[Vampire Bats]

They inhabited dark caves and old, abandoned mines. Living in a colony, when the sun went down, they’d go out and hunt for food.

They weren’t easy opponents, as the adult ones could get as big as a tall human.

‘Last time around I came with a group’

Woohyuk reminisced as he walked along the trail.

On the sixth day, the survivors had banded together to explore the Vampire Bat’s cave.

Still, most of them had given up early on, and only 10 of them had managed to make it to the 

Boss room.

‘That was the first time I killed.’

The reward consisted of only three items.

Naturally, this was a source of conflict, and the group led by Ma Gwanpil had tried to cut out the rest.

Ma Gwanpil had died as a result of his greed and only 3 people had walked out the cave with their lives, each with a single item.

‘Now that I think about it I was quite lucky.’

He had prepared a secret weapon, otherwise he would have died then. 

Thanks to that he had learned a valuable lesson.

‘It’s not worth grouping up with just anybody.’

Rather than trusting strangers, he would be better off going at it alone. After all, one couldn’t know when a so called ally would decide to stab you in the back.

‘Careful preparation is more important.’

Woohyuk crouched down and picked a blue blade of grass 

[Spirit Grass]

It was a common ingredient used by many alchemists. Best known for its antiseptic properties since it could be chewed and placed on an open wound.

‘I’ll be needing a few other things as well.’

Woohyuk scanned his surroundings as he made his way through the forest.

Walking around with the black machete in his hand, he spotted a light blue mushroom growing in the shadow of a large tree.

‘There you are.’

Woohyuk grabbed it and placed it in his leather bag

[Ghost Mushroom]

It was typically used to make the Hermit’s Elixir,  but simply eating it would, to a certain degree, conceal your presence, at least for a short duration.

It was a very useful item if you planned on entering a location that was crowded with monsters.

‘It might not be super effective against bats due to their excellent sensory abilities….’

The caves were very deep, so it was best to avoid any unnecessary battles.

If he were to kill every monster one by one, by the time he’d make it out the sun would have fallen.

‘Now just one more left.’

Woohyuk approached a silver thorned tree and began to peel its bark with his dagger.

This one would be useful when it came to dealing with the boss monster.

‘I can’t only collect plants all day.’

Not unless his dream was to become an alchemist.

After having collected enough, Woohuyk trudged on through the forest. Coincidentally, just as he had arrived before the Vampire Bat Cave, a group of people walked out from the bushes.

“Ah! Someone is here!”

“Are you all by yourself?”

They stared a Woohyuk in surprise.

It was a normal reaction considering that he looked like an ordinary college student strolling around in this dangerous forest.

‘This is annoying.’

Woohyuk frowned as he observed the party before him.

It was a mishmash of 20 people, all seemingly from a different base camp.

“Are you lost?”

The man holding a black machete asked. He wore a military uniform with a sergeant’s insignia.

“No”

“Would you like to join us? From the looks of it you’ve also come to explore the cave.”

They indeed had the same destination, causing Woohyuk to be somewhat conflicted.

‘If I don’t join them, they will simply follow from behind.’

It seemed like he had little choice but to join them, otherwise he’d be giving them a free ride.

“Alright”

“Good choice, here take this first.”

The man handed him a makeshift torch, the cloth dipped in oil causing Woohyuk give the man a second glance.

“He came well prepared.”

Indeed a military man’s survival skills in the wilderness were on a different level.

Of course, when compared to the knowledge that Woohyuk had acquired over the years, he would barely qualify as a rookie.

“The name’s Kang Taejoon, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Chun Woohyuk.”

He had no reason to hide his name.

They shook hands and he joined up with the group.

“Mana Channeling”

Kang took out his flint stone and lit his torch, before going around and doing the same to the others.

‘They are indeed afraid of fire.’

Unfortunately the torch would also serve as a beacon to attract more monsters.

Woohyuk simply walked into the cave, by wielding the black machete his night vision was sufficiently high to not require additional lighting.

“Let’s all go in!”

Kang Taejoon declared as he lead the party inside.

Everyone stopped chatting among themselves and followed him inside with a nervous expression.

“I can’t see anything.”

“Are there no monsters?”

The cave was pitch black. Of course the torches would help to see things nearby, but the cave was so deep that the surroundings were bathed in darkness.

Swoosh!

The flapping of wings could be heard as a giant Vampire bat appeared before the group.

“Ba...bat!”

“It’s so big!”

The people in front were caught in a panic as they swung their torches defensively.

As the bat retreated from the fire, someone stepped out and stabbed it with a trident.

Chizic

The bat fell to the ground with a squeal.

Seeing an opportunity, those closeby brought their torches to bear.

Wharr

The Vampire Bat ignited into a ball of fire, still pinned to the ground with the trident.

The smell of burnt flesh assailed their noses.

“This place looks a bit dangerous….”

“What to do, should we continue?”

Many were frightened as they looked to Kang Taejoon for guidance.

However Kang firmly rejected them.

“Other places will be just as dangerous. There might be some good items inside so we have to keep going.”

“Can’t we just sit this one out?”

“I’d rather go out and do something else.”

As expected, there were many who wanted to back out.

Kang let out a sigh before continuing.

“Fine, those that want can go out and stand as lookouts at the cave entrance.”

“Thanks”

The group of frightened people instantly ran outside.

Unfortunately for them a monster broke out from the ground, blocking their escape.

It was a Brown worm.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Mommy! Help!”

Their loud screams rang out through the cave.

Woohyuk couldn’t help but be embarrassed at the sight.

‘By making all that noise even more monsters would be attracted.’

Things might get a bit dangerous in that case, so although he didn’t want to stand out, he had little choice right now.

Cut

His black machete severed the oversized brown worm in two.

“Ah, thank you!”

A woman that was about to come under attack from the monster thanked him profusely.

After which she immediately bolted towards the exit, without once looking back.

‘So he isn’t just some regular guy.’

Kang thought to himself as he watched Woohyuk return.

After all he was someone who wielded the same weapon as he did, that alone spoke volumes.

‘That’s good, I can make use of his skill.’

Although Woohyuk didn’t stand out too much, he still appeared as decently skilled.

This would make it easier to clear the cave and get the loot.

‘But the items will be mine.’

Kang thought to himself. If Woohyuk tried to challenge him for them when the time came, he would make sure to assert his dominance.

‘Well, I don’t think he would simply roll over and give me everything.’

In his mind he had already prepared himself for the eventuality.

‘Even if he’s very skilled, there is no way he’d be able to handle our group all alone.’

“Alright, let’s keep going.”

Kang led the group sporting a satisfied smile.

* * *

‘You are quite the leader.’

Woohyuk mused as he followed behind Kang Taejoon.

Since the monsters were afraid of fire, they gathered in a tight cluster.

Their group was currently twelve people strong.

It was all due to having a stable leader in Kang Taejoon, else there would have been many more defectors.

‘Originally they would have probably given up half way.’

This cave hadn’t been cleared until the 6th day.

Although the level of difficulty wasn’t all that high, the environment was tricky.

The fear of the unknown, fighting in dark cave and having to keep moving forward into what felt like a never ending abyss.

They would have turned back long ago had it not been for Kang.

‘Still, it must have changed due to me.’

Woohyuk imagined what would have happened had he not participated.

The Brown worms early on would have surely resulted in quite a few casualties. After a while they would have had no choice but to turn back.

‘Well, it’s still a good thing.’

In terms of clearing speed it was faster to team up with Kang Taejoon.

Those deadweights had already escaped and Kang did a good job leading the group.

‘He must think he’s using me.’

He had been pretending to be ignorant of the fact. Regardless, without him this group would never be able to take out the boss.

“Is there no end?”

A man complained with a tired expression.

Kang looked back and let out a small chuckle.

“The cave is indeed deeper than I expected, but let’s keep going a while longer.

“...”

The man was clearly dissatisfied but still kept his mouth shut.

They had come a long way to simply turn back.

‘Their patience is wearing thin’

None of them knew how much further it would be, and staying alert for long periods of time was naturally quite tiring.

‘It should be showing up soon.’

He noticed the cave passage slowly getting wider.

Woohyuk pulled out the ghost mushroom and silver bark from his leather bag.

Just as he had expected, after a few minutes the passage led into a large room.

“Wow, so big.”

“So there was a place like this in the cave.”

While the rest of the party was busy admiring the surroundings, Woohyuk went ahead and ate the ghost mushroom. 

The gummy texture and bitter taste assailed him, but he didn't let it bother him.

‘The real thing starts now.’

There was a boss that guarded this room.

Fossil Bat

When threatened it would emit a magical ultrasound pulse which would cause its enemies to hallucinate. Unable to distinguish friend from foe, the group would kill each other off until none remained.

It was for this very reason that he had just eaten the Ghost mushroom

‘It was quite hard back then.’

Later on everyone would have a certain amount of magic resistance, but even then the Fossil Bat’s magic still held some sway.

Although it wouldn’t cause them to completely hallucinate, the majority of people had fallen to the ground with a splitting headache, attempting the control their urge to kill.

‘They won’t be able to resist it.’

It was very hard to increase your magic resistance on day one. Even if you did, the amount would have been negligible, so it was safe to assume that Kang’s death had already been decided.

‘I’ll just stay on the sidelines for now.’

He was not planning to join in on the battle until the group was wiped out.

Woohyuk felt no obligation to help, nor save them. If he were to rescue them, they would simply betray him when they arrived at the hidden room.

‘I won’t repeat the same mistake.’

Last time around he has led a successful raid on the Boss and many had lived. But it was all for naught since they had simply betrayed him when it came to the items.

‘I’ll stay over there.’

Woohyuk inconspicuously made his way to a corner and hid his presence. Since he had ingested the Ghost mushroom, no one noticed him as he disappeared into the darkness,

“Where are the items?”

“Could they be hidden somewhere?”

The party met up in the center of the room.

Feeling something was off, Kang Taejoon spoke out.

“The space is unnaturally large, maybe there’s a reason for it….”

“Ah, could there be a Boss monster? In RPG’s there usually is one guarding the treasure.”

A man holding a longsword spoke out, but Kang chuckled lightly. 

‘No way’ 

But at the same time, for some reason he couldn’t help but have an ominous feeling building up within him.

Kang looked around carefully while holding his black machete.

‘There’s nothing here.’

But all the while he had the sinking feeling of being watched.

Kang Taejoon nervously made his way to the edge of the room in order to examine the cave’s inner walls.

Puluk

A loud flapping sound reverberating throughout the room.

“What was that?”

“Is there a bat here?”

The party raised their weapons while gathering in the center.

‘Indeed there’s a bat.’

Kang thought as he raised his head and his heart sank, his body frozen stiff.

A humongous bat with piercing red eyes and a wingspan spanning the entire ceiling was speeding towards him.

“Ah!”

“Oh my god, what is that!”

The party members fled towards the edges of the room as the Fossil bat landed in the center with a loud thump.

“Ahh!”

One of them had been to slow to escape and was caught by the bat’s fangs as blood spattered everywhere.

Thud!

At the same time, a block of stone fell down, blocking the only exit.

There was no option to run away this time.

‘Fuck…’

Kang Taejoon stared at the silver monstrosity as he ground his teeth.

It was simply too overwhelming and he had no idea how to defeat it.

“Where is Chun Woohyuk?”

He felt that Woohyuk might have an idea since he hadn’t been fazed by the previous bats or worms.

He looked around but couldn’t see him anywhere. Just an abandoned torch was left lying on the ground. 

‘... not here.’

Did he run away?

Kang was left speechless.

‘This isn’t the time.’

He had to act, relying on his experience in the military, Kang Taejoon calmed down and observed the Fossil Bat.

Wielding the black machete, he was able to see in the darkness just like Woohyuk.

‘The head must be its weakness.’

The Fossil Bat’s body was covered  with rocks, except for its head and wings which were defenseless like any other bat.

“If you guys want to survive, listen closely!”

Kang Taejoon shouted at his party members that were scattered across the room.