The moment Zeke stepped past the sewer grate, he knew he was in for a miserable experience. It wasn’t surprising, considering the purpose of the tunnel before him. Zeke had never considered himself claustrophobic, but he couldn’t suppress a sense of unease as he traversed the narrow corridor. Crouching slightly, his wide shoulders brushed against the various copper pipes that lined the brick walls.

And then there was the smell. Human waste, rotting corpses of various vermin, and fetid water all mixed together into an indescribable odor that felt like it soaked into his very skin. And that was just in an access tunnel. He could only imagine what it’d be like when he got into the sewer proper.

It didn’t help that he really didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing. Sure, he’d been given a mission to investigate the disappearance of a handful of children and told that the trail had led to the sewers, but beyond that, he’d gotten absolutely no information. He was flying blind, and he had no notion of what obstacles with which he might have to contend.

“Petty asshole,” he muttered to himself as he reached the heavy, metal door that would lead to the drainage tunnels beneath the city. Einar had done it on purpose. He’d wanted Zeke to suffer; that much was clear. But what was Zeke going to do? If he wanted to join The Champions of Light, he had little choice in the matter. So, despite his frustration, he opened the door and stepped into the sewers proper.

It felt like he’d hit a solid wall, the smell was so strong. His eyes watered, and his stomach roiled, and he nearly turned back, membership in the guild be damned. If it had just been about the mission to get into the guild, he probably would have. However, something was abducting and probably killing innocent children. What kind of person would he be if he ignored that, just because of a little smell? He pushed forward, closing the door behind him. It clanged shut with finality, the sound echoing through the tunnel.

The structure of the sewer was exactly what he’d imagined it would be. A round, stone tunnel with a wide river of water and waste flowing through the center. On the edges were ledges meant for the traversal of maintenance workers, though with the prevalence of magic, they’d been rendered mostly unnecessary. Any blockages were tended to by the runes along the walls, but for once, Zeke had no interest in studying them. Despite his curiosity, he wanted to get in and get out as quickly as humanly possible.

As he began his journey through the sewers, Zeke couldn’t help but wonder why so many stories and games glamorized the sewers. From mutant turtles to lovable thieves, sewers were the setting of a wide variety of romanticized stories. But having experienced it, even for only a few minutes, Zeke could adamantly say that anyone who chose to live – or even frequent – a sewer was absolutely insane.

But then again, was what he was doing all that different? The irony definitely wasn’t lost on him. Still, he pushed forward, his heavy boots scraping against the slimy stones. All the while, his eyes darted around as he looked for clues that might help him with his mission.

For almost an hour, he crept through the sewer tunnels, but in that time, he found nothing more than human waste, a few half-eaten, half-rotted animal carcasses, and the ubiquitous flow of soiled water. It shouldn’t have been surprising. According to Abby, there were miles of tunnels beneath Beacon, and even below them, there were ancient crypts. A person could spend a lifetime exploring them, and still not even see a fraction of what was not-so-affectionately known as The Undercity, the denizens of which were both dangerous and mysterious.

In addition to the ratkin that made the sewers their home, there was a race of lizard people called Calaramin, undead creatures in the crypts, and various minor elementals and slimes. There were even rumors of humans who’d been trapped far below the surface where they’d created their own society. But regardless of the seemingly booming population, Zeke saw no trace of intelligent life for quite some time.

And then it all happened at once.

A crude, rusted spear came out of nowhere. Zeke tried to dodge, but he’d been lulled to sleep by the unending tunnel. So, it slammed into his shoulder, digging a couple of inches in. He let out a couple of choice swears before he yanked the thing out. Another was already on its way, but without the monotony dulling his mind, it was easy to slap away.

That wasn’t the case with the next six.

He dodged one, blocked another, but he wasn’t nearly quick enough to deal with all of them. The best Zeke could do was protect his most vital parts and endure the barrage of thrown spears. Thankfully, one of the four missed, but the remaining three scored solid hits. When he uncovered his face, Zeke finally saw his attackers.

They were a little more than three feet tall, scaly, and looked a little like the lizard from the insurance commercials back on Earth – except that they wore mismatched hides of indeterminate origin and had wickedly sharp teeth jutting from their mouths. Each was armed with a small, leather shield and a bundle of small spears on their backs.

The spears themselves were only a little bigger than arrows, so even if they managed a solid hit, they didn’t really pose much of a threat to Zeke. Perhaps if they hit an artery, but that was unlikely. He used his inspection skill on the one in front:

Calaramin Scout – Level 12

Level twelve? But they seemed so weak. Was it their size? Or was he so overpowered that monsters only two levels lower than him were trivial?

As the creatures continued to throw spears at him, Zeke sighed. Sure, the spears stung a little, but they didn’t penetrate too deeply. And even without [Leech Strike], he felt confident that his high vitality would make quick work of the wounds. He summoned Voromir, his mace, and started forward. However, he was surprised to find that another few of the lizard people had joined the first group, and he could hear quite a few more coming.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be a waste of time, after all. Sure, they were lower than him, and as such, the experience they offered would be less than normal. But if there were enough of the monsters, he could make a little more progress towards level fifteen. He couldn’t pinpoint precisely how much he’d need, but the density of the ball of energy in his middle told him that, after the glut of experience he’d gotten by killing the drachnids and their queen, it wouldn’t take that much to push him over the edge. And once that happened, he’d get to choose another skill.

Even so, when he reached the Calaramin, he felt a little guilty about killing the small creatures. That lasted until one of them tried to stab him in the groin, a strike which he narrowly avoided.

“Come on! That’s just wrong,” he muttered, already swinging his mace. It took the offending lizard man in the face, and its head exploded like a small watermelon. After that, Zeke went to work. Each of his swings felled at least one of the diminutive creatures, which threw themselves at him with reckless abandon. It got to the point where he began to wonder if they were, perhaps, rabid or something. Otherwise, he couldn’t explain their lack of self-preservation skills.

Either way, the monsters were dead within a minute, which left Zeke feeling more than a little guilty. They’d attacked him, sure – but they had posed absolutely no threat to him at all. Even with overwhelming numbers, the creatures were too weak to do anything to him. Sighing, he looted the corpses via a touch and a mental command, getting a few beast cores, and kicked the disintegrating bodies into the river of sewage.

Moving on, Zeke encountered a few more groups, none of which even slowed him down, and he was reminded of his trek through the troll caves. It wasn’t such a stretch, considering he was underground and fighting scaly monsters. But that had been a fight for survival. This was more like pest control.

But it had to be done, didn’t it? After all, there was every chance that these Calaramin were the ones who’d been abducting children. They were strong enough for that, at least. And if it was them, he was doing a public service by killing them. That thought carried him through another hour until he began to encounter higher-leveled lizard men.

The scouts were all below level twelve, but their warriors were around fifteen. And from time to time, he’d run into a warmaster that was a couple of levels higher. Zeke lost count of how many he killed. Dozens, certainly. Maybe more than a hundred. But their numbers seemed endless, and every time he turned a corner, he expected to find another group of the aggressive creatures. He slaughtered them all.

But he didn’t find any evidence of the abducted children. Was it because he hadn’t found their lair? Or was there simply nothing left to find? That was the big problem with the mission in the first place. Other than the fact that it was located in the sewers, of course. There was every chance that he wouldn’t find anything, even if he happened upon the perpetrators. And that just made Zeke angrier at Elder Einar, who’d probably assigned him an impossible task.

Zeke took his frustrations out on the nearly defenseless lizard men.

After a few more hours of traversing the dungeon-like sewers, things began to change. The narrow tunnels widened, the flow of tainted water quickened, and from time to time, he ran across large rooms with vaulted ceilings that, aside from the river of wastewater cutting through them, looked nothing like a sewer.

In fact, Zeke was reminded of old school train stations – not the antiseptic monstrosities comprised of steel and concrete, but the ones with character. The ones where the designers spent time and money to create something a city could be proud of. Sculptures and friezes decorated the walls, and the tunnel exits were marked by elaborate arches. These rooms would’ve been beautiful if it weren’t for two things.

One, all the characteristics of a sewer still prevailed. The smells hadn’t faded. The small animal carcasses hadn’t disappeared. And the waste-infused water still flowed through the center channel.

And second, the lizard people had taken advantage of the added space and used the rooms to house their rudimentary villages. Comprised of little more than a few fire pits, these villages were each populated by at least a hundred Calaramin, none of which were welcoming of visitors. The moment the monsters caught wind of Zeke, they attacked with all the ferocity of a rabid animal, which solved the moral quandary that killing them would have otherwise presented.

So, the slaughter continued, one room at a time.

The hours wore on, and Zeke felt himself creeping closer and closer towards gaining a level, but he paid it little mind. He was too angry to focus on anything but what was right in front of him. The fury stemmed from the fact that, even after a half-dozen of the villages, he still hadn’t found an inkling of a clue. The lizard people, if they were responsible, were very good at covering up their misdeeds. And given what he’d seen of the creatures, he didn’t think they were even capable of deception. They were barely sentient, much less conniving enough to kidnap children and hide the evidence.

Had he been played? Had there even been any kidnappings? Zeke wouldn’t put it past Einar to have sent him on a wild goose chase.

Hour after hour, mile after mile, he swept through the sewers, slaughtering anything in his way. It was mindless genocide, not dissimilar from what he’d done to the trolls. However, with them, he’d had a good reason. He’d found evidence that they’d been hunting and eating human beings. Added to that, he’d had little choice but to kill them if he wanted to escape the caves.

But with the lizard people, it was different. He was the invader into what he assumed was a mostly peaceful life. As far as he could tell, they hadn’t hurt any humans. So, he was only killing them because of a stupid mission given by a petty, vengeful man whose pride had been wounded.

Zeke was so engrossed in his anger that he nearly tripped over his first clue. Steadying himself, he knelt down to pick up a small, child’s shoe. The soft leather was still intact, and there was none of the ever-present mold on its surface. So, he reasoned that it probably hadn’t been in the sewers long. Was it evidence that he was on the right track? Maybe. It was just as likely that it had been washed into the sewers with the heavy rain. But it was enough for him to refocus his efforts.

Over the next half hour, Zeke came across a scattering of other discarded items. Another shoe. A child’s doll. A hair clip. They steadily led him to the biggest room he’d found yet. The place was cavernous, spanning at least fifty yards, twice as high as it was wide. And it was populated by another variant of lizard people.

Calaramin Priest – Level 20

This new version was a little taller than its brethren – maybe a bit more than four feet – but it seemed slimmer. On top of that, it wore tattered, brown robes and carried a crooked staff topped by a human skull just small enough to have belonged to a child.

That was all Zeke needed to see. So, despite the fact that the priest was six levels his senior and was surrounded by an entire village of more mundane lizard people, he didn’t hesitate to charge forward. He wasn’t stealthy, so it didn’t take the Calaramin long to react to his reckless charge. In seconds, their spears were in the air.

Zeke ignored them.

Instead, he made a beeline toward the priest, who was already casting some sort of skill. A moment later, a curse slammed into Zeke’s chest, and he stumbled. He could feel the rune snaking its way around his heart, crushing it with every second. As he fell to his knees, the first spears arrived, a half-dozen of the crude weapons crashing into him.

Zeke barely felt them because his entire focus was on the curse that was, slowly but surely, strangling the life out of him. He could feel his heart missing beats. He could feel the corruption spreading through his body. And he knew that if he didn’t stop it soon, there would be no recovery.

So, even as the lizard people started stabbing him with their spears, Zeke curled into a ball as his mind sought out the rune that represented the curse, which he began to arduously unravel. One slippery strand after another, he plucked apart the glyphs that held the entire thing together. It was similar to the ones he’d been hit with in the troll caves, but it was also far stronger and a good deal more difficult to grasp, much less unravel. But Zeke was nothing if not persistent, and over the next few minutes, he managed to unravel the thing.

When it finally lost its integrity, the curse dissipated, and Zeke struggled to his feet. Despite its lizard-like features, Zeke could see the shock on the priest’s face; clearly, the monster hadn’t expected him to rise. Most people wouldn’t have, so Zeke could understand the surprise.

Activating [Leech Strike], Zeke pushed through the crowd of lizard people, shrugging off their meaningless attacks. He’d deal with them in a moment. Instead, his entire focus was on the priest, who was already casting another curse.

It never finished.

Zeke felt a surge of vitality wash over him as his mace crashed into the priest’s slight body. The monster died instantly, its insides turned to so much jelly. As his wounds began to heal, Zeke turned to the rest of the upright lizards.

The slaughter continued, though Zeke felt a seed of justification blooming in his heart. It was enough to keep him from feeling guilty.