A line of men were walking on the narrow walkways. On the front of the line were armored guards armed with halberds and muskets. They led the line nervously, watching the sewer water as they walked, fearful of the sewer kings. Behind them were paladins, knights, mages and slayers.

  The haughty paladins pinched their noses as they walked. The sewer’s smell was unbearable for them. Most of the knights did too, especially those who came from noble houses. The knights who came from common backgrounds did not pinch their noses — even when they wanted to. They did not want to act snobbish like their noble counterparts, even at the cost of their nostrils.

  Dame Lia was not worried about the smell though. She was more concerned for the safety of the mages behind her and the young lord of house Hazen, Herman Adria Hazen, who was in charge of their group. Just like the guards in front, she was watching the water. She was not worried about undead; they could be easily seen before they became a threat — sewer king on the other hand. Even as she boosted her own senses with spells, she still had a hard time detecting a sewer king. They swam so silently and at such a high speed that they were able to…

  SPLASSSH

  Jumped at them at a moment's notice. Dame Lia turned around as she heard the loud splash. A sewer king was chomping at a poor slayer’s leg, dragging him inside the water. She poured mana into her runic boots, which were inscribed with first-circle spell, [Wind Dash], allowing her to leap on top of the sewer king before it fully submerged.

  She covered her sword with [Aura], and with a single stroke sliced the crocodile’s head. Even though her sword was a masterfully forged sword, covered with high-level [Aura], she was not capable of fully decapitating the sewer king’s head. But the blow was enough for the sewer king to release its jaw from the poor slayer.

  It submerged itself into the water. Dame Lia jumped before she too fell into the water, grabbing the slayer mid air and landed on the walkways gracefully. The sewer king was now gone from sight. The rest of the men huddled close to the walls, staying as far away from the water and observing it as their life depended on it — no one wanted to suffer the same fate as the slayer.

  Dame Lia on the other hand just sheathed her sword. Her blow did not instantly kill the beast, but she knew that she had dealt lethal damage to it. An injured beast that could run would run, and she knew that sewer king would die on its own time.

  “Paladins! Tend to this man’s wound.” Dame Lia ordered the paladin. They were a bit reluctant to use their holy power on a random commoner — but order was order. And it was against their religion’s teaching to ignore an injured man in need.

  One of the paladins approached the injured slayer. He put his hand on top of the slayer’s gnawed leg — his hand glowed a bright yellow, closing the slayer’s wound. But that was all he was capable of doing, stopping the bleeding — That was the most healing magic was capable of. The slayer had lost some meat on his leg, and he would live the rest of his life as a cripple.

  “Escort the man outside. Ensure his safety.” Herman came out from the protection of his knights, showing the scared men that everything was under control. “Young lord…” Dame Lia had two concerns; her lord’s safety and the future of the now crippled slayer. “Don’t worry Lia. We’ll make sure he’s well compensated. If he’s smart, he could open a store with that money.”

  Dame Lia understood that monetary compensation was the best help the Hazen family could offer to the man. His future rested on his own decision… but at the same time, Dame Lia understood that men like him were not the best at managing their money. She could only hope he was wise enough to manage his money well — for the Hazen would not do it for him.

  “Thank you my lord. But please stay under the knights protection at all times… if anything happens to you…” Dame Lia voiced her concerns, Herman’s personal bodyguards nodded in the background.

  Herman sighed. Sometimes, he wished he was as talented in swordsmanship like Kylan or in magic like Irvin — then maybe he would not be treated like a princess by his own subordinates. But then again, he understood the value of his life as the successor to his father. “I understand. I trust my safety in your hands.” He diplomatically assuaged their concerns.

  The procession began their march once again, walking with their entire focus on the sewer water. In all honesty it was bad practice to have their full attention on the water… But Herman did not mind. The only threat to their group were sewer kings.

  The city never slacked in clearing out their giant rats population, so they were no danger to a group this large. One of their purposes there was to count the molrrets population — but in reality they possessed no immediate threat unless attacked first.

  Meanwhile the undead, the threat many of the men believed to be the main reason for the operation… was no longer controlled by a necromancer. Herman and the higher ups were already informed by Imperial Princess Tasha’s spy, that Carven was already dead.

  Herman doubted the veracity of this information, but Tasha’s spy had no reason to lie to them. Their goal here was to check whether the information they got was accurate, the spy even provided them a map that led to Carven’s supposed hideout and his hidden stashes located all over the sewer.

  The spy only left them one important message…

  ‘Be careful of the iron-skinned boy. If you met him, do not engage. Run.’

  *****

  “Hey Red. Is it really fine for us to leave the group?” Evan was gripping his spear tightly, watching every single one of the dark corners of the sewer. Prepared to strike at anything that jumped at him. Every time he heard a noise, especially splashes, he immediately went on the defensive. “Yep. Relax, Evan. They’re not going to be looking for us. We can just say we got lost.” The red-haired boy who was walking casually in front of Evan got the wrong idea. He thought Evan was worried that the group would give them trouble for going on their own.

  “I don’t give a fuck about that. Shouldn’t we go with the group? Aren’t we here to check if Carven is alive or dead? Besides, it’s safer with the group. Safety in numbers! Never heard of that?” Evan fired off his complaints in a rapid manner, his teeth chattering the entire time.

  “What!? Who cares about Carven? Whether he’s alive or dead, doesn’t really matter to us does it?” The red-haired boy was genuinely surprised. “Wait!? Then why we’re here? To be crocodile’s food!?”

  “To find out any clues about Regulus. You know, the guy who started all this mess.” Evan was stunlocked for a second. Who the hell was Regulus? He searched his memory for anyone named Regulus… but he came up empty. “Who?”

  The boy was flabbergasted. “Did Rex not brief you on Regulus? You know, the guy who killed Krieg. The guy who killed half of Lorca’s men and made him think we’re the one who did it.” Evan had a dumb look on his face; Rex did not tell him anything about Regulus. The boy realized Rex did not think much of Regulus, not enough to peg him as a potential threat.

  “So is this Regulus guy really worth all this trouble?” asked Evan. But the boy did not answer. His attention was taken by something else. Evan was worried by the boy's sudden quietness, did he see an undead? Or worse, a sewer king.

  The boy jumped across the sewer water towards the opposite walkways. Evan hated this about the boy. He and Rex, when something caught their attention, they would ignore everything else. Would it kill them to explain things to him before they impulsively decided to do something?

  “Shit”

  With no other choice, Evan prepared to jump across the sewer water to follow the boy. Judging by the size, the sewer water was roughly around two to three meters wide. It was a distance Evan could easily jump across by using [Iron Body] to strengthen his leg muscle… his biggest worry was that a sewer king would suddenly pop out and snatch him mid air. But the longer he hesitated, the further away the boy would leave him. Whether he liked it or not, he needed to jump.

  HUP

  He leapt across the walkway…

  …

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  Safely. All his worry was nothing but paranoia. There was no sewer king waiting to eat him. Once he calmed his beating heart, he chased the boy, who bizarrely stood still in front of him — looking at something. “Oooy, Red. What the hell was th-”

  Evan understood what made the boy leave him. Across of them, a giant tunnel on the sewer wall, big enough for people to walk through. No matter how you looked at it — it was dug by someone… or something.

  “Is that what I think it is?” asked Evan. The boy smiled widely, “Yes, Evan. It is what you think it is — a clue. And I’m willing to bet it’s related to Regulus.”

  *********

  Kel Mauro and Irvin were standing in front of a tunnel entrance, a stair leading deeper towards an unknown place. According to the information they got, this was the entrance to Carven’s hideout. The two of them were accompanied by five paladins, five knights, and three others fourth-circle mages. All in all, these fifteen were an elite strike force, organized to take care of Carven. Judging by the combat prowess of the group — it was a bit of an overkill for someone at Carven’s level.

  In fact, most knights and paladins that were involved in this operation thought it was a waste of time. But the ten who were assigned with Kel Mauro and Irvin understood immediately that they were mistaken. They were told to use [Aura Vision] by the two, and what they saw flipped their world view upside down — a thick fog of mana particles, not leftover of spells, but something more raw — like [Iron Body]. But no [Iron Body] should leave such a thick trace, thick enough to cover the entirety of the tunnel in front of them.

  Even the three other mages were surprised. They thought they were mostly here for administrative work — to count the molrrets population. A menial work that just happened in a location where you could not send normal administrative people to do the job. They were surprised when the master of the tower, Kel Mauro himself volunteered to be in a special task force to deal with a lowly necromancer. Now they understood why their usually lazy tower master was acting like a proper tower master all of a sudden — whoever or whatever the source of this mana fog, was a serious threat to the city and its denizens.

  “Master…” cold sweat flooded Irvin’s face. He might be a fourth-circle mage, but he had little to none combat experience. The Imperial princess’ spy had warned them that the person they were looking for, Regulus, was not one to be messed with. The spy even informed them that the possibility of Carven being dead was high, and there was no need for any of them to enter the sewer. They volunteered to count the molrret population for them. There was no need to do this operation…

  But Kel Mauro insisted. He used the excuse that an Imperial spy should not be the one to decide Hazen’s security matter… But Irvin understood his master. Kel Mauro was curious about this Regulus figure. He needed to see him for himself. It was his mage’s instinct — his folly as one who pursued knowledge. Kel Mauro was risking his life and the lives of others just for the sake of his own curiosity… and Irvin could not stop him. For he too suffered the same curse as his master — the curse of curiosity.

  “Everyone. Prepare yourself. We’re going in.” Kel Mauro ordered the group. They all steeled themselves, turning off their [Aura Vision] so they could see the path ahead. The Paladins entered first, acting as vanguard. The mages in the middle, being protected from the rear by the knights.

  They descended the stairs, prepared for anything that might come their way… but nothing could prepare them for the stench that assaulted their nose. Even though at least half the group had experienced war and death, the smell of rotting corpses was one that was not easy to get used to.

  As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were greeted by a horrendous sight. They entered a large room where there were piles and piles of corpses, possibly slain undead; some were shot, some were burned, and many were torn apart.

  Among the pile of corpses, one caught their attention. A large headless corpse. They could not tell what it was originally. It might be an ogre, or some other huge monstrosities. But what concerned them the most was how the body was destroyed. It looked like whoever slain the undead destroyed it from the inside and came out of its backside. Did they let themselves be eaten to slay that thing?

  Graaaah

  They heard groaning sounds. A few undead, mostly zombies, came out of the side tunnels. Whoever massacred the undead in this room did not slain all of Carven’s undead. The knights and Paladins entered combat formation, surrounding the mages, protecting them.

  Kel Mauro snapped his finger. Dozens of crystalline shards formed out of thin air. He casted a first-circle spell, [Mana Bullets], a basic and very mana efficient spell. “Fly,” with a single command, the shards flew and hit multiple undead in the head, exploding on impact and destroying their brains. All the other mages casted their spells, and a small skirmish against the undead began.

  *******

  “God, what is this smell? What is this place? Let’s turn back, Red.” Evan pinched his nose. Him and the boy entered the mysterious tunnel on the sewer wall. The tunnel path was littered with body pieces and painted with dry blood. The two had to watch their steps for occasionally there were holes on the floor, filled with mushy body parts. “Reeeed~” Evan could not stop complaining the whole way in. He knew he would see this place constantly in his nightmare, and whatever the tunnel leads to, could not be good for his sanity.

  “Interesting,” the red-haired boy who walked in front of him was the first to exit the tunnel. Evan followed slowly behind him, and when he finally exited the tunnel, he saw a giant cave supported by a few pillars. On the wall, there were various similar-sized holes that looked like some underground creatures had burrowed into them. “Wow,” Evan could not hide his amazement, he expected worse. The cave was only littered with a few corpses, less than what he thought when he crossed the tunnel.

  Chomp Chomp

  The sound of a creature eating meat. Evan’s face turned pale. A sewer king was chomping at one of the littered corpses, and it saw them entering the cave. He drew his spear, preparing for combat — but the boy snatched the spear from his hand. “Leave this to me. You just watch.” Evan was a bit shocked that the boy just casually walked towards the sewer king… but at the same time, he ain’t gonna complain. Worst case scenario, he would just run while the sewer king was busy eating the boy.

  The boy twirled his newly acquired spear, feeling out the balance of the new weapon. The sewer king stared at him, sizing off the invader who entered its feeding ground. The boy smiled… he stepped his foot hard, startling the sewer king and making it charged at him.

  The boy timed the sewer king’s charge, and when its gaping maw almost got him, he jumped high by casting [Wind Dash] and strengthening his legs with [Iron Body] at the same time. In the air, he channeled his mana into the tip of his spear, forming a concentrated [Aura] on it. He strengthened his wrist muscle with [Iron Body] and thrust the spear towards the Sewer King’s head. He spun the spear mid thrust while also adding a bit of [Wind Dash] magic on it, turning the spear into a powerful drill.

  BRAAK

  The spear pierced the sewer king’s head and lodged itself into the ground. The sewer king writhed for a few seconds before it finally died. “Wow,” Evan was impressed that his cheap spear was able to impale the famously hard skin of the sewer king. From his perspective, all the boy did was jump and launch the spear at the charging beast.

  “That’s amazing, Red. How you did that?” Now that the danger was gone, he gleefully approached the boy. But something else took the boy’s attention… and it was not the sewer king he just slain. “Ain’t that interesting.” said the boy with a huge grin on his face.

  ********

  “Ain’t that interesting.” Kel Mauro was looking at a peculiar corpse. A headless body of what used to be a Leonid, on its torso’s and back’s, the skins showing signs of objects that used to be merged into it were pulled apart — there were leftover stitching marks. The most interesting part of the corpse was the fact it had traces of spellcasting on its hands. “That trash Carven actually managed to create an undead that able to spellcast, color me surprised.”

  Irvin on the other hand was more interested in something else. He felt like he had seen this corpse before. “Is this Lorca? Why is he here?” Kel Mauro was confused by the sudden name drop, “Who’s Lorca?” Irvin gave him a side eye. He knew it was pointless to explain that Lorca was a crimelord to his master — he would forget about it in seconds.

  “Doesn’t matter. Should we go into the obviously secret passage?” He was looking at the secret passage in front of him. They both were in a place they assumed to be Carven’s main laboratory, but they could not find any sign of Carven or his corpse. Logically, that coward Carven would run through the secret passage when he met Regulus… the question was, did he make it? After all, Irvin could see a trail of mana fog filling the entirety of the secret passage.

  “Hmmm, let’s wait until the others are done and gathered here.” Right now, they were the only two in the room accompanied by a single knight. The others were checking the side tunnels where the undead were coming from. They went as a group to check one tunnel, only to be met with a caved in corridor. Without checking the other tunnels, Kel Mauro and Irvin knew that the rest of the side tunnels were probably caved in the same manner — if they had to guess, it was molrrets’ handiwork. But just in case, they had the group split up and check each side tunnels, after all the cave in did not fully block the corridor. Some of the undead that they were facing must have been those who managed to climb past the rubble and walked into the room. Since they were there, might as well clean up all the remaining undead rather than letting them potentially roaming the sewers.

  Tap Tap

  A knight and a mage entered the Carven’s laboratory. “Oh, are you guys done with the check?” Kel Mauro was excited. He had started to get bored waiting for them to finish. To the average people, Carven’s laboratory was filled with curious trinket… to him, it’s just a shitty workplace. He could not wait to leave this place as soon as possible.

  “Uhhm. Actually, no. We're not done. It's just… there’s something we’re not sure if we should report or not.” The mage was hesitant. Kel Mauro and Irvin looked at each other confused. They wondered what it was the two saw. “Sure, just tell us.”

  “Uhhhm. There were some children loitering around the entrance… and they got some molrrets with them. They ran away as soon as they saw us though.”

  ********

  “Ain’t that interesting.” The red-haired boy managed to see something that caught his attention when he was in the air. He could barely see it on ground level, and he probably would not notice it if he did not jump and ended up getting an aerial view of the entire cave.

  “What is it?” Evan asked what it was that took the boy’s fancy, but the boy decided to ignore Evan and approached it. If he told Evan what it was, the thing might run away… or flew away, it was a crow after all.

  The boy approached the crow slowly and steadily. The crow stared at the boy, hoping he would leave it alone. But the boy would not. He readied his hand to catch the crow.

  Flap

  The crow flew away before the boy could reach it, the boy strengthened his legs with [Iron Body], casted [Wind Dash], and used any other tricks in his bag to try and catch the bird, but he only managed to graze it before it flew away. “EVAN!!! CATCH IT!” per the boy’s order, Evan tried his best to catch the crow, but unlike the boy, he was not even close to catching it. The crow successfully escaped and flew out of the cave through the tunnel entrance.

  “What a shame,” unlike his words, the boy’s face did not show any hint of disappointment. If anything he looked amused with the whole situation. “Why do we want to catch a crow anyway?” Evan asked.

  “I think that crow is a Gypsai.” Evan was shocked. He heard of Gypsai before, a group of people that were able to transform into small animals. Many associated them with criminals and spies. Evan did not even believe that they were real, he thought Gypsai was just mages who could use the [Polymorph] spell. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Why would a crow be underground?” The boy answered Evan’s question with another question… but it made sense. It was a bit unnatural for a crow to be underground. Of course it could somehow end up inside the sewer through a series of events… but Evan doubted that a crow would venture so deep inside the sewer and ended up in that particular cave. “Alright, let’s say it’s a Gypsai… why would it take the form of a crow? Couldn’t they just transform into any animal?”

  “I honestly don’t know. Never met a Gypsai before. Maybe the folk tales are wrong. Maybe they couldn’t transform into any small animals… just one. That’s why that Gypsai stayed a crow.”

  Evan looked at the boy funny. “I think you’re overthinking it, Red. Probably just some random crow that ended up here.” he dismissed the boy’s theory.

  “Maybe…” and the boy had no interest in convincing Evan. Unbeknownst to Evan, the boy had used [Mana Vision] to check whether it was a real crow or a polymorphed human. The crow did not show any traces of spell… until it flew away to avoid him. There was no doubt that the crow used some sort of movement spells to dodge the boy’s hand. That was why the boy was sure the crow was a Gypsai.

  And the best part, the Gypsai being there confirmed the boy’s suspicion… that Regulus must have had something to do with the cave they were in. After all, why would a group of people famous for being spies waste their time in a random cave.

  The boy could feel it — he was getting closer to Regulus.