15 Chapter 14 - Underground Sewers

The entrance to the sewers was not hard to find within the Town, the sewage systems are more developed in this World in comparison to the medieval times in Earth, with the aid of Magic there is practically one under every Town and City.

And because Stonehead Town was strong on commerce and trade, as a result of its location being right at the border between the 'Light' and 'Dark' faction, with it also having many commodities which have attracted adventurers such as the local area is heavily populated by Magical Beasts, has allowed it to thrive becoming one of the most successful Towns within the Kingdom.

This has also allowed its sewage system to be the largest and most developed among Towns in the Kingdom, and it even surpassed some Cities.

Along with a large scale of merchants and adventurers entering the Town, has resulted in the sewers going through numerous expansions developing it to the point where it was now, a sprawling maze located underneath the Town.

The earliest design of the implementation of the new sewers had long gone, with it now becoming completely unrecognisable due to the major revamp.

And so this led the sewers to become home to numerous creatures who had made it their nest, the Mayor had previously led teams in an attempt to wipe them out but every time there would only be new monsters replacing them, and as the sewer system was so large it was difficult to prevent them from infiltrating.

At the same time, it required a great deal of effort, resources to do so which led to the Mayor becoming reluctant to send teams of his soldiers to deal with the Fishkin.

After all, the Fishkin is only thought of as minor pests at most, and they have suffered only minor casualties so far in comparison to the Towns large population, at the same time the only lives lost were those considered an eyesore to the Town, as most of the victims were Thieves, Thugs and people who live within the slum district of the Town, so it was easy for the Fishkin's recent aggressive behaviour to go unnoticed.

Within the pitch-black underground sewer, a circular hole of light suddenly appeared lighting up the darkness scaring away a bunch of rats and critters.

'So this is the sewers', she thought as she plopped herself down the hole landing onto the hard-stone beneath her.

To locate the sewer was not too difficult for her, as she just had to find a manhole in the slum district and enter through that route.

So after skipping past a few attempted pickpockets and a bunch of unsavoury fellows she already found what she was looking for.

She knew that the area of the sewers which the Fishkin and taken up residence in were near here as it was primarily indicated in whom their targets have been, at the same time in the game it was also located here.

Talia also had to be careful with not losing her way around here, as it for those unfamiliar with the sewers it was too easy to lose your sense of direction. It was one of the reasons why the Mayor didn't do anything despite knowing there were terrible creatures here.

It is also why the Order of Templars are helpless with the matter, as they lacked the manpower to spare to do so, Priest Omar was the only experienced member present, and he was already stretched thin in his duties running the branch within this Town.

And sending a bunch of newbies like Roger was only a death sentence, although members of Churches believe that dying for an important cause was an honour, losing their lives in a mission which was way beyond them is too foolish, they may die without even harming an enemy.

The Mayor wouldn't even consider the cost of sending his forces down here, after all in the noble court he has plenty of political enemies, to lose his forces in such a way would be digging his own grave.

It was why Talia had to be entrusted to do such a mission, despite practically being a rookie herself.

Trekking down the long-stone path, attached to her waist is what is known as a glow stone, it is an object which illuminates the surroundings, something which is especially useful for dark places.

It only cost her a silver, which was a fair amount, but not too bad considering its use and practicality, and all it required to recharge was to let it passively absorb the essence in the environment.

Before long, she had run into her first sight of an enemy, an ugly-looking Fishkin stood in front of her at the moment, grasped in its palms was a makeshift wooden spear.

To describe the appearance of the Fishkin, it was around 4 ft tall, its body was covered in blue, slimy scales whereas its face was a bizarre combination of a fish and man. It had large bulbous looking eyes, with razor-sharp teeth which were noticeable as its mouth was hanging open with drool dripping onto the floor.

Droplets of water seemed to repeatedly drip from its body, indicating it has just surfaced from the water, all Fishkin like this one posses a unique respiratory system consisting of both gills and another organ which allows them to be capable of breathing on land as well as underwater.

Upon seeing her a shrill shriek erupted from the creature, as it immediately charged at her, ravenous hunger evident in its eyes, but before it could even make it halfway there, Talia has already let off a spell sending an Ice Spear directly at the creature, who as a result of its eager movements ran directly into the impact of the spear itself.

The body of the Fishkin was easily pierced through as it was sent flying into the ground, resulting in its death instantly.

'That Fishkin was at least Lvl 7, so that makes me to roughly think they are around Lvl 7 to 10, I think I should transform into my beast soul right away, this environment suits it more and alone Fishkin like this would be a rare find, I should expect my next meeting to be a group.' She thought as she began transforming into her beast soul.

As a Frost Gecko, she could immediately sense the difference in the surroundings, as a result of the senses including sight to be far more advanced than a human, she was able to see the surroundings far easier, even with the glow stone.

In her beast soul, she moved even more swiftly than before, as she entered deeper into the sewer in search for the Fishkin's lair.

Eventually, she came across another Fishkin, but this time it wasn't alone.

Four Fishkin was sat in a puddle of murky water as they busily feasted on a body, upon closer inspection she noticed it was human.

Resisting the urge to vomit, she was immediately resolute in not letting these creatures live any longer, as she planned to end them as quickly as possible.

Forming the Ice Barrier spell in her mind, she found a light blue, transparent barrier surrounding her, and Ice Barrier was formed with the use of Ice magical energy to serve as a defensive shield, the way the spell works is it would block a certain amount of kinetic and other forms of energy before dissipating.

An added bonus was because it was made out of Ice magical energy, any close-ranged attackers would be affected somewhat by the icy mist generated from the barrier, and would feel a chill seeping into their bones upon striking it.

Now ready to attack the Fishkin, she formed a ball of concentrated energy in her palm as she let out an essence bolt which immediately exploded in the middle of the group of Fishkin, sending them flying back.

Climbing up from the attack shakily, each of the four Fishkin seemingly survived the attack, but each came out with various degrees of injuries, one was badly damaged, looking like it was already out of the fight.

However, the remaining three who were still able-bodied enough to fight, charged at her letting out violent, high pitched screams as they ran at her.

Talia welcomed them, as she leapt onto the leading Fishkin, feeling her claws tear into its flesh she tore open its chest, the soft scales were opened easily as she struck its vital organs.

The creature wailed in despair at it attempted to pry her off its chest, but it proved to be a futile struggle, as it was not strong enough to make her budge, a regular Fishkin was only a tad above a regular strong human in terms of strength, never mind an augmented lizard with the added stats of a Lvl 8 player.

Both the remaining Fishkin leapt onto her in rage, as they scratched at her barrier and attempted to strike her with their weapons, it harmlessly bounced off her shield, which at the moment held at the rampant strikes of the Fishkin, but she knew the limit of the shield will not hold for long if she let them continue to attack her freely like this.

Moving on from the dead Fishkin, she went to her next target, using her strength to send it to the ground, she once again used her sharp claws to lay waste to the Fishkin's body as she targeted its weak points, making short work of the creature.

As for the remaining Fishkin that was easily dealt with, as she used her Ice Spear which sent it flying across the floor, ending its life pitifully.

With the three attacking Fishkin dead, she finished off the remaining one who still laid there crippled on the ground, quickly analysing the battle which just occurred, a few thoughts came to mind, 'I'm lucky at having the Ice barrier to aid me as I wouldn't be so confrontational with the Fishkin otherwise, as even if they are considered among the lowest tiered creatures in this world, they could still do damage to me in groups.'

She knew that she seemingly dealt with the Fishkin rather easily, but she would not get ahead of herself as she knew this was only the beginning.

The Fishkin is not a creature known for their strength, but their ability as ambush predators, as with their versatility to fight underwater and on land, they are known to leap out of murky water, dragging their prey consuming them.

Yet, their identify as vermin was because they were only considered a lower-tier creature and were mainly only a threat to regular humans, this is why it is obvious that she would deal with them without difficulty so far as even alone a Frost Gecko would be considered superior to a Fishkin, never mind a one empowered by the stats of a beast soul master.

The main contributing factor though was the Ice Barrier spell as it allowed her to not worry about taking damage, as she knew that she can definitely dish out enough destruction to the Fishkin it was just risky for her to allow herself to be surrounded by them, as even if one cannot take them down, that doesn't mean numerous can.

'I should be careful though, these are only the Fishkin on the outskirts, so they would be considered the weaker ones, the further I enter the stronger they are at the same time, they will be even more affected by the taint which not only enrages a creature but improves their even further strength than before.' She thought as she continued to make her way within the sewers.

She came across a few more groups of Fishkin on her way, which she dealt with each time without much difficulty, however, she eventually came across a group which appeared different than the others.

'The taint is finally showing its effects' Talia thought, as she saw the Fishkin before her, unlike the others a murky black, gas-like substance seemed to be emitting from them, with their eyes also glowing with a red tint appearing as if they been possessed by a demon.

This time she paid extra caution, and took things even more seriously, she set up an Ice Barrier spell beforehand, additionally, she aimed to do maximum damage towards one of the tainted Fishkin as she knew that an Essence Bolt despite its splash damage affecting groups being better than the Ice Spear, the Ice Spear delivers the most damage to a single target.

Unless the creature, of course, had too strong of a hide to penetrate, then the most damaging effect of the spear cannot be achieved, but this was not the case with the Fishkin with their only source of protection being the soft scales which decorated their body, so as the spell formed and the spear went flying, a spear stabbed into one of the Fishkin which screamed in agony at the surprise attack.

The other tainted Fishkin beside him instantly enraged, immediately charged in the direction that the spell was released in, its sharp eyes quickly finding her as it ran towards her.

Talia found herself jumped on by the angered Fishkin, which she could already tell was far more aggressive than its counterparts, it didn't seem to have a concept of pain as it hammered into her body, constantly causing a banging sound to appear as it whacked her barrier, with the iciness emitting from the shield not serving as a deterrent to its wild strikes at all.

She let out a strike of her own as she tore at its body causing blackened blood to leak out in rivulets, but this only served to further aggravate the creature, reminding her exactly of the berserk Dire Bear who continuously chased her despite being seriously hurt from the previous injuries it received.

Talia continued to fight the creature off, as she kept striking into its body, causing a great deal of damage, and just as she felt that the battle was virtually over with the creature before her even with its incredible pain tolerance, was noticeably declining, as even if it could ignore damage its body already starting to fail as a result of the wounds she caused.

But, just as she had this thought, she felt a creature jump on her from behind clawing into Ice Barrier, which remaining energy powering it had finally run out.

Realising it was the Fishkin she had injured earlier and had forgotten about as a result of the heated battle, she realised she was in a bit of trouble, as both Fishkin noticing her defence was finally down, instantly went for her in reckless abandon.

Although both Fishkin was badly injured she still felt the strength of their claws as they torn at her scales with all of their remaining strength, causing them to crack open from the impact, which leads to Talia letting out a brief whimper of pain as she felt a burning sensation throughout her body.

However, unlike one would expect, instead of going into shock or fear at the sudden feeling of such agony this only served to make Talia even angrier, maybe it was the bestial instincts of the Frost Gecko or the fact that Talia was always a girl with a bit of spite if one hurt her, but she ended up completely losing it.

Taking a massive chomp at the Fishkin on her back, she tore open its throat as the bestial nature of the Frost Gecko which was repressed and controlled by her human side was now fully unleashed, as she slashed and ripped into the bodies of the two Fishkin, which were already both on the brink of death before so in her fury, she didn't even notice that the two were virtually finished after the two strikes which they let out, so even after they longed fell dead due to her vicious attacks, she continued to cleave into their bodies until all that remained was a bunch of mangled mess.

After her wave of bloodlust ended, she finally realised how out of control she had been, and couldn't help but stand motionless in horror at the thought of how wild she had been, her human side was in a form of panic whereas the instincts of Frost Gecko felt that it was only right to declare its strength to the two beasts which dared to challenge it.

Talia managed to calm herself down though in a moment, as she rationalised to herself that she shouldn't continue to stick to her old views on what's right and wrong, as there isn't anything normal about what she is anyway, so she shouldn't stick to her old norms.

Ensuring to herself that as long as she makes sure to not harm any innocents and to go beyond her own sense of moral decency, then anything should be acceptable as long as it aids her in continuing to grow stronger, even if the irresistible instincts of the beast soul driving her to commit animalistic actions can be viewed as barbaric and evil to others.

Taking her mind off the subject, she finally realised that the system notification once again identified that she had levelled up once again to level 9.

She suddenly felt a sense of happiness, thinking that at least that's some good news.

Resolving herself to continue moving forward, she passed even more tainted Fishkin, which she dealt with even more cautiously than before, allowing herself to deal with these groups one by one, even as they grew progressively stronger, indicating that she was getting nearer to the location of the Fishkin's lair.

Finally, she knew that she had finally arrived at the spot, as before she was the largest group of Fishkin she had seen so far, and each one of them was a Fishkin that was clearly tainted.

Around these Fishkin was an assortment of all kinds of objects, including broken armour, scrap weapons and all sorts of junk, indicating just how many deaths the Fishkin was responsible for which had gone mostly unnoticed even by the Mayor of the Town itself.

Within the room though, was what appeared to be a mysterious-looking altar, atop it stood a glowing pitch-black orb, which it what Talia immediately identified as the object responsible for the corruption of the Fishkin and at the same time was the item sensed by Priest Omar as the source of all troubles.

Standing before the altar, was the largest Fishkin she had seen by far, standing at around 6 ft tall, this Fishkin appeared as a giant in comparison to its predecessors, unlike the other Fishkin, it scales were coloured a bright-red and it had a robust physique, indicating its great strength.

'OK, I know this was going to be difficult, but this is way more than I signed up for, why does this look way more difficult than the quest in-game? What is the red guy doing here?' Talia thought as she looked at the scene before her gloomily.