Leaving his body behind on a soiled bed beside Talia in the wrecked house, Aaron took control of his spirit and began toward the cave.

  Inside, he descended quickly and was met by a dark, damp, and very gloomy cavern that had many adjoining passages veering off in all directions, but he continued onward toward where he felt the aura emanating from.

  Strangely, even after a couple of minutes passing down through the passages, he had yet to see any sign of anything—beasts or otherwise.

  Aether burned in the eyes of his spirit, as he cycled the energy to help him see in the total darkness. A little darkness wouldn’t dissuade him from going further.

  As he traveled further down, the cave tunnels expanded outward, and soon he was looking down at an absolutely massive cavern. It must have been hundreds of meters across, and who knows how deep, as complete darkness gripped it further down, and even Aaron couldn’t see that far with his aether and superhuman Perception, though it was heavily hampered by the dark.

  But he could sense something down there. Souls and energy sources by the hundreds. They were incredibly weak, though, which gave him pause. Whatever was behind the aura, it certainly wasn’t what he was currently sensing.

  What is that? They're so weak. I’m not sure I’ve felt anything like this since… since, well, ever.

  Aaron stepped out from the cave tunnel and into the cavern and glided down to the bottom of its rocky floor. As he floated down, his mouth fell ajar. The entire cavern floor was filled with figures standing shoulder to shoulder, barely moving in the complete darkness. There must have been hundreds of them. Humans. Gaunt, ribs exposed, and looking barely alive. And just like the corpses above, they were littered with little bites.

  What is this… who did this to these people?

  Their eyes were empty. Just staring ahead mindlessly.

  Aaron remembered Douglas’ warning of slavery in the new world as he scanned the destitute people, and blank people. Was this what he had meant?

  He didn’t even know these people, and he had seen enough bloodshed not to get overly emotional over injustice. But this was just revolting. Hundreds of people were kept in these awful conditions. It was enough to make him sick.

  But he couldn’t do anything until he knew what they were dealing with, and so he continued on, moving toward the source of the aura.

  There was another tunnel a dozen or so meters above the cavern floor, out of reach of the weakened people. He continued down the tunnel until he reached another huge chamber. But this time, there were no humans. There were energy signals, though. And they were much stronger than the ones he had felt previously.

  In the distance, he spotted them. Perched on the ceiling and dangling down, wrapped up in themselves. There were dozens of them.

  Sanguine Chiropteran [ Level 95 ]

  Titles: [ Bloodsucker ]

  So, those are the bastards responsible for this?

  They were vampire bats, and there were a lot of them. But not a single D-grade in sight. Under other circumstances, he might have been praising his luck. But Aaron could see the quest marker on his map just ahead.

  These guys aren’t the main prize.

  Sighing, he continued on. Luckily, he sensed nothing probing him from them, nor anything else. The aura was ominous, and he had no doubt about finding out why, but he had no reason to believe they posed any threat to his wandering spirit. Which was a relief.

  He continued to the far end of the cavern and through a narrow adjoining tunnel that led into the final chamber. Bodies were strung up all around the place, and resting within a coffin, was a… woman?

  Aaron blinked. And then noted her bat ears and wings. She also had patches of fur about her. But her face and midsection were uncannily human-like, and he hated to admit it, but the silver-haired bat-woman was a looker.

  What the fuck? Is she human, or a bat?

  Countess Lorella [ Level 120 ]

  Titles: [ Matriarch ] [ Bloodsucker ]

  The sight of the human-looking bat made him remember his own evolutionary options, and Bec’s. Could beasts get similar options upon evolution? Could they become more human if they wanted to? And if they could, what were the implications of that?

  Aaron backstepped. There was an obvious moral dilemma when it came to beast hunting if his conclusions were correct. But in this case, it meant little. Human or not, what they were doing to these people was beyond foul and needed to be punished.

  However, despite the horrible aura the place was giving off, and the fact that his quest marker indicated that this Lorella bat-thing was indeed the beast lord, she was at least a lower level than the simian reaver.

  Sure, alongside all of her companions, she might have very well been a considerably more difficult challenge than the simian reaver. But he, too, had companions.

  Hmmm, perhaps she might not be a bad punching bag to prepare for the others, Aaron thought, rubbing the finger where his ring would have been if he were not in spirit form, and considered his chances of winning.

  Racing back up, he headed straight back to the tiny town where the others were waiting. Although ultimately, it mattered little whether he was confident in winning or not. He knew they couldn’t just leave those people to suffer. That was a step too far down the pragmatic survivalist route, and he was not ready to completely surrender his humanity, even if it came at risks to himself.

  “Really?” Talia frowned as Aaron explained what he had seen. “That’s disturbing.”

  “That’s fucking terrible, is what it is,” Ryan shook his head.

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  “Yeah. It’s fucked. No doubt about that. Those people… they must be feeding on them, or something. Keeping them down there for midnight snacks.”

  “So, I take it we’re heading down there, then?” Ryan said.

  “Wait,” Talia raised her hand. “Of course, we have to save those people. But let's be smart about this. We have an entire squad here with a variety of different abilities at our disposal. You said there were tunnels leading between the caverns, right? Maybe we could make use of them. Use them to our advantage, and avoid taking on all the bats at once. Or lure them somewhere that’s advantageous for us?”

  “That’s… that’s not a bad idea,” Aaron said.

  Talia’s idea wasn’t just a Hail Mary, either. They had all the best fighters from the settlement, and several different Classes and Skill types that could be put to use.

  In the end, they settled on one of Julius’ men who had joined them for the mission. He had quite a reputation, and Julius’ group on several occasions during the Tutorial.

  The man had been at Julius’ side most of the time, but was handed over to Talia’s command ever since they had started working together, as he was better suited to combat missions.

  And this man, Nicolas, had just the Class that might help them in their current situation. A Bombardia Cleric, he had a knack for making things go boom.

  That said, his Skills required stupid amounts of mana, and because of that, he had delved heavily into improving his MP, and his Fortitude was rather lacking. Which had earned him the nickname Glass Cannon.

  He was, however, able to create a rather powerful explosive. As long as they could help him deliver the explosive to the target, he might be able to help them tip the scales in their direction.

  That said, Aaron wasn’t sure how long some rubble or even a full-blown cave-in would slow a D-grade beast lord down. He doubted such a deception would do much, but even a few minutes might make culling her minions easier.

  But that involves going into the cave where the aura is. Fuck, I don’t like this…

  “Aaron?” Talia probed.

  “I don’t want to fight them in there. Not if we can help it.”

  The group continued discussing plans. If Aaron sensed something off and didn’t want to fight within the cave, everyone listened.

  But what if they could fight them outside of the cavern? They were vampire bats, after all. It wasn’t just the deadly aura. Just how much would they be weakened if they were forced to fight in the sunlight?

  A new plan was devised. A decision was made to wait until nightfall. With any luck, the bats would leave the cave to go hunt, and they would destroy their way back in.

  Perhaps the plan wouldn’t work, but night wasn’t so far away. And they decided it was worth at least trying. Either way, even if it didn’t work, fighting outside at night was likely better than in the caverns. At least there was moonlight to aid them.

  Doing their best to mask their energy signals, the group took cover around the area, splitting up so that there wouldn’t be a concentration anywhere.

  Nicolas and Aaron hid further up the mountain. They were within distance so that Nicolas could detonate the mana-powered explosive he placed around the cave entrance, and Aaron was on standby to guard him.

  They waited until nightfall, and then, nothing. Complete silence filled the night air, and they wondered for a good few hours if their plan was a complete failure before the beasts finally emerged.

  The flock of bats flew out. Huge things, their bodies about the size of a man, but with massive wings that extended multiple meters in both directions, and the sound of their flapping wings and high-pitched echoes carried for miles.

  But it became immediately obvious that they weren’t easily tricked. Instantly, they turned toward them, darting out in all directions as they attacked.

  Oh, right, they don’t need to see us, do they?

  Their plan was already falling apart, and in a panic, Nicolas detonated the explosives.

  A deafening explosion rocked out and caused the rock to collapse over the entrance.

  The plan felt like it was falling apart quicker than it had been devised, but then Aaron realized he couldn’t sense or see Lorella, the beast lord. If nothing else, that was a victory.

  It seemed that they wouldn’t be given the opportunity to wait until daylight to fight the vampire bats, but at least they had some time to take them out before the boss arrived.

  Aaron wasted no time, targeting the wings of the nearest bats as he took flight toward them, clashing as they charged toward him. With precise punches, he landed against their wings, and after a second of the deadly fury, he had sent two of the bats hurtling toward the ground, unable to fly.

  Since they naturally had wings, it seemed that the bats hadn’t bothered with movement Skills allowing them to fly. And the moment they were disabled, they fell like bricks.

  He was going to need to finish them off, but first, he made his way to more of the diving bats. They were aimed at Nicolas, and the man was far too slow to escape them with wings. He could, however, keep free of them once Aaron disabled them, and so that’s what he aimed to do.

  He intercepted more bats, appearing from his incorporeal state for a blink of an eye and disabling one, and continued onto the next.

  Everything had happened so fast, and as he picked his enemies apart, he realized that he was still wearing his ring. This was pure skill. Finding targets and then hitting them with lightning-fast strikes, breaking down their defenses, and moving on to the next.

  This was what he had been wanting to get back to all along, but powerful enemies continued to show themselves. He had to take this fight as seriously as any other, but the vampire boss hadn’t shown herself yet. And a vicious smile came over his face.

  If they were going to give him time, then he would make the most of it. After all, there were bigger fish to fry, and he had to make sure he was ready when the time came.

  As the battle continued, he realized that the others were already engaged in battle, and he could see separate skirmishes dotted across the land. However, he also realized that they outnumbered their enemy. At least the mobile ones.

  He himself had disabled several already, and Talia was taking on four alone. This had put them in a position where some of their strongest fighters could take the bats on one-on-one, while the weaker members could team up against them.

  However, it was obvious this was a delicate situation. If the beast lord, or more vampire bats, appeared, the situation would quickly swing against them.

  With a devilish grin, Aaron decided to risk it. He delved within as he weaved through the battle, perfectly picking his attacks as he considered who he was as a fighter, and what he wanted to be.

  He had been reminded of how he was able to essentially fake Skills in the trials. Bending his energy in new ways to overcome challenges, which he had then used to develop the powerful Skills he now relied upon.

  This had been fundamental to becoming what he was, and he needed to get back to that. The problem was that his Skills had become so strong and complete that he had slacked a little when it came to considering how to improve them and where the next step forward would come from.

  But that had all changed when he learned about Skill merging. No longer did he have to try to think about what Skill could possibly be worth dropping one of his current Skills. No, now he could merge multiple powers into one and create room for new ones.

  And with that thought in mind, he wondered, could any Skill type be faked? And if they could, did that mean he could do something similar with Skill merging?

  That led him to an idea that had been on the periphery of his mind for a while. He had been thinking about [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] for a while. It was a powerful Skill, no doubt about it. But it was very energy-expensive, and with such incredible Skills and Perception on his own, he often found that it wasn’t an overly worthwhile use of energy in many fights, limiting its utility.

  However, what would happen if he attempted to expand his power outwards with his [ Soul Vortex ]? And tried to change the nature of it?

  Perhaps it was a waste of time. But he was curious now, and as long as the beast lord didn’t show her face, he wanted to capitalize on the moment to train.

  As he continued to beat down another one of the crippled vampire bats, he activated [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] and pressed his incredible willpower into it, as he tried to parse its power into [ Soul Vortex ].

  If there was anybody you could push the boundaries of what was possible, it was Aaron, and he stubbornly pressed forward, brow crooked and smile wide and toothy.

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