System Break - Chapter 183: Crocroaches

The tunnels became smaller and carried a foot of fetid water. In parts it flowed and others it was stagnant and still. It appeared the elite mansions each had their own sewer system connecting to one of the main tunnels from the city.

The flow from the rest of the city was carried in a larger tunnel directly towards the lake. The chittering sound carried down it like it was a monster highway, so I tried to find the Janissare connection as quickly as possible.

It would be on my left but so far the only feeders were on my right. It made sense that their sewer would go from the mansion towards the lake and connect further up so I kept moving down.

My once beautiful black boots were covered in disgusting goop but at least they were waterproof. My drew my sword as soon as I saw the cores in front of me. I turned – there were cores behind and fortunately they were further away.

I head towards the lake with sword in one hand and torch in the other. The main tunnel was large so I could walk upright easily but it was too large for me to spread my feet either side of the goop.

When the monsters were a dozen feet away they were already sprinting at me. They knew exactly where I was from the noise I made or the disruption of the water. I was certain they weren’t tracking me by smell.

Their cores were small, larger than a feral and smaller than an orks. The size of a core was relative to how much trouble they would be to kill. The only exception to this rule were Trolls.

Trolls were fucking hard to kill.

It was hard to decide whether they were insects or reptiles. Their body was scaly, but their four legs were thin and bent backwards at the rear. They had a tail and antenna on the horns on their ugly heads. They were long, thin with several sharp horns. Two on their head, one on the end of their tail and one on each knee. Their spine had a long single row of horns.

It was hard to discern their colour in the dark, dirty tunnel but it seemed to be a deep dark green which almost appeared black in the dim light of my torch. At first I thought they had no eyes until I saw the dark slits either side of their long flat head.

My sword slashed down as the first charged and I dubbed him Crocroach as the arc of my qi sliced his snout in two.

The Crocroach’s horns were tipped with qi and I imagined it would be a type of qi strike. I was glad the sword was a finesse weapon which struck quickly. Rather than use strength, I used finesse and my qi to slice the bastards one after the other. There were six in all and I dodged backwards quickly as I flicked my sword up and down. Waves of qi flew from the blade slicing through them like a sharp knife through spam.

Ignoring the skins I dug out their cores and popped the first into my mouth restoring my meagre qi reserve. It took too much time even without skinning and I had to fight another four who attacked from the opposite direction.

“You stupid Crocroaches,” I said. I drew and threw knife after knife using my qi to guide and power them – sending directly through their head and chest. It was more economical than the rapier and the sharp throwing knives had better range.

I worked as fast as I could. I didn’t want to spend all night in the tunnel piling up corpses. It was profitable but the least fun I’d had in a long time including the fight where I died.

If the undercity was dangerous, these were the peons. It made sense because if it was extremely dangerous they would have never been able to build the sewer and incorporate it into the existing underground tunnels.

With nine cores in my sack I ran until I found an offshoot to my left. I didn’t need the spirit stone yet because I had kept track of the Janissare core.

Their sewer tunnel was much smaller, and I had to crouch. It was the first time I was glad to be in Gunt’s body, my old lump would have never fit. Not without crawling on my stomach and the thought sent a shiver up my spine.

I kept an eye on the flow and chose the junctions with the tunnel headed up and towards the land core. I marked each intersection twice on either side with different orientated dashes – a system of my own devising. I then added two more dashes with other orientations, to the wrong path, so if someone was in hot pursuit they’d have to solve the riddle first.

The tunnel headed steadily upwards, and the land core got closer and closer. I wasn’t surprised that I was still underground but higher than the land core, it was part of the undercity and connected to the new building above it.

I heard a plop and then another. The constant drip was ahead and then I saw its source. A vertical tunnel which led up to a hole where the occupants, pissed, shat, and puked.

I kept moving, I wanted to find a storm water, water drain or even an opening to the undercity. Eventually I was above the land core and my wish came true. The tunnel became taller and wider for a section and I could see a grate above. It was long and I could see a dimly lit wall above it.

The grate section I chose was stubborn, and I checked off another item I had to bring on my next heist. If there was a next one. Oil. The rusty old grate made too much noise when I pushed it up from its entrenched position against the wall in a cool room.

The room was stacked with wine and other foodstuffs. I pulled myself up and put the grate back in position, but the next time I needed to yank it, it would come free easily.

I reached for the spirit stone and hung it from my finger. I was covered in piss and shit, and smelled like a sewer, but I was inside. The spirit stone titled up and to my left.