Salamander

Drip! Drip!

"Heave ho!"

Bang... crash!

A light landing sound echoed in the silent sewer, stirring up the water.

Moss shook off the water droplets and glanced back at the situation below.

Those Black Rats had appeared again, gnawing on the dead Black Rats from before, hoping to feast.

This was followed by constant fights over the food, causing more dead Black Rats to become meals for others.

"Hiss...!! The Black Rats' minds are really not right. Is this ferocity due to the influence of Magic Substance?"

Moss looked at the Black Rats starting to kill each other, couldn't help but gasp, and said with a shake of her head.

After watching for a while, Moss withdrew her gaze as if she had lost interest.

"Forget it, I won't bother with them! They're not Monsters anyway, so they're not worth researching."

Splash...

Moss observed her surroundings and then continued walking in the direction of her home.

The sewers here were actually exactly the same as the sewer she had lived in before!

In the middle was a river channel three meters wide, with walkways nearly two meters wide on both sides.

If there was any difference, it was only one thing.

It was very warm here, so warm that Moss felt a little hot.

It was already winter, yet she felt the temperature here was close to thirty degrees Celsius.

"Ah... it was freezing to death before, and now it's hot again. I'm quite sensitive to heat..."

Moss looked at the Heat Resistance talent that appeared on her status panel and said with some helplessness.

This made her start to wonder what kind of place was connected to the surface above this sewer.

Sighing inwardly, Moss didn't stop her steps and continued towards her destination using Stealth.

Half an hour later...

"Should be almost there?"

Moss hid in a corner, looking at a T-junction in the distance, and said in a low voice.

At the T-junction, dozens of Black Rat corpses still remained!

Some looked like they had been torn apart, with only half of their bodies left.

She had also found many Black Rat corpses on her way here, but they didn't have the bite marks like these Black Rats.

Therefore, the Monster that killed the Black Rats was likely nearby!

Thinking of this possibility, Moss's body in the corner shrank further, and she muttered in a low voice.

"Counting these Black Rats, the total number along the way has exceeded six hundred..."

This number had surpassed the death toll she had previously estimated!

This also indicated that the suddenly appearing Monster was more powerful than she had initially thought!

"Perhaps... I'll be able to see it after passing this intersection."

Moss carefully looked at the ground, avoiding places that might make noise, and walked along the edge towards the intersection.

A faint fiery red light, a color rarely seen in sewers.

It was an extremely conspicuous color, so when Moss approached the bend, she was drawn to it.

But Moss didn't stand there blankly; she quickly hid in a corner to observe.

In a corner of the T-junction, after confirming she wouldn't be discovered, Moss finally had time to examine it closely.

The object emitting the red light was finally clearly seen by Moss, causing her to let out a surprised gasp.

"What is that? A Salamander?"

It was a creature radiating a red light all over its body, looking as if it had just crawled out of the water, with steam rising from it.

The creature was currently lying by the river channel, enjoying the warm environment that was incredibly comfortable for it.

And its appearance shocked Moss greatly, because its appearance was very similar to the creature "Salamander" from legends in her previous life!

Salamander, the legendary fire spirit, a spirit in charge of flames.

Its appearance was lizard-like, a strange creature living in the flames of volcanoes and lava.

Salamanders were very powerful in combat and had fiery tempers, reputed to be wingless dragonkin!

The creature before her, in Moss's opinion, looked like a miniature Salamander!

She estimated that, including its tail, it was only about a meter long.

This creature's size suggests it's not a Salamander, and the environment here doesn't fit a Salamander's habitat either.

She guessed it likely only had a trace of Salamander blood, and could at best be called a Fire Lizard.

With that thought, Moss calmed down. She looked at the creature in the distance and thought to herself:

'Is there only one? Was my previous guess wrong?!'

'So this thing killed all those Black Rats?'

If this single monster was responsible for driving away the Black Rat swarm, then this Fire Lizard's strength was several times greater than Moss had initially anticipated!

'It looks so strong. I wonder if Scout can see its stats...'

Moss pondered for a moment before deciding to use her Scout talent on the Fire Lizard!

A flash of colorful light flickered in her eyes, and the Fire Lizard's status panel appeared in her mind!

[Name: ???]
[Level: Silver 3]
[Constitution: 35]
[Spirit: 10]
[Mana: 100]
[Magic Substance: 450]
[Skills: Flame Manipulation, Explosive Flame, Scorching Fire Poison, Hardened Scales, Mana Resistance, Heat Resistance, Claws...]

Hiss—!!!

Moss couldn't help but take a deep breath, utterly speechless from the shock of the Fire Lizard's stats.

Its Constitution of 35 was more than seventeen times higher than her own current 2 points!

Its Mana was a full 100, five times hers, and its skills looked incredibly powerful!

"Silver rank..."

Moss looked at the monster in the distance, disbelief warring with a sense of understanding.

If it was a Silver-ranked monster, it was absolutely capable of eliminating so many Black Rats on its own!

The power difference between ranks was a chasm ordinary creatures could never cross!

Without the strength and talent to overcome rank suppression, a lower-ranked creature could never defeat a higher-ranked one.

This was clearly the case with the Black Rats; their strength was far inferior to the Fire Lizard, making their numbers useless.

Even Moss herself could currently handle an attack from 10 Black Rats simultaneously with ease!

For this Silver-ranked Fire Lizard, dealing with those Black Rats would be even easier!

Hiss hiss...

As Moss was still marveling inwardly, a few soft hisses suddenly sounded from behind the Fire Lizard.

"What's going on?"

Moss blinked, then looked towards the passage behind the Fire Lizard.

She saw several smaller Fire Lizards running from the distance, approaching the larger one.

"I didn't expect there to be more..."

Moss's expression changed. Her guess had actually come true!

A monster group had indeed appeared, and their strength far exceeded her estimations!

'There's no way monsters of this number and strength, especially fire-attribute ones, would appear in the sewers!'

Moss could guarantee, based on her five months of research and exploration, that monsters of this strength and attribute absolutely could not exist here!

'There's only one possible explanation: these guys came from above...'

Moss frowned and turned, preparing to leave the area and find another place to shelter.

She didn't want to confront this group of Fire Lizards. If they discovered her, she'd have no choice but to flee!

Her chances of winning a fight were practically zero!

Moreover, if her assumption was correct and the Fire Lizards had escaped from the city above.

Then it was likely that humans would soon come down to clear them out!

Moss thought this as she retreated, planning to return to the base of the previous waterfall and stay there for a few days.

But before she could get far, Moss's body suddenly froze.

Because she heard a sound, a human voice!

It was the sound of footsteps and conversation, and they were getting closer!

"...It's so smelly, how much longer until we get there!"

In the pitch-black sewer, human voices suddenly echoed!

That was... Mandarin!