Chapter 74 (1/2)

Volume 1

V4 Chapter 4

「I Have A Bad Feeling」

The next morning, the shadow of the Wind Dragon Mountains blocked the sunlight from reaching us as we quickly finished our breakfast and headed towards the Dragon Valley .

We were now scaling down the cliff from yesterday on a path that was barely wide enough for one person to pass at a time .

The mist that had blanketed the forest floor was pouring into the valley like a river, and the forest that had been visible yesterday was now lost in a sea of mist . The literal mist-sea was constantly pulsing and shifting with its own unique currents and tides .

Every once in a while, a strong breeze would blow a wave of mist up the cliff face like a spray of water .

It wasn’t possible for me to walk straight along the path while wearing my armor, so I had to cling to the wall as I walked . Since it’d be bad if Ponta got caught in the wind currents, she was safely settled in Ariane cleavage, though I couldn’t see her because I was bringing up the rear .

The 『Overcoat of the Night Sky』 fluttered in the wind as I carefully traversed the path until we came upon the cavern’s entrance .

The cavern entrance was about fifty meters beneath the cliff and appeared to be a gaping hole that led into a dark abyss .

Since the pathway had widened in front of the cavern, we took a short break that gave me enough time to examine it .

The entrance itself was considerably large, about five meters in height, and was even wider than that . The ledge in front of the cavern was covered in moss leading into the abyss .

“Since a variety of monsters inhabit the cavern we need to proceed with caution . ”

Ariane took out the crystal lamp from her knapsack after she said that and turning it on and shine light into the dark cavern .

Chiome and I followed suit and took out our own crystal lamps . The stronger light sources managed to illuminate some of the cavern .

However, darkness still remained in the depths of the cavern and seemed impenetrable from here .

It’d be impossible to cover any meaningful distance with 【Dimensional Step] in this place .

With a crystal lamp in hand, Ariane led the way into the cavern, while I brought up the rear .

A chilly wind would blow up from deeper in the cavern and the only sounds that could be heard were the eerie sounds of our echoing footsteps .

The descending route into the cavern was rather extensive, several branching paths opened up along the way, yet Ariane remained steadfast in her advance and paid them no mind .

When I looked back I saw that the entrance was no longer visible .

“You said that this place was inhabited by monsters, but we haven’t seen any yet……”

I moved my lamp to peer into the darkness after I said that .

All of a sudden Ponta, who was sitting on Ariane’s shoulder, let out a cry just as Ariane drew her sword .

“Kyun!”

“Giant Bats!”

At Ariane’s shout, I looked ahead of her to find a one-meter tall, large bat hanging from the ceiling with its full two-meter long wingspan at display . The bat’s ears looked like fish gills and when it bared its fangs and let out a strange cry, dozens more of them attacked from the ceiling .

The bats flew in strange patterns and screeched above Ariane’s and Chiome’s heads with their fangs bared

The bats were completely focused on those two and paid me no mind .

“They’re really annoying in large numbers!”

“Kyuhyun!”

Ariane expertly killed one of the bats as it tried to attack her from the side . Ponta was unusually motivated about this fight, even participating by creating a small whirlwind around Ariane that threw off the bats’ flight patterns .

The instant a bat faltered, Ariane would cut into it with her sword . Thanks to Ponta’s intervention, the threat of individual bats wasn’t all that high .

『Water ninjutsu: Water shuriken!!』

Behind Ariane, Chiome began shooting down the bats that had been hanging back with the water shuriken she was able to create .

I was completely left alone by the bats, so I was using my large sword to cut down any bat that tried to attack the two of them from behind .

Since they were flying around in irregular patterns I doubted I could hit them with a magic attack . Taking advantage of my incredible kinetic vision, I reduced the bats to corpses .

However, despite my sword’s size, it couldn’t reach the bats higher up in the air .

While glaring at the bats in the air, I remembered a technique I had used to kill a bandit before .

“【Flying Dragon Slash]!”

Some of the bats flying in the air were bisected and fell to the ground when they were struck by an invisible slash created by the technique .

While it was an excellent midrange technique, it was quite difficult to use since my allies couldn’t see the slash either . In other words, it was basically useless for supporting my friends .

After I continued to fire off 【Flying Dragon Slash] towards the ceiling for a bit, the bats scattered once their numbers had dwindled enough .

“Hmm〜, were those monsters? For some reason, they didn’t seem to notice me……”

I sheathed my sword and took a look around before picking my knapsack back up . The bat corpses were littering the area in small mounds .

“They weren’t monsters, just common animals . Since they suck the blood of their prey, someone like you wouldn’t be considered food, Arc . ”

After wiping the blood from her sword, Ariane turned to me and gave me the explanation about the giant bats’ behavior .

My whole body was completely covered in metal body armor and there wasn’t any moisture in my bones, so it was understandable that they wouldn’t consider me prey .

I guess they could have determined that much with their echolocation .

When I looked back at Chiome, I saw that she had picked up one of the fallen giant bats and was examining its wing .

“Chiome-dono, is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine . By the way, are these things eatable? I have eaten a smaller version of these before, so I’m curious……”

I was left in a daze when Chiome asked me that question while holding up a headless giant bat .

If I wasn’t mistaken, there were a couple of places on earth where eating bats was a common occurrence, and she had eaten them before .

Since the People of the Plains and Mountains were a persecuted race, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if large-scale agriculture or cattle raising were impossible and eating anything edible was an acceptable practice .

However, the giant bat’s pig-and-mouse chimera face, gill-like ears and large fangs made it look anything but appetizing .

When I turned to Ariane, she nodded her head in sympathy before answering .

“We don’t usually eat them . Given their appearance and all……”

Ariane agreed with my opinion .

“Anyway, if we don’t hurry we won’t be able to leave this place tonight . ”

After her brief statement, Ariane held up her lamp and resumed her trek into the cavern .

“You’re right, sorry . ”