two, a few people will explode," Pine said.

"And then someone is going to show up and explain the rules. Then, we'll pick power orbs, and the hunting round will begin. And then you might find out what Trial Aficionado means."

"Wait, explode?" he said.

"Who is going to explode? I might explode?"

"No, not you," Pine said.

"See for yourself. Here we go." Pine pointed at the older woman who had been crying on the ground but had now fallen silent. She was looking at her hands, which had been covering her face but were now bright with blood. Two smeared trails of blood ran from her eyes. Blood was also coming from her ears and soaking into the shoulders of her simple dress. Her eyes had gone entirely black. Pine had set his tea aside and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

He had a focused look and a vague smile on his face. As the woman's moans rose to a scream, Pine said, "And there goes the other one." The large lizard man on the other side of the room bent double, coughing a splatter of blood onto the ground. He let out a roar and pounded at his gut. The whole room had gone still except for the voidling and a hairy hyena-looking creature, who both appeared to have been driven into a frenzy by the presence of the blood.

Both the older woman and the lizard man were writhing on the ground now, and then the woman burst, splattering gore across every inch of her enclosure like she was a water balloon instead of a person. The lizard man froze when he saw what had happened to the woman, and then he exploded, too. Blood and bits of bone covered the force field surrounding their enclosures, where it sizzled briefly, and then all the gore just absorbed into the wall and floor and boiled off the force fields.

In a minute, there were only a few pieces of the lizard man's shattered armor and the shredded pieces of the woman's dress. The man Pine had called Hollywood Cole walked as far as he could toward the center of the room, pounding his chest with one hand and holding the other in the air.

"Saar!" he shouted into the stunned silence that followed the two explosions.

"Saar! Saar!" His voice was strangely amplified and filled the room so that even the voidling and the hyena momentarily fell still. Hollywood Cole pointed at Pine, who raised his teacup back to his fellow Saar in response, murmuring something that sounded like, "What an idiot" under his breath. Pine turned his head to George and said, "They both had deathmarks, but how did we miss you, George? Hmm." George didn't know what to say as Pine watched him and sipped from his tea.

George turned away from Pine and turned to Top, who looked like he was trying not to throw up. >>What do you bet our frenemy Murdo of the Shady Deal had something to do with that? >>If he were trying to stack the deck for Prince Neco, it wouldn't do if one of his inside men exploded three minutes into the trial. >>Speaking of our fair prince… where is that guy?