"It was like a big snake with lots of heads," mother explained. I raised one eyebrow skeptically, prompting her to elaborate.

  "Don't give me that look. You know what it is or not?"

  "It's got to be a hydra, but those don't live around here. If it is, might be dangerous. I've heard they can take on whole teams."

  "Nonsense! This one was small and weak. Look, it didn't even cover its tracks."

  "We could call the lord for help."

  "You even listening to me, boy? No way am I bothering his lordship with this. Besides, I got things to do."

  Another quiet skeptical stare.

  "What? I do. I'm visiting Zula later."

  She visited her sister twice a week and nothing important had ever happened at those gatherings. Dealing with things that have stats isn't my job. Let the nobles earn their keep, I say. Honestly, having our honorable lord send his cousin's half-brother's nine'th son, or whatever, on some pointless wild-goose-chase could only put a smile on my face.

  "You want to fetch the nobs, go ahead. Just don't involve me. The less time they spend thinking about us, the better."

  How ironic, that's exactly how I feel about a certain someone else, I thought. But trying to change her mind would be a lost cause—besides, if she had managed to chase it off, could it really be that dangerous?

  The problem was, mother's accounts of events were often only vaguely adjacent to reality. I decided to go along and follow the tracks for more information.

  "Fine, let's get a look at it then. Will this net be enough?"

  "It will if you use it half right. Shh, I think I see a nest."

  The ‘nest’ was... strange. A ring of vertical sticks were arranged in a circle. They almost resembled the bars of a cage. I tossed my net over the sleeping monster while mother pinned it down with her pitchfork. The creature squirmed and wriggled, but with a little rope work, we quickly restrained it.

  "Looks like a monster to me, but the system says this thing is ‘uplifted’, whatever that means, and level 17 to boot. There's no way killing it won't give a level."

  "Well, I ain't killing it either. I can't be seen going around with another level after the that thing from last time. Besides, I've got a plan already."

  I failed to suppress a sigh, "You waited until now to tell me? And wasn't that incident ten years ago?"

  "Stay on topic boy, neither of us wants to waste time dragging this thing to town, so let's take it back to where it probably came from."

  "Which is?"

  "There's a portal near here—showed up last week. If the monster's not from around here, that's where it got out."

  With a war raging in Perlin, one would expect portals being unguarded as manpower becomes needed elsewhere. I doubted something this weak could have made it through the labyrinth—but, if there was a portal nearby, I saw no reason not to make the monster someone else's problem.

  You have found a tier 3 labyrinth entrance leading to sector #E7-08-1F-031B9. This one-way portal has 1 out of 6 uses left. Do you wish to enter?

  I don't know what this ‘labyrinth’ is, and the name feels ominous, but the lady with the pitchfork seems to insist.

  They haven't killed me—for some reason—and I know what, "go on, get in!" means. It's what they say when you don't get in your cage fast enough. Is that what this is? another cage? Why do these parasites always have to make everything so complicated? Well, I don't know why I'm still alive, and I don't think testing them right now is wise considering I did try to eat one of them.

  You have entered the labyrinth! This sector has a rank 3 difficulty rating. A temporary safe-zone has been created. 10 minutes remain until deactivation.

  One moment I am where I am, the next, I'm somewhere else. It's a bit disorienting, but I guess System did warn me.

  So, how do I describe this place? The building they kept us in at Perlin was made of many carved rocks stacked together. This place is vaguely similar, but more like being inside a single large rock. There's light coming from above but I can't see the sun or any lamps. It's just a stone ceiling.

  Strangely, even though I'm clearly inside, it feels like standing in a meadow. There's soft grass below with small flowers and bushes scattered all around. The chamber is huge, but its boundaries are visible on all sides. If this is a cage, its a pretty big one. Let's see if there is anything to eat.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Towards the sides of the chamber, the ground curves up, and there I find burrows dug into the edges. These are bigger than the porcupine burrow I emptied previously. Whatever made it must be about my size. Just as I'm contemplating how to make a digging implement, something crashes into me, breaking a rib. It keeps running in the same direction, and as I get up, it turns around and starts a second charge.

  Carrier Swine (labyrinth mob), level 13

  base class: carrier swine (motion->speed#1, biology->mutation#1, nature->symbiosis#1), level 13

  That's one ugly pig. It's about my size, but strong enough to break bones with a single strike. I'm guessing it needs momentum to deal damage.

  As it closes in the second time, I prepare to jump and grapple. At the last moment, it veers off to the side and out of reach. An array of tiny holes open up on its back, and blue pustules bubble out. With popping sounds, a swarm of blue moth-like creatures emerge and take flight.

  The bloated bugs fly much faster than one would expect and waste no time honing in on me. I swing my heads to strike them midair, but as they collide, each explodes, leaving behind a small cloud of light blue gas.

  My lungs are on fire! I cough, spit out some blood, but recover fairly quickly.

  That poison is quite strong. A creature my size without regeneration would likely be knocked out by now—which gives me an idea: it's time for my signature, ‘play-dead and then rapidly heal, followed by leaping and constricting the enemy’ tactic!

  I pretend to keep coughing. The swine mob does not attack immediately. It must be waiting on the cool-down of that bug flinging attack. On the second charge, it launches more insects. I make a big show of being downed and trigger assumed limp +1 to exaggerate the discoloration of my skin.

  This time the pig turns around and immediately charges again. I expect it to close in now, assuming I've got the bug launching cool-down right. Tusks stab into my body. Using guide injury +3, I let them sink deeper in and then twist to grip them between muscle and tendons. The mob tries to fling , but fails to dislodge me, and on the reverse flip, I coil around its neck. The damage is serious, but this entanglement benefits me more than it.

  The mob has a thick neck, but I've specked enough into strength to overpower and suffocate it. More poisonous bugs emerge before it dies, but really, they're just a nuisance.

  Having gorged myself on mutated pork, I continue to explore the cavern. I discover a pile of decayed carrier swine corpses stacked in one corner. Something was here and wiped the others out before me. The one I fought must have survived by hiding.

  Good news! The chamber is not a cage after all—there's a tunnel leading out. The next chamber is much like the previous, except, this one has stone pillars sticking out of the ground, some covered in nests.

  Devil Bee Hive (labyrinth mob, collective), level 5

  base class: devil bees (physique->constitution#1, affliction->torment#1, biology->adaptation#1), level 5

  They don't look like food, but anything with a level should at least give XP. The bees start attacking as I approach. Their stings burn slightly but lack real damage and are easily ignored. I have no way of killing these things, considering how fast they move, but notice that some of them are falling dead anyway. Are these suicide attacks?... What a dumb mob.

  Not wanting to wait around and get stung by every last one, I move in and destroy the nest. What? no level-up for that? I didn't feel any XP gain. Where's my XP, System?

  Oh, I see. Makes sense. System says XP scales with the level and base strength differences. Apparently, level 17 vs. level 5 was not a worthy match-up. Why has this never come up before? Well, such a match-up would be pointless in the arena, and everything I've killed since escaping didn't even have the system.

  The now broken nest is filled with an extremely sweet viscous liquid. Yuck! So much pain for zero reward. I decide not to linger in this stupid chamber.

  The next chamber is big enough that I can barely make out the other side. Unnaturally large plants spread out below in a deep valley that forms a giant bowl. In the center, a large pillar rises all the way to the ceiling.

  As I make my way in, a bee almost the size of my head appears. It circles me a few times before attacking. The sting hurts—it hurt a lot! I heal the wound, but the pain lingers. Pain without injury? There must be some ability to it. I remember Master being able to do something like this.

  Again, there was no need to kill the bee. It died by itself after stinging me. Again, I got no XP—but, System did tell me last time that destroying the nest is necessary. Looking for a nest, a horrifying realization descends on me. The giant pillar at the center of the chamber. That isn't stone. And what I mistook for mist is, in fact, a swarm of giant bees.

  Devil Bee Hive (labyrinth mob, collective), level 132

  base class: red-devil bees (affliction->torment#3, physique->constitution#2, biology->adaptation#1, transformation->superform#1), level 48

  primary class: horror nest (preparation->ritual#3, affliction->torment#2), level 60

  secondary class: customer (system->shopping#3, dimension->pockets#1), level 24

  Naturally, I flee back the way I came. Were I capable of running I would be running. Sadly, an energetic slither is the best I can manage.

  The next chamber looks much like the first: no bees, and the atmosphere is quite peaceful until I reach the center. Then, with impressive synchronization, five pigs appear and charge at me from all directions.

  One by one, the carrier swine smash into me. Careful not to get in each other's way, their attacks are staggered in consistent intervals. Their levels range between 8 and 14. I'm not taking damage too quickly. No need to panic just yet. Let's see... what would be the best move here?

  I should take out the largest one first. With the help of guide injury +3, I successfully latch on to it when its turn comes. The other swine respond by running past and shooting those blue moths at me. It's a lot of poison, but the four free pigs are lower level and I can tank it. Can't say the same for the one I'm wrestling though. Pig number one goes limp, and not because of me. Looks like these things have no immunity to their own poison.

  I play dead and then leap at the next pig to approach. While strangling it, one pig—one which had not launched any bugs at me in the first sortie—runs by and shoots what looks like black maggots from its back. The maggots burrow into my skin but also attack the one I'm wrestling. Regeneration helps fix the damage the tiny parasites are doing, but it's not killing them.

  They're under my skin! They're crawling around inside me! How do I kill them?! This is so not how I want to die.

  The carrier swine beneath me is dead now. I notice that the maggots inside it avoided the pustules on its back. What are the odds these things are immune to the blue-moth poison? Holding back the urge to vomit, I bite into the dead pigs back. With a series of muted pops, blue moths shoot into my mouth and then explode. I suck in the poison and hold my breath. My lungs are burning, but I withhold regeneration so the poison won't be impeded.

  The maggots have stopped moving. My plan worked, but I'm beginning to realize that carrier swine are no joke. Only level 12 and it had an attack that deadly. I decide to target the maggot carrier next, hoping to minimize the number of times I need to endure that again.

  Whatever the cool-down on its main attack is, it must be much longer than the blue-moth variant. I guess there's got to be some balance to these things. System is never that unfair. Maggot pig flees after the fourth pig falls. Oh no! I'm not letting you get away that easily. I continue to slither down its burrow and ensure that all the swine are eliminated.

  Congratulations! you have reached level 18, +1 ability point.

  I don't see any new abilities on the list and decide to upgrade strength again.

  Deluge (uplifted), level 18

  base class: hydra (physique->constitution#1, biology->restoration#1, affliction->poison#1), level 10

  - dense fat +3 (passive)

  - contortion +2 (passive)

  - strength +3 (passive)

  - rapid regeneration +2 (active)

  primary class: woundweaver (biology->adaptation#1, mind->comprehension#1), concealed as ‘regenative’, level 8

  - understanding +2 (passive)

  - masochist's clarity +2 (passive)

  - guide injury +3 (active)

  - assumed limp +1 (active)