"Master Vergus! We have to go now!" an elf yells to an elder man.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Two mythical beings locked in combat! We would probably never see this again!" Vergus looks out of his window, to see a ball of light disintegrate a large ball of flesh suspended in the air.
"If we don't get to safety, this will be a last in a lifetime opportunity! The mages putting up a fight won't last much longer!" The elf at first grabs as many books as she can, but decides to ditch most of them in favor of the more important books once she realizes she won't be able to carry all of it.
"R-Right... I'll get moving." The man hobbles downstairs, and the duo make for the door. Upon opening the door, they start coughing as a mist of ash has descended on the city. The elf quickly ties some cloth around herself and Vergus, looking to keep the ash away from their lungs.
Running across the street, the duo see some soldiers organizing an evacuation effort through the sewer of all places.
"Soldier! Aren't the sewers too dangerous? And where is all this ash coming from? I don't see any fire." The elf hastily asks a soldier who looks too young to be in the army, let alone organize an evacuation effort.
"That [Seraphim] blasted the entire city with some sort of intense light, anyone out in the open without adequate protection got dusted! The ash is people, we need to get away from the open air before she blasts the city again!" For a young man, the soldier is exceptionally brave, or it simply hasn't kicked in that everyone he knows is currently cremated.
"There are a lot of mages in the city right now, shouldn't they stand a chance?" Vergus directs his question to his attendant, who looks to the sky as the two catastrophe's square off against each other.
"I don't think so, the angel and that blob thing aren't friends of each other, but the mages only have a solid chance of killing one rampaging monstrosity. I don't like their odds against two of them regardless." Vergus and his attendant descend into the sewer, hoping for a safer way out. Just as the soldier prepares to go down, he suddenly shuts the hatch behind them.
"Hey! What are you doing?" The elf shouts back at the sewer hatch, and is greeted by the noise of the soldier unlatching his weapon, before a high-pitched searing noise silences the area above.
"C'mon! We have to keep moving! It isn't safe here!" The duo is greeted by a group of shady characters, led by a bearded orc.
Before any of the duo can protest, the underworld security team already starts moving through the tunnels.
"I know what you two are thinking, and I don't blame you. Yes, we are... from the lower rung of society, but I'm afraid it's mostly us who are left, and those freak mages that like hanging out among the regular populace because they have nothing better to do. Apparently, alleyways were one of the safest places to be when the light hit, and even some of the richer folk got killed in their homes because they windows were too big." The bearded orc explains calmly, while the group makes their way through the sewer as quickly as possible.
One of the thugs, a lightly armored woman, holds up her hand, and the entire group stops. She inspects the ground for a bit, doing her best to cover her nose to prevent a lung infection from being so close to the river of shit.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
"There's grass here. Something is causing plants to grow in the sewers." The thugs first look at each other, before their gaze falls on their bearded leader. He shrugs, but the voice of Vergus breaks the short silence.
"Most likely a dryad, there aren't many things which could sustain greenery underground. I heard that dryads were relatively common in this area, one might have migrated into the sewer. Be on guard, this one has most likely withered to the point of being carnivorous." A shudder goes through the group at that, no one wants to end up at the whims of a hungry dryad.
It doesn't take long for the group to encounter the subject at hand, as they enter an area thick with greenery... and a light cystal dispelling the dark, some limited light also comes from a hole in the ceiling, where a tree has broken through. As the dryad appears from the bushes, the bearded orc pre-empts any failure of diplomacy by declaring war on the dryad instantly. A bottle of vicious green bubbling liquid flies in the dryads directions, as she destroys the bottle the contents spread over a wide area, and burns everything it comes into contact with.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!" The dryad screams out in pain, as much of her plant-like body is destroyed by the acidic contents of the bottle. Before the team can make use of the dryad's injury, they are jumped by... a spider with feather wings? It flies through the foliage, followed by a small herd of its offspring. The team is rapidly pushed back by the spidery assault, back into the tunnel from whence they came. None die in the retreat, but their situation is looking rather grim regardless.
Another beam of light passes over them overhead, if the high-pitched searing noise is anything to go by. The light passes over the tree, dusting some leaves. The dryad looks toward the tree, bows, and mimics a burial rite with her hands. The spider prepares for another assault, and jumps for the elf attendant while its offspring flood the tunnel.
The attempt fails, as the spider is batted away by a large club, wielded by an even larger oni. The spiders are scared off by the fire of a magical flamethrower, wielded by a gnome. An arachne takes position in front of the team, blocking any further attacks on them.
"You guys alright?" The oni asks in the general direction of the group.
"Y-Yeah, thanks. What are you guys doing here?" The elf answers the oni.
"We were hot on the trail of an angel we saw fly eastward, but I guess we were too late to the party. You guys don't happen to know the way out of the city through the sewers, do you?" The oni says it like she's implying they were lost in the sewers for quite a while now.
"Actually I do, my... job entailed a lot of traveling out of the city through the sewers, and while I don't know the entire sewer system out of my head because we haven't been here long, a way out we certainly can do, unfortunately that way out is past that dryad." The bearded orc responds to the oni, and the oni spits on the ground upon hearing that. She looks to her teammates, who all nod in her direction.
"We can take out the dryad and the spider, can't afford to leave them in our rear." The oni charges with the arachne, the smaller spiders and foliage is burned away, the spider attempts to retreat, but is hit by a thrown spear that came from a lizardman that was hiding in the shadows. The dryad succesfully pulls away, and the oni-arachnid duo begin cutting down foliage in their path. Just as the gnome is about to burn the genesteal spider, a new warcry joins the underground.
"FOR THE LOST!"
Men and women, the young and the old, the sick and the healthy. A whole group of people armed with the weapons of the locals charges down the hallway, the gnome is forced to take cover as bullets whiz by him, and the lizardman's protective gear takes a beating before he too gets to cover.
"Fuck! Not these guys again!" The oni breaks off from the foliage, seeking to engage The Lost in closer quarters, but only barely manages to block a rocket with her club as she tries to get closer, she too moves back to cover, followed by the arachne.
"Time for plan B, we are leaving!" The oni announces, and breaks through a wall in the sewers. "Lead the way, beardo!" She points for the bearded orc to lead, which he does. Soon the entire group is carving a new path through the sewer, all to get out of the city. The Lost cheering all the way, as they have finally managed to beat the invaders back for once.