As they regrouped, Shani finished checking Mikael. She looked quite surprised that Mikael wasn't hurt, because it was a pretty long fall.
"Done checking on the bloke miss?" questioned Vern. "We should be quick in this sewer, drowners prowlin' around."
"Y-yes." stuttered Shani, looking at Mikael suspiciously. "Yes, I'm done, he's fine."
Vern nodded, and he commanded the boys to go forward, clearing the path for Shani. As soon as the soldiers disappeared, Shani questioned Mikael. "What are you? Your bones should be broken from that fall."
"You should worry about that later." said Mikael, pointing at the soldiers who are walking away from them. "For now, the job."
Shani just frowned at Mikael, and she walked, following the soldiers in front of them.
Mikael followed behind her, looking around the sewers, finding it interesting.
The sewers are filled with excrement, green liquid scattered about, the stench is unbearable for normal people. A thick green fog was covering the track in front, sounds of Drowners prowling echoed throughout the sewers, making the soldiers alert.
"Drowners ahead," said Vern, unsheathing his sword, along with the rest of the unit.
The gurgling sounds of drowners were in front of them, and they were ready to fight at any time.
"Miss, you should stay back, " continued Vern. he turned to Mikael. "You, protect the miss."
Mikael just shrugged, and stayed close to Shani.
Then, not a minute later, Drowners appeared. Their blue skin, bloated stomach, and foul smell could be seen and smelled. There were 8 drowners, too many for a monster's nest…
"Shit!" cursed Vern as the Drowners rushed towards the soldiers. Nols did the first strike, injuring a drowner, its foul blood spread everywhere.
The soldiers fought as they could, they made quick work of the Drowners as Miklas killed two of them with one swing of the ax, and Franz killed one, stabbing its head with a dagger.
But Franz was attacked by another drowner, it bit his leg, making it bleed profusely. He screamed painfully as the drowners bit him, his voice echoed through the sewers.
"Fuck! Bring Franz to the medic!" shouted Vern after killing the last of the drowners.
Nols then dragged Franz to Shani, who quickly cut his bitten area's trousers, and started to administer Spirit to it. "This is going to hurt Franz, but don't shout!" warned Shani.
Franz nodded weakly, and Shani then showered the wound with spirit, making Franz groan in pain.
"There! It should stop the infection." exclaimed Shani.
"Hey you!" shouted Vern suddenly, pointing at Mikael. "Replace Franze."
"Sure." said Mikael casually.
"Fucking peasants, don't have dicipline." scoffed Vern. They then continued walking, following Vern as he opened doors with a skeleton key.
"A bit strange don't you think?" said Mikael suddenly.
"What?" Vern grumbled.
"Drowners." continued Mikael. "In another beast's lair."
"You a witcher or somethin'?"
"No." scoffed Mikael. "It's common sense. Beasts aren't exactly friendly towards other beings."
"True," said Vern. "But we aren't here to kill the beast, we're here to take samples of the venom."
"Well… too late now…."
"What d'you mean?"
Mikael pointed at a corridor. "A big toad."
Vern turned to the corridor, and saw a big ass toad, blisters around its body, leaping quickly towards them. Its mouth split open, revealing its tongue, who quickly launched at them.
"Watch out!" shouted Vern to his other boys as the tongue targeted them.
The boys turned to the tongue, and their faces paled.
They didn't move, scared of the monster.
But then, Mikael moved. He unsheathed one of his many swords, and as the tongue launched towards the soldiers, he cut them from the side, and it bled profusely.
"Bloody hell!" Miklas cursed as the cut part of the tongue dropped in front of him.
"You okay mate?" questioned Mikael calmly, his sword covered in blood.
"A-Aye…" Miklas murmured.
Mikael turned to Vern, and shrugged. "He's okay."
Vern, meanwhile, was quite baffled at Mikael's ability. "R-Right." He turned towards the toad, and saw that it was groaning in pain, tongueless.
Then, the toad's eyes sharpened, and its stomach started to bloat. The toad then released a barrage of sticky substances from his mouth, and shot it to Mikael.
Meanwhile, Mikael just stood in front of everyone, twisted his sword so the blood got cleaned off, and sliced the liquid easily, splitting it, so it didn't hit the group.
Mikael then saw the toad run back to its nest, deep in the sewers.
"Wow, a coward." whistled Mikael. He then turned towards the soldiers, who looked at him with surprise and shock. "You guys alright?"
"Y-Yes…" stammered Vern.
Meanwhile, Shani was also watching Mikael with shock. "You're really skilled with a sword aren't you?"
"What? Surprising for an armless guy like me?" teased Mikael.
"W-Wait, that's not what I meant–"
"Relax, just kidding." said Mikael. "You got the samples?"
"Yes, but I need stronger venoms," said Shani. "We need to get to the lair."
"Are you mad, miss?!" questioned Vern. "We're almost killed! If not for this blok-"
"Look commander, if you want to go back, you can go," said Mikael. "I'll help her retrieve the venom."
"A-Ah…" Vern murmured. "Then we'll go too."
"Vern, you should go back." said Shani. "Franz's injured, and I think he's more than capable of defending me."
"A-Are you sure, miss?"
"I'm sure."
"T-Then alright…"
—
Mikael was now alone with Shani, walking through the nasty sewers of Oxenfurt. Mikael was holding a torch, lighting the way.
You are reading story The Witcher: Living in the Continent with Scarlet Rot Ability at novel35.com
"Let me hold it." said Shani. "The torch."
"Why?"
"You only have one arm, Mikael," said Shani. "Use it for a sword."
"It's fine," said Mikael. "You don't have to hold anything."
Shani raised her eyebrow, she then blocked his way, before snatching the torch from his hand. She gives a challenging look at Mikael, making him raise his eyebrow.
"Whatever." said Mikael, rolling his eyes.
They both continued to walk through the sewers, there are no drowner noises anymore, which is a good sign.
"So, why did you kick them out?" asked Mikael.
"I thought they'll be a burden."
"Don't let those boys hear you." chuckled Mikael. "Or they'll be heartbroken."
Shani rolled her eyes. "They're just colleagues."
"I can see that."
As they arrived at another door, they saw a corpse, dangling from a strange green liquid above. Shani aimed the torch at it, revealing a dead woman.
"Poor girl." murmured Shani sadly.
"You know what happened?"
"There's a legend about the monster." Shani continued. "Whomever should kiss the beast, it would turn the beast into a handsome prince."
Mikael chuckled. "Ah… lonely women… should just come to me… if they don't mind that I only have one arm…"
Shani giggled as Mikael said that. "Lonely too?"
"Eh, it gets kinda stale traveling alone." shrugged Mikael. "Used to travel with an old man… that was interesting."
"You traveled with Vesemir?" asked Shani curiously, opening another door.
"Yeah, but we parted ways, I went here, and he went to Kaedwin."
"Must be an interesting man." commented Shani, lighting up a torch nearby.
"Have a lot of interesting stories." said Mikael, nodding. "A wise man."
They then arrived at an opening, it was a big hole, all of the sewers lead to it.
"Looks like this is it." commented Mikael. "You should gather those venoms now."
"What will you do?"
"Well, I'm going to try to kill the beast." answered Mikael, surprising Shani. "If I kill it, won't bring trouble no more right?"
"Well, yeah… but, are you sure?"
"I'm sure." nodded Mikael. "You should go now."
"No, I'll hide somewhere," said Shani. "What if you got knocked out or something?"
"You seem to not have confidence in me at all." snorted Mikael.
"I just met you this morning…"
"Alright, fair point." hummed Mikael. "Mind giving me some spirits?"
"What for?"
"Baiting the monster."
"Are you saying that toad liked alcohol?"
"Mixed with blood apparently." shrugged Mikael. "It was drawn to us when you administered spirits to Franz's wounds."
"Right…" Shani then took out a bottle of spirits, and gave it to him. "What about the blood? You're not going to cut yourself ar-"
Before she finished the sentence, Mikael cut himself in the palm, holding the sharp edge of the sword tightly.
"Idiot…" Shani sighed.
"What?" shrugged Mikael as he poured spirit to his palm. "Ooooh, that burns…"
"Well, you should hide now, Shani." said Mikael as he jumped into the hole.
As Mikael jumped to the lair, he could already hear the slurpy sounds of the toad. The toad jumped from one of the sewers, staring at Mikael menacingly.
"Hello toad." said Mikael as he held his sword tightly.
The toad made slurpy sounds again, and it quickly leaped towards Mikael. Mikael then dashed, cutting the toad's stomach easily. Entrails spread through Mikael's body as the venom also hit him, but thankfully, he's immune to disease.
"Fuck! That's gross…" cursed Mikael, getting rid of the entrails around his body. He spat the blood that entered his mouth, and checked the toad.
It's dead. It's trying to stay alive, twitching rapidly.
"Well… that was easy…" murmured Mikael. "Shani! Come out! It's done!"
"It is?!" Shani answered. Mikael then saw Shani jump into the hole. "That was quick." she said.
As she looked at Mikael's body, she panicked a bit. She took a cloth from her pocket, and ran to him. "Did you swallow the green liquid?" she questioned worriedly as she cleaned his face with her cloth.
Mikael blushed and coughed in embarrassment. "N-No… It's fine Shani, you can take the venom from the source now."
"A-Ah…" Shani blushed a bit, but quickly got rid of it. "Right…"
Shani walked towards the toad corpse, who doesn't move anymore, and took a couple of vials of venom from it.
But then, the toad's carcass changed in front of her.
"M-Mikael…" said Shani.
"Yeah?"
"T-The toad… turned to a man…"
Mikael then walked up to her, and saw a brown skinned man, laying on the ground, naked, his entrails everywhere.
"Well, it's probably fine…"