Chapter 52

Jae slowly closed his menu. "We're running out of options." He glanced at the door, the only exit. "Looks like we're going to need to find our own way out."

He began walking forward to the door, but Toyo quickly put an arm up in front of him.

"You don't have a weapon. Once we open that door, I have a feeling we're going to have a battle on our hands." He shouldered his way forward, Silverthorne gleaming in the torch light as he put a hand on the door. "I need to go first."

Though Jae was loath to admit it, he knew Toyo was right. "Alright, but I'm still covering you once we get out there."

With a nod, Toyo took in a quick breath.

Then he opened the door.

Unable to see past Toyo, Jae waited nervously as his brother stepped out beyond the door. Immediately coming up behind him, Jae maintained a fighting stance as he looked around. They were in a massive hall much like the first floor of the Labyrinth, except that this room was filled with hundreds of enormous stone pillars stretching up to the ceiling. Though still dimly lit like the rest of the Labyrinth, the torches in the hall were more numerous and positioned at regular intervals from each other, thus keeping the darkness at bay. Far off in the distance, Jae could see a strong light coming from the opposite end of the hall. There's our way out, he thought.

And then he saw them.

Scattered throughout the entire hall stood hundreds of lizardmen, each armed with a halberd.

Toyo seemed to notice at the same time, for in the next instant they were both scrambling behind a pillar to their right. Breathing heavily as they leaned their backs against the smooth stone, the two brothers looked at each other in horror.

"Those...those…" Jae whispered, the disbelief cutting off his words.

"Those are all the same as the one we fought before." Toyo finished for him. Peeking around the pillar for a brief moment, Toyo shook his head as he turned back to Jae. "There's too many to count and they keep walking around." A hint of panic began creeping into his voice. "Fighting one of them alone was enough to mess us up. Your spear is gone and Silverthorne is at half durability. We can't teleport out and we're down to two health crystals each." His voice sounded distant. "I don't know what to do."

Horror filled Jae's thoughts as the realization hit him. "The last message I sent to Diabel was that we were teleporting back." He struggled to reign in his rising fear. "They all think we're safe. No one is going to be looking for us."

There was silence for several minutes as dread took hold of them. Neither Jae nor Toyo could think properly as they stood frozen beside each other, with only a pillar protecting them. This can't be it, Jae thought, This can't be how we die.

A glint of movement caught his eye. Without hesitation, Jae dropped to his knees while at the same time breaking into a forward roll. Even as he ducked, he could feel the whoosh of air above him as the halberd swung around.

Rolling forward, Jae heard a great boom go off behind him as the halberd crashed into the pillar. Jumping up, he spun back around just in time to see Toyo leap forward, bringing his sword down for an overhead attack. Dislodging it's halberd from the battered pillar, the lizardman prepared for a second swing.

It'll get him before he can reach it! Jae realized.

Launching himself forward, Jae dipped his shoulder just before his body slammed into the monster. Stumbling from the impact, the creature was unable to complete it's counter attack. An instant later, Toyo's sword connected with it's head.

Digital fragments burst outward in a familiar wave while Jae struggled to retain his balance. Turning on his heel, he bolted back behind the pillar as Toyo kept his sword held high. Silence again enveloped the hall, but for the occasional panting from the two of them. After a tense moment of half expecting the hordes of monsters to attack them all at once, both brothers peeked out around the pillar a second time.

The other lizard men continued wandering aimlessly around the hall.

"Alright," Toyo said firmly as they again huddled together. "Time for us to stop crying and fucking focus."

Jae nodded, determination quickly brewing within him. "Judging from what just happened, I think it's safe to say that their hearing is pretty bad. Half the pillar exploded from that hit and none of the others walked over. If we're quiet and stay away from their gazes, we can probably avoid most of them."

Toyo pointed to the right side of the hall. "There's not very many over there, and I can see the right side of the wall from here. If we stay on the edge of the room and go from behind one pillar to the next, I think we can do this."

His voice was hopeful, but still tinged with doubt.

*****

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