Chapter 8 – Encounter

“Watch the ceiling…” Chase whispers as we step into a large circular room, my rifle coming up to aim at the ceiling as I slowly and carefully inspect it. “All clear.” He nods, straightening himself as I relax my shoulders and lower my rifle, my eyes falling down to trace the path of Glow Stones on the floor.

Jessy had come back after she found this circular room that most definitely doesn’t look like it was made by monsters, so we prepared to check if there was a swarm of bats hanging inside the dark spots on the ceiling.

She couldn’t have done it alone since we need to use Glow Stones to light up those spots, which will most definitely wake up the monster bats, and she surely can’t defend herself against a swarm of them.

“There are no corpses.” I point out as I inspect the floor, making the rest of the team frown slightly. A team already explored this tunnel for a bit before us, but it’s strange that there are no leftover corpses and blood.

“There’s three diverging tunnels ahead of us.” Jessy speaks up, and I raise my head to gaze at the other end of the cave. There were indeed three diverging paths ahead of us, with the right and middle one having a trail of Glow Stones inside of them while the left one obviously went downward and is pitch black. “Right one is a dead end, and the middle one is… huh? That’s weird…” I frown as we near the tunnels, the rest of the team frowning in confusion with me, but for different reasons. How does Jessy know that the right one is a dead end?

“Is something wrong?” I ask as Chase gazes down the barely lit up tunnel in front of us.

“We have codes we leave behind with Glow Stones.” Beth speaks up, muscular arms crossed under her bust. “Two Glow Stones next to each other mean that the path ahead is a dead end, three Glow Stones mean that the previous team did not reach the end before coming back.” My frown deepens as I look down at the singular Glow Stone in front of the middle tunnel. This doesn’t make any sense then.

“Does that mean that the previous team hasn’t come back? Or went back in?” I suggest as I fix my grip on my rifle, hands getting slightly sweaty as Chase frowns even more.

“That’s not right. Grandma would have told us if they went back in.” He whispers under his breath. “Perhaps they actually found something and are planning to keep it for themselves?” He turns to us with a raised brow, the anger in his eyes visible to all even through the dim lighting in the cave.

“What could they have found though?” For that group to betray their own War Company after discovering something sounds a bit too far fetched, especially since they’ll walk straight into their camp once they manage to bring whatever they found outside of the camp.

“A Dungeon Core.” Markus grunts as his eyes glare down the dark tunnel. “If one destroys a Dungeon Core, they gain an incredible amount of experience, and the Mana contained within will form a treasure fitting the one that destroyed the Core. But in exchange, everything that is found within the Dungeon will go to waste, monsters included. And I mean everything.” My eyes blow wide open at that. All the resources excavated from a Dungeon, included Magic Crystals and monster materials, will all go to waste once the Dungeon Core is broken.

So that’s why they are kept around, to turn them into farms and milk them for all they are worth, especially since they grow better the longer they exist.

“So maybe this isn’t the action of the whole team, but of a single individual?” I suggest after a few seconds of thinking about it. A whole team might go the smart way and place two Glow Stones at the front of this tunnel so to make everyone believe that it is a dead end, but instead they kept just one, signaling that there’s still someone inside.

“Yeah, that sounds more like it.” Chase nods as he release a slight hum, and I turn my gaze back down the tunnel and narrow my eyes.

“Do you hear that?” They all tense as I raise my rifle and point it down the tunnel as Jessy jumps back while Chase lifts his large shield and bastard sword.

It’s faint and sounds like… rustling?

“I can hear it now.” Chase grunts with narrowed eyes as I lean forward and lower down on my knee while Markus leans against the wall by the side of the entrance, maces in hand. “It sounds like…-”

“Flapping.” I state as the sound draws closer and closer, and finally, after a few tense seconds, a massive bat nearly the length of my leg comes into view from the depth of the cave, having just turned a corner that goes left.

“Incomi-”

Bang!

They all flinch and jump as I pull the trigger, a light blue streak of light flashing down the tunnel and smashing straight through the skull of the flying bat, making blood splash everywhere as the large monster falls and rolls on the ground for a few seconds before coming to a stop.

I blink, then realize what I did after I recover from the surprise of having actually hit the shot.

“Uh… my apologies…” I lower my rifle and scratch my cheek as Chase rubs his ears while glancing between me and the now very dead bat.

[Rabid Bat] – Lvl. 4 has been killed!

So that’s their name…

“You weren’t joking about that thing being loud…” Beth grunts as she shakes her head, though the grin on her face showed that she liked what she saw. “And it does pack one hell of a punch too.” She nods towards the corpse ahead of us as I shrug. I didn’t really want to prove myself, I just saw a chance to kill the monster and took it.

“The sound might attract more, let’s wait for a bit.” Chase suggests, and I grimace slightly at that. Perhaps I should have thought more about coming in a cave with a weapon that will just attract monsters to us like moths to the flame.

“Jessy, check out the tunnel on the left. Don’t go in too deep and light it up as much as possible.” Beth tells our Thief as she stands on the other side of the cave entrance while I lift my rifle once more.

“Alright, be careful guys!” Jessy says before jogging down the tunnel, the pouch with the Glow Stones now in her hands. That’s actually a good idea, have someone make sure no monsters come from the left while we make sure no more bats join the first one.

“What Level was the bat you killed?” Chase asks as I fix my grip, keeping my rifle just a bit lowered as I wipe my hands on my pants. I don’t know why I am so nervous.

“Four.” I answer, then lift my rifle as the sound of flapping reaches my ears once more. This time it sounds like there’s a lot more than just one though.

“Nearly Level 5… that’s not good.” Chase grunts softly, and I can kind of understand why. Back in the city where I woke up in, I was attacked by that huge rat that was Level 5, and it was a lot bigger, faster and most definitely stronger than the other ones.

Monsters seem to mutate and grow stronger after Level 5, and perhaps even after Level 10. That doesn’t sound too good.

A screech reached us from the depth of the tunnel in front of us, and soon another large Rabid Bat turned the corner, followed by another, and then another, and then more.

I didn’t waste time and start shooting after a slight warning, having counted a total of ten Rabid Bats before the their large bodies covered the other end of the tunnel.

They are so tightly packed together that my bullets always hit true, but not always kill on hit.

[Rabid Bat] – Lvl. 3 has been killed!

[Rabid Bat] – Lvl. 2 has been killed!

[Rabid Bat] – Lvl. 4 has been killed!

[Rabid Bat] – Lvl. 4 has been killed!

[Soldier] Class has Leveled Up! 5 Status Points have been rewarded!

I put all five points into Spirit as I kept pulling the trigger, taking my time to aim correctly while also using Frost Bullet each time. It doesn’t cost a lot, and even if I don’t land a killing blow then it’ll surely keep the bats from doing more damage.

Markus swings his mace just as the bats near us, and I watch as the Rabid Bat he hits pretty much explodes in a shower of blood from the force of his blow.

Beth follows suit as they fly above us, grabbing one in each hand and smashing them on the ground by using their wings while Chase raises his shield and slams the butt of his sword against it, releasing a loud bang through the circular room.

The Rabid Bats, or at least the very few remaining ones, instantly spin around and rush towards him, with the one of them being killed by a bullet from me while the second one is bisected by Chase once it nears him.

Beth kills off two more the same way she did with the previous two, and Markus finished off the last flying one with a swing of his mace when it draws near, reducing it to paste.

I can hear the wind whistle each time he swings his mace! What the hell…?

Oh whatever, at least I Leveled up.

Kaera

Race – Artificial Fallen Angel

Class – Soldier Lvl. 8

Stats;

(Body) – 10

(Vitality) – 10

(Agility) – 10

(Mind) – 12

(Spirit) – 19

[Available Status Points: 0]

Personal Skill/s;

[Analyze] – Lvl. 2

Class Skill/s;

[Frost Bullet] – (2/10)

[Healing Bandage] – (2/5)

And Frost Bullet Leveled up too. Finally.

I shake my head before straightening myself, then turn towards the remaining stragglers left alive to put a bullet in their heads while the others made sure that all the bats in the circular room are dead.

There were nearly twenty of them. They could have easily swarmed us, and yet...

“They ignored us.” I point out as I step over a large corpse and exited the tunnel. “If Chase didn’t attract their attention, they would have completely ignored us.” Instead of charging straight at us and overwhelm us with numbers, they instead flew above ours heads and seemed to aim for the other end of the room.

“Yeah, they were running from something.” Beth grunts, kicking over a corpse to inspect it with a frown on her face. “The problem is what scared a pack of nearly two dozen of these bastards.” I frown slightly at that, then glance back down the tunnel.

My eyes slowly widen as a massive claw comes into view from around the corner, grabbing onto the wall as massive lizard-like head with glowing red eyes comes into view, followed by a bulky and large body that nearly reached the ceiling.

“I think that’s what scared them.” I speak up, drawing their attention to the massive creature that is now staring straight towards us.

“Oh… fuck.” Chase curses under his breath, same as Markus, who quickly grabs both of his maces with a snarl on his face.

[Cave Dweller] – Lvl 14

Fuck indeed.