It was big, you could tell that much. You leaned in closer, peering down into the murky depths. You could see the shadow of its monstrous body, but what was it? It was becoming larger and slightly clearer. Realization hit you and you stumbled back into Gwangsuk as its ginormous head emerged from the water and dozens of teeth clamped down on the air where you once stood. Scaled arms anchored onto the platform and the dire crocodile began to pull its armored body onto the land.

You balked at it. “Isn’t this some kind of health violation?” You shouted at Hojung.

“Erm, yeah…” Hojung said, a bit at a loss.

Euijin looked equally startled. “How did it even get down here?”

Hojung huffed and pulled his greatsword from his back. The crocodile was almost completely on the platform. “Beats me. Look, let’s just kill it.”

“We’re in agreement,” Gwangsuk noted. He pushed past the rest of you and swung at the creature, striking a blow on its head with his longsword, but merely chipping at its rough skin.

Hojung nodded and joined Gwangsuk in the fight. You shook your head and teleported behind the creature.

The narrow walkway was making the fight incredibly difficult. Gwangsuk and Hojung had very little space to maneuver while keeping the creature in range. Euijin had to be very careful in waiting for the right time to throw his spells lest he accidentally hit one of the two fighters. You were in a bad spot. You were too preoccupied with dodging the swinging the tail that was aggressively swiping at you. With all of the hindrances, you were barely making progress in breaching its hide.

You wracked your brain for anything you could do. You scanned the shadows. You could go to the other platform and use your hand crossbow but you doubted the light weapon would have much effect on the monster’s spiked back. You trashed the idea and continued looking around. Why were you viewing the space as two-dimensional?

You smirked to yourself and shadow jumped into the darkness above the fight. Executing an impressive aerial stunt mostly just for show, you began to plummet back to the ground. You finished with your blade pointed downward. The force of your fall sent your saber sinking deep into the creature’s back, inflicting a nasty wound. The crocodile howled in agony and shook you off, sending you prone on the ground. It dove into the water in retreat.

You smiled up at your companions and they immediately began praise your impressive feat. You began to lift yourself up when you heard a splash, soon followed by a searing pain in your ankle. You looked down to see the crocodile’s jaws deep in your ankle.

It hurt. A lot.

The dire crocodile slipped back into the water and you lurched forward, sliding across the slick stone and towards the water. You screamed as the water enveloped your ankles down half your calves. Hands gripped your body, pulling you back from the sewage where you’d quickly drown in the thick water with the beast pulling you to the bottom as it was attempting.

The boys grunted as they pulled with all of their might to free you, but the crocodile was too strong, and you were slipping further.

"Tug!" Euijin shouted. "At the count of 3! 3! 2! 1!"

Gwangsuk and Hojung heaved. You felt like your body was going to be torn in half and tears began to slip down your cheeks, leaving clean streaks on your dirtied face.

As the boys pulled, the crocodile's snout was lifted above the surface of the water. Euijin dove forward and slammed his hand against its nose and spoke a spell word. A spear of ice shot from his hand, going clear through the monster's nostril and out the back of its head. It croaked, releasing your foot, and swayed in the water. Hojung spun his blade in circle in the air for extra momentum and brought it down on the injured creature's neck. The gargantuan blade severed the head completely.

Gasping, you drew your legs from the water. Half of your legs were totally soiled with questionable substances. You could feel it in your boots between your toes. You whimpered in disgust and scooted further from the edge. You felt like you were going to hurl. You had never felt so humiliated.

Gwangsuk, seeing your distress bent down and ran his hands soothingly over your back. "Hey, it's alright. We will get you cleaned up. You can't walk around like this."

Euijin bent down in front of your legs that you gingerly held hovering over the ground to avoid sending the crap in your boots moving. He opened his hands in front of you. "Presitigitation," he whispered. A light wind whipped around your legs. You watched the gunk magically disappear, leaving your legs dried and clean. The pleasant scent of lavender wafted from them. He smiled at you and wiped your tear stained face before pinching at your cheek. "Smile."

You playfully glared at him and bit at the hand holding your cheek captive. “Hey!” He shouted, snatching his hand back. “That’s the complete opposite of what I requested!”

You smiled at him. “Thank you, Euijin.”

He smiled back and stood up. You let him guide you up. You smiled lightly and nodded at your group to indicate that you were ready to move forward.

The only problem was that the sewers were extensive and you had no idea where to go.

You noticed Hojung sniff the air. "Blood. Lots of it." He started walking off and turned a corner. You all followed after him. Was his nose that good? Being only 1/4th orc, you imagined it must be a lot of blood for him to be able to pick up on it. You shuddered at the thought and sped up to closer follow the others.

Hojung’s casual walk slowly turned into a near jog as you got closer to the end of the trail he was following.

“We’re-" he excitedly rushed around the corner while the rest of you ran to keep up. “Here…” his voice trailed off as he was met with nothing but a stone wall. “It should be here. There should be a whole lot of blood right around here.” He turned around to look at the rest of you with a confused and dejected look on his face. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where to go, then.”

“Wait,” you interrupted as he started walking past you. You approached the wall and narrowed your eyes at it. There had to be some sort of explanation. You ran your fingers over the surface. It felt like stone. You reached out your other hand to lean against the tunnel wall. Chills traveled up your body. The stone was cold. That couldn’t be right. You pressed your hand back against the dead end. It was room temperature. “It’s an illusion,” you concluded.

Euijin flexed his fingers and the wall wavered and disappeared, the magic dispelled.

What was revealed was something you wish you had never seen. It was a grisly sight. The large room was filled with blood that pooled on the floor and splattered up the walls. There were pieces of human bodies strewn everywhere. You had no idea how many there were. In the middle was a beast feeding on one of the more intact corpses.

It paused, hearing the blood slosh at your feet. It raised its head and turned to face you. Blood and chunks of flesh dripped from its chin. Its feral eyes narrowed as it stood up, rattling the chains that covered its body as its only source of clothing.

“A chain devil,” Euijin gasped.

Cover art by Alexlinde