Interlude:

Stine stared at the onrushing horde of monsters with a sense of anticipation. They looked like they were some kind of scaly lizards, but shaped like frogs with large powerful legs meant for leaping. And most importantly, they had oversized mouths that were full of sharp teeth.

When the first monster reached them, Stine took a moment to notice further details. The thing was four feet tall and had a mouth big enough to swallow a human head in a single bite. And it was coming straight for him.

The brawler tapped into the physical magic that powered his abilities and activated ‘Reinforce’. His entire body tensed up and hardened, becoming more resistant to damage. Then he lunged forward and punished the monster, sending it back with half its body caved in from the blow.

“And I didn’t even have to use anything serious,” Stine said, a little disappointed by how easy these monsters were to kill. However, what they lacked in quality, they made up for in quantity. Dozens more were already heading his way.

Jag appeared to be standing out in the open, waiting for the monsters to simply swoop in and eat her. One of the monsters attempted to do just that, only to pass through the illusion of Jag. The real illusionist leapt out from behind the rock she’d been using as cover and tore into the monster with both of her knives, killing it with only a couple strikes. Then, with an almost blinding speed, she tore into the next monster, cutting it into ribbons.

Five monsters all came at Jag at once, surrounding her. She stopped and stood in place, looking almost identical to the illusion that she’d previously created. A moment later, she created a new illusion around herself, one that made her look like a giant version of the monsters that surrounded her. They all froze, obviously confused by this change, and she used that distraction to lunge forward and slice into the next one.

Frank merely stood in the open, much like the illusion of Jag had been doing. She waited for the monsters to come to her, then she tore through them with her axe. One swing and a monster was dead. A second swing and another monster was gone.

Stine had been working with Frank for months, and he still had no idea of what her class was. Most of the time, he thought that she was probably one of the warrior classes like him, but other times… Well, Frank never talked about her abilities, and they were either subtle enough that he couldn’t tell when she was using them, or she never actually used them around him. That second possibility was what intrigued him the most.

He snapped around and quickly killed two more monsters before looking at the two newcomers, the clients. Mitch and Antony had both managed surprisingly well in the Labyrinth, especially for neither of them having any abilities or specialized training. At least, neither of them had any abilities until recently.

Just a couple hours ago, Antony had unlocked his class and was now a newly minted arcanist. Instead of being jealous that Antony had become a player before him, Mitch actually seemed happy for his friend.

Antony stood back with his scepter in one hand while his other hand was held out. A bolt of electricity shot out of his palm and hit one of the monsters, right before rebounding and hitting a second one that had been nearby. He immediately followed that up by firing a blast of green energy from scepter, grazing the side of another monster.

“Good shot,” Mitch exclaimed with a grin. “You fried their asses.”

Mitch then lashed out with his sword, slicing deep into the side of one of the monsters, though not enough to kill it. He kicked at the monster to knock it back before slashing at it again and again.

Once Mitch’s monster was dead, he said, “But once I get my class, I hope it’s not something pansy ass like shooting sparks from my fingers.”

“Fuck you,” Antony responded in the same cheerful tone that Mitch had used. “You’ll probably get something useless, like invoker.”

Stine smiled faintly at that, remembering similar friendly insults from his old friends back before… Well, he tried not to think about those days. There had been a lot of good times back then, but now, it all felt like a waste.

He continued to watch as Antony went after a monster with his sword. He’d run out of bolts for his crossbow some time ago, just like Mitch had run out of arrows for his bow. Both men had abandoned their old ranged weapons as just being extra weight to carry and now relied on their scepters for that.

Antony’s new ability more than made up for the missing weapon, or would when he was properly equipped. Once Antony got a staff, his powers as an arcanist could really come into their own. But of course, he could focus his attention on his physical power instead, much the way that Jag did, but Antony seemed the sort who would enjoy being a mage type.

One of the monsters shot towards Mitch and was about to hit him from behind, but Jag was suddenly there, slicing into the monster. It fell down dead by her feet. She glared at Mitch, muttered something about NPCs, then moved on to the next monster.

Once all the monsters were gone, Frank announced, “Everyone, look around for a treasure box.” This was mostly for the benefit of the clients. “They sometimes appear after good monster fights.”

“It’s the Labyrinth’s way of tipping us for being entertaining,” Jag offered with a smirk.

Stine grunted then looked around for any sign of a treasure box. After all, that was what they were really there for. They were in the Labyrinth to collect materials…and possibly new recruits. Mitch and Antony were free labor. No, they were labor who actually paid for the privilege of working. If things worked out, then they might end up becoming more.

“Nothing this time,” Jag spat out in annoyance.

“Disappointing,” Frank said. “We need to find more unobtainium and hopefully some gems.”

Mitch just collapsed to the ground, exhausted and trying to catch his breath. Antony had already slotted at least a couple of his points into vitality, so was doing much better.

“Perhaps the next fight will be enough to unlock your potential,” Frank told Mitch, not bothering to point that that some people simply couldn’t become players, no matter how long they stayed in the Labyrinth. They had no idea if Mitch was one of those people or not.

“I’ll get there,” Mitch responded with a note of frustration in his voice.

“I’m sure you’ll get a good class,” Antony assured him. “Unless you become an invoker.”

Mitch flipped Antony off, then slowly got to his feet. He took a deep breath, then announced, “Okay, I’m ready to keep going.”

“Good,” Frank said, not sparing another look before she began leading the way down the path. However, they hadn’t gone far before she announced, “Wait. There’s something off to the side…”

Frank paused and pointed in a direction that was well away from the road that they’d been following. Stine strained his eyes for a moment before he realized what he was seeing. The ground was badly torn up and charred in that direction, as though there had been a large battle.

“Must have been recent,” Stine pointed out. “Otherwise the Labyrinth would have cleaned it up already.”

“Other players?” Jag asked.

“I don’t know,” Frank answered, already walking in that direction. “But I do intend to get a better look.”

When they reached the area, the battle damage became even more obvious. The ground was charred and cracked, with all vegetation completely seared away. However, what was even more interesting was the fact that something was still there.

At the far end of the wreckage, in what appeared to be a small crater, there was a…creature. It was large, several times larger than the biggest elephant that Stine had ever seen, though it was hard to be sure of exact size because it was sprawled out on the ground. The creature had the general shape and appearance of a wolf, but it’s body was pitch black with swirls of black smoke swirling all around it.

“This isn’t one of the local monsters,” Frank stated grimly. “Not at all.”

“Then what is it?” Antony asked, giving the creature a wary look.

“Maybe a primal,” she answered. “Or something along those lines.”

“You find all sorts of weird shit in the Labyrinth,” Jag said.

“Well, whatever it is,” Mitch said with a smirk. He pointed his scepter at the creature and fired a blast of green energy at it. “It’s dead.”

The giant creature suddenly rippled and shifted position. Stine froze, feeling a sense of power swelling up from in front of him.

“Not dead,” Jag spat out. “Definitely not dead.”

Frank shifted position and raised her axe. “Unfortunately.”

Stine looked at the creature, which began to slowly get to its feet. He liked a good challenge, but he had a feeling that this thing might be more than he could handle. It might be more than all of them could handle.

“I think we need to leave this one alone,” Stine cautioned the others.

Jag gave him a look of surprise while Frank nodded and said, “Agreed.”

They started to back up but the creature was already on its feet and turning to look at them. It stared down at them with glowing red eyes that burned with an intense power.

“That is one big dog,” Mitch started to say, raising his scepter as he did so.

A moment later, Mitch was in the creature’s mouth, being swallowed whole. Then there was a crunch and a spurt of blood before Mitch disappeared entirely.

“MITCH!” Antony yelled, firing a blast of electricity right at the creature’s face. The electricity seemed to pass right through the wolf.

The wolf snapped at Antony but Stine was already in motion. He punched the wolf in the head, activating ‘Explosive Punch’ and unleashing a massive burst of power. The explosion knocked the wolf’s head back but didn’t seem to really hurt it.

“It ate Mitch,” Antony snarled as he raised his sword.

Frank leapt at the wolf, swinging her axe. It came down on the wolf’s head, but it merely shook her off. Stine would have expected a growl or something, but the giant wolf didn’t make a single sound. Instead, it lunged at Stine, who jumped out of the way. Antony jumped forward instead, swinging his sword right at the creature’s eye.

“LOOK OUT!” Jag yelled, but she was too late.

Antony’s sword went into the creature’s eye, but it barely seemed to notice. Instead, it snapped its head around and bit into Antony. There was a loud scream and a crunch, then their second client was gone like the first.

“And I was just starting to like him too,” Jag spat out, clearly pissed off.

Five copies of Jag suddenly appeared and began running towards the wolf. It bit at one of the copies, which then vanished a moment later. Then it snapped at the second. By the time it got to the third, the real Jag was already close enough to begin slicing at its leg with her daggers.

Stine saw what Jag was trying to do, taking its legs out from under it. He nodded and rushed in to help. But then, a pair of jaws suddenly closed on his shoulder and bit down. Flesh and bone were torn and crushed. The only reason the arm hadn’t been torn off completely was that ‘Reinforce’ was still active.

Frank and Jag rushed the monster, who dropped Stine to the ground, apparently forgotten for the moment. He landed on his ruined arm, which made him let out a yelp of pain, but he refused to let that stop him.

By the time Stine got back to his feet, he saw that Frank and Jag were both sprawled out on the ground. The giant wolf stood over them, looking as though it was about to finish them off. Then, it suddenly tilted its head and listened for something. Stine didn’t hear anything.

“Come on,” Stine urged himself as he struggled to get back to his feet. “I still have one usable arm…”

Without any warning, the giant wolf abruptly turned and walked away, apparently deciding that it was done with them. Stine just watched it go with a sense of relief. Then he turned his attention to his two teammates, both of whom were still alive.

“Damn, I’m bruised,” Jag grumbled. “And I think I sprained my ankle.”

“But you’re still alive,” Frank pointed out. “I’m not sure any of us would have been if that thing was at full health.”

“What do you mean?” Stine asked.

“Did you notice the wounds in its side?” Frank asked. “It was bleeding smoke…”

“Something hurt it,” Stine said in realization, remembering that this whole area had been the scene of a previous battle. “Anything that could hurt that…”

“Is not something I want to face,” Frank agreed. “And with the way that smoke wolf ran off, I’m worried that whatever hurt it might still be around.”

“Shit,” Jag grumbled. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to run into it.”

“Me either,” Frank agreed with a grimace. “At the moment, neither of you is in any condition for a serious fight. In fact, It’s going to be hard enough just making it through the Labyrinth.”

“It’s not like we have much choice in the matter,” Jag pointed out. “We’re already inside.”

“True,” Frank agreed. “But I think we’re fairly close to one of the entrances, so we should probably make for that and get out of the Labyrinth for awhile.”

“That sounds good to me,” Stine said.

He carefully avoided looking at the spots where Mitch and Antony had died. They’d known the danger of making a Labyrinth run, but he still felt guilty for not being able to keep them alive. Instead, he focused on what they should do next.

“Where does it go to?” Stine asked.

“Canada,” Frank answered simply as she began to slowly move down the trail again, leaving Stine and Jag to follow at their own pace. “We’re going to Canada.”