Scaling down the rock wall, they continued making their way along the volcanic rock path. Their torchlight revealed two paths.
"Which way?" Zhang ZhengXiong asked.
ThornyRose looked back and forth between the two openings. She looked to the left, then said, "Looking at the flow of the air, the left side should be the main path. The right side's airflow is very slow, it should lead to a dead end. However, there might be more chests or other loot. Let's go right first."
Treasure!? Ye Cang rubbed his hands together and directly went towards the right. "Let's go! Right side first."
ThornyRose quickly stood infront of him, blocking his path. "Shaking Bear, you and I will be in front."
Zhang ZhengXiong helplessly said, "Ah, Sister Rose, please call me…"
"Less nonsense, hurry up." ThornyRose interrupted. Zhang ZhengXiong sighed and took the lead to go in. Everyone followed behind.
The flapping sounds of wings were heard before an attacker abruptly entered the torchlight.
"Bat swarm!" Ye Cang readied his longbow. He looked into the pitch-black that only he could see in and counted. "Alot! At least 15!"
"Defend the passage opening! GreenDew, prepare your magic missiles!" ThornyRose stepped towards the left and readied her shield. Flames surged forth to cover her long sword as she activated Flame Strike. FrozenBlood stood behind her and readied her dagger with a reverse grip. Zhang ZhengXiong held his machete in front, prepared to strike out, as he stood to the right side. Lin Le, listening to Ye Cang, stood behind Zhang ZhengXiong. His two-handed axe held tightly, waiting for action.
GreenDew began chanting an incantation. Her wand emitted light as magic coursed through it.
Shoo~ Shoo~
Ye Cang now had the Hemlock Longbow which had longer range so he began attacking first. He entered a focused state to use Rapid Fire. Needless to say, he was extremely accurate. Every arrow hit a bat's wing, shooting it down from the air. The Hemlock Longbow's power and penetrating ability was much better than the other bow. Any arrow he fired would penetrate in deeply, causing a serious wound.
ThornyRose looked at Ye Cang shoot out a ridiculous amount of arrows in a mere second, and he was as accurate as ElegantFragrance (AN: Thorns and Roses' chief archer who is not in Really New Village). This guy should be the same as her, someone who's extremely proficient with the bow.
Magic missiles flashed by. Due to the wand enhancing the spell's power by +2, the original 3 missiles became 4. It was then followed by the wand's active ability: Wind Blade, which flew straight at the bat swarm. Bang~ Bang~ Countless silhouettes of bats, hit by the magic, fell and slid towards them, defeated.
"They're coming!" ThornyRose welcomed the first bat with a slash of her longsword clad in fiery light. The flames flowing along the sword made short work of it. Her shield also easily swatted another one out of the sky. Using her superior senses, FrozenBlood saw the bat that was knocked down, and quickly and quietly stabbed down on it with her daggers. On the other side, Zhang ZhengXiong was even more crazy. He used his machete, his shield and even his body to block countless bats. He was like a small mountain as his high constitution allowed him to withstand bigger collisions. Lin Le used his two handed axe and attacked tenaciously, blocking the gap to the right of Zhang ZhengXiong. Every bat that came to him would be chopped down. He saw that three bats had thrown themselves onto Zhang ZhengXiong and quickly went over and used his axe's shaft to knock them off.
"FrozenBlood, cover me, my life is low! Shaking Bear! Heal me a bit with your shield!" ThornyRose knocked a bat away with her shield and quickly retreated. FrozenBlood understood and took her place. Her dagger danced as it stabbed into the necks of the bats, not missing even once. She even kicked out with her legs. It seemed she had to rely on only herself to block this gap. Suddenly, she was forced to take a step back and appeared to have misstepped. ThornyRose who was behind her charged in shield raised and her sword slashed out. She then bent and ducked down. GreenDew's second cast of Magic Missile whistled above her head, passed by FrozenBlood's chest and attacked while traveling in a spiral. The three of them were extremely well coordinated, like it was all planned beforehand.
On the other side, after Zhang ZhengXiong cast a heal, he shook off a bat that was clinging to him. Lin Le acted as his blade was both fierce and effective. Ye Cang continued releasing arrows at the nearby bats in a calculated manner, as they got up, they were shot again and killed. The fight was nearing it's end. Zhang ZhengXiong and Lin Le traded spots to share the damage. Even Ye Cang who was at the back had come to fill in the gap. All the monster had entered melee range so there wasn't room to use his bow, and also to save on arrows as he didn't have many left.
As the battle gradually concluded, Thorny rose counted that there were 17 bats. This was the biggest wave of bats that they've experienced so far. Although it was difficult, it was still easily within their means. Wait, she suddenly noticed the system only sent 16 messages! Not Good!
Lin Le, whose health was very low, arrived at the back and sat down. He put down his axe to mentally prepare himself for the 'meal'. Suddenly, out of the densely packed pile of bat corpses, one charged out. Lin Le's ahoge stood up as he let out a voice, "Ahh!" He quickly reached out, wanting to grab his axe, but the bat was already right in front of his eyes. "Ah… I'm going to be sent back to town." He thought this in his final moments.
Everyone had just turned their heads and only had time to blink. A silver light flashed. Before everyone even looked over, Ye Cang had already drawn his longsword and slashed at the large bat.
Everyone let out the breath they were holding. Good thing they didn't lose a member.
"Brother Lil'White. That was so dangerous, good thing you're around." Lin Le looked at Ye Cang gratefully and said.
Ye Cang flung the bat away and petted Lin Le's head without saying a word.
"Congratulations on creating a skill. Please give it a name."
"Straight Thrust." Ye Cang gave it an ordinary name.
Straight Thrust (Self-Created · PaleSnow)
Perform an extremely fast thrust at the target, dealing 133% damage. Its speed approaches the limit. It's damage and range will improve along with attributes.
Cost: 10 Energy
Cooldown: 15 seconds
"Such a weird thrust. It must be a self-made skill." FrozenBlood said wrinkling her brows. She also had her own self-made skills, but they weren't as shocking as this one. Fast, it was just pure speed.
By the time everyone had turned around, Ye Cang had already slain the bat, only FrozenBlood got a good look at the thrust, the rest only saw the outcome. However, all FrozenBlood saw was the moment he pulled out his sword, then it had already skewered the bat.
This guy is not simple, she thought to herself. She knew that for a period of time, there would be no evasive skills, and she knew she could absolutely not dodge this thrust.
"FrozenBlood, what are you thinking about?" ThornyRose saw FrozenBlood staring at Ye Cang and asked casually.
"Nothing…" FrozenBlood shook her head and didn't say. She started taking light steps towards the corpses.
Ye Cang reached out and looted the first corpse. "Nothing." He dismantled the body then moved on to the second one which also didn't have anything. He frowned and said, "This thing's drop rate is so low."
Everyone else managed to find some white equipment and replaced their current ones.
ThornyRose sighed. It's just some small corpses, letting him loot two or three is still ok. Although the drop rate was low, it still wasn't as low as when Ye Cang looted.
"Brother Lil'White! Brother Lil'White! I looted a ring from that monster you stabbed just now! For you!" Lin Le held out a wooden ring with a bat fang embedded in it and happily passed it over.
The three girls immediately perked their ears. A ring dropped? They quickly went over to see the stats.
Nocturnal Bat Tooth (Common)
Category: Ring
Requirements: Strength 7 or Dexterity 9
+1% Lifesteal