Volume 2: Shenzhou Academy & The Battle of Venice
Chapter 114
Serpent Demon Sewer Commission and the New Hunting Squad
The grand hall of the Jinghai Hunter Union hung heavy with the suffocating stench of cheap liquor, stale tobacco smoke, and oxidized metal. Beneath a gargantuan electronic marquee that flickered with blood-red commission postings, hundreds of hunters congregated in boisterous clusters. The coarse haggling over bounties, rough profanities, and the sharp clatter of armored plates colliding forged the gritty, chaotic underworld atmosphere unique to the bounty hunters of the Magic Capital. Within these walls, illustrious clan lineages and prestigious academy diplomas carried zero weight; the sole arbiters of standing were the stars engraved upon a hunter’s badge and the ruthless ability to return alive from every expedition into the jaws of death.
At Reception Counter No. 7, a lone silhouette draped in an ash-gray tactical trench coat stood in quiet isolation. His face was thoroughly veiled behind a silver mask adorned with minimalist thundercloud etchings, revealing only a pair of abyssal black eyes—deep, unreadable, and devoid of the slightest ripple.
It was Lin Feng, operating under his freelance hunter alias—”Fan Chen.”
After walking away from the Skymagic Arena having seized the entirety of the freshman resource pool, Lin Feng had not afforded himself even half a day of leisure. Though he had obtained the vial of Essence Condensing Spirit Gathering Nectar from Dean Gu Tianya to expand his sea of consciousness, the crushing financial burden of nurturing his summoned beast pressed down relentlessly upon his shoulders.
Within his summoning dimension, the Abyssal Thunder Wolf had devoured the droplet of Primordial Dragon Essence Blood and ignited its berserk state, subsequently sinking into a comatose slumber to overhaul its skeletal and muscular frame. For the titanic wolf to amass sufficient latent energy to shatter its bottleneck and ascend into a true Warrior-class beast, it required an astronomical supply of fresh, high-grade monster flesh alongside dozens of superior Lightning and Shadow element mana stones. The projected costs easily surpassed tens of millions of Shenzhou yuan. The monthly resource allotment provided by the academy was nothing more than a drop in the ocean before the bottomless gullet of the ferocious beast.
If he wanted cold, hard cash and raw mana stones without delay, the only path was to dive headfirst into lethal hazard zones and hunt lucrative bounties.
“Codename Fan Chen, Silver-rank Hunter...” The receptionist at Counter No. 7 scrutinized the cool silver metal card resting upon the counter. “You are seeking a commission with same-day payout?”
“Correct. Inner-city sectors or coastal perimeters preferred.” The voice that emerged from beneath the silver mask was low and raspy, mechanically distorted by a sound-altering talisman stone affixed to his collar.
The receptionist flipped open an urgent folder stamped with a crimson wax seal.
“A Class-B emergency commission was just dispatched along the coastal rim of Jinghai Bay. Municipal Drainage Sewer System No. 9 has suffered severe, catastrophic disturbances. Three days ago, a municipal dredging team of six workers vanished without a trace. When the local patrol dispatched a Primary Mage down to investigate, the operative was struck by corrosive venom that rapidly rotted his entire right leg to bone necrosis. He is still comatose in intensive care.”
She dropped her voice to a discreet whisper:
“The Municipal Committee suspects a hyper-venomous aquatic beast breached the seabed barrier nets and infiltrated the subterranean drainage network. The commission bounty for investigation and extermination is set at eight hundred thousand Shenzhou yuan. The assignment strictly mandates an ad-hoc squad of at least three mages. Captain Guo Mu’s team is currently short a mid-range fire-support mage for rear-guard bombardment. Are you interested in filling their roster?”
“Done. Arrange the match,” Lin Feng nodded with crisp finality.
Less than five minutes later, heavy combat boots thudded against the marble tiles. A burly, barrel-chested veteran strode over, clad in a weathered leather combat harness scored with claw gouges, a thick cast-steel buckler strapped across his broad back. His face was weathered leathery brown by maritime gales, marred by a jagged scar trailing from his earlobe down to the corner of his jaw.
Following directly behind the veteran was a young woman of about twenty-four. She wore form-fitting, waterproof combat leathers dyed in deep navy blue, her jet-black hair bound in a neat, utilitarian high ponytail. At her slender waist hung four glass reagent tubes encased in protective steel mesh alongside a gleaming magic-tool shortblade. Her countenance was draped in icy composure, her razor-sharp gaze sweeping across the guild hall like an osprey sizing up prey.
“The reception desk said there’s a fire-support mage looking to join the Sewer No. 9 run?” The scarred man’s voice rumbled like a cracked bronze bell as he drew to a halt before Lin Feng. His gaze raked across the youth’s frame behind the silver mask, his bushy brows drawing together in immediate skepticism:
“Kid, that mask looks stylish enough. But the drainage labyrinth beneath Jinghai Bay is a fetid cesspool choking on rotting sludge, toxic gas pockets, and bone-melting corrosive venom. If you’re just some pampered academy brat sneaking out to play hero for street cred, take my advice: pack up your allowance and scurry back to your safe lecture halls.”
The words were blunt and dripping with doubt. Yet it was not senseless cruelty; it was the raw, pragmatic wariness of a survivor who had crawled out of countless massacres. In the lightless claustrophobia of the subterranean sewers, an untested rookie could effortlessly drag an entire squad into an unmarked watery grave.
Lin Feng did not waste breath on explanations. He simply reached out and tapped his index finger against the counter. A pristine hunter badge forged of solid silver slid across the polished marble, stopping inches from the scarred veteran’s hand.
A sharp, silver falcon crest caught the overhead halogen glare, flanked beneath by three radiant, miniature silver stars.
A Three-Star Silver-Rank Hunter Badge!
To attain this rank, a mage not only required a cultivation base at Primary Tier 3, but they also had to have personally slain hundreds of Minion-class beasts or executed multiple harrowing Class-B commissions. In the Magic Capital, a youth possessing a Three-Star Silver Badge was under no circumstances a sheltered greenhouse seedling nurtured in luxury.
The lingering doubt on the veteran’s scarred face vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by the instinctual deference shared between blood-soaked veterans:
“I stand corrected. I am Guo Mu, an awakened Primary Tier 3 Earth Mage, in charge of frontline vanguard defense and terrain manipulation.”
He gestured with his thumb toward the cool-eyed young woman beside him:
“This is Luo Xin, my team’s Water Mage sister, Primary Tier 2. She specializes in hydrological scouting, toxic residue tracking, and venom neutralization. And you?”
“Fan Chen,” Lin Feng replied smoothly. “Fire Element. Specializing in long-range bombardment and rapid execution.”
He kept both his Lightning and Summoning elements completely shrouded. When stepping into subterranean darkness alongside strangers, burying one’s definitive trump cards deep within the vault was an inviolable rule of survival.
“Outstanding. Earth for defense, Water for scouting, Fire for high-yield ordnance—a textbook squad synergy.” Guo Mu struck the steel rim of his shield, eliciting a crisp chime. “Distribution terms: the eight hundred thousand bounty is partitioned on a 4-4-2 ratio. You and I each claim forty percent; Luo Xin receives twenty percent for scouting and triage support. As for monster harvest—hides, venom sacks, fangs, or mana cores—the hunter who delivers the fatal blow claims sixty percent, while the remaining forty percent is split evenly between the other two. Sign the blood oath contract, and we move out.”
“Agreed.” Lin Feng infused a wisp of mana into the quill, etching the magical signature “Fan Chen” onto the parchment.
Fifteen minutes later, Guo Mu’s battered off-road pickup rumbled into a desolate industrial warehouse compound abutting the shoreline of Jinghai Bay.
The maritime gale lashed inland, carrying a biting brine laced with the rancid tang of scorched machine oil. Looming before them was a titanic semicircular concrete culvert, exceeding four meters in diameter, boring deep into the earth like the pitch-black maw of a subterranean sea monster.
Heavy steel rebar grates as thick as an adult forearm, originally anchored across the sluice entrance to filter ocean debris, had been snapped and peeled open by terrifying brute force. Mangled crossbeams hung in jagged tatters. Dense mats of black moss and greasy slime coated the concrete walls, venting an eye-watering, nauseating stench into the open air.
The trio changed into waist-high rubberized waders lined with anti-corrosive mana insulation. Strapped to each of their foreheads was an arcane tactical headlamp emitting a sharp, cold-white beam.
“Keep this under your tongue,” Luo Xin said, drawing two pale-cyan soft capsules from her belt pouch and tossing them to Lin Feng and Guo Mu. “Visceral Purifying Pill. Let it sit under your tongue; it maintains a protective antitoxin barrier across your respiratory tract for two hours. Early-era subterranean sewers trap colossal concentrations of methane and necrotic organic gases. Ten minutes of unprotected inhalation will corrode your lungs with suppurating ulcers.”
Lin Feng caught the capsule and slipped it under his tongue. A frosty, mint-crisp chill instantly flared against his palate, immediately expelling the rotten, gag-inducing stench lingering in his nostrils.
“Headlamps on! Maintain a strict three-meter spacing! Move!” Guo Mu barked. Gripping a heavy, notched combat cleaver in his right hand and locking his steel buckler in his left, he led the descent into the murky black water.
Lin Feng held the center vanguard, his footing stable and balanced, every muscle coiled like a drawn bowstring ready to unleash mana at a microsecond’s notice. Luo Xin brought up the rear, her slender fingers weaving subtle arcane seals as faint cerulean Water mana swirled around her wrists like living vapor.
The instant they crossed the threshold of the concrete arch, suffocating darkness devoured the three hunters whole.
The sewer water rose to their waists—thick, viscous, and pitch-black as calligraphy ink, littered with drifting industrial sludge and bloated, floating rat carcasses jammed into conduit crevices. Every sluggish step through the submerged silt produced a heavy, suctioning squelch that released foul, sulfurous bubbles to the surface. The three solitary beams of their arcane headlamps could barely pierce through five paces of the gloom, illuminating damp concrete walls webbed with deep fractures and creeping black mold.
From the arched ceiling above, droplets of condensation dripped steadily into the stagnant water: Plip... plip... plip... The hollow, rhythmic clicks reverberated endlessly down the claustrophobic concrete tunnels, pressing upon the mind like cold iron.
“Water Ripple – Echo Tracking!”
Luo Xin uttered a hushed command. Beneath her waders, a faint azure ripple spread silently in a wide fan across the black water, gliding along the labyrinthine conduits deep into the municipal underbelly.
She closed her eyes, attuning her senses to the magical feedback for ten tense seconds. When her eyelids snapped open, her features were taut with alarm:
“The outflow tributary directly ahead has an unnatural viscosity. Organic acid concentration is ten times above the norm, and the natural Water elements in the channel are violently fouled by a concentrated necrotic rot.”
“Divert into Branch Conduit No. 4, heading toward the surge chamber,” Guo Mu decided without a second’s hesitation. “The ceiling drops low in that passage. Any oversized monstrosity will have its mobility severely choked, giving me ample leverage to raise Earth Barriers and pin it down.”
Treading against the slimy, fractured walls, the three pivoted into Conduit No. 4. Here, the culvert ceiling dipped drastically to barely over two meters, looming less than an arm’s length above their heads. The sweltering, damp heat stuck clammily to their flesh, inducing the sickening claustrophobia of crawling through the innards of some titanic subterranean leviathan.
Suddenly, the beam of Lin Feng’s headlamp caught an irregular texture along the right wall. He halted dead in his tracks, thrusting his fist upward:
“Hold.”
Guo Mu dug his heels into the muck instantly, locking his steel shield before his chest. Luo Xin advanced swiftly to flank Lin Feng’s shoulder, her gaze trailing the line of his pointed finger.
Adhered to the jagged, reinforced concrete surface was a shredded sheath of molted, ash-gray skin stretching more than three meters in length, plastered into the wet moss.
Luo Xin produced a pair of stainless steel forceps and gingerly plucked a single hardened scale from the shed hide. The scale was as broad as an adult palm, its edges sharp as a guillotine, its exterior adorned with dark navy ripple striations.
Sssss... hiss...
The instant the metal tips touched the viscous emerald mucus clinging to the root of the scale, an acrid plume of stinging white vapor erupted violently. The anti-corrosive coating on the iron forceps blistered into frothing bubbles, melting into blackened, pitted slag in the span of two breaths.
Guo Mu stared at the corroded metal, his eyelid twitching violently:
“Lethal acid concentration... This is no common sewer viper.”
“It’s a Giant Water-Rhinoceros Serpent Demon,” Luo Xin murmured, hastily conjuring a droplet of pristine water to encapsulate the scale and stifle the chemical reaction. Her voice shook with suppressed dread: “Judging from the girth of these scales, this serpent measures at least twelve meters in length, with a body as thick as an industrial oil drum. It is a high-tier Minion-class beast... perhaps even perched on the precipice of mutating into a Half-Step Warrior-class terror!”
The air within the narrow sewer pipe froze into leaden silence.
A high-tier Minion!
In a subterranean, waist-deep watery corridor like this, a Giant Water Serpent Demon was a merciless slaughter engine. Its friction-less, armored scales combined with tens of tons of raw constricting force could pulverize an Earth Mage’s skeletal structure in seconds. More terrifying still was that corrosive venom, capable of liquefying reinforced concrete into foam.
Guo Mu tightened his white-knuckled grip on his cleaver, thick blue veins bulging across the back of his hand. He glanced sideways at Lin Feng:
“Fan Chen, the threat level has vastly exceeded the Union’s initial appraisal. The beast is currently in the vulnerable agony of molting, which multiplies its savage fury tenfold. Do you want to abort? If we turn back now and demand the Hunter Union elevate this commission to Class-A, nobody will fault us.”
Lin Feng did not reply right away. He pressed his palm against his chest.
Concealed beneath his tactical vest, the Primordial Dragon Jade Pendant suddenly pulsed with violent, rhythmic heat. A wave of scorching vitality washed through his meridians, sending a ravenous, electrifying tremor into his sea of consciousness. The ancient jade was transmitting an unmistakable signal: the demonic aura lurking in these depths was not merely suffocatingly dense, but carried an exceptionally pure, mutated draconic bloodline!
If he slaughtered this serpent demon, the Soul Essence extracted from its carcass would serve as an incomparable tonic to fuel the Abyssal Thunder Wolf’s ascension!
“We have already come this far; there is no logic in retreating,” Lin Feng replied coolly, his voice ringing with unshakable resolve. “The higher the commission danger, the more bountiful the payout and spoils. We press on.”
Guo Mu was momentarily stunned, before a fierce, approving grin cracked his scarred jaw: “Damn right! A hunter who cowers from death has no right to draw a weapon! Stay on my heels. Luo Xin, keep your Water Shields primed to dilute any acid spray. Fan Chen, align your Fire Star Tracks—be ready for maximum blast yield!”
The three resumed their march through the rancid black water, pushing toward the terminus of the conduit. The suffocating reek intensified with every step, thick and pungent like congealed blood festering in an airtight tomb.
After ten minutes of relentless, vigilant wading, the oppressive concrete conduit suddenly opened wide.
Sprawling before them was Surge Chamber No. 7.
It was an immense subterranean cavern capped by a vaulted hemispherical dome nearly ten meters overhead, enclosing a reservoir area of over two hundred square meters. The perimeter walls were built from colossal monoliths of industrial reinforced concrete—a subterranean nexus where five primary municipal discharge pipes converged before flushing wastewater out into Jinghai Bay.
Within this massive surge chamber, the water level rose significantly higher, lapping against their chests. The stagnant black surface was eerily smooth, devoid of current, disturbed only by occasional emerald bubbles that burped from the depths and burst with faint pops, releasing sharp sulfurous vapors.
Guo Mu came to a halt on a submerged concrete catwalk, his eyes scanning the gloom with razor alertness:
“The water here is too deep and wide. If it ambushes us from the depths, we won’t have the leverage to maneuver or counter.”
Luo Xin lifted both hands, her azure Water mana rippling across the surface as she desperately dredged the reservoir bed with magical pulses:
“How can this be...? The bottom is completely dead. There are no vital signs down there—nothing but decades of silt, sludge, and drifting trash...”
“Nothing underwater?” Guo Mu’s brow furrowed into deep crevices. “Could the beast have already slipped through the oceanic floodgate and escaped into the bay?”
Right at that exact fraction of a heartbeat, Lin Feng, standing a pace behind, felt an icy dread shoot up his spine and seize his brain!
The Primordial Dragon Jade Pendant against his sternum was no longer just vibrating; it burned like a chunk of searing white-hot magma, screaming an alarm of imminent, catastrophic annihilation!
“It’s not in the water!” Lin Feng’s voice ripped through the silence in a deafening roar: “LOOK AT THE CEILING!!”
Before the final syllable of Lin Feng’s warning could dissipate, the arcane headlamp mounted upon Guo Mu’s forehead began flickering uncontrollably: Snap... crackle... hiss...
“What—” Guo Mu gasped, his neck snapping upward by pure survival instinct.
BANG!
A violent, sharp detonation rang out. The arcane headlamps on Guo Mu and Luo Xin’s foreheads exploded simultaneously, shattered into sparks by the crushing mana distortion field exuded by an apex predator! The backup lantern clipped to Lin Feng’s tactical shoulder strap flickered twice, then died into darkness!
The entire cavernous expanse of Surge Chamber No. 7 plummeted into an absolute, pitch-black abyss!
Stripped of sight, every minuscule flutter in the subterranean chamber was amplified to hair-raising intensity.
In the blind darkness, the three hunters could hear only the frantic hammering of their own pulses against their ribs, accompanied by the hollow patter of water dripping from the upper conduit grates.
And then...
HSSSS... WHEEZE... HSSSS...
A colossal, rattling exhalation hissed like the bellows of a subterranean forge, exhaling right above the crowns of their heads!
A humid, rancid downdraft dripping with the sickening stench of half-digested carrion and concentrated gastric juices washed over the backs of their necks, freezing them to the bone!
Skrrr... crunch... crack...
The sound of iron-hard scales scraping against the vaulted concrete ceiling shrieked like metal blades grating on stone. Concrete plaster and jagged pebbles rained down like hail into the chest-deep black water, whipping up heavy ripples that slapped hard against their chests.
Six meters above their heads, suspended against the vault in the suffocating darkness where one could not see five fingers outstretched—
Two colossal, rhomboid lanterns of baleful emerald light slowly peeled open!
They were reptilian eyes: frigid, ruthless, and devoid of humanity, their slitted pupils of metallic gold locking dead onto the three microscopic prey stranded below!