Going to the sewers to fight another Muri-Ursi was, frankly, a test in stupidity.

  I didn’t have the same cushion as last time, the imp seemingly reticent of an encore. Which…fair, other than the authority it gave me over the thing I was pretty sure it did some lasting damage to the poor demon. Enough where even I felt a little bad for the rabid symbol of evil.

  The demon actually puffed out its chest at that thought, and I snickersed at the sheer audacity. Just another reason not to get attached to the imp, even if I wasn’t aware of any methods to unbind our souls. That was something to worry about after I survived the end, and the imp nodded in agreement.

  “Of course you would,” I chuckled.

  Some might see me as rushing to a gruesome end, but each day brought the end closer, and I was no archmage or spellblade to survive such a thing. Hell, plenty of them experienced gruesome ends so that wasn’t even accurate. It was only from the fact that the empire hadn’t invaded Yesnia that I knew the end wasn't imminent. Once that happened, I only got about a year to say my prayers. About right, each phase in the game lasted a year, and the tutorial phase wasn’t an exception.

  Then a war between pantheons, how utterly fucking horrifying.

  I moved the sewer grate aside and took my first steps down into the putrid place.

  They didn’t have sentries or signs posted to stop people from engaging in the exact stupidity I was displaying, part of the reason I thought it wouldn’t be all that difficult at first. Turned out Anik was just a staunch advocate for natural selection. Par for the course for a society that couldn’t give a shit about their people.

  The concept of all life being sacred was a concept that came with time, shaping philosophy and artistry. There was a time in history where artists went out of their way to depict the peasants' life, rather than creating displays for religious worship. Society in this world clearly hadn’t reached that point, explaining away the cruelty of life by simply declaring that the living didn’t hold inherent value.

  Even if some of the gods clearly disagreed.

  It was…sad really. The deaths of so many in the goblin horde was brushed off as an unfortunate reality, and not the tragedy that it was. People were genuinely more concerned with how balanced the market's offerings were going to be with so much of the countryside being overrun, lamenting the need to rely on their own crops.

  I was pissed when I first heard the sentiment, but it was so common that it just made me depressed.

  Perhaps if the empire cared, they would’ve sent a proper army to slaughter those fuck-off goblins, instead of letting them rampage through so many pockets of civilization. Hundreds of villages, brought to ruin in the span of a few months. Ulindine was surely pleased. Fucker. A pound of the head interrupted my walk, nothing major, but I was free of the Worlds clamour topside so I knew it couldn’t be that.

  I growled at the pettiness of the gods and continued my search for prey.

  I sent a short prayer to Biakan, so that my hunt delivered prey that was worthy of his name. A little ironic to pray to the god of prey and trinkets for hunting, but the guild was practically designed around the deity. There was a reverence for caught queries that I found a bit disturbing, but it was better than the blatant disrespect of the poachers present in my old world. Though they still mounted heads and shit.

  If it wasn’t obvious, I found the practice a bit repulsive, especially for those who just bought the heads to display without putting in the effort of a hunt. At least when you hunted the query, you’ve put in effort.

  I had developed a rather straightforward opinion on the matter, something I never bothered to think about back in the village, or even my old world.

  I luxuriated in the quiet of the sewers. Just the flow of water here. I let some mana be absorbed into the magelight strapped to my neck, illuminated the area in a way that fire never could. Like the light was an omnipresent thing in a ten meter radius with me at the centre, no shadows because it didn’t really come from anywhere except everywhere. It was surreal, and surprisingly cheap at three silver.

  Three silver was a lot more than most could spare though, I was just a rich bitch (not that I paid for it).

  I was on my last gold though, deciding to stay another three months at the inn rather than torture my fellow apprentices with my night terrors, how magnanimous of me! They should just go ahead and name me a saint, give me the boon of a god and make me a warlock. Maybe then I could match a Knight. I didn’t know how those cunts got so strong, capable of matching a cadre of mages in fair combat.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Archmages though? Yeah, no shot. Those were so far gone they were considered the equals of godlings. Luckily, there were only about a dozen here in the empire. Archmages, that is, known godlings around the continent could be counted on one hand.

  There wasn’t a fancy title for a witch with the same strength, mostly because none had ever existed. Despite witchcraft being essentially the path of mages with extra steps, there weren’t any truly cataclysmic individuals of the group.

  I didn’t know why, but my goal wasn’t to become so insanely strong that I eclipsed any threat (though that would be nice). It was to get strong enough to survive, and that was the most realistic path.

  Essence wasn’t a path I was aware of at the time, but I could pursue both, so it wasn’t like I lost anything. Most of the reason why I’d even willingly come down here. I assumed killing monsters solo was a great way to gain strength if I survived, might even be another reason mages got so strong.

  The powerful only get more power and all that jazz.

  The imp sent me an impression of shaking their head in stern disagreement.

  Yeah? And what would it know? It was probably the weakest demon this side of Taiman. That got an indignant pout from the demon, clashing with the previous attempt at dignity, and I let out a slight chuckle.

  I…wasn’t ashamed of how long I spent exchanging barbs with the imp. It was a demon, those are well known for their narcissism. I didn’t like to think in absolutes but there were no good demons. Period. The imp didn’t even disagree. Seeming halfway pleased by my certainly.

  Still, something evil to talk to was still something to talk to.

  I got a whisper of life singing in my ears, interrupting my ruminations, and I turned the corner.

  A dozen meters in front of me was a massive rat. Not as big as the last one but still within black bear territory. I smiled and unsheathed my blade, which made the rat’s hair stand on end as it turned to the noise. It let out a low hiss, which wasn’t a thing I thought rats actually did, and took a step forward. Long prehensile tail sweeping against the stone floor.

  Then, as I was steeling myself for battle, an errant thought invaded my mind.

  How was the city capable of maintaining a monster infested sewer?

  Alas, the question was doomed to be forgotten and left unanswered once the Muri-Ursi sprang forward. It charged with reckless abandon, contrary to its previous cousin. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of assuming it would run itself through though, not again.

  The rat reared up when it reached me, swiping a large paw at my head.

  I ducked under the blow and stepped forward, stabbing through the rats belly with my sword. The rat shrieked, its tail coming up from one side as the other paw came from the other-

  But I was already gone, pushing my spell just a little, and kicking away to create distance.

  A decent amount of blood flowed from its belly. That was…suprisingly easy. If it continued like that then It wouldn't be much of a challenge at all. Must be an especially young monster. If it were normally this easy then the hunters would be culling the fuck out of these things.

  Though to my credit, I was fairly proficient with a sword, but that didn’t invalidate my point.

  Not entirely.

  I still refused to lower my guard.

  I assumed most of the giant rats were more like my previous encounter, and this was just a lucky break. Didn’t exactly work with my attempt to compare progress but it would have to do.

  The rat charged again, this time with more hesitation.

  I took advantage of that and drew a line across its hide. It whipped its tail at me and managed to strike my belly, sending me crashing against a wall. Disoriented for a moment, I almost let the rat crush me under its weight. Instead I did the preferable thing and rolled away.

  Okay, so not so easy.

  Good.

  The fight was a brief one. I took advantage of the rats recklessness and opened up plenty more wounds across its body. I tried to implement the teachings Aira drilled into me of aiming for tendons and arteries, but I didn’t know rat biology very well. Granted it was a mammal, it wasn’t exactly rocket science.

  I managed to make one of its hind limbs useless before slashing into its neck, severing a carotid artery. It was just a matter of time at that point, and I didn't bother taking risks. Just dodging and countering when it seemed safe.

  The rat slumped, breath ragged and eyes dimming.

  “Done already huh?” I said as I took out a cloth and cleaned my blade. “Want me to finish you off or would you prefer bleeding out?”

  The rat blinked twice. I shrugged and sat beside the thing, stroking a hide matted with blood. It let out a soft chuckle, and for a while it was just the moment. Then the rat’s breath stopped, followed soon by its heartbeat.

  “You were a decent fight.” I patted the corpse.

  “I’d hope so!” a jovial voice echoed through the sewer. “Those take time and resources to raise.”

  My head snapped to the voice and I jumped to my feet. In my sight was a smiling man of grey complexion. His teeth were wide and broad, and he was tall, with two ramhorns to adorn his head.

  Claps echoed throughout the sewer, and my heartrate spiked.

  “Bravo!” a gravelly voice said. “Much cleaner than the last. I expected you to meet its charge with your own, a pleasant surprise that you didn’t.

  “So the rat slayer herself comes down again to slay some rats, I didn’t expect to see you again. Since you got what you came here for the first time and all that. Consider me pleasantly surprised! And plenty happy, how dull the world is with less and less of our kind to entertain.”

  “Who are you?” I hissed.

  His smile widened just a fraction, and there was a twinkle in his eye at the question. “Well, if you're the rat slayer, I guess you could call me the rat king.”