The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 6 - Chapter 11 - The Fourth Fifth (Patreon)

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Don't mind this fluff. It's so that free readers can't read half the chapter.

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Wolf

It doesn’t take me long to deal with the rest of the second fifth of the First Centurion Quinzel. And I simply freeze all of the other contestants without a hint of regret whenever I see them. Because it should make the later rounds easier.

Probably.

After the second fifth, the third fifth starts as a simple dungeon-type setup that the other floors had. Get through the dungeon and kill the boss at the end of it.

Which doesn’t take long to do either before Sapphire and I end up in the fourth fifth of the First Centurion Quinzel.

Turns out the fourth fifth is actually some sort of game. One with rather harsh consequences and a limit on what you can actually do.

Kind of reminds me of that haunted house from a while back. Where I had all of my powers limited.

Just that this time around it’s a large maze where three minotaurs are roaming the place and all of our skills are blocked.

Of course, at this point, I’m not really using skills to fight in the first place. Soooo… I just ignore the rules and freeze the stuff.

To my surprise though, I find that my lunar ice is actually weaker here. At which point I realize something.

I may not have been relying on skills, but they definitely helped me. That and for some reason there’s a sort of suppression field here that’s suppressing my element.

Maybe it’s related to that Beelzebub guy?

He should be a progenitor too, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if the guy – or at least a copy of him – was limiting my powers here personally. Or just The Reaper doing it to act out the role.

Either way, it’s kind of annoying but also seems to be helping me learn to control it a little. Which is kind of nice.

So I begin charging my way through the little maze, trying to find the exit.

The purpose of this fifth of the quinzel is to make it through the maze without being killed by one of the incredibly overpowered minotaurs that are at least three hundred levels above us. Or three hundred levels above the average level amongst us, since they’re not three hundred above me. More like two hundred and fifty levels ish.

I did a lot of cleaning up in the last two fifths, raising my level.

Although despite running through the maze for several minutes, I don’t find the minotaurs. At most I hear them roaring from time to time, along with the screams of other contestants as I lower the soundproofing on my headphones.

Which makes me wonder just how large this maze is. And where the exit is.

I can’t hear anything telling me where the exit might be, nor is there any way to go up to look since there’s a ceiling.

Very strange.

After running through the maze for a while, freezing the weak monsters and other contestants I meet along the way, I eventually come to a halt and turn towards Sapphire. She simply nods her head, and we begin moving in different directions.

Then I proceed to continue running as well, not stopping for anything after that.

With a maze like this, it would be best to split up. Since we can go in different directions and cover more ground this way.

And Sapphire can just teleport back to me if she ends up in any danger.

Fortunately the dungeon counts the two of us as a single ‘entity’ in a way. At least, in the ways that count. So when one of us reaches the exit, all we have to do is pass through and it counts for both.

Makes situations like this very convenient.

Although I’ve honestly grown bored of mazes and labyrinths. Just the number of them that I’ve gone through over the years at this point is… ridiculous.

Very ridiculous.

At least a few dozen, probably more.

It’s like The Reaper’s favorite thing is to put more mazes and labyrinths in the dungeon.

Even the very first floor theme is a maze.

I let out a sigh as I run at speeds faster than the average human being can even see. All while I keep listening for an exit, lowering my soundproofing bit by bit as I do so.

Eventually though, I just grit my teeth and take my headphones off entirely. Something I almost never do.

Even then, I still can’t hear where the exit is. Which no doubt means there’s some sort of shenanigans going on blocking me from hearing the exit.

Stupid quinzel.

So I put my headphones back on and raise the soundproofing again to make it so I can only hear the other contestants and the minotaurs. Because I’m not even sure if I can take on one of those lugs, considering the level gap.

Might be able to. Might not.

Don’t particularly care enough to try it one way or another.

Not like it’d gain me anything. They don’t drop any loot boxes, unlike bosses.

There’s also fewer contestants than I was expecting, if I’m being honest.

I know they said that we’d all be separated into mazes full of just a thousand or so contestants, but still. I’m barely running into any of them.

Which also goes to show how large the maze is.

This time around they’re only letting five hundred people leave the maze. And the rest can either forfeit – for the other contestants, not me – or they can die.

So long as they forfeit before the time runs out. Because forfeiting apparently has a deadline for them.

Once again though, not my problem.

Especially when these people are just artificial copies of the people in the actual tournament.

Makes it very easy to kill them.

Not that I’d have issue dealing with someone trying to kill me in the first place.

Anyways, I just keep on charging through the place. I tried to destroy the walls once, but that only left me with a bloody knuckle that I healed. So unfortunately they don’t allow skirting the rules at all this time around.

A pity.

Just gotta keep on marching through this place I guess.