Chapter 24:

"What do you think the monthly punishment is this time?" Jonas asked.

Bjorn just shrugged, like he didn't care.

But I considered Loki had said something about me being sent back to the Lesser Hall. But if it's variable, perhaps that was something else.

"You don't think it's being sent back down?" I asked. Jonas shrugged in response.

"No idea. That doesn't sound good, though. If people who've been here for a long time have to complete the challenge, is it the same challenge? Because they should be, like, way more powerful, assuming they have been getting levels and training," I said.

Both Bjorn and Jonas seemed thoughtful about this--legitimately thoughtful, not just like the brain fog was eating away at their independent will.

"It's got to be. All right. Maybe there's a minimum completion or progress in one run to avoid punishment. Not completing the whole thing," Jonas volunteered and ordered.

"It made sense to have a floor but also have a reward for further progress." It didn't really matter. We were still going to take our first crack at it. Might as well, I concluded.

So I walked up the steps and pushed open the doors. The three of us wandered into a massive empty room with marble columns and a swirling black vortex on the far side.

A clearing throat to the right and behind me made all three of us spin around, and we saw a raven sitting on a desk.

I stared at it and made the sound again before starting to turn to head back towards the portal. But then the raven spoke.

"You must register first. Present your tokens," it said.

"What?" I said, and the other two gave us baffled looks.

"You must register," The raven said. "How else will we know who's completed a run?"

Was this raven intelligent or just mimicking voices that were heard? It sure sounded like it was just mimicking things, but the way it responded was eerie. I walked forward and presented my token. The raven tapped it with his beak and then looked at the other two.

"Um, we're new," I said. "How far do we have to get for the run to count?"

The raven cocked its head as it shuffled its feet, the head not moving in relation to what I was looking at and the eerie bird sort of way.

"Will be explained in the challenge," the bird said in its same voice as it authenticated both Bjorn and Jonas.

And we all walked over towards the portal. Next to it was a massive stone plinth with carvings on it. The carvings looked very precise and clearly not done by someone unskilled.

The top read, "Flame Bird Team. Clear time: one hour, 22 minutes, six seconds," Right beneath it was "Skullhold Helm Team. Clear time: one hour, 22 minutes, seven seconds."

I scanned the list at the bottom where rank 100 was. A team with a time of an hour and 25 minutes. So, I guess it was possible to clear the whole thing in a decent amount of time.

It seemed like this was a leaderboard where prizes would be given out based on placement, but there was no indication of what those prizes were. Maybe it was just bragging rights, but I doubted it. Competition seems very fierce. The top ten times were all within a minute of each other.

Looking at my two friends, I held up three fingers, then two, then one. And then, when I had an empty fist, we all stepped through the portal.

The familiar blackness of a challenge surrounded me, but it didn't last long. In front of me, glowing runes formed and turned into characters that I could read.

Now entering: The den mother's abode.

Progress: 0%.

Minimum progress Completion: 20%.

Rewards will be determined based on completion percentage and speed.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Good luck.

I blinked. That was a new sort of magic. The most I'd ever seen similar to this was the one time my stats were shown to me in between rounds of a challenge and the number 12 right before the final round.

But it was good to know that we only needed to complete 20% of the challenge, and that was the minimum run to escape punishment. And "the den mother's abode." That sounded ominous.

Sure enough, when the darkness receded, we were all standing in a cave. Not dirt, not a rock cave, not something with fancy stalagmites and stalactites, with crystals or bats, but a really, really big badger den. Dirt walls and ceilings had roots the size of my forearm poking through and in tendrils that waved slightly and a stench permeating the air that nearly caused me to double over.

I looked around and saw nothing besides a dirt wall behind this. Jonas and Bjorn appeared half a second behind me. Jonas covered his mouth and nose with his shirt while Bjorn just looked around, confused.

"Den mother," he said. And I shrugged.

"Looks like we're in a badger's den. I mean, those little black and white striped things are. Not that dangerous. It shouldn't be too bad," Jonas said.

I looked at him. "Ah. That's right. It depends on if those are European badgers or American badgers. And I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not the polite European kind."

Janus looked at me. "Well, I mean, Norse mythology is from Europe."

"Yeah, but when has it ever been that easy?" I asked.

Both of them shook their heads, and without further comment, all of us began walking. Out of the only entrance, a dirt tunnel led off for about a quick five-minute journey until we reached an opening.

In front of us were five badgers around knee-high. And they did not have the black and white stripes of the much more tame European badgers but rather the snarling faces like wolverines. I didn't actually know the difference. Their teeth were as long as my fingers, and they didn't look happy to see us.

"Uh," I said. But Bjorn was already charging past me. I didn't think this was going to go very well.

Bjorn's reckless charge left Jonas and me with no choice but to follow. The five badgers converged on Bjorn, and I doubted that he could take more than one without a weapon. Even if he had his sword or something like a halberd and or a shield, I still didn't think he could take all five at once.

My improved speed helped me catch up to him right as he collided. His slam into the two center badgers sent all three of them tumbling. When I grabbed the one on the farthest right, I was nearly jerked off my feet. Even if my strength was absurdly high, I still didn't have that much mass.

Jonas crashed into the one on the furthest left, leaving one badger free. I was very concerned but didn't have time to think about it as I was too busy trying to stop the twenty, the five pairs. Five sets of claws for the four sets of claws from tearing into me while holding its fangs away from my throat.

I was slightly larger than the badger and managed to hook its ankle and flip it over onto its back. Putting my hand on its chest like I would a disobedient dog, I held it down. But it writhed more like a cat would, its spine insanely flexible as it clawed at my arm and snapped its teeth. I grabbed at its throat with my fingers, trying to squeeze its windpipe, and I could feel it gagging, but I didn't quite have the strength to crush it, and its front paws left, trying to free itself from my pinning hand and went to grab its throat.

I repositioned myself sideways, trying to avoid the worst of the claws while keeping my forearm pressed to its chin to keep its mouth out of action as I attempted to will my fingertips into claws. It was gurgling, but its struggles weren't getting any weaker. I repositioned myself more so I could put more of my weight in with my shoulder over my palm. I went up on my toes, pushing all of my free body weight down on its throat. And finally, I could feel something give. My forearms bled profusely, and I doubted I'd be any use after this.

Right as I was about to call for help if possible, I heard Jonas scream. He was in a position not too dissimilar to mine. But he punched the badger in its head repeatedly with very little effect while a second one jumped on its back. I couldn't move to help him, though. If I did, my badger would probably recover.

Working myself into an awkward position, I shifted so that my foot was on its neck as well as my hand, and I stood up, stomping down with my heel, smashing its windpipe. But that handful of seconds it took to rearrange and take the risk to fit to losing my grip to finish off this one had left Jonah's back in bloody tatters. I dashed over and, using my mangled arms, I yanked it off of his back and attempted to do the same thing, but I didn't have the strength in my hands anymore.

I stomped at its head, even as it clawed my left arm to ribbons as I held it down from the awkward position. I just ended up leaning on it with my elbow on its throat as it thrashed and started and occasionally would get a claw up in my ribs. Well, by the time it finally died, I was woozy with blood loss as I got to my feet and looked around. Jonas and the other were in a death grip, both of them looking to die. As soon as Jonas had it in a weird chokehold, it had its fangs stuck into his arm and its hind claws embedded in Jonas's stomach. Jonas' face was in a rictus of pain, but his grip was like a vise.

Turning, I looked over to see how Bjorn fared, and surprisingly, he seemed to be the best out of all of us. Perhaps he had experienced fighting beasts, and his overall size had helped. The first badger he had crashed into, he had thrown it into the cave wall. I could see the indent. And then he had apparently broken the neck of the second badger before the first could recover.

Now, he was wrestling with the first badger. He was scratched up, sure, but nothing nearly as bad as my arms or Jonas's near disembowelment.

I ran over to help him as he wrestled, winding back and soccer, kicking the badger repeatedly in the ribs until I could feel them break. Behind the force of my blows, Bjorn held its stomach visible, um, open to me. As I stomped more down on its chest, it started to wheeze up, bloody flex, and die a slow death. As it gave up the struggle, Bjorn grabbed its muzzle in one hand and twisted. The other, bracing on its shoulder. A series of snaps echoed through the chamber as the neck broke. Together, we went back over to Jonas to find both him and his badger opponent dead on the ground.

I rested my elbows on my knees as I bent over, panting. My hands were barely able to move from all the muscle damage in my forearms.

"I think I read something about loot," I panted over to Bjorn.