Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 104:City of Creatures (2)

there were so many of them in the special class this year. They actually had two missions this time rather then just one.

The first mission was to explore the underground section of the city, which was made for the animals that dwelled underground. Helping the city officials to catch a certain lost pet.

Simple, except the underground parts of the city hadn’t yet been fully domesticated. So there were still plenty of wild monsters looking to eat or kill you.

The second mission was to help expand a part of the city by fighting off any monsters that attacked.

It was obvious which mission was better.

"Let’s just draw lots. "

"Raymond, I don’t trust you and your magic enough to do that with you."

His jaw dropped, he had expected this to be easy but Zachary had already thrown his plans into the dumpster.

"Why don’t we spar to see who gets first pick?"

"Then I’ll go."

"Noelle sit back down."

Noelle immediately stood up at the mention of a spar, only to immediately be shot down by Ellen.

"What about rock paper scissors?"

"That’s...fair." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After agreeing on rock paper scissors, team one sending out Raymond while team two sent out Zachary.

The two made eye contact, holding out a hand to each other as they spoke in unison.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors. Sh-

Zachary’s eyes glinted in a subtle white. His reflexes speeding up nearly threefold as he activated his skill. Everything moving in slow motion for him as he strained his vision. Watching as Raymond extended two fingers.

A smirk appeared on his face, keeping his hand and fingers still.

-oot!"

The outcome was expected, with team one letting out a collective groan as they realized which team had won.

"Then. We’ll take the city defense mission."

Raymond sighed, his shoulders drooping. Now his team would have to take the underground search mission.

Once everyone had turned away however, and it was just him and Ellen. The two quietly fist bumped each other.

Perfect.

Why in the hell would they take a defense mission? Searching for a lost pet suited Raymond and Ellen much more then defending a construction crew. But that wasn’t the main point.

The two were here in order to find the lab after all, and the search mission gave them much more leeway in that.

So Raymond had been sent in order to purposefully lose, right before the two had stepped up. He had cast False Future Sight to predict the most likely outcome of what Zachary would choose, making it a walk in the park to pretend to lose.

"I trusted you Raymond."

"Damn it, we should have just sparred."

The downside was that he now had two very dissatisfied teammates both quietly muttering under their breaths, but that was a small issue.

The two glared at him, just the thought of going into a dark musty underground already made them irritated.

He sighed, oh the struggles of saving the world! Hated despite the good intentions he had.

It’s not like the underground parts of Mirovia City were that bad!

Sure, it was a bit dark and damp. But it was still quite developed and safe. With massive caverns and tunnels, the underground was supposedly made to resemble the living conditions of dwarves. Although it was actually meant for the more...unusual looking creatures rather then any intelligent being. The ones that unfortunately weren’t as picturesque as the ones above ground.

Case in point was the current thing crawling around their legs.

"...what even is this thing?"

"You might hurt its feelings if you keep calling it a thing."

Noelle stared at the creature move, its entire body resembling an elongated brown pool noodle with legs. Despite the legs, the way it moved resembled more worm then centipede as it pulsed back and forth. Its body rippling like jelly as it oozed slime behind it in a trail.

After moving around for a bit, the strange creature curled up slightly. Rapidly using its legs to dig into the dirt walls and disappear.

"So disgusting...!" Noelle gagged, watching as it slipped away.

"I thought I knew disgusting when I saw how gu poison was prepared. But that was a different level of disgusting."

Even Lin Qingyi thought it was disgusting, Raymond honestly felt pity for the poor thing at this point. Its not like it chose to be that way!

Ellen, who had decades of experience with disgusting creatures barely even spared it a glance. Her calm demeanor a stark contrast to Noelle and Lin Qingyi who were both covering their mouths to prevent them from hurling up their stomach contents.

Looking at a map of the underground, she said. "We’re still in the center part of the underground so it’s still safe here. But the underground’s development hasn’t yet reached the same level as the above ground so it’s a lot smaller."

He cautiously raised a hand, suggesting to the team. "Why don’t we split up? This thing is probably going to be difficult to find after all. We can cover more ground that way."

"Then let’s do me and Raymond on one team while you two are on the other."

Noelle interrupted them, "Hold on. You two are the best at tracking things. So why are me and Lin on one team?"

"You’re right. I forgot how bad you are at this."

Raymond silently moved away, watching as Ellen and Noelle began bickering with each other again. This incident marked their fourth time already, despite the fact the rock paper scissors match was only an hour ago.

"Those two argue a lot."

"They get along as well as cats and dogs."

At least he still had a normal voice of reason to talk to. Something that seemed to disappear from Ellen whenever Noelle was involved.

Someone who was 41 years old mentally still arguing with someone who was only 16. How sad...

After several minutes however,seeing their argument still going strong with no signs of ending anytime soon. He let out a ’tsk’.

"Should we just leave them?"

"Won’t your master get angry?"

"She won’t even notice."

"Then let’s go. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

While Ellen and Noelle continued arguing, the two of them not even noticing as him and Lin Qingyi walked away.

Hearing the echo of their argument quietly fade away, Raymond smiled at the sudden inner peace that he gained. It was so amazingly quiet now, he didn’t know what the academy was thinking when they assigned these teams. Their only concern seemed to be making sure that he was with Ellen and Cador with Lucy. (But don’t they know that Ellen and Noelle hated each other?!)

Raymond would actually rather have Lucy and Cador over Noelle and Lin Qingyi. No offense to either of them but in terms of senses Lucy was easily the best. (Although Ellen would beat her in terms of vision.)

That was only when Lucy fused with her pets of course. Outside of that, Ellen would beat her for every sense.

But right now, Cador’s nose would have been exceptionally useful. Since he could sniff the location.

Not that it was needed, he was an Archmage after all. He had plenty of options at his disposal. But completing something too fast never rewarded you, it only brought you more work once people realized how competent you were.

The two of them paused, without skipping a beat. Raymond immediately summoned his staff, with Lin Qingyi pulling out a tang sword from its sheath. Her eight other swords still remained within the rectangular casing she carried however, likely since she didn’t wish to tire out too quickly.

"I’ll hold them back while you deal with them."

"They’re only at the F-rank, we can deal with them easily."

What a joke, Raymond had already recovered his first circle and was now considered an E-rank. Although his actual combat strength allowed him to easily pummel several dozen E-ranks at the same time.

Lin Qingyi hadn’t yet undergone the first tempering, but she had managed to get into the special class for a reason. She too was much stronger then the average F-rank.

The two got into a stance, just in time as a pair of monsters burst through the tunnel walls. Immediately locking onto the two of them.

The underground creatures really were a lot different then the aboveground ones. The pair of monsters seemed to be a parent and a child. Both nearly the size of two adult males stacked together, with an appearance similar to a praying mantis except with claws rather then pincers.

Raymond wasted no time, immediately casting a spell. He didn’t have access to any of his dimension or time magic that could actually be used in combat so he still had to resort to his ice magic.

Locking on to the larger one, several dozen spears of ice forming in the air behind him.

At the same time, frost slowly crept up the walls of the cavern. The two monsters might be able to escape if the cavern collapsed on them. But Raymond and Lin Qingyi definitely couldn’t.

Lin Qingyi flourished her sword slightly, immediately rushing in towards the two monsters. A mystical purple light following her with each step.

The moment she reached the two, Raymond launched half of his spears towards the larger one. Forcing it to respond as she sent a flurry of slashes towards the other.

The monster let out a screech, its thick exoskeleton blocking most of her attacks as it furiously tried to grab her with its claws.

Ducking under a swipe, she exhaled. The tip of her tang sword flashing with a purple gleam as she thrust it in an upwards motion.

Like a hot knife and butter, her sword easily penetrated the jaw. Continuing on its path and coming out the top of its skull. White and grey brain matter coming out as she withdrew her sword.

All the while, Raymond kept the other bigger one away from her. Constantly harrassing it with projectiles and barriers made of ice. Preventing it from interfering in their duel.

Seeing Lin Qingyi defeat hers and move away, Raymond finally relaxed. Now that she wasn’t in the blast zone anymore, he didn’t have to hold back.

"Freezing Prison. Icicle Surge."

Pillars of ice shot up from the ground, converging onto a single point above as it trapped the monster within seconds. At the same time, nearly a hundred sharp icicles flew out from all directions around it.

It didn’t matter how hard the monster tried to block, when there were always dozens more coming from every direction.

In the end, within just a minute. It was already dead, greenish-yellowish blood pouring from its hundreds of wounds.

Lin Qingyi watched with an impressed expression on her face, marvelling at his speed.

"Amazing. We should spar sometime."

Dammit, why did everyone love to fight so much?!