The team of mercenaries continued to make their way through the dank corridors of the sewers, occasionally dealing with small groups of [Giant Rats]. Some of the members were getting lax in their duties, as it was too easy.
"Seems like the rest of this mission is gunna be a walk in the park, eh? The initial wave of [Giant Rats] was pretty difficult, but it seems we've thinned out their numbers significantly. Well, I won't complain about some easy XP and cash." One of the guys joked with their friend. They were all smiles, leisurely walking in front of Cynthia. They had completely let their guard down, not worried in the slightest.
Cynthia heard this and saw their behavior. She frowned at their easy going attitude in this situation. It definitely seemed easier now after the initial assault, but it felt more like the calm before the storm to her.
"[My guess is that the 'Giant Rat Queen' recalled most of her forces to protect her. Be careful when you get there, I have a feeling that this won't be that easy.]" With Dags' vast experience in other games, he had seen similar situations unfold. It could easily end in a party wipe if everyone wasn't on high alert.
"Mhm, it definitely feels too easy right now. I hope we can all make it through this…" She said, not paying attention to the red flag she just raised.
"Well now you said it…" Dags facepalmed. He hoped that she hadn't just jinxed everyone to their deaths. His eyes then locked on to Darius who was near the front. He still had a large backpack on with a canvas over what he thought was a weapon at his side as well. So far he hadn't even used a gun, opting to just punch the [Giant Rats] to death instead.
"[Don't worry, with Darius here we should be able to complete this. Even if we suffer losses, it shouldn't be too much of a worry.]" He was sure the guild master had something up his sleeve to take care of the most dangerous threat.
"You're right. He seems very strong." She said while nodding. Cynthia believed that Darius should be one of the more powerful individuals in the city, but she couldn't estimate what level that would be.
The group continued on in a relatively relaxed manner, only encountering 10 rats in the last 20 minutes. At that time, the whole group stopped and started to crouch down. It seemed that they may have reached their destination.
"Up ahead is our main objective. There is quite a drop from here all the way down, so we will need to repel. We'll go down in pairs since there's only enough room for two lines of rope." a message was passed back.
Cynthia and Masterless sword nodded, with the latter sending the message on. It was time to finally take on the remaining hoard and the [Giant Rat Queen].
"Um, can you help me with the repelling please? I've never done it before…" Cynthia turned to Masterless Sword and asked her with big puppy eyes. She was scared that she would fall to her death since she didn't know what she was doing.
Seeing that adorable face, Masterless Sword's cool facade nearly crumbled. Her facial muscles squirmed as she struggled to keep her composure. Masterless Sword suddenly pinched her side incredibly hard to distract her and regain her cool.
"Ahem. Y-yeah I can help you no problem. There should be a standard carabiner with your starting gear in your inventory. When it's our turn I'll show you how it's done." It wasn't as convincing as usual, but the beastwoman had somehow kept herself together.
"Thank you!" Cynthia said with a smile and grabbed Masterless Sword's hand.
"[Careful, you'll break her. Ah, too late.]" The beastwoman froze up. Her soul seemed to have left her body, ascending to a higher plane as a small trace of blood leaked from her nose. Before Cynthia could get worried, Masterless Sword miraculously revived and wiped her nose.
"Ah, I'm alive! I thought I was a goner! Anyway, it's almost our turn. Let's get ready." After coming back from her out of body experience, she turned Cynthia's attention to their repelling.
"Is this woman ok in the head?" Dags couldn't help but think. It was just some hand holding, not some angel here to take you away!
It was finally their turn, and Masterless Sword gave her a quick rundown of how it worked. Cynthia was scared to go down, but she followed the instructions given to her and managed to make it down safely. She was a little slow, holding up the people above her, but that was fine since the fighting hadn't started yet.
Once everyone reached the bottom, it was only a short walk to the actual area where the [Giant Rat Queen] was. Everyone readied their weapons and checked their magazines, making sure everything was good to go for the next fight.
"Alright everyone this is it! Let's get rid of these vermin once and for all!" The Resolute guild master's voice echoed out. It was time to exterminate the root of the problem in the city.
"[Once we're in there, get into an advantageous position quickly so you can provide fire support. I'll help point out anyone that needs help. I'll also boost your stats so you won't have to rely on Masterless Sword's agility to get places.]" Dags could make use of his new process to boost Cynthia's stats a little higher. It would boost all of her stats by 20%. Although not a huge increase at her low level, every little bit mattered.
"Got it." She gave a curt reply. She was currently trying to home in on that feeling still, with little attention for anything else.
With everyone ready, the mercenary team charged in. The thousands of [Giant Rats] inside immediately went into a frenzy, flooding over to the defensive line of the mercenaries. Seeing this overwhelming flood, Darius finally unveiled his hidden weapon. It was a .50 caliber triple barreled gatling gun! The guild master immediately unleashed hell onto the incoming rats, easily slicing through the front of the pack and stalling their approach. The others didn't slack off as well, constantly firing into the hoard.
"[Wow, that's a pretty impressive weapon. He must be a 'Gunner' with quite a lot of strength to wield that monster of a gun.]" Dags commented. It was no wonder he was able to just smash the rats with his fist so easily.
While the main line was fighting, Cynthia and Masterless Sword made their way over to a large pipe sticking out of the wall a short distance away. It was about 3 meters off the ground and had some gross looking vines hanging from it.
"Need any help getting up there?" Masterless Sword bent down a little in an action to grab onto Cynthia.
"No, I think I can climb it on my own now. Can you go ahead up there and make sure there's no rats in it?" She asked as she grabbed onto the vine intending to climb it. It was a little slippery, but it felt like it could hold her weight.
Masterless Sword looked a little disappointed, but just nodded and jumped straight up into the pipe.
"It's clear! Come on up!" She said, seeing no enemies in the immediate vicinity.
Cynthia nodded, and started her climb up. Although she still struggled a little, Dags' [Increase Stats] process gave her the little boost she needed to be able to climb it. With his current Energy and Energy Regeneration he could keep up the process for almost an hour and a half, so he didn't need to worry about depleting all his energy in this fight.
After a short amount of time, she made it to the top and set up her N200. Her weapon swayed with her heavy breathing from exerting herself in that climb.
"It might've been better to take Masterless Sword's offer of help after all.." She mumbled to herself as she tried to get her breathing under control. After settling her breathing down a bit, she tried to get into that hyper focused [Sharpshooter] state again. Although she tried over and over, Cynthia couldn't quite get the same feeling that she did earlier.
"[If you can't get into that state again, don't worry about it. Just try to shoot like normal and support your team members. I can already see a couple people struggling with the flood of rats.]" While the [Sharpshooter] state was helpful, it would only hurt the team if she continued waiting around for something that wouldn't happen.
Cynthia bit her lip and moved her sight to where she saw someone getting overwhelmed. Her barrel swayed from side to side, waiting for a good shot.
*Bang!*
She missed! It had barely gone over the [Giant Rat] that was attacking a girl with green hair. Cynthia cursed under her breath and actuated the bolt to chamber another round as fast as she could. She took aim again and fired once again.
[Hit! -35HP]
[Giant Rat (Lv.4) has been killed!]
[Gained 30XP]
She hit the rat this time. The shot went right through its chest, hitting the ground behind it. It had already been hit multiple times by the others, so she had just finished it off.
"[Good shot! There's a group of 4 rats on the far side from us, they're currently piling on someone! Help them quickly!]" Dags gave directions for the next person in need. It would be a risky shot since the player was on the ground with [Giant Rats] all over him.
Cynthia looked for an opening to shoot, but it seemed like any shot she would take would also hit the player. She bit her lip hard, feeling helpless as the player's health rapidly dropped.
"[Shoot the middle one now!]" Dags saw an opportunity when two had lined up perfectly. It was a shot the least likely to hit the player, and to take out two rats at once.
Cynthia moved her scope, seeing the two lined up one behind the other. At the pause in-between breaths she took the shot hoping to save the man. Blood spurted everywhere, and at the same time several notifications rang out.
[A member of the team has died!]