Rise of Tyrus

It was now Tyrus's turn to get all confused about the sudden unexpected reaction of the Subterraneans. Like a kid getting scolded by the actions of another, he pointed at himself as if to ask, "Are you talking about me?" He had totally forgotten his enchanted coat was in its shorter form, so his tail and ears were on full display. By this point, he was getting used to getting a reaction whenever his features were in sight.

In a nervous laughter, Fiona inched toward the supervisor. "L-Let's all relax here. I'm guessing this kin of storms refers to Tyrus? I can assure you he is harmless to you guys."

The wings of Arach buzzed incessantly, creating a furious hum that resembled the persistent whine of a mosquito in someone's ear. "Kin of storms, savages of the east, worshipers of blood... Our elders have spoken about the cruelty of the black tigers; warned to avoid those whose ears been dipped into the night."

Reo chuckled and jabbed a finger toward Tyrus. "Him, a savage? Just look at his face. Poor guy is probably wondering what he had done to deserve this injustice. Tyrus, tell them about how you saved us from a troop of goblins."

Tyrus pursed his lips. "...I helped them fight a group of goblins before."

Reo nodded along. "Yeah exactly—Wait, no. That is not what you were supposed to say."

"What he's trying to say," Grant interrupted, as he gracefully lowered himself into a kneeling position. He extended his hand to the skeptical supervisor. "Is that Tyrus is not what you believe him to be. Despite his appearance as a black tiger with ears and tails, his heart and intentions are pure. If he truly were as savage and cruel as you claim, why would he be sent here to assist? Wouldn't that be contradictory?"

"...You raise a good point," Arach said. "Very well, large land dweller. For now, I will believe your words. I will, however, be keeping my eyes on you."

Surprisingly, Arach clasped Grant's hand and helped himself up. Grant gave the Subterranean a pat on the back—or where the spine of a human would be. What kind of bug was Arach, anyway? It had the face of the common fly, with its two bulging eyes that had a plethora of six-sided shapes pieced together like a puzzle. There were also its four arms and two legs, with each arm possessing three hoof-life fingers that seemed to move and flex like regular fingers.

Everything about them seemed so bizarre, from the size of the Subterraneans comparable to Reo—who was short, to begin with—and the way they talked; their speech was stuffed, as if their noses were filled with gunk. They were basically oversized bugs. Even the five other Subterranean crew members had similar physiques. Some differences Tyrus noticed was that some had different head and wings shapes. One of them even had mandibles around their mouths; maybe they were some kind of humanoid beetle.

Still, Tyrus had no right to judge their appearances. To a lesser extent, they were in the same boat, as he wasn't exactly the same as the others. Why would he think any less of the Subterraneans when his own kind were no better in the first place? From what he gathered so far about the black tigers, they were practically a family of maniacs who craved violence and abandoning their own family members. Just the mere look of his ears and tails had the Subterraneans spooked to the bone. Just what kind of reputation did the black tigers possess to elicit that kind of reaction?

Then a thought crossed his mind: did Fiona or even Igneal have any knowledge about the Tiger Tribe? So far, they had not mentioned it. Previously, he had told them he was an orphan, claiming to have been wandering through Lethos on his own for most of his life. However, that entire story fell apart when he discovered his connection to the black tigers of the Beastfolk Kingdom. Considering that the ruler of that kingdom was a black tiger himself, it was surprising that none of them, not even Igneal, had connected the dots. The only ones who knew were Elder Treant, perhaps Selena, and Sir Geroth. It seemed that either Blue Dawn was unaware that a black tiger ruled a kingdom, or they were deliberately keeping quiet about it.

Suddenly, a squeaking sound from their right grabbed everyone's attention. It wasn't just squeaking, but there was also the sound of sloshing, as if something was moving through the water beneath their feet. The platform they were standing on split into four tunnels, with the one behind them leading to the sewer hole on the surface. To their left was a dead-end, leaving only the options of moving forward or to their right.

Grant and Reo were the first to ready their weapons. The large man unslung his shield and secured his left arm around the strap, an armament silver in color and marred by scratches. All Reo did was simply retrieve daggers from his hips, brown leather blanketing the hilts.

The two Augmentation Sorcerers crept forward, their footsteps tapping and reverberating after each step. Everyone else followed along closely, with Fiona just one step away from her friends and Igneal close by. Tyrus thought of retrieving his sword from his ring, yet nothing came out. He tried again, yet the same result occurred. That was when he realized his mistake.

Back in his fight against the Shaman, he threw his sword away and forgot to retrieve it later on. He felt stupid that he had forgotten all about that. Forget about going back to the Wasteful Wetlands and recovering it. Now he had to waste a couple more sil on buying another weapon back at the emporium! But on the bright side of things, he wasn't completely unarmed. He still had magic on his side, and a cool new pseudo-artifact from Jericho. It was about time he tested out the new flying dagger, and what better way than against a bunch of sewer beasts?

At the thought of retrieving the dagger, it quickly appeared in his hands. The weapon was larger than most common daggers, but that was probably because his hands were a bit too small for it. It really looked like your regular dagger, but Tyrus knew that wasn't the case. Just above the hilt, Tyrus tapped on the base of the blade, and a blazing symbol erupted. A pinch of mana from his fingers traced along the tiny symbol, and it continued to glow for a few seconds before going out.

To test that it worked, Tyrus threw the dagger at a nearby wall. Just before it could make contact, he willed for the weapon to fly back toward his hand. He felt a prick in his head; the dagger obeyed, flying directly into his outstretched palm. An inkling of a smile appeared on his mouth as he joined his companions and the Subterraneans.

"Ew! What is that?" Fiona said, looking up.

Hanging off from the arched tunnel's entryway like ornaments was a gooey material the same color as mucus. Stuck inside the vicious glop were the corpses of rats, bones too large for a rodent, and footwear.

Arach shuffled forward. "Traces left from the slimes. Every day we clean and scrub the floors and walls of the sewers, yet they make a mess just as much as rats would reproduce. To give you an inkling of what we're working with..."

The supervisor and his brethern walked ahead of the group, entering a more vast area that Tyrus could only gape in awe at once he fully entered.

At the end of the tunnel was a brightly lit room the size of Valis' plaza. Stone pillars gleaming with the same lanterns held up the whole place, connected by archways that formed bridges across the entire ceiling. Lining the lower levels of the walls were massive locked vaults with metallic wheels to pry them open. One of them so happened to be, and Tyrus glimpsed a heap of trash piled in the middle. The lingering scent of embers flower through his nostrils.

Other than the impressive display of size, what ruined it was how nasty the place was. More slime gunk littered the pillars and walls. Rats and slimes the size of boars scampered and slithered the moment Tyrus's group arrived, traveling across not only the ground, but the towering walls as well. Mounds of trash and smelly-looking dirt were scattered throughout the place, as if a tornado itself carried them underground and continued to do so everyday.

Tyrus had never seen a place so filthy and disgusting that he almost passed out from the stench that punched him across the face. He noticed Fiona on the verge of passing out, knees wobbly and all. Igneal even retched, his face as pale as now as he pinched his nose. Grant and Reo were the only stoic ones, not even budging against the scene.

"Well, are you ready to get started?" Arach asked, seemingly oblivious to the party's disgust.