Jake watched as the devourer ran toward him, splashing stinky water everywhere. Despite its bulky body, the bear-alligator moved surprisingly fast. When it got within biting distance, the monster snapped its long jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth at him with lightning speed. Yet Jake was quicker, dashing to the side before the creature’s teeth could sink into him. The beast let out a frustrating roar before turning to face him once more.

As it turned out, the monster was quite clumsy and sluggish, unable to turn quickly. Jake circled the huge creature and lashed out at its side. His claws scraped against the tough scales, dealing little to no damage to the monster. Caught off by the ineffective attack, he froze for a second. Then the devourer finally completed its turn, slamming into him with such force Jake was knocked over.

He collapsed to the floor, sending splashes of stinky water flying every which way. Jake was stunned for a moment, amazed by the sheer strength of his opponent. The beast wasted no time barreling toward him, its jaws opening in preparation to clamp down on him. Jake managed to roll to the side just in time, hearing a resounding clack as the alligator jaws snapped shut on the empty space he’d occupied a fraction of a second before.

As he circled the huge monster, Jake unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes on the beast’s body, exerting all his strength to penetrate its resilient scaled skin. He felt a sense of satisfaction when he managed to draw blood from the creature. Despite the devourer’s tough skin, he found that with enough force, he could pierce its scales with his claws, though it required more effort than his usual confrontations with other mutants.

The battle dragged on for ten grueling minutes, displaying the devourer’s impressive strength and endurance. Even when it was profusely bleeding from multiple wounds Jake had inflicted on it, the beast refused to yield and continued to fight. Jake was as agile and swift as always, constantly moving around the creature to stay beyond the reach of its lightning-fast jaws. The beast proved to be extremely strong and surprisingly fast when moving in a straight line, but its sluggishness during turns allowed Jake to easily dodge its snapping jaws.

When the devourer finally collapsed to the watery floor, creating a chaotic explosion of wet splashes, Jake finally allowed himself to relax. Physically, he didn’t feel tired, but mentally, he was exhausted. The fight with the devourer was intense indeed.

Enemy killed. +90 XP

Jake couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the meager 90 XP he gained from defeating the devourer, considering how much time and effort he’d invested in the battle. Yet he had no choice but to begrudgingly accept the outcome. Taking a moment to catch his breath, so to speak, and recuperate from the exhausting fight, he then randomly picked a direction and pressed on with his exploration of the treacherous sewers.

Over the next two to three hours, he roamed the dark, damp tunnels, engaging in combat with their unsettling dwellers. So far, he’d encountered only two types of mutants in that place, mutated rats and bear-alligators called devourers.

Compared to ex-human walkers, mutated rats were somewhat more difficult to kill. To slay a walker, he only needed to slash his claws across its throat. The body of a mutated rat, on the other hand, was more resistant to damage, requiring him to exert a little more effort. Nevertheless, dealing with groups of mutated rats posed no challenge to him.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A devourer was a much more challenging opponent, however. Its scaled skin was hard to penetrate, and as Jake had recently learned, this type of monster could take a lot of damage before dying. Despite its massive body, a devourer could move at an impressive pace in a straight line and snap its alligator jaws with lightning speed. It was a bit clumsy and couldn’t turn its body quickly, though. In the recent fight with a devourer, Jake had no trouble circling the monster and launching attacks on the creature’s vulnerable sides. But as he’d also learned, its scaled skin was surprisingly tough and hard to penetrate. His claws had no trouble tearing ex-human flesh to shreds, but slicing open a devourer’s scaled skin had turned out to be a lot harder.

For that reason, Jake wanted to avoid having to get into confrontations with devourers as much as possible. They weren’t all that dangerous for him, but slaying one consumed too much time and energy while the experience reward for it was only 90 XP. Jake would rather deal with three mutated rats, investing much less time and effort but yielding higher experience rewards in return.

As it turned out, it was nearly impossible to sneak past devourers in the close confines of the underground tunnels without being noticed by them. The waterlogged tunnel floors made silent movement impossible, and the devourers’ acute senses made detection inevitable. Despite Jake’s efforts to remain silent and evade a devourer’s sight, the slightest disturbance in the water from his movements betrayed his presence. As soon as a devourer spotted him, it immediately charged at him at full speed. So even though he was reluctant to waste time and energy engaging in combat with those powerful and damage-resistant monsters, he had no choice but to confront them. At least, there were much fewer devourers in the sewers than mutated rats, and the former always prowled the water-filled tunnels alone.

Navigating through the sewers, Jake relied on his Enhanced Intelligence skill to prevent getting lost. It seemed as though this skill was creating a mental map in his mind, allowing him to consult it whenever he needed to orient himself. It was truly impressive how this skill worked. Without it, he would easily have gotten lost in the maze-like underground tunnels.

At some point, he came upon a peculiarly ornamented door. Coming to a halt in front of it, he gazed in awe at the towering double-leafed door adorned with intricate patterns. It was very tall and seemed to be crafted from some metallic material. Intricate runes were etched in the four corners of the door’s surface. From the center of the double door protruded a prominent relief sculpture depicting the skull of some beast or demon with sharp fangs and long horns. The hollow eye sockets of the skull appeared to stare directly at him.

For a moment, Jake just studied the door, looking at the demon skull in the middle, the intricate relief work, and the mysterious runes etched in its corners. Jake was getting more and more convinced that the door led to some kind of dungeon.

The door lacked a handle, but it had a big keyhole. The key that opened this door should be pretty large. Jake was pretty sure the door was locked, but he tried to open it anyway. He pressed his palms against both leaves of the door and pushed. Just as he predicted, it didn’t budge despite his best efforts. It looked like the door couldn’t be forced open even with his mutant strength, but just to be sure, he decided to try one more time, exerting all his mutant might.

As he did so, a piece of text materialized in his mind.

You need a Skeleton Key to open a Dungeon Door.

Jake took a step back, staring at the demon skull in the center of the door. He gave a mental command to appraise the door, and a piece of information surfaced in his mind.

Name: The Maze of Torment

Floors: 5

Recommended Level: 15-20

So this door led to a dungeon. This discovery excited Jake a great deal. A dungeon meant lots of challenging enemies and lots of experience points along with other rewards. He had no Skeleton Key on him and had no idea where or how to acquire one yet, but he was sure he would find out at some point. When he got his hands on the key, he would return to the entrance.

Turning away from the dungeon door, Jake strode away, continuing to explore the damp, reeking sewers and wondering what else he might find in that place.