Secret Cave 3
—Screeeeeech…
The insane racket and the stomach-turning stench. That was my first impression looking down into the cave from above.
If hundreds of thousands of bats lived here, that meant hundreds of thousands of tiny squeaking voices and an ungodly mountain of their droppings piled up on the floor below.
[Ugh… the smell… So-ryong, are you all right?]
[Seol, you’re fine with this?]
Hwa-eun and Sister Seol, mouths and noses covered with cloth, came up with faces twisted in pure disgust and asked me as if they couldn’t understand me at all. They must have noticed my eyes were smiling.
Anyone would be pinching their nose and plugging their ears right now, so of course they couldn’t figure out why I alone was standing there grinning.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
I answered them while laughing hard on the inside.
Muhaha. Fine? I’m in a great mood, actually.
Sister Seol and Hwa-eun weren’t the only ones. Most of the people who’d come with us were staring down into the cave and looking ready to throw up. My ears were ringing and the smell was absolutely foul, no question—but the reason I was the only one smiling had nothing to do with a strong stomach. An important fact had just hit me.
A cave packed with bats means a cave packed with guano, right?
The smile tugging at my lips came from realizing just how much cave guano had to be piled up down there.
Bat droppings that accumulate inside caves are called cave guano. They’re loaded with minerals like nitrogen and phosphorus, so people have used them for fertilizer and even gunpowder for centuries. On top of that, guano is a critical nutrient source for entire cave ecosystems. In other words, a bat-heavy cave is very likely to be home to all sorts of other creatures.
Which means the odds of discovering a new species go way up.
Where there’s a new species, there’s Fabre. Where there’s Fabre, there’s a new species.
How could I not be happy?
Still, Sister Seol and Hwa-eun weren’t wrong—it was ridiculously loud.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind shutting them up a little.
I was staring down into the cave, half-wondering whether I should just cover my ears or find a way to make those things close their mouths, when—
—Chrrrt!
Cho, who had been looking down beside me, suddenly made a sound like she’d just understood something. Then she flicked her antennae and fired a massive noise straight into the depths of the cave.
—Chrrrrrrrrrr…
Cho’s warning cry slammed into the cave walls without mercy. The sound bounced and echoed, and then came a noise like hailstones falling.
—Thud-thud-thud-thud.
And just like that, every sound inside the cave went silent—as if someone had hit the mute button.
“Whoa.”
When I looked more carefully below, what I saw was this: among the hundreds of thousands of bats, the weaker ones had rolled their eyes back and were dropping like raindrops toward the cave floor, while the survivors froze in terror and held their breath in the crevices of the rock.
In the sudden quiet at the cave mouth, Sister Seol, Hwa-eun, my adoptive father, and Grandfather Man-dok Shin-gun’s voices rang out in echoes. Every pair of eyes had gone round with shock.
“This is—?!”
“Th-this is kill intent?!”
“To think it can release kill intent… The name might be similar to the Flying Divine Snake, but as expected of one of the Ten Great Poisons.”
“Haha… With kill intent this strong, even a man’s legs would go weak.”
From the two elders’ words, it seemed Cho could project the same kill intent martial artists used.
Even I haven’t learned kill intent yet. Don’t tell me my daughter’s a martial arts prodigy? No—wait. Cho’s skill-based. Gasp! That means a second skill?!
When your kid’s young, figuring out her talents and guiding her so she can grow into them is a parent’s duty, right?
At first I really did wonder whether Cho might be a martial genius, but then I remembered she wasn’t human. This was definitely a skill. I quickly filed Cho’s second skill away in my head.
First skill: flight using Qi-Riding Surge.
Second skill: weak kill intent.
Third skill: probably poison.
I really wanted the chance to yell something like, “Cho, second skill—Weak Kill Intent!” when we ran into enemies.
That manga was popular back in my day, you know.
“Cho, that was amazing. My girl can do so many things already.”
I ruffled Cho’s head vigorously, praising her for the spectacular display of her second skill—when a sound suddenly came from my left wrist.
—Chrrrt!
Left hand meant Bing. The message was clear: if you keep praising only Unnie, I’m going to get jealous, so tone it down.
I thought we’d worked through all that last time, but Bing’s tsundere personality apparently wasn’t having it. I flinched, pulled my hand away from Cho’s head, and turned to my adoptive father.
“How about I go down first and check the area?”
“Will you be all right?”
“I’ll take Cho and Yo-hwa with me, so there’s no need to worry. And if Yo-hwa spins a web on the way down, we can use it as a rope later. Everyone else will be able to descend that much faster.”
My adoptive father asked with a worried look, but with two of the Ten Great Poisons at my side, what was there to fear no matter what waited below?
He glanced at Cho and Yo-hwa, then nodded.
“Ah, that method never occurred to me. And you’re right—with those two, there’s no real reason to worry. Still, be careful. Don’t let yourself or those precious children get hurt.”
“Of course.”
As expected of the highest authority in the Beast Palace—a man who truly cared about animals—he fretted over the kids as well. He’d given permission for me to go first, but he still didn’t look entirely at ease, so he ordered Sister Seol and Hwa-eun to come along.
“And just in case, take your sister and Hwa-eun with you.”
“Understood.”
While the martial artists at the now-silent cave mouth braided ropes from vines they’d cut, I brought Sister Seol and Hwa-eun over to the edge of the collapsed ceiling hole and asked Cho and Yo-hwa for help.
“Cho, we need to go down. Can you carry two?”
—Chrrrt!
“Yo-hwa, would you mind bringing Sister Seol down?”
—Kishit!
Sister Seol would ride Yo-hwa, while Hwa-eun and I would wrap ourselves around Cho and descend slowly together.
“Y-Yo-hwa, I’m counting on you.”
Sister Seol looked a little flustered at the idea of being carried by Yo-hwa, but since she was climbing onto the back of the pedipalps that had taken on Hwa-eun’s form, she adapted surprisingly fast.
We slowly lowered ourselves some twenty or thirty meters through the huge opening. As the lanterns in Sister Seol’s and Hwa-eun’s hands cast their light downward, the cave walls and ceiling gradually came into view.
Countless bats still trembled in the gaps between the stalactites on the ceiling, and between the stalagmites on the floor stretched what looked like a sea of black mud.
And of course, the closer we got to the bottom, the worse the stench became.
What also became clear near the floor was the carpet of bat corpses, cave crickets, cockroaches, and the centipedes and millipedes that made their homes here. The insects were throwing a full-on feast among the countless bat bodies scattered across the ground.
I wanted nothing more than to rush over and start hunting for new species among them, but hobbies had to wait until the scouting was done.
Patience, So-ryong. Patience. Read the room.
With superhuman self-control I held myself back and spoke to Yo-hwa.
“Yo-hwa, don’t set foot on the ground yet.”
—Kishit!
Bat droppings might be called guano and used for fertilizer and gunpowder, but they were still filthy. On top of that, bats carried all kinds of viruses. The black mud covering the floor was almost certainly all guano, mixed with bat carcasses and swarms of insects. I didn’t want the kids touching any of it directly, so I told Yo-hwa to hang from her web and wait until Cho and I had checked the surroundings.
Then I pointed Cho in a direction and had her explore the area we’d just come down into.
“Cho, that way.”
As we descended through the hole in the collapsed ceiling and the lantern light swept across the space, one fact became obvious: this was a natural cave. We had arrived in a vast cavern.
On one side of the wall lay a heap of fallen rocks and boulders. I led Yo-hwa the opposite way, and beyond the forest of stalactites and stalagmites a long passage came into view.
The tunnel was a circular shaft about three meters across. The bats didn’t seem to come this far; the floor looked clean.
I set Hwa-eun down first, then went back for Sister Seol and Yo-hwa. When I told Yo-hwa to swing over toward the passage, she moved her web like a trapeze and nearly gave Sister Seol a heart attack.
“Haa… that was terrifying. But… the smell’s gone here?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Weirdly, I can’t smell a thing.”
The reek of rotting droppings contained methane that only rose upward, so the moment we stepped into the passage the smell vanished completely. At Sister Seol’s words Hwa-eun finally pulled the cloth away from her mouth and nose with a look of pure relief.
“I thought I was going to die. That smell was horrendous.”
I’d wondered why she was reacting so strongly, then remembered—the Tang Clan were essentially poison perfumers. They trained their sense of smell. The stench of rotting bat guano must have been especially brutal for her.
I looked at the two of them and said, “The other side was the original entrance, collapsed under rock. If we follow this passage inward, we should be fine.”
“Then shall we check a little farther in?”
“Yes. If the only way in or out is that hole up in the sky, no one’s going to be coming and going.”
From the ceiling down to here was easily dozens of meters, and there hadn’t been a single human trace at the entrance above. That meant this place hadn’t seen people in a long time. Feeling a little more at ease, I was just about to take a step when—
—Squeak. Squeak.
A tiny squeaking sound made me look down. At the mouth of the passage, a single bat was crawling along the ground. It must have fallen from the ceiling; it was still breathing.
It looked ready to die any second, so I thought nothing of it and started past it into the tunnel—when suddenly—
—Chrrrt!
Bing scrambled up from my left arm onto my shoulder, spotted the bat, and immediately crawled down to the ground.
“Bing?”
I wondered why she’d suddenly gone to the floor. Bing turned to look at us from in front of the trembling, squeaking bat, and I felt a clear sense of watch this. Then she faced the bat and started waving her antennae, trying to make a sound.
—Chrrrrr…
It didn’t seem to be working the way she wanted. She tried again and again.
—Chrrr…
—Chrrrrr…
I was wondering what on earth she thought she was doing when Hwa-eun’s careful telepathic voice reached me.
[She’s trying to show you she can shoot kill intent too, don’t you think?]
What?! Holy— that’s way too cute!
If Hwa-eun was right, this was a precious moment. Bing was getting jealous and insisting she could fire kill intent just like her unnie.
But Bing was still just a baby Azure-Spotted Centipede. What kind of kill intent could she possibly shoot? If this went wrong, our youngest daughter might end up crushed with disappointment.
Wh-what do I do?! Why won’t this damn bat just die already—why is it so stubborn?!
I was silently cursing the long-lived bat when Hwa-eun’s telepathy came again.
[Get ready. I’ve already told Unnie.]
I tilted my head at the sudden order to prepare—then a single, tiny flying needle shot discreetly from Hwa-eun’s hand.
The smallest flying needle used by the Tang Clan. It flew without a sound and pierced the bat’s head.
The bat went limp, and Hwa-eun and Sister Seol immediately launched into praise.
“Oh my! Bing, the bat just died! Our Bing can shoot kill intent too? Oh, how amazing! Even though she’s this small, she can release kill intent. Bing is Mommy’s pride and joy.”
“Auntie believed Bing could shoot kill intent all along. Of course she could—Unnie did it.”
[What are you doing!]
Hwa-eun’s urgent telepathy hit me at the same moment Bing’s gaze swung around. The instant our eyes met, I jumped straight into over-the-top fussing.
“Aigoo! My girl! Well done! Amazing, our Bing!”
—Chrrrt! Chrrrt!
The three of us piled on the congratulations until Bing, finally satisfied and puffed up with pride, climbed back onto my body.
“All right, let’s get moving again.”
Bing’s heart was full. Time to resume the search. I took one step toward the passage—when—
—Chrrrt!
This time Hyang crawled up from my right arm, tapped my cheek with her feelers, and pointed at the ceiling. Apparently she wanted to show off too.
Aigoo… raising three daughters is no joke!
I swallowed tears on the inside and turned to Hwa-eun.
“Hwa-eun, could you drop one more bat from the ceiling? Hyang wants to show us as well.”
At my request, Hwa-eun and Sister Seol both laughed with awkward expressions.
“Ahaha. S-sure.”
“Aigoo, Hyang wants to show Auntie too?”
I was starting to wonder when we were ever going to finish scouting.