I'm really not a Sanctuary Warlock.

By the light of the lantern, he could see the little cat girl's pretty face scrunched up, looking pitiful as if she was about to cry.

"What are you, a cat, afraid of? You've made all the cats lose face," Lynn retorted irritably.

"Why don't you understand? The mice in the Kingdom of Shanloria are all small, gray, and very cute."

"But in your country, mice eat cats, meow."

Cat Whitey was launching into a scathing interrogation, but waited in vain for Lynn's reply. Somewhat puzzled, she peeked out from behind Lynn.

“Um, little catgirl,” Lynn’s tone became a little strange, “I suddenly understand why you’re afraid of mice.”

"Ok?"

Cat Bai Bai followed his gaze and looked ahead.

The next second, screams echoed through the narrow sewer.

"Meow!"

Not far ahead, a giant rat, several times larger than an adult human, was staring intently at them with its blood-red eyes.

Its body was covered in dirty, greasy black fur, much of which had rotted away, revealing dark red muscles and stark white bones underneath.

What's most frightening is its mouth, with long, sharp fangs exposed, and foul-smelling saliva constantly dripping down, making a sizzling sound as it corrodes the ground.

Lynn didn't even have time to think before instinctively casting an Appraisal spell.

[Race: Plague Mutant Rats]

[Level: 12]

[Note: These creatures live in sewers and feed on various types of garbage and corpses. They contain highly toxic substances. Being bitten or scratched by them carries a very high probability of infection with a malignant plague.]

It's not a high-level item, but its visual impact is just too strong.

Especially for a timid catgirl like Cat Whitey.

"Wind Blade Technique".

Without the slightest hesitation, Lynn raised his hand and unleashed a solid cyan wind blade.

He dared not use the fireball spell in the sewers for a simple reason.

In his past life, he had seen too many news reports of naughty kids throwing firecrackers into the sewers, which ended up blowing off all the manhole covers on the street.

Although he didn't know how the sewers in this world differed from those in his previous life, he didn't want to gamble.

If we were to accidentally blow ourselves and our cat up in the air, that would be a real disaster.

The wind blade precisely sliced ​​across the mutated rat's forepaw, leaving a trail of black blood droplets.

"squeak--!"

The giant rat let out a shriek, seemingly surprised that its two "food" creatures dared to resist.

In pain, its blood-red eyes gleamed with ferocity, and with a powerful kick of its hind legs, its massive body lunged straight at the enemy.

Lynn's heart skipped a beat. He was about to unleash a few more wind blades when he saw the giant rat, halfway through its pounce, suddenly turn around and disappear into the pipe beside it without looking back.

Ran?

Lynn paused for a moment, then understood.

These creatures, which live in darkness year-round, possess an instinct for seeking advantage and avoiding harm that far surpasses that of ordinary people.

It was just hungry and wanted to find something to eat, but it didn't want to risk its life for it.

The blow made it realize immediately that the two prey in front of it were not as easy to deal with as they looked.

"Huff... huff..." The cat lay limp on Lynn's back, its body still trembling uncontrollably.

"Should we continue, meow?"

“Of course,” Lynn replied decisively. “There’s no reason to give up halfway through something. Look, I haven’t even asked you to go ahead and scout ahead. I’m already being very considerate of you.”

The cat remained silent.

After a long while, she spoke in an extremely resentful tone.

"Thank you, meow, you're so kind to me."

Lynn pretended not to notice the sarcasm in her words and continued walking forward with the lantern in hand.

Having experienced that ordeal, the two became even more cautious for the rest of the journey.

Fortunately, apart from a few normal-sized ordinary mice being frightened away by the light of the lantern, they did not encounter any other significant threats.

After walking for about ten more minutes, Lynn finally found the marked location on the simple map that Barton had given him.

It was an unremarkable-looking wall, with all sorts of trash and debris piled up in the corner.

Lynn stepped forward, followed the map's directions, and after groping along the wall for a moment, found a slightly protruding brick and pressed it down hard.

"Snap—"

A slight turning sound was heard, and the wall slowly opened inward, revealing a dark opening.

The wind blowing out of the cave no longer smelled damp and fishy; instead, it carried the fragrance of dryness and earth.

"Found it, the entrance to the underground of the mage tower." Lynn breathed a sigh of relief.

Cat White cautiously peeked out from behind him, glanced at the deep hole, and muttered to himself.

"Hopefully there aren't any mice inside..."

The two entered the secret passage one after the other.

As soon as you enter, the scene before you is completely different from the sewers outside.

This is a passageway paved with neat bluestone, with many unknown minerals embedded in the walls, emitting a faint blue light that illuminates the entire passageway as bright as day.

A faint energy fluctuation permeated the air.

Wow...so many amethysts, so beautiful, meow!

As soon as the cat Bai Bai saw those shiny stones, it immediately forgot its fear of mice.

She broke free from Lynn, cheered, and ran inside, occasionally reaching out her little hand to touch the glowing crystals.

"Be careful," Lynn reminded him from behind, but he himself became wary.

It's so clean and so quiet here.

According to the description of the Adventurers' Guild's quest, mournful howls could be heard coming from the base of the Mage Tower every night.

But now, there's nothing here except those glowing amethysts.

Could it be that nearby residents mistook the sound of the sewer for the sound of a mage tower?

Lynn followed quietly, carefully observing his surroundings as he went.

The passage wasn't long, and we soon reached its end.

At the end is a spacious circular stone chamber. In the center of the chamber is an open space, and the walls around it are also inlaid with amethyst crystals of various sizes, making the entire space look like a dreamlike starry sky.

"There's nothing there..."

Lynn walked around the stone chamber, his brows furrowing slightly.

Apart from these amethysts that look quite valuable, the place is completely empty.

Was that female knight really just a madwoman?

Or did I go to the wrong place?

Just as Lynn was puzzled, an excited meow interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm rich, meow! I'm rich, meow!"

Lynn looked back and saw Cat White lying in front of a huge amethyst that was about half a person's height, its eyes shining.

She stretched out her two little hands and tightly hugged one corner of the amethyst, using all her strength as if she wanted to pull it off the wall.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Lynn was startled and quickly stopped him.

However, it was too late.

Cat Bai Bai, that money-grubber, now only has glittering gold coins on his mind.

She didn't hear Lynn's warning at all; she just felt that the crystal was much more solid than she had imagined.

"Heave-ho! Get up, meow!"

Her face flushed red, and she mustered all her strength to pull herself back sharply.

"Crack!"

She forcefully broke a fist-sized piece of amethyst off the huge crystal.

The moment the crystal detached from the wall, a strange change occurred.

On the previously empty ground in the center, countless red rays of light appeared out of thin air, quickly intertwining and outlining to form a huge magic circle.

Cat Baibai stood there, holding the amethyst he had just acquired, lost in thought.

She turned her head stiffly to look at Lynn, her cat ears drooping limply.

"I...I hope I haven't caused trouble again, meow."

Chapter 52 Living Laboratory

Lynn did not answer her question.

Because the answer is obvious.

The magic circle spun rapidly on the ground, and the entire stone chamber began to tremble violently.

The amethysts embedded in the wall emitted a buzzing resonance, and several smaller crystals even detached from the wall and shattered on the ground.

After the magic circle spun to its maximum, it suddenly came to a stop.

Immediately afterwards, the entire formation collapsed downwards, revealing a pit about three meters in diameter in the center of the circular stone chamber.

A strong, putrid stench wafted from the deep pit.

Lynn instinctively covered her mouth and nose and took two steps back.

Then, he heard a sound.

It was so light and subtle that he would have almost never noticed it if the stone chamber hadn't been unusually quiet.

That was... the sound of crying?

No, it wasn't just crying.

It was a series of faint groans coming from many people at the same time, men and women, young and old, their voices coming out intermittently.

The wailing sounds mentioned in the Adventurers' Guild's quest turned out to be more than just the residents' hallucinations.

There really are people down there.

Lynn's pupils contracted slightly.

He carried the lantern and slowly walked to the edge of the deep pit, looking down.

Below the pit was not an ordinary cave, but a spiral stone staircase extending downwards. The sides of the staircase were also inlaid with amethyst, but the color of these crystals was no longer the pure blue-purple of the one above, but a dark blood red, as if they had been contaminated by something.

"Kitten girl."

Lynn turned around and glanced at the catgirl who was still in a daze.

"There are people down below."

The cat's white ears twitched slightly; her hearing was far more sensitive than that of humans, so she naturally heard those sounds as well.

"So many sounds, meow... It sounds painful."

Are you scared?

Cat Baibai bit her lip and stuffed the amethyst in her arms into her canvas backpack.

She lowered her head and thought for a few seconds, then raised her face and said in a very serious tone.

"Afraid of cats."

She puffed out her chest.