'I had to bring something to block my nose, this smell is so nauseating that I risk fainting.' Sanryu pinches her nostrils with his fingers, so as not to smell the stench of the sewers. 'I still have to start the mission, and I already want to take a nice bath.' The boy walks in these sewer tunnels, trying to encounter some rats to exterminate.
*Squeak*
But not much time passes, when after taking a few steps, the boy comes across a pair of giant rats. Giants is a way of saying, since compared to normal rats, they are very large, since their size is the same as that of normal wolves. 'I have to be careful not to get scratched, but above all, not to get bitten... it is well known that rats are great carriers of diseases.' Sanryu draws his sword from its sheath, striking a battle pose.
*Squeak*
The rats hear a strange noise, and instantly turn towards the source of the noise, finding a human pointing his weapon at them.
Five pairs of red eyes are pointing towards Sanryu. 'Those pustules on their bodies, they're not a very good sign.' In some areas of the rats' bodies, there are pustules, a sign that these beings are sick. Their fur is dirty in some parts, not even there at all, revealing their sickly light pink skin. 'Okay, Sanryu, let's see what these rats look like.' Sanryu is the first to throw himself against the sewer beasts, it is the latter, they do the same, throwing themselves towards a possible meal.
Giant rats have more agile movements than forest direwolves, but are still manageable for Sanryu, and their flesh is softer than forest monsters. Sanryu thrusts the tip of his sword into the first rat, piercing the beast's head, killing it instantly, and then lunges towards the second, decapitating it. A third beast throws itself from the boy's shoulders, trying to sink its yellowish fangs into Sanryu's flesh, but the latter quickly avoids the assault and, with just as much quickness of hand, slices the rat's body in half. Red blood comes out of the rat's body, dirtying the sewer tiles.
'I have to be careful not to get their blood on myself, it's definitely infected.' Sanryu avoided the rat's blood spray by sheer luck. But he can't catch his breath, because a fourth rat jumps onto the wall, and then aims for Sanryu's head, but it's all in vain, since the boy holds out the tip of the sword and the rat ends up with its mouth on the blade, killing itself, using the momentum of his jump. With the rat stuck on the sword like a skewer, Sanryu shakes it and then throws it against the last creature that was coming towards him, stunning the latter and taking advantage of this moment, the boy plants the sword on the rat's head, putting an end to its life."Wow, thank goodness there were few of them, otherwise I would have had a bad time."
Sanryu sighs, looking at the mess he caused, killing only five rats.
"I'm sorry for those who will have to clean up, but every job has its advantages and disadvantages." Sanryu takes a knife and begins to cut off parts of the rats' bodies, to bring them to the guild, so that their killing can be recognized. "If I remember correctly, the flyer said I had to kill at least twenty rats, I'm 1/4 of the way through the mission, strength is courage." Sanryu tries to gather courage, but not to face the rats, but to continue to endure this stench. And the downside is that he has to go deeper and deeper into the sewers, since only in this way will he be able to find more rats, he was lucky to find five of them just shortly after entering the sewers.
Walking for a while, after about ten minutes, Sanryu encounters another group of rats, but instinctively, he hides at the corner of the wall. 'One, two, three...ten! There are ten rats, it's not a very good situation, I'm sure I can kill them, doing my best, but I don't think I'll get out without a scratch.' The group in front of Sanryu is double the size of the previous one, and he cannot afford to charge headlong, otherwise he would risk poisoning from diseases. 'They're eating, but what?' Sanryu notices that the rats are busy devouring something, but he can't see well as they surround their food all around, only being able to see their pink tails.
'If I sneaked up on you, I could at least kill two or three of them, before starting the fight, but before that...' Sanryu takes out a flask, it's an antidote. 'The last antidote, I had two, but I had to use one for those damned gnolls.' Sanryu opens the flask and drinks its contents. The antidote does not necessarily have to be drunk after a poisoning, but can also be consumed beforehand, since its effect lasts for a certain period of time within the human body. 'Well! It's time to get started.' Sanryu begins to sneak up behind the rats, wanting to catch them by surprise.
*Slash*
Sanryu positions himself behind the first rat, quickly spears it on the head. 'Faster!' Sanryu puts strength in the muscles of his body, especially on his legs and increasing his speed, he kills two more rats, before the latter notice the intruder.
*Squeak* *Squeak*
Sanryu distances himself and prepares for the attack of the beasts. 'Seven left, let's go Sanryu.' The boy forces himself and waits patiently for the arrival of the rats, who don't take long to arrive. The first dives head-first, wanting to kill the human who disturbed their meal. 'Always the same tactics, but after all they are beasts, they can't think more complex than that.' Sanryu kills the first rat, but doesn't have time for the second to throw itself behind him, it is at the same time a third rat, approaching from below, aiming for the boy's legs. 'Double assault!' Sanryu cannot avoid both attacks, and can only face one, he is timely, chooses the one that aims behind him, leaving an opening for the one coming from below.
"Argh! Damn rat!" Sanryu cuts off the head of the one he wanted to face, but the rat that was below aimed at a part of the thigh where it is not covered by the leather armor, inserting its fangs into Sanryu's flesh. The latter immediately thrusts the tip of his blade into the rat's head, ending the beast's life. 'Good thing I drank the antidote beforehand.'
But just as he compliments himself on his caution, the four remaining rats decide to attack all together. One from the front, the second from behind is the third and the fourth who attack respectively from the right and left. "Aren't we exaggerating?!" Sanryu exclaims in surprise at the sudden multiple assault.
The four rats aim for the upper parts of Sanryu's body, such as the head, neck, torso and arms, and it is precisely this that gives Sanryu a chance to win the fight. With an instinctive body movement, Sanryu lowers himself, as if to do a squat, just as the rats leap. And just as the boy expected, the four rats end up crashing into each other, giving Sanryu the opening he needed to kill them.
"Great! I had a hard time with that last assault, but luckily they decided to attack all together, aiming for the same point." Sanryu kills the last rat and wipes the sweat from his face, they may be simple giant rats, but in numbers, they can be very dangerous. 'Speaking of these rats, I have heard stories in which there have been real invasions of these beasts in cities and villages. They devoured all the residents, and also consumed all the food, not to mention the diseases they brought with them... I hope something like this doesn't happen in Deria.' Sanryu prepares to cut off the rats' ears, while he thinks about events that happened in the past due to these beasts.
"Now I can see what these beasts were eating." Sanryu heads towards the meal the rats were having. 'Fuck! It's a person?' Sanryu holds his nose because of the acrid and stagnating smell that the carcass of what must have been a human being produces.
A large part of the person's body is nibbled away, you can even glimpse the bones of the poor victim, and some organs are also pieces of meat. 'Poor man, I hope he at least didn't suffer.' Sanryu observes the face of this victim, it is known that he was a male, and from the beard he could deduce that he was at least thirty years old. 'The face is still recognisable, could rats prefer to devour the body first?' Sanry collapses on the man trying to find something that identifies him, as he can see pieces of leather armor just like Sanryu's.
"This might help." At the end of his search, Sanryu finds the person's document, even if it is a little smeared with blood. 'Josh, an adventurer in the guild for one year, was twenty-seven, I was close to guessing his age.' Sanryu puts the document in his pocket, he will take it to the guild, he might have family members who don't know what happened to their relative. 'Rest in peace.' Sanryu thinks these words in his mind, and then gets up to continue his mission, which is almost finished.
'Mhhh? But there is something that doesn't convince me, This Josh was an adventurer for a good year... how is it possible that he was overwhelmed by these rats? I can understand if he was a novice like me, but he must have gained experience with a year of career. Could he have been overcome by pride and had he underestimated these rats? Who knows...' Sanryu finds it strange that an adventurer, who has had a career of one year, has been overwhelmed by these rats, which are one of the first challenges of initiated adventurers.
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After another twenty minutes, Sanryu eliminates the last rats he needs. "It's finally over! I can get out of these sewers." Sanryu couldn't wait to get out of these sewer tunnels, full of stench and sick rats. 'Before I go to the guild, I absolutely have to take a bath.' Sanryu smells his clothes, and decides that before going to the guild, he will make a stop at the inn where he is staying.
The boy retraces the path in reverse, in order to reach the exit of the sewers, but just as he was starting to walk, he suddenly feels a shiver down his back, it is with an instinctive act, he covers his chest with both arms, protecting him from a kick from considerable force. "ARGH!" Even though Sanryu protected himself with his arms, using all the strength of his muscles, that kick threw him against the wall of the tunnels, creating cracks on the tiles themselves.
"I thought I was going to finish it with that blow, but you reacted quickly, and your body seems to be harder than normal." A voice reaches Sanryu's ears, drawing his attention, snapping him out of the turmoil of these events.
Sanryu looks up at the source of the voice, it's owner is a woman, but not a human woman, but rather one of the beastkin race. 'A beastkin? What is he doing around here...wait!' Sanryu remembers what one of the clerks at the office building said to him that same day. 'Did they even manage to get inside Deria?!' Sanryu is surprised that these beastkin have infiltrated this far into Alterac territory, what are the soldiers up to?
"Are you a guard sent by the nobles? If so, it's a big problem, they've already discovered our position." The woman grits her teeth at the idea she has formed. "But whatever, if I eliminate you, maybe we still have time to stay hidden down here." The woman prepares to attack Sanryu again.
"Guard? I'm not part of the army, I'm an adventurer!" Sanryu gets up with difficulty, and corrects the woman's idea. 'Damnation! The bones in my arms... they definitely have fractures. Good luck taking this damage on my first mission.' Sanryu begins to feel a sharp pain coming from his arms, that blow from before him must have caused him considerable damage.
"That kick should have broken at least your arms, you are stubborn, human. But whether you are from the army or not, this changes little, you are still an enemy, it is as such, you will be eliminated like that other human." Suddenly the woman sprints towards Sanryu, her fists clenched.
'So she killed Josh!' Sanryu moves nimbly, dodging the beastkin's punch, which goes straight into the wall, creating a hole in it. 'Are we kidding?! This is the famous beastkin strength?' Sanryu, even though he feels pain in his arms, draws his sword, brandishing it with difficulty. 'I feel pain all over my arms, but that can't stop me from not reacting...this woman has every intention of killing me.'
"You're quick to avoid, but it won't last forever." The woman makes a cat-like sprint again, faster than the previous one, taking Sanryu by surprise, managing to throw a punch on the boy's stomach.
"COUGH!" A glob of blood comes out of Sanryu's mouth and his body flies a few meters away. 'My stomach... I don't think I have it anymore...' Sanryu begins to lose consciousness, his stomach is almost completely gone, and he can't find a way out of this bad situation. 'The sword... I must... grab it...' Even though he can barely stay awake and lucid, Sanryu reaches out for his sword, which has slipped a short distance away from him.
"Are you still alive? Impressive, I admire your tenacity, but you've reached the end of the line." The woman approaches at a slow and calm pace.
'From her voice... she seems to be... almost the same age as me...' Sanryu hasn't had time to analyze the woman's figure, and can only assume that she is a girl of her age or less bigger than her. 'Let's see if I can...' Sanryu tries to raise his face, to look at the face of the woman who is about to kill him. "Cough ha ha, at least… I will be killed by a beautiful woman…" As he looks at the woman's face, Sanryu says these words.
"What did you say?" The woman can't believe her ears, which is impressive, since they are the ears of a feline, so she hears very well. "Even in this situation, you say such nonsense? Oh are you making fun of me? It wouldn't be wise, in your condition, human."
The face that Sanryu saw is that of a young woman in her twenties, cute black cat ears, long wild hair that covers most of her back and two piercing blue eyes, some tufts of her hair have colored yellow.
"Believe me...I don't joke about these things...cough." Sanryu is still bleeding from his mouth. 'What a shame...now that I have begun to know...the pleasures of sex.' Sanryu is disappointed that he can't fuck anymore. 'I wonder if Lurue will be sad... I think not... I don't think goddesses care about the fate of mortals...' Sanryu's face is lifted from the ground, by the woman's hand.
"Don't think a compliment can save your life." The tabaxi's face is only a few centimeters away from Sanryu's, so that their noses can almost touch.
"Only a miracle...can save me from this...situation...Miss tabaxi." Sanryu hints at a sly smile, it's just as if the sky is listening to him, a stroke of luck arrives.
"I hear some noise this way." "Maybe giant rats?" "Maybe we've only found the body of those beasts so far."
Apparently some adventurers were about to do the same mission as Sanryu. "You are lucky, human...but don't think that luck is always on your side." The woman releases her hand from Sanryu's neck, causing him to fall to the ground, then gives just one last look and finally leaves.
'Am I a lucky guy?' With these last thoughts, Sanryu's consciousness was extinguished, leaving his life in the hands of strangers.