“Ah!” shouted Akira when he saw who it was that he had bumped into.

“Akira, what are you doing down here? You're supposed to be at the shop getting ready for the job,” said Beel Geets while helping Deve Hobs stand back up.

“You're not poking your head into places that you're not supposed to be are you?” asked Deve Hobs, his face was flushed red from anger at being knocked to the ground due to Akira's carelessness.

“N...no, sir! I got lost while trying to find the store, and I couldn't find anyone to help me find the store. It's a good thing that I ran into you guys. Oh yeah, sorry about the running into you part,” said Akira hurriedly, trying not to look suspicious.

The two grandmasters looked at each other for a few seconds and then back at Akira trying to tell if what he said was the truth.

After a long nerve-wracking silence, Beel Geets spoke, “You should have just let us guide you to the shop in the first place. I thought with the skill you showed during the test you would be able to do something as simple as walking to the guild store.”

“Come on follow us. I don't like being made to waste time. You better not fall behind or get curious and start looking at places where your eyes shouldn't look,” said Deve Hobs turning around and walking down the hallway they had just come from.

“Right, I'll only keep my eyes looking forward,” said Akira as he followed the two grandmasters.

They were able to easily navigate through the maze of hallways due to the Grandmasters memorizing the path many years ago. Upon reaching the stairs they ascended near a hundred steps, before reaching the floor with the main shop.

When Akira arrived in front of the shop Beel Geets opened the door for him.

“Hurry up and get what you need. We'll wait outside while you finish your shopping. Once you're ready we can give you all the details on the job,” said Deve Hobs.

“Sure sounds good,” said Akira as he walked between the two in order to enter the shop.

“Don't take all day,” shouted Deve Hobs before the doors were shut.

Akira tried to remember where everything that he needed was at as he moved around the shop. He moved with quick feet gathering things he thought would be helpful. He kept in mind that he needed to keep the cost low since the whole point of this to was to earn money not spend it.

He brought everything to the counter where a young male clerk with red hair was waiting.

After quickly looking over everything and calculating the price the clerk said in a bored voice, “The total is 5 gold sovereigns and 22 silver.”

Akira knew the price would be high due to it being the main shop of the magic guild, but his heart hurt as he pulled the money out of his coin purse and paid for the items.

He quickly put everything he had bought into his small bag that still had plenty of room and exited the store.

“Hurry up and follow us,” said Beel Geets who without another word started to walk back down the stairs.

Akira was led even deeper under the magic guild. They were forced to stop at a wooden door blocking the path which was being guarded by two stern-looking guards.

Deve Hobs waved for them to move away from the door and took out a set of keys, which he used to unlock the door.

Beel Geets picked up one of the green fire lanterns off of a hook on the wall, before walking through the unlocked door.

The stairwell was dark with no light but the green glow from the lantern that Beel Geets held in front of him.

They continued walking down the stairs stopping only when they reached the end of the stairs that lead into a small round room carved from stone.

On the far side of the room was a metallic trap door that Akira guessed led to someplace even deeper beneath both the magic guild and the city.

Close to the entrance of the room was a large vault with two keyholes and a large horizontal metal handlebar sticking out.

Beel Geets and Deve Hobs walked up to the vault and pulled out two large keys on chains that were hanging from their neck. They inserted them into the locks and turned their keys at the same time in a swift but well-versed motion.

Two loud clicks could be heard. They left the keys inserted and grabbed onto the metal bar with Beel Geets pulling and Deve Hobs pushing, they were able to slowly rotate the bar clockwise until the loud clunk of the deadbolt was heard as it was fully pulled back.

The vault door swung wide open revealing a large amount of glittering gold and other wondrous treasures inside.

Akira quickly started to identify the items inside the Vault and was stunned due to the number of items and their ranks. Everything inside that he could see was a rare item. They were all heaped in piles like they were just common junk.

Both Beel Geets and Deve Hobs both had satisfied expressions on their faces when saw Akira reaction who had his mouth hanging open due to the shock of seeing the items inside the vault.

The vault was open for only a few moments before the two grandmasters closed it and set the deadbolt back into place. They turned their keys at the same time locking it and placing the keys back around their necks.

“This is the rewards vault. We put the items we have bought from the auction house in here. Only a select few know of this area and even fewer are able to receive an item from within the vault. If you are able to successfully complete the job within a decent amount of time not only will you receive the payment for the job but we will also allow you to take one item from the vault. Now that you know what the reward is. Grandmaster Deve will tell you what we want to be done,” said Beel Geets.

“First, I need you to know that any information you hear is confidential. If we learn that you have told others this information it will not end well. Do you understand?” asked Deve Hobs.

Akira vigorously nodded his head.

“Good. The magic guild has been experimenting on monsters and creating new species. For every success, we have hundreds of failures. Those failures need someplace to go. That place is the sewers that can be accessed by the trap door over there,” said Deve Hobs pointing at the metal trap door on the opposite side of the room.

“The failed experiments that we have been putting down there have somehow further evolved and mutated while we were not paying attention. We want you to clear them out before they start to get to numerous and uncontrollable. If you find any resources including magic stones then you are to give them to us. We'll be sure to pay you for them. Does this sound like something you to take care of ?” asked Deve Hobs.

“Yes, I have enough experience in killing monsters. I have cleared two dungeons already so I think I can take care of this problem for you,” answered Akira.

“One moment, please. I have something I need to talk to Grandmaster Beel about,” said Deve Hobs.

The two of them walked out of Akira's hearing range and began whispering. For some reason, he could not hear the conversation even with his enhanced hearing.

A few minutes passed before the conversation was finished and they walked back over to Akira.

“Since the dungeon may be dangerous and we don't want you to die while you try to clear it, we have decided to hire two others to join you. We will go and send for the other two adventures. You can wait here until they arrive in a few hours,” said Beel Geets before leaving with Deve Hobs.

Ding!

Exterminate the mutated experiments!

The two grandmasters have tasked you to clean the sewers below the Magic guild of any and all mutated experiments.

They believe the task will be difficult. So you are to wait until help arrives.

Difficulty: E+

Reward: Payment and one item from the Reward vault.

Will you accept?

Yes / No

“Yes,” said Akira accepting the quest.

***

'The quest sounds too easy, and now with the help of two more adventures, I should be able to complete it even quicker. If only they would hurry up and get here. I wonder which rare item I should choose,' Akira thought to himself.

He had been waiting for several hours and had already eaten lunch an hour before. As time continued to pass by he was getting restless from waiting.

He stopped pacing when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Two nearly identical males entered the small underground room.

They walked up to Akira and held out their hands to for Akira to shake, which he firmly shook one after the other.

“My name is Glen and he's my twin brother Neal,” said Glen introducing himself and his brother.

“I'm Akira. I hope we can get along and finish this job quickly without receiving too much damage. Now onto details for fighting together as a team. I use a shield and a one-handed sword and I tend to fight on the front line. What are your specialties?” asked Akira.

“That's great! My brother and I are both damage dealers. We both have a magic skill stone from the guild,” said Neal.

“If you can keep the monsters away from us, then we'll be able to kill them faster and this job will be easier for everyone involved,” said Glen.

At the mention of the magic skill gems, Akira's face winced for only a second as he remembered the ritual that was used to create them.

“Well if you're ready then we can begin,” said Akira who was tired of waiting.

“We're ready. You should lead the way since you are our meat-shield,” joked Neal with a large grin.

Akira smiled back and opened the heavy trap door revealing a metal ladder attached to the wall descending into the darkness.

Before he started the descent he picked up the lantern that the grandmasters had left behind and fastened it to his belt with some spare cloth he took from his bag.

The two brothers followed After Akira down the ladder. The air was becoming cold and extremely unpleasant smelling as they descended the ladder.

“This might be a pain later,” said Akira who had stopped and was looking at the ground which was over ten feet away from the last rung of the ladder.

“What is it?” asked Glen who was above him.

“Something melted or dissolved a large portion of the ladder. Getting down is a simple task but reaching the ladder once we are finished will be hard due to the distance from the ground,” said Akira.

“Then aren't we in luck it just so happens I have some rope. You should always bring rope with you. You never know when you might need it,” said Neal.

“Jeez, you and your fetish for rope,” said Glen shaking his head.

“It's not a fetish. It's called being prepared,” retorted Neal.

“Could you pass it down to me,” asked Akira.

After a few seconds, Neal was able to find the rope and pull it out of his bag. He handed it to Glen who then passed it to Akira. The rope was swiftly secured to two of the ladder's rungs with two knots, one on each rung. This way if one of the rungs failed they still had the other.

Akira jumped from the ladder and landing on the ground with a splash. The ground around him was covered in a small layer of filthy water that was giving of the smell of raw sewage.

Ding!

You have entered the hunting ground Magic guild sewers.

Two more splashes behind him indicated that Glen and Neal had joined him.

“This place reeks,” complained Neal.

“Of course it's a sewer, you idiot. Did you think it was going smell like roses?” asked Glen.

“Which direction should we take,” asked Akira as he looked to the left and then the right of the sewer tunnel they were standing in. It was barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

“Let's take the right, I think I remember the grandmasters saying that the left passage has a locked door blocking the path to the main sewers,” said Glen.

Akira nodded his head, then readied his shield and sword before walking forward leading the way with Glen and Neal following behind him.

After walking for six minutes they had still not seen anything.

“Weren't there supposed to be a lot of their failed experiments down here?” asked Neal.

“That's what they told me. But who knows what's really happened down here,” said Akira.

“Quit talking you two, I see something moving up ahead of us,” said Glen.

Akira refocused his attention in front of him and was able to see the movement in front of them.

It was only two [Mutated Slime: Lvl 15]. They looked like the ones he had fought for the guilds test but with a different name.

“It's just some slimes. Can your skills be used from a distance or are they close ranged attacks? “ asked Akira.

“We can attack from a distance watch this,” said Neal as if he was trying to show off.

Akira watched as both Neal and Glen held their fist out and each concentrated on one of the slimes.

A glow was emitted from their hands as the skill in the magic gem was activated.

The skill attacks shot out from their hands. The skill Neal used was a green light of wind blades that flew past Akira and slammed the slime into the wall causing it to burst open and leaving large cuts into the stone wall.

Glen's attack was a red fireball that caused the air around Akira to grow hotter as it passed him and turned the slime into a toxic mist.

Both attacks were quite amazing and looked very powerful.

“See, this job will be easy,” said Neal with a laugh.

“Shut up,” said Glen.

The three of them continued to easily hunt the slimes of all colors as they appeared. It was a little boring for Akira. As the slimes were not like other monsters they had not ears to hear, no nose to smell, and no eyes to see. So they did not take the initiative and attack the group. They did have a 6th sense to know where an attack was coming from but the slimes were quickly killed whenever they appeared before they could even retaliate.

***

Several hours had passed while they walked through the maze that was the sewers. He didn't know why the builders had to create such a complicated network of tunnels that were supposed to be used as part of the sewer system.

Glen and Neal needed to rest after using their skill gems so much so Akira agreed to take a short break.

Akira guessed that it was now night time outside. The three of them picked one of the nearby tunnels that was drier than the rest and ate a quick dinner.

“I thought they said that this place was supposed to have multiple other experiments, but all we've found so far is slimes,” said Akira, trying to think of the cause for this.

“You don't think that the others were somehow able to escape?” asked Glen.

“Or maybe something else ate them! I saw bones and other body parts back in one of the tunnels,” said Neal.

“Let's get back to work. By my estimation we should be reaching the main room on this side of the sewer,” said Glen ignoring Neal.

Both Akira and Neal shoved the rest of their food into their mouths and drank some water to wash it down.

“Ready,” said Akira standing up.

“Same,” said Neal.

“Why don't you give me the lantern so you can focus on defending us,” said Glen.

“Thanks,” said Akira as he handed the lamp over to Glen.

The three of them continued forward until reaching a medium-sized rectangular room that had multiple pillars holding up the ceiling.

Neal whistled in amazement at the sight inside the room. The room was filled with slimes everywhere.

“Let's do this,” shouted Neal using his skill several times before they could even come up with a plan.

His skill hit multiple slimes not killing them but alerting them of an enemies presence. The slimes may be easy to kill, but a large amount of them would turn into a pain in the butt.

“You should have waited until we figured out a plan,” shouted Akira as he ran forward to block the slimes path into the tunnel where the two brothers were.

“Sorry...” said Neal. He didn't seem all too sorry at all, as he continued to use his skill to aggro the other mobs in the room one by one.

“Just hold them off and I will gather enough power for the skill to kill them all in one go,” said Glen.

Akira grumbled a complaint as he readied his shield to push back the slimes that were slowly inching towards him.

When the slimes had gotten close enough he used his skill Shield bash, popping several slimes and pushing dozens more backward into other slimes.

“Whoa you never said you had a skill gem from the guild,” said a surprised Neal after seeing the shining light from the skill.

“Oh yeah sorry, I forgot about it,” Akira lied since it was not a skill gem he was using.

After a few more minutes knocking the slimes backward, Akira asked, “How long is it going to take for you to have the skill ready?”

“It shouldn't take to long. It has more to do with gathering all the slimes into a group and then releasing the fireball,” replied Glen from behind Akira.

Akira used Shield Bash again knocking the slimes away from him and clearing the area in front of him only for a few seconds.

“I've hit everything I could see. I'll also ready an attack to help take them out in one go,” said Neal.

Another two minutes passed with Akira getting a little overwhelmed by all the slimes his mana was almost depleted.

That's when a change happened in front of him. The slimes stopped advancing and started to gather together and began fusing with each other.

A few moments later a large blue Slime as tall as Akira and three times as wide was fully formed. Akira inspected the large slime and a snort of laughter escaped him as he read the name. [Ted the Mutated Slime Lvl 17].

What Akira found interesting was Ted had two eyeballs floating inside his large body it was the first time he had seen a slime with them.

It started to move towards them again but even slower this time.

“This should make things easier for you guys. Are you ready?” asked Akira.

There was no answer. Not wanting to take his attention off of the large slime that was coming towards him he asked again, “Hey answer me, are you ready?”

There was still no answer the slime was getting closer by the second. He quickly pivoted around to see if something had happened to them but found the two brothers were still there with grim faces.

At that moment both of their skills shot forward at full power.

The only problem was the two attacks weren't headed for Ted, but for Akira.