Chapter 134 Den of the Mutated Vampire Bats (2/2)
The scouting party traveled in complete darkness for almost half a mile and they began to hear the drip-drop of water falling from the roof of the cave. The ground beneath them began to feel soft and damp as the air in the caverns began to smell foul and fetid like rotting flesh.
Xiaoyue conjured a faint radiance and illuminated their way ahead. With the light, the party saw that the cave walls were covered with layers of green, sticky sludge. They could have sworn that they detected minute movements fidgeting within the translucent green muck but they quickly averted their eyes, for the sight was too disgusting to behold.
The party of six gripped their weapons tightly, tense like a nocked arrow as they shuffled slowly into the further depths of the cave. The further they ventured, the terrain of the subterranean morass grew tougher and difficult. They began to feel harder to breathe as the air began to thin, but fortunately, as practitioners of arcane skills, the lack of oxygen in the cave was a but a little obstacle to their journey.
But nothing had happened in their one-hour trek thus far. All was fine, although the party had noticed many rocks in the cave that festooned with red liquid. Nothing was out of the ordinary until now. ”This looks like a normal cave,” Lu Jianxing grumbled, ”Perhaps you have just been too careful, Master Xiaoyue. I suggest we turn back now to call for the rest.”
”Since you say it's just an ordinary cave, why were you hesitant to come forward earlier, Brother Lu?” Qin Xinyan teased him, ”Are you afraid to go on?”
The School of the Savage Flames and the Priory of the Mystic Winds were both schools from the north of the East Continent. Yet despite their outward camaraderie, webs of deceit and intrigue were not uncommon between schools of the same area. ”What are you trying to say? Speak clearly!” Lu Jianxing barked indignantly, ”Why were you not the one to step forward first if you're so brave yourself?”
”There are people who speak only with their forked tongue since they do not wield enough ability themselves,” said Liu Chengfeng suddenly, siding with Lu Jianxing, ”There's no need for Brother Lu to be angry at the nonsense they spew.”
Qin Xinyan was about to retort angrily, when Xiaoyue hissed suddenly, her brows frowning anxiously. ”Silence! The three of you! Listen!”
The three squabbling men instantly fell silent, their attention returning to the front. Screeching sounds came suddenly from the darkness before them, growing in strength and intensity; a wave was approaching them like the tide.
”It's only a few harmless bats,” Ye Wuhen grumbled, but Xiaoyue growled again, her brows furrowed as she tried to listen intently, ”Be careful, these are not your usual bats!”
Her voice had just rung when a black shadow shot past them like a black bolt of lightning. With a loud ”Bang”, the dark ghostly figure slammed into the wall of the cave just behind her with such force that the wall began to crack.
Everyone came closer for a look, and to their horror, it was a gigantic vampire bat! The mutated chiroptera had the wings the size that of an albatross' and a completely dark-crimson body. Its eyes were two green-ghoulish orbs the size of a lantern and its fangs, sharp and huge, were the size of an elephant's tusks.
This was the object that had lunged for but missed Xiaoyue! Despite the strength and gigantic girth of its mutated body that could have shattered the wall, the bat was also insanely fast!
The gigantic bat clambered back to its feet, readying itself for another assault. But before it could pounce, Xiaoyue brandished her sword. With a sharp ”Clank” and a gleam of sword radiance of her weapon, the mutant bat was instantly cleaved into halves.
But their troubles were only just beginning. The party found themselves surrounded by multitudes of vampire bats, filling the air with a revolting stench that almost made them vomit.
”Careful!” Xiaoyue screamed. The Autumn Water was still sheathed, hanging from her waist, but with her horse-tail whisk, Xiaoyue was able to slay more than ten mutated vampire bats with just her skills and her horse-tail whisk in a matter of seconds.
Xiao Chen too had slain hundreds of bats with his Unsullied. It did not take long for the party of six to slaughter almost one thousand bats, their carcasses now in heaps of more than meters tall. The six were still uninjured, but their clothing was in a miserable state: both bloodied and tattered.
Appalled by the dilapidation of her clothing and the foul-smelling blood upon her, Xiaoyue fell into a fit of rage, her strokes becoming more ferocious and violent. Still, one after another, waves and waves of bats assailed them with inextinguishable wrath, washing in upon the six like the unstoppable tide.
”Argggh!”
An anguished cry broke their silence amidst the din of carnage and blood. Lu Jianxing's arm holding his sword was bitten; the bats' long and formidable fangs were strong enough to have even penetrated his defensive True Qi!
Incensed with anger, Lu Jianxing smote hard on the head of the bat with his fists, crushing the skull of the animal which had dared to hurt him. But the wound where he was bitten was beginning to look black and charred.
”This is bad! The bats are venomous! We have to retreat!”
Screaming the order to retreat, Xiaoyue remained at the back of the withdrawing party as rearguard. The party fought back as best as they could, retracing their steps back towards the entrance. But even as they straggled backward, another wave of screeching noises erupted from the direction of the entrance: the movements that they noticed earlier squirming in the green luminous sludge were vampire bat hatchlings!
With torsos as strong as an oak, and speed as quick as lightning, the innumerable horde of bloodthirsty bats stampeded at them like thrashing bulls. The party moved as quickly as they could, reaching the mouth of the cave finally. But the bats did not follow them; their pursuit stopped short when they saw sunlight. But the party looked wretched and pathetic by the time they escaped from the cave.
”What happened inside? There's only five of you, where's Brother Lu?” Yu Yifeng and the others rushed to them when they got out.
Xiao Chen jerked his head back. Lu Jianxing was missing! But they had rushed out together all the way. How did he get himself lost? ”Master Xiaoyue,” he asked her, ”You were at the rear when we were retreating, are you not? Did you not notice Brother Lu?”
”Huh! Brother Lu is still inside?!” Xiaoyue gasped with horror as her gaze bored deep into the darkness of the cave.
Xiao Chen did not reply; chuckling quietly to himself he instead mused, did she used the confusion to kill Lu Jianxing? Did she kill him because she had discovered he was witnessing her memory?
But if that was true, he would have to be more careful in the future himself, Xiao Chen realized, for Xiaoyue might have just murdered a Core Forming Realm cultivator right under his nose with great ease! This could mean that her powers must be more than what she allowed...