Chapter 18. Demonic bat boss, Krysil (1)
Bats!!
What will one think when someone says bat? It was a question easy to answer.
They inhabited dark caves and old, abandoned mines. Living in a colony, when the sun went down, they'd go out and hunt for food.
It was the basic information about bats.
They look scary, and many people, especially women, would be scared of them, but in the end, they were just small nocturnal creatures.
But that description would only fit regular bats. The demonic bats are entirely different creatures!!
"Kyaaa!!"
A demonic bat screamed as Ian ruthlessly stabbed its wing, he then finished it off by stabbing it with the Thales spear, directly into its head.
It was an instant kill!!
'They are hard to kill.'
Ian thought as he looked at the demonic bat turning into red shards of light.
Not only were demonic bats hard to kill, but they were also larger than humans. With their large fangs and sharp claws, they were definitely not your average opponents.
Ian had to give it his all to kill them. The only good thing was that his level was increasing really fast.
"Status!!"
A screen pooped out when Ian shouted that.
* * *
Job: Jobless
Disposition: Neutral
Title: Rising newbie, Master hunter
Fame: 100
HP: 1763/2500
MP: 700/900
Satiety: 81%
Strength: 47 (+20)
Agility: 53 (+20)
Stamina: 35 (+20)
Intelligence: 10 (+20)
Vitality: 10 (+20)
Mana: 10 (+20)
Luck: 10 (+20)
Remaining points: 0
* * *
Ian was satisfied seeing his stats. By killing the Flame winged birds and the wolfs in the fields, he was able to climb up all the way to level 21.
He had been allocating most of his points into strength, stamina, and agility.
His agility had even gone past 50, and his strength stat was close to it!!
After applying the Rising newbie title, all of his stats got a +20 boost, and due to the Master hunter title, he was able to fight the demonic bats without holding back.
'Let's go ahead.'
Ian closed his status and started walking. The cave was long, and there was a slight darkness to it.
Ian was on guard as the demonic bats were masters in concealing their presence. He had already been attacked by them from all the directions.
"Kiekk!!"
A shriek rang out, and Ian hurriedly rolled to the side to dodge the sharp claw.
He stood up and saw that two demonic bats were in front of him. He grimaced about his bad luck and tightly gripped the Thales spear in his hand.
In his other hand, The Blaze dagger appeared, but he stealthily hid it from the eyes of the demonic bats.
Dash!
One of the demonic bats dashed towards him at full speed, it fluttered its big wings and attacked with its sharp and sturdy claws.
But Ian was also ready.
Kkang!
The sharp claws of the demonic bat and the Thales spear clashed. It created a clinking sound, and sparks flew out.
It was the battle of strength as both of them tried to push each other.
The one who would be pushed back would lose here, but the demonic bat didn't know that this was not a battle of strength, to begin with.
Ian had other plans!
Slash!
Holding the Blaze dagger in his left hand, Ian slashed at the demonic bats' wing.
After some fights, Ian had noticed one thing.
All the monsters would have some kind of weak spot, and it could change from one monster to another. The weak spot of the demonic bat was precisely its wings.
The reason the demonic bats can exert so much strength was because of their wings, and Ian was preventing that.
"Kyaak!!"
The demonic bat cried and backed away when Ian slashed at its wing. Taking the chance, Ian quickly attacked with the Thales spear, slicing at its neck.
Thus, killing the demonic bat.
"Kiekkk!!"
Seeing its comrade dying, the other demonic bat didn't waste its time and attacked Ian.
At first, it had thought that Ian was just a puny human, but its thoughts were wrong. Ian was surely more than just a weak human.
'Dammit!!'
Ian rolled around in the demonic bat cave as he dodged the ferocious attacks of the demonic bat.
This time, he didn't have time to make a strategy, and the demonic bat was particularly aggressive. It was full-on close combat.
Ian didn't know how he could attack the demonic bat, and as he was rolling around, he was grazed by its claws.
"Damn!! Just a graze and this much health is gone."
'I have to be careful.'
Ian didn't know if he would be able to survive an attack or not when just a graze was this deadly.
'I cannot be cautious now.'
Ian's usual style of playing the game was being cautious and dodging the attacks while waiting for a time to counterattack. Still, he can't win against the demonic bat like that.
It was because he would die before initiating his counterattack.
He has to become a beast now, a ferocious wild beast that can devour anything, just like how he was in the fantasy world.
'This human's eyes are shining...'
'It's scary...'
For the first time since its birth, the demonic bat felt in danger, and it was coming from a human to boot.
It couldn't help but think that it had to finish Ian soon, or else, its fate would be the same as its comrade. The demonic bat sped up its attacks, thinking like that.
But it was already too late.
Kkang! Tak!
Ian blocked the front claws of the demonic bat with the stick part of his spear and stared at the bat with killing intent.
The bat was momentarily stunned, and taking this chance, Ian swung his spear upwards, stabbing at the bat's chest.
Then, he pulled back and swung his spear straight to its neck. His spear was like a snake, dancing in the air with immense attack power as it plunged the blade into the demonic bat's neck.
Ian was slightly surprised that he was able to learn spear mastery, a skill commonly exclusive to the class spearsman.
But he didn't think too much about it.
From a certain viewpoint, Ark was a really complicated game. Even the monsters have their own style of attacking, despite being the same species.
He would just waste his time if he pondered too much on this matter.
'Let's go ahead.'
After collecting the spoils of his battle into his inventory, Ian kept walking inside the demonic bat cave.
Soon, cries of the demonic bats could be heard as Ian swung around his spear.
Every time his spear moved, a demonic bat would cry and lose its life. It was to the point that Ian was able to increase his proficiency in spear mastery to level 2.
'Now, only the boss is left.'
Ian thought as he stared at the door in front of him. It was the boss's room door.
He had already killed all the demonic bats in the dungeon, and only the boss was left. He couldn't help but think about what kind of creature it would be.
The regular demonic bats were between 21-23 in levels. Going by that logic, the boss would at least be 25 while Ian was still only on 23.
One could say that Ian was really lucky as this dungeon was hidden in a territory where monsters are usually around level 30.
For him to find this cave was god's blessing.
The reason behind this was unknown, but hidden dungeons were known to be secretive and mysterious.
One can even find a hidden dungeon containing high-level monsters in a low-level area. Only the creators know of the reason behind this.
After that, Ian entered the cave with slow steps, overlooking the boss room. It was slightly dark, and Ian could feel a dry texture from the walls.
'Where's the boss?'
Ian looked around the room to find the boss. Suddenly, a piercing sound echoed in his ears.
"Kyaahhh!!!"
With that cry, the boss of the demonic bat cave finally appeared!!
A humongous bat with piercing red eyes and a wingspan spanning the entire ceiling. Its eyes were full of killing intent, and it was really scary looking.
It was to the point that ordinary people would piss off their pants just by seeing it.
The demonic bat boss, Krysil, stared at Ian with an expression that said that it will eat him alive. Ian was also ready for him, he gripped his spear and rushed towards him.
Slash!
Ian leaped up during his rush and swung his spear at Krysil, but it was quickly blocked by its front claw, and Ian was thrown back.
He rolled on the ground, but he managed to stand up.
'He's not a boss for nothing.'
Krysil's attack, speed, reaction time, and its ferociousness was on a completely different level.
Seeing that Ian was still alive, Krysil flew up towards him and attacked with its front claw, and Ian blocked it with his spear, but he was getting pushed back gradually.
"I won't lose."
Ian took a step back, turned around and swung his spear upwards, creating a white line in the air.
Tak!
Krysil cried out in pain and confusion as the attack hit its head.
A golden opportunity!
Ian couldn't let this chance get away.
He first swung the spear downwards, slicing one of its wings. Then, he attacked its joints. The final move was him slashing at its neck to finish him off.
Critical hit!
'Is it enough to kill him or not?'
Ian thought that he would be able to kill him with this, but he was wrong. That slash was not enough to kill Krysil.
"Kiekkkk!!"
Krysil cried out and fluttered its wings, causing a gust of wind to create, which pushed back Ian by a couple of steps.
Suddenly the angered demonic bat, Krysil let out a piercing cry, and a dangerous purple pulse appeared.
"Ugh!"
Ian nearly lost his footing as a headache assaulted him. Still, he quickly managed to recover his balance, but the pulse started aiming for his mind.
Ian was vulnerable there!
Several messages appeared in front of him, but Ian wasn't able to read all of them. It was because his vision was getting blurred.
He tried to focus, but there was no way he would be able to counter that attack.
In the end, Ian remembered seeing one last message.
* * *
"Fuck!!"
A curse spewed out from his mouth as soon as Lu Fei returned from the virtual reality realm.
Like in other games, there was also a penalty for dying in Ark. One would lose some of his items, and he couldn't log into the game for another 24 hours.
It was a harsh penalty, at least from the view of Lu Fei.
Lu Fei took off the headset and huge gloves. His expression was dark as he stood up and immediately opened his old computer to search for information about Krysil.
He was sure that he would win, but at that last moment, that strange mind attack had made him hallucinate.
Lu Fei didn't know how to block that attack. That's why the information was necessary.
He logged into Ark related websites and searched around for information related to Krysil and the demonic bats.
He was able to find information on the demonic bats. Still, there was nothing regarding a strange mind attack or the demonic bat boss, Krysil.
Still, Lu Fei didn't give up and searched for hours, but there was nothing. In the end, a sigh leaked out of his mouth.
"What can I do now?"
He asked, but there was no one to answer him.