One may not expect a chain link fence to be particularly strong, but this one was different. Aside from the utter strength of the metal it was composed of, it was incredibly dense. Some people were already attacking fence with an array of weapons: swords, hammers, maces, axes, and anything one could conceivably harm another person with. I watched a few participants work at the fence with bolt cutters, to seemingly no avail.

I stepped up to the fence and observed the sunlight glinting off of the razors affixed to the chains. Now that I was standing mere inches away from the thing, I found myself in awe, wondering about whoever had built this monument, and what had happened to them. I reached a hand out to gingerly touch a razor, and to my surprise, it instantly pierced through my glove and pricked my finger. I drew back in shock and stared, bewildered, at the blood that was creeping out. My heavy leather glove hadn’t provided even a bit of resistance against the cut! How sharp were these blasted things?

The grating sound of metal slashing against metal was filling my ears, and I reluctantly reached for my battle axe. This weapon had been carrying me through battles against beasts for ages – was it going to be torn to shreds by this maze?

I peered over at November, interested to see how an archer such as herself planned to approach this task. She was speaking with Lynx and a woman I didn’t recognize. The overwhelming noise made it impossible to hear what they were saying, but I watched as the woman handed November a small round object, a bright green color, maybe a few inches tall.

I watched for another moment, but nothing else interesting seemed to be happening; they simply carried on their conversation. I held my axe out in front of me and took a good look at it. It was large, nearly as tall as me, and heavy – I was sure very few people could wield it, though November had once impressed me with it. I could only hope it would hold up against this monstrous fence.

“Hurry up and help, would ya! Your oversized axe won’t get any better the longer you look at it.”

I looked up quickly to attempt to identify the owner of the rude voice, but I was unsuccessful. Instead, I gave a loud scoff. “Oh, calm down. At the rate this is going, I’m surely not running out of time to participate.”

Even so, I raised up my axe, took in a slow, deep breath, and brought it down on the fence as hard as I could.

There was an unbearably loud screech of metal on metal as my axe made contact. To my great surprise, the fence – which I had assumed to be entirely unmovable – bowed back ever so slightly at the attack. I lowered my axe and carefully leaned in for a closer look. Amazingly enough, I did identify one single miniscule scratch on the fence where my axe had hit it. I studied my axe. It had indeed been scratched up a bit, but it had seen worse.

At long last, I finally found myself filled with determination and motivation to defeat this maze. If my axe could truly lay a scratch on it without sustaining too much damage, maybe 250 fighters working together truly could destroy this thing. For the first time ever, I found that I was glad to be working on a team.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I lifted up my axe once more with renewed energy, when I heard Lynx’s booming voice once again.

“Listen up, team! Progress is slow here, but fortunately, we have another trick up our sleeve.” He gestured toward the woman beside him. “Echo has been working on a spell to weaken the metal dramatically. She thinks that the most effective way to apply the spell to the fence is by high-speed impact. That’s why Vem is going to shoot the spell at the fence from a distance.”

Aha. So that’s what that green thing was. November held up an arrow and slid the spell onto the head.

“Now listen carefully,” Lynx continued. “This part is very important – Echo believes that this spell will only last for a few minutes once it’s activated. So, we need to work fast!”

“If that’s the case, shouldn’t we go as deep into the maze as we can first, and then use the spell to break through the last few layers?” The question came from someone within the crowd whom I could not identify. I shook my head. Wanting to venture into the maze – what a fool.

Evidently Lynx shared my concern. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.” He pointed to a spot in the fence straight ahead of him. “Vem is going to shoot the spell right there, so everyone stand back, and have your weapons ready! We need to be ready to begin our attack as soon as the spell hits.”

All those who found themselves in the path between November and her target quickly stepped away, weapons ready in their hands. November held up her bow and arrow and prepared her shot.

I found myself holding my breath, in great anticipation to see how things would transpire. It’s not that I thought November might miss – no, she was a skilled archer. The fence was large and the gaps in the chains were much too small for the arrow to go through; her shot was sure to hit.

I was more curious as to the legitimacy of Echo’s spell. I had encountered a handful of people who had claimed to be experts in magic, but I had never seen a magical reaction that I’d found terribly convincing. On the occasion that I had seen a spell or potion have a measurable effect, I had suspected the reaction may have been more chemical than magical in nature. Of course, the mages always argued that a magical reaction was a chemical reaction – just one that was not possible under ordinary circumstances.

November released the arrow. Every muscle in my body froze as I watched the arrow fly through the air. It seems typical in a scenario such as this to claim that the arrow took an eternity to reach its destination; however, that wasn’t the case here. The arrow flew very, very quickly – your classic “blink and you’ll miss it” scene.

As soon as the arrow hit, the green spell on the front burst into a bright green explosion. Within seconds, the entire fence maze was glowing green.

I was quite astounded to see that the spell had actually had an undeniable effect on the maze – though, whether it had been the desired effect, I couldn’t yet so. Of course, we would all soon find out.

The whole crowd instantly swarmed back up to the fence, and I was no different. In my rush to try it for myself, I didn’t bother watching to see if anyone else was having any luck in taking it down. I heard screams – cheers? – and the sound of metal on metal had returned in no time at all.

I raised up my axe and, filled with expectance, and brought down a powerful blow onto the fence ahead of me.

Then there it was – not a barely discernible scratch like the last time, but a huge, gaping hole left in the wake of my axe.