The stench of the sewed filled him like a foul exhale from the city's rotten gut. In simpler words, it was disgusting. Completely utterly disgusting.

  And worst, it was partially flooded. There was no way to walk on it without getting their feet submerged.

  Matheus did his best to ignore what he knew was in the water.

  Rick’s continuous complaints did nothing to help him with that.

  “It’s touching me!” he yelped. “Are you sure she went this way?”

  “To be honest, not really,” Matheus admitted. “But it’s very likely. If she is not here, I have no idea where else to look.”

  And the whole city is doomed, he thought, but didn’t say it out loud. No point in making Rick even more nervous.

  The passageway was only faintly illuminated by torches blazing a purple flame. Matheus wasn’t sure how the fire managed to stay burning for so long, since it didn’t seem like a lot of people came here. Probably there was some type of magic involved.

  There was almost no sound, only their steps and a constant dripping of distant water.

  “Radar,” Matheus said after a short while.

  There are 2 monsters in a fifty meters radius of your position.

  Yeah, it made sense there would be monsters here. It gave the feeling of a hidden area. And this was supposed to be the place of a high level quest, after all.

  The worst was, whatever type of creature lived here, it mostly likely would be different from the ones he’d faced so far. Which meant, they wouldn’t match the skulls he had on his inventory.

  “We need to be careful,” Matheus said, “Sophie has some type of spell that lets her attract monsters. We can’t let ourselves be cornered.”

  It didn’t take them long to find their first fungi.

  It grew in uneven patches, strange, fleshy masses like cauliflower and coral. Their surfaces pulsed subtly, as if they were breathing. Some even had thin, threadlike stalks rising from their centers, swaying in the air like antennae.

  When they got closer, Matheus had to close his mouth with his hand to stop himself vomiting. Even a small whiff of their scent - a mix of rotting meat with wet earth - was strong enough to make him instantly dizzy.

  Rick threw up right beside him, not able to contain himself. Seeing that, Matheus soon followed suit.

  “It smells so bad,” Rick said after they finally stopped.

  Matheus analyzed it.

  Cursed soul remnants

  The insistent remains of things that shouldn’t exist anymore. They will keep spreading until they can satiate their hunger.

  “Don’t touch it,” Matheus warned.

  “Believe me, I’ll be staying as far away as I can,” Rick answered, and they resumed their walking.

  Just a few minutes later they found some type of giant bat, with a long tail ending with a sharp scorpion sting.

  It had two arrows carved on its face, and by its appearance, it had been very recently killed.

  On one side, part of Matheus relaxed to have confirmation Sophie was indeed here, somewhere. He’d guess right, and they were on the right track. At the same time, he felt terrified. Knowing she was really here and they were walking to her direction made his whole body shiver.

  “If we find one of those, let me fight it. Our plan will only work if you save the sword for Sophie.”

  “I know,” Rick said, nodding.

  They kept walking, and twice more they saw the corpses of the same creatures, bodies completely skewered by arrows.

  “Why did she do it?” Rick asked suddenly. “She had an intense aura, but I never thought she was the type to just kill people like that.”

  “It's complicated,” Matheus started. He wasn’t sure how to explain. Would Rick even believe him? It didn’t seem worth mentioning the contest and that they were from another world. Rick would just have more questions. “I think she stopped seeing the difference between right and wrong.”

  “I haven’t seen people so terrified since… since a long time ago,” he completed after a while.

  “Yeah,” Matheus said. For his part, he had never seen anything like it. He truly hoped this was the first and last time he had to experience such pain and desolation at once.

  “It isn’t fair,” Rick grunted.

  “No, it isn’t.” Matheus said, not at all surprised. He had learned to not expect fairness from things a long time ago. “Life rarely is.”

  They walked the rest of the way in silence, until finally they found Sophie standing on her knees a few dozen meters away, painting symbols on the ground. All around her, there were inscriptions shining in a deep crimson light.

  “Radar,” Matheus whispered to his familiar.

  There are 7 monsters in a fifty meter radius of your position.

  This was bad. Especially because there was nothing but Sophie in his field of view. He’d no idea where those monsters were hidden, and it was most likely all a trap.

  Still, he’d known this was a possibility. In the end, it didn’t change a thing. They would have to face her, and deal with whatever she threw at them.

  He took Captain from his hood, gently petted his head and put him on the ground. “Follow the plan,” he said to Rick, who nodded and stayed behind while Matheus got closer.

  It was a last minute plan that he’d only created not even half an hour ago, but a plan was a plan. With some luck, it would work.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He got as close as he dared, trusting on his sneaking skill to cover his approach, and got ready to send a bubble ball.

  “I know you are here,” she said the moment he pointed his finger at her.

  Matheus said nothing, keeping his head low.

  “I have the blessing of the Danger Sense. The system lets me know the moment someone tries to attack me.”

  Even though he had been expecting something like that, Matheus couldn’t help but groan. He got cursed twice and she got blessed? It was so unfair!

  “What are you doing, Sophie? You said it yourself, one person alone wouldn’t be able to tame the demibeast.”

  “I’ll manage. You had your chance of helping me. In fact, I gave you way more than one chance. Instead, you’ve decided to stay on my way. I won’t spare you another time,” she said, grabbing an arrow and shooting before she finished the last word.

  Matheus ducked just in time, dodging it just by a few centimeters. He dashed at her, trying to close the distance as fast as he could. She fired again while he unleashed an echo clap, launching the arrow away.

  He lost his momentum and his head felt dizzy, but he kept running towards her. She slapped her fingers and he felt himself stumble on the air, losing his balance. The second clap came while he was falling, just in time to make Sophie drop her next arrow before she could release it.

  Matheus got up and started launching bubble balls, not giving her the opportunity to ready her bow. He attacked, trying to stab at her face, but even though he was stronger Sophie still was way faster, and she blocked with precision. He tried slashing low, only for her to step away and kick him on the back.

  He rolled with his knife still in his hand, and managed to avoid her next strike as her bow transformed into a blade and passed right in front of his face.

  He didn’t manage to avoid her next quick, which hit his left leg and put him on his knees.

  Before Sophie could advance, Rick appeared slashing, making her step back in surprise. She then grinned.

  “Rick? Did you really think Rick could help you?” she asked mockingly. “Oh, I see you got a new sword. Pity you don’t know how to use it.”

  Rick let out a war cry and lunged.

  “Dark nimbus,” Matheus bellowed, and a dark cloud appeared right above Sophie’s head, raining furiously. And then “For honor,” just before Rick closed in.

  Sophie raised her bow to block, only for Rick to faint and strike at her legs. She jumped away, but Rick was attacking again before her feet touched the ground.

  Sophie managed to block it, but she couldn’t get away from the defensive.

  Matheus grinned, remembering the notification from the system.

  Sword of the dragon master

  Effects: The bearer can use and learn all sword related skills. For 10 mana, it lets you use a sword skill +5 levels higher than it really is. For 100 mana, it lets you use a skill at its maximum level.

  Anyone else would have been pretty much unstoppable with the sword, especially after leveling up the new skills.

  As it was, Rick couldn’t learn the new skills, since his curse didn’t allow it. But thanks for the sword secondary effect, he could temporarily use a level 5 sword skill by spending his mana. Nothing overly powerful, however, Rick had been practicing with a blade since he was a little kid. He knew very well how to use a blade.

  And Sophie really wasn’t expecting it.

  Rick spun and thrusted, and Sophie had no choice but to retreat. She tried to strike back with her bow but Rick parried it easily, making her lose her balance. He took the opportunity to slash at her arm and managed to leave a nasty cut.

  He was incredible. There was nothing of the clumsiness Matheus had come to expect when Rick tried attacking with his sword. Now, all his movements were precise and quick, worthy of a true swordsman.

  Rick cut Sophie again, making her drop her bow. It was working. Matheus could barely believe it.

  Then suddenly the sword slipped from Rick’s hand and went flying, falling a few meters away.

  She lunged at him, but not fast enough to avoid getting splashed on the face by one of Matheus’ bubble balls.

  Rick took the opportunity to react and slapped her face as hard as he could, sending her back staggering. A bright red mark formed on Sophie’s cheek, perfectly outlining Rick’s hand.

  “You…” she growled at him, spitting blood.

  Matheus splashed her again, this time with a big enough ball to push her back. He put himself in front of Rick, knife raised.

  She was cornered and unarmed. He only needed to stun then kill her before she could do anything. With all the human skulls on his inventory, he had the advantage.

  And yet, instead of attacking at once, Matheus hesitated. “Give up, Sophie,” he tried. “Don’t make me do this.”

  She gave him a vicious grin, and snapped her fingers.

  Matheus increased his grip on his blade, ready for the wind explosion, but nothing happened.

  Then he heard a cracking sound coming from somewhere high, as if something was breaking, followed by several loud screeches.

  “Darkness,” Sophie said.

  And then everything went to shit.