As the doors pushed fully open, the group followed behind Emilia, her nametag now visible. They passed through another set of doors, and then they were in the exam room. The walls and floors were full concrete, with a ceiling 8 metres high. What caught the groups eyes first however, was a snarling brown wolf.
It was separated from the group by a large floor to ceiling window, which was stained with traces of the previous participants blood.
'We got a strict examiner. Damn.'
The group thought this near in unison, although for separate reasons. Rowan simply found the amount of blood shocking, not understanding this was a regular amount. The rest of the group were watching the monster, their studies telling them that this was an Earthwulf. Larger than an old world wolf by about 1.5x, and while slower, its fur was like rocks. Almost nothing would be able to penetrate that fur, except an awakened of course.
For a test, it would be damn near impossible to get full marks, and they were likely to get injured simply from it throwing its weight around.
"Before we begin, let's go over the basics."
An authoritative feminine voice came from the left, where a woman with dark wavy hair sat watching them. The lawn chair creaking as she stood up, and she wiped away the crinkles of her dark clothes.
"It is up to you to plan your strategy of attack. We will intervene when you tap out, or when you sustain a significant injury, like a broken bone."
The group's attention was split between her and the Earthwulf, watching it pace alongside the window, knowing they would be joining it soon.
"Your role is NOT to kill it. You are to in some way, restrain or subdue the Earthwulf with minimal injury to yourself."
She walked towards the side of the room, where the window met the wall. There, an assortment of gear was laid out. Swords, shields, spears all laid out, among suits of leather armour and, more importantly, various tools to subdue the Earthwulf.
"You will need at least one person to hold a net. I recommend multiple, because if someone freezes up, you'll have no hope of getting that thing tied down. For your information, the blades of all these weapons are blunt, so don't bother trying to kill it and pretend it was an accident."
Lenny and Aoife exchanged glances, they knew even with unblunted tools there was not a chance they could kill that thing.
"I'll leave the strategizing to you, let me know when you're ready to fight"
leaving no room for further questions, she quickly went and sat down in the lawn chair, not bothering to look formal or refined, in stark contrast to the militaristic getup.
While Rowan scanned over all the items, making stock of what was there, the others had already started discussing who should be the ones holding the net.
"I think it should be Avery and Nadia, they're both smaller than us. The rest of us should take shields, and try and take its focus while they throw the nets on it."
Aoife was the first to make a suggestion, but Avery responded rather indignantly at the suggestion of Rowan being stronger than him.
"Look at him! He's a stick that could be broken by a breeze! Surely you can't think he'll be able to last a second with a shield!?"
"With how weak he looks, the Earthwulf is likely to go for him first. If we give him a net he'll be out in seconds. Yes you would last longer than him, but that's not what we need."
By this time Rowan was paying attention to the conversation and was a little upset that they thought so little of him, but he couldn't really blame them. He would be quite lucky if something didn't break on the first blow.
'Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained.'
He thought grimly, resigning himself to being nothing more than a distraction to the beast prowling nearby. Up close, it's fur looked much less like fur, what had appeared as individual hairs was lines in the rock where it's fur should be. Truly, weapons would not help themselves here.
Avery and Nadia grabbed their nets, carefully testing their weight and how they felt, before donning the leather armour nearby. Aoife and Lenny examined the shields, both settling for bucklers that would be able to block both slashes and charges from the Earthwulf.
Rowan picked up his shield, and groaned at the weight of it. The iron bands around the edge added significantly to the weight of the wooden shield, and his shoulder already felt the strain of holding it aloft in front of him.
Rowan was already struggling to adjust to the weight when Aoife handed him something out of nowhere.
"It's a spear, they're really easy for beginners to use, just try and poke at it's eyes or any soft spots you can see. If you can't keep your grip on it, roll it away from us. Don't try and throw it at the Earthwulf, it's too risky."
Rowan quickly nodded, holding a weapon in his hand had made the fear settle in his heart. He was about to fight a monster, and was certain a broken bone would be the best case scenario. She clapped him on the shoulder and nodded, trying to look brave despite the way she kept adjusting the grip on her own spear.
"You're ready then? Alright. Get ready to enter, when I say go, enter the cage as quick as you can, you don't want it picking one off before the fight begins."
Everyone nodded stiffly, and the examiner stepped aside as she opened the door. There was a brief moment of hesitation, as each member fought with their internal instincts that screamed at them to run, to flee. Inevitably, all five dashed into the cage, nets readied and shields raised, as the Earthwulf stalked a short distance away.
The door closed with a bang behind them, causing each to flinch and briefly look over their shoulder to where the examiner stood.
The brief look was all the Earthwulf needed.
Immediately, it charged forward, building its momentum to a peak as Lenny, Aoife, Avery and Nadia realised what was happening and dashed to the side. Rowan saw it coming as well, but his knees knocked together, and he could scarcely raise his shield to protect himself.
Cursing, he dropped the spear and dived to the side, landing in an awkward seated position alongside the window. A crash resounded as the Earthwulf slammed into the concrete wall, making the ground and walls shudder with it's weight.
Scrambling, Rowan got to his feet, but the Earthwulf was just as fast. Once again, Rowan had to dive to the side as the Earthwulf lunged at him, and they were in the same position once more.
But this time, the Earthwulf was right next to him. It hadn't charged, and had instead feinted, expecting the same reaction a second time. gasping in fear, Rowan pushed himself backwards as the Earthwulf dashed towards him with a snarl.
Not a moment too late, Lenny slammed his shield against the beast's head, A loud thud sounding from where the shield and skull collided. Taking his chance, Rowan once again got to his feet, and looked around to evaluate the situation. Nadia and Avery were on opposite sides of the beast, waiting for the moment they could throw their nets. Conversely, Lenny and Aoife were up in the Earthwulf's face, using their shields as weapons whenever they got the chance.
The blunt force seemed to be working, as the Earthwulf would stagger each time a clean blow resounded. It wasn't being pushed back, however. For every blow landed on it, it would land another. Rowan could see that both Aoife and Lenny were struggling to hold up under it's claws, and that the shields weren't looking much better. Following their example, Rowan stood to the side of them, and watched the beast, waiting for it to open up a move.
Seeing it's earlier prey returned, the Earthwulf snarled, and moved to swipe at him with an oversized claw. Wincing, Rowan raised his shield high and braced, as the claw arced through the air towards him.
Bang!
The claw slammed against the shield, and Rowan realised bracing was the wrong idea. All of the force was immediately slammed into his legs, and he felt them shudder with the sudden exertion. His arms weren't doing much better, the thin muscle struggled to hold the shield up as he returned to his feet.
Luckily, Avery and Nadia had taken advantage of the opening his being there had provided. both nets lay wrapped around it, Averys was on top while Nadia's was firmly wrapped around it's back legs, prohibiting it's movement greatly.
Lenny and Aoife leapt forward, both grabbing Avery's net as they pulled downwards, attempting to force the beast to the ground. The Earthwulf meanwhile, thrashed in every direction it could, attempting to dislodge either net.
Realising he had to do something, Rowan once again raised his shield, but this time brought it down on the Earthwulf's head as hard as he could. He was rewarded with throbbing pain in his arm, and a very satisfying crack, which resulted in chips of rock scattering across the floor.
Finally, the beast started to waver, but not before it's rock hard tail swung to the side, catching the unawares Avery in the side.