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The party began their journey through the deepest section of sewers. The rogue led them outside of under-town, through chambers with the undead, then nests of carrion grubs and worms, followed by a straight route along a very long canal where a single cyclopean stalker blocked the passage, but was swiftly and single-handedly dealt with by Noemi.

At last, the final, largest section of the dungeon was reached. Here, the sewer filth was replaced by murky waters. Surroundings were gloomy and dirty water was dripping down the ceiling.

Arath and Tikan lifted their lanterns to light the way, tunnels were as broad as castle halls and canals were as wide as rivers. Sporadically, there were columns supporting the structure or gratings that prevented the passage.

The rogue mentioned that area was poorly mapped and groups who ventured this far almost never came back. Creatures here were supposed to be waste elementals, gigantic slimes, and oozes of all types and kinds, but the idea was to sneak around without drawing their attention.

There was only a single place that was well known to adventurers, where the party has just arrived. It was a large, bottomless, rectangular tank with flooded, ruined, paved paths at the edges. The damage was a result of explosions triggered by previous explorers.

In this place lived the glowworms, their size ranged from five centimeters to half a meter and their width was two-thirds of the length. From up close, one could notice a set of organs in two colors, each containing a pocket of liquid. Upon sensing danger, these substances would travel by the bodily vessels and mix together, reacting, and creating a very violent explosion.

Arath stopped, kneeled, pointed at worms, and slowly explained. - “Do you see their pulse? One second, one, three, one, one, five... then the pattern repeats.” - He stood up and pulled out surgical tools. - ”You cut during the longest pause and stop the bleeding with clamps.”

“Cut?” - Augmi was shocked. - “Are you trying to lose your hands!? If you slice through any of the auxiliary veins, it's going to cause an explosion!”

Arath just shrugged. - “If.”

“I've heard there're better ways to extract it.” - Tikan mentioned.

“Yes, you can use sleep powder, anesthetics and an extensible rod with a syringe...”- Augmi lectured.- “...but it takes time, since the skin of bigger species is too hard to penetrate by thin needles and larger ones are detected by worm's bristles...”

Arath didn't bother listening, he already knew all that from the library. The man looked at the flickering lights and started counting then jumped straight at the worm.

Noemi asked herself how someone so averse to any combat could all of sudden become so fearless, she couldn't help but observe with the utmost respect for the boy's mechanical and precise, fast movements, to her, of uncanny and somewhat hidden, deadly nature.

It was at this moment that Noemi understood for the first time that with his insusceptibility to emotions, combined with his precision and focus, Arath, after training, would be capable of becoming at least a capable hunter.

It took seconds, and Arath returned carrying a fat grub twice the size of his own torso.

“You're damn crazy...” - The rogue just replied. - “What's next?”

“I need at least nine more.” - Arath calmly responded.

Everyone's jaws dropped.

“What are you trying to achieve!? It would be enough to bring the entire building down!!” - Augmi shouted in disbelief.

“That's the point.” - Arath put the worm on the ground and started cutting out sacks of explosive fluids.

“You weren't joking...” - Noemi whispered to herself. The boy was speaking the truth when he said he didn't plan to die.

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Augmi very quickly joined the crafting and with her vast knowledge, Arath could not only perfect the bomb but also conduct field tests with a smaller version of the item and prepare a few handheld grenades.

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“Huff!” - Noemi wiped her forehead, the tough fight against a queen slime was over.

The corpse started to dissolve. It was one-and-half meter large, yellow, ovaloid blob-core surrounded by twenty centimeters thick layer of semi-transparent filth.

Noemi was currently holding a mace, borrowed from rogue, since it was excellent against that type of opponents. The weapon started vibrating. Curious, Noemi searched the pointed direction and spotted a section of pipe above her head. She touched it and realized it's a movable part, so she pulled it.

The floor started shaking and part of a wall in front of the party retracted, revealing a seemingly endless and extremely tall corridor, there was no sight to both its end and the ceiling. Noemi could smell a mild metallic stench, but no stains of blood could be found.

The tunnel was leading in the direction of the boss gate.

“It seems to be a shortcut.” - Tikan replied from behind.

“It smells like... death.” - Noemi responded with furrowed brows.

Rogue entered and looked around. - “There are no traps... but we shouldn't take it. It's just too convenient to be true. The labyrinth rarely works like this.”

“Augmi, what do you think?” - Noemi inquired.

Augmi checked her satchel. - “We're running low on supplies, two bigger fights like last one and we might be out of potions and explosives.”

“Arath?” - Noemi asked again.

“It's not my decision, but If we go there, I will stay behind... far... far behind.” - Arath decided that his priority was ensuring his own safety, he didn't debate whether it's better to risk or not.

“Whatever lies there, it's better than dealing with oozes.” - Tador responded. - “We will need the supplies.”

“You will be fine. We have a bomb.” - The rogue responded.

“No. We don't know what's behind the gate.” - Augmi was bound to interject. - “In a narrow chamber, the explosion could kill us.”

The rogue was still against the idea, he trusted his sixth sense, but he couldn't dismiss a valid point. He pondered on what would be a better option without saying anything.

“Architects wouldn't plan a shortcut without demanding anything in return.” - Arath replied, his voice was slightly off, like something bothered him.

“We've already traveled secret passages, a few monsters are nothing we can't deal with.” - Noemi carelessly responded.

“Maybe we should just vote?” - Tikan suggested.

Except for Arath, everyone looked at each other and agreed. Arath abstained from voting. Everyone but rogue voted for taking a shortcut.

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The party slowly proceeded inside. After an hour of walk, there was neither any sign of traps nor any sign of exit door.

After several dozens of minutes of walking, the rogue, who was walking at the front, stopped in front of a large stain of drained blood and lifted a lantern.

Noemi caught up and looked, this red smudge covered the entire pavement, plus climbed up the walls, disappearing in the dark.

“Everyone... run!” - Rogue shouted.

An object fell from above, then another, Noemi dodged, but one of the creatures landed on side of her helmet. Its round maw clung to the steel surface.

Noemi could hear a sound of drilling that accelerated next to her right ear, so she forced the helmet off her head.

The creature was shaped like a starfish with a round, broad middle and six short arms.

Another soft splat could be heard next to Noemi, and the girl started running, creatures began to drop one after another, second after second.

Everyone hastened to the exit.

Tador, was already looking above him, to examine what was the creature that tried to attack Noemi and one of the monsters dropped right on his face. The rat panicked and tried to remove the monster, but suction cups on its hands held the skull firmly.

The rogue arrived at the exit, but it was locked, so he hastily started picking them. - “TO THE DOOR, QUICKLY!” - He hurried his group.

Noemi rose her shield to protect herself and Augmi, everyone but Tikan rushed towards the exit. Instead, he tried to remove the critter from his grandpa, who was now screaming in agony.

The attempts were to no avail. Animal's blades, located at the edges of its round, multi-layered maw, penetrated the victim's cheeks. The grip tightened, so any attempts to physically remove the monster would result in tearing off the victim's face.

Tikan grabbed Tador under his stronger, mutated arm, then sprinted towards the exit, while the beast's swirling, teeth-packed tongue began to tear its way inside the soft flesh, right next to the nose, in a drill motion.

Everyone from the front was already on the outside and Tikan joined five seconds later. Arath two seconds after him, holding a pocket-bag above his head, with a critter attached to it.

Tikan screamed in tears, begging anyone to help Tador, who was thrashing around like mad.

Arath quickly dropped a bag, took out his tools, and shouted. - “Hold him still!” - He planned to stab the face-hugger with a scalpel, but the elder rat already stopped moving.

Regardless, Arath continued, knowing what grave truth is it going to uncover because even If everyone knew it's over, they weren't yet willing to accept it.

The blade plunged into the wet skin, and the monster stopped moving. Arath skillfully removed its tentacles, then lifted the round, bloodied mouth-cum-torso.

Both girls averted their sight. A long, spiral tongue was moved outside of an eight-centimeter wide hole in Tador's cheek. Strips of flesh were hanging down the barbs attached to the organ.

Tikan, devastated, kneeled over a deceased father figure. Heavy tears started rolling down his deformed face, including the mucous purple liquid that formed between tumor-ridden, thick eyelids.

Nobody uttered a word.