MMORPG: Rebirth of the Shadow Mage

Ding... Ding...

Ringing the bell on the table I waited until a receptionist came.

" Show me your card and the quest "

Soon a middle-aged man with a grey beard and strong accent appeared behind the counter.

Handing him the quest paper and my Adventurer's card I had to wait a few minutes until he had written something onto the book.

" Adventurer Leo, you have 5 days to complete the quest, Good Luck! "

Nodding my head I left the building and opened my map. As per usual the quest location was marked in red.

~~~~

Standing before the entrance to the sewers I was frantically gasping for fresh air. The smell was disgusting.

Looking at the wide tunnel before me I noticed some feces on the ground. Inspecting them closer I saw that their size was way bigger than a normal rat's.

Somehow managing to calm my aching stomach I took out the Eerie staff and summoned Fenrir.

' Let's go '

Taking a few steps forward I entered the dark tunnel.

Whoosh...

The darkness surrounding me partially disappeared due to a white flame burning on top of my palm.

Even though the smell was horrendous I was emotionless. My eyes didn't leave the map's icon, since every turn I took some new information was drawn onto it.

Walking through the underground sewers for a few minutes I finally found my first opponent.

A huge rat with grey fur and bright red eyes was eating something on the ground. Lifting the flame higher, so it could illuminate the beast I garnered its attention.

Turning its ugly face towards me it rose on the two feet seemingly trying to intimidate me.

' Fenrir, you take care of this one '

I said to my familiar seeing him fully adapted to the horrendous smell of the sewers.

Listening to my command Fenrir started approaching the rat while showing his teeth.

Screech...

The creature seeing us not retreating screeched at the approaching wolf. Only when it fully opened its mouth I could see its huge, sharp canine teeth.

Just to feel safer I quickly glanced over its Status.

< POISONOUS RAT >

~ Wind type beast that usually lives in the sewers

~ Carnivore; Aggressive

~ Immune to poison

< ATTRIBUTES >

Lv. 20

HP: 800

MP: 400

STR: 1,000

AGL: 1,200

PDEF: 230

MDEF: 200

INT: 250

~~~~

< ACTIVE SKILLS >

1️⃣ Tail strike < Lv. 3 >

-- Strike an enemy using your tail

~ AoE Damage

~ No cost

~ 5 second cooldown

~~~~

2️⃣ Rat's Bite < Lv. 4 >

-- A poisonous bite of a rat

~ Single Target Damage

~ Cost 20 Mana

~ 10 second cooldown

~~~~

< PASSIVE SKILLS >

1️⃣ Rat's Persistence < Lv. 3 >

-- You have an unyielding tenacity of a Rat

~ No cost

~ No cooldown

~~~~

2️⃣ Silent Steps < Lv. 5 >

-- Your steps are made silent

-- Slight presence concealment

~ No cost

~ No cooldown

~~~~

< SPELLS >

1️⃣ Wind Nails < Lv. 3 >

-- Engulf your nails with wind to increase their damage

~ Cost 35 Mana

~ 1 minute cooldown

~~~~

2️⃣ Smell concealment < Lv. 6 >

-- Conceal your smell using wind

-- Slightly better wind control

~ Cost 20 Mana per minute

~ 30 minute cooldown

~~~~

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary I allowed Fenrir to proceed. Even though Fenrir's Level was lower than the rat's, his intelligence was superior.

The only worry I had was that he'd get bitten by the rat and be poisoned.

' He needs to become proficient at combat '

Leaning against the wall I eyed the rat trying to predict its movements.

Auuuu...

Fenrir used < Empowering Howl > which echoed through the tunnels. All his Attributes were now boosted by 10%.

The rat also felt his opponent's power increase, because wind currents were starting to form on its sharp nails.

Eyeing each other both beasts finally dashed towards each other. One second before the collision Fenrir used another skill < Wind steps > to boost his speed to a surprising degree.

Screech...

Not expecting the wolf to accelerate at the last second the rat barely managed to shift its body making Fenrir miss its neck by a tiny margin, unfortunately for the rat the wolf managed to bite its shoulder.

- 353 Physical Damage!

~ Poisonous Rat has received a Status Effect < Bleed >

~ Poisonous Rat will lose 50 HP per minute

~ Duration → 2 minutes

~~~~

The ugly creature lost half of its HP with a single exchange. Unfortunately the rat was very tenacious and immediately went after Fenrir with eyes burning in rage.

Since Fenrir's < Wind Steps > skill ran out he was in a tight situation. Rat's agility was higher and Fenrir was forced to take damage, because of continuous attacks he couldn't fully evade.

His side was graced by rat's sharp nails

- 16 Physical Damage!

The rat managed to evade Fenrir's teeth and almost pierced his neck if not for the wolf's claws.

- 14 Physical Damage!

The damage was slowly piling up, making Fenrir's black fur have a shade of red.

Even I was nervously clenching my fists debating whether to help my comrade or not.

- 50 Bleeding Damage!

Suddenly the bleeding Status Effect damaged the rat making it lose its momentum giving Fenrir a chance to retreat.

Huff... Huff...

I heard his deep breaths resounding in a quiet tunnel. As I was about to step in and stop the fight I felt strange joy circulating within Fenrir's mind. He was enjoying the fight!

Feeling my four legged familiar's emotions I leaned back on the wall. If he wants to duke it out alone, I have to be considerate, but if his HP drops below one third I'll immediately dispose of the rat.

I can't have my comrades dying for no reason.

Grrrr...

Fenrir Growled seeing the rat running towards him. As soon as the creature was in his attack range he leapt towards it, but the rat was already prepared for it.

Shifting its body the rat swung its tail towards the upcoming wolf. At the last second Fenrir managed to kick himself high in the air evading the tail, but the rat didn't want to miss the chance when Fenrir was in the air.

Lowering its body the rat launched itself towards Fenrir using its hinge legs.

Auuuu...

Fenrir howled, feeling the rat's teeth pierce into his front leg.

- 51 Physical Damage!

~ Fenrir has received Status Effect < Poisoned >

~ Fenrir will lose 35 HP per minute

~ Duration → 4 minutes

Positioning himself right on top of the creature Fenrir endured the pain planning to crush the rat using his large body.

The rat didn't notice his plans and kept clawing his body.

Crash...

Both beasts fell on the ground, the rat being underneath Fenrir.

- 125 Physical Damage!

Screech...

I heard its screech full of pain resound across the cave. The rat didn't even have a chance to move as huge jaws took hold of its neck.

Crack...

- 569 Critical Damage!

< Poisonous Rat x1 Killed! >

< LOOT >

1️⃣ 500 EXP [ Shared ]

2️⃣ Small Fur x2

3️⃣ Rat's Tail x1

~~~~

Quickly approaching my companion I noticed him indulging himself in the hunted meal. As soon as he was done I fed him a Health Potion so he wouldn't die from poison.

< Your Companion Fenrir has Reached Lv. 11! >

< Assign Fenrir's SP! >

A few system messages appeared on my screen. Keeping my face straight I quickly assigned all 20 SP into his agility. Due to his Size his speed was very lacking.

After assigning his Stat Points and letting Demonic Flame devour the rat I moved further through the Sewers. After the first encounter I haven't noticed any more sewers inhabitants.

' Sewers should be infested by monsters '

Warily looking around I ordered Fenrir to stay close to me. The sewers were eerily quiet...

Spending some hours walking through the complicated tunnel system we've explored 20% of the whole sewers, but not a single enemy was encountered.

Crack... Crack... Crack...

Fenrir suddenly heard some kind of weird noises around the corner of the tunnel we were passing through.

Raising a flame above my head I noticed two poisonous rat's fighting each other. One of them had its furry back soaked in blood, while the other's face was visibly damaged by the other's claws.

Their bodies were full of bite marks, but since both were resistant to poison they didn't do a lot of damage.

Looking over the fight I decided to wait until one of the rats will be near death and then barge in to clean up both of them.

As if the rats heard my plea they both dashed towards each other seemingly preparing for the last exchange.

Lowering my body I was about to jump out of my hiding spot when I heard a strange sound.

Hissss...

A sound of a whisper traveled through the tunnel making both of the rats stop. I even noticed them slightly trembling.

Screech...

The rat with a ruined face turned its back towards its opponent and ran in a separate direction.

Whoosh...

Suddenly I heard the wind being pierced as something huge flew through the tunnel and crashed into the rat.

Calling Fenrir into the Beast Tattoo I still heard rat's screams trying to fight against something, but a few seconds later the tunnel went quiet.

Since the creature was too far I could only see its silhouette.

Its back was covered in black fur. It had wings and two hinge legs, I couldn't see its face, but I could tell it had sharp teeth since I heard bone snapping sounds as it was devouring the unfortunate rat.

Crack... Crack...