60. Sewers

Before coming the three of them had bought some cheap tools for most of the couple silvers they had. Currently Cerone had a dagger and a cheap magic item that the job provided to give light down in the sewers. Alyssa had a short sword and a large pack with most of the rations and water they would need. Rys carried a short bow and a number of arrows. It had costed them most of their savings, putting them back down to the beginning, but if they were successful, they would not only gain some reputation, but they would also save years of time.

A man stood next to the sewer. He had on worn pants and a shirt, but his massive size betrayed why they city had called for much smaller individuals. "Alright, just you three?" The man spoke.

"Yes, we can handle it. Don't look down on us just because we are young." Cerone spoke. Her tone indicated determination.

The man nodded. "I wasn't. Now just to warn you, most of what you will find down there are toxin rats and parasitic fungus. They are both easy to kill and quite weak, but they are a threat in a swarm. Take your time and pick them off slowly." The man then opened a sturdy metal door with a creak.

"Be safe down there. If you find anything much more powerful than normal retreat and we will commission a dedicated party to slay it. Don't take unneeded risks." The trio nodded to him and entered the sewers.

After they were a few feet into the tunnels they heard the door close behind them and a dim light brightened above it. The man had told them that any exit to the surface would have a dim light above the door. The tunnels were surprisingly devoid of much anything. Besides the slow trickle of a liquid they tried to pretend was just dirty water, the tunnel was just a simple short tunnel that flowed in one direction. The walls and floors were slick, but not impossible to get a good foot hold in.

The pushed down the tunnel. It began to narrow, and they had to start walking in a single file line. It narrowed further and began to descend at a gentle slope. The trio began to cautiously walk down the slope. The tunnel narrowed to the point where they had to crouch and they scooted into the a much wider chamber. In the center of the chamber was a river of waste. Cerone shone the light over the river and they could see everything from food waste and shit to the occasional body. They shuddered at the thought and followed a path on the side of the river.

Alyssa put a hand on Cerone's shoulder, indicating her to stop. "I can hear the movement of something up ahead. 2, maybe 3 things are moving around." Cerone nodded at her and pushed forward with the dagger drawn.

The light penetrated ahead, and three squeals could be heard. Clustered around what looked like the remains of an animal were three greenish rats. Their fur looked wet and matted. Spore like fungus constantly shook off of them as they moved. The three rats turned to face the group.

Cerone took no chances and immediately summoned a rush of flames. The rats were set ablaze and began to roll on the ground. Cerone and Alyssa rushed forward and stabbed the three rats in the head. They cut out the small fang in their mouths. This was the proof of the kill. Every rat they killed they would have to do this. They pushed the bodies into the river of waste and continued pushing forward.

The rats were very easy to kill and took nearly no time. The tunnels they walked through were a maze. Some areas would be large and could fit a parade down them, but others required them to crouch and crawl to enter and exit. So far they had killed almost fifty rats. They had not seen the fungus that the man before spoke of. Sitting down in a wider and dry tunnel, Alyssa removed the pack and began taking out some food for a break.

"So far it hasn't been too bad. Cerone, how many did they say we had to kill?" Alyssa asked while handing over some food that looked like a hard bread.

Cerone took a bite and spoke while chewing. "Two hundred minimum they said. We also get a bonus for every hundred extra we kill. And if we find something far more powerful down here we get ten percent of the commission for whatever adventure party they hire to come kill it."

Rys ate slowly and looked around the sewers. "This place is massive. I don't believe that two hundred kills will do much at all for the city."

Cerone nearly choked. "We yeah, but they are mainly worried about them moving up the sewers towards the main city. We are here to eliminate stragglers and push them back down." She pounded her chest for a second to dislodge the hard food. It had been cheap and wouldn't go bad for a long time, but it wasn't the most desirable of food.

Rys nodded his head in understanding. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Alyssa stood and drew her sword. "Large group heading towards us. At least in the double digits, maybe closer to a hundred. I can't tell, its too much noise." Rys and Cerone put the food away and entered into a defensive stance.

"Rys, can you make some barricades to make a choke point at the entrance to this tunnel?" Cerone asked as they backed away to the entrance of the tunnel where it narrowed down to where only two people could walk though shoulder to shoulder.

"Uh, maybe. The stone these tunnels are carved out of will make it take some time though." Rys put his bow down and spread some seeds on the ground then put his hands together and closed his eyes.

Plants began to sprout and grow visibly out of the ground.

The sprouted plants quickly entwined with themselves and dug into the blocky stones making entrance. The opening shrunk quickly becoming a good choke to prevent them from being swarmed.

Through the now narrow opening they could see hundreds of rats clambering over themselves to get to them. Their mouths frothed and their eyes looked dead.

Unlike the previous ones they fought these looked emancipated and moved with awkwardness. Rys' eyes squinted looking at the horde. Rys' blessing contained far more supportive abilities and in all honesty he would thrive as a farmer.

Rys' blessing gave him an intrinsic connect to all plant life around him. It wasn't some crazy connection. He could just feel the plant life around him. Thus far it hadn't been very useful but as the rats closed in he felt that same feeling from the ravenous creatures that quickly closed the gap between them.

Rys looked with new found fear at the pack. The words of the man before the sewer rang in his ear. Parasitic fungus. "Don't get injured at all! Not a scratch! Those are parasitic fungus!" Rys desperately shouted as the thunder of feet drowned out his words. Alyssa still heard him and closed next to Cerone shoving her out of the way and taking the first wave.

Alyssa stepped forward and shouted into the tunnel. These sewers were a natural habitat for Alyssa. The conical tunnels provided a natural echo chamber that amplified her ability to use sound as a weapon. The shout reverberated off the tunnels as it traveled, coming to apexes randomly though out the crowd of rats. These concentration point cause so much vibration that some of the weaker rats started to fall.

Cerone recovered from the abrupt change in plans and stood up activating her blessing. Cerone's blessing was one of pure warfare. The longer battles raged on and the stronger Cerone grew, the stronger her blessing would get.

Rys continued to warp and repair the choke point while Alyssa used the greater range of the short sword over the rats claws to dispatch them slowly. Every dead rat would be pushed through the vines and roots by others ready to replace it.

For ten minutes Alyssa slaughter rats one by one without taking a single hit. During the time she had used a sound shout a few times to try to deal wide spread damage. She had also managed to gain enough of a breather to let Cerone know about Rys' theory.

Cerone agreed. Taking over for a panting Alyssa she began slaughtering rats one by one. Suddenly though the vines and roots near the wall failed. A single rat slipped through. "Cerone on your right." Rys shouted while struggling to repair the choke point before the mass of rats made it through the wall.

Cerone slashed it into the eye but in a dying effort managed to slash her forearm. It was a shallow cut but a cut non the less. Cerone immediately acted using fire magic to produce a small flame and cauterize the wound. A gasp of pain and then it was done. She looked at the rat with fury giving a sizable kick to the head before returning to the thinning horde.

The managed to dodge any more wounds. At this point there were only a few of the creatures remaining. Rys let his control over the choke point collapse. The torn and batter roots and vines stopped repairing themselves and without sunlight or Rys's steady supply of mana they would certainly die down here. He sighed thinking it was a waste but left them regardless.

Cerone finished off the one more rat when the remaining seven perked up then bolted away. Cerone gave chase for a second before stopping. Her fury was still apparent but she decided chasing would ultimately not be the best idea. Returning to the two she had left she noticed Alyssa had caught her breath and was listening to the caves for anything else. Rys was leaned against a wall trying to mentally recover. Unlike running or fighting with weapons spell casting and usage of mana would slowly deplete focus and the ability to think, perceive and think creatively. Short breaks after longer longer usage would help mitigate it but until one went to sleep it wouldn't truly recover.