The journey to Vorraska turned out a lot less epic than Chloe hoped. Raenof had dug through Sett’s corpse for a map and a number of other useful things before walking. Chloe, naturally, just tagged along.

  At first, it was nothing but walking. Then Chloe suggested that she could probably just fly them both the rest of the way.

  That whole thing lasted maybe a couple of seconds at best. Chloe tried her best, really.

  But between trying to balance herself in the air and dragging along an elf who absolutely wasn’t pulling his weight, she gave up. So, walking it was.

  And there was a lot of walking. A truly unreasonable amount.

  With no horses, the days just stretched oooon forever. Chloe did plenty of groaning, while Raenof just kept walking with a smile stuck to his face.

  She kept hoping some monsters would jump out so she could stretch her legs a little, but nothing interesting came up. Although, there were those big lizardy things that spat acid, but after Chloe smacked one in the face, the rest ran away. Since then, nothing had come near them.

  But hey, they were definitely getting closer. After crossing that super rocky stretch that made her feet feel stuff, Raenof led Chloe into a dense forest.

  There were tons of little critters scurrying around, fuzzy things, leafy-looking bugs, even this fat rat looking creature. But the weirdest thing by far was this giant grey... thing.

  It was huge, like a walking boulder with stumpy legs and flappy ears. Its nose was really long, and the beast could move its nose like a snake. But the best part was the creature had a baby too! Way smaller, but still chubby and just wobbling around.

  Chloe really wanted to pet the small one, but Raenof politely told her to leave the animals alone. Apparently they were called elephants? I'll pet one of them one day…

  But eventually, the trees started to thin out, and the forest gave way to a view that made Chloe stop in her tracks. Just beyond the hills was a big city.

  From a distance, the buildings looked strange. Unlike Kelvane, which had a lot of tall buildings, this place was more flat looking. There were fewer tall buildings, but way more green stuff inside, which Chloe assumed were trees.

  “Oooooh! Is that Vorraska?!” Chloe asked.

  Raenof glanced at the slightly crumpled map he’d taken off Sett’s dead body. Then at the city. “That’s it.”

  “Yay, let's go!"

  Chloe immediately began walking ahead, until she felt a gentle tug on her shoulder. Raenof gave her a pointed look. “Hey uh, you do remember why we joined Sett’s group, don’t you?”

  "Huh?"

  "The plan was to sneak inside the city, Chloe. We're not just going to walk up to the gate."

  “Oh. Right. So do you have a sneaky plan?”

  “Not exactly. But we can probably work something out.”

  “Wait! Raenof, You can go invisible, right?”

  "I can."

  “Perfect! We’ll just sneak in that way then."

  “The guards here are Luphian. Even if they can’t see us, they might smell us and find us out anyway."

  "Luphian? Oh, right. Those are what the wolfie people are called, yeah?”

  Raenof sighed. “Please don’t say ‘wolfie.’”

  “What? It fits! They're all fuzzy and bitey.” Chloe said.

  “They’re called Luphians, and outside human lands, calling them beastkin or 'wolfie', is considered incredibly rude.”

  “Fine. I’ll call them... Luuu-fee-uns.”

  “Luphians.”

  “Yeah, that.”

  “So, do we wait until night and sneak in?”

  “There might be another way. Let's try to look around and see if there's some kind of alternative entrance we can use."

  Chloe and Raenof skirted the city walls for a while, trying to look like two totally normal travelers who definitely weren’t up to anything shady. Chloe kept pointing at suspicious rocks and weirdly shaped bushes while Raenof checked the map and muttered to himself.

  Eventually, they slipped off the main road and into a scraggly stretch of land overgrown with weeds. Until Raenof suddenly stopped, crouching low beside a half-buried stone.

  Chloe leaned over his shoulder. “Whatcha find?”

  Raenof brushed some leaves away and tapped this creaky metal thing that looked really frail. “I think… this might be an old sewer outlet.”

  “A what now?”

  “An entrance to a sewer."

  “Right, but what is that, exactly? Is it, like, a tunnel for goblins?”

  “No, not goblins. A sewer is where waste from the city goes."

  "What kind of waste?"

  "Stuff like… you know, feces and—well, things people no longer need. Bodily refuse. Kitchen runoff. Industrial discharge. That sort of thing."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Wait, what’s fee-sees?"

  Raenof blinked, then cleared his throat. "Feces. As in... what's left after someone finishes digesting food."

  Chloe’s face lit up. "Oh! You mean that brown stuff I see animals leave behind sometimes?"

  "Yes, uh, I suppose some people also call that stuff… poop."

  "That makes sense, but why didn’t you just say poop from the start?"

  "Because some of us try to speak with a little bit of dignity. But anyway, sewers are important as it keeps waste from hitting the streets.”

  "Makes sense, and I just thought about this actually, but do elves poop?”

  Raenof gave her a long look. “Yes. Yes, Chloe, we do."

  Chloe started giggling, and Raenof rolled his eyes, but she could see him smiling anyway. Eventually, he stood and tapped the edge of the metal bars with his foot. “If this isn’t completely collapsed, we might be able to sneak in through here.”

  She followed him as he pulled aside a chunk of rotted wood covering the entrance. They climbed down together, Raenof first, dropping into the tunnel. Chloe landed after him, her boots squelching in something she chose not to investigate too closely.

  The tunnel was way bigger than she expected, though. She’d pictured some cramped, drippy hole with barely enough space to crawl through, but this place could probably fit a horse, maybe two.

  The stone walls were wide and curved, like someone had carved out a giant half-circle and lined it with mossy bricks. There were metal grates on the ground, big pipes along the ceiling, and shallow streams of very suspicious water running through the middle trench.

  Everything was damp. The walls were damp. The ceiling was damp. Even the air felt damp, like it was trying to crawl inside her nose.

  Raenof immediately cringed. "By the gods, it smells absolutely terrible here.”

  Chloe sniffed the air experimentally. “Huh. I don’t really smell anything.”

  Raenof glanced back at her. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. Nothing. I mean, I don’t breathe, remember? So, I guess that makes me sewer-proof!”

  "Hmph, lucky."

  Chloe followed behind Raenof with a smug bounce in her step. Being a zombie is so great. More people should really consider becoming one honestly.

  They walked through the sewer tunnel for a while. Chloe still couldn’t smell anything, but the way Raenof kept occasionally gagging made her feel like she wasn’t missing out.

  Eventually, the tunnel split in two. Chloe blinked at the fork, then looked over at Raenof. “So, do you actually know which way to go?”

  Raenof closed his eyes. A few seconds passed before he opened them again. “Not exactly. But I’m sensing a lot of mana signatures coming from the left path.”

  “That’s bad, right?”

  “Could be a patrol. Could be something worse. Best we avoid it, just in case.”

  "Alrighty, let's go the other way then."

  Chloe turned toward the right, bouncing along after Raenof. Things got quieter after that, but not for long.

  Raenof suddenly slowed. “Do you hear that?”

  Chloe tilted her head. At first, it was just echoes. But then she did hear something. Soft, skittery. A little squeaky, too. “I do hear something. Not sure what it is, though.”

  Raenof’s expression tensed. “That sounds like rats. A lot of them.”

  “Wait, are sewers supposed to have rats?”

  “Yes, rats are drawn to waste, warmth, shelter—”

  “Gross. Why?”

  But before he could answer, he stiffened. “Wait. I'm sensing a lot of mana signatures closing in. Hide, now!"

  Chloe dropped into a crouch immediately and followed the elf behind a crumbling stone archway. She peered past a cracked box, eyes narrowed.

  What she saw made her blink. The things going after her and Raenof weren’t normal rats.

  They were tall, walked on two legs, and covered in dark fur. Their limbs were long and twitchy, with gnarled claws. Each one wore scraps of armor made from bones, rusty metal, or just plain junk.

  Their snouts twitched constantly, sharp teeth peeking out as they hissed and chittered in some weird language. Some of them carried spears, swords, and other crude weaponry. Like, one of them was carrying a really sad looking stick.

  Uh. Okay. That’s not normal. Those are rat guys. Rat… people? Ratlings? Ratfolk?

  Chloe leaned close to Raenof and whispered, “Hey, are those rat guys strong?”

  Raenof shook his head. “Not especially. Individually, they’re pretty weak. But they usually travel in large groups.”

  “Oh, that’s fine then. I’ll just get rid of ‘em.”

  Raenof looked like he wanted to argue, mouth opening slightly, but then he paused, glanced at the horde of rat guys, and sighed. “Honestly… it’s not like I have a better idea. Good luck.”

  Chloe stood up, and stepped boldly out of cover. “Hey, rat guys, over here!"

  The rat people froze mid-step, their red eyes gleaming like little lanterns in the dark. Then one of them hissed, its crooked teeth flashing. “Tear her apart! For the Master!”

  “For the Master!!” the others echoed as they surged forward like a furry wave of claws and teeth.

  Chloe rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles with a grin. Okay, think. I already used fireballs today. And earth. Ice. Even blood magic. Gotta switch it up. Hmm, maybe I'll try dark magic this time.

  She thrust her hand forward and a burst of shadowy energy exploded from her palm, slamming into the nearest rat guy in the chest. It screeched out a pitiful “skreee!” before bursting into smoky chunks.

  [You have killed: Rat Folk Warrior (Level 10)]

  [Experience Awarded]

  The rest of the rat folk skidded to a halt, their red eyes going wide. One dropped his dagger and whimpered.

  Just as they turned to flee, the ground under them rumbled. With a pop and a crack, stone hands erupted from the floor and clamped onto their scrawny legs.

  “Wha—leg! My leg!”

  “Earth magic! She earth magic us!”

  “I hate magic!”

  Chloe cackled. “Bye bye!"

  She pointed at the nearest rat and flicked her wrist. A ripple of black magic zipped through the air and slammed into him. One second he was there, and the next, he wasn't.

  The next rat took a smaller hit, barely more than a shadowy zap to the chest. It didn’t kill him, but it sure did fry every strand of fur on his body. He let out a high-pitched noise somewhere between a sneeze and a scream before his eyes rolled back and he flopped to the ground.

  Another rat shrieked and started gnawing desperately at the stone hand gripping his ankle. Chloe watched this with mild amusement, then fired a blast of dark energy right between his eyes. The rat made a confused “bleh” noise and collapsed in a heap, tongue lolling out.

  One of the others, a slightly chubbier one with an eyepatch, suddenly let out a groan and flopped to the ground. “Ough! She got me!”

  Chloe raised an eyebrow. Even she knew this guy couldn't have possibly died, she hadn't even hit him! Wow. That was just embarrassing.

  She stomped over and gave him a kick to the side. Enough to send him sliding across the floor until he crashed into the wall and slumped over for real this time.

  Finally, the last rat standing dropped his weapon, threw up both arms, and shook his head wildly. “Mercy! Mercy, plea—”

  Yeah, no. Chloe pointed at him and blasted him with dark energy.

  [You have killed: Rat Folk Warrior (Level 10)]

  [You have killed: Rat Folk Warrior (Level 12)]

  [You have killed: Rat Folk Warrior (Level 12)]

  [...]

  [You have killed: Rat Folk Warrior (Level 13)]

  [Experience Awarded]