FSE

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"I tell you, we should blow up those things!" Arlen claimed.

"And I told you the only way to destroy the units is an impact strong enough to demolish the Main Building in one go!" Brian rebuked, already irritated.

"We have six of us here, we can try!"

"You're missing the point!" The lizard couldn't believe such words had come from someone of noble rearing; he thought all nobles were more intelligent.

The rest of the group could only continue running behind them as they were persecuted by the Scout Blocks, already used to those two clashing, as well as escaping from the floating bricks. Brian had explained the security golems had been created to be ridiculously resilient to both physical and magic attacks. But the lion wasn't someone to escape from a battle, much less against such feeble looking adversaries. The rest had to agree with that, a stone chunk with a red lens for eye wasn't that menacing.

"In front of us" sounded Egon's soft voice.

The group shifted their attention in that direction and spotted a framework not too far ahead. They knew what it meant; they would enter a 'room' and leave behind the Scout Blocks. They had learned their movements were restricted to corridors. The fursons hastened their pace before the bat spoke again.

"Be prepared."

Héctor felt a tingling disturbance in his gut, a sign of anxiety and expectation. Rooms were not a place to catch your breath, on the contrary, some of them were most troublesome than the Blocks. He still had some bruises from the last one they had encountered, a place guarded by combat dummies. The group reached the threshold and crossed it, halting immediately to inspect the surroundings.

The room was no different from the ones they had encountered before during the last few days, not too big, but spacious enough to provide a decent battlefield. All sides were plain, only the pattern of rectangles made by the grayish bricks and the two opposing frameworks stood out on the bare walls. Save for the six fursons that had entered, the room was empty. But they knew better than drop their guard.

A movement in the middle of the floor caught their attention. The ground seemed to rise and bloat elastically, like if something was trying to come from under. The youngs drew out their weapons; Arlen had been the only one who had brought a sword with him, the others relying on combat knives. The strange phenomenon stretched higher into the air until the mass cut itself from the ground and formed a sphere that floated some decimeters in the air. It hovered still some long seconds, before it dropped, and bounced. The sphere deformed like if made from an extremely soft material when it hit the ground, only to regain a perfect round form when it returned to the air. It repeated the same process again and again, the sound of the flexible material hitting against the floor echoing inside the room.

"A ball?" Wondered Arlen. The object certainly had the fit.

Then some more spots around the floor started to bloat like the first one and a more spheres appeared. In the otherwise silent place the bouncing of the balls started to grown unsettling, at least for Héctor. He observed them go up and down without sign of doing anything else for several seconds. Until they literally came to a halt, no matter if the sphere was touching the floor, or midair. Héctor grip on his knife tightened, he felt his companions tense too. All of a sudden the spheres shoot in all directions, fast.

The white tiger saw one of the balls coming their way, but before it could come any closer Egon jumped to its meet and swung his black knife. The sphere was slashed in two easily and revealed to be fragile and hollow, just like a balloon, before it disappeared into dust. But Héctor didn't have time to marvel at the bat's response as another sphere quickly approached from the side.

"Disperse!" Shouted Arlen.

"Wait!"

Brian tried to say something, but the others rapidly scattered through the area. Héctor went to a corner, trying to use the wall to cover his back. Before long a ball came to him and he readied to cut it, but it was following an odd angle and instead bounced on the floor and towards the left. He followed the sphere movements, not wanting to get hit if it rebounded, but then he felt a blow to his head's right. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the elastic material stretching against his skull before it bounced back to the room. He didn't have time to process what had happened when another blow was delivered to his chest, the rebound of the previous ball.

That time he reacted, and before the sphere went out of his reach he swiftly lifted his right paw with the knife. It seemed like he wouldn't make it, but the ball got caught by the tip of the blade which caused at least a small cut. It was enough; the material began to shred from the wound until nothing was left.

Héctor hurried to regain his posture, ignoring the burning sensation the blows had left on his skin. He concentrated once more his attention to the front, but now he tried to pay attention to everything within his sight since he had received two hits because of focusing on a sole point. From his position he could see the other fursons, also having trouble fending the balls. It wasn't only their speed that made them difficult to touch, their change of direction was hard to predict and the noise they made had become an obstacle. The clatter diminished greatly the fursons ability to locate them by ear and it also hindered their concentration.

Egon looked especially distressed, his sensible hearing making the noise of the room almost painful. Héctor saw a ball come from behind the bat and hit him, sending him to one knee. Another projectile passed dangerously in front of him, almost hitting his muzzle. Egon hunched and drew his hands closer to his chest; he was visibly clenching his teeth in discontent. Abruptly, he lifted his head and yelled, though no audile sound came from his maw. Next he swiftly extended his arms and fine objects flew from his body to the room in various directions.

All the spheres tore and started to evaporate to dust almost at the same time, and the ruckus stopped. Héctor turned his head to the side, having heard a sort of metallic sound, and spotted a black needle lying on the floor. It was almost as long as his paw and both ends were pointed and sharp. His attention shifted when across the room, on the wall without entry, a shining white line made cuts on the stone and drew a door. Egon rose shakily and walked towards the picture, the baffled stares of his classmates following him.

As expected the next area was a Rest Point, as they had come to call it. The first time they had entered one they had been honestly bewildered. They crossed the door and were received by the sight of six neat beds, three of them on each side. The place had a fresh and cool air thanks to the varied plants that nicely decorated the room. At the bottom two doors stood, one directed to the dining room, the other to the bathroom.

"Good, I need some rest" said Arlen while rubbing his arm, where the balls had hit.

The rest of the group began to move, save for Brian who hesitated for an instant to look back at the lion with a scornful glare. The feline didn't notice. Egon walked directly to the end of the room and took the right door leading to the bathroom; he looked forward to relieve his fatigue and sore with a hot bath. The others went to the beds, and emptied their pockets of some items before following. It could've been pure practicality, or to gain a faint sense of unity, but they had took the routine of bathing together.

"Ain't you coming?" Alren asked Héctor, who was walking in the other direction, to the dining room.

"I'll have dinner first" he replied a tad uneasy.

Arlen sighed and didn't inquire further, and entered the bathroom. It had been the same all the previous occasions; Héctor would find an excuse to not go inside with the others. Truth is he was being self-conscious of bathing with another furson and, more precisely, being seen nude, his sole reason, pure embarrassment. Not once had he done it before in his life as far as he remembered. He wouldn't even take off his shirt to play in the river during a class trip as a cub. Héctor would take a bath later.

He took seat and began eating. The dining room was only six chairs and a wooden table, and more plants. Six plates had been readily set with fruit and bread, a light dinner accompanied with juice and milk. Everyone had come to the conclusion that it had been the work of Hortz; it was kind of obvious actually, taking in account the message they found the first day after falling into the Academy's dungeon.

"You'll be here for six days, just try to reach the exit within that time. Give it your all!" The words had been engraved on a wall, together with the sketch of a flower.

The tiger's face went pensive, for some reason he thought if that sentence were to come out from the instructor's muzzle it would be in an annoying jolly tone. But that aside, their objective was specific, to overcome the obstacles and return before Sunday's dawn. They had been in the dungeons five days already and Saturday was their last. However, he wasn't sure if they could make it; at least from Héctor's perspective, the team still not clicked together. But it wasn't like he knew how much they had left to go so he hadn't given up.

After a night of rest and some breakfast the group exited the Rest Point. They would come out to a corridor instead of the room from where they had entered the previous day, but they were already accustomed to such oddities. They advanced quietly and carefully, not wanting to trigger a trap that early. For their mistrust the hours passed without any incident, wandering through the quiet corridors. It was surprising when the biggest member, the komodo, halted, his elongated yellow tongue coming out of his mouth to lick the air.

"The atmosphere changed" he spoke for the first time since they had arrived.

"What do you mean?" Arlen asked.

The lizard slowly approached the wall and posed one hand on it. He drew out his slender tongue one more time before speaking with his gruff yet smooth voice.

"The air smells mor-" he was cut when the brick he was touching suddenly burst out, snapping his hand away.

Next more bricks came out of their place and surrounded the youngs, hovering midair, the Scout Blocks. The group hurriedly urged forward, not wanting to confront the golems. Even if they had no true combat usage the bricks could still tackle and do cause some damage. They didn't have to run much though, in a matter of minutes another framework came into view. They entered a big room, more than any other they had encountered before, and in the middle of it all a small brown orb.

The sphere flashed once with the arrival of the fursons, giving off a sandy shine. Egon's ears twitched catching a faint sound coming from behind them and he turned, not seeing the orb flash again.

"Move aside!" He yelled and took the closest furson to him, Héctor, and forced the feline out of the way with him.

The others noticed his actions and followed, clearing the entry's way. The Scout Blocks entered the room for everyone's confusion. The group had never expected the bricks to go against the supposedly protocol, but it had happened. The Blocks swarmed themselves around the orb in a disorganized manner, not even leveling with the others, and circled the sphere going in both directions. Next the floor tile directly under the orb started to float and ascend. It did so until it was at least fifteen meters in the air, taking the sphere with it.

The group did even have time to swallow the picture when something started to gush out of the hole in the floor the tile had left. The translucent yellow substance gave the impression of being liquid and solid at the same time, as something that just had melted, and it seemed to be gleaming like if light was trapped inside. The matter surged copiously and wriggled, as if it had life of its own. Shortly the blob began to rise from the floor and take vertical shape. The young fursons could only look in astonishment as it took the form of a rudimentary torso, the head and arms too ambiguous to think of a specific variety. The orb then came down and also started to circle around the creature, sticking close to its body.

"A nud" whispered Brian.

"The exit is blocked!"

The lizard looked behind and true enough some Blocks had clustered together and formed an impassable door. He returned his attention to the 'thing' standing in the middle of the room. The creature itself didn't make any movement, only the Blocks and the orb continued floating around it in circles. The weapons had been since long drawn out, awaiting the chance to initiate the attack. The minutes dragged like that before Arlen finally spoke.

"It's not attacking, are we supposed to do it first?"

"No" answered Brian, "it's just a Nud Type Golem. It won't initiate attack unless we enter its range, but our exit has just been blocked and we can infer the same applies to the other one." He fixed his eyes on the orb that traveled the golem's torso up and down. "That must be its core. We should be able to get out once we destroy it."

"You sure about it?"

"Pretty much. The way everything has been set, it's just like a simple game." He noticed the lion tensing up a little and acted before the feline could do something rash again. "Wait, we need a plan!"

"No need, we just smash that thing when it comes down. Just watch out for the blocks!" Arlen responded confidently.

"Agreed" the komodo unexpectedly added. He stepped to the front and glanced back to the smaller lizard. "As you said this is a simple game, you don't need to overthink it."

The lion looked pleased at the monitor, but the later ignored him. The other three fursons also stepped forward, agreeing for a frontal approach. Brian's expression became exasperated and disdainful, but even so he positioned himself for the attack. The group waited for the orb to fully descend and ascend again, as they had to time their movements with the sphere's. Once the orb went all the way up and began his return Arlen gave the signal.

"Now!"

All at once the youngs charged, dispersing slightly as to take different routes, betting on each one's success. They didn't have to advance much when the golem reacted and moved, preparing for the assault. The fursons nimbly evaded the Blocks that encircled the Nud and closed in. Egon was the fastest of them, and was nearing just in time to meet the core when his sensible hearing caught a soft whistle, and he leaped backwards before the flying brick could get him. The rest also stopped in their tracks, seeing how the Blocks closer to the golem's base speeded up, making more difficult to approach.

They were careless halting like that as more of the low height Blocks also increased their speed. The group began to retreat.

"Can you do what you did yesterday?" Arlen asked Egon.

"No."

It was then that they noticed their safe spot near the exit had been invaded by the Blocks. Now they need to be in constant movement to evade being hit, and they couldn't get close to their objective carelessly. Observing the situation Héctor thought of something; he remembered the obstacle race he had participated not too long ago and realized it was the same as the lake obstacle. As long as the Blocks in higher places didn't speed up as the ones close to the base, he could use them as footholds to reach the core. He was about to share his idea with the others when he noticed the golem incline towards them with arms extended.

The komodo saw one of the golem's hands rapidly approaching and got distracted when he noticed that the Blocks passed through the body as if it wasn't there. He recovered quickly enough to see a brick coming in his direction at low height. Before he could be hit he did a back-flip, landing on his hands before returning to his feet. However, before he could complete his move his right hand gave in and he fell to the floor. He tried to promptly stand up again but an incoming Block made him stay down. That delay was enough for him the get caught in the golem's hand.

Héctor saw the scalie being trapped and for some reason rushed to his help. Evading the Blocks cost him some seconds on which the arm moved further away from the floor, but he was confident in his tactic. He jumped to the nearest brick and used the others as steppingstones to reach his teammate. Inconveniently the Blocks moved fast and without any formation so he had a tough time advancing. He didn't notice a brick approaching and it grazed him, which didn't cause damage but made him lost his balance. He had fallen if not because he could get a hold of a Block's edge.

But he didn't have time to recover. The golem extended its other arm and trapped the feline with his hand. Héctor struggled in vain, coming to realize that the substance the golem was made of was much more solid than it looked. He was drawn near the main body and saw the komodo just a few meters from him. He knew he could reach him with only a jump, but both of them hadn't the sheer strength to free themselves from the golem's grasp.

It occurred to Héctor that maybe he could use his magic to do something, but he was hesitant to that. He was honestly afraid of what might to happen if the others knew about his eye's mark. He still couldn't trust Sir Corio's words or the King's, even if it made him feel foolish for not following the advice of such figures. At the end he didn't have to choose; all of a sudden the grip around him loosened considerably and he was released. The feline fell to the ground, landing on his feet, the komodo doing the same.

The two turned to the golem and saw how it started to lose its form. A yellow steam coming from it, the substance was evaporating quickly. Soon nothing was left from the once big golem and the Blocks simply retired, ignoring the fursons.

"Well, that was easier than I thought" claimed Arlen triumphant. He was standing not far from Héctor and the komodo, on his paw were the rests of the core that he had crushed without the help of his sword.

The others reunited with the three of them and took the opportunity to catch their breath after what had happened. Without prior hint he komodo quickly took way to the door, getting curious stares from his classmates.

"It's the exit" he simply said.

Though outwardly calm, the other five were glad their adventure had ended and, maybe unconsciously, walked with a faster pace. They came out of a hole much like the one from where they had come in, only smaller. The sun was high in the sky signaling it was around noon. They noticed they were in the same practice field they had been days ago and, oddly enough, Hortz was standing in the same spot. He had his arms crossed and a small white flower hung from his lips that were curved in a devious grin. The flower fell to the ground once he opened his maw to speak.

"Looks like we still have some work to do."