To Sam's surprise, he wasn't scared. A single glance told him others weren't as well. Mia's previous panic about the change in her appearance also disappeared. He didn't have time to think if this was somehow connected to the strange increase in his physical strength as there was something more important to deal with.
„We need to surround it! Confuse it to increase our chances!" Evan screamed as the monster jumped forward.
They all scattered, making it harder for the creature to pick directions. The unfortunate one was Sam, as the monster chose to go for him, but the teenager was smart enough to look for a cover behind the pillars.
The rest flanked the creature immediately as it swung its hand at their comrade, then jumped to hack at it.
The massive hand smashed into the row of pillars, but to everybody's surprise, it was unable to break them, despite what the logic would suggest, as the slam was mighty, capable of throwing a car into the air.
Evan used the opening to shoot the strange energy from his gun-hand right at the ribs of the creature. It burned a hole through the rags, melting them easily, but the rotting flesh was a different matter. More blisters appeared, and the monster briefly turned its attention to the teenager, reaching toward him with a long arm, but at this moment Oliver charged at its legs with the roaring chainsaw. Jordan did the same, also targeting the rear of the creature.
The only one doing nothing was Mia, as even Sam, despite being in the most disadvantageous position, dared to take a stab. The blade did pierce the skin, but only barely, because using the weapon with a left hand was awkward for him.
He was surprised the attack was this successful. Not only did his strength prove to be increased for some reason, something he already observed dealing with the doors, but also the sword itself was remarkably sharp.
This little attack must have been painful to the monster, as its attention shifted back to Samuel. The rest continued hacking, while the teenager was forced to avoid the long arms which now were determined to catch him, only to tear him apart.
Mia, encouraged by the efforts of others, joined Jordan, by going all the way around the mighty adversary. She bit the back leg, already injured by the axe. The monster wailed, this time out of pain, reaching back. The girl didn't expect it, as so far it ignored everybody but Sam. There was also another problem. Her needle-like teeth sunk deep, so pulling all of them out was a problem. She squealed, trying to do it, but unfortunately, she was too late. Before she was able to dodge, she was grabbed by a long arm, which swung like a whip, smashing her into the ground.
„Kua!" Escaped her mouth with a burst of blood. She was dead. Right then and there.
Oliver retreated, alongside Jordan, as they witnessed proof they weren't as safe as they thought. Evan kept shooting. Sam too saw a room to attack, so he stabbed the creature again, poking from behind the pillars.
He hit right next to the single, narrow eye, which opened surprisingly rarely, hinting that the creature was relying on different senses for navigation in the surrounding environment.
'Fuck, if I only spotted that sooner,' he thought, gritting his teeth hard, immediately retreating, only to throw himself to the side, because a massive hand fell right upon him.
The monster had enough of this. It crawled over the pedestals, forcing Sam to sprint. The movement prompted the rest to try attacking again. Especially Evan was keen on distracting the creature, so it would have a hard time catching Samuel, but not enough so it would deem him as a more important target.
Despite the cuts on the back legs, the monster didn't show any significant problems with moving. There was a bit of dark, brownish blood left after every step, but it was all they managed to achieve.
Evan's impertinence slowed the creature enough for Sam to escape beyond its grasp, which earned the teenager a loud wail from the toothy maw, as it briefly looked at him with its only eye. The gesture spooked him, making him stop shooting. Oliver and Jordan retreated as well, too afraid of becoming the next target of the monster. That bought it enough time to leap into the air, landing right on top of Sam.
He was pinned down, with the massive maw about to tear him to pieces, but as it tightened around him, he blocked it with the shield. The teeth scraped on the metal, unable to break it, or even bent it. The breath was horrible, intoxicating because of its intensity. It made him feel dizzy.
Groaning, fighting for his life, he struggled to survive, but only for a moment.
Oliver deemed that the fight was lost, so he bolted toward the exit. That made the creature stop trying to eat Sam, and instead focus on the deserter. It looked at the running politician, creating an opportunity for the teenager to slash it across the mouth. The blade cut the rotten flesh deeply, but not enough for Oliver to be left alone.
'It doesn't want to let us escape,' Sam noted in his mind as he was getting up.
The monster charged at the deserter, leaping into the air, to land heavily in front of the man, blocking his path. He screamed, swinging the roaring chainsaw hand at the beast, but the steel teeth of the chain weren't able to do much damage, while one swing of the monster's mighty hand, sent the man flying.
He smashed into the ground a few meters away, only to roll even further due to the impact. The still-active chainsaw hand tore his torso to shreds, spraying the red bits all around. The rest didn't even have time to think about reaction, as the creature didn't bother to consume the corpse, it immediately stormed after Jordan, who was the closest.
The jock started running, while Evan attempted to distract the creature by shooting at it, but he mostly missed. „AAAAAA!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Jordan's attempt to flee was useless, as he was way slower than the creature which got to him in a moment. It landed on top of him. He tried to fight, swinging the axe, and even managed to cut inside of the toothy maw that fell upon him, drawing some blood, but his attacks were nothing compared to rows of razor-sharp teeth that ripped him in half.
The meal was spat out and abandoned, as the monster continued the hunt.
Evan knew that alone he was an easy target so he began sprinting toward his last comrade. Knowing that if the two of them fell, he would lose the slim chance of winning against the creature, Sam also ran toward the teenager. They united, only for the creature to reach them.
It swung its mighty arm at Samuel, who ducked down, covering himself with the shield. The limb slid on the slick metal surface, but the impact was so mighty, it still almost tore off the teenager's hand.
„AAAAAA!" Screaming Evan kept unloading his gun-hand, only to get panted across the chamber with one slam of the annoyed creature.
Then its toothy maw fell on top of Sam, who once again blocked the sharp teeth with the shield.
„Fuck it!" He screamed, thrusting the sword right into the open mouth, as a wave of horrible breath hit him, making him feel dizzy yet again.
The creature wailed, then fell limp on top of the boy, twitching every few seconds, until it stopped moving at all.
Gasping heavily, Sam crawled from under the heavy rotting carcass. He got to his feet, looking around at the scene of carnage around.
„Congratulations!" Said the soft, high-pitched voice. „You cleared the fourth trial. You cleared the labyrinth! Your effort will be rewarded! Please follow the light to find the exit! Congratulations!"
From the corpse of the monster, a ball of light emerged, and it flew, zooming through the air, it stopped, in front of Sam's face. At that moment he was distracted by a wet cough, coming from the side. He looked there, ignoring the light. It was Evan, picking himself up from the floor. His face was bloody, just like the white shirt he was wearing. His gun-hand was twisted weirdly. On top of that, he appeared to be unable to put any weight on his left leg.
Sam rushed to him, ignoring the ball of light, which flew right after him but kept pointing toward the exit from the chamber as if it wished to direct him somewhere.
„Are you alright?!" he screamed to Evan.
„No," the teenager grunted. „But I'm alive."
Just a moment later they were together, making it possible for Samuel to provide some help to his colleague. He made the effort slightly harder by keeping the sword, as the weapon was too valuable to be abandoned.
„What now? The light?" Evan grunted with a face twisted by pain.
„I think so..."
Slowly they started walking, in a few steps confirming that indeed the light was guiding them toward the exit from the chamber. They were wounded, exhausted, sleep-deprived, thirsty, and hungry, so they were quite slow. It was hard to say how long it took them to cross the labyrinth. At some point, Sam had to carry Evan, whose situation was slowly but steadily getting worse. He had to have some kind of internal injury because he kept coughing blood.
Eventually, though, they found a passage, once again obscured by swirling darkness. This time they didn't hesitate, passing immediately through, only to get blinded by the light.
Fighting with pain, they looked around, only to see the same vast space that before hosted The Judge in the center, but now the massive humanoid was gone, just as the food, the throne, and the table. Instead of it, on a short pedestal laid a book.
„L-let me rest," Evan gasped. „Go check that thing."
Sam helped him sit on the ground, next to the passage they just used, then marched toward the tome with the sword still in his hand. It was open, and on a white page, only a single sentence was written.
'It was all a lie.'
As soon as he read it, he was blinded by a flash of intense light, which consumed the world around him.