I laughed and said "Sure thing man. Just need to earn some cash down here and we can go for a few rounds." The Horbrots that were sent flying by the water ball were now up and one was charging Herald while the other was rushing me and Ray. The Belcher meanwhile was sitting farther back and its stomach was steadily swelling over time. "That thing looks like it's getting ready to let loose a big one, can't you hit it with an ice shard or something?" Ray asked me while he dodged the charge of the Horbrot and sliced its side open with his spear, purple blood spewing everywhere. I chugged a mana potion and said "Yah but I can't toss them like crazy dude. Those things cost a decent chunk of mana to use at my current level."

Ray hopped back to dodge a swipe from the Horbrot's claws but got nicked on his left leg. His armour blocked most of the attack but he was now limping slightly from the impact. I fired an ice shard at the Horbrot and it slammed into the thing's neck. The Horbrot fell limp with blood draining from its would quickly while it gurgled and roared in pain. Ray quickly finished it off while Ronia yelled "Stop chatting and kill the Horbrot Belcher or whatever it is! It looks like it'll fire something at any moment."

Harold grunted in response while trying to fend off the Horbrot still fiercely attacking him and Ronia was trying to help him by occasionally taking pot shots at the thing when she had the chance. "Ray lets take care of the Belcher quickly and help Herold." I said while firing 3 Ice shards. The first one slammed squarely into its front right leg while the second one shattered on its skull, dealing no damage and the 3rd one missed since the Belcher jumped out of the way. "Sure thing Zane. Lets Go!" Ray replied after my barrage and charged forward at the Belcher with me quickly following.

The Horbrot Belcher made a loud gurgling sound and opened its mouth far wider than it should possibly open and starting spitting balls of green fluid one after the other at us. Several went towards Herold and Ronia but Herold managed to block most with his shield while the rest were redirected by Ronia using a wind barrier. Guess she could use wind magic as well as some healing magic. The more you know I guess. 6 green balls were flying at us and Ray dodged the first 3 while I dodged out of the way of the other 3 but I was caught by surprise. The sneaky devil had predicted my dodge and sent a vomit comet where I dodged. "Shit! Earth wall!"

I made an earth wall and tripped after doing so, slamming right into the ground. The earth wall I had erected had taken a sizable chunk of mana and I was about half out now. "Atleast the wall stopped the vomit comet." I quickly stood up and turned to see Herald finish off the Horbrot he was fighting, which was littered with arrows and had its head cut off. "Oi Herald, come help me man!" Ray yelled out, snapping me out of it. I peeked from around the wall and saw there were a few craters in the wall from the impacts and was crumbling apart so I moved away from behind it in order to not get crushed by the rubble. "Piercing Shot!". I saw the arrow Ronia fired zoom past me and slam into the Belcher, boring a hole into its enlarged stomach.

The stomach quickly spilled green fluid everywhere along with purple blood from the hole, causing Ray and Herald to back off quickly. The wound was slowly healing and leaking less fluids as time went on. "Ronia can you fire a few more of those? Preferably in its stomach area again. We can drain it of its green acid and finish it off from a distance easier." I said to Ronia who looked over at me and nodded and said "Yeah but not too many. That spell is taxing and I have to wait a few seconds between each cast but otherwise I can keep firing it."

I gave a thumbs up while Herold taunted the Belcher once more, drawing its attention over to it. It tried to belch at him but the ball was rather small compared to its earlier attacks. Another piercing shot was launched and it slammed right into the stomach again, causing another large hole to appear which leaked even more blood and acid. It was most likely acid that it belched so thats what I am going to go with. The other wound was mostly sealed up but was slightly open still. I took advantage of the Belchers momentary lapse in movement due to pain and fired 4 more ice shards at it. 2 grazed its stomach while 1 shattered once again on its thick skull and the last one imbedded into its front right leg again. It was limping heavily now since the ice wasn't melting quickly. This gave me an idea.

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"Ronia give me your arrow for a second I have an idea." She obediently handed an arrow to me so I coated the arrow in ice and made it as cold as I could. I handed it back and she looked at me in confusion before simply shrugging and firing the arrow with Piercing Shot. The arrow slammed into the Belcher once more since it was having trouble dodging due to its wounds and one leg being nigh useless. The arrow once again made a hole in its stomach but this time the hole was coated in ice and had shards of ice stuck hapazardly in the wound. The wound barely healed at all. "I was right! Cold slows its healing down! It also can't heal quickly if things are embedded into it."

The others soaked in the new knowledge and responded in their own ways. Ray swung his spear which now had its blade chilled with magic while Herald continued to taunt it and tank the incoming acid balls as well as any claw swipes it attempted, but his shield was taking a rather hard beating with the acid wearing away at the metal. Ronia continued to hand me arrows to freeze over. I did this since it was cheaper than firing ice shards although I fired ice shards into its legs whenever I got a clear shot, trying to hobble its movement since I couldn't dent its thick damn skull.

After another minute of fighting like this the thing finally keeled over and died with several holes in its stomach leaking acid and purple blood, along with numerous arrows and ice shards sticking out everywhere. "Haah, haah. That was way too much effort for one kill man. Let's dip and head back topside. We can't go on like this. It's not safe to camp down here and Heralds shield is basically a shiny metal plate from all of the acid it tanked." The others agreed and I did too, although I didn't want to leave we had to. "Let's head back. Cmon help me put these corpses away and loot anything useful we can find while returning.

We had fought 3 more Horbrots on our way back topside and were almost out when we came across 3 Horbrot Belchers. Ronia instantly cried out to warn us. "Don't make a sound! Let' head a different way topside. We are not ready to fight 3 of those at the same time. A small detour may take longer but it's better than dying right?" Ray replied "Yeah sure, lets head on around. We can take that path and take a left at the end. According to the map that will take us to the exit we came in from but will take 6 minutes longer than straight ahead." We agreed with the plan and head off once again, leaving the gurgling beasts to their own devices.

We were making good time when we saw a few more Belchers blocking the way. "Just out luck to meet 2 large groups of belchers one after the other. Let's see here... Ah that way takes us to the exit as well but it takes a roundabout path to get there. It goes off to some of the older portions of the Sewers. They are probably worse for wear than these newer sections so lets be extra careful." Ray then put the map away and started checking his gear as we walked so we did the same and continued travelling while checking our potion and gear.

~~~

After around 12 minutes we had taken several more detours and were finally nearing the exit. "That was quite a lot of Horbrots and Belchers man. Who knew the sewers were this damn infested with monsters. And you say they clear this place out bi weekly? Man I can't imagine what its like during the clear out marches." complained Herald as we marched on towards the exit when a rather surprising sight came into view. We saw a couple of ogres and goblins. "What the hell are those doing down here? This place is also infested with those too?" said Ray in surprise as he readied to fight.

I looked at him and shook my head looking gravely serious. "No, they shouldn't be down here. The environments just too damn hostile for them and not enough food to live. The only other thing I can imagine is what i'm sure the rest of you have thought of as well." The others looked at me with serious faces while Ray death stared the ogres and spat out with a lot more venom than I expected, saying "Corrupted mage".