Chapter 196

  Jake found himself standing at a four-way tunnel interse. He gnced behind him and saw that the portal he had just stepped through was o be seen. Looking around, he noticed that wherever he had been teleported to, the interior had a medieval style. The walls were posed of sturdy bricks, and the floor was id with cobblestones. As he had already noticed, he stood at the ter of the juncture where four tunnels branched off in various dires. Small alcoves, spaced at regur intervals along the walls of each tunnel, housed fming torches that illumihe area with a warm e glow.

  So he had four options to choose from. Which dire should he pick? Each looked identical, and an uling silenveloped him, with not a single sound breaking the stillness. Jake peered into each of the four tunnels, stretg out in different dires. Only a few torches were lit in each tunnel, while the others remaiinguished for some unknown reason. As a result, each passageway was illuminated only a dozeers in, with the remainder cloaked in darkhat even Jake’s keen eyesight couldn’t pee.

  He had no choice but to choose a dire at random. He picked a tuhat looked identical to the other three and began to sneak along the corridor, his form slightly hunched and his senses alert for any sign of trouble. The tunnel was wide, several meters across, with a very high ceiling. As he approached the st wall-mouorches that were lit, he instinctively slowed down. The glow from the torches pushed back the darkness a couple of meters in front of him, beyond which there were only shadows.

  He slowed down even more, nearing the point of stopping altogether. His vision allowed him to see just a few meters into the darkness, where the tunnel seemed to stretdlessly, and he had no idea where it might lead. Jake couldn’t shake off the sense of uhat washed over him. Usually, darkness posed no challenge for him, as his exceptional night vision allowed him to navigate even the darkest of enviros with ease. However, the darkness here felt different, possessing a supernatural quality that rendered his perfect sight iive.

  He tio sneak along the corridor, moving silently and gracefully like a predator stalking its prey. He knew he was a force to be reed with, but that didn’t mean he had to be reckless. So he proceeded slowly and carefully, every instin high alert, prepared t into a at the first hint of danger. So far, he hadn’t heard the slightest sound, but he was certain there had to be plenty of eo deal with. What kind of monsters could be lurking in a pce like this was anyone’s guess.

  He passed the st flickering torches aured deeper into the unlit se of the tuhe further he moved away from the fmes, the darker his surroundings became, the shadows thiing around him with each step. He realized he would soon find himself enveloped in total darkness. He pted what he would do then but had no clear answer. He figured he would just keep moving forward, yet he couldn’t shake the nagging thought that if an enemy ambushed him in this pitch-bck abyss, fighting it would be anything but easy.

  And then he heard it—a sound, faint and not easily reizable. It echoed from deeper parts of the tunnel, which were shrouded in total darkness. Jake paused, straining to hear, anticipating ao burst from the engulfing bess that y just ahead. However, that moment never came. To his surprise, as he took aep forward, the two wall-mouorches positioned just ahead and directly across from each other suddenly fred to life, casting a warm glow over the walls and illuminating the several meters of the corridor.

  Jake froze. Something made him gnce over his shoulder and take a look at the se of the corridor he had already traveled. Something didn’t add up, but for a sed he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Then it struck him: he should have been able to see the four-way interse, but it was obscured. The two torches at the tunnel’s entrahe ones now farthest away from him—must have extinguished the moment the torches o him fred to life.

  Jake pressed onward through the corridor. Each time he neared a new pair of torches, they fred to life, while the st set on the opposite side behind him snuffed out. So as long as the torches he approached kept igniting to illuminate his path, he wouldn’t find himself in total darkness. That was a relief. He certainly didn’t want to front enemies in pitch-bck ditions.

  He pressed forward through the tunnel, watg as the torches ahead tio light up before him. He quied his pace, every sense heightened and ready for any sign of trouble. Suddenly, the sound he’d heard before returned, louder and nearer. Jake peered into the darkness but still couldn’t identify the source of the sound. He waited for a moment in the heavy silence, but the sound did not return, so he ultimately decided to push onward.

  For the several minutes, he moved dowunnel. From time to time, the sounds repeated, growing louder as Jake got closer. Eventually, he identified them: the fpping of wings. Winged creatures occasionally flew from one spot to another, yet he still couldn’t see them. He pressed on through the corridor, peering into the darkness ahead. Whatever those creatures were, they hadn’t noticed him yet.

  As he stealthily moved dowunnel, Jake morphed his right hand into a smashfist and his left into cws. He made no sound as he crept down the corridor, but the winged creatures suddenly became aware of his presence. A flurry of soued as numerous wings beat fiercely in the air. The noise grew louder, and Jake halted, staring ahead and waiting for the unknowo reveal itself.

  A moment ter, several winged creatures burst from the darkness of the tuhey resembled monstrous bats, each the size of a domestic cat, with rge leathery wings and huge mouths filled with poieeth. Their sinister red eyes locked onto him as they swooped through the air. All of the creatures looked identical, and Jake summohe stats of one. He discovered they were simply called bats, each at Level 65. They cked any special abilities, and their teeth appeared to be their only on.

  The first bat to reach Jake lu him with surprising speed, its teeth aimed at his face. He jumped aside, but the bat still mao cmp its teeth onto his shoulder. Fortunately, it failed to pee his hardened body and infliy damage. Jake grabbed the bat with his right hand and tore it away from his body. The creature hissed in protest, fpping its wings furiously, yet it remained firmly trapped in his grip.

  Jake squeezed the bat tightly in his fist, then opened his hand to let its shattered body with broken boumble onto the cobbled floor.

  Enemy killed. +200 XP

  Gaining two hundred experience points from a creature that presented little threat and could be killed in a sed wasn’t bad at all.

  The remaining creatures swooped in, fpping chaotically above him, just out of reach. Whenever one dove at him, he would either seize it with his right hand or ssh with the cws of his left. On one occasion, he even sprouted bded tentacles from his bad shed out, sying several bats. Given how easy these oversized bats were to kill, Jake opted not to use advanced abilities like Acidic Spit, choosing to serve his mana instead.

  It didn’t take him long to deal with all the bats.

  Multiple enemies killed. +2,600 XP

  Jake g his experience bar and saw that he needed a little over three thousand XP to hit level 80. It seemed he would be able to level up many times while expl the dungeon.

  Havi with the first batch of ehe dungeon had to offer, he tinued dowunnel. He was certain that the difficulty would only increase as he ventured deeper. Although the oversized bats hadn’t given him much trouble, he figured they could have posed a signifit challeo ordinary survivors. They flew quickly aically, suddenly swooping down and then just as suddenly darting away. He imagi would be difficult for survivors to track their uable movements with their guns while trying to shoot them. For him, however, those bats posed no threat at all.

  For the several minutes, he tinued dowunnel. Each pair of the torches he approached magically fred up, casting light that stretched several meters ahead. He pressed on, feeling more fident with each step. Now that he knew what to expect, he picked up his pace. There were no more oversized bats to attack him, and the silenveloped him, with no sound of fpping wings eg through the darkness.

  Jake pressed onward until, at st, he spotted the tunnel’s end in the distance. Eager to discover what y beyond, he quied his pace even more.