The Sewer Mage (2)
A mournful wail echoed through the sewer tunnels. It wasn’t just the cry of a simple beast.
“The Frogmen are known for their intelligence, even among the lowest of monsters. They’re notorious for being tricky.”
Unlike ant colonies, Frogmen live in groups, dividing roles among themselves. They’ve developed a primitive language system and strategically hunt prey in their designated territories.
Originally, Frogmen were creatures of the labyrinth. How they ended up here is a mystery. All people know is that at some point, they began to make the sewers their home. Despite having devolved compared to their labyrinth-dwelling relatives, they remain formidable predators.
A splash echoed as one of them charged forward, followed by the rest, splashing through the sewer muck as they sprinted.
Dalen quickly assessed their numbers. “About twenty or so,” he thought. Enough to wipe out an entire squad of guards.
He glanced back. Penny was a short distance away, holding a slender sword. He’d seen her carry it before, assuming it was just for self-defense. But the way she held it now suggested otherwise.
“Nothing to worry about,” he mused. After all, she’d been navigating these sewers for three years. Surely, she could handle herself.
By the time Dalen turned his attention forward again, the Frogmen were nearly upon him.
One leaped, covering almost five meters in a single bound—an extraordinary jump that would catch even a seasoned warrior off guard.
Dalen’s response was simple. He swung his sword horizontally.
With a swift slash, the Frogman was cleaved in two, its innards splattering onto the sewer floor like paint.
That was just the beginning.
The Frogmen charged. Dalen swung his sword without hesitation, slicing horizontally, vertically, and bashing their heads with his shield.
Their slender limbs could overpower a grown man, but Dalen was stronger. Their slick skin often deflected blades, but Dalen’s superhuman strength cut through muscle and bone with ease.
Sensing their prey was stronger than expected, the Frogmen tried to encircle him. They were adept at pack hunting, knowing how to pressure a stronger opponent. They likely used similar tactics against the earth mage.
Despite losing some to the mage’s powerful spells, the survivors would have circled, waiting for an opening. The constant pressure on stamina and focus often led to mistakes, and the Frogmen were cunning hunters who never missed such opportunities.
Dalen had felt that pressure before, even from behind a monitor.
But now…
With a powerful swing, Dalen shattered the legs of a Frogman attempting to leap to the ceiling, sending it crashing into the muck.
If their strategy was to encircle and exhaust, then avoiding being surrounded was the key.
Standing firm against the Frogmen, Dalen was like a living wall.
His breath quickened, muscles tensed, and he found himself grinning. His superhuman body reveled in the intense combat, offering a strange, indescribable exhilaration—a sensation he’d never imagined while inhabiting his frail modern body.
Unconsciously, Dalen shouted, “Come on!”
The excited Frogmen responded to his challenge, baring their teeth and lunging to bite his throat.
With a swift slash, Dalen’s sword sent a Frogman’s head flying, landing with a splash in the sewer muck.
Silence fell over the sewer. That was the last of them.
“Wow,” Penny gasped, stepping forward with a look of awe.
Dalen noticed her sword was stained with the black blood of a monster. Behind her lay the body of a Frogman with broken legs.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh, yes! I can handle a frog with broken legs any day.”
It seemed one had slipped past Dalen during the chaotic battle, the one he’d knocked down with his shield earlier.
“Even though I’m just a cleaner, I’ve taken down two Frogmen before. You can count on me!” Penny declared proudly, approaching with confidence.
Dalen chuckled softly and raised a hand to stop her. “Don’t come any closer.”
“What?”
“It’s not over yet.”
Dalen knew the Frogmen’s habits well. Despite their amphibian heads, they were clever hunters. The fact that they had tracked Dalen and Penny from afar and ambushed them in their chosen hunting ground was proof enough.
“They must have ambushed the earth mage the same way,” he thought.
Ambush, encircle, and relentlessly pressure stamina. But if that was all, the mage would have found a way to escape. The fact that an earth mage, who used the underground as his battlefield, was neutralized meant the Frogmen had more tricks up their sleeves.
At that moment, Dalen’s heightened senses detected something. He swung his sword.
A metallic clang rang out as a paralyzing dart, fired from the darkness, deflected off his blade.
Dalen immediately dropped his shield, his left hand drawing an axe from his belt before the shield even hit the ground.
In a blur, the axe became a spinning disc of light, slicing through the darkness.
A distant death cry echoed, followed by a faint thud.
Penny’s eyes widened in surprise. She had only seen something deflect off Dalen’s sword and his left hand blur momentarily. It was only after that she noticed the axe missing from his belt.
“How did you…?”
“Monsters are usually cunning, especially when hunting humans,” Dalen explained, keeping his eyes on the darkness.
“There were two. One’s getting away.”
“What do we do?”
“We chase it. Their nest can’t be far.”
Dalen picked up his shield. The fleeing Frogman’s presence was already fading, but he wasn’t worried. His senses could track it even if it got further away.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
“Yes, right behind you!”
Penny, who had been watching him in a daze, hurried to follow.
Dalen retrieved his axe from the Frogman’s corpse, also collecting the paralyzing darts as a bonus. Though primitive in form, the poison on them was processed from their own blood using a unique technique. A pouch of these could fetch a few silver coins on the black market.
“You’re surprisingly thrifty,” Penny remarked, tilting her head in genuine admiration.
Thrifty? What did she mean by that? Dalen couldn’t bring himself to ask, so he replied casually, “As a mercenary, you can’t afford to miss out on these small profits.”
“I guess so. You must envy someone like me with a steady government job.”
”…”
The two continued to track the fleeing Frogman. Its footsteps were now so distant that even Dalen could barely hear them. But his superhuman senses picked up the traces it left in its hasty retreat.
The more they pursued, the more certain Dalen became.
“It is who I thought,” he mused.
The heretical mage expelled from the tower. The demon worshiper commanding the sewer monsters. Not the strongest among the cultists, but undoubtedly the one who had massacred the most civilians.
“Derrick Valentino.”
Recalling the name of the boss monster that had given him such trouble in the original story, Dalen smiled. This was the one who had killed his character, in a manner so brutal it was unforgettable, even from behind a monitor.
He had suspected as much upon hearing the missing mage’s name. Mages with direct mentors often took their mentor’s surname, and Valentino was a familiar name to him.
Investigating the traces in the sewer had turned his suspicion into certainty, and after the battle with the Frogmen, he could deduce the entire situation.
“So, he kidnapped his own apprentice.”
Tommy Valentino, the sole apprentice of an elder mage from the Elgaia Tower.
Despite being in his early twenties, which is quite young for a wizard, his remarkable talent and dedication had impressed even the elder wizards.
Why had Delric Valentino kidnapped him?
Was it jealousy of a junior who continued to learn under a great mentor, unlike himself who had been cast out from the tower?
Or was it resentment towards the mentor who cherished the junior but had coldly abandoned him?
Dalen shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter.”
What mattered was that he had the chance to bury an axe in the man’s head.
And by doing so, he could save countless lives that would otherwise be lost in the distant future because of him.
In this way, the world would take one step back from destruction. The longer it survived, the longer he might live, and perhaps, he could find the Stone of Wishes at the end of the labyrinth and return to Earth…
“Dalen?”
“Hmm.”
Dalen stopped walking. Turning his head, he saw Penny looking up at him.
“Are you alright?”
”…I’m fine. Just lost in thought.”
Dalen extended his senses for a moment. Fortunately, there were no issues.
His exceptional senses and remarkable intelligence had been tracking the trail even while he was deep in thought.
Their destination was just ahead.
“There’s someone over there,” Penny said, pointing to the end of the long corridor.
A faint light flickered at the exit of the corridor.
In the pitch-black sewers, light was a sure sign that someone was there.
“Who would be in a place like that?”
“Who else?” Dalen chuckled softly. “It’s the person we’re looking for.”
“The kidnapper…!”
Dalen nodded and moved forward without hesitation.
The corridor sloped gently downward, and with each step, small ripples formed at his heels.
As they passed the end of the corridor, the view opened up.
A vast, dome-shaped chamber lay before them, where numerous sewer passages converged to disgorge their filth.
Dozens of passages clung to the walls, spewing sewage that cascaded down the moss-covered surfaces.
The chamber, filled with the foul water, resembled a swamp.
There were only a few places to step, like islands rising above the muck, and a long walkway that crossed the dome-shaped chamber in a cross pattern.
At the very center of the chamber, atop a high altar, stood a wizard.
“It’s been a while.”
He was just as Dalen remembered. The distinctive, grimy brown robe of the Elgaia Tower. The exaggerated silver mask.
The wizard, whose small frame couldn’t be hidden even by the ample robe, looked down at Dalen and Penny, speaking in a grating voice.
“Who are you? Why have you meddled with my research specimens?”
Dalen shrugged.
“Is it strange to kill a monster that attacks you while you’re out for a stroll?”
“It is strange. Most people don’t come this deep into the sewers for a stroll.”
The wizard compulsively scratched his arm and added, “And they don’t chase runaway frogmen back to their nest.”
The wizard stopped scratching and flicked his hand. Bubbles began to rise from the swamp, and creatures with slick, greenish skin started to emerge.
“Oh, oh no,” Penny gasped, stepping back in alarm.
There were already dozens, maybe even hundreds of them.
Such a horde of monsters, and a wizard controlling them, was a disaster in itself.
“If these were unleashed on the city…”
People would be slaughtered. The guards wouldn’t stand a chance, and the city would fall.
As she imagined the burning bronze district, her face turned pale.
Thud.
Dalen’s hand naturally supported her back.
”…”
Penny looked up at Dalen. His expression was unchanging.
In fact, it seemed as if the corners of his mouth were slightly lifting. Penny felt she could read that expression.
Mockery. Relief. Vengeance. And hope.
The arm supporting her back and the large, firm hand conveyed a sense of strength. This man might just be able to wrestle with giants.
Even though the number of frogmen seemed to reach three or four hundred.
“If it’s him, he might be able to handle however many come.”
With that thought, Penny managed to calm her racing heart.
As Penny seemed to regain her composure, Dalen withdrew his hand from her.
He smiled slightly. She was a young cleaner with a surprisingly strong spirit for her age.
The wizard watched them with interest. Dalen casually placed his hand on the axe head and spoke.
“We’re here to find someone. It seems your pet frogs have kidnapped a wizard.”
”…Tch. The old man sent you, didn’t he? Too cowardly to come himself.”
“The old man?”
“Never mind.”
Dalen’s eyebrow twitched. This bastard, why does he only say what he wants?
“The wizard you’re looking for is in my custody. I’ve hidden him in a safe place.”
“Is he alive?”
“For now. In fact, he’s healthier than I am. There’s someone I need to show him to.”
“That’s good enough.”
The wizard tilted his head slightly.
“What’s good enough?”
Dalen didn’t answer. He swiftly drew his axe and hurled it.
With a whistling sound, the hand axe sliced through the air, flying straight towards the wizard’s face. The startled wizard tried to shout something.
“Enaxa—”
Crash—!
Before the wizard could finish his words, there was a sound of something shattering into pieces.
Thud!
The axe that had disappeared from Dalen’s waist reappeared, embedded in the wizard’s head.