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“Isn’t the follow-up quest still unaccepted?” Endless Sea hesitated.

Starry shook her head. “That’s a solo quest. I’ve already accepted it. By the way, have you checked the forum?”

“No, I was busy cooking noodles earlier. What’s up?”

“Someone released a strategy video for opening the Beginner Village’s North Gate,” Zane explained.

“What? Then we need to rush! I heard that the first few players to reach level 10 will get additional system rewards. Let’s move!”

…

“Sea, have you heard of the Temple?” Zane asked while they were on the road.

“The Temple!? Was it them who discovered the strategy?”

“Yeah. I used to play other games, so I’m not familiar with this stuff.”

“The Temple is one of the top 10 guilds in Glazed Lycoris Radiata. The rankings of the top 10 guilds constantly shift and reorganize, but they’ve always remained in the eighth or ninth spot, never falling out. For them to release this kind of video, it’s clear they want to stir the pot!” Endless Sea explained.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at their levels—most of them are around level 3 or 4. That means they recorded this within the first two hours after the server launched. It’s impossible for such a large group to go unnoticed. So, instead, they publicly shared the strategy across the entire web. By doing so, they not only gain publicity but also attract players to join their guild once the Guild Creation Token becomes available.”

Endless Sea continued, “Additionally, it’s possible they encountered some tricky challenges themselves. This is our chance. If they manage to clear the dungeon first, our village’s storyline will be overridden by theirs!”

Exactly. Zane still had two S-rank quests on hand. He absolutely needed to stay ahead of them.

They arrived at the familiar fork in the road. The right path led to the small mountain where they had previously gathered herbs. This time, they turned left.

Starry took the lead to ensure safety. As expected, all the animals in the area had mutated. Upon seeing Starry, they launched immediate attacks without hesitation.

Equipped with the Necklace of Dexterity, Starry’s attack power had risen to a staggering 68-73. Even level 8 monsters couldn’t withstand more than two strikes from her.

The air was thick with the stench of blood.

As they continued to carve their way forward, a cave came into view.

This must be the place the old man mentioned.

“We’re here,” Zane said.

“This place gives me the creeps… It’s too dark, and the smell of blood is getting stronger,” Endless Sea commented.

“It’s pretty bad, yeah,” Zane replied, pinching his nose.

At that moment, a bat flew out of the cave. Its crimson fangs looked especially menacing. Just then, a rabbit happened to pass by. The bat swooped down, pinning the rabbit by its neck, and leaned in to bite.

“Hiss—”

In the blink of an eye, the rabbit collapsed lifelessly. The bat, now satisfied, flapped its wings and returned to the cave.

“That scared the hell out of me! Thank goodness it wasn’t interested in me,” Endless Sea said, still shaken. He quickly pulled up the Blood Bat’s stats panel.

“Their attack power… it’s even higher than the wild boar’s, and their health is 350 points,” Zane remarked.

“That’s not all,” Endless Sea analyzed, “The bats are too small, making them very hard to hit. Plus, the description is troubling. If we get drained, who knows if there’s a debuff effect.”

“Let’s try pulling one out. I’m going in!” Zane lifted his Radiant Iron Sword and charged into the cave.

“Hey, wait a second!” Endless Sea shouted after him.

Meanwhile, Starry remained outside, standing guard.

Inside the cave, the darkness was suffocating. Even Starry, with her sharp instincts, would struggle to react purely on reflex. Any misstep could be deadly. With only 190 HP, she could be one-shot by these bats. After all, her stats were fully invested in Dexterity, and a cave this large definitely housed more than one blood bat.

Zane, however, had 370 HP. He hoped that if he sensed danger, he could make it out in time.

He cautiously advanced into the cave. Suddenly, he felt countless eyes locking onto him. Trembling, he looked up. There were at least a hundred pairs of blood-red eyes staring directly at him!

“Holy crap!” Zane turned and bolted.

The sound of flapping wings, crumbling dust, and an eerie vibration blended together into a chaotic cacophony. Zane’s ears buzzed painfully, his thoughts jumbled, and even his legs felt oddly numb.

Barely making it to the cave entrance, Zane could feel the bats mere inches from his neck. Just the thought of the swarm behind him made his skin crawl.

Before changing classes, no skills could be used, let alone any area-of-effect (AOE) skills, which made dealing with such a dense swarm of creatures impossible.

Using all his strength, Zane leapt forward! He landed face-first on the ground. From Starry’s perspective, the blood bats soared into the sky, only to swarm back into the cave moments later.

“Phew… phew… That scared me to death.”

“You’re way too reckless! Charging straight in like that… If they had chased us out, it would’ve been a complete wipe,” Endless Sea said, wide-eyed.

“My bad. At least nothing happened. On the bright side, I did manage to bait out a skill.”

Zane shared the information about Sonic Wave with the party.

“This debuff is brutal! It even slows down reaction speed?”
“Exactly. I felt dizzy just now—it’s exactly as described.”
“How do we even fight this? No wonder the Temple guild got stuck here. With so many bats in such a tight cave, you can’t lure them out one by one. No matter how many people go in, it’d be suicide,” Endless Sea said.

It made sense why this had been labeled an S-ranked quest. The challenge was undeniable. The cave entrance alone was an insurmountable obstacle. Without an AOE skill or overwhelming attributes, clearing the cave seemed impossible. It was likely never intended for players at this stage of the game. The only option seemed to be coming back much later.

But clearly, neither of them was willing to give up so easily.

“How about we try using traps or items?” Endless Sea suggested.

They still had some leftover special materials: venomous fangs and slime mucus.

An idea came to mind—what if they sealed the cave entrance with slime mucus, leaving only a small gap? Unfortunately, the slime wasn’t sticky enough to hold anything securely.

Both materials were harmful to living beings, and mixing them might produce a crude poison. However, without access to crafting professions, creating anything meaningful was out of the question.

“Let’s talk to the pharmacist,” Zane suggested.

“Yeah, that’s probably our best shot.”

…

“Poison?” Cassandra confirmed, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. The number of blood bats in the cave is overwhelming—we can’t handle them,” Zane explained.

“Sigh. It’s not that I don’t want to help you. Right now, we don’t have enough herbs to make poison, and the materials in this small village are very limited. Even if I managed to make something, it would at most cause minor irritation to the blood bats and wouldn’t be of much use.”

“I see… Sorry for bothering you.” Starry closed the door.

For a while, the party fell into silence.

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