Past the door there stood a huge maze, the walls stood tall, the material pure hard stone. Looking at it made you feel lost before you even entered, proving how difficult the first phase would be.
"This is the location of the first phase, the maze of traps," Seton started. "For this exam, you'll have to navigate your way out of this maze. A map and compass of the maze will be given to you. As to be adventurers, you'll need to be able to navigate. This maze is not free of traps, so you'll have to be careful. You have three hours in the maze. If you don't come out by that time you lose."
The receptionist who had been with them at the entrance handed every team a map and compass. "Every team is expected to take different entrances. Each entrance has a team color on it, take the entrance that has your color. When you hear a whistle start moving."
All the teams moved to their entrances, Luna studying the map and grinning at her crew members. "Don't worry this my area of expertise. I'll make sure we get out of here."
Paolo nodded. "We trust you."
The shrill sound of the whistle pierced through the air and all the teams went into the maze, their hearts set on winning.
"We should be careful of traps," Aline warned. "They surely intend for people to die in this thing."
They nodded at her warning, moving in the different directions Luna led them. For about thirty minutes everything seemed relatively peaceful until Paolo stepped on a loose floorboard, the piece going deeper into the ground.
His crew mates glared at him, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. "Oops."
A rumble sounded in the distance, heavy vibrations flowing through the grounds to their spines.
"What's that noise?" Shinzo asked, eyes squinting into the distance.
His question got answered, a huge boulder rolling towards them at top speed. The object tumbled forward, ready to clear everything in its path – including them.
Shinzo gulped. "Holy crap."
Aline brought out one of her swords, lifting it in the air,
She sliced the air, the bolder cutting in half and both sides falling to the side. Astounded by her sword prowess, the four other adventurers clapped, the sound irritating Aline.
Octavius popped a licorice in his mouth, chewing the candy as he spoke. "Pretty cool."
"I give it a ten for effectiveness," Paolo said, giving her a thumbs up.
"I give it an eight since she's the one that gave the blow," Shinzo commented.
"It was still pretty cool," Luna said.
Aline clenched her fists, her eyes twitching. "You guys…"
In a few seconds, the four had bruises on their head.
"Meanie," they all chanted, rubbing the bruises.
Aline smiled menacingly, cracking her knuckles. "Did you say something?"
"No."
....
Lichto smiled at the dead goblins that had attacked him and his red team, chuckling lowly. "Such stupid creatures, we've so got this in the bag."
At the same time, the blue haired adventurer cleaned the blood on his cheeks with a handkerchief and kicked the corpse of the huge serpent. "Don't get in my way."
Meanwhile, the Cross Heart Adventurers got attacked by a huge ogre, the monster holding up a giant club that hovered over the crew.
Aline pushed up her glasses. "What a huge ogre."
Luna smiled. "He's pretty cute, can we add him to the crew?"
"Of-"
Shinzo slapped Paolo at the back of his head before he could agree. "No way in hell."
Paolo pouted. "But he's so cool."
The ogre growled, trying to instill fear in the crew and then slammed its club downwards. The crew dodged, Octavius rolling his eyes like nothing had happened. "You guys, we need to move. We only have thirty minutes left."
"True," Luna said, looking back at the map.
They walked past the ogre as if he wasn't there, the monster silently watching them leave. Once it realized it was being ignored, it growled angrily, green ears perking up and fangs wet with spit.
Aline lifted the hilt of her sword up, only showing a little of her blade to the monster. Luna brought out her wand and the three boys crunched their knuckles. The five adventurers kept their back turned, heads tilted to face the monster.
Paolo spoke up for the crew, the monster shrinking back at the dark aura that surrounded them. "If you want to play, we'll entertain you, but are you sure about that."
The monster gulped, fear shifting to its loins. The monster's instincts kicked in, understanding it would be dead if it tried to attack the humans, so it begun to run backwards.
Aline and Lune retracted their weapons, Paolo turning to face Luna. "How long till the exit?"
"We're almost there, just a few more places," Luna assured.
"There are so many things lurking about like that huge bear that almost ate Octavius," Aline said.
Octavius smiled. "Good thing I beat it up."
After ten minutes of walking, Luna suddenly stopped at a wall, blinking rapidly before looked back hurriedly at the map.
"Did we make a wrong turn?" Shinzo asked.
Luna shook her head. "This is definitely the right place. I think we're trapped."
"Maybe there's a hidden door," Paolo suggested.
They started to feel the wall for a loose brick, their hands making no progress. Unfortunately for them, things got a whole lot worse when Shinzo stepped on a loose title.
The walls around them started to close in, threatening to squash them like pancakes. The crew flipped their head to Shinzo, glaring at him with every angry fiber of their being. The vice-captain shrunk back, their anger weighing down on him.
"Oops."
.....
"They won't make it," Lichto said, being one of the first people to arrive. "It was foolish of them to think they could."
"Maybe they got eaten by a monster," one of his teammates suggested.
They snickered. "Kids will only get bitten if they take on more than they can chew."
"Don't you think you're underestimating them too much?"
Lichto frowned at the blue haired adventurer, head held high. "You've been to this exam twice already, you should understand that idealistic kids like that have no chance of making it."
"If that's what you think, you're no fit to be an adventurer."
The thing that happened next silenced everyone in the room. Lichto barreled forward to attack the boy, but a blonde in the blue haired boy's crew pressed his sword to his neck, blue eyes looking up at him with ill intent.
"Don't touch my captain or you're dead."
The blue haired captain cast his indifferent gaze on his subordinate. "William, pull back, what have I said about toying with people."
The blonde pulled back, an easygoing smile spreading on his lips. "Sorry, sorry, he was just annoying so killing him didn't seem like a problem."
A girl with black hair in a mermaid braid scoffed, crossing her arms. "It's partially your fault that we failed our first time, attacking the examiner."
"Aila, sweetheart, I've apologized countless times. Plus, the captain took part so I'm not completely to blame."
Lichto glared at the crew in front of him, blue eyes digging into them. "Don't be cocky because you have the Diaz name, I'll show you who the real king here is."
The blue haired boy stared at him, his indifference palpable. "It's because you act like that that you can't tell who the real gems are. Just shut up and watch what real greatness looks like."
.....
The Cross Heart Adventurers were panicking, the five in a frantic search for some sort of secret button, the walls coming for their lives.
"Find a button, dammit," Luna snapped.
"We're trying," Aline snapped back.
Octavius watched them jump around as the wall came close to flattening them, wracking his brain for a way to get them out of there. His eyes landed on the wall in front of them, an idea forming into existence. He twisted his wrists, summoning a giant hammer.
Octavius slammed the hammer on the wall, the wall breaking away instantly. "If there's no way out, force your way out." The crew stared at him, mouth wide as he sucked on the lollipop in his mouth. "Let's go."
They shook away their surprise, stepping out of the hole as the walls closed in. They sighed, all the stress and anxiety flowing out.
"We barely made it," Shinzo mumbled.
The adventurers who had made it through, stared at them wide eyed, the blue haired boy turning away as if some sort of question had been answered.
"They made it," Lichto mumbled.
Seton looked at his watch. "Looks like time is up, thirty five out of fifty teams passed."
The Cross Heart Adventurers cheered, high fiving and hugging each other.
"We passed," Luna sang, hugging Aline. "This calls for a swig." She gulped down a bottle of rum. "The best kind of celebration drink."
"And celebration candy." Octavius handed each of them a piece of candy, the five of them unwrapping it and putting it in their mouth.
Seton smiled, their happiness contagious. "Congratulations on passing the first phase." He opened a huge door behind him, moving inside. "Let's move on to the next one."