Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 95 Sewer

Raine knew nothing about the history of the First Human Empire.

But he was very familiar with the game. As the map with the highest daily online player count, the surrounding dungeons in the capital city had been almost completely explored by players.

Only the map of the capital's sewers remains, and it has not yet been fully explored.

The sewer system in the capital city is an extremely complex network, complex because its internal layers go down to who-knows-how-deep levels, and even within the same layer, the elevation differences are enormous.

Why were so many floors built? There are two main, widely accepted theories.

One reason is that the huge population of the capital city has created a huge demand for housing, and land is so expensive that it is unaffordable for most people. As a result, many homeless people live in the sewers and use simple homemade tools to dig and expand their homes. Over time, this has led to a network of interconnected underground spaces with almost no visible boundaries.

Another issue is that a large number of players like to cluster in the capital city, causing the dungeons near the capital to be overcrowded all year round. In order to facilitate the daily dungeon-running needs of players in the capital city, the developers had no choice but to expand the capacity of the capital city's sewers... They couldn't let the outskirts of the capital city be filled with all kinds of dungeons, or it would turn into a monster siege.

If Princess Jinsha had died outside the sewers of the capital, she would have been found by countless players, and Raine wouldn't have been completely unaware of it.

No matter where they are, beggars are the eyes and ears of the black market. As the people of Shamin searched the entire city for beggars, people from the black market soon contacted them.

Unlike the previous black market manager who received Renn, this time the person who came to meet with the Sandman was a middle-aged man with a stern face.

The people of Shamin readily paid the bill, spending a large sum of money to buy all the intelligence on the capital's sewers. The middle-aged man then had his men bring over twelve tables, which were then pieced together. He then brought out a huge map and spread it out on the tables.

Because the map was so large, everyone had to climb onto the table, wrap their boots in clean cloths, and stand on the map to read it.

“We’ve been exploring the capital’s sewers for years, and we’ve now reached the third level.” The middle-aged man, holding a cane, pointed at the map. “The first level is the largest. Most of the northern area is completely submerged and practically impassable. Before this, many homeless people lived there, but they’ve all moved to the east.”

"To the south are abandoned rat trails, where hordes of diseased rats often roam. They hide in the shadows, dart out to bite people, and then escape. After you fall ill with the Black Death, they come out and devour your corpse. If you insist on going there, my advice is to at least bring some antidote."

"More than a decade ago, an earthquake caused many of the connecting passages in the west to collapse, dividing it into more than a dozen relatively isolated areas of varying sizes. Now, it's a melting pot of all sorts of people, including wanted criminals, cultists, necromancers, and vampires who will kill anyone they see without a second thought."

The sand people carefully examined the map on the first level, which indeed marked various "blockages," "floods," "rat swarms," ​​and numerous "danger signs."

"Wait a minute," someone suddenly asked, "Why is the center of the map completely blacked out?"

"Fool!" the chieftain immediately scolded him, "Because this is the black market! Do you expect them to sell you a map of their territory?"

The middle-aged man smiled without saying a word, but pointed to several icons marked with "ladder" on the map and said:
“These places have shafts that lead to the second level of the sewers. They were dug by the human slave legions hiding in the sewers at the end of the ancestral elven empire, to avoid elven soldiers who came to search the sewers.”

"The second level is much smaller than the first, but it is still large enough. To guard against possible elven attacks, the slave legion laid many deadly traps there, many of which are still in operation to this day. Don't ask us how we know."

"So how did you know that?" the sandman who had spoken first asked again. "We paid for this intelligence, so you have an obligation to verify its authenticity!"

"Shut up!" The chieftain finally couldn't hold back any longer and signaled his men to drag the idiot out.

"Well, there isn't much information about the second level," the middle-aged man sighed. "Because almost every piece of the map requires blood and lives to obtain."

The group continued to look at the map beneath their feet. Compared to the relatively complete first level, most of the second level was unmapped. The only areas that had been explored were almost entirely around the shafts leading to the second level, and their extent was extremely limited.

Even so, within the very small area explored, there were still a large number of "danger" markings and several crosses marked in bright red ink. Further exploration ended abruptly with the appearance of the crosses, giving people a simple sense of imagination and a chilling sense of dread.

"And the third level?" the chieftain asked in a deep voice.

“The situation on the third level is rather unusual. In fact, it wasn’t discovered by our people,” the middle-aged man said in a low voice. “We found a completely decomposed corpse at this location on the second level. The map was found in the corpse’s hands, and it marked a passage from the third level to the second level.”

"Oh?" the chieftain asked curiously, "You mean, from the third level to the second level?"

“Yes,” the middle-aged man replied. “Let’s assume this person is a scout who wants to draw a map of the sewers. Then his map should start from the entrance of the second-level shaft and go all the way to the third level.”

"However, the opponent's map did not show any route from the second level to the first level. Therefore, we can infer that the opponent probably entered the third level directly from the surface for some reason, then slowly explored to the second level, and was finally killed by the traps on the second level."

“Given that the other party is dead,” the Sandman chieftain said in a low voice, “you have no way of ensuring the authenticity of this map.”

“Unless we can bring the dead back to life,” the middle-aged man said with a smile, “but that’s something only necromancers can do, right? Given that there’s only one map related to the third level of the sewers, we still recommend you take a look, even though we can’t guarantee its authenticity.”

The sand people continued to carefully examine the map. In the distance, through the eyes of the dead, Raine calmly looked down at his feet.

For the players, deadly traps were no problem at all. Some on the forums even used 3D modeling software to create a complete map of all three levels of the sewers, and even found the entrance to the fourth level. Unfortunately, Raine wasn't someone with a photographic memory; he had only glanced at the map in the video and hadn't memorized it completely.

Overall, the first level dungeons are the most popular; the second level is so challenging and full of traps that only a few dungeons with decent loot are worth running. The third level... that's for elite guilds to show off; ordinary players shouldn't even consider it.

As for the "corpse map" mentioned by the middle-aged man, Raine remembered that it was a dungeon called the Abode of the Dead, which told the story of Marconius, a necromancer who was expelled from the spellcasters' guild for researching forbidden topics, and who went to the third level of the sewers to research banshees. The dungeon's output was "banshee transformation ritual scroll fragments", which required 50 to synthesize.

Since he mainly plays the Necromancer class, Renn has also learned about Banshees, these unique undead creatures. Their physical resistance is decent, but their magic resistance is too weak. He's put almost all his points into illusion and charm, and a single cooldown spell can render them mostly useless. His conclusion is that they're not worth farming.

I won't even touch it.

As Raine searched his memory for clues, he suddenly saw Ellina push open the door and come in.

"came back?"

"You already knew that Princess Jinsha was my brother's fiancée, didn't you?" Ellina asked directly. "The reason you sent me to eavesdrop was to use the Sand People to tell me this. If I want to know anything about my brother later, I can only help you find and resurrect Princess Jinsha, am I right?"

"What are you talking about?" Renn looked puzzled. "You're not worth me scheming like this. I only called you over because you've been free lately."

Ellina stared intently at Renn, seemingly trying to find any possible flaws in the details of his expression.

"What are your thoughts or guesses about Princess Jinsha's whereabouts?" Renn asked, tidying up the documents on his desk.

“Obviously,” Ellina said calmly, “if her remains still exist, they are either in a grave or dug up by some necromancer… I’m not referring to you, but you should know that most people in this world are not interested in corpses.”

“Hmm, that’s what I think too.” Ryan stroked his chin and continued to ponder.

Compared to Ellina's guess, his idea was actually simpler and more straightforward: NPCs like Princess Jinsha were unlikely to be placed in a tomb for players to explore on their own. Instead, a whole quest chain would be designed to lead players step by step to discover Princess Jinsha's burial place, and then her burial weapon would be set as the complete reward for the quest chain—this is the typical game design approach.

From the player's perspective, the process involves first encountering these sand people through preliminary quests, then being commissioned by them to find the remains of the Golden Sand Princess, eventually navigating to the sewers of the capital city, purchasing information from the black market, and obtaining a map of the third level...

In other words, if we exclude the amateurish design of "clues to other unrelated dungeons appearing in a quest chain," which would obviously distract players, the Burial Ground of Princess Jinsha is most likely highly related to the Dungeon of the Dead marked on this map.

It's deep inside the third level.

Thinking of this, Renn summoned Magus and gave him instructions:
"I'm going out of town for a while. You all need to be careful and not cause any more trouble."

"Yes, sir!" Magus immediately stood at attention and shouted, "Loyalty! Honesty!"

Ellina observed silently until Magus left the office to relay orders, at which point she asked:
"Why not take these golden robes to the sewers?"

"These guys are alright against human enemies, but if they encounter undead creatures, they'll be scared out of their wits and run away immediately," Renn said quietly. "Besides, my methods aren't suitable for being exposed to outsiders, you understand?"

Ellina remained noncommittal, offering no comment on the matter of "Raine not treating her like an outsider," only stating:

"I'll go get Bertha and the others."

“Aurora and Dia don’t need to go,” Renn reminded her. “The sewers are generally narrow with few open areas, so there’s not much room for them to maneuver.”

"understood."

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Before leaving, Renn went to the Spellcasters' Guild to gather information about necromancers. He remembered that the Dead's Abode was a ten-player dungeon, meaning it was relatively dangerous. Although he was confident in Ellina and Bersalia's abilities, he wasn't going to gamble on the three-person team not being caught off guard.

The Spellcasters' Guild is also known as the "Cat Guild." It's not that all the spellcasters like to keep cats, but rather that they, like cats, prefer to stay indoors and never leave, and are mostly unpredictable and moody, making them difficult to deal with.

When Raine entered the Spellcasters' Guild, he found the hall empty, and the receptionist was nowhere to be seen.

Looking at the time again: Oh, it's lunchtime, I guess he went to eat.

He didn't wait for the receptionist to return; he simply walked calmly inside with his hands behind his back, eventually arriving at the guild's archives, where he spoke to the mage on duty:
"I need to find the files of all the mages who have been expelled from the guild for violating the rules in the past fifty years."

"What do you want to do with that?" the monk on duty asked, puzzled.

“I need to look up some academic materials,” Raine replied skillfully. “My research field is quite cutting-edge, and I’m worried about whether it might trigger the guild’s red lines, so I want to have a general understanding of the scope of those red lines first.”

"Oh?" The guardian mage's eyes lit up. "What are you researching? Show me your data, and I'll help you make a judgment."

"What a joke, would I so easily leak my academic secrets to you?" Renn immediately sneered.

"Alright." The guarding monk was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't managed to extract his secret. "I'll give you a piece of advice: when you're unsure whether you've crossed the line, you've probably already. The specific file is in that locked cabinet over there."

"Where's the key to the cabinet?"

"Look, it's hanging on that wall over there."

Ryan walked over, took the key, opened the cabinet, and slowly began rummaging through it.

The red lines of the spellcasters' guild are rather blurry. Necromancy and infernal magic are two major taboos, needless to say, but what kind of spells belong to these two categories is left to the guild to judge freely.

Renn successfully found Marconius's information. This guy wasn't originally a necromancer, but a professor of illusion magic, researching the relatively obscure mind magic within the field of magic.

Decades ago, Marconius had a sudden inspiration and began to think about whether it was possible to completely eliminate the evil desires of criminals by performing mind modification... However, because it involved forbidden soul modification, it was reviewed and determined to be illegal research on necromancy, and he was eventually expelled from the guild.

Since you've accused me of researching necromancy, if I don't research it, wouldn't I be the one being framed for nothing?

Based on the memories of the dungeon of the Dead, we know that Marconius, who was hiding deep in the sewers, ultimately chose to cross the red line and created a brand new ghost-type undead creature: the Banshee.

As Raine continued reading the materials, he discovered that Marconius, in addition to studying mind magic, was also a seasoned master of frost magic.

Of course, anyone who can occupy a territory on the third level of the sewers is definitely not someone to be trifled with; this is obviously predictable. The tricky thing about frost magic is that it can change the environment over a large area, slowing down or even freezing targets. Once you get the first move to control them, they become extremely difficult to defeat.

Raine put the documents back in the filing cabinet, turned and left the Spellcasters' Guild, then went to the Alchemy Shop and bought a large set of Cold Resistance Potions.

Back at the military camp, Ellina and Bersalia were already waiting for them.

To cope with the narrow environment of the sewers, Ellina replaced her long spear with a short spear and took a small round shield to tie to her hand; Bersalia also replaced her longsword with a short sword and also carried more than a dozen throwing knives.

“This time, the enemy is a master of frost magic,” Raine said.

“To counter frost magic, it’s best to wear cotton armor underneath and leather armor on top,” Ellina said thoughtfully. “Cotton armor ensures that the body doesn’t lose heat, while leather armor is for waterproofing; otherwise, cotton armor would become incredibly heavy after absorbing water.”

“But getting wet in the sewers is inevitable, isn’t it?” Bersalia questioned. “Will leather armor really be effective at waterproofing?”

“Just wrap another layer of oilcloth over the cotton armor,” Renn said dismissively. “Tuck in the sleeves and trouser legs to prevent water from getting in.”

The group quickly retrieved the corresponding equipment from the warehouse and put it on. Then, led by Rein, they headed to the south of the city and found an abandoned riverbed.

There are many similar waterways in the southern part of the capital. The specific reason for their excavation is unknown. One theory is that they were used for flood discharge during the rainy season to prevent the moat from backflowing and flooding the city.

Downstream from these abandoned waterways, all of them are channeled into the sewers, making them ideal destinations for the sewers—if you don't consider the swarms of rats that infest them.

"Ugh, more rats." Looking at the dark figures darting around ahead, Bersalia complained with a disgusted expression, "Why are there so many rats here that aren't afraid of people?"

“Because people often dump corpses into the river,” Ellina sighed. “To rats, humans are nothing more than fatter, more palatable food.”

Bersalia snorted and casually tossed out a fireball, setting the rat that was running towards her ablaze.

The rat, engulfed in flames, screamed in agony and scurried wildly through the narrow river, even charging towards them. The two elves were terrified and hastily retreated. In the end, it was only with a Slow Curse from Rein that the fiery Pikachu was finally immobilized and burned to death.

"If I said that what just happened was just an accident, would you believe me?" Bersalia asked tentatively.

Ellina ignored her, while Renn said indifferently:
"If you touch me again, I'll strip you naked and throw you into a pile of rats."

"Then I'll just treat it with poison," Bersalia said with a smirk.

The group arrived at the end of the abandoned riverbed. The entrance to the sewers was originally sealed off by wooden fences, but these wooden fences had long since rotted away due to years of neglect.

Bersalia took out an alchemy bottle, skillfully mixed a tube of brown potion, and threw it into the darkness ahead.

Moments later, the sounds of rats fighting over food could be heard from the darkness, interspersed with screams and muffled groans as they tore at each other.

"Are you sure these poisons will work?" Ellina suddenly asked. "Let me remind you, these rats almost all grow up eating rotten garbage, and their bodies are strong enough to resist most poisons and diseases."

“Let me remind you as well,” Bersalia said with a sneer. “Standing before you is the greatest alchemist of all time, especially renowned for her expertise in poisons. Many of the poison formulas she invented are still being copied and used by alchemists today, without even the slightest improvement.”

"Stop arguing," Renn said expressionlessly. "We'll find out soon enough whether it works or not."

The group waited outside for a few minutes before stepping into the sewer.

The sewers were dark and damp, with thick moss covering the ground, making it extremely slippery to walk on. Ahead lay a shattered alchemy bottle, but there were no traces of liquid around it, clearly indicating that it had been completely licked clean by the rats.

“I didn’t see any rat carcasses,” Ellina said.

"That's because I want the poisoned rats to spread before they die, so their companions will eat the corpses and get poisoned too," Bersalia said with a smile.

"If that's the case, why not just go down into the water source?" Ryan suddenly asked. "That way, any rats that come into contact with the water will die, which is more convenient and efficient."

“Because that would pollute the groundwater, my dear,” Bersalia replied gently. “Many citizens of the capital draw water from wells, and then everyone in the capital would die in their homes like rats in the sewers.”

As the group continued forward, they indeed saw rat carcasses floating one after another in the central river. It seemed that they had been drinking water frantically due to poisoning and discomfort, which eventually led to their deaths in the water.

Until they reached the shaft, they encountered no rats along the way, but there were corpses everywhere.

From the first level of the sewer to the second level, there is a man-made vertical shaft. It is not wide, only allowing one person to pass at a time, and it is easy to hide debris piled on top of it.

“If there are any traps in the shaft and you accidentally trigger them while climbing down, there will be almost no room to hide,” Ellina said, frowning. “Be careful.”

“Easy.” Renn snapped his fingers.

Behind the crowd, a large number of rat carcasses suddenly surged forward, jumping down in front of them in a frenzy.

“Alright, there’s no sign of the mechanism being activated,” Renn said calmly.

"Alright, I don't feel like going down anymore either," Bersalia joked.

“You’re the first one down,” Renn said coldly. “Now, immediately.”

(End of this chapter)