Chapter 245: 245 Total Anhilation 1

The underground sewers stretched throughout the depths of the Labyrinth.

In the middle of a long passage shrouded in thick darkness, faint shadows flickered at the edge of the lantern light that pushed back the gloom.

In this dark and damp space, every footstep echoed, and occasionally, unpleasant sounds drifted back from the far side of the darkness.

“Be careful. Watch your step, or you might fall in.”

Rin, nodding at Ian’s warning from behind, moved her feet cautiously.

Constructed over a vast period and constantly expanded alongside the growth of the Labyrinth, these sewers were a place where passages were so intricately intertwined that the path was nearly impossible to know.

By now, new water facilities using modern technology had replaced its primary function, but it still served as an emergency water source for the city.

A minor problem was that in such a vast and complex underground environment, rats and slimes continued to breed no matter how much cleaning was done.

The purpose of this sewer patrol mission was to clear out the monsters that multiplied while roaming the area and to check for any damage or abnormalities in the waterways in advance.

Rin, who was leading the way cautiously, came to a halt.

Noticing a strange noise in her ears, she scanned the area ahead. Just as she expected, a slime had taken up a position in front of the passage.

Detecting Rin’s approach, the slime—looking like a mass of sticky mucus—began to wriggle and react.

“Mika. It’s a slime.”

When Rin spoke toward the rear, Mika, who was following her, nodded with a tense expression and gripped her staff tightly.

The underground sewers were a place where the monster levels were weak for a D-rank mission, but in exchange, monsters with tricky elemental properties, like slimes, appeared.

They were weak, yet they took absolutely no physical damage.

It was a monster that symbolized the game’s characteristic unreasonable affinity system, where you were bound to suffer if you didn’t come prepared in advance.

“Three… two… one!”

As Rin stepped forward, the slime, which had contracted and quivered, suddenly lunged toward her with a great bounce.

However, as Rin was already prepared and thrust her shield forward, the slime’s body was easily blocked with a wet, squelching sound.

“Now!”

At Rin’s signal, Mika, who had been staying close, darted out to the side.

Mika swung her staff at the mass of slime that had slithered onto the floor after being blocked by the shield.

The tip of the staff emitted a faint light, pouring out mana.

When the mass of mana contained in the staff collided, the struck slime trembled violently before turning into ordinary water and spilling across the floor.

“Got it!”

“Wait, there are more! Get back!”

Perhaps stimulated by the noise and light of the battle, two more slimes were slowly crawling along the floor from a distance.

Spotting them, Mika quickly retreated and hid behind Rin’s shield.

“Should I use it…?”

Tanya, who had been watching the fight from the back, looked at Ian and cautiously pulled out an orb.

It was the ’Steel Skin’ orb he had handed her to use whenever things looked dangerous.

“No. This much should be fine.”

Ian shook his head after confirming that there were only two new slimes appearing.

Slimes had slow and simple movements; as long as one used a shield to block their lunges in time, they had no other means of attack.

There was almost no chance that Rin, who had quite high Agility, would fail to block a slow slime with her shield.

Tanya gripped the orb tightly just in case as she watched the two fight, but just as Ian said, the attacks from the two slimes were easily neutralized as Rin blocked them.

There was a brief moment where Mika, unsure of when to strike between the two slimes, flustered and missed her timing, but otherwise, the battle with the slimes concluded without any dangerous situations.

“Good job. Is everyone unhurt?”

“Yes, thank you…”

The magic staff in Mika’s hand let out a small glow.

What Mika originally owned was an ordinary wooden staff made to look plausible, but what she held now was a real magic staff with magic attack power.

This equipment, which used MP to deal a small amount of additional magic damage upon attack, was one of the most affordable magic offensive tools available.

“Phew…”

Mika let out a small sigh.

The palms of Mika’s hands gripping the staff were soaked with sweat.

No matter how simple a monster the slime was, it was a very nerve-wracking experience for Mika, who had almost no experience fighting monsters.

Still, the feeling wasn’t bad…

Even though it was thanks to the equipment, it was the first time she had directly used something like magic.

It was equipment borrowed from the mercenary group, but if she had tried to save money to buy such a thing herself, it would have taken months… or maybe even years.

“Captain. This is the end of the path.”

“Yeah. Good work. We can call it a day here.”

Rin, who had been walking with her shield forward, stopped and spoke to Ian.

The end of the passage was blocked by a wall, leaving no more room to move forward. They had reached the end of this particular waterway.

“Let’s rest for a bit and head back.”

Upon hearing Ian’s words, everyone sat down on the floor with exhausted expressions.

Though the monsters were weak, maintaining alertness in dark passages where visibility was poor was no ordinary task.

Tanya set down her backpack and quickly approached the mercenaries.

“Shall I get some water for you!”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks.”

Though that was the original role of a porter.

Tanya, who had felt inwardly guilty for doing nothing in the back during the fight, quickly pulled water bottles from her pack and brought them to Rin and Mika.

“Captain, would you like some water…”

Approaching Ian, who was sitting a bit apart, Tanya discovered that Ian was focused on writing something on a piece of paper.

Since that paper was something Ian had been holding since they first entered, Tanya felt curious and peeked at the contents from behind.

What Ian was drawing was a map of this underground sewer.

“Whoa…”

“Hmm?”

“Ack…! Ah, I… I’m sorry for peeking!”

“No, it’s fine if you look. It’s just a map.”

Ian unfolded the map he was drawing to show her.

Hearing Tanya’s voice, Rin and Mika approached to look at the map Ian held out.

What Ian showed them was a map that recorded every passage, side path, and facility they had traversed so far with as much precision as possible.

“Wow… it looks like a map you’d buy in a shop.”

“Is this what you’ve been writing the whole time?”

While there was a map provided by the guild for the patrol mission, the old maps given as supplies had too many missing or omitted parts.

It was, literally, a map simplified enough just to tell the direction at major forks to show the patrol route.

“You’re going to sell it, right? A map of this quality would sell for a high price.”

Tanya recalled the maps sold at staggering prices in map shops.

However, Ian shook his head.

“No, we’re going to use it. It might be necessary later.”

While it was true that maps were expensive, there would be no one looking to buy a map of the underground sewers.

A map is only worth a high price if it’s useful, after all.

There was no reason for a map of a sewer—not even a dungeon—to be expensive.

However, the reason Ian was making the map himself was because there were hidden secret events in this location.

As is always the case with underground spaces in RPG games.

This sewer was a place where random events—like a hidden workshop of a hermit mage, a secret hideout, or a smuggler’s warehouse—appeared at random.

***

“Phew…”

As a breeze blew from ahead, the fresh air from outside brushed against their faces.

Everyone emerging from the sewer exhaled the dusty air of the underground with a deep sigh and breathed in the clear outside air.

Coming out of the pitch-black underground after several hours to see the sunlight made them squint automatically. It felt as if their entire bodies were soaked in sticky, dark moisture.

Haah. I said I’d do anything, but the sewers.

Tanya and Mika, who had been handling nothing but sewer missions since joining the group, muttered inwardly, but they didn’t voice their complaints.

Looking at it objectively, it wasn’t a bad job.

The sewers were exactly as the rumors said—unpleasant, gloomy, eerie, and a place that felt like the smell of stagnant water would seep into you—but…

In exchange, the monsters weren’t dangerous, and the pay was much higher than expected.

Among D-rank missions, it was close to being the most avoided task, but as it was a D-rank mission in name, it was incomparable to E-rank.

Thanks to that, the two were receiving an exceptional amount of money for E-rank rookies, an amount they couldn’t even dream of as E-rank mercenaries.

“Tanya. How is the remaining inventory?”

“Ye-yes…!”

Tanya, who had been dazing out for a moment, answered with a start at Ian’s question.

“So, today… we used 2 flashbangs and 1 light source generator… leaving 8 of each!”

“Isn’t it 9 flashbangs?”

“I’m… I’m sorry!”

As the porter, Tanya took charge of most of the luggage, and naturally, she also took on the role of tracking and managing the remaining quantities of supplies.

Of course, it wasn’t easy for Tanya, who had just become a mercenary, to track consumables with a composition incomparably more complex than a typical mercenary group.

Ian wasn’t expecting that from Tanya right away either, and was teaching her one by one so she could adapt slowly, but…

When the Captain, Ian, started talking, the atmosphere inevitably became like this.

Ian spotted Mika slightly opening her pouch to count her own belongings, fearing she might be questioned too.

…He quietly ignored the fact that Rin, behind her, was also stealthily checking her own holster.

“That should be enough, we don’t need to restock yet.”

While sharing such a brief conversation, they had already drawn close to the street where their lodging was located.

Since the sewer was a city facility, the entrance was also within the Labyrinth, allowing them to return to their lodging in an instant after finishing work.

The members, who arrived at the inn and set down their equipment, gathered in Ian’s room for one last time.

After checking the condition of the members and finishing everything he had to say, Ian nodded.

“Good work. I’ll head to the guild, so you guys can rest now.”

The mission for the day was over, but the sun hadn’t even set yet.

Since they didn’t need to spend time returning to the city after a mission, everyone could have long leisure hours even on days when they had work.

“We have to go out tomorrow too, so don’t come back too late.”

“Yes!”

While Rin used to follow Ian around when there were only two of them, now that she had other colleagues, she naturally spent time among the mercenaries.

Ian left the task of looking after the two new members to Rin and headed to the guild to handle the remaining business.

“Phew… shall we hit the bathhouse first?”

At Rin’s suggestion, both Mika and Tanya nodded.

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