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Chapter 5 - The Sewers and Rat Extermination

On another day, as promised to Lyna and Al, I joined them in order to practice their cooperation in a party and was currently looking at the quest board for a suitable quest

"I can’t see any quest suitable for us"

Lyna dazedly looked at the subjugation and drop item collection quests

"Lyn-chan, I don’t think disqualifying theood"

"Hation】 quest!"

When Al pointed out Lyna growled and pointed with her finger at a quest

I shuddered hearing those words and looked at where Lyna pointed

The location was Horia Cave My face cramped up as I saw that on the bottom it said that the requirement was to defeat twenty skeletons

"Skeletons, huh We have beaten theood choi----"W-wait a second!"----What is it?"

In panic I stopped Al fro

Puzzled by the fact I stopped them in a hurry, the two looked atI could not find an appropriate reason for that

"Well, you see Even though you beat before it together with Letia, this tith And there are also so in there, considering we’re training cooperation this tiree of difficulty a little, is what I thought"

Once I gave theazes were piercing right through me

The truth is, that I don’t want to tell the two that I’hosts and such

Covered in cold sweat inside of my ht I coot about that Thank you, Yun-san!"

"Thank you for reotten"

"Ahahaha, it’s all right"

While I let out a dry laughter, I felt really unco the degree of difficulty, the questparty cooperation would be well, so like this?"

With that said, Lyna pointed at a quest

I ended up interfering earlier because of inally intended to respect the two’s choice so I closed ood? 【Rat Extermination】 quest Grey Rats have invaded the town and continue to breed We’re supposed to exterminate theood for practising party cooperation"

With the quest decided, Lyna got into a good mood and smiled

"Looks like it’s decided Then let’s take the quest and hear the detailed information from the Quest NPC"

"And next ill consult roles in the party, right?"

When I started talking about the next actions, Al had interjected saying what I wanted to say I nodded and the three of us headed South-west of the First Town

There on a chair, sat aa dirty scoop

"We are the players who accepted the 【Rat Extermination】 quest Give us the detailed inforhty towards an NPC?"

I smiled wryly in response to Al’s retort, uys undertook the quest Actually you see, rats slipped into the town and are e trouble They’re merely rats, but there’s so many of them that I can’t deal with them alone Get rid of them all for me"

"Leave it to us! So, where are they?! Inside a

mansion or a warehouse? Or did they take over some field?!"

Excited, Lyna asked for the quest’s location That’s when the e iron lid that was behind him

"They slipped into this sewer here Inside is dark and da, but rats can freely go in and out through the sh I was entrusted with the sewers rates when I was assaulted by rats So please take care of it"

The NPC said so and once again sat down on the log that he used as a chair I looked at him and ood, I thought

"About the roles in the party hey, Yun-san You’re a little pale, are you okay?"

"Eh?! Yeah, I’m fine Perfectly fine"

I can’t show a pathetic side of nity of someone older than them, I participated in their discussion about the party structure

"I’ll have the tank role and I will restrain the enemy with my short spear, if there’s a chance I will attack Al is a fire uard, so all that’s left is hoe incorporate the player with 【Bow】 Sense"

"Howyour abilities, Yun-san?"

In response to Al’s question I confirmed my own Sense status and selected the Senses I could use for this practice

"Let’s see Basically, I’ to only the bow"

"Then you are sealing enchant’s strengthening and weakening, earth ic and melee attacks, as well as ite that I seal et dejected Still, that’s soht from the start

The two had to come up hat kind of role will I have, except for delivering bow attacks

"The Senses I plan to equip are 【Magic Bow】 【Sky Eyes】 【Sorcery】 【Swiftness】 【Crafter’s Knowledge】 【Bodily Resistance】 【Spiritual Resistance】, those seven For the reuild’s 【Bow】 Sense owner’s build so I will pick up new Senses to make my build as similar to that as possible"

"Yun-san, but that will consuot plenty of it so you don’t have to worry"

I said and acquired three new Senses

"What new Senses are you picking up, Yun-san?"

"【Physical Attack Increase】, 【Vital Points Knowledge】 and 【Pre-Ee】 Sie and focus on critical daic Bow Lv1】 【Sky Eyes Lv13】 【Swiftness Lv18】 【Sorcery Lv17】 【Crafter’s Knowledge Lv3】 【Bodily Resistance Lv3】 【Spiritual Resistance Lv1】 【Physical Attack Increase Lv1】 【Vital Points Knowledge Lv1】 【Pre-Ebow Lv30】 【See-Through Lv23】 【Dosing Master Lv3】 【Alche Lv25】 【Earth Ele Lv15】 【Linguistics Lv24】 【Cliinal equipment and Senses, this was quite near a pure 【Bow】 Sense build

This was the very close to the build recommended to me by Myu, Taku and the others around the ti OSO While that, I showed my equipped Senses to Lyna and Al

"It kinda feels like I’ll be unreliable like this, will it really be okay?"

"Yun-san’s equipment is much better than ours so there’s no problem, but I think we need some Sense to detect traps and eneh】, but I would have to switch soht be necessary, but on’t know unless we go and see for ourselves"

Lyna’s anxious proposal was refused by Al, she quietly peeked through the hole leading to the sewer

"What is it, Lyn-chan?"

"I’ll get down first, next is Yun-san Al goes down last"

"Y-yup Got it"

Lyna a bit seriously announced the order and went down the ladder

Feeling I went down about seven round, I entered the diround, thethe neinter equipeon and we can’t see ht please"

"Yup Got it ──《Torch》"

Chanting the spell for a light source of the fire eleht》, Al illuminated the inside of the sewer

The sewers had arched ceilings and were e and on the sides, there were footholds just a little above the sewage level

And I was able to get a full picture of the sewers by usingGrey Rats

"Ohh, so sewers are even narrower than dungeons It ht be difficult for me to manoeuvre with my weapon in here"

Lyna waved her short spear to the sides, up and down, and hit both the wall and the ceiling fro position

"Well, isn’t it fine to think it as of a practice to overco the situation inside the see consulted on the

"I know, but how am I supposed to attack?"

"Focus on thrusts, as well as parrying and bashing with the shield? Also, itArts, Lyna"

"Uhhh, I-I get it It’s so that I don’t accidentally self-destruct in this sritting her teeth Well, I understand that she can’t fool around and use flashy attacks, but we need her to bear with it here

"So about the rearguard roles, what do you think Al and I should be doing?"

"Uht?"

"You need to devise so to make that work In a place like this it’s difficult to visually find enemy without auxiliary Senses Also, bow has point attacks so it’s difficult to ai the explanation so far, Al nodded convinced

"Then I’ll release fire , Yun-san will shoot How about that?"

"Yep Then let’shoill the front and the back h the sewer

Still, since ereslowly, there was time to talk

"Haa, if we had Letia-san with us this would be real easy"

"I actually think this would be difficult for Letia"

"Ehh? But Letia-san has lots of tamed mobs and various moves to use We were saved ue i, the twins is she was bad with

"Just like Lyna, she’s most likely bad with narrow places You need space for tath is lie mob, Mutsuki the Ganesha and i the Runner Bug would be difficult to use here, and Mill Bird Natsu wouldn’t be able to fly freely

In which case, the mobs Letia could use were the Will o’ Wisp Natsu and the Yayoi the fairy This would result in her forces being limited in narrow places

Lyna and Al seemed to have seen a similar situation, and looked convinced now

"So what kind of places are you bad with, Yun-san?"

"You’re being rude, Al There’s no way Yun-san who’s highly versatile anywhere and any time would have a weakness Also, enemy makes their appearance"

Lyna’s open trust in me was so heavy I was unable to respond in any way, meanwhile, we encountered enemy mobs

"Now, enemy has come! Let’s quickly exterminate theht did not reach

There was a wriggling presence in there, countless red eyes glowing in the darkness have stared at us

"I’ll go first! ──《Fire Shot》!"

Al fired a single target attack spell that had higher power than the beginner 《Fireball》 spell

While staring at the light h-velocity fla the figures of several rats trying to avoid it

"Six rats! Let’s go!"

At the same time Lyna rushed out, I selected a certain bow-type Art for a pre-eic Bow Skill – Phanto a red tail behind itself had pierced the mouse in the front

Normally, the attack would end there, but this tiic arrows of the same red colour have appeared from the red tail that was behind the first arrow and pierced other mouses one after another

"Phew, it’s over"

What I shot, was a new Art froic Bow Skill – Phanto the eneic arrows froed the enemy

Just like it happened earlier, the ic arrows each attack other eneic arrows on one ene to that description it would coic arrows’ power is dependant on INT stat and their hit rate and tracking accuracy varied greatly on DEX stat

Moreover, there was no chain bonus even if attacks were concentrated on a single enee that way

Lyna looked at me with resentment in her eyes after I used that Art to test it out

"Yun-san, there’s no point in cooperating if you beat theh Yun-san ishis level with ours, you have many Arts you can use, you also have to take that into account"

"Yun-san! Unless so really extraordinary happens, you are forbidden fro Arts!"

"Eh, okay"

Told so by Lyna, I further sealed my Arts for the sake of party cooperation practice

"Let’s redo it! More ic and I shot a normal arroards a rat that jumped out of the darkness──

"You missed"

"Y-Yun-san"

The twins looked at the arrow that pierced in the ground when the rat swiftly avoided it, and then they looked atth decreased thatmy Senses to match Lyna’s and Al’s level the accuracy of ain just how much the DEX stat affected the hit rate

By the hat I had currently equipped was not the 【Black Maiden’s Longbow】, but the unique weapon I received during the subow】

Because of e in the Sense build, the 【Black Maiden’s Longbow】 showed soe caused by stat shortages In order to avoid that I switched bow】

"Mouses escaped from us Normally mobs would have attacked back, I wonder if they’re up to so my excuse-rebuttal from earlier, Lyna stared at the back of the sehere the rats escaped, looking for any signs of the led further in"

"I guess there’s no point thinking about it"

Saying so, Lyna stepped forward

As we cautiously round

And e proceeded to the right on the branching in the see have reached a dead-end where sewage flowed into very narrow tunnel Nu for us there

"We’re at a dead end this tiain! ──《Fire Shot》!"

Continuing after Al who fired a flame bullet, I shot an arrow

This time, the rat wounded by the flahthe second one to attack I beat the ene confidence, I prepared for another attack

However, rats have counter-attacked with overwhel numbers

"Khh! There’s so many of them, how troublesome!"

While Lyna tried to finish off one rat with her short spear, four more tried to pass by her side

She slammed two rats with her leather shield and stopped them, but one has juuard

"Al, he’s going your way!"

"It’s okay! ──《Fireball》!"

Al shot a ball of fire towards the rat co towards us The ball of fire hit the rat, who in order to extinguish the fire ju up, I shot an arrow and finished off that rat

We have dealt with the rat that slipped towards the rearguard, but Lyna was still surrounded by three rats and was having a hard ti completely different from the ones in the open world!"

"I’ll finish one of them off, take care of the other two, Lyna!"

Three rats were kicking off the walls towith Lyna

Then, from behind Lyna I predicted the movement of a rat and shot an arrow

Then, I predicted a rat would attack Lyna from behind and shot an arrow

Since she was distracted by as going on in front of her, Lyna noticed the attack fro, confused whether she should respond to the attack froht the rat that jumped at Lyna from behind and pierced his body, after which it hit the sewer’s wall and turned into particles of light

That’s when Lyna had cleared herself of confusion and focused on the two rats in the front

"Two rats left! Haa!"

She pierced one of the rats with her short spear, Al burned down the other with a fireball

After confirs, Lyna heaved a long sigh and returned back to us in the rearguard

"I think our cooperation was so-so, what do you think?"

"It didn’t seem too bad to me? If it was just Lyn-chan and I, ould definitely take surprise attacks, and since you’re having trouble holding eneht be easier withI can say personally, I guess? Well, because h power to beat them in one hit, which makes it a bit harsh on me"

"Oh well Let’s explore this place soh I left the party leader’s role to Lyna, I was actually impressed to see that she can do it if she tries Then, we moved forward in order to exaravel we found a quest item called 【Sewer Key (B)】

The fact that it was a B key meant there were multiple other keys as well Maybe they’re the type of key you need to open grates and proceed forward, I thought and when I turned around to where we came from – five rats ju a key iteo first! ──《Fire Shot》!"

Al fired a flame bullet pre-emptively just like he did before, but this time the attack was avoided

"Lyn-chan, block theht so many of them at once y’know?!"

Unlike the rats frouard, this time rats all pounced at Lyna

"Hey! I really can’t defend this!"

Using the shield strapped to her wrist she blocked attacks froainst one ht ar short spear and attacked by two rats she received dae! In that case I can ignore defence and eh, what?"

Suddenly, Lyna slipped down on her knees and sat doerlessly

Frouard I shot an arrow and finished off the rat Lyna had previously hit with her counter, also noticing the abnormality in Lyna

As the time passed her HP slowly decreased, and her li faintly

She lifted the shield and soed to defend herself from attacks of two rats, but her HP continuously decreased due to chain dae she received

That’s when I used the 【Sky Eyes】 targeting ability, and yelled after checking the rats and Lyna

"Lyna, use poison and paralysis antidotes! Al! These ones aren’t Grey Rats! They’re a different species called Paralitic-Poison Rats!"

Although they looked similar in the dark sewer, they were a different type of mobs than the Grey Rats Based on their name and the current situation, it could be inferred that they caused Poison and Paralysis bad status

"I can’t use potions because of 【Paralysis】"

"Al! I’ll go collect Lyna, hold them back meanwhile!"

I lowered the bow and headed over to Lyna who kept receiving rats’ attacks in the vanguard

Lyna lost half of her HP already and continued to receive slip dae from the bad status

I lent her a shoulder and while we retreated to where Al e received attacks fro poison bad status we haven’t been paralysed and were able to successfully escape

"I’ll be casting, Yun-san! 《Firewall》!"

A wall of fla and the rats in pursuit behind us, it had filled the sewer up to the ceiling

Burnt by flae one after another so we couldn’t dae them too much, but we acquired so her up

"Here, a potion Can you try again?"

"Of course This ti her HP and status recovered by me, at the same time Al’s Firewall disappeared, Lyna jumped towards the rats ere on the other side of the wall

Thrusting her spear with the momentum of her movement she pierced on enemy and defeated him

"Now, I should attack as well"

I nocked an arrow and aimed at a poison rat If Al and I could finish off the re four poison rats the burden on Lyna would definitely lighten

"──《Bow Skill – Arrow Stitching──"

"I’ll join in 《Fire Shot──"

However, our skills were interrupted in the ht ar of the bow andas the arrow disappeared in the darkness of the sewer

"What hhya?!"

"A-ani bit intoto my body with four li into the sewer’s wall, but a

When I looked there, I saw the sa

"──?!!"

I screa to shake off the rat’s skeleton along with the gravel under ravel I was standing on wasn’t gravel, but small bones──most likely rat bones

And noticed, that the rat bones beneathinto ene me and Al

By the time I noticed the rat bones beneath our feet were a trap it was all too late

"Hy──kyaah!!"

"──U-UWAaaaah?!"

"Hey, Yun-san! Al!"