A Swarm of Bats and Interrogation

The reactions from my party members were pretty entertaining as they watched over a hundred bats swirling around me in a pitch-black vortex. Parararak—!

The barrage of questions felt more like an interrogation. Lee Yeonhee kept breaking out in cold sweat. Unlike before, when she had been cautious about revealing her powers even to her own teammates, these days she used them without hesitation. This was something she would have to deal with going forward.

Thanks to that, every time she showed off a new ability we had to endure reactions like these. Still, watching their shocked faces was a small but genuine pleasure.

I also caught Eun-yeong muttering while staring into her hand mirror. The cat inside the mirror remained completely silent. In my opinion, the reason that guy didn't cooperate with her in any real combat capacity was probably to protect her. He was so overwhelmingly powerful that he might accidentally harm her if he wasn't careful.

'So his name is Azraelon, huh? For a demon, that's actually a pretty fitting name.'

Grinning at the thought of teasing the cat with his oddly elegant name later, I gave the Ring Troops a simple command.

'Fly over the heads of the bastards following us, then dive straight down and attack.'

"Squeak?"

'This shouldn't be a difficult order... Don't tilt your head like that, Gori. You're the only one who actually understands me properly.'

"Squeee—!"

Gori took the lead, showing his determination to give it a try anyway.

"When Ilwol gives the signal, we'll join in too," Yeonhee said.

"Sounds good. The bats should at least buy us some time."

"Exactly. We'll probably have to face C-rank hunters with decent combat strength. According to Ilwol, they're in the upper-middle tier even among C-ranks."

"Please... Those kinds of guys should just go hunt in a B-rank dungeon already! It's not like they're getting tens of billions for pulling this crap!"

Our party was steadily advancing through the dungeon using proper strategy, yet people around us refused to leave us alone. It was understandably irritating.

Parararak—!

Soon, the hundred-plus bats shot into the sky all at once and quickly flew toward the rear.

"They're fast?!"

I gauged their speed and gave the signal. My party members were a little startled by how early it came, but they turned around and started running anyway.

The ones chasing us immediately noticed the bats suddenly changing direction along with our group. They realized right away that they had become the target.

'One of them has good eyes.'

But the Ring Troops were simply too fast. The enemies couldn't dodge in time, and seeing our team following right behind the bats made them hesitate for a crucial moment.

Kwajajajajak——!

Pssshht—!

[Light]

From the start, they tried to create light. Thanks to the trait I gained from Han Ja-ring, Keen Ears, I could hear their conversations as clearly as if they were standing right next to me even from far away.

'Not bad at all.'

This trait probably wasn't originally this effective, but it seemed to create great synergy with my own heightened senses.

And the judgment of the one who called for light magic was spot on.

The swarm of over a hundred bats suddenly faced several blindingly bright orbs floating in the air at once. Their flight paths shook violently and they scattered in both directions.

"Stay calm. These things aren't a big deal. If we handle them carefully..."

But the guy who seemed to be their leader apparently hadn't grasped the state of his comrades yet.

"Aaaargh! My arm! My arm...!"

Dozens of bats had swept past with their razor-sharp claws, draining blood. One man's arm had shriveled up like a mummy. The other hunters had also suffered various injuries, large and small, and the atmosphere was one of pure bewilderment.

They clearly hadn't expected the bats' attacks to pierce their defenses.

'Good. It works against C-ranks.'

The penetration power of those claws was considerable, which meant the amount of blood they could drain was equally impressive. I'd only meant to use them as a distraction to start the fight, but if a hundred of them had this much destructive power, I might need to reconsider their role.

One of them used healing magic to restore the hunter who had nearly lost his arm to the bats. The shriveled limb mysteriously swelled back to normal. Healing magic always gave me an uncanny feeling no matter how many times I saw it.

They were clearly flustered, but since these were upper-mid tier C-rank hunters in terms of stats, they recovered quickly. Two of them created a magical shield—one in front and one behind—while a thick mist rose up and instantly engulfed the bats.

"Squeeeet?!"

'Smoke? Some kind of ability that causes breathing difficulty and slow? That's a pretty annoying spell.'

Still, it was fortunate. Since the bats had drawn that ability out first, our party—which had just arrived on the battlefield—would be able to show our full strength.

'Popcorn time.'

I decided to give my comrades the opportunity. These guys made perfect training dummies. Surprisingly, the ones who arrived at the front first were No Hayun and Bae Jua. A-rin was returning from a different route, and Ham Eun-yeong was still huffing and puffing far behind.

'Does Eun-yeong not invest anything into stamina at all?'

I'd forgotten for a while because I'd been carrying her on my summons lately, but Ham Eun-yeong's physical stats were pathetically weak. There were areas in dungeons where your stamina drained just by standing still, so she really needed to balance herself out somehow. I'd have to give the cat a word about it later.

Bae Jua, at the very front, shouted at the nameless hunters who had just barely driven off the bats.

"Surrender quietly and we'll spare your lives!"

At Jua's shout, No Hayun scrunched up her face as much as possible and smirked with one corner of her mouth raised.

"Ugh— Jua, that line is so lame!"

"S-shut up, you ice freak!"

Anyway, thanks to their perfectly timed entrance, we were able to begin the battle with an advantage over the enemy hunters who had already spent skills on the bats.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

With her face flushed red and Hayun snickering beside her, both of them activated their magic at the same time.

Kwajajajak——!

No Hayun's signature technique swept across the battlefield first. Right after, Bae Jua's rock wall blocked the enemies' escape route.

'Both of their ranges have gotten insanely wide.'

Jua's casting speed in particular had improved beyond recognition. For a rock-type mage—whose ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spells were normally slower than others—this was the most ideal growth path possible.

Eun-yeong, who arrived a bit late, began singing a song I'd never heard before. The mist that had swallowed the bat swarm and was creeping toward us vanished cleanly.

'Whoa... As expected of Ham Eun-yeong. I'm definitely keeping you with us.'

What Yeonhee and I lacked most were recovery and status-cleansing abilities. Eun-yeong was a precious comrade who could fill in those missing pieces.

Pook—!

"Gah! You damn rabbit bitch!"

Thud—!

A-rin, who had circled around from the side with perfect timing, moved with blinding speed. She landed critical blows on two hunters, then neatly blocked a rather fierce counterattack from a man before retreating to the rear.

"Heh heh~ Having trouble standing?"

A-rin twitched her ears as she taunted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the enemy.

"Ugh...! Damn it!"

"This is what happens when you let yourselves get played by a bunch of bats, you stupid bastards!"

Even in the middle of all this, the enemies started insulting each other. Feeling good about Gori's performance, I chewed on jerky instead of popcorn and floated leisurely in the air, watching the battle unfold.

"GRRRRAAAAAHHH!!"

The war cries from the battlefield granted strength to dozens of summons. Having gained confidence, the summons took the skills being fired from the enemy camp with their bodies, then simply charged in and surrounded the hunters in an instant.

Five minutes passed like that.

'Whew— this is taking longer than I thought.'

Maybe because I was just watching, we weren't able to completely crush their resistance. Yeonhee also hadn't summoned her highest-tier creatures because she didn't want to kill the hunters. After all, we couldn't just murder people for tailing us.

Still, the end soon came.

'Their equipment is terrible compared to their stats. Hmm...'

It took some time, but we achieved a complete victory without taking any damage. And without even a moment to rest, the interrogation began.

"Ughhh...! P-please spare me!"

I turned my head to the side while watching Jua, who had taken charge of the interrogation. Not long after the battle started, about a dozen people from two other parties had stopped at a reasonable distance and were watching us.

They were hunters who had deviated from their original routes to come watch after seeing a fight break out between parties right away.

"Hey, just mind your own business and keep walking. You want to die?"

When No ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hayun bared her fangs and growled, the hunters' eyes sparkled with interest and they smiled. Since Hayun was already famous just for her bloodline and appearance, they might have been even more curious because of her.

The hunters grinned as if they'd seen a good show and went on their way. Even though we were on edge after the battle and they had picked a fight, we didn't respond aggressively because the ones who had bothered us were actually quite strong.

Ever since the dungeon became unstable, more people had started entering with parties several ranks below their actual ability. Just the fact that they could casually leave their own route and visit another battlefield showed the relaxed confidence of the strong.

Of course, to my eyes they were all the same, but both A-rin and Jua stayed on high alert, holding their breath until the intruders became tiny dots in the distance.

Once the uninvited guests disappeared, Bae Jua, in charge of the interrogation, resumed her work.

"So, who exactly is behind you?"

Jua's tone had a strangely cold and ruthless edge to it. Combined with her cynical expression, it was extremely effective in situations like this.

At first the captives refused to answer once or twice, but as the shadow of a massive boulder slowly descended toward their heads, they began spitting out everything—including things we hadn't even asked.

"W-we really don't know the details! The request came through several intermediaries, so the structure is designed so we can't know the original client! I-it's the truth!"

Kwaaang—!

"Ugh!"

The giant rock floating in the air dropped rapidly toward the man's head. The man who was crushed by it barely managed to endure the weight just before his skull hit the ground and couldn't speak another word.

"Hkk... ugh...!"

"We're asking because we already have a guess. If you say anything weird, I'll crush you, got it?"

'Go easy. You're going to kill him.'

Even watching from the side, the level of intimidation was rough and reckless. That might be why the people on the receiving end were even more terrified.