“All that just to be back where we started,” Kaiden said. “Or back in another corridor, which isn’t much better.”
“Grachnid burrow, on your right!” Titus shouted suddenly.
Zelda spun, spotted it, and fired an Improved Warden’s Bolt into it before its occupants could emerge.
Grachnid assisted kill – 1,000 EXP gained!
Grachnid assisted kill – 1,000 EXP gained!
“Good catch,” Zelda said through comms and Kaiden gave the big man a slap on the back. And then the labyrinth started shaking again.
“Mark time,” Zelda said as she fought to keep her balance.
“Twenty minutes since you started,” Titus reported.
Zelda nodded at that.
“So, the labyrinth reconfigures every ten minutes.”
“I’m beginning to like today’s competitor,” Odditor said, and from inside the broadcast room, Kaiden saw him lean forward in his chair. “Let’s not, let’s not get too excited, stream, but she’s doing all right, isn’t, isn’t she?”
All the while, the labyrinth continued to groan and shake. The walls around Zelda began to slide down into the ground with long, puffing hisses of steam.
“Look for the flag!” Kaiden shouted but Zelda was already on it. And as the walls around her slipped all the way into the ground it was right there. The flag. Not fifty paces away.
Zelda sprinted toward it as the walls began to rise again. She leapt and clambered atop the nearest wall, then tumbled down the far side and into a growing corridor.
“Come on, come on. One more!” Kaiden said, bouncing nervously in place as Zelda scrambled toward the next rising wall. She jumped and just got her fingers on it, then pulled herself up and over. The wall was high enough that she took five percent fall damage as she jumped off. But she came down not twenty paces from the flag.
“There you go!” Titus cheered.
The newly formed walls stopped moving around Zelda, leaving her in the same corridor as the flag. All she had to do was move forward and take it.
But the labyrinth wasn’t done. Something swelled out of the ground in front of Zelda. Some sort of… plant? A thick hedge sprouted up, growing rapidly like some sort of massive chia pet – if chia pets came complete with finger-length thorns. It rose faster than the walls and in less than a second it bisected the corridor, separating Zelda from the flag. Kaiden could still see the red of its fabric, though. Billowing just beyond the apparent hedge.
“It’s just a bush…” Thorne said. “There’s no way it’s that simple though, right?”
“I can think of a way to find out,” Zelda said, then stepped back and leveled her hammer-gun at the hedge. She fired an Improved Burst Arrow into the hedge. The attack tore through it, punching a roughly human-sized hole.
“Huh.” Zelda stepped toward the hole, but before she could get there, the hedge regrew and the hole swelled shut.
The new section of hedge bulged out toward Zelda, diminishing the already crowded space in the corridor. She paused at this and the camera zoomed in on her face as she frowned for a moment.
“It’s going to take more than brute force to get through this labyrinth,” Odditor said, glee in his voice.
Zelda fired at the hedge again, using Improved Kinetic Grenade this time. The explosive attack scorched the hedge and lit several fires all along it. For a moment it looked to be working, the fire burning through the vegetation, but then it began to regrow once again. This time it pushed even further into the corridor, forcing Zelda to back away as the finger-length thorns, now dribbling some sort of fluid out of them, jabbed toward her.
“The hydra hedge is a wondrous creation, is it not?” Odditor said with a low laugh. “I, uh, well, I made it myself. The more damage you deal to it, the more it grows. And those thorns, well, that’s not fresh morning dew on them, if that’s what you were imagining.”
The fire went out after a moment and Kaiden sighed in relief as the hydra hedge stopped growing.
“Zelda, behind you!” Kaiden shouted as he spotted movement. She spun and brought up her shield in time for something wet to splash into it. Thick, black liquid sizzled and bubbled as it dripped down the face of her shield.
Zelda looked around to see where the attack had come from and Kaiden did the same, scanning the view provided by the camera drone.
“I saw movement on the wall,” he said. “But it’s not there anymore.”
“There!” Zelda fired off an Improved Scatter Shot at a blank part of the wall. Something squealed, then fell to the ground with a heavy thunk. Kaiden saw the dirt puff up from the creature’s landing, but there still wasn’t anything there. As he watched, though, there was a flicker of color and then some sort of chameleon became visible.
It was frog-like in shape and texture, but with eight legs. It pulled itself up from the ground and its skin wavered and shifted in color, changing from the slate gray of the maze’s walls to a vibrant green. The creature reared up on its hind legs and opened its mouth. A saliva-coated tongue whipped out and lashed toward Zelda. She just managed to sidestep and it hit the hedge behind her where more of the black venom sizzled and burned a small hole through it.
Dilopoad
Level: 45
Quick facts: Native to the jungles of Felucha, dilopoads are infamous for their ambush tactics and impressive climbing abilities. As ambush predators they prefer to attack their prey from afar via their acidic venom.
“Don’t let the venom hit you,” Kaiden said as Zelda squared up with the creature.
“Figured that much out already,” Zelda said, glancing down to the face of her shield which was still wavering and sizzling.
“The venom of the dilopoads is, well,” Odditor chuckled, “let’s just say best not to touch it. Its numerous effects include reducing armor, slowing movement speed, and stifling health regen.”
The dilopoad reared back to attack again but Zelda beat it to the punch,
