Rise of Tyrus

Hacking and slashing away at rats and slimes in a sewer wasn't Tyrus's idea of a good time. The assaulting stench alone made his nose curl, and the sight of scampering rodents and their mucus-like counterparts only made it worse. It was truly disgusting in every sense of the word.

It has been a while since he'd seen a rat, but he was pretty sure these things weren't supposed to grow that big. Comparing their sizes to boars wasn't an overstatement, but the actual truth. Their albino tails were as thick as ropes, and their beady eyes as dark as a starless night. Yellow buckteeth gnashed at him every time he got close, as if warning him it could chew through his legs in seconds. It was highly likely it could, and Tyrus was in no mood to test that theory out, content with waving his flying dagger around from a safe distance.

Thankfully, their hide wasn't all that different from normal rats, and it only took one clean shot to the head to take them down. After a little sprout of blood, their bodies writhed and their tails swung aimlessly before flopping to the ground, dead. Watching them squirm and squeak had Tyrus feeling all nauseous. A disgusting display he unfortunately had to witness up close.

As for the slimes, they were trickier to deal with, and it all stemmed from their weird watery bodies. Stabbing a slime was like thrusting a sword through a pool of water and expecting any damage. The slimes would shrug it off, unbothered that their bodies had just been stabbed. That didn't mean they were immune to physical attacks, however. Tyrus had fought slimes before, and he knew just how to deal with them.

A slime tried sneaking up from behind, intent on swallowing him whole as it stretched and wiggled its body toward him. Funnily enough, there were items lodged within its belly; Tyrus recognized a boot, minerals, and even one of those lanterns, except without the light. Apparently, slimes were incapable of destroying certain items like rocks or sturdy materials. In their previous encounter, it effortlessly melted his trousers and nearly scorched his skin to the core. Perhaps non-living things took longer to digest? That was the only explanation that made sense.

With a single thought, mana surged through his veins, and dazzling arcs of brilliant blue emanated from his fingertips. Tyrus faced the slime head on and unleashed a mote of lightning to its gelatinous center. The creature shuddered violently; arcs of light flitted across its surface, reminiscent of roots spreading deep underground. Its form rippled and shook like it was undergoing convulsions and was trying to contain it. Yet it was all for naught as its body caved in and collapsed into a bubbling pool of liquid. Another wave of garbage punched him in the nose as he felt his stomach bubble, too.

"I'd rather fight a drake again than be here," Tyrus mumbled. "At least that was exciting and meant something. Is this what I'll be doing as an explorer from now on?"

Tyrus shook his head, feeling ashamed that he had even entertained such thoughts. He knew he couldn't continue accepting contracts like the one at hand. Fortunately, there were plenty of other options available, and once he advanced from his lowly copper rank, the opportunities would multiply. He understood that the more desirable contracts were typically reserved for those higher in the rankings. Achieving that status would require dedication, hard work, and a significant investment of time. For now, he had to tough it out and persevere, even if it seemed like his nose was on the brink of death.

"Igneal! Stop tiptoeing around and help!"

At Fiona's shout, Tyrus peered to the side and saw Igneal nearing the tunnel entrance. The Lockhart looked like a thief who had just been caught, pinching his nose as he glanced over his shoulder.

"A Lockhart should not be allowed to walk on a ground this foul. I expected the sewers of a royal capital to at least be clean enough to walk on, but this is simply outrageous. Breathing in these fumes could contaminate my noble blood."

Fiona, who had been lingering near the open vault alongside Grant, pulled away from a rat she had just killed. On the bottom end of her staff was a shard of ice sticking to the surface, with red droplets dripping at its end. A rat quivering near her feet had a hole straight through the top of its head. Grant was too busy fending off a few more other rats as Fiona continued to yell.

"I couldn't care less that your expectations of a sewer have been shattered. Start being useful to the group by pulling out your sword and get to work on the rats. The faster we get this done, the sooner we can leave! Have you already forgotten what you've sworn to do?"

Igneal looked at the pile of garbage near him and shivered. He hesitantly gripped the handle of his weapon, his face twisting as he unsheathed it. His eyes locked onto a sewer rat hiding behind one of the pillars and advanced warily, most of his attention set on the ground. The rat immediately noticed the new challenger and scrambled forward with a hiss, leaping from the top of a garbage pile to another like a spring, and lunged at Igneal.

At first, flames protruded from his hands, but a flicker of realization passed through his eyes. The flames dispersed, and he raised up his sword just in time to stab deep within the rats skull. The beast went limp, and Igneal cursed as he let go of the sword, watching it fall alongside the corpse.

"Gah! Disgusting! No amount of water will wash the filth off. I will need an entire new blade later!"

Grimacing, Igneal pulled the blade free, letting the creature slip from its tip with a little plop. He held the blade rather awkwardly, as if afraid that he'd catch whatever diseases the rat was carrying. Watching Igneal squirm and jump at every approaching rat was somewhat amusing. Tyrus hadn't seen the Lockhart this alarmed before. Usually Igneal carried himself confidently, no matter the situation. Now he was too afraid to even touch his own weapon, struggling to lift a finger to kill a sewer rat.

It was odd because he wasn't like this at the Wasteful Wetlands. In fact, he had the opposite reaction when fighting against lizardmen and imps. There was also that one time where he consumed a mouth full of mud, yet his reaction was rather lackluster compared to now.

Tyrus wrestled his gaze away from Igneal and locked eyes on the Augmentation Sorcerers instead. Reo and Grant were the only two people he was most curious about, given that they shared the characteristics of using augmentation. He had only seen them fight a few times, and each battle was too short for him to digest any definite advice.

Against the first round of goblins back in Salithia, they finished their battles rather quickly. What stumped Tyrus was whether they did so with or without augmentation. It's been a while, and he couldn't recall a white light enveloping either one. That usually happened whenever he decided to use augmentation. Then again, they probably found no reason to use mana against creatures like goblins and decided to save it for later. No other reason came to mind, that was probably it.

In their fight, their reasoning stayed true, for the most part. Against the rats, Grant and Reo abstained from wasting their mana, only relying on their speed and strength. Like a hobgoblin himself, Grant was a force of nature. Every thrust of the blade struck true against the target. No movement was wasted from the fighter, only merely shuffling his feet and allowing the big rats to come to him instead. One slash was all he needed to lop off ther heads, spilling blood that painted the floor red. Sometimes, he would use the end of his shield and bash it against their skulls, splattering flesh and even a few eyeballs amongst the garbage.

Tyrus noticed that Grant was fighting in the areas without the holes on the ground. He assumed he didn't want the blood from the rodents getting into the running water. Without so much as a sign of disgust, Grant calmly fought on the piles of trash, only focused on the opponents in front of him as Fiona would support him on the side with a scowl, cursing at how messy Grant fought.

Meanwhile, Reo was the opposite, relying more on his speed and evasiveness. Tyrus thought this before, but Reo was one of the fastest people he had ever seen, maybe even faster than he is in his Beast Transformation. It was as if his body was weightless as he'd constantly jump and soar, performing aerial maneuvers with absolute ease. The small fighter slashed through throats and stabbed rat skulls in a blur. Before a rat could even open its mouth to even scream, a dagger was already planted in the center of its head. The body would convulse a few seconds later before completely falling on the ground. Reo wouldn't stay around to admire his work, quickly jumping from the spot to his next kill, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

After killing most of the rats on his side, he finally came across one of the slimes. This time, Reo did something different. With his feet apart, he slid a finger at the base of a dagger, enveloping it with mana that covered the blade portion. He repeated the process with the other, and the daggers' edges glowed with a white hue.

Reo started his assault by propelling himself toward the slime. In a flurry of cuts, the blades slashed across its slimy exterior, slicing through like a knife through butter. Trinkets and crystals from within the slime spilled to the ground, undamaged thanks to Reo's precise control. He continued to prance and drive his blades at different directions until the slime was reduced to nothing more than a heap of cubes and droplets. Once Reo confirmed it was dead, he nodded and continued on to the next slime.

"He infused mana into his weapon," Tyrus mumbled. "Igneal did the same thing, but flames came out instead."

Tyrus glanced at the dagger, wondering if he could do the same as them. He doubted he could, since Igneal and Reo were more experienced than he was, but it'd be stupid to not try, at least. If he could get the hang of silent casting so soon, then imparting mana across a blade should work the same as well. Igneal mentioned that he manipulated his mana and forced it onto his weapon to release fire from the tip. The downside of that was that it was difficult to do because its pushing mana across an object, and not from your own body.

Looking around, it seemed like everything was coming to a close. Rat carcasses littered the floor, and Reo was dealing with the last sewer rat while Grant and Fiona just finished dispatching a couple of slimes on the walls. Igneal was near the tunnel entrance, his head hung low as he mumbled something incomprehensible. The Subterraneans, who had been absent this entire time, were actually hovering near the ceiling, scrubbing away at the byproducts of the slimes with rags and brooms. A strange sight indeed, watching oversized flies cleaning the walls.

Upon reaching the end of the area, Tyrus noticed a solitary slime, the last creature to eliminate. Curiously, it was slithering towards a wide crevice nestled within the walls, which exposed a hidden passageway beneath. With a raised eyebrow, he cautiously approached, wondering where it might lead. Surprisingly, the appearance of the passage differed from the surrounding sewers. Instead, it resembled a typical tunnel found in a cave, yet it had an unnatural quality to it. The dirt walls were smoothed out, and the shape of the passageway seemed strangely artificial, as if purposely dug by someone.

"Why would a sewer have a hole this big? And shouldn't it be patched up, just in case?"

He glanced over his shoulder, watching the Subterraneans furiously work, and looked back at the escaping slime. Now that he thought about it, the rats and the slimes must've come from somewhere, and this hole was most likely the culprit. It made no sense for the hole to still be here, if that was the case. Did the Subterraneans know it was here and already alerted those responsible for construction? Or were they purposely leaving it open?

As he contemplated, a scent struck Tyrus's nose. It was brief, but he detected a hint of decay and earth, and it came directly from the passageway. His eyes widened, and an awful realization washed over him as he studied the dark surroundings.

"Um, I think you all need to see what I found," Tyrus said.