The labyrinth shook from my punches. Whenever I hit a dead end, I’d make it a new path. Scraps of mana would chip away from the walls before the stone would crumble alongside it.

  I felt my foot sink into a pressure plate. Hidden holes in the walls opened and peppered the walkway with arrows. They plinked off of my maximized armor like they were foam darts before clattering uselessly on the ground.

  “Cute.”

  I punched one of the arrowed walls, collapsing it and the magical mechanisms within. I stepped through, my tongue licking ahead to see if there were any different sensations here.

  But, there was nothing.

  I had hoped that, if I just punched in a straight line all the way through, then I would eventually find the outer edge and destroy it. So far, that assumption hadn’t bore much fruit. Each new hallway was functionally the same as the one that I had left. Sure, they had slightly different layouts, but they were still the same stale thing; like a padded room with the furniture rearranged.

  “Is this related to the myth?” I wondered aloud.

  My presence in this hallway triggered a new encounter. A whooshing sound could be heard in front of me as a burst of light killed all the shadows. A large fireball whizzed up the corridor towards me like it was a fastball thrown by Greg “Mad Dog” Maddux.

  I slapped the fireball sideways. The nerves in my fingers screamed and my flesh cooked to a nice medium rare as I blasted the fireball into the stone; turning the area into a recreation on Pompeii.

  The smell of cooking flesh from my hand reminded me of the Cave of Starvation that Senior Brother had thrown me in. I salivated at the scent of my own flesh, the mental barriers preventing auto-cannibalism broken down like the walls I smashed my fists through.

  I did not indulge myself. I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for the cooked beef that I could have later.

  Speaking of, where was the worthless fucker? Had he gotten lost in his own maze and couldn’t find me? It wasn’t as though I was being very subtle about all of this.

  I punched another wall. I punched floor. I stomped and smashed and roared to shake the mana ceiling. I made as much of a racket as I could to bring him my way. Even if he was hiding and plotting, at least do it somewhere near me. Give me something to do besides wander this desolate place.

  “Come and fucking get me!” I hollered.

  The only response I got was my echo bouncing off the walls and the sound of crumbling stone.

  Did he even come down here with me?

  It was possible that this was some sort of prison realm; it certainly felt like one now that the peace was getting into my head. Perhaps they were taking this chance to recover and slay all of my feeble soldiers before taking me on all at once. I mean, it wasn’t that much of a hindrance, more food for me eventually. That is, if they let me out.

  I know Charles wouldn’t help me. I can already picturing him laughing if it turns out that I’m stuck here.

  Well, I’d just have to free myself. Eventually, I’d deal enough damage to this place that it couldn’t sustain itself. All I had to do was keep playing Godzilla until that day came.

  My hands knocked over fake buildings and terrorized invisible people to distract myself from the mundanity of playing regular demolition man. It was less fun than taking a sledgehammer to some drywall, but it was better than sitting here with just my thoughts and nothing else.

  “Ah shit, guess I’m lost,’ I finally admitted out loud after yet another wall went nowhere.

  As though that were some sort of trigger phrase, a slow drumbeat spread through the labyrinth. A deafening horn came over top of it but quickly faded away.

  A rumbling gripped the floor and I looked in all different directions to track down the source. I could hear the clattering of iron shackles rubbing against stone.

  The shaking grew more violent, the rumbling louder. The drums moved faster, creating a tempo that matched my heartbeat.

  Then, the hulking form of the minotaur was in view. He did not look the same as before. He had ditched his armor in favor of being bare chested. Golden bangles covered his horns and iron chains danged from a heavy pair of manacles on his wrists and ankles.

  “Finally!” I shouted in exasperation.

  The minotaur did not speak. He went directly to business and charged me as soon as he turned his head towards me. His muscles bulged and the chains smashed into the walls behind him, carving long winding divots in the stone as they went by.

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  I tilted my head to the side. This wasn’t the same talkative beast that I came across. Something in my instincts told me that it would be different. But, I didn’t mind that at all and readied myself to intercept him. The only way that I’ll figure out what’s actually different about him is to experience it firsthand.

  The horned beast smashed into me at full speed. I gripped my hands around the horns and dug my feet into the stone. Once I got him stopped, I would use this narrow corridors to my advantage. It was far too tight for his axe, the only thing I really was wary of.

  But, he didn’t stop. The force applied that held him back before did not seem to work again. I felt my feet lose traction on the stone and my talons scrabble against the ground as I was pushed backwards.

  I bent my knees, trying to get my feet more contact with the ground. I felt my scales heating up from the friction created with the stone floor.

  Then, we started moving faster. The temporary force I applied to break his momentum was no longer good enough.

  I spewed my acidic breath on him. I slashed my tail against his legs. I tried to wrench his horns in a specific direction. None of it worked. It was like he was a stone statue on a rocket sled, moving at ramming speed into the next thing that tried to stop it.

  Stone walls might as well have been made of foam. We smashed through layer after layer until my back was covered in dust and small cuts.

  I wasn’t getting any headway this way. For another annoying time, I had to create some separation. I looked over my shoulder and saw an intersection ahead. I pushed myself to the side and allowed the stampede to smash through the next wall.

  Before he could stop, before he could turn, I rushed out behind him to rip into his back.

  He wasn’t there.

  Before I could look around properly, I heard a jangle of chains. I turned my head to see the minotaur’s fist heading directly into my face. I widened my stance and took the punch to the cheek. It whipped my neck to the side and strained my body, but I held firm.

  “This is my game,” I said through clenched teeth.

  I’d take a good boxing match any day of the week. I swung with all my might into his midsection. A small grunt escaped his lips, but that was it. He released his own heavyweight swing and I moved to block with my forearms.

  A truckload of meat smashed into my scales and made me slide an inch backwards. He loaded up another punch but I wasn’t that interested in playing defense. My relatively smaller frame allowed me to step deep within his stance and deliver a punishing strike to the chest while his overhead landed awkwardly and without much power.

  He tried to step away, but I was right on top of him with another blast to the body with my right that was quickly followed-up with my left. He pressed his hands together and lifted them high over his head.

  I refused to give up my position. It would not be proper to give him even an inch to initiate another charge. I’d rather take the punishment if it meant that I could keep delivering it.

  The pair of hands smashed into my head and I saw stars as my legs felt gelatinous. I wouldn’t be able to answer where I was, what the score is, who the president is, or any other concussion protocol question.

  But, I was present enough to see him try to take a step away from me. I was aware enough to take a step forward. I threw a punch but didn’t like how it felt and an overhead slam hit my shoulder.

  I wrapped my arms as much around his body as I could. I pulled as hard as I could like I was uprooting a massive tree possessed by Mike Tyson. I felt another fist crash against me as I kept pulling until he was an inch off of the ground.

  With all of my strength, I swung him upwards. He left my grasp and flew several feet off the ground. Before he could fall I loaded up a nuclear uppercut. With enough strength to knock the blue out of some denim, I hit the minotaur center mass. The force sent him crashing against the mana ceiling above. His sturdy body rumbled against the magic and cracked the dome.

  The world shattered in an instant, leaving us back in the battlefield that we left. The snake, the raccoon, and that tiny weird thing were all missing. Now it was just me and this bull.

  He landed on his feet and snorted angrily. Though the labyrinth was no longer a concern, he had yet to revert to his former appearance. His battle axe dropped from the ether and into his firm grasp. He smashed it into the ground with a spray of magma.

  It was preferred. The stronger, the better.

  I went to strike him, but my body didn’t move. I was held in some sort of suspended animation. Magic coursed around my body, invisibly clasping me in place. I looked down to see another pressure plate sticking out of the mud on the battlefield. Somehow, some remnants of the maze were left behind in the real world.

  “You were always too reckless,” the minotaur grunted.

  He hefted his axe over his head to carve my life away. I could see the anticipation dance across his face; the closeness he felt to his ultimate destination.

  A laugh inadvertently passed my lips.

  I learned by now that one’s magic skill directly determined how effective these sorts of things were against you. All I had to was raise my stat beyond the reasonable limit of this place and it shattered like glass around me.

  I stepped to the side, allowing the axe to come crashing down beside me while I leveled a punch directly into the minotaur’s throat.

  Scales hit skin and muscle warred with muscle. Natural bulk and the bonuses of this new form prevented my fist from doing the damage that it was capable of. But, it did manage to disrupt his breathing. A satisfying choking sound eeked out of his mouth as he stumbled, giving me the glorious chance to string some attacks together.

  But, when my fist came crashing down against his nose, I felt an equally powerful force pulling my arm backwards. A fountain of blood spewed from the bull’s nose, but it wasn’t the devastation I wanted.

  “Tauren! We got you!” A voice called out.

  I turned my head to see a near-invisible magic string wrapped around my wrist. I pulled forward like an angry swordfish caught on the line; feeling some resistance on the other side, but not nearly enough.

  Then, I felt the same pulls on my ankles and my tail. I whipped my head around to see a tiny furred figure disappear behind the safety of the trees.

  The raccoon.

  “Get him, Pooka!” Tauren shouted with a wheeze. “Make this fucker stay put.”

  An eclipse briefly blocked out the sun and left me in shadow. I looked upwards to see a massive tyrannosaurus rex appear above me. It descended down like the meteor that destroyed its kind all those millions of years ago.

  I pulled again, releasing my arm before working on my legs. However, they were not going to be so generous as to let me do this unopposed. Every trap I wriggled and pulled my way out of was quickly replaced with something else to restrain me. Vines were replaced by nets to be replaced with magic locks. They emptied their entire inventory of restraints just to keep me in place for a few more seconds. Just until that giant foot landed on my head.

  “Oh fuck.”