Dalaran Sewers

"Clearing out Dalaran's sewers? I really never expected this, Lister—you're a genius at telling jokes." Uther put on Joel's black armor and lowered its visor. The armor had been kept in excellent condition, its joints regularly oiled, making it almost as comfortable as new. "We're going to be sewer cleaners?"

"Someone has to handle the dirty work." Lister was casting Ice Barrier on everyone, an enhanced version of Frost Armor with greater defense and a longer duration. But its main purpose was not protection. Uther curiously examined the thick layer of ice ten centimeters away from his body, glowing with a faint blue light. "This is the improved Ice Barrier you mentioned?"

"Rather than defense, it focuses more on keeping sewage from splashing onto you. I learned this little trick from a mage named Octas. You'll find that you can walk on water." Lister also placed shields on Salorian and the Falon brothers. With a party of more than ten people, they had enough manpower to sweep through the entire sewer. "All right, get your air fresheners ready. The sewers stink. Without them, perhaps it won't be the monsters inside that defeat us."

Liadrin could not help laughing. "If those monsters were truly frightening, they wouldn't be hiding in the sewers."

"Maybe they're weak. Or maybe..." Lister tilted his head. "They're cunning."

Antonidas had been troubled lately. Duke Nalorath had recently raised an issue: Dalaran's sewers seemed to have fallen into disrepair after years without maintenance, and sewage often overflowed. They had consulted quite a few people, and everyone agreed that repairing the sewers was imperative, but...

Who knew what was inside the sewers? Dalaran's sewers were like Paris's, with pipes a full three meters in diameter, easily large enough to hold an adult. In the garbage accumulated over countless years, who knew what terrifying experimental specimens might be lurking? Like the giant fire salamander Vargas had created last time, which had nearly burned down half a teaching building. Some irresponsible mages dumped their failed creations into the sewers and never gave them another thought. It was an extremely common and irresponsible practice.

And now, Lister had decided to personally explore this place. It was ridiculous, but at least he had found some teammates willing to go mad with him.

Uther naturally became his foremost ally, followed by Salorian, Falon, Solanar, Korthira, and Liadrin.

"Uh, are you serious?" Looking at Cromie before him, Lister covered his head. "We're going into the sewers. If your father sees this, he'll skin me alive and hang me in the desert to dry."

"Uh, actually, her father hasn't shown himself in a long time. It's been his son Anachronos—Cromie's elder brother—who has been in charge." Krasus shook his head helplessly. "Cromie, believe me, if we crawl in there, your father will definitely see it."

"Oh, heavens, then let him see! This is what he gets for making his daughter angry." Cromie's words made Krasus sigh again. After having Lister place an Ice Barrier on him, he followed the group into the sewer entrance at the very back.

A moldy stench wafted from the moss-covered pipe walls. Sticky, unidentified grease clung to every corner the sewage had ever reached. Toxic fungi grew here, while rats ran and swam freely through the filth. They opened mouths full of fangs, admiring these newly arrived prey. Soon, these people would become their new food.

"Heavens!" Salorian looked ahead. A huge mass resembling cloudy sludge filled the entire corner, its edges lined with foul-smelling blackish-gray rotten matter. Without the air freshener, he would not have been able to remain here for even a moment. "There doesn't seem to be a path!"

Korthira stared wordlessly at the map. He stepped forward and reached out to touch the wall before them, his expression becoming incomparably strange. "I've never seen anything like this."

"It's grease. Tons of discarded grease." Uther knew perfectly well what stood before them. He had handled hundreds of barrels of lard on farms. Looking at the massive wall of grease, he said, "Heavens, this grease is so thick, it's like sand clogging up blood vessels. No wonder Dalaran has such serious drainage problems. Some villagers said that during rainy days, several pipes had no flow at all. If grease like this has clogged the pipes, that explains it."

"We have no reason to help the Council of Kirin Tor solve this problem." Lister stopped Jaka from taking out his explosive device. "They haven't paid us."

That blunt reason made Uther roll his eyes, but he greatly agreed with Lister's view. Mages had a terribly ingrained flaw: selfishness. Even as the most devout believer in the Holy Light, he had to deal with mages strictly as business. Today, you helped a mage move something; tomorrow, your heart softened and you helped him buy materials; the day after, he would ask you to assist with an experiment. Since the Council of Kirin Tor had not paid them, and they were here to explore anyway, why bother?

Krasus rubbed his nose. "Fine. I'll allocate funds when I return. You can rest assured."

"But not now. This thing is too big. If we use Jaka's blasting device, it could easily alert some things inside that someone has arrived." Lister looked at the eager Jaka. "Your device will definitely come in handy, I promise."

"Then what should we do? Blast it?" Krasus folded his arms and tilted his head as he studied this peculiar "door." "It doesn't seem to have a key."

"There's no need to make it so troublesome." Lister stretched out his hand. His pale palm hovered before the wall, and wisps of chill poured from it. The outer portions of the huge mass of grease clogging the passage were completely frozen, leaving only the middle section unfrozen. Lister continued releasing cold, freezing the outer layer of that middle section as well. Now it resembled a delicious sandwich cookie. With only a little force, the filling in the middle would fall away.

He took the great hammer from his back and smashed down hard. The filling fell away in all its splendor, sliding to the other side and revealing a filthy floor. Sewage rapidly rushed in, surging downward like black waves. If not for the Ice Barriers, no one would have come down here even if it killed them.

With a casual Ice Arrow, Lister instantly pierced a rat that had failed to dodge in time. He lifted the fat rat, which was as long as an adult's arm, and smiled. "I knew it. Some unknown things are lurking here."

"What?" Uther was the first to ask. "What exactly is going on? It's only a rat that has eaten itself bloated. It's nowhere near being a monster."

Lister drew the dagger at his waist and cut open the rat's swollen, bloated head. He smashed apart its skull with a clean blow, revealing the black flesh inside.

"This feeling..." Uther reached out. The faint Holy Light collided with the evil aura emanating from the black flesh, instantly boiling and exploding like water poured into a pan of hot oil. His palm immediately turned bright red. Liadrin also released Holy Light. Moments later, the unceasing Holy Light neutralized all of those destructive forces and healed his burned hand. Uther gave Liadrin a grateful look, then smashed the rat's corpse apart with one blow of his hammer. "The power of that gnoll from last time?!"

"More precisely, demonic fel energy." Cromie frowned as she examined the rat corrupted by fel energy, while Krasus dealt with the suspicious looks from the elves. How had the Council of Kirin Tor allowed something so dangerous to hide right beneath its nose? The little gnome looked at the map. "Be careful. There's a huge sewer junction ahead. The water there is a full two meters deep, and the space is vast. There may very well be monsters we don't know about."

"Monsters?" Korthira took the bow from his back and stood ready for battle. "What do you mean?"

Krasus finally found a use for himself. A blue-violet eye appeared before him. "Let it take a look. Let's see what's really there."