469 Chapter 469: Cleaning out the Vermin (1/2)
The moment the Cyclops Rats came within view, I unleashed my blazing arrow. Alnasl struck the front of the horde and then exploded, engulfing the vanguard in furious flames.
And then something unexpected happened. Now that I thought about it, I should have expected it, but I was being stupid. Come on, I am an arts student (not literal art, but in terms of humanities, such as literature and history), not a science student. How was I supposed to know what would follow?
In any event, the explosion triggered a chain reaction. Let's just say there's a lot of methane in the sewers, and the sewage itself is highly inflammable. A single spark onto the damned sludge was all that was needed to ignite the entire thing. The sewage spontaneously combusted, turning into an immense inferno that swept across the innards of the sewer and consumed the poor swarm of Cyclops Rats ravenously.
It didn't just stop at where the Cyclops Rats were, the flames continued to sweep through the entire space, the fiery tendrils reaching out throughout the underground passageways beneath Lupin City. Not just below Shrewsbury neighborhood, but basically almost all the space underneath the entire city was engulfed in flames.
”Oh, shit!”
I honestly did not expect this to happen. Cursing under my breath, I turned and dove at the two kids, knocking them down. At the same time, I cast a defensive spell.
”Ice Fortress!”
An igloo basically appeared above us, and I layered it with multiple Scutum Sobiescianum to protect it from the front, where the flames were coming from. Between the Constellation shields and my Ice Fortress, I also summoned Snow Aegis, in hopes that it would absorb most of the damage from the incoming flames.
There was a surge in temperature and I felt intense heat scald my skin as it billowed across my defenses. The shields all held – turned out that my defenses were overkill. It wasn't as if I was nuking the sewer. I just set off a chain reaction, so these were just normal flames spreading across the entirety of the sewers. The automated sprinklers went off and began extinguishing the flames, but after a few seconds, I realized that my Constellation shields and icy defenses were little more than charred. There wasn't much damage done to them.
Well…better over-prepared than not being prepared at all, I guess.
”You guys okay?” I asked as I rose to my feet, checking on Adrian and Melina. The two kids nodded and also got up, checking themselves over for any sign of injuries. Thankfully it didn't seem like they suffered anything worse than smudges.
I activated the x-ray function on my glasses and scanned past my frost barrier, making sure that it was safe before I dismissed my protective spells. There were still a lot of flames – the amount of fire that raged through the sewers was nothing short of catastrophic, after all. However, it wasn't as bad as before, thanks to the foam being sprayed from above. Hell, the concrete pathways above the sewage – where the kids and I stood – were finally clear when the sensors detected no trace of flames around us. Only the sludge continued to burn defiantly, but even these embers were gradually being extinguished by the sprinklers above.
With nothing to worry about, I then deactivated my protective spells, though I almost regretted it when the stench struck us with full force. Not only was there still traces of the foul sewage stench, it was mixed with the scent of roasted meat. The flames had thoroughly burned the poor Cyclops Rats into oblivion, leaving scorched remains behind.
From the distance, I scanned the blackened husks with my glasses to ensure there wasn't any movement, and then I wiped my forehead in relief. Seemed like we had achieved our goal at least. At that moment, I was still unaware that I had basically sterilized the entire sewers under the city, so I didn't know how far the flames had extended to.
Nonetheless, I needed to remain cautious. Nodding to the kids, I began striding forward.
”We need to ensure they are all dead,” I told them. Then I grinned. ”This would be good training experience for you two.”
The two kids looked a little sick, but they decided to tag along for now. After all, they were the ones who insisted on tagging along, so they couldn't blame me for assigning them the dirty work.
*
I'm going to spare you the grisly details of our exploration of the sewer, and needless to say, after going through the corpses, we decided to go up. There wasn't much to say, except to burn the carcasses to ash with my fire spells. There were a few survivors, but terribly weakened, they could do little more than snap at our heels, and these I left to Adrian and Melina to put out of their misery, under the excuse of them getting combat experience.
Well, it was true. Even when terribly weakened and injured, the Cyclops Rats remained a huge threat to the uninitiated. The saying that a cornered mouse would bite even a cat was true, and these Cyclops Rats were still deadly if underestimated. They just didn't need much more to take out since I already did a lot of damage, so Adrian and Melina dispatched them relatively easily, but they still had to remain on alert and learned quite a bit in terms of practical combat.
”All right, we're done for the day. Let's go up.”
”Yay!”
Adrian and Melina cheered, unable to hold back their relief and delight at finally being able to leave this godforsaken place. I didn't blame them. I wasn't very fond of sticking around in this stinky place. And I hoped we could find somewhere to get a shower and a change of clothes after this. Ugh. The smell was sticking to our clothing. Fortunately, we could clean them using magic – especially since I had chosen to learn more ice spells (which was technically under the umbrella of water magic), so there wasn't much to worry about even if Wai Po didn't possess a working bathroom.
As I suspected, she didn't, and the three of us decided to set up camp at the corner of the road somewhere. After resting for a bit, I waited for evening to draw close before I summoned a flock of Corvus and dispersed them throughout the neighborhood.
”What are you doing?” Adrian asked, watching the black crows spread out in the darkening sky.
”Finishing the job. Did you forget? We've to ensure that the neighborhood will not be attacked by Cyclops Rats again. We might have just exterminated only a small fraction of the horde. We never did find the nest, after all.”
”Ah…so there might be a lot more than the hundred or so we killed?” Melina looked pale. I shrugged indifferently.
”There is that possibility. And if there is, we'll leave a couple alive, so that we can follow them back to their nest.”