Transmigrated as a Ghost

Novak and his party had managed to trek through the sewer system without issue up until it was time to turn back around and head towards the manhole where they had initially entered.

"We made some good progress on mapping this place out today. Let's head back to meet up with Marcus' party and call it a day before nightfall." Novak said, satisfied with their progress.

Naturally the rest of his party members agreed. None of them particularly wanted to be down in such a dark and damp place where danger could jump out at them at any moment. So far, they had not encountered any undead monsters, but there were traces of them traversing the sewers all over the place.

However, what they did not yet know was that their lack of encounters with the denizens of the sewers was by design. When Novak's party attempted to head back in the direction they came, it quickly became clear that something was afoot.

"You're certain you did not read the map wrong?" Clay asked, looking over Emerie's shoulder and scrutinizing the papers in her hands.

"Of course I am!" Emerie snapped back. She was their party's scout and confident in her skills. No way would she ever make a wrong turn when they just passed through the area, and she had a map of her own making.

Still, where there had once been an open path now stood a solid wall blocking their way.

For a moment, they thought it might have been an illusion, but when Novak attempted to push his hand through the wall, it met solid stone.

Unfortunately, this did not relieve any of their worries and only caused each of them to well up with anxiety.

"Emerie, you detect anything approaching us?" Novak asked, his lips curled into a frown.

"Sorry, none of my detection skills are picking up anything. The same as they have been the entire time we've been down here. But something had to put this wall here. My instincts are telling me we're being lured into a trap."

She was not the only one that felt that this situation smelled rotten. Every member of Novak's party could feel the danger in the air.

Nevertheless, they were veteran adventurers that had all reached the mithril rank. Time and time again, they have had their backs against the wall and pulled through every time thanks to the experience and teamwork. It would take more than this to make them lose their calm.

"Clay, put a hole through this wall. We should see the tunnel we came through on the other side."

A confident grin on his face, Clay held his glaive in front of him and thrust it forward.

Adding a spin to his strike, his top tier mithril weapon drilled through the stone wall with ease.

Except, far from his expectations, once he had buried the length of his weapon into the wall, it still had not pierced all the way through. This meant that something or someone had erected a truly massive wall in their way, or more troubling, that the passages were moving.

"Should we just try and blow a hole through the ceiling back to the surface?" Jovie asked, her held titled upwards and looking at the stone overhead.

"No, let's save that as a last resort. That could cause an immense amount of rubble to fall on our heads, and our instructions were to cause as little damage to the city's structures as possible. We should attempt to head back towards the entrance we used, but we'll keep an eye out and use the first one we come across. But first, let me contact Marcus and warn him about this."

Novak pulled out the sending stone that was paired with one that Marcus had in his possession.

Yet as he tried to make a connection, all that he could hear coming from the magic device was static. Either the other sending stone it was trying to reach was broken, or something was interfering with the signal.

"Trapped in a moving sewer system and no way to call for help. This really does not bode well." Novak could not help but mutter.

If it had not been completely clear before, there was now no doubt that they were under attack by some sort of sinister force.

There was nothing they could do but push forward, though. As they had already planned, their party attempted to head back towards the point where they entered the sewers and looked for another exit along the way.

Eventually, they reached an area of the sewers that had lost its structural integrity and sunk into the ground. A large pool of grimy water had settled in this area and went on for as far as the eye could see.

"Let's turn back and go another way. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Doing as Novak ordered, the members of his party attempted to turn around and go back the way that they had come, but after walking for around five minutes they reached a dead end.

"Damn it! We're being corralled like a bunch of farm animals." Jovie shouted, slamming her gauntleted hand into the wall blocking their way in a fit of frustration.

The area around them shook and dust fell all around them from the impact.

At this point Novak seriously considered attempting to force their way back up to the surface. Up to the point nothing had attacked them, but it was obvious that they were being led exactly where their unseen enemies wanted them to be.

"I did not want to do this, but Jovie, you've got my permission to dig us a way out. Put those dwarven skills of yours to work."

The frown on the dwarven woman's face instantly vanished, and she happily took out her war pick.

With a power lap and a might swing, she aimed towards the weakest point in the ceiling that she could see.

A thunderous clapping sound echoed throughout the area as the attack hit, and the ceiling above them shattered.

Novak and his other party members used their skills to blow the falling rubble away and waited for Jovie to land so that she could attack again.

"What?!" Jovie yelled in shock when she looked back up at where she had just struck.

The ceiling above them that had taken serious damage was rapidly repairing itself. Within less than a minute the hole she had created with her attack had fully sealed itself. As if there had never been any damage to begin with.