Chapter 56: The Extinction…? Part 2
Republish because the previous one is not well edited
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All of the pink bats became stiff frozen as they stopped dead in their tracks, they didn't need to turn, their echolocation abilities saw it clearly, they witnessed it with their own "eyes" on how the strongest of the male pink bats got struck by a gigantic bulldozer disguised as a goat and how their temporary leader was turned into ashes that got carried away by the wind.
"2 more..."
Ruphas mumbled as he slowly turned around and locked his gaze on a certain pink bat.
"Shit...!"
The bat in question was jolted awake as the primal fear of death took over him and made his strained body and soul go into overdrive, he just sprinted as fast as he could with only his survival circulating in his mind.
He doesn't care about anything anymore, war? His Queen? His comrades? Will those things save him from dying?
No, thus he just thought about himself as adrenaline made his body go past his limits and reach speeds that not a flying creature can have while running.
But reality still proved to be cruel, for no matter how many doses of adrenaline were injected into his mind, no one in the forest's entirety could surpass the speed of a thunder strike.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!NO! NO!NO! NO!NO! NO!NO! NO!NO! NO!NO! NO!"
He said, indignant of his demise, but Ruphas paid his will to live no heed as he slammed his "thunder horns" at the back of the bat, the bat first felt pain in his spine, his backbone instantly crumbled at the force of the attack.
"GWAAA...."
However, that severe sensation of his backbone and ribcage breaking seemed to pale in comparison to the burning sensation of electric currents caused by flood-like amounts of electricity that suddenly just coursed through his body.
"...AAAAGHAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"
The bat shouted as his body felt the sensation of electricity invading his body, circulating from his back to all his being again and again, his tears could not fall and his screams were being drowned by the loud zapping sound that resonated through the forest.
_Ah... I... Don't want to die...._
His consciousness started to slip away as the sound of his own body being electrocuted started to wane, the sound became dimmer and dimmer until all sounds came to a halt for the pink bat.
"Second one Dead."
Ruphas mumbled as he huffed for air and faltered a little, his legs seemed to stumble but he forced them back into standing upright, seems like he is yet to be used in equipping his power because, like most of the strong individuals, it is rare to find someone who have the same level of power to truly contend against him.
And he can't just ask his master for a duel, he has his pride no matter how loyal he is and will not enter a battle he has no chance of winning.
"One more and I'll leave the rest to you two."
Jin and Bernardo continued to run as they heard the words of Ruphas which they responded with a "Got it!".
As Ruphas heard their reply, he once again lowered his head.
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The three remaining bats flinched nastily as they all started to run, a certain sense of relief engulfed them as they heard that only one person could be targeted by Ruphas because of him not being able to maintain his transformation for long, that means at least two of them have the sure chance of survival.
_And I just have to be the fastest to be one of those two!_
All of them thought of the same thing, they already had their pride crushed the moment that sound pulse destroyed their ears, thus they did not even think of fighting back, nor did they thought of humiliation from having to escape out of the forest they once boldly claimed as they ever grazed their minds.
After all, what honor is greater than being alive right?
As they were thinking about those things, the rumbling sound they were hearing from afar came near, the pink bats became tense as they ran even faster, two of the bats sighed in relief as their 360-degree "vision" saw Ruphas going away from their direction, they knew that one of their kin will perish in such a pathetic way because they were spared, but the monsters that they are, they just consoled themselves with a:
_I will pray for your soul, my brother-!?_
As they were thinking about that phrase to console their guilty conscience, they finally realized it.
_IT'S NOT ONLY RUPHAS WHO'S PURSUING US!_
Their body already relaxed because of the relief of escaping death once again shuddered in fear as the sneering sigh of two individuals, one a goblin and another a monkey greeted their all-encompassing "eyes".
It was Bernardo and Jin, the two who were depicted as one of the most boring subordinates of their queen, Sophia.
"DON'T FORGET ABOUT US!"
At that moment, the pink bats were given a grim reminder...
On how futile their struggles are.
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Meanwhile, the pink bat who was the one chosen by Ruphas as the one to pursue was scrambling with what his battered body could muster to escape from this accursed place, at the same time his mind was also doing its best to question why he have to report such disrespectful thing about a powerful being like the one pursuing him right now.
He is the weakest of the pink bats because of the same reasoning that he is the youngest and the person who lacks experience the most, because of this, at first he thought that Hero Prospects were just humans or monsters that are slightly stronger than their race's average, he also thought that named monster are just normal monsters... but has a name.
That's why when this war started he could not understand why all of the forest leaders were too tense, but because the order of their queen and his older brothers were also serious, he decided to do so too.
But still, a child will always be a child, one should be reminded that a monster's development, even if they have human-level intelligence is different than actual humans, thus he somehow still has unconscious tendencies of children.
That's why, when it's his turn to patrol, he just glosses over the places that don't have an enemy soldier and just stays at a location that can observe places with the most density of enemy warriors, obviously if there is a movement out the range of his flapping ears' echolocation, he cannot sense it whatsoever.
_UGH.... Why me... Why me?_
Tears started to flow from his blind eyes as he heard the thunderous roars of goat hooves get closer and closer, and when it was already right at his back he finally snapped, the final struggle of a dying person will finally start.
_I am a Pink Bat!_
His last remaining rationality was thrown out of the window as he stopped running and swiped his claw downward to the still-running figure of Ruphas, Ruphas stopped from his tracks, and with a swift step back he dodged the attack.
_I will not run from a mere goat!_
His mind started to distort as he sucked in a large amount of air and made his lungs bloat, he them released a sound pulse that is audible as a maddened screech, that was his shout devoid of any kind of reason.
However, Ruphas ignored his attack because he knew, he knew by instinct that the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound as he just rammed his whole body into the last pink bat.
"GYAAAAAAAGHHHHHAAAAAGGG!"
The bat shouted, and that noise he made was the signal of his departure from this world.
Meanwhile, the thunder on Ruphas' whole body disappeared as he weakly slumped on the ground, his fur were burnt and his mouth was coughing with blood.
_Did I do good, Master..._
He asked so to no one in particular, but then a voice who seemed to be laughing was heard in his head.
_You did well!_
Ruphas bloodied mouth smiled a little as he laid down his head, sleeping without a care about the war for he already showed his belief.
If carnivores have fangs, herbivores have horns.
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Bernardo, Jin, and Saru, these three people who have the honor of being chosen as Sophia's subordinates are deemed to be the most stale of all of her generals, the reason is not because they are weak, if anything they are even stronger than Philo, Lyra and Kabuto combined, the reason is much simpler than that. It's because they are not flashy enough.
The trio doesn't have Philo's reckless and blood-curling fighting style nor do they have the one-hit one-kill style of Lyra's almost perfectly accurate archery. Jin and Saru's father might be a martial artist, but his [Pyromancy] and his ability to turn into a giant made him a rather popular fighter.
Well, no need to talk about Ruphas because of what he just showed a while earlier, but the most ridiculous is that even Arachne who is not a fighter has the most creative of manipulation strategies that sometimes surprises even their queen.
Well, at least that's what people think because martial artists have to learn the fundamentals and it may be boring for other people, but for those who have chosen the path of martial, the most pleasurable thing in the whole wide world is learning how to perform their technique.
Flashiness or anything like that must come for the second or third of their lists.
"Don't run and meet your demise!"
Bernardo shouted at a bat whose running started to wane as he laughed, his spirit was not even rattled by how big a gap Ruphas and his power have, after all, if his master is to be used as standard, no one, not even Wokung who was the former leader of the second layer can contend to her properly, compared to Sophia, Ruphas is more approachable and he has just to be stronger to surpass him, and that will start by killing the bat in front of him.
He flickered in front of the bat causing it to be startled and tried to change the trajectory of his sprint, but Bernardo was faster and used a leg sweep that strangely swept the humungous foot of the bat.
"Guh...!"
The bat saw his world spin as he was flipped upside down and rolled to the ground several times, he knew that escaping was not an option anymore, thus as he stood up, he immediately attacked Bernardo with his claw, swiping it downwards, Bernardo once again grinned as he muttered.
"Going for the last struggle huh..."
As he said those words he stepped forward a little and grabbed the folded wing of the pink bat that was slicing down towards him, Bernardo then lifted the bat's body like paper and slammed it like boulder, causing his neck up to the bones of his other wing to be broken.
"Guwaah!"
The bat shouted as the pain of his bones being crushed by his weight went crashing into his already tense nerves, but he will fight, thus he endured the unbearable pain and stood up, he sucked in air, bearing the puncturing of his lungs because of his broken ribcage, and shouted a screech towards Bernardo.
The aim was a little off and Bernardo smiled as the impact of the sound blasted him a little away from the bat, the bat aimed to make Bernardo's senses distorted, but the bat forgot one thing.
"DEAD PEOPLE DON'T NEED BALANCE!"
Bernardo shouted as he jumped high and punched the jaw of the bat, the brain of the bat became rattled as he was flung away into the air causing him to crash on a structure he could not recognize, but Bernardo recognized it clearly, he pulled out the spear out of the destroyed ballista and put the tip in top of the bat's back part of the head.
"Good, Bye Bye."
And pushed it down into the head, making the bat wince before he died.
Bernardo sighed as he looked at Jin, who was...
"Why is he in the opposite direction of his target?"
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The targeted bat of Jin was grinning, he did not know why, but his pursuer stopped pursuing him midway and ran in the opposite direction. At first, he thought that it was a shortcut to chase him faster but it seemed like he got far away with every passing minute does the hope of escaping filled his mind immediately.
_HAHAHAHAHAHA I WILL SURVIVE! I WILL SURVI- SHIT! NO! NO! NO!_
As he was thinking of that, his hope-filled face got distorted with despair as he saw Jin with a gigantic spear in his hand, making a throwing position, one should remember that bats are flying creatures and are not known for their land speed
Plus the fact that he had already gone past his limits made it impossible to dodge the spear that had just been thrown.
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
He shouted as he tried his best to outrun the spear, but he could not dodge it, he knew it because he was not agile enough he just had to outrun it, but knowing and executing are two different things, thus soon, the spear caught up on him and plunged into his chest.
"Agakh!"
His metaphorical eyes widened, his ears that is bigger than his head slumped, a sign or submission and grief.
"... I... Don't want to die..."
Meanwhile, Jin who watched his struggles unfold shook his head.
"... How pitiful."
And with these words, the pink bat race is officially extinct.
"Or is it?"
A certain spider woman thought so as she commanded her spiders to retrieve the remaining bodies of the bats.