The team walked through the dark tunnel lit by the magic lights hovering above the raised palms of mages for a few minutes until they reached another wall.
The bossy Tariaksuq of the Frostgale household, Taur, used so magic again and just like before, the stone of the wall shuddered and beca transparent, opening a view to a wider tunnel and bringing in the sound of dripping water and stench.
This was a tunnel of the city sewer system that was as intricate as the magic labyrinth. The tunnels of the sewers run under the whole city crossing each other with many intersections and even had a few levels. Just as the center of the city was on the top of the hill with streets running down the hill and to the plain at the feet of the hill, so were the sewers running in the haphazard contours under the city structures.
With the developnt of magic technology such things as tap water and baths in the houses that were considered luxury worthy of only noble houses in the outskirts region towns and villages, in the safe region cities were a lot more common and could be owned by minor nobles and rchants. The houses were no longer individual structures but were many floor buildings packed close to each other with several living apartnts on the floor owned by different people. This of course brought the need for better drainage and sewer systems than that of the outskirts regions.
Of course, what made such things a lot more available is the fact that this was a safe region.
Building caves and tunnels under the populated areas in the monster danger region was a risk-inducing idea as they would no doubt be the weak point of defense and would allow the monsters to infiltrate the living area. The villages of the outskirts region at most had a drainage pipe and towns had a smaller version of the sewers that were regularly patrolled by the city guards and even had occasional clean-up missions given out by the Guild to prevent their infestation with the monsters.
Here in the safe region, this risk was gone, with it, the sewers lost the need for careful patrolling and were more of a chore that city guards tended to slack on. Because of that, it beca the preferred area for criminal activity.
As the team walked out of the tunnel into the sewers, they saw a small cart with a small lizard-like creature pulling that stood at the side with two n standing guard beside it.
The crates with captured won were loaded into carts. As the two guards nodded toward the newcors they turned around and walked back through the hidden tunnel back to the mansion where the team just ca from. As the cart was loaded, Taur went ahead leading the team down the tunnels. Noah and Brianna joined the company of Frostgale households that surrounded the cart following behind the Tariaksuq with Gorig and another werewolf of the Bloodhound silently splitting with Gorig going to the front and the second man going to the very back.
The area may have been poorly patrolled, however eting a patrol was still a possibility, which did not allow them to walk leisurely. With two werewolves at the front and back, they could be sure to notice soone's presence a lot sooner than the patrol would notice them.
Taur led their team through an intricate path without hesitation, clearly knowing these tunnels well. After half an hour's walk, they reached an intersection area where several tunnels ca together creating a wide cavern-like space, with one arch closed off with the thick fence.
As they walked to the fence, Taur took out so dallion from his pocket and raped it with it on the tal grate, before stretching his hand through the rest and opening his palm to show the dallion laying in it.
A few monts of silence later the quiet sound of a tal lock click was heard and the fence opened with a light push. Even though that fence looked old and worn it worked with such silence as if it was newly made.
Two n at the side of Taur pushed the fence open and let the team walk through the arch following Taur further into the dark tunnel before closing the fence behind them. As they followed the rest of the team the tal doors clicked, locking the path again.
They walked a few monts before stopping at the huge double doors with a table standing at the side, where a man sat on the chair with his legs on the tabletop while swirling a knife in his hands.
"Five hundred." Said the man without looking at the newcors.
Taur raised an eyebrow at the man in silence, without moving.
"The prices are high today. Every rat wants to get to the event, the place is cramd already. Want to get in today, this is the price. Otherwise, co another day." Said the man stopping to pick at his nails with the point of his knife and looking up at the n leading the team.
Taur sighed and took a small pouch that made a tallic clang as it dropped on the table.
The Man finally moved his legs away from the table and opened the pouch quickly, scanning its contents, before closing it again and stuffing the pouch under his waist.
Then he pressed his hand on the wall near the table and muttered sothing.
The big door made a loud noise and swung open, opening a path into another dark tunnel that was unlike the one they walked through before. This one looked more natural with no bricks and cobbles in the walls and floor, yet it exuded a feel of being artificial as the straight solid stone walls and the floor looked chiseled and polished clearly beyond what could be made by nature. This was the entrance to the Black Market Dungeon.
The team silently moved forward following the Frostgale family man and Gorig at the lead, with Noah and Brianna sneaking in under the cover of the n belonging to the team.
Just as Noah walked through the dungeon entrance a quick blue light flashed in the corner of his view but was gone so quickly that Noah thought he was seeing things.
/Hmm? What was that?/ He asked in his mind.
/What?/ Asked back Ugy, with a deadpan tone.
/I…thought I saw so blue light as if an announcent window ca up./ Said Noah hesitatingly.
/No. There were no system announcents./ Said Ugy.
/No, I definitely saw sothing…/
/Maybe so glitch? There may still be so errors after nightmares took over the system functions. Do you want to run troubleshooting?/
/This is not the ti to limit your functions like last ti. Make it later./ Said Noah.
/Understood./ Said Ugy.
*****
Ugy sat in the armchair watching the TV screen divided into multiple parts with one part showing an unstopping stream of strange codes and one part showing the white screen of the Comnt section, with another half screen showing Noah in the real world walking through the dark tunnel under the city.
/This world sucks. My life is hell now and there's no place for in this world anymore./ Posted soone in the comnt section.
People in the comnt section were a weird bunch with strange thoughts in their heads, but they were mostly good-natured people and a friendly community that considered each other as friends even though they interacted from across the globe from each other and never t each other in person.
After this comnt, people in the comnts sensed the dark mood of the person that wrote the comnt and a few concerned replies quickly appeared, asking what was wrong and encouraging him to talk with them about his problems.
However, as always there were also a few joking and toxic comnts as well from people that did not take the words of a comnter seriously.
/Cultivate a thousand years, beco a god, and change the world. Problem solved./ Said one person.
/Go isekai then./ Answered another person adding a strange picture of a road with white stripes painted across it. But there was a white outline of a person lying on the road painted on the side, with a bloody puddle near it.
/I already called the service. It is on the way./ Said the next person posting a picture of a truck.
/Intense breathing./ Replied a person adding a picture of five people in sunglasses holding a coffin on their shoulders.
/Here's so advice: if life sucks, suck it back harder./ Replied a person posting a picture of a girl with her mouth extended and looking up.
/Horny detected./ Soone replied to the previous comnt with a picture of a dog holding a baseball bat.
/Shut up people, what would you do if he committed unlife for real because of you, insensitive bastards? So what happened friend?/
/Chill fellas./ Replied the author of the initial comnt. /I am not about to do sothing drastic, just sothing very nasty happened today and I don't know what to do, so I poured it out here./
/Share with us, dude. What's your problem?/
/My family found my porn./
/It's not so bad. This happened to too./
/Parents would understand. It's a natural thing for a guy/
/It was my little sister. She found my stash of Loli H magazines./
…
…
…
/Die/
/Die/
/Shineeeeee/
/Commit unlife pervert/
/Chill fellas truck is on its way already./
/Drive over him twice just to be sure./
/Send him to the Goblin slayer world as a weak village girl!/
/Give my concern back you son of a bitch!/ *This reply was blocked for swearing.*
As the comnts stread on the screed the face of a plush bear sitting in the armchair suddenly changed into that of horror as he saw Noah walk inside the dungeon.
"Oh fuck." Said Ugy grabbing the TV control and quickly tapping the mute button half a second after a *DING* the sound of announcent sounded from it but quickly disappeared before Noah could even notice it, thinking that he just heard things.
Tapping more buttons Ugy quickly made a pop-up window with the words "condition has been t, new skill has been created", disappear before Noah saw it as well.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not that skill! Not that skill! Fuck! Son of a bi…." Muttered Ugy throwing away the TV control and making a keyboard appear in front of him and starting to tap it with flash-like movents while staring intently at the codes on one part of the screen.
"What was that? You said sothing?" Sounded the voice from behind him and a second later Yuko's face showed from around the corner, coming from the kitchen.
"What?" Said Ugy turning quickly around while the keyboard and comnt section screen with code screen quickly disappeared.
"That." Said Yuko walking inside the room and squinting her eyes, watching with suspicion at the plush bear whose face full of horror when she walked in was quickly replaced with an unskillful poker face a mont later. "What was that thing, you just hid with the guilty look on your face?"
"Nothing." Said Ugy with an emotionless plain expression.
"What did you just do?" Asked Yuko, still staring.
"N…nothing." Said the plush bear with his eyes jumping from side to side but not looking back at her.
Yuko watched him with squinted eyes in silence while Ugy sat not looking at her with his eyebrow twitching from a poker face he was forcing out.
"Really?"
"Umm."
"Sus" said Yuko. "You are definitely guilty." She said walking back to the kitchen
When she was gone, Ugy quickly made the keyboard appear and started to nervously tap on it with quick movents.
Yuko silently crept back from behind the corner looking at the bear with squinted eyes.
"Definitely did sothing." She whispered with a smirk.
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