104 Rinse and Repeat

"Fuck!" Hera yelled, after arriving once again in the blue reception room.

"Hey, kid. Bad luck?" Peaches asked with a playful smile.

"Can you please not say that every time I get here? It's freaking me out," Hera got up, cleaning the dirt out of her clothes.

"What do you mean, kid? It's the first time you get here."

"What?!" Hera stared at the guide with wide eyes.

Peaches started laughing, "Sorry, but your face was priceless, kid."

"Don't joke like that! Those things freak me out."

"I'll keep that in mind," the guide said, still laughing.

Hera huffed and walked inside the resting area. It's been 8 hours since she started the test. So far, she had managed to pass through four different rooms. The first was the area with the monkeys. It wasn't as difficult as she expected. The annoying part was killing the silverback in a single strike, but she still ended up being hit by the baboons more than a couple of times during her attempts.

The second area was a cave filled with bats and a giant red centipede as a target. The problem was the noise. Any small disturbance would make them go insane, and the centipede was very noisy. Not only that, but the only way to one-shot it was by hitting it between the eyes. That was a huge problem. Hera's best trick was to use her light spell as a flashbang before going in for the kill.

The third room was a snowy mountain with a heavy wind blowing. Several wolves were running around that would rush to her the moment they got her scent. She needed not only to anticipate the changes in the wind but be careful not to sweat too much. The target this time was a white arctic fox. Killing it was easy, but getting close enough was the problem. The best way to do it was by either throwing her chakram or using the poison spray spell. However, using that second option required her to stay around and dodge the fox for about twenty minutes. If the situation wasn't as time-sensitive, it would be fine.

The fourth room was a swamp, and several flies patrolled the area. Hera needed to be very careful to be hidden from them. If they looked at her in the open, she would be spotted. The first few times Hera got in there, she was immediately attacked by the flies. It was a scary situation, the flies were just the size of an orange, but they were still much larger than what she was used to. The target this time was a snake. It was incredibly big, but nothing that didn't exist outside the MAZE. It was still a big creature, and it was very hard to find the green snake in the middle of the swamp.

Hera managed to find it twice, the first time she was caught by the beast, and they both fell in the water. The second time she was about to hit it, but one of the flies hit her arm before she was able to strike the target.

The explorer was taking a moment to eat some fruit, drink water, use the bathroom, and rest for around half an hour.

"Soo, what have you learned?" Peaches asked while Hera was lying in bed.

"Bugs suck," she replied.

"And why is that?"

"Because they can sneak up on me while I'm about to hit the bloody snake."

"Try again, Kid."

Hera let out a long sigh, "Bugs, or at least the bugs in here, have a very keen sight. They can notice even small movements."

"And?"

"And..." Hera picked the tablet and read through the information, "And they are not very good at noticing differences in colors and such."

"So? What is the best way to deal with them?"

"Just hide? No, that doesn't seem to work," Hera stopped to think for a moment, "Maybe I should try to camouflage myself?"

"Like the snake?" Peaches asked.

"Yeah, I should learn from it, try to make its strength as my own."

Peaches nodded with a satisfied smile. He wouldn't give her the answer to the questions. But nothing was stopping the guide from giving her a little nudge in the right direction.

"Was that the only thing you could use?" Peaches asked.

"What do you mean?" Hera asked without getting up.

"Was the snake the only one who could teach you something?"

Hera considered what Peaches had just said. The snake was the only one that helped her in some way, right? Thinking for a moment, she tried to figure out what the other targets could show her. After some time, she sat up on the bed, staring at the guide.

"Holy crap, the system is really smart," Hera gasped.

Peaches nodded its head, "It can be, sometimes."

"Ok, but help me out here. The centipede was about distributing my weight to minimize noise, or at least that's what I think. If I can spread my weight better, even going on all fours, the noise should be minimal. The fox was about using nature to my benefit. If I stay against the wind is easier to sneak up on it. But what the hell is the gorilla about?"

Peaches smiled. This was the right question, and she managed to pass by the first test with some consistency. It wouldn't do any harm to answer that one, "Maybe about knowing when you can try a slow approach, and when you need to go for the sure kill."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. When I don't kill it in one blow, I end up back here."

Hera was still thinking about everything while Peaches just watched the gears turning inside her head. After finishing her rest, the explorer got up, ready to try again.

It took her five attempts to reach the fourth reception. This one had lavender walls. Hera read once more the information about her targets. The snake wasn't venomous, but its body strength was enough to crush bones. It was also a very patient hunter and could stay in one position for hours. They were also very sensitive to heat. That could be used to lure them. Hera also wanted to be sure she could finish it in one single strike.

She waited for a moment, thinking about what she could do to improve her chances. Hera looked at Peaches, "Tell me, does this place have some whetstones? I forgot to bring mine."

"Check the bottom drawer on the rest area. I think there is one there."

Hera went to the room and found what she needed. Taking a few minutes to sharpen both her handaxe as her chakram, she got the 1% buff to their durability. The blades also felt much sharper, even taking care of the weapons daily, they still showed some signals of wear and tear.

"Wish me luck," Hera said to peaches while moving towards the door.

"Go get them, kid."

Hera left the reception and moved through the swamp. As she walked, she made sure to spread some mud and water in her clothes. The smell was far from pleasant, but it allowed Hera to blend better with her surroundings. She took ten minutes to feel comfortable with the amount of camouflage she put on herself. It was the weirdest make up she ever tried.

After some time, Hera returned to her search for the snake. Even with the dirt and mud on top of her, she still was being careful. Moving slowly, she spent twenty minutes sneaking around before finally finding the snake's trail. The mud had some markings, only something slithering around could make that.

She followed the tracks for ten minutes, moving through a large part of the swamp. Only after that, she noticed some similarities in the area. The tracks were making a loop, Hera had just spent the last ten minutes walking in circles.

The explorer frowned. Was the snake that smart? Could it be toying with her?

Hera looked around, trying to see if any flies or the snake were around. Some of the mosquitoes were a bit farther away to her left, but no sign of the snake. The explorer ducked down and tried to focus on her hearing. There had to be some signal of what was going on.

After a few moments hearing the buzzing and the noises of the swamp, Hera listened to a different noise coming from a tree on her left. She turned around and saw the snake dangling from a branch, staring at her. Hera stared back. For a moment, she could swear the creature was smiling.

She picked her handaxe and started walking towards the tree, still staring at the snake. If the creature was smart enough to do this trap, Hera wouldn't be able to hide from it. Her best option was a frontal assault. Moving closer, she felt like she was in the middle of a game of chicken against the snake.

Hera stopped moving for a moment while a couple of flies passed nearby, not taking her eyes out of her target. As the explorer got closer, the snake retracted to the branch, getting ready to lunge at the incoming human.

Hera knew that she would only get a single chance to kill it. If she failed, the snake or the bugs would hit her, and she would be back in the first reception.

Inch by inch, Hera got closer to the snake. She needed to wait for the beast to move first. Step by step, the explorer approached until the snake lunged at her with her mouth open.

Hera took a step to the side, but her feet were caught on a tree root. Unable to dodge, she held her handaxe and attempted to block the attack. The snake went straight into the blade of the axe, ripping the beast in two. Hera held her breath, already waiting to appear on the blue reception once more. Yet she didn't change locations. Looking down, she could see the snake's fang hitting the leather armor in her chest. The impact with the handaxe was barely enough to take away the creature's momentum and save her from the attack.

"This was way too close," Hera mumbled while walking to the door that just appeared.

"Hey, kid. Nice job, but you need a shower," Peaches said as Hera walked into the room with light pink walls.

"Ha ha. Very funny," Hera rolled her eyes.

"Not a joke, kid. You reek. My nose is burning just by being near you."

"Since when do you have a nose?"

"Since always. Not my fault you can't appreciate its beauty."

Hera stared at peaches. Aside from the eyes and mouth, there was nothing else on his face. She was sure of it. The explorer grabbed some water in the rest area and played the video for the next room. According to Alex, after dealing with rooms dedicated to specific senses, she had to deal with a room with something different. The spiders and their web.

In the video, the shadow figure opened the door and dove into a large body of water. It spent some time swimming in the waters, hiding from large fish creatures until it found its target in the middle of a reef. After that, she focused on the screens. All the information this time was about aquatic creatures, from whales and dolphins to jellyfish and shrimp. So far all the tests had been against different creatures than the ones Alex had to deal with. However, this was the first time that the variation was so big.

"Sooo... Am I supposed to get a scuba suit somewhere?" Hera asked.

Peaches chuckled, "Well, if you have, you can use it. But you can breathe in that water."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Kid. Perks of the MAZE. Some rooms have breathable water."

"This is going to be weird," Hera said.

"Weirder than talking to a green apple?"

"Maybe not, but what about my tablet? Can I leave it here?"

"Yeah, anything you leave here will show up in the next reception, or the previous one. The next one, you show up in."

"Ok, I'm leaving my tablet here then. The guild says this is waterproof, but I'm not too keen on putting it to the test in the ocean."

Peaches nodded, "Fair point. And are you going like that?"

Hera looked down. She was still covered in mud and dirt, and some snake blood now.

"Yeah, no. There are sharks on the screens. I'm gonna wash this out since I'm already getting wet anyway," Hera walked to the rest area and took a shower with her clothes on to clean everything up. She made sure to clean every piece of clothing and leave no blood, dirt, or soap in her body. That could be used to track her. Half an hour later, she was standing in front of the door. She glanced at the timer that was on one of the screens. She was closing in the 10 hour mark, and she was already feeling a bit sleepy.

"Let's hope this is the last one," she mumbled before diving in the ocean waters.