Dust fell from the ceiling, and the cracks continued to widen.

The nagas quickly retrieved the bodies of their fallen comrades and that of rank 2 and 3 spiders before hurried back the way they came.

As they were halfway there, they heard a loud noise coming from behind them. The ground shook, and a large cloud of dust billowed down the stone corridor.

Apparently, the cave didn't withstood the damage and collapsed.

Covered with grime and blood, the nagas finally emerged from the cave as the sun was already nearing the horizon, tinting the sky a beautiful red-orange color.

Yet there was neither time nor desire to admire the scenery as they crossed the city.

This time, they fully released their aura, frightening the beasts. They were able to return to the island without any problems and collapsed from exhaustion on the ground after depositing the spider corpses on top of the frogmen's bodies.

No one would come to this island, so they weren't worried about being robbed.

At the same time, Liam took the opportunity to heal the wounded by spending nearly 30 000 faith points and let them take a rest.

Even though their bodies were in good condition, their minds were exhausted, and they all needed a night's sleep to regain their strength.

So Liam stood guard alone.

As they say, the night brings advices.

Thinking back on the day's operation, he realized they had been too careless.

Perhaps it was because of their successive victories, but they became far too confident.

They didn't take the time to analyze the enemy's weaknesses or establish a strategy. They did just charge in.

It's true that the spiders had difficulties to detect their movements because they moved without shaking the ground.

However, they forget a crucial detail. In combat, they were as visible as a lighthouse in the middle of the night for spiders.

They were lucky that the spiders were not organized well or more powerful, otherwise it wouldn't have been just eighteen deaths but perhaps a total annihilation.

Liam continued to think all night.

Slowly, the sky brightened, and the sun rose.

The nagas woke up one by one and prepared for the final battle.

Liam had not yet found their exact location, but he was almost sure to knew where they were.

From space, they could see them appearing and disappearing all over the city.

There was only one place that would allow them to move everywhere without being detected: the sewers.

For intelligent beings who studied magic like Valyrs, they would be very careful about the cleanliness of their city. It was not surprising for such a large city to have a sewer system.

To access the sewers, all they had to do was dig a hole in the middle of a main road. There would be a fifty-fifty chance of reaching one of the main pipes.

A few minutes later, they dove into the water and headed towards the city.

They quickly found a main road and began to dig slowly.

They didn't dare to directly strike the ground because it would cause everything to collapse.

They dug for a few meters and then the ground gave way under the tail of one of the nagas who fell into darkness.

Plop

"It's okay, you can jump, it's not deep!" shouted the naga.

One by one, the nagas jumped into the hole, landing in half a meter of water.

The sewers were not very large at all; they were a pseudo-cylinder about three meters high.

"It's going to be problematic," Liam thought.

The small size of the sewers would prevent them from maneuvering effectively; their spears were too long to be truly usable.

The quest information said there were about a thousand golden mole rats: two confirmed great beasts, two beginner great beasts, about fifty war beasts, and around two hundred wild beasts.

This group didn't have any advanced ranks 3, but it had as many ranks 3 as the two other groups combined.

They weren't easier to deal with than the other two, but they wouldn't be as difficult to eliminate as the cave spiders.

This time, they wouldn't allow themselves to be encircled so easily.

They slowly made their way up the tunnel, heading towards the city center.

The sewers were not like caves; they were fundamentally the same size and followed an ordered path.

Liam didn't bother to leave marks to return. They would just have to break through the ceiling to get out.

As they continued to move forward, the water rose to their waist. It wasn't dirty, just a bit muddy.

It had been nearly 15 years since the war. All the garbage had long since been evacuated into the sea.

After a while, the nagas' ears twitched, and they turned around; there was movement behind them.

They prepared for battle and brandished their stakes. They were going to use them as small spears, even though it would be less effective.

Soon, they saw what was causing the agitation.

It was a group of about fifty rats. There were two rank 2 rats and about a dozen rank 1 rats, the rest were mortals.

In terms of size, the mortals were about thirty centimeters tall, the wild beasts about a meter, and the war beasts nearly 2 meters. (Without the tail)

Only the war beasts could touch the ground. The others swam quite quickly. The nagas restrained their aura and prepared for contact.

It was rather quick. Even without their spears, the naga warriors only needed one tail swipe to kill a mortal or a wild beast.

The rank 2 rats put up a bit of a fight, but they were quickly overwhelmed.

The rats' bodies had relatively small value. The only somewhat valuable things were their tail, teeth, and claws, which were the only things retrieved.

They left the rest behind. Even if rats discovered there was an enemy, they wouldn't be able to locate them like the spiders, so there wouldn't be any problems.

They continued to move towards the city center and killed three more groups of rats along the way. They managed to finish them off as quickly as possible. They didn't want to damage the sewer system.

BOOM

The ground shook, and dust fell from the ceiling as a huge explosion resounded in the city.

From space, Liam immediately turned his attention to Vinaya city and noticed a nice crater right in the city center.

It wasn't very deep; barely five or six meters; and extended about ten meters wide.

Given the appearance of the hole and the pieces of earth scattered everywhere, the explosion came from inside the ground, and therefore from the sewers.

It was less than three hundred meters from the nagas. Sylvera could arrive on the scene in a few seconds.

"Follow us, we're going to see what happened!" said Sylvera.

BOOM

Another explosion happened. This time, it was less than a hundred meters away from them.

"No need to rush," said Liam. "It's coming towards us."

Sylvera, Liam, and the great naga warriors stood in front of the formation.

Such explosions could not be taken lightly. Even if they didn't do much damage, it was just because they weren't meant to.

Even the naga great warriors would be seriously injured if the spell hit them; they were still beginner.

Only Sylvera would come out with small damage.

From the spiritual energy fluctuations he felt, it must have been a rank 3 spell.

A few moments later, a hooded figure turned the corner in front of them and flew towards them.

When he saw the passage blocked, the figure stopped abruptly.

This allowed Liam and the nagas to evaluate him for the first time. He was about 170cm tall and was wrapped in a black robe that hid his entire body.

In one hand, she held a small shiny metal chest, and in the other, she firmly pressed a wound on her abdomen that kept bleeding bright red blood.

Short after, several huge rats nearly four meters long turned and charged at the figure without even noticing the nagas, closely followed by several rats of all ranks.

"Shit, this guy leads them to us!" Sylvera shouted.

He threw a stake with all his might, which pierced straight through the body of a beginner rank 3 rat and hit the wall behind.

BOOM

The tunnel collapsed, and the ground shook.

The stake broke upon impact, but it directly cut off the rats' retreat.

"Hurry up, it won't hold them for long," cried Liam.

About thirty rats were separated from the group, including the three last ranks 3 and about ten ranks 2. The rest were ranks 1.

However, the collapse wouldn't hold them for long, and the ranks 2 on the other side could break through in less than 30 seconds.

Sylvera leaped and smashed his fist into a confirmed rank 3, sending it flying against the rubble pile and shaking the entire passage again.

The other nagas didn't stand idly by and attacked in turn.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

The ground shook, and as expected, the tunnel collapsed for about a hundred meters, burying the nagas and the golden mole rats.

…

The entire street collapsed by more than a meter and dust began to settle.

Suddenly, a black scaly hand emerged from the pile of broken rocks and pulled a serpentine-red-eyed creature to the surface.

Sylvera climbed to the surface, quickly followed by the great warriors and several warriors.

These few meters of rock wouldn't do much to rank 2 beings, but the apprentices would have a bit of trouble getting out on their own.

Rumble

The ground shook, and a large layer of rock parted, revealing a dome of yellow light. The light dissipated, revealing Liam and the naga apprentices, as well as a few warriors.

Liam couldn't use his strength in quests, but if it was to save these incapacitated men, no one would say anything.

TWIIIIT

Pieces of broken road flew everywhere, and the rats emerged one by one, including those who were blocked by Sylvera earlier.

The ranks 1 were still trapped under the debris, but they wouldn't have time to get out.

Now that they had space, the nagas pulled out their spears and rushed at the giant rats.

One of the rat kings lunged at Sylvera, mouth wide open. The naga reacted quickly and swung his spear to strike the beast on the side of the head with the handle.

He swung his tail and hit the beast's legs, making it spin in the air and fly into a building on the side of the road.

The beast went through the house and rolled for tens of meters.

Before it could recover, Sylvera closed the distance and impaled the beast's head directly into the ground.

Short after, he climbed out of the crater he just formed and returned to the main battlefield.

Only the two last rat kings were still struggling against the great warriors, but they didn't last long with Sylvera's return.

Liam smiled.

It was better than expected: they didn't lose anyone, and the quest could be considered almost completed.

Now, all they had to do was eliminate the rest of the rats, most of which were just animals or wild beasts. There were less than ten war beasts left.

"Spread out. Form teams of three and comb the city, we're going to finish off these rats!"

Without the rat kings to hold the fort, the remaining rats lost their leaders and any kind of commandment.

Even if the war beasts were very intelligent, they would never be able to regroup quickly, and Liam intended to take advantage of that.

At the same time, he went in search of their uninvited guest who had greatly facilitated the quest for them.

The strange silhouette had used the collapse of the tunnel to slip away, but his real body was still following its trail from space.

...

Huf huf huf

The figure ran through the woods with all his might, panting, but he felt his head spinning as he lost more and more blood.

"Damn it! I had to use everything I had left not to get crushed. And who the hell were those guys?! That old man never told me about a new race this strong."

He had almost no mana left and couldn't cast any more spells.

Mages had never been known for their physique. Even as a rank 3 mage, his physique was at best at the pinnacle of rank 1.

He tripped over a root and fell to the ground, grimacing in pain as his wound rubbed against the ground.

He tried to get up, but his head was spinning, and everything was blurry. He lost too much blood.

He fell back on his back and looked up at the sky with a hazy gaze. As he fainted, he barely noticed the outline of a black silhouette with red eyes.