It was a short walk to the next room, and soon another chamber was revealed through the bare passage.

This next room had skulls lining the walls, though they were so covered in grime a lot of the effect was lost. Nothing that dusty could look too fearsome. Fayette only had a moment to contemplate polishing them up before her [Dangersense] flared up again.

“Incoming! Only two!”

Her pile of spicy dust was a lot bigger this time, so when she activated [Sweep Dust] and sent it into the room, it managed to blanket the whole space. Two blurry figures were revealed by the dust adhering to their forms. The group moved in.

This time their teamwork was more practiced. Fayette moved forward and dealt with anything that got close, while Mireille followed up with ranged strikes which tied up the more difficult targets. Elise followed as rear-guard, watching their back and finishing off the tied-up and disoriented enemies.

It didn’t take them even half a minute to clear the room of all five rat-monsters that had been hiding in it.

[Nice removal, keep it up! Experience shared with party!]

[Progress towards next level: 60%]

The three stopped to catch their breaths. There was only one corridor leading out from this room. Fayette looked to her companions. “Are you ready to move on?”

The other two took a moment more to settle down, before nodding. Fayette took up the lead again. They proceeded forwards.

The next room was cleared faster, and the one after that had no rodents in it at all. Mireille debated setting up wires behind them so that they would be safe from ambushes, but that would have been risky if a retreat became necessary. After some discussion, they decided on a compromise. She would only set up wires low enough that they would be able to jump over them when escaping.

Fayette threw more spice into her dust pile when [Spicy Cooking] came off cooldown, around 7 rooms into their run. She learned a few of the limits of the skill while doings this: the spices couldn’t be too far away from her, or they would disappear.

She also felt like there was a time limit to it—though not one she had hit yet. The spice was more volatile on its own, the stuff she had added to her bread was still there, but she could already feel the pure spice nearing its end.

They encountered nothing strange for a good while—just more and more rats. They never assembled in groups too big to handle, and only seemed to have rudimentary intelligence. The catacombs continued on and on, a vast labyrinth of stone and bone.

Fayette really wished she could have cleaned the place more as they moved, but she knew it wouldn’t be right. She would have to seek permission first. Still, her growing dust pile meant that the floors at least where much cleaner than before. I think I'll settle on polishing some skulls on our breaks.

Things changed after the seventh room they cleared. Fayette stomped on one last rat and smiled at the notification she got.

[Good combo, don’t stop! Experience shared with party]

[Level up: You have reached Maid level 12! Congratulation!]

[1 Skill point gained!]

[Progress towards next level: 10%]

Good, this has been worthwhile just for the experience. I have two free skillpoints now—Mireille always keeps one in reserve. Maybe I should do the same? I wonder what I should put it in.

She was honestly really liking her [Spicy Cooking] skill. Yes, it may have been better to think things through more—but more spicy spice? More spice in general? Once the idea popped up in her head, she didn’t hesitate. Best not mention this to Mireille or she’s going to make it a whole difficult debate or something.

[Skill up: Spicy Cooking has reached rank 2!]

She focused on the skill, and felt that her control over it was better, more precise. She could differentiate between levels of spice now. Naturally, she turned it on full throttle. Max spiciness, go!

A new pile appeared in her hand, this one more red than before. She took a good lick at the pile—it would be going on the floor anyway, why couldn’t she indulge a bit? Perfect hotness engulfed her tongue. So spicy! This is great, I knew putting the level in there would work out.

“Did you just lick that handful of spice?” A voice asked beside her. Fayette looked over and saw Mireille’s disgusted face.

“You’re just seeing things.” She replied and threw the spice onto her pile. She could feel the first bits disappearing already. It made her a bit sad. Such a waste!

“Is something going on?” Elise said, rising up from her rest. The woman seemed winded from all the rest she was taking, but that wasn’t strictly true. She just had some sort of stockpiling skill for her endurance, and took care to keep it topped off.

“No, nothing out of order.” Fayette said. “How are your levels doing by the way, Elise?”

The woman grimaced. “Not as good as you probably, but not terrible either. Killing doesn’t seem to do anything for me, something I suspected. At least carrying all this stuff in dangerous situations seems to be good for it. I’m getting a decent bunch of experience.”

“Enough chatter. Let’s get moving, don’t want this taking too long.” Mireille said, motioning the group into action.

They moved on, and kept clearing rooms of rats. Fayette found her improved spices even more effective—the rats seemed a lot more disoriented from it. Their pace increased, and she was halfway to her next level when their surroundings changed.

She looked at the path in front of them. “What is that?”

The catacombs came to an abrupt end, with an opening in the wall revealing a corridor of rough stone, sloping upwards gradually.

“Looks like we’ve reached the mines.” Elise said, looking at the place thoughtfully. She sniffed at the air. “But this smell... Where do I know it from?”

Fayette felt it too. There was a distinct odour to the air—something that didn’t feel like it belonged in the catacombs or the mines. It had a twinge to it, Fayette thought it resembled the smell of failed alchemies.

“A weird smell, from the direction the rats are coming from?” Mireille said, looking at the others meaningfully. “We might be closing in on our target.”

Elise looked uneasy at the thought. “This... I might have an idea. We’ve been heading upriver for a good while... Can we move along? I want to confirm this.”

Fayette quirked a brow but nodded slowly. If their local had some sort of clue on what was going on, she would welcome the info. “Let’s move on then. Do we go up or down the tunnel?”

Mireille turned to pat at the little pawprints on the ground, and her hand came off sticky. She rubbed her fingers together, looking at the sludge that had been on the floor. “I think the scent is coming from this stuff. These creatures are treading it all over.” She turned to look the tunnel up and down, focusing on her skill. “I think... they’re coming from up.”

Fayette walked to the front. “Let’s go.”

They crept up the tunnel, looking warily at their surroundings. However, no attacks came. No skittering shapes lunged at them, and Fayette’s [Dangersense] did not go off. It was eerie. Such peace after the constant attacks they had endured so far...

The stench strengthened as they moved on, gradually becoming clearer and clearer. Elise was looking at their surroundings, deep in thought. Fayette thought she could recognize the alchemical feel of the scent more and more. Is some sinister [Alchemist] concocting villainies here? That would be quite the story.

Eventually, the shaft led to a larger room, a place that had once acted as storage. The rotted remains of shelves stood against the bare walls, while an underground stream flowed by the far wall. The scent was coming from there.

The three looked at each other and nodded. They moved towards the stream, looking around carefully to make sure nothing was going to ambush them. As soon as they got close, Elise rushed forward for a closer look.

It was a shallow and narrow thing, slowly flowing along through cracks in the wall. A groove had been worn into the ground by the flow, centuries of work.

The water, it did not look normal. As they got their torches closer, they saw the black, tar-like substance coating it. It floated on the surface, with the idle shifts in the flow revealing the clear water beneath.

Elise was staring at it furiously. She sniffed at the air carefully, then looked up the stream. Her expression was... complex.

“Hey, Elise. Something you should be telling us?” Mireille prodded.

“It’s just, well...” She looked up the stream again and pointed. “I’ve been keeping track of where we’re moving, I'm pretty confident in it.”

She pointed at the ceiling above. “Right now, we should be around Montaigne avenue, below the big road.”

Fayette looked at her blankly. “So? Doesn’t say much to us.”

“Oh, right. The thing is— I’m pretty sure that this stuff.” She pointed at the oily coating, then up the stream. “This direction, there's not much else that way other than the factory I work at. It’s like this stuff is coming from there”

Mireille suddenly looked a lot more interested. “So, do you know what this stuff is? Is it coming from the factory or something?”

Elise slowly nodded. “I think I recognize this smell. It’s from around the boilers, the ones which keep the big steam engines going. They burn the magicoal there, and this stuff—” She poked at the surface of the water with her finger. “I think its the runoff from that. There’s a pipe from the furnaces, and they smell just like this.”

Fayette’s first instinct was to get angry. Wait, is the factory just letting this stuff go, without a care in the world? No, wait. It could be just a leak or something. Should we report this?

She turned to speak to Mireille when she saw it. It was pure luck, she almost missed it. Her [Dangersense] was not flaring one bit, but still, a creature black as shadow was slowly rising up from the ground, right next to them. It looked like it was materializing out of the shadows. A dark shape, dripping oily tar onto the ground. Much, much larger than any rat had right to be.

It got out completely, then jumped forward. Fayette's [Dangersense] still wasn't sending any signal.

“Elise! Watch out!” Fayette shouted, bursting into action. Not fast enough.

The [Labourer] was turning around when the creature struck her. A blow to the side, a flash of blood, and the [Labourer] was sent tumbling down into the murky water.