CHAPTER 76: DEVIL BAT EXPEDITION [1]

Hours later...

Kaelor’s boots struck the cavern floor, each step stirring dust and whispering echoes along the vast stone chamber. He was the first to enter, descending from Titan’s back. His sword, Keranous, slid from its sheath with a glint of metal and weight of silence. He held it ready as he stepped deeper into the shadows, away from the light of the exit.

Behind him, Titan landed with a booming quake that shook stalactites above, causing dust to fall like snow. The beast’s heads growled low, sensing movement in the blackness. No doubt the bat-creatures heard the thunderous arrival, but that didn’t matter. Kaelor had not come to hide. He had come to kill.

One after another, the Bloodstone Archers glided down into the cavern, wings of black membrane spreading wide like shadows torn from the night sky. Their descent stirred gusts of wind.

The Guardsmen followed next, sliding down ropes in disciplined lines, armor clinking, paws striking stone with unwavering resolve. The air inside the cavern felt heavier, as if the mountain itself held its breath.

Kaelor turned to face the looming darkness ahead. With a slow gesture, he lifted a torch high, the flame flickering violently in the chill, damp air. The firelight danced across his solemn face, painting him in flickers of gold and shadow.

"Prepare yourselves," he commanded. His voice echoed, not just in the cavern, but in the hearts of every man present.

His voice had barely faded when the thunderous beating of wings rumbled in the air like the prelude to a storm.

"They’re here!" Kaelor bellowed, his voice echoing off the cavern walls like a warhorn. With a swift motion, both of his hands wrapped around Keranous’ hilt. The two runes etched near the cross-guard flared to life, burning with an ethereal red light, casting dancing shadows across his face.

"Guardsmen!" Hound’s roar ripped through the air, deep and guttural, shaking the bones of every man present.

At once, the Guardsmen surged forward, racing past Kaelor and forming a tight phalanx, sabers drawn and low to the ground, shields interlocked. These weren’t mere men.

They were towering beasts of muscle and fang, creatures like the one Hound resembled, their lupine features fierce beneath their helms, eyes glowing faintly, fangs bared. Though they wore simple but sturdy armor, their sheer physicality made them terrifying. Hound, their leader, stood a head taller than any of them, his white fur matted beneath his gambeson and leather armour. His massive frame blocked the torchlight, casting an imposing silhouette.

And then the screeches came.

Not the sounds of mere beasts, but shrill, hateful roars of hunger and rage. Bats the size of grown men hurtled out of the shadows, their leathery wings stretched wide like sails of night. Their malformed faces twisted with grotesque snarls, fangs drooling with saliva, claws twitching with bloodlust.

Soren stood still in the rising chaos, his cloak flapping gently behind him. Calm. Focused. With graceful fluidity, he raised his bow and drew an arrow. Behind him, a hundred Bloodstone Archers mirrored the motion with chilling precision. Their lean forms were poised and ready, red-glinting armor like sinew-bound iron.

"Loose!"

Soren’s voice rang like a commandment.

A thunderous snap echoed as he released his shot, and the sky above was instantly filled with death. A volley of arrows tore through the air. Dozens struck their marks: wings shredded, eyes pierced, torsos skewered. Some bats tumbled mid-air, squealing as they crashed against stone.

But Soren’s arrow... it moved differently.

Empowered by his mastery and fueled by disciplined mana, it tore through the skull of a charging bat with such force that only the feathered tail remained visible. The beast collapsed mid-flight, crashing like a sack of meat against the floor.

Yet the swarm came on.

"Here they come!" Hound growled, his voice thick with bloodlust. He unsheathed both massive sabers in one sweeping motion, the blades gleaming with a cruel luster.

The bats descended with murderous speed, claws outstretched and fangs gnashing. They were met with steel, shields, and unyielding will. The Guardsmen were like a wall of teeth and iron. Fangs clashed with sabers, claws skittered off shields.

Screams and snarls filled the cavern. It was chaos, but disciplined chaos, brutal and methodical.

Titan surged forward through the ranks with a roar that dwarfed all others. The monstrous three-headed beast lunged and spun, its claws ripping through bats like parchment. One head snatched a bat mid-air, crushing it in a spray of black ichor. Another crushed the head of a bat.

Kaelor, in the center of the phalanx, was a force of nature. He ducked beneath a bat’s swipe, his body twisting like a dance, and brought Keranous up in a flash of flame-etched steel.

With a sideways cleave, he severed both legs of a diving bat, catching its writhing form midair by the tail. He spun, using the bat’s body like a flail, smashing two more out of the sky.

Then came a shriek.

A bat slammed a Guardsman to the ground, snarling as it leapt toward Kaelor, fangs bared, claws arcing downward. Inches away from contact...Kaelor burst into black mist.

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared above the beast, flames already dancing along his blade. With a thunderous roar, he brought Keranous down like a falling star.

The bat split apart beneath him, its body torn into two flaming halves that thudded to the stone floor.

Kaelor stepped through the smoking corpse, his blade still steaming, and turned to the downed Guardsman.

"Alive?"

The Guardsman coughed, blood trickling from his mouth, but his voice held firm. "A Guardsman can’t be that easy to kill, My Lord."

Despite the deep gash across his leather armor, he rose, reclaiming his shield with a grunt and a grim smile.

Kaelor looked around the battlefield. The dust was settling. Screeches had faded. The bodies of sixty bats lay across the cavern floor, wings broken, jaws shattered, limbs twitching in death. No man had died. A few were wounded, but all stood.

This... was only the first wave.