Chapter 24. The sewers (1)
Ian walked through a street surrounded by street stalls and stores on either side.
"I'll buy it!"
"Selling accessories to give to your girlfriend. Come by and take a look!"
"Monster skins for a low price."
It was the yells of touting merchants.
Ian merely continued on his way without giving them the time of day. He looked to be in a hurry as he swiftly passed through a small alleyway.
As he came out the alleyway, his sights locked on to a small and shabby building. The building was the meeting point he had decided with Ria before.
"Ian, here!"
As he reached close to it, a yell resounded in his ears. The shout came from the swordsman, Clara.
She still looked the same. It's just that she changed her armor. Her new armor was shining under the sun, and it was at least of the common grade.
"Hello."
Ian greeted them with a short greeting as he reached close to them.
"Um, thank you for accepting our request."
Ria came forward with her usual bashful nature. She changed her cleric uniform in favor of one of a higher grade, and her staff was pure white.
"Who is he?"
After the greetings, Ian looked at the person he was not familiar with till now.
'He's their friend.'
He had been earlier informed that there would be a third person hunting together with them, but he didn't know until now that it would be a guy.
Honestly, Ian didn't have any problem with it, but the guy was glaring daggers at him for a short while now.
"Hi, you must be Ian."
"You are…?"
Ian asked with a confused expression.
The guy was probably an archer. It could easily be figured out with the longbow on his back and his equipment, which seemed to enhance his agility.
"His username is Wayn. He's our classmate from school."
Clara told Ian about the guy.
It seems like Ria, Clara, and Wayn were from the same high school. Ian guessed earlier that they both knew each other in real life, but he had no way of asking.
He also found out that Clara and Ria were childhood friends with both of their parents knowing each other.
That's why they had decided to start the game together.
"What's your level?"
"My level is 28 while Ria over there is 26. Oh, yes, Wayn is the highest level among us, level 32."
"It seems like you two hunted every day."
"Yes, we faced many monsters since that day. By the way, what's your level, and what class are you?"
Clara asked him, but Ian only scratched his head. He wondered about their reactions when they will hear that he's still classless.
But he can't hide away from this question.
Moreover, if they really disregarded him after knowing that he's still classless, then it would be far better to stay away from them.
"My level is 30, and I'm still…classless."
"You are classless?"
The archer, Wayn, asked as if he was confirming it, and Ian nodded his head.
As he had thought, their expressions weren't good. Notably, Wayns' expression was the worst. He was looking at Ian like he was useless already.
Actually, being classless wasn't a big deal. You won't be able to get bonus stat points and class-specific skills, but that was it.
There was nothing more wrong with it.
But in a game like Ark, there was a significant difference between getting those bonus stat points and specific skills and not getting it.
Between a classless player and a swordsman, the swordsman will always come on top even if their level is the same.
You could even say that there is a prejudice embedded inside everyone's mind against the classless. Ian can't do anything about it.
Although Wayns' expression wasn't great, Ria and Clara didn't bother with it and said.
"It's no big deal, even if you are classless."
"Yes, being classless doesn't mean you are weak, and you are even higher level than us."
They both said that as if they were trying to cheer with him up. Clara even went ahead and locked his arms with her as if both of them were a couple.
'He looks like he wants to kill me.'
As soon as Ian felt the softness of Clara's chest, he also felt someone glaring daggers at him.
It was Wayn, whose expression was of someone who had just seen his country getting nuked in front of his eyes. He was even clenching his fists.
Ian was sure that if Wayn showed that kind of expression to a monster, then the monster would surely be scared of him.
As he didn't like someone staring at him like that, Ian swiftly released his hostage arm from the Claras' grip.
He can already sense that Wayn seems to like Clara, he could even be courting her at the moment, so it was not a wise decision to come between them.
Ian didn't have time for romance anyway.
"Let's go inside."
Ian hurriedly changed the topic, and all of them went inside the shabby looking building.
Today, they would be hunting in a dungeon called the 'Arth's sewer.' Just like its name, the dungeon was actually the whole Arth sewer area.
It was one of the earliest dungeons to be discovered in the Althiem empire. The guild which had discovered it swiftly become famous afterward.
Now, it was even regarded as one of the top guilds in the whole Althiem empire.
The Arth sewer was a dungeon in which monsters known as the Lizardmen will appear.
As it was the sewers of the capital of the Althiem empire, one can only imagine how big it will be. The entrances of the sewers are 12 only already.
It was the most significant waterway in the whole Althiem empire!!
"We want to enter the sewers."
An old man was sleeping on the chair inside the shabby looking building. He was one of the gatekeepers of the sewers.
The old man, who had been sleeping on a rocking chair, awoke and cleaned off his drool.
Yawn!
The old man yawned as he took one of the keys from the bunch on his desk and walked over to one of the walls.
The door consisted of steel bars, like the ones from a prison.
Creak!
The old man opened the door.
"Those damn lizards are still down there, so be careful."
The old man warned them and once again sat back on his rocking chair. They all nodded their heads and went inside the dungeon known as Arth's sewers.
* * *
The Lizardman were monsters who would spawn in the Arth's sewers regularly, and there was no end to them.
They were monsters around level 28-30, but they are not considered as easy monsters. It was even advised to be at least level 35 before hunting them.
It was for one reason.
Lizardmen are hard monsters to hunt. As they walked on two legs and carried swords, they were a vastly different type of monster the earlier levels of players encountered.
That said that they didn't fight like humans either!
As such, no one had any experience with their fighting style. One could only experience fighting with monsters like Lizardmen in VR games like Ark.
'Why did they choose this place as the hunting ground?'
Ian wondered as he stepped into the sewers. After thinking about it for a while, he finally got the answer to his question.
There can only be one reason, and that was Wayn.
Ian was not sure if he was right or not, but he had a feeling that he was right. It was not weird for teenagers, especially guys, to boast or show off in front of the girls they like.
They think that they would be able to impress the girls if they showed off, and it would even work sometimes.
Ian was able to easily think of the scenario.
Wayn must have boasted about his level and how he would help Clara and Ria level up quickly. In the end, both of the girls had agreed.
But there was still an uneasy feeling inside their hearts, that's why both of them decided to call Ian to hunt with them.
That was the whole scenario Ian made inside his head.
"Syahhh!!"
Ian came back from his thoughts when he heard the hissing sound of the Lizardmen.
There were two Lizardmen in front of him. Both of them had swords in their hands, and they were wearing some kind of rusty armor.
Swish! Swish!
Clara swung around her sword with a swishing sound as she kept clashing blows with one of the Lizardman while Wayn assisted her from the back.
They were fighting the Lizardman reasonably well, and there was blood all over the Lizardman's body.
He would die soon, but Ian didn't have any time to watch the Lizardman die, it was because he was fighting one himself.
Swish!
'Whew! I dodged it.'
Ian sidestepped to dodge that swing and look at the Lizardman in his eyes.
Just like its name, the Lizardman was a monster that resembles a lizard. It had green skin that looked rotten and a tongue like a snake.
Thrust!
Ian didn't waste his time battling him and attacked him with the Thales spear.
The Lizardman tried to dodge the attack, but Ian quickly turned around and stabbed the tip of the spear in his chest.
Red shards of light spilled out as the Lizardman lost his life!
"Ian, you were great."
Ria said as she applied slow heal to him.
During the fight, Ian had taken a hit. It was inevitable as dodging every attack was not possible, especially when he don't know the attack pattern of the Lizardman.
"Yes, you were great. I thought you were an archer, but you are great with the spear too."
Clara and Wayn also came over after defeating the Lizardman.
Clara has a smile on her face, but Wayns' expression was not good.
'I thought he was an idiot, but he's strong.'
Wayn had earlier thought that Ian was a newbie, even an idiot, as he was still classless, but he never even thought that he would be this good in combat.
He had underestimated him!
"Let's go ahead."
Ian didn't want to waste time talking, mainly because their hunting speed was slow.
As the Lizardmen were hard monsters to kill, both Clara and Ian were luring only one of them each time.
It was slow compared to Ian's solo hunting speed, but he couldn't do anything about it. He was the only one who had several years of fighting experience.
Thus, they moved forward at a constant pace.
They moved through an arch-shaped passageway. Water was rushing through the canals on either side of the passageway.
As they walked further, more and more Lizardman kept popping up, and with that, their hunting speed gradually became faster.
From two, they began hunting three or four Lizardman at the same time. It was mostly because Ian started acting as the tank.
He lured the Lizardman and blocked most of the attacks, giving Clara the chance to use her skills and finish the Lizardman.
Wayn and Ria supported them from behind. Ria was not a lousy cleric as she provided them with useful buffs and healed them from time to time.
Ian felt that Wayn was also not a lousy archer either. He may not be on the level of a ranker, but he was well aware of the strength and weaknesses of the archer class.
He also had skills like Double shot and Split arrow, so he was fairly useful.
Ian also felt that Wayn attitude towards him was getting better. At least he was not jealous of him like before.
Like that, they kept moving forward and hunted more Lizardmen. As the Lizardmen give good experience, Ians' level was quickly rising.
It was the same for his party members!
They kept going forward, and suddenly, they found themselves in front of a golden Lizardman statue.
It was made of pure gold!
Ian didn't know much about the golden statue, so he wondered what it was but there was someone who knew about it.
It was Wayn.
"It's the famous golden Lizardman statue!!"