Elisa hid quietly in the morning mists. A wool cloak, stolen from a passing wagon, disguised her Cypress SMO uniform and the hood covered up her elven features. With the patience of a prowling cat, Elisa observed the patterns of how the Aric City guards functioned. Who they let in, who they stopped, who they refused, and most of all, who they arrested on the spot.

They were a highly disciplined group of guards, never taking offered bribes and never afraid to stop the wealthy carriage of a highly distinguished noble. In Lost Dawns, it was far easier to slip by the gates to infiltrate the city. The chances that her entire squad could make it through the gates here would be slim. They would definitely need to find other means.

Scaling the walls would have been an option for other cities, but Aric City’s walls were twice the height of the tallest trees in Long Whisper with a far more numerous contingent of guards too. Not only that, but no other city that she snuck into had the advantage of patrolling drake riders. The last thing they needed with their mission was to be dodging fire breath while scaling an enormous wall.

Elisa stalked the outside of the walls arriving at a steep trench. Below she found a sewage canal. She carefully slid down and landed with a soft splash in the murky trench. She frowned as she mucked through the squishy mud before her expression lightened.

***

“It’s a sewer grate,” Elisa said as the harekins and elves followed her to the trench. The canal led up to a small entrance in the walls. Although blocked by a set of iron bars, the pipe entrance itself stood only three feet tall. Even with the harekins only standing a foot taller, they would be forced to crawl through the rain water, piss, and garbage to reach the inner workings of the city.

“Could you lead us to the castle, Elisa?” asked Kyzo.

“The castle is to the northeast. When we were on the mountain, I surveyed the city and mapped it all out in my head,” responded Elisa.

Mave pinched her nose as the scent of rotten fruit and dung filled her nostrils. “Is there really no other better way into the city, darling?”

Elisa gave her a grin and shook her head. “This is the easiest way in. I once spent several months living in a sewer when I was sent to terrorize Lost Dawns. You’ll get used to the stench after a while.”

Mave couldn’t help but choke and cough.

Elucard jostled at the grate but found that the bars didn’t budge. “Bruce?”

The large harekin nudged Elucard aside and grunted as he attempted to bend the bars. “Ugh, not going to happen, mate.”

Elisa handed Bruce a small vial of a tan liquid with orange flecks floating at its surface. “Try using this on the bars first, Bruce.”

Bruce took a hold of the vial and popped its cork. He drizzled the concoction on each of the four bars and watched in amazement as the liquid sizzled and ate away at the iron. He smirked and broke the bars apart with ease. “After you, lass,” he said with a bow.

Each of the Devil Jumpers crawled their way through the disgusting sewage pipe, gagging or puking with each step. At the far end, the tunnel opened into a large, underground tunnel. Although not as mazelike as the Lost Dawns sewers, Aric City’s sewer was almost as impressive by sheer scale alone.

The way the sewer system was naturally formed, it seemed as though they were built from a network of caves. Each tunnel stood fifteen feet high and was smooth to the touch after years of erosion. The remains of stalactites gripped the ceiling, each crawling with small brown bats. Water trickled down tiny waterways carved through the ceiling from the surface. The main tunnels criss-crossed like grids that spanned the entire city.

“Which way, Elisa?” asked Elucard.

Elisa pulled out a compass. There was very little visibility down there, supplied only by light peeking out of the ceiling chutes. The Lost Dawn’s sewers made use of light runes that ran through the main tunnels for engineers. However, down in these sewers, it was so dark that one couldn’t tell if one was touching a loose brick or a hairy rat.

Elisa cared little for the lack of light with her Shadow Elven eyes built for subterranean travel, but her other friends were lost without her guidance. They stumbled into each other and tripped over their own feet splashing in the knee high water.

Elisa glanced at her compass and searched for the tunnel that traveled in the northeastern direction.

“This way, the castle is this way. Follow my voice and keep your hands along the wall,” Elisa said.

Elisa led the Devil Jumpers through the complex sewer system, routinely getting her bearings of the city by climbing ladders to peek through street surface drains and by lifting the occasional manhole cover. Sure enough, her experience with traversing underground structures had paid off.

Elisa halted her train of followers and gave them a low hush. She crept slowly to the edge of the closest wall. A bright light moved along the other side and swept through the rest of the tunnel before retreating.

Two soldiers stood before a large wooden door. Both heavily armored and sporting a spear in one hand and a sword sheathed at their side. One soldier held a lantern in his other hand.

“Vhat do you see, Learmen?” asked the guard not holding the lantern. He peered into the darkness trying to see the best that his human eyes would allow him.

“I see nothing. Perhaps I just heard a rat,” Learmen answered. “Continue your story, Pierce. Vhat did she tell you then?”

Elisa snuck back to Elucard and the others, who patiently waited down the tunnel. “Two guards stand in front of a large wooden door. I am nearly positive that it is a back entrance into the castle dungeons,” she said.

Elucard drew his dagger. “Then we will dispatch them quickly and make our way to Koda’s cell.”

“Provided that he is still alive, of course.” Quinn frowned.

Elucard shot him an annoyed glance at the snide remark. “Then if he isn’t, we shall assassinate Tashna.”

“Wait,” Mave hissed. “We weren’t given any orders to assassinate the Div’Rah.”

“Fine,” Elucard growled. “Then we shall capture her. Let Cypress kill her.”

Elisa pulled a dagger in each hand. “Shall we?”

Elucard and Mave nodded.

With highly trained movements and a killer instinct, the two guards were taken out in a flash of steel. Quinn relieved them of their tools including a set of dungeon keys, a torch, and any weapons they had that he could make use of. Afterwards, he and Bruce disposed of their bodies underneath the rubbish and sewage water.

Elucard waited for the heavy door to open with a long creek before entering the lower floor of the dungeon. The rest of his companions followed closely behind.

“Keep your eyes peeled for Koda and another Anti-Rogue Operative named Calsoon,” Elucard whispered. “Remember, we are not leaving this castle empty handed.”