Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"This is kind of scary..." Dmitri said as he trudged the ground between the maze walls.

He was walking with his squad while gripping his spear tightly. Each squad walked with a 30-meter distance between them, with generals stationed at the front, middle, and back. His squad was one of the foremost squads, because Wolf's smelling ability was crucial for the plan to work.

"Don't worry, big bro. Wolf strong." Wolf said as he walked beside Dmitri with his dagger.

"Aww, Wolf. Thank you, big bro feels much safer now!" Dmitri tried to sound as positive as possible, but it was impossible for him to not break a nervous sweat.

"Hey, isn't it weird how we haven't encountered any minotaurs or traps?" Their squad leader, Caleb, questioned as they carefully advanced.

"I guess so...The minotaurs are known to be very confident with their maze, so they never really guard the entrance," Dmitri looked around him, "but yeah, it's strange that we haven't seen any traps. Not that I complain, though. Haha!"

"Boy, do you smell anything?" General Emilio, who was walking at the front, questioned Wolf.

"No. No blood, only mud." Wolf said to him.

"Hmm," general Emilio thought for a moment, before stopping on his track, "let's backtrack a bit. We'll take a different path."

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers passed the message on and they turned around to find another path.

"I wonder why he told us to backtrack..." A soldier who was in Dmitri's squad mumbled while they walked back.

"Fool. Minotaurs are known to be confident, that's true. But their confidence is grounded. They're so confident because the only path towards their city is the path that's filled with so many traps, no one had ever crossed it alive." General Emilio answered with a frown.

"A-ah, sorry, general..." The soldier covered her mouth, shocked that he was able to hear her mumbling.

"Sierra, just follow the order!" Caleb nudged her, afraid of getting scolded by the general.

"That's why you should read the records carefully. I bet you didn't even read the past raider's diaries about the maze. If you got time to complain, you better use that time to study your enemy or train." General Emilio clicked his tongue and continued walking.

"Yes, sir. My apologies..." Sierra looked down and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"It's okay, Sierra. General Emilio meant well. Next time, I'll study with you before raids, okay?" Dmitri patted her on the back.

"Alright..." She bit her lower lip.

Once they had backtracked a bit, they took another turn and carefully walked along the new path.

"Wolf smells corpse." The boy pulled Dmitri's sleeve with one hand, while the other was used to pinch his little nose.

"Halt." General Emilio, who was walking in front of them, extended his arm to the side, indicating them to stop.

Dmitri gulped. He clenched his spear and stood in front of Wolf with his shield ready.

"Can you tell me the exact location, boy?" General Emilio asked without glancing at Wolf. His eyes were busy scanning their surrounding, looking for any clues. The path in front of them branched into two.

"No. Just front." Wolf said with a frown.

'Hmm. The boy said he smelled corpse, but there is no trace of blood here, much less any signs of struggle,' general Emilio thought in silence, 'then are the corpses underground? Above ground?'

After contemplating for a bit, he raised his hand, "give me some pebbles."

"Yes, sir." Caleb handed him a bag of pebbles that they had prepared.

General Emilio threw some pebbles to each of the two paths in front of them, but nothing happened.

"Perhaps it needs more weight to activate? Give me the waste bag."

Caleb then handed him two waste bags full of trash that they had collected from earlier. General Emilio immediately threw the bags again, and to their surprise, the bag on the left path fell through.

'THUMP!'

The ground beneath the bag opened up, revealing a pitfall filled with sharp woods, corpses, and skeletons. From the skeletons, it was apparent that the victims didn't consist of only humans. Instead, a lot of wild animals and even weird monster skeletons were there.

"That's horrible..." Sierra's face was stricken with horror and she unconsciously took a step back.

"We're going to the right." General Emilio commanded, looking unaffected by the sight in front of him.

"Thank god, I thought we would need to travel where the traps are..." Sierra sighed.

"Fool. We need to seek the traps, but not cross the traps. Even the minotaurs need a path to get to their city. How can you not understand something as simple as that?" General Emilio frowned and walked to the right path.

"Ah, sorry..." She looked down.

"Don't worry, Sierra. I'm also a bit lost, but I have faith in general Emilio, haha!" Dmitri reassured her for the second time today.

At general Emilio's command, they advanced towards the right path in the agreed formation.

"Proceed with caution. There might be more traps ahead." General Emilio warned them.

"Yes, sir!"

Caleb's squad followed behind general Emilio, and they ventured further in for quite some time.

'CREAK-- THUMP!'

"What was that!?" General Emilio turned around, noticing the abrupt sound coming from behind them.

"G-general! The wall--!" Caleb cried out in shock.

"The walls are closing in! Everyone, run!" Dmitri shouted at the squads behind them.

The walls behind them suddenly moved, and the long hallway that was around 8 meters wide was now reduced to 7, and then 5 meters.

Caleb's squad was fortunately already at the long end of the 100 meters hallway, so they managed to get to safety just by taking a few steps ahead. The three squads behind them, however, were not so lucky.

"Run to the nearest exit! Go back if you're near the entrance!" General Emilio was quick to think, and instead of telling everyone to run through, he instructed the squad at the farthest back to turn around and get to safety.

"Run! Faster! Don't get crushed between these walls!" One of the soldiers from the squads behind them shouted as he ran as fast as he could to reach the end of the hallway.

"Ditch your shield! They're wide and heavy!"

"Hey, move over! Don't block my way!"

"Ahh! Don't push me!"

Dmitri watched in horror as the once organized squads became a panicking mess behind him. He could only watch as the walls were slowly closing in until it was only around 3 meters wide.

"Come on! Move!"

"Thank god I made it!"

The squad that was right behind Caleb's had successfully gotten out of the enclosing hallway with complete members. There was only 1 squad left in the hallway, which was the middle squad. The furthermost squad had already reached safety, too, by running backwards.

"Ah!" A soldier inside the wall tripped on an abandoned shield and fell down, twisting his ankle. He extended his arm for help, "Will! Help me!"

The man he called Will looked back at him for a second, and in that instant, he could see fear in Will's face.

"Sorry, Austin! I'm really sorry!" Will shouted as he turned his back away from him, leaving him behind to die.

"Will! No! Don't leave me behind!" Austin cried out in desperation.

"I'm sorry!" Will still persisted to run, even though tears were streaming down his face as he neared the exit.

The walls were now only barely 1.5 m thick, and 2 of the middle squad's members had gotten out safely.

"Dmitri! Your hand!" Will reached out his arm as the walls around him hugged his armors. He was merely a few steps away from the exit.

"A-ah, yes!" Dmitri immediately extended his arm towards the enclosing wall to pull Will out.

However, Dmitri hesitated for what seemed like a fraction of a second. The thought of possibly crushing his own arm in an attempt to save his friend, who had a tiny chance of survival, struck fear in him. How would he work and save up for his mother's treatment if he lost his arm?

But, that fear did not last long, because he quickly decided that the teeny-tiny chance of saving his friend's life was far more important than him losing his arm.

"I got you!" Dmitri grabbed Will's hand, and he pulled the guy with as much force as he could.

"Thank-"

'SPLAT!'