The Bat Legion Takes Flight

I wondered how bats would fare in combat, so I asked Lizard No. 1 for help.

"Chururap?"

'Give my minions some decent practice. If things get dicey, you can kill them.'

"Krrung!"

I'd asked nicely for assistance, but Lizard No. 1 seemed to think the leader of the summons was proposing a fight. He shrugged his massive shoulders and snorted hot breath through his nostrils. The other summons watched with clear envy, practically cheering him on.

"Uwooooo?!"

The front yard turned into a noisy mess from the crack of dawn. The creatures that had been deep in meditation abandoned their prayers and came rushing out, their eyes all locking onto the two of us.

I told them to wait a moment, then summoned up to forty of the 'Large and Powerful Hook Bats.'

Flap flap flap flap flap──

"Uwooooo!"

"Kwaaaao?!"

Since they only came up to my knees, even forty of them looked pretty intimidating. Judging by how the other summons reacted, they felt the same way.

With around forty of them, even the commander-type trait that sometimes triggered when giving orders to my summons had activated.

'Good. Hook No. 1, you're the captain.'

"Pii, piiit...!"

'Don't feel too pressured.'

"Piit!"

Hook No. 1's demeanor was completely different from when I'd summoned just one. The eyes that had sparkled with burdensome intensity now locked onto their target with clarity, and the wings that had flapped wildly now settled into calm, controlled beats.

'There's probably some effect from the commander trait, but I think the bigger factor is that as their numbers increase, each individual's unique personality fades.'

Still, they had clearly internalized my command. Soon, the other bats lined up neatly behind Hook No. 1 in two columns.

'Go—attack that Lizardman!'

The simplest order possible, with nothing added or taken away. At the same time, all forty bats swooped toward Lizard No. 1's torso in unison.

Shaaaraaaraaarat─

Lizard No. 1 had grown to nearly four meters tall by merging together. His thickened hide was his pride and joy, and it easily withstood the hook bats' assault without so much as a flinch.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaaack!

But these were the same 'hooks' that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had once scratched my armor.

"Churuaak?!"

Lizard No. 1, who had taken the combined attack of forty bats, looked utterly shocked as he stared at the sizable chunks torn from his outer shell.

'Their attack power definitely passes the test.'

The 'Hook' squad that had dealt meaningful damage in the first wave drew a wide arc in the air, turned around, and charged at No. 1 again.

"Krrung—!"

'Too predictable! Break off!'

But even after my command, the bats didn't change direction. No. 1 summoned a massive axe and slammed it sideways into the incoming bat formation with all his strength.

Boom boom boom─!

'Tsk... As expected. They charged straight in even after seeing him pull out the axe.'

I tried a few more times after that, but the pattern remained largely the same.

"Chururararak!!"

"Uwooooo...!"

No. 1, who had defeated my minions multiple times, proudly flexed his bulging muscles for the other summons. The werewolf pack, which had been standing stiffly, glared at me and radiated a fierce desire to challenge him themselves.

'I can't exactly blame them for having motivation.'

Anyway, the difference between Yeonhee's summons and my minions was crystal clear. Minions created from collected information had severely limited ability to make independent judgments and act on their own. Especially once the initial order was given, additional commands afterward rarely landed well.

That was a huge disadvantage on a battlefield where you had to adapt to changing situations moment by moment. Yeonhee's summons might occasionally disobey her intentions, but they responded to instantaneous situations with their own judgment—a massive contrast.

'The more their numbers grow, the more pronounced this tendency becomes.'

It seemed I would have to develop them with the idea of raising an army that moved with perfect, ant-like coordination in mind.

'Does that make me the queen ant...?'

I decided to put off changing the Hook squad's behavioral patterns for now and tried something else instead.

'For some reason... I have a feeling Stealth might work.'

My intuition was spot on. While maintaining the sensation of activating Stealth, I summoned the 'Hooks.' They managed to remain in [Stealth] for about twenty seconds.

Watching the bats reveal themselves in the sky some time after being summoned, I nodded in satisfaction.

'This could actually be pretty useful... Alright. For the time being, I'll focus ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on fighting with this method.'

"Ilwol, fighting~! No. 1, you're doing great too~!"

At some point, Yeonhee had finished preparing to head out. She came outside holding Wangwang and was now watching the battle, offering some unexpected cheers. The sight of Wangwang cradled in her arms with his little legs dangling in the air was unbearably cute.

"Ilwol commanding bats? That's amazing~ But Ilwol? Their movements are way too linear. Is that going to be okay?"

"Clack clack clack..."

Even Yeonhee was pointing out how simplistic they were. Yeah, this was definitely a problem.

'Hmm... I'll improve it step by step.'

I recalled all my minions, then lifted the now-ready Yeonhee into my arms and headed straight for the new dungeon. We were finally leaving this wretched swamp behind and entering the refreshing, green-filled Dire Wolf dungeon.

The main force in this dungeon was, of course, wolves. These were on a completely different level from the Lesser Dire Wolves we'd faced in D-rank dungeons. Even the five Noble Wolves that Yeonhee summoned showed considerable agility and attack power.

They still moved in packs, and if the variable known as Red Goblins got added into the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mix, things could get quite troublesome. Of course, that was talking about a typical party.

"Yo! Right on time for work again today!"

"Hehe— I'm still not quite used to hearing the word 'work' yet..."

"The dungeon is our workplace, not a playground, right?"

Work, job, playground. They felt like strangely mismatched words when paired with a dungeon. But hunters had been living that way for decades.

Yeonhee scratched the back of her head. When all the party members had gathered and it was time to enter the dungeon, her eyes sharpened with focus.

'She's so cool... The Summoner of Self-Esteem.'

I found myself falling for Yeonhee several times a day. Just looking into her eyes made my excitement refuse to fade.

As we stepped out of the gate, a vast plain filled our entire field of vision, greeting us warmly. Fresh green grass and nameless flowers releasing a sweet fragrance stretched endlessly across the plain like a painting. The temperature, sunlight, and breeze were all perfect—like a beautiful spring day.

"Wooooow— It's so pretty."

"Kya— Just look at this air. This is it, this is what I'm talking about!"

Considering the inherently closed-off nature of 'dungeons,' this space felt distinctly alien. Perhaps places like the Frog Folk or Nargul were more what people imagined when they thought of dungeons. Anyway, even to me, this place gave off a strong otherworldly vibe. It was a mysterious location that somehow made my heart feel strangely warm and excited.

But hunters who let themselves get swept up in this atmosphere and ended up as wolf food under the warm sunlight weren't uncommon. That went for our grown party members as well. If they got even slightly bitten by the pack-hunting wolves, they'd be torn into dozens of pieces in an instant. We absolutely couldn't let our guard down. This was, after all, a C-rank dungeon.

Besides, there were monsters here we'd never faced before. The most dangerous among them was the one called 'Centipede Hell.' It was nearly five meters long and dug burrows underground like an antlion, hiding until it could drag passing creatures underground, suffocate them, and suck out their bodily fluids. It even had the cunning to attach grass and flowers to its tail and expose them above ground to disguise its trap.

"With Ilwol here, we don't have to worry about centipedes. And since the dungeon has been unstable lately, the Red Goblins that lure in wolves might actually be more annoying."

"That might be the case."

Red Goblins—the ones that blew horns to agitate Dire Wolves and create chaotic battles whenever they were in danger. Many hunters avoided them entirely because of that risk, especially since the creatures were red from head to toe.

"Still, it's nice~"

"Can we grill some one-ring mushrooms for lunch?"

"Should we? Ilwol has a few of them."

But their heads were already filled with flower fields. It wasn't easy to stay tense while looking at such a dazzlingly beautiful landscape. Environments could be terrifying like that.

We began walking with a noticeably excited atmosphere. After about twenty minutes—still not in a monster spawning zone—everyone was chatting away like they were on a casual stroll.

'Hmm... Why are those guys following us?'

There was a group tailing us. From a full kilometer away, they were precisely following our route. They were trying to keep a moderate distance to avoid detection, but the path I was leading the party on was a route no one else had ever taken. Just the fact that they were maintaining a consistent distance while following us made their intentions obvious.

'Did they really think they wouldn't get caught even following from a kilometer away?'

It was clearly an attempt to gather information on us. I immediately informed the party members.

(Just how wide is your detection range? Isn't it okay to share that much info with us?)

Yeonhee thought for a moment before turning to look at me. I casually told her it was about five kilometers. In reality, it was a few hundred meters wider than that.

(About five kilometers...)

When Yeonhee carefully revealed my ability, the party members freaked out and instinctively put distance between themselves and me.

(W-what?! Even one kilometer is insane, but five? Are you kidding? He's clearly a combat type, right? But he's got guide abilities on the level of the absolute top tier... This doesn't make sense.)

(Wasn't it not that strong before?)

(Well... it's a growing ability, so...)

When the party members reacted more strongly than expected, Yeonhee ended up being the one who got flustered.

(Anyway, as long as we're with Ilwol, we won't have to worry about getting stabbed in the back.)

(That's definitely true. Yeonhee, it'd be great if you could share information like this as quickly as possible. This completely changes the conversation. I've been paying attention to our surroundings, but now there's no need for that.)

(Ah... I'm sorry. I'll make sure to do that from now on.)

Anyway, the party members continued their conversation while keeping their voices as low as possible. For important details, they took out paper and exchanged written notes.

Arin, who had been carefully watching their discussion, expressed her opinion in handwriting as cute as her appearance.

(In my opinion... there's a high chance this is the work of Ilseom.)

(Again? What's your evidence?)

(Before we fought the Apex Guild, there was a similar opinion. That they would tail us to gather information in advance.)

(Is that guild really just full of crazy people?)

(......)

At No Hayun's words, Arin made an apologetic face for no reason. By nature, Ilseom was a far more closed-off group compared to other guilds. They apparently even banned cell phone use during training periods. Because of that, there were many assessments ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that their information-gathering ability was inferior to other guilds, and that was indeed the case.

They had sent tails after us from outside, but it seemed they wanted to gather additional information on our combat capabilities. If these followers really were sent by Ilseom, the conclusion about what we should do came easily.

There was an opinion to hide our abilities and bluff, but—

(That doesn't suit my personality at all. I've said it several times, but I'm not the type of person who can feel relaxed while being tailed.)

Because No Hayun argued so strongly, we ended up clashing with other hunters before we even had our first battle with monsters.

Killing them was excessive, so we agreed to strip them of all their runes and equipment before sending them on their way.

"Clack clack clack."

"Hmm? You want to test the bats?"

"Wait, those cute bats? How are you supposed to fight with just one of them?"

When Bae Jua asked as if she needed convincing, I pointed at the sky and gestured.

"Huh? In the sky... there are... so many... bats...?!"

"When did you summon them?"

The ones I'd sent into the sky one by one from the moment we entered the dungeon had been following us from quite a high altitude. Since Jua seemed to have an aversion to bats, I'd summoned them in stealth and kept them far away, which was probably why she'd noticed so late.

When I moved to a spot away from the party and gestured, the bats all flew over at once and began circling around my body.