Something In the Water

Water lapped around our feet as we traversed the sewers, Much to my dismay. I didn't really like the soggy sensation that was coming from my feet, and it was also obviously clear with everyone else.

Kale helmed our group, staying steadily in front of us the whole time as we followed Balruth through the sewers. Both me and Korbyn stuck in the middle while Elena watched on from behind, a full one formation we had.

"Yuck…trudging through our own filth." Elena commented as we traversed the sewers, she held her skirt up just above the water as we walked.

"That's why we don't wear fancy things, Elena." Korbyn said, looking back at her. "You should try wearing something like this." The dark skinned elf then pointed to himself, particularly at his damp shirt he had on.

"I respect our kingdom's policies, unlike you." Elena gave him a hard look. "How much farther must we go?"

At the front of the line, Balruth turned around. A torch in his as he guided us. "Just a bit more! And try not to let Victor get all icky in the water!"

I looked down behind me, looking at the still unconscious man I was dragging. His limp body smudged through the sewer floor, his metallic arm being the only thing I wanted to hold since I too didn't really want to touch sewer waters. I'm finding it quite astonishing that this guy was unconscious, it's been…an hour or two since we've left the Mallory household?

Yeah…and hour or so passed while we were down here walking. It started to feel like a maze down here, turning left and right and just going in a straight line for some time. Well at least me and kale learned a bit from Elena about these sewers. Most of the sewer water flows right out into the river that traversed through the kingdom's entrance, it was the holes I saw when we entered from the north side of Ozoth that were spouting water into the river. Ozoth also keeps up a routine bounty to have Water mages come and revitalize the water. I guess that whole idea was called "cleansing water", it was pinned by one of the makers who constructed the idea of sewers for Ozoth.

Almost all the sewer lines goes through all the district, though some areas needed to be left as is since those were caves. They were mostly near The Great library and the university district, which…guessing from Balruth's directions, we were heading that way.

Skitter…Skitter…

The sudden sound of what seemed to be coming from the side of the sewer walls made all of us freeze. I could hear Elena taking out her whip sword, splashing into the water.

"Old man, I thought these things wouldn't follow us?" Kale said to Balruth.

"I never said that! I said keep close to me, not like these things are afraid of fires! We gotta deal with this-aaah!" Balruth couldn't finish his sentence as his eyes darted to the corner of a wall near him. I quickly noticed that a sickly hand reached out from the shadows of the sewers, clinging to the wall as did the one that tried to kill me.

At this point, our journey stopped at a T-shaped path. It was either we go right or left.

Before it could go any further, Elena's whip blade flew by me. The end of her blade zipping past me and everyone else as it went into the darkness of the sewers. For a moment, it seemed like nothing happened…Until I heard Elena grunt and pulled back her sword. A humanoid monster was reeled into our light, lying motionless as it began to disintegrate.

"Behind, Elena!" Korbyn yelled, he too pulled out his sword. His curved shaped sword then flew into the air as well, making a humming noise as it flew right at Elena. Elena quickly ducked from the throw, staring at Korbyn.

His curved sword spun in the air, slashing at another humanoid monster that was coming up behind us. It cleanly sliced through its head before suddenly turning itself back towards us, coming right back to Korbyn. I quickly ducked as well, hearing the blade move above me before Korbyn snatched it back into his hand.

"Ooh…Wind King style." Korbyn seemed to be talking to himself at that moment, complimenting himself as he blew air at his blade. "We call that move slash Return."

"Wow…cool." Kale said, unimpressed. The blonde man was about to grab his swords from their holster as he looked at Korbyn with an unenthusiastic look.

"Oh, ok. Mr. Fire King style expert, why don't you show off for your apprentice?" Korbyn stuck a tongue out at him, though immediately regretted it as suddenly water flew into the air.

More monster began to appear from the shadows of the sewers, both Elena and Korbyn took the back line while Kale stood his ground at the front with Balruth. I watched as Kale took his two swords out, The stones embedded in them glowing as he surged his mana into them.

"I'm gonna die!" Balruth screamed as One humanoid monster came swinging at it. Its sharp claws barely reached him as Kale quickly took action, slicing that arm with one quick swipe with his left sword. As he sliced it, the monster began to twitch and instantly froze in place. It couldn't move, that was one of Kale's sword's magic gem abilities, Paralysis. His right sword gleamed a reddish color as it began to activate, fully enveloping itself in a Fiery red heat.

"Fire king style: Flash strike!" With another fast swipe, a flash of fire sparked in the air and lighted the shadows. A whole arc seemed to have shot out of Kale's right handed blade, slicing through multiple humanoid monsters in the shadows. The fire that shot from his blade spreaded through the bodies he had sliced, burning hotly as the monsters began to disintegrate.

The sound of a whip cracking in the air made me turn around, Elena was twirling her whip blade around herself and whipping it at the nearest monster she could find. It looked like she was making her own personal bubble as she twirled her sword around her, slicing at whoever got close to her.

"You, Silver haired girl! Come one, Let's get that hunk of metal moving! Those three will handle things!" I heard Balruth call to me. The old man was heading towards the right path of the tunnels, there were less monsters that way and Kale was already making his way towards that direction.

He's right. I can't just stand here while holding this guy! Those three were keeping those monsters at bay and giving us a chance to move forward, I gotta make use of this moment! Grabbing both of Victor's arms, I began to pull the large man at a faster pace.

Suddenly, it seemed like all of us were moving in sync now. As me and Balruth began to move down the right path of the sewers, Everyone else moved and repositioned themselves as they fought off the monsters. Kale was still in the front, slashing and killing any monster that stood in our way.

"Now this is what I'm talking about! This is the kind of fight I've been looking for!" Korbyn yelled excitedly, throwing his blade towards Kale's direction. And as it was spinning in the air, Kale was digging his right sword into a monster's head. Seeing that Korbyn's blade was coming towards him, Kale instantly grabbed it midair. Another monster was heading towards him, but it was instantly taken out as Kale grabbed the airborne sword. He quickly flipped it in his hands and held it backwards, With lightning fast speed, he then pierced the monster right through its head.

"That old blonde still got the speed for all of this." Korbyn smiled, Kale removed his sword from the monster and hastily threw it back at him. "Just like old times."

"I'm not old! Look who's talking, you 300 something year old man!" Kale threw an insult at him as he plunged his left sword into another monster.

"This isn't the time to argue,Keep focus!" Elena barked at Korbyn. "Balruth, how much farther?!"

"We keep going straight! There will be an entrance on our left side, a large opening in the walls! That's where we'll go!"

We continued to charge down this path, Balruth lighting our way with his torch until we finally reached what he was looking for. On the left side of the sewer walls, a large opening was there. Judging from the way it looked, it seemed like someone had either punched right through it or exploded it from the other side as rocks and debris surrounded the sewer floor and water.

"In here! Come on! Hurrrry!" Balruth screamed, tripping through the water as he scurried up into the opening. More humanoid monsters swarmed further ahead of the opening as he did.

"Lilith, Get in there!" Kale yelled, killing another monster that came hurling towards us. "Now!"

Gathering my strength, I pulled Victor through the water at a much faster pace. As soon as I entered the large opening with Balruth, I noticed instantly that this led into a cave. The walls expanded and opened up into a larger area, and there were torches in here that were most likely made by Balruth. This was probably what Elena was talking about with how the sewers were made. I guess Balruth managed to use one of these caves as a home. I could see in the distance that there was a door.

I followed Balruth deeper into the cave, Dragging Victor along the damp cold stone floor. I could hear The other three still fighting just outside the opening as me and Balruth managed to get closer to this door. The door itself looked like it was crudely made, it was made of what looked like iron and was improperly fixated to look like a door. Light beamed from underneath the crooked doors, inviting us in.

"Here, now let me just get the keys…" Balruth mumbled, Fetching his hand into his shirt. "…Mmm, hmm…"

I watched on as he began to search around his body, patting himself as he spun in a circle. "Wait…Hold on! Don't tell me I dropped it!"

Oh come on…If he doesn't have the door, then I'll just bust them open!

Letting go of Victor's arm, I walked forward towards the door. Bracing myself, I swung my right leg up and kicked the door. The iron doors immediately swung open, hitting the cave walls with a hard thud. Then I got a clear look into what was Balruth's home.

Inside his home was a mess. Besides the iron bars and equipment that laid around the floor, there was a large table that had many different sculpted items on it. From a prosthetic leg to what looked like a mechanical bird, They all looked like crudely made versions of what they should be. Balruth also had another entrance, though it was in the back corner of this Cave. Actually…This whole area seemed to have been handmade.

"Did…You do all of this?" I asked, looking around. I dragged Victor into this room, Unceremoniously dropping his arms so that he laid flat on the stone floor.

"Ok, going to ignore the fact you just broke my door…Yes I've made this room. I carved it with the equipment I've had in my store."

The sound of footsteps came from behind us. When I looked, I saw Kale, Elena and Korbyn running towards us. None of them looked to be injured in any form, But they did look tired.

"Hooh…Those things retreated, Not sure when they'll come back. Hopefully they don't." Korbyn said between his deep breathing. He then noticed Balruth's room, looking around it. "What…The fuck?"

"So this is where you've been staying." Elena pushed her glasses up her nose, she eyed the room as well. Her eyes trailed to the table and she noticed the prosthetic on it. "I see you've kept yourself busy."

"All of these are either older models or new ones that just didn't work. They don't make my standard…But the one he has does." Balruth looked down at Victor. "Which is why I want him back, I need to replicate that."

"Well, you got him." Kale said, moving towards Balruth. He then firmly planted his hand on her old man's shoulder. "Now tell us where he stayed at."

"Wha-Of course! Haven't forgotten about that, hah!" Balruth stumbled on his words. "Let go of me, and I'll show you all once I get Victor ready!"

"No can do. Just leave him here, and show us." Kale firmly said. "You got what you wanted, now help us out."

"…Fine. I suppose you are right." Balruth scoffed. "Alright, we need to head back into the sewers."

Balruth then moved his way towards the entrance, all of us following behind him. As we made our way back into the sewers, I noticed how it was a lot quieter than before.

"No monsters. Good." Korbyn commented on it.

"Alright, I'll give you guys directions. It shouldn't be that farther. There'll be another opening further down on the right. Once you head into that cave, you'll be running it until you enter a large cavern. That's when you'll see it." Balruth explained. "You'll be right under the Great Library too, Fun fact."

"Holy shit, we walked that much?" Kale seemed surprised. "Well, thanks old man. I guess that was good enough information for u-."

The floor suddenly rumbled, shaking violently. I found myself stumbling from it, confused by it all. The sound of what seems like stone or something hard crashing into something echoed through the sewers.

"What was that?" I asked, trying to regain my stance. I looked at everyone else and saw they too were trying to figure out what that was.

"Something bad." Kale said. "It came from the direction Balruth was talking about too. But what could've made it?"

What could have made that rumbling? Wait…could it be?

The rumbling continued for a moment longer before ceasing. We all looked down the path we're meant to go on, but there was something else…

The sound of footsteps, Heavy footsteps. And it wasn't coming from the sewers.

It was coming from the opening we just left.

Mechanical sounds began to leak through the opening. As soon as I turned to look, I immediately noticed the iron door I had busted down was flying right towards us.

"Get down!" I yelled, ducking. Everyone else ducked or moved out of the way of the iron door, which flung itself past us and slammed into the walls across from us.

As the dust settled and all of us stood up, I immediately saw that Balruth was missing. No…I turned my gaze towards the wall across from us and noticed a pool of blood leaking from underneath the iron door.

Balruth was dead, unable to move out of the way.

"That man cost me my life." A voice came from the opening. I turned back to see Victor, standing tall in the large room. "And now he's paid for it."

Another rumble happened again. This time, much stronger.

Victor began to stretch his arm and cracked his head. "The girl's punch really did a number on me. Didn't expect myself to be out for so long. She could've knocked my head off."

Another rumble once again happened, what was doing that?

It couldn't be an earthquake…maybe someone was using an earth spell? But how would you use one underground?

Wait…

"Kota." I blurted out. It seemed like Kale had the same idea too, as he looked down the direction we were told to go. "He's probably fighting The pink haired right now.

"Yeah…But we're stuck with this guy until we get him." Korbyn said. "Damn it, he'll just stall us…"

There was a short pause before Kale spoke out.

"Lilith, you think you can get Kota?" He turned his head and looked at me.

Eh? By myself?

"Kale? Are you sure about that?" Elena looked at him, concerned.

"I am." Kale sounded confident. "Right now, She's the strongest of any of us right now. She's capable of killing these monsters on her own, you've seen it. And Kota probably needs her more than we need her. I trust her to be able to get there on time." Kale eyed me as he grabbed both of his sword handles. "The three of us should be able to hold off Victor as Lilith aids Kota. If we manage to kill Victor, we'll get to you as soon as possible, Got it?"

Kale is having me go get Kota by myself…Can I really do that? No…If kale believes I can do it, then I should trust his judgment. I already proved what I was capable of, and Kota needs help.

I found myself looking at the water, seeing my reflection and the ring that was on my right hand. I can't let Kota down, not when he gave me this ring…I need to get to him.

Clenching my fist, I looked up at Kale, Determined. "Yeah, I'll go."