Hidden Skill: Essence Devour
Hidden Skill — Damn it, not even an artifact, not a single ore. — We might as well cut down this pillar and sell it for money. — The floor looks completely empty. Are we really supposed to survive here for a week? — ...Water? — We need to find water first. — Shouldn't we all gather and check how much food and water we each have?
The hunters, who had been obsessed with artifacts, spent twenty minutes searching diligently but naturally came up empty-handed. Slowly, they began to face the practical problems. We had to survive for a week, and in truth, a person could endure with just water. But that was only true in cases of accidents or being stranded. Could we survive while fighting countless monsters, including the bats pouring down? The hunters were already exhausted. Mentally, it would be far more grueling than physically.
'Resting can wait... Let's finish the first wave first.'
Thud-thud-thud— Thud— 'Five minutes at most.'
It was time to prepare for battle with them. (Tell them the bats with hooks on their wings will attack from the ceiling.) (I've never heard of this type of monster before.)
The spirit Ran scratched her head with a wing, then relayed my message to Yeonhee. Yeonhee looked startled and shared the information with the party members.
"Hook... bats? What the hell is that? Ugh..."
"At least they're not bugs, right?"
"True, but how many are there?"
Even as they questioned me, they slowly stood up and began loosening their bodies.
"The number... is uncountable, apparently."
"...Has Ilwol ever said something was uncountable before?"
"Never... He says they're so small it's hard to gauge."
"Whoa... A shield might be better than a mace for this."
"Yeah, switch to wider weapons, all of you."
At Yeonhee's command, the Lizardmen and Orc units all grabbed the round shields they had received from Ttungi. Once inside the cave, Ttungi had grown noticeably larger, perhaps due to a stat boost. Those who hadn't received shields yet held axes; swinging them sideways would be far more effective than swords.
"Man, I should've saved [Blizzard Storm] if I knew it'd come to this."
No Hayun clicked her tongue in regret. So it really could only be used once a day? 'Exactly, why waste it just to show off?'
Thud-thud-thud-thud— Thud—
— Huh? Something keeps falling from the ceiling—
— Eh...? Looks like there's something up in the sky?
As the amount of powder falling from the ceiling increased, the other hunters also began to notice the bats. Whoosh— Thud-thud—
Before long, stone dust began raining down from the ceiling like a downpour.
"Cough— Cough— Damn it! What is this? Cough! I'm gonna choke to death!"
Contaminated 'Hook Bat' dust has densely accumulated in the space.
Movement speed decreases by 10%.
Health recovery decreases by an additional 20%.
Mana recovery decreases by 30%.
"Damn it, what the hell is this ridiculous penalty?"
"No way, they already cut it at the start and now they're dropping it even more? Are these bastards insane?"
Seeing the hunters who had inhaled the dust raging and venting their anger, it seemed messages about their stats dropping had appeared. Of course, since I had no concept of breathing, I suffered no stat penalties. If my memory was correct, the hunters' stat reductions would be significant.
"Aaaah— This is a nightmare! Please tell me this is a dream..."
It was worthy of being called a nightmare. Upon entering the dungeon, health recovery had already dropped by 30%, and now an additional 20%... It was a maddening environment where recovery was halved, along with movement speed and mana.
I handed six masks to Yeonhee.
"Ah, good thing we bought them back then."
Yeonhee quickly put on the mask I gave her, then passed the rest to her companions.
"Here, put these on!"
"Huh? Thanks!"
"Ooh, thank you~"
"...Thanks..."
These were masks made from Ent byproducts we had obtained in the Ent Forest Dungeon. While wearing them, the stat penalties should be prevented. On the day we cleared the Ent Forest Dungeon, I had stockpiled the monsters' corpses and later asked Yeonhee to make about two hundred additional masks. Thanks to that, they had been useful during the Guchang-ro Dungeon Break, and now as well.
'I thought two hundred would be enough, but I should buy more just in case.'
If I had the [Crafting] ability, making consumables would be much easier. Honestly, masks are a bit of a hassle. The Ent masks couldn't block the deathly aura of this dungeon, but they had enough power to stop this kind of dust. Even though I knew the bats would shake off the dust, I handed over the masks late because I figured our party members needed to experience it firsthand to start preparing properly in the future. I could tell from No Hayun and Yeom Tae-seok already wearing masks beside me. No Hayun had been hit by spore snails during the Guchang-ro Dungeon Break, so she was capable of such preparations.
Among the hunters from other parties who had been coughing nonstop, some also had masks. They might have been leftovers from the Ent Forest, or perhaps they always carried a certain amount like us. However, it seemed they only had enough for their own use. Hunters without masks went around with pitiful expressions, begging for masks, but they weren't getting any from the others.
When I passed thirty masks to Bae Jua, she nodded immediately. As Bae Jua waved the masks, hunters who had been covering their noses and mouths rushed over as if they would give up their livers. Even the hunters already wearing masks seemed to think they needed to stock up and made additional purchases. Needless to say, large amounts of magic stones and runes flowed out from their pockets. We quietly watched as masks that had cost only a few thousand won ballooned to tens of millions of won.
"We can settle the bill after we get out, right?"
Nod—
Now the hunters began to gather around our party. We formed a formation with our backs against the massive central pillar. Kiki-gi-git— Kiki-gi-git—
Though the numbers were too great to count precisely, at least twenty thousand 'Hook Bats' shook off all the stone dust covering their bodies. Then they emitted intangible sound waves from their mouths in multiple directions, easily locating their targets. Of course, the targets were us.
Kiki-git—! Flap-flap-flap-flap—!
After one powerful wingbeat, the creatures began their descent.
— Kyaaaaah—! They're coming! There are so many disgusting bats!
— This is bullshit—! There are way too many!
— AoE, use AoE skills first!
— There are over thirty people here and only four mages!
I wanted to retort that the proportion of mages among Awakeners was usually around that level. No, this was actually on the high side. I shook my head and dashed upward along the pillar. Then the bats, which had been densely falling in one direction, split in half and flew toward me.
"Number 2 and Number 3, spread out too!"
As Lizardmen Number 2 and Number 3, tasked with taunting, ran in opposite directions, the half of the bat swarm heading for our party split into three groups again. However, the bats charging at me in the air maintained their original swarm of thousands and rushed straight toward me. Even at a glance, I clearly had nothing edible on me... The waves they constantly emitted from their mouths seemed specialized in detecting mana quantity or something else rather than appearance.
Fwoosh— 'I'll finish the attribute quest first.'
[Fireball] [Fireball] [Fireball]
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop—!
Though they were tiny creatures, they flew in dense groups, so even randomly spamming Fireballs caused explosions across a wide area. The creatures turned to ash and vanished without even letting out a final scream. And then—
Defeat 10,000 enemies using attribute skills. (1399/10,000)
'Got it! Whew...'
Because they were so small and moved in groups, I had been slightly worried they might not count as individual kills, but fortunately the quest counter registered them accurately. Moreover, with just three Fireballs, I had achieved the feat of eliminating nearly fifty enemies.
'The attribute quest will be done in no time?'
Of course, this was only possible because they were clustered so tightly, but the sheer number still clinging to the ceiling told me I would continue enjoying this advantage for a while.
Hook Bat defeated!
Hook Bat defeated!
...
Messages of defeats flooded my mind chaotically, and soon I stole one of their abilities.
Thievery trait activated!
This entity possesses no skills.
The probability of stealing a trait with Thievery increases by 5%.
Randomly steals a trait from the Hook Bat.
Acquired trait: [Invisible Bloodsucking]!
'There we go, one more trait added. Hmm... Invisible Bloodsucking... Another one related to eating. Damn.'
The message that followed was a bit disappointing. For me, who was barely keeping up with Irmana's quest, skills like [Eat] or the one I just obtained had low utility. But then a message that blew away my disappointment appeared.
The newly acquired trait has been fused with skill [Eat]!
Acquired skill: [Lesser Gluttony]!
'Whoa— Yes! The two are similar after all!'
The skill [Eat], which recovered health and mana by consuming the flesh of living or dead beings, now gained the same effect from absorbing blood. I nodded in satisfaction, but it wasn't over yet.
Skill [Lesser Gluttony] and skill [Basic Conversion] are fusing.
[Basic Conversion] was the skill I had obtained from killing a Mole Cricket. It was a bizarre ability that created magic stones by consuming monster bones, but I had never once used it. Now it was fusing with the newly merged skill!
Three different abilities have fused.
Acquired hidden skill: [Essence Devour]!
'Whoa! A hidden skill?! Just like that?'
It was truly sudden. But thinking about it, [Basic Conversion] was also a skill that required consumption, so there was clearly a similarity.
Essence Devour
Consume part of the body of living or dead beings, analyze their essence, and create small minions.
Recovers 10 mana and health upon consumption.
'Whoa... What the... small minions?'
I recalled the ability Nam Yong-seok had possessed called [Succubus Domain]. Of course, that ability was for controlling living humans, so it was a completely different concept, but in terms of controlling minions, they were the same. If things went well, I might be able to combine this ability with it once I obtained [Succubus Domain].
With the acquisition of [Invisible Bloodsucking], [Lesser Gluttony], and [Essence Devour], all my stats increased by 3.
'......This is terrifying.'
Even with a legitimate reason, receiving such a flood of rewards made me feel scared. The storm of messages momentarily blanked my mind, but as if unwilling to give even that brief respite, the bats' attacks continued without pause.