Chương 86: Chapter 87: The Obvious Answer Took Ten Years

The first bats descended from the cavern ceiling in a loose spiral, their leathery wings folding inward as they accelerated toward the group. Lucia's scouts reacted before the monsters crossed half the distance. Their crystal eyes flashed, projecting thin lines of light across the darkness and marking every approaching target.

"Eighteen," Lucia said.

"More are waking up." Mellia raised one hand.

"Roof formation." The four defensive plates surrounding the party flew upward and locked together. A curved barrier formed above them moments before the first bat released a piercing shriek. The sound struck the shield hard enough to make its surface ripple. Dust fell from the cavern ceiling while the pressure rolled around the edges and shook Sieghart's cloak. The attack contained more than noise.

Mana traveled through the shriek, amplifying the vibrations until they could damage the ears and disrupt concentration. Mellia's barrier absorbed most of the force. She rotated two plates forward, angling the remaining sound away from the group instead of blocking it directly. Kart's three guardian constructs spread apart beneath the shield. Their broad metallic bodies lowered against the ground while their front limbs unfolded into hooked launchers. The nearest bat passed through one of Lucia's targeting lines.

Kart's first guardian leaped. Its heavy body crossed the distance with unexpected speed and struck the monster in midair. Metal jaws closed around one wing before dragging it toward the cavern floor. The bat shrieked and attempted to claw through the guardian's armor. A second construct reached them before it escaped and pinned its body beneath one reinforced leg. Hernan moved at the same moment. Two summoned spears shot past Kart's constructs and pierced the grounded monster through the chest.

The weapons dissolved after striking, leaving narrow holes that immediately began spilling dark blood. The remaining bats changed direction. Half continued toward the party while the others attacked Kart's guardians, apparently recognizing the constructs as immediate threats. Mellia separated the defensive plates. The roof barrier opened through the center, creating a narrow gap directly above Hernan. Three weapon constructs waited beneath it.

"Now," Mellia said. Hernan launched them. A sword and two spears flew through the opening just as Lucia's scouts projected another set of targeting lines. Every weapon followed one of those marks. The sword cut through the leading bat's neck. The first spear pierced another through its open mouth, while the second tore across a wing and sent its target spinning toward the ground. Mellia closed the barrier before the remaining monsters could use the opening.

Claws scraped across its surface, producing sparks and thin fractures. Kart directed one guardian away from the grounded bat. The construct charged beneath the shield and slammed its shoulder into a defensive plate. Instead of resisting, Mellia released the plate at the moment of impact. The guardian launched it like an enormous metal paddle. Three bats were struck across their wings and thrown against the cavern wall. Lucia's scouts immediately marked the fallen creatures.

Hernan replaced his dissolved weapons and sent another group through gaps that Mellia created between her shields. Sieghart remained behind the formation with Water Cannon prepared around his right hand and a half-formed Mana Shield near his left. He had expected the young summoners to struggle during their first real encounter. The number of enemies and disadvantage of fighting beneath a high ceiling should have created serious pressure. Instead, the group dismantled the attack with practiced efficiency.

They rarely needed to communicate. Lucia marked targets, Kart forced the monsters toward predictable positions, Hernan finished anything that lost mobility, and Mellia controlled the space surrounding everyone. Their constructs were not individually powerful. Kart's guardians moved quickly but lacked the strength to crush a monster immediately. Hernan's weapons could penetrate flesh, yet hitting fast airborne targets would have been difficult without Lucia.

Mellia's barriers protected the group but could not defeat anything alone. Together, those limitations became considerably less important. A second wave descended from the ceiling. These bats avoided the center and approached from different sides, perhaps reacting to the deaths of the first group. Lucia spread her scouts farther apart.

"Seven left, six right, and at least four behind us." Mellia moved one defensive plate toward the rear while keeping the others above the group.

"Kart, right side. Hernan, left. Lucia, watch the ceiling." The constructs changed formation immediately. Kart's guardians moved toward the right passage and positioned themselves in a line. The first lowered its body, the second climbed onto its back, and the third balanced above both. When the bats entered range, all three guardians jumped in different directions. Their sudden separation created a metallic net of mana lines between them. Four monsters struck those lines.

Their wings folded awkwardly as the mana tightened, sending them crashing into the ground. Hernan handled the left side with less restraint. All six rings around his belt activated. Two swords, two spears, an axe, and a narrow chain construct appeared around him. He launched the chain first. It wrapped around a stone column while the remaining end remained connected to the axe. Hernan pulled his hand sideways. The axe swung around the column in a wide arc and struck one bat across the chest.

The impact threw it into another monster, disrupting both attacks. His summoned swords accelerated through the opening. One entered the first bat's skull, while the second tore through the damaged wing of its companion. The remaining monsters tried to climb again. Lucia's scouts flew above them and emitted sharp bursts of mana. The pulses did not cause damage, but the bats reacted violently. Their enormous ears turned toward the artificial sounds, distracting them from the weapons approaching below.

Hernan's spears pierced both creatures before they recovered. The rear group reached Mellia's barrier moments later. Three bats struck the curved surface while the fourth descended beneath it, attempting to reach the summoner controlling the defense. Mellia did not retreat. The plate beside her separated into two smaller sections. One struck the monster's jaw from below, while the other slammed against the back of its head. The bat's skull cracked between them.

Mellia directed both plates upward and restored the rear barrier before the remaining creatures crossed it. Sieghart watched her control with growing interest. She could divide and combine the defensive constructs without recreating them, allowing the same spell to produce different shapes. The technique probably did not possess a separate system-recognized skill. It was simply an advanced application of the constructs she already controlled.

A final bat avoided Lucia's scouts and dived toward Kart from the darkness. Sieghart noticed it first and raised his hand. Before he cast anything, one of Kart's guardians twisted without receiving a visible command. Its metal tail extended like a spear and entered the bat's chest. Kart did not even look toward the dying creature. He had sensed its position through the construct itself. The entire battle ended in less than two minutes. Eighteen bodies covered the cavern floor.

Several continued twitching, but Hernan finished them with narrow blade constructs before they could recover. Lucia's scouts returned to their positions above the group. Kart checked each guardian for damage, while Mellia repaired the cracks across her defensive plates. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Sieghart dismissed Water Cannon and Mana Shield without using either one. The young summoners were skilled.

The bat monsters had not been particularly durable, but defeating them inside an environment designed around their greatest advantages still required coordination. Hernan looked toward Sieghart after the final monster stopped moving.

"You didn't do anything."

"You didn't get hurt." Mellia interrupted before the conversation became another argument.

"Check the bodies. We need to confirm the species and look for signs of taming." Kart's guardians dragged several corpses into the center. Lucia created a small floating light while Mellia knelt beside the largest bat. Sieghart approached with the others. The creature possessed no visible eyes. Smooth gray skin stretched across the area where ordinary animals would have possessed sockets. Its ears were enormous, extending from both sides of its narrow skull like folded pieces of leather.

Several smaller openings surrounded the central canals. Lucia examined them without touching the corpse.

"They navigate through sound."

"Echolocation," Sieghart said. Four faces turned toward him. He remembered that the term might not be common in this world.

"They release sounds and listen to the echoes. That tells them where objects are." Lucia nodded slowly.

"That explains why my pulses distracted them." Hernan pointed toward the mine entrance behind them.

"It also means they'll hear us coming." Mellia examined the creature's claws.

"Approaching the nest without being noticed will be difficult. Keep unnecessary conversation to a minimum from now on." Hernan glanced toward Sieghart. He chose not to make the obvious comment after Mellia looked at him. Sieghart studied the metallic fragment embedded in the bat's chest. It appeared to be a thin plate rather than a natural growth. The metal had partially fused with the surrounding flesh. Faint markings covered its exposed surface, although blood and dirt concealed most of the pattern.

"This was placed here," Sieghart said. Mellia moved beside him.

"A control mark?"

"Possibly. I can't see the full formation without removing it." Kart inspected another corpse.

"This one has the same metal." Lucia checked the remaining bodies through her scouts.

"Most of them do." Mellia stood.

"We collect the bodies and materials on the way back. Spending time cutting them open now might alert the rest of the nest." Hernan looked toward the scattered corpses.

"What if someone else takes them?"

"Kart's outside guardian will warn us if anyone enters the mine. The bodies aren't going anywhere by themselves."

"That is a dangerous sentence to say around corrupted monsters," Sieghart remarked. Mellia paused.

"Remove the control plates, then. Leave everything else." Kart and Hernan extracted the fragments while Lucia kept watch. The work took several minutes, but none of the corpses moved again. Mellia wrapped the bloody plates in treated cloth before placing them inside a sealed container. They could examine the formations safely after leaving the cave. The group resumed its advance. Kart's guardians returned to the front, stepping around the bones and waste covering the ground.

Lucia's scouts moved above them while Hernan prepared another set of weapons. Sieghart remained near the center and analyzed everything he had witnessed. Unlike him, the four summoners possessed neither Infinite Mana nor a system that converted spell progression into permanent attributes. Their mana reserves were limited, and every construct depended upon prepared frames, cores, enchantments, or formations. Despite those limitations, they used their available abilities in far more varied ways.

Mellia treated each defensive plate as a barrier, weapon, platform, or movable piece of terrain. Kart altered his guardians' positions to create nets, launch attacks, and protect several directions. Lucia's scouts provided vision, targeting, communication, and disruption. Hernan combined simple weapon constructs until their interactions produced attacks none could accomplish individually. They improved their cards instead of constantly searching for new ones.

Sieghart possessed more spells than all four combined, but he often treated the system's recognized descriptions as instructions instead of foundations. If a technique did not become a named skill, he tended to consider it unfinished. That mindset caused him to overlook useful applications. The system might not recognize Flame Arrow, Dust Tornado, elemental shielding, or his combination of Frozen Floor and Wind propulsion as independent spells. They still worked.

Until Sieghart learned how to level certain types of magic, he could refine those unrecognized techniques and use them as parts of his fighting style. This mission offered an excellent chance to experiment. The monsters he had hunted during the previous three years were generally too weak to create meaningful pressure. Facing more dangerous enemies alongside a competent team would force him to use his existing cards differently.

The enormous cavern narrowed again near the three-way intersection Lucia had discovered. Old mining rails followed the center passage, while natural tunnels descended along both sides. Mellia stopped before the split.

"Lucia, scout each path. Keep the constructs close enough to recover if something attacks." The metal birds separated. Two entered the central tunnel, while the others moved through the left and right passages. Their crystal eyes illuminated fresh scratches along every wall. Sieghart sensed movement above them before Lucia spoke. Another group of bats detached from a ledge hidden near the ceiling. They had remained completely still while the party approached. Their attack began without a warning shriek.

Three descended toward Kart's guardians, while another five targeted Hernan and Mellia from opposite sides. The group reacted quickly, but the close distance gave them less time to establish the previous formation. Kart sent his guardians upward while Mellia moved two plates over the group. Hernan summoned four short swords and prepared to meet the bats directly. Sieghart decided to test an idea. Mira's Telekinesis book described projecting mana across a distance while suppressing its presence.

Sieghart could not yet envelop and move a stone, but moving an object was not his only option. Protection and Muscle Reinforcement already worked through mana placed upon his body. Until now, Sieghart had always established those spells through direct contact or by casting them upon himself. He extended a thin thread toward Hernan. Sieghart reduced its signature as much as possible, following the technique described in Mira's book. The mana traveled through the air without producing a visible glow.

The thread touched Hernan's back. Instead of enveloping the his clothes, Sieghart allowed the mana to spread beneath them and connect with the channels throughout his body. He activated Protection first. A stable defensive layer formed beneath Hernan's skin, strengthening him without altering his movement. Muscle Reinforcement followed. Sieghart synchronized the spell with Hernan's muscles, allowing the teenager's own actions to determine where the reinforcement gathered. Hernan stiffened for half a second.

His next step carried him farther than expected. He nearly lost his balance, but Protection absorbed the strain while he corrected his posture. One bat reached him. Hernan swung his arm. The summoned sword following the movement accelerated with far greater force than before. It cut completely through the monster's neck instead of stopping inside the flesh. The teenager stared at the separated head for a moment before another bat attacked. He moved again.

Muscle Reinforcement followed his legs, shoulders, and arms, strengthening each action without requiring him to understand the spell. Hernan lunged beneath the creature's claws and drove one sword through its chest. Two more weapon constructs followed, piercing both wings before the monster could climb. His physical movements became faster and more decisive. Protection allowed him to approach without hesitating whenever claws passed near his body. The remaining bats tried to surround him.

Hernan summoned a spear, planted one foot against the ground, and threw it with his reinforced arm. The weapon crossed the tunnel fast enough to produce a sharp crack. It entered one bat's mouth and emerged through the back of its skull. The others finished their targets, but Hernan killed the final three almost alone. A notification appeared before Sieghart. White Magic gained 10 experience points. White Magic gained 10 experience points. White Magic gained 10 experience points. Sieghart blinked.

He had spent years healing, protecting, and reinforcing himself without understanding how to advance White Magic. Remotely strengthening someone else during one battle granted experience immediately. Had he missed something? The answer seemed painfully obvious in hindsight. Support Magic apparently expected him to support another person.

'This has to be a joke…' Using Protection on himself improved the individual spell because he refined its durability and efficiency. Applying it to someone else during combat advanced White Magic because his power contributed to their victory. Sieghart had assumed White Magic required saving lives or healing lethal wounds. Apparently, making another fighter more effective was enough.

"How was it that easy?" he muttered.