For a few minutes, Jake traversed the underground tunnels of the city’s sewers. It was dark and damp, with putrid, dirty water trickling along the tunnel floors. Here and there, murky water ran in rivulets down the walls as well. A foul scent permeated the air wherever he went.
In some areas, sunlight filtered in through the cracks above. The deeper sections of the sewers were shrouded in total darkness, though. Fortunately, it posed little trouble for Jake. His enhanced sight allowed him to see pretty well in the dark. Unperturbed by the lack of light, the foul scent, and the damp, dirty conditions of the sewers, he continued to navigate the underground tunnels.
The scariest part about the sewers was the mutants that inhabited the city’s underground tunnels. But Jake wasn’t afraid. In fact, he was eager to encounter new types of enemies.
Aside from the gurgle emanating from the running water and the splashes from his footsteps, silence enveloped the tunnels. While he knew there had to be unknown creatures lurking somewhere in the darkness of the sewers, he had yet to find them. They must’ve been somewhere in the deeper parts of the sewers.
He reached a four-way juncture. The front, left-hand, and right-hand tunnels all looked identical to him, and Jake paused for a moment, listening carefully to decide which way to take. He thought he heard faint, distant sounds like water sloshing from the right-hand tunnel, so he turned that way and continued on.
For a few more minutes, he plodded through the tunnel that looked almost identical to the others he’d passed through. The absence of cracks in the ceiling cast this section of the sewers into total darkness. The water level appeared slightly elevated here, with streams of grimy water splashing over his feet. Undeterred by the dampness and lack of light, Jake pressed on.
At last, he spotted a gathering of several creatures in the distance. Taking care to move stealthily, he slowed his pace to minimize the noise he made. The critters had neither noticed nor heard him yet. Drawing closer, he began to discern more details about them.
Jake focused his attention on one of the disgusting critters and called up its stats.
Mutated Rat – Level 10
Special ability: None
He’d first encountered those rat-things and watched them from up above when he was a survivor. Now, up close, he could discern more details about them. They resembled kangaroos in form and size, but their snouts and tails were akin to those of pre-Collapse rats. Their dark, greasy fur was patchy, showing bald spots in multiple areas and revealing large sores on their skin, some of which were oozing yellowish pus. The stench emanating from their bodies even surpassed that of the sewers themselves. Despite Jake’s calm and collected mindset as a morphus, he found himself repulsed by those vile creatures. But he continued to move toward them nevertheless.
The critters down the tunnel were preoccupied with picking at the rotting dead body of another creature, which looked just like them. The group of the repugnant critters hadn’t spotted him yet. Drawing closer, he studied them and came to the conclusion dealing with them shouldn’t be too difficult. He continued to move down the tunnel toward the group of mutated rats. Despite his attempts to move quietly, the splashing sounds of the water he sloshed through gave him away sooner than he’d hoped.
Two of the rat-like creatures withdrew their gore-smeared snouts from deep within the rotting meat of the dead body to glance back at him. Their red, malevolent eyes squinted as the vile creature hissed at him. Alerted by the noise, the rest of the critters swiftly turned their heads to glare at him as well. The mutants had discovered him way sooner than he’d anticipated. While he’d hoped for the ideal scenario of sneaking up on them and taking out at least one rat before being detected by the others, he remained unfazed by the turn of events.
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All the mutated rats had turned to face him by that point. However, they seemed reluctant to attack him as if unsure of what to make of him. Having never encountered anything like him before, they appeared wary and unsure of how dangerous he might be.
Before they could decide whether to flee or fight, he charged at them. Some of them flinched in fear, and for a moment it seemed like they were going to scatter in panic. It didn’t happen, though. Instead, they darted toward him, bounding on two legs like kangaroos. Jake was glad they did. He wouldn’t have wanted to chase them through the dark tunnels of the sewers.
With a mental command, he morphed his hands into claws and lashed out at the first mutant to reach him. His talons pierced its forehead, cutting through the skin and scraping against its skull, doing little to no damage to the creature. He dodged to the left as the monster lunged toward him, attempting to take a bite. The wide tunnel provided ample space for Jake to maneuver, allowing him to evade the creature’s teeth with ease. The mutated rat lunged toward him once more, but Jake avoided its attack and raked the side of its neck with his claws. He must’ve pierced a major blood vessel because a red fountain poured from the wound. The creature wailed as it lurched away from him, defeated and with no fight left in it. The critter bounded a little farther down the tunnel before it succumbed to the wound, collapsing to the floor and splashing stinky water everywhere.
Jake was already dealing with another mutated rat, slicing the side of its body open with a flurry of swings. These creatures were pretty fast but no match for his own agility and speed. The second rat-thing dropped to the wet floor where it convulsed for a few seconds before it died.
It didn’t take Jake long to deal with the remaining critters. When only one was left, it tried to bound away, but Jake didn’t let it. Ramming into the overgrown rat, he tackled it to the ground, unleashing a brutal attack and ripping its side open.
He then stood up, surveying the area. All the monsters were dead, and the blood that spilled from them mixed with the murky water. A system notification emerged in his mind.
Multiple enemies killed. +150 XP
He’d slain five critters, which meant a mutated rat was worth 30 XP. Not too much, but still better than the 25 XP reward for ex-human leapers. Besides, leapers were pretty rare—out of every ten ex-humans he encountered, nine were walkers and only one was a leaper. If those rat-things were abundant in the sewers, he could linger there for some time to gain experience points.
For the next half an hour or so, he traversed the sewers, every now and then encountering groups of mutated rats and fighting them. He continued to explore the underground tunnels for a while but had yet to come across a single mana consumable, which was disappointing. It was possible that those precious magical items simply didn’t spawn in the sewers.
After he dealt with another group of mutated rats, a system notification emerged in his mind.
You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 8 to 9. You have gained 1 SP.
Jake opted to allocate the skill point at a later time.
At some point, he arrived at another four-way juncture where a group of rats were scavenging through a pile of waste. Just as Jake was about to confront them, some noise echoed from a side tunnel. The rats instantly tensed up, raising their heads and turning their attention toward the source of the sound.
A second later, a massive bear-like creature emerged from the shadows. It was the size of a grizzly bear but had scales all over its body, and its head and tail were those of an alligator. Jake summoned its state with a thought.
Devourer – Level 15
Special ability: None
The mutated rats scattered at the sight of the huge monster, sending splashes of dirty water flying everywhere. The devourer made to give chase, but then it noticed Jake. Its sinister red eyes studied him for a moment. Apparently unimpressed, it released a deafening roar before lunging toward him.