While Lucielle was off on her own gaining power and knowledge on the opposite side of the sewer, the other Slayers were walking in two separate groups through the other side of the sewer.
The teenagers, each holding their own weapon, walked in an awkward formation that held no true offensive or defensive properties to it. They each had calm but disgusted faces as they continued their trek through the sewers. Their group was composed of ten Slayers, eight of which where Rank E while two were Rank D. The two Rank Ds in question where Stark and Brian.
Stark, being an ice wizard, was located at the rear of the formation while Brian, who was a two handed warrior with a bastard sword. Two other Slayers wielded bows and the others would be fighting with their bare hands as they lacked any weapon so they'd let their powers do the talking for them.
The group roamed for quite a while but no monsters had appeared in all that time and thus their inexperience caused them to lower their guard ,which is a fatal mistake in any Gate regardless of the Rank, and began to talk to one another.
"Where the hell are these monsters?" Brian said as he lowered his sword and relaxed his stance.
"Who knows? Maybe the sensed the overwhelming difference in power between us and they ran off? I was really hoping to get to kill a few with this nice bow of mine." said one of the bow wielders.
"Definitely because of strength. They knew they couldn't stand up to Stark or Brian let alone the two of them." said the girl that had degraded Lucielle earlier by the bus. She was also in the back line of the formation as well since she wielded a bow as well.
"They're just Rank F monsters, did you really expect them to have the courage to face us in open combat? Why don't we just go straight for the Boss so we can kill it and get out of this rancid place. I can't stand this stink any longer!" said Stark, before holding back another mouthful of vomit for the millionth time.
"Isn't that a bit reckless? What about if we get swarmed while fighting the Boss? We should wait for the rest of the group to arrive before diving in to fight it" said Brian.
"Wait for those worthless Rank F filth? They'd only slow us down and cost us more time. We just need to kill the Boss and we'll be scot free of this place." said one of the unarmed boys.
"Well I guess if you're so adamant about it let's g-" Before Brian could finish his sentence, four rats peeked above the sewages surface and began to watch the group of teenagers.
Seeing that these rats were the size of your average motorcycle, some of the teenagers finally began to realize how truly horrifying a Gate could truly be. Looking at eyes the size of softballs, Chris gulped loudly as he imagined how big their mouth had to be as well as the teeth they carried within them.
Smelling the teenagers fear begin to rise, the rats did their signature launching maneuver at the teenagers. Even though they were outnumbered by the teenagers, the rats had much better coordination than the fresh off the bus Slayers which resulted in the amount of wounds the teenagers had to steadily increase.
At some point during the battle, one of the rats savagely bit into the ankle of one of the unarmed boys, which caused the young men to wail in agony as its teeth buried themselves deep into his flesh. He unleashed his power to the fullest as he tried bashing the creatures head in but its fur served as a natural layer of armor which absorbed the heavy blows of his fists. Unfortunately the rat had already hooked its teeth around the bones of the boys leg and its serrated edges began to tear away at his flesh, causing blood to stain the sewer waters.
Stark, feeling adrenaline racing through his veins, also used his own power to chuck a giant chunk of ice at the giant rat that held onto his companion, but this was a massive oversight on his part as the force of the ice block caused the rat and its chosen prey to go flying away from the group and with the latter losing his leg in the process as the whiplash caused the rat to rip his leg off.
"MAMA! HELP ME MAMAAAAAAA!!!!! SAVE ME MAMA! SAVE MEEEEEEE!!" His cries for his mother echoed throughout the sewers as the rat dragged him off into the darkness of the sewers before his cries for help abruptly ended.
It was at this moment when the teenager realized they had fucked up. They realized they shouldn't have come in alone. They thought because they were such high level Slayers that they could kill these monsters as they saw fit, but life had showed them that the only thing that is certain in this life is that one day they will die. Everything else was purely up to chance.
Having lost one companion the remaining teenagers unleashed their powers to the fullest until the giant rats dropped dead to the ground. Emotionally and physically drained the teenagers collapsed where they were as they had spent everything they had to kill just three rats.
The teenagers no longer complained about the lack of monsters or the horrid smell of the sewers at this point. The only thing they cared about now was getting out of this place alive, sleeping in a nice bed, and eating a good meal as well as never coming back to this hell hole ever again, but they knew leaving would not be so simple. The only way to exit a Gate was to either kill the Boss or wait for the entrance to reopen and that took at least a week for a Rank F Gate. They had also signed the contract for this Gate so they would be in trouble with the government if they left the Gate without suffering heavy casualties or killing the Boss.
"John.... I can't believe he's gone. Just like that. We're never going to see him again...." One of the few girls burst into tears as she cradled her head and began to rock back and forth on the ground.
" My parents did warn me to be ready for casualties but I didn't expect they'd start happening this soon...." Brian said as he leaned wearily on his sword.
While they rested and mourned their dead, Stark was off to the side gritting his teeth. 'It shouldn't have been him. If only we had that dead weight we could have used her as bait to distract one of them so we could kill them faster. Where is that useless bitch?!?'
Brian and Chris had noticed the look on Starks face but didn't comment. "So do you think she's still alive out there Chris?" Brian asked his friend.
"Who? You mean Lucielle? Probably. She's always made it out no matter the cost so I doubt she'd faring too badly. She also stayed back with that group of older Slayers so she should be alright unless they decided to use her as bait." Chris said after thinking about it for a moment.
"Hmmm maybe we should have stayed with the one person who always makes it out alive at the end of the day." Brian mused as he wiped his sword clean on one of the rat corpses while eyeing their new visitors that had now approached them.
It was the group of adults that they had separated from earlier minus one very pretty female. They had arrived during the battle of the teenagers versus the four rats but they followed the idea that Lucielle had proposed earlier . Use the teenagers as lures to draw out the monsters and clean up the leftovers if possible. They hadn't budged an inch when they saw the young man get carried off into the darkness to be devoured. having seen so many people die over the years had hardened their hearts to the point they didn't mind seeing some arrogant children being humbled over the death of their friend.
Many of the adults praised Lucielle's plan as as it had worked like a charm and had humbled the arrogant children while also diminishing the monsters numbers with them not even having to lift a finger. Stepping forward Gat, the Asian man, began to speak.
"Now you know the true horrors of the Gates and what it means to lose a friend because of your own incompetence. We're merging groups now so hopefully there will be no more loses like the late young John." Most of the children where happy to see them but not Stark. He was filled with anger as he exploded at them. "Why didn't you help us!?!
Raising an eyebrow at the young man Gat replied. "Why should we have?"
Hearing the mans reply Stark was thunderstruck. After all, they were under no obligation to help them, but he also felt angered when he remembered John. "We came in here together so you have to help us!"
Seeing that the young man was already ignoring reason just to blame someone other than himself, Gat was not obligated to put up with it so he strode toward the young man before picking him up by the throat before slamming him down into the ground. "Who do you think you're talking to little boy? If you're feeling sad and angry that your little friend died then you have no one to blame other than yourselves. If you want I can send you on your way to join him as since we still have fifteen of us left to face the Boss with if I decide to get rid of you as well." Gats hand tightened once again on Starks next as he leaned closer to his face.
Looking up into Gats glasses as his throat was being squeezed, Stark felt the fear of death for the second time since entering the Gate. He knew that if he answered wrongly then this man would be killing him right then and there. So fearing for his life he shook his head as he gasped out. "I want to live..."
Gat scowled down upon the youth beneath his grip as he released his throat. "Good. Just remember this lesson. There's always a bigger fish."
Upon getting back up to his feet, Stark felt completely humiliated while he took giant drags of the foul air into his lungs while massaging his throat and back. Inside his mind, Stark vowed vengeance on every person that had stood and watched as he was thrashed like that.