Zack and Jake made their way deeper, dealing with more and more obstacles. But each was dealt with or avoided as quickly as possible.
As they ran through the maze-like rats, the announcer Moon D would speak more. His voice was joyful but mocking, and he wasn't just mocking Jake and Zack. No, he was mocking all the other applicants that were still in the maze. "Oh ho! Well, would you look at that? There seem to be a few more applicants that have made it to the goal," he said, laughing and cheering. "If I'm ta do a head count, I'd say more than a hundred have already qualified to advance. The rest of you little mice better hurry up! Don't fall behind! Rush, rush!" Moon D laughed, taking joy from messing with the applicants.
Many of them started to move more frantically, not paying attention. Applicants started making stupid mistakes, losing in fights against machines, falling for traps. Many applicants, out of fear, weren't paying attention to their surroundings anymore. The fear of failure that Moon D had set in their soul was consuming them, and that all-consuming fear, in turn, made them fail anyway.
But one of the few applicants that wasn't fazed by the announcer's constant taunting was Zack. The spiky-haired young man ran full speed, head never once slowing down. And even while moving at a fast pace, he was fully aware of what was happening around him and Jake.
And speaking of Jake, he was still running behind Zack, but not nearly as hard or as fast. Zack, to Jake, seemed like an already trained soldier. Jake felt that they had been running for hours. Jake's chest hurt, his legs were burning, he was panting like a dog as he ran. But Zack was still moving at his best; to Jake, he didn't even seem tired. And he wasn't. He was determined not to lose. Zack didn't give two shits about failure when it came to anything else, but right now, failure meant he loses. And to him, this whole exam was just a fun little game. And Zack hated losing at games. So, he kept going, charging forward, with Jake following behind as best he could.
The pair ran, then turned a corner. They avoided all the booby traps, then turned down another corner. As they ran, they saw something different. Up until now, all they saw was the same tall, narrow walls. It gave them the impression that they were running down hallways, even though they were in a maze. But they could see coming up that they were about to exit the narrow hallways and enter a more open area. And by the looks of it, there was a lot of commotion going on.
It had been quite a while since Zack had spoken to Jake, but seeing things were about to get a bit dicier, he did. "Yo, Jake, heads up! I think we're about to hit the final stretch of the maze."
"You… really… think… so?" Jake could barely get the words out; his voice was raspy and hoarse. But he kept running, even though his thighs were yelling at him to stop.
"Yeah, I do. But get ready. I think it's about to get really tough." Jake tried to prepare himself for whatever could be waiting for them as best he could.
Zack Truesdale was correct. This more open area was the final leg of the maze. No matter what entrance any of the applicants took, all roads led here. As Jake and Zack entered, they saw the reason for all the commotion. There were hordes of applicants charging forward, but each being forcefully knocked back.
"We can't do it!" some of them cried out. "That isn't natural!" Others: "That thing's a monster!"
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More than half of the applicants that were in this area were terrified. And once Zack and Jake were in the fold, they could understand. As Zack was leading the way from afar, he couldn't make out what was happening, but what he could see was a large figure fighting off an army of applicants.
But now he got a good look, and as Jake was catching his breath, so did he. And when he did, his eyes went big, and he forgot for a moment how to breathe. On the other side of the open area, opposite to where all the applicants came in, was a figure.
A large, black, hairy figure. It stood right in front of the only exit, the exit leading to the finish line. If one had taken just a quick glance, they would have thought the figure was just a large man. But it wasn't, but in a way, it was. The figure before them guarding the exit was a man, but he wasn't a human.
What stood before all the applicants was an 8-foot-tall bull standing on two legs. But it wasn't fully an animal either. No, it was a mixture of the two, a mix of human and beast. The figure had hair like a bull; it had the face and horns like one too. It clearly had hooves for feet, but it stood upright like a man. Its torso, though covered in black hair, was clearly chiseled like a man.
His hands… that was the thing. The figure had hands, something animals don't have. And in those hands, it held a large, double-sided axe. The bull, standing like a man, wore attire nearly similar to the Sullivans. On that night, it wore military attire.
Before these applicants was the last hurdle they had to overcome. They had to somehow get past a beastman and a warrior one at that. Many applicants that weren't laying on the ground bleeding were just standing there, shaking in their boots.
"I'm pretty sure some even wet themselves, and one couldn't blame them; they were terrified. I mean, they didn't sign up for this.
But I don't mean they weren't expecting to face a beastman. To be totally honest, they weren't. But they were terrified because of what the bull beastman was holding. The axe he had was like their rental weapons, and it wasn't a blunt instrument, just like the machines used. No, it was much closer to what Jake was holding in his own hand right now.
The beastman was holding in his hands one of the mystic swords, sword number 21: Rickenbacker. "I… I… I… thought… this was just an entrance exam," one of the applicants cried. "They never said they'd be using one of the mystic swords against us."
The bull-man looked at the shaking humans trembling in fear. He looked them up and down, then scoffed. Then it opened its mouth and spoke in a deep, booming voice.
"And why would they?" he said. "This academy is for soldiers, and a true soldier must be ready for anything. So why would they tell if they knew none of you would participate knowing that we would be here?" The beastman took a step forward; its mighty hoof cracked the ground beneath him as he took a step forward.
Many in the crowd took one or more steps back. Seeing this, the mighty beastman chuckled.
"Do you intend to do nothing? I won't lie, doing nothing is an option. But that won't lead you to success. The only way to get to the finish line is to get past me, Angus the Minotaur."
The beastman readied his blade for combat as he told the crowd, "Come at me." The tension in the air was palpable, fear mixing with determination as the applicants looked at each other, realizing the gravity of the challenge ahead.