Mystical Journey

He found information on the White Bat immediately.

‘Giant White Bat: Possesses strength almost equivalent to a Form 3 Totem. Extremely dangerous, likes collecting corpses and rolling them into ball-like shapes, and applying pressure onto the creature’s blood by squeezing their dead bodies lightly, to create an artificial blood circulating environment. Their size determines their strength, and the largest Bat has a wingspan of twenty meters, while the smallest ones have wingspans of ten meters.

Abilities: Ultrasound Wave Impact, Iron Chain Cage.’

"Almost a Form 3 Totem, huh… How impressive," said Garen as he narrowed his eyes.

Currently, his three Resonance Hawks and one Deep Swamp Croc were all at the level of Form 2 Totems. One of the Resonance Hawks were extremely powerful, and would probably be able to fight the White Bat, while the Deep Swamp Croc could launch a surprise attack in the dark. As for the Beetle, it would only be able stay alert around their surroundings. Meanwhile, the Neon Butterfly and Black-Striped White Tiger were left out of the equation, because as Form 1 Totems, regardless of their strength, speed, physique, and even abilities, they would still be surpassed by their opponents, and would only result in more casualties if released during battle.

However to face off something with this amount of strength, even if they attacked him together, Garen was still slightly wary of the probability of them actually defeating the bastard.

"That’s it, we’ll just have to try. A monster that has almost achieved Form 3 will definitely grant me an abundance of Potential Points once I’ve killed it. Furthermore, there may be unexpected rewards inside this house as well. This is also an opportunity for me to see the true power of my current strength," said Garen as he made up his mind, and prepared to make his first move.

A few Beetles spread out and kept watch, making sure to stay away from the house in the process.

Three Resonance Hawks circled around the perimeter of the house slowly. Meanwhile, the Deep Swamp Croc shook its giant tail and crawled into the shadows carefully.

A heavy atmosphere began to seep into the air slowly, as the White Bat seemed to sense that something was amiss as well. It folded its wings suddenly, and pointed its opened mouth vigilantly in all directions, releasing soundless Ultrasound Waves, as if it were judging the current situation.

"Resonance Hawks, go!"

Garen willed and commanded them.

The three Resonance Hawks flew in from three different directions and charged towards the Bat at the same time. The sarcomas on their heads began to bob up and down violently, as they grew redder and more blood-coloured with every moment.

Three shapeless vibrations flew towards the White Bat and crashed into its body.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!

A loud heartbeat echoed from the White Bat’s body instantly.

Hiss!!

It opened its large mouth and let out an angry roar. The roar was not loud, but a huge gust of white gas came spraying out with it. The White Bat tried to stretch its wings open to fly, but it was obvious that it was tired and having some difficulty getting up.

It shook its wings a few times and realised that it lacked strength, before beating them once again more violently, while its white eyes suddenly turned bloodshot.

Hiss!!

Once again, it let out a loud roar, as the sound of its flapping wings rang loudly throughout the air.

Opening its large mouth, the Bat suddenly released a series of silent sound vibrations, instantly hitting the Resonance Hawk on the left.

Hum!

The Ultrasound Wave Impact suddenly crashed into the Resonance Hawk’s body. The Hawk let out a sorrowful whine, as the feathers on its body seemed as if it had been blown by a strong gust of wind. It began falling to the floor in a heap. No longer could it continue to stay in the sky, as it began to fall and crash onto the roof, its whole body dripping with blood moments after.

Garen was left in shock, and quickly decided to command his other two Resonance Hawks to move forward and attack.

The two Resonance Hawks charged forward ferociously, one at each side, and cornered the White Bat from both the left side and the right.

Bang bang!

The loud noise sounded through the air twice, as the claws of the Resonance Hawks clashed with the wings of the Bat. The two Resonance Hawks had managed to suppress the White Bat, and had collided with it until the Bat nearly lost its balance. The flesh on the sides of the Bat’s wings were scratched up slightly, making it look like shredded pieces of white paper.

The two Resonance Hawks looked like two black dots as they flew around the White Bat, constantly looking for openings to attack.

The three of them fought in the air, as black feathers and white flesh endlessly floated downwards, showing that both sides had suffered losses and injuries.

The White Bat’s angry hissing noises grew more frequent, and it continued to beat its wings violently, making the chain on its chest shake harder in all directions.

A loud banging noise could be heard, before the corpse ball on the chain fell and crashed onto the body of the fi first Resonance Hawk that had not manage dodge in time.

The impact from the collision almost caused it to fall. Resonance Hawk No. 1 let out a sorrowful howl. Its chest looked like it had been dented inwards slightly, but the bird continued to flap its wings as it charged towards the Bat without any sign of death or dying.

Garen looked up and watched the fight from below. He knew that close-range combat like this was the best way to defeat the White Bat. Once the distance increased, the Ultrasound Waves and Chain Attack could take down any opponent easily. This was especially true for the Ultrasound Wave Impact that worked well in far distances, because it provided range-type damage.

Garen had already read the information about the White Bat. When this monster appeared on the battlefield, it always took at least three air-combat Totem users to get rid of it, and these fights always resulted in damaged Totems. Its terrifying Ultrasound Wave Impact was extremely powerful, and had already killed at least fifteen Form 2 Totem users. It was a formidable opponent, a bomber-plane type killer. It was similar to the White Dragonhawk in the human sense.

Garen controlled both of the Resonance Hawks quietly, commanding them to lead the White Bat slowly towards ground-level to continue their fight there.

A few moments later, the three creatures arrived near the shadowy areas near the wall where the Deep Swamp Croc was hiding.

Suddenly, a large black figure reflected outwards from the shadows, violently landing onto the White Bat’s body.

Tch!

The Giant Croc used its large mouth to bite down on the Bat’s neck brutally. Just like a wild animal trap, the Croc’s sharp fangs snapped down on the Bat’s neck quickly, not releasing it at all.

The Deep Swamp Croc’s large body was now wrapped around the Bat. Suddenly, large quantities of sticky white blood began to flow out of the Croc’s mouth. It was the White Bat’s fresh blood.

Hiss!!

The White bat hissed in pain and began struggling frantically, as if it was about to drag the Deep Swamp Croc up into the sky.

Out of the blue, the two Resonance Hawks flew towards them. They flapped their wings a few times, as their four claws attached themselves to the white wings.

The three beasts pressed their opponent against the ground, as white blood continued to pour out continuously like an endless stream of water.

The White Bat struggled for a few good minutes, and then stretched its big mouth open suddenly. The sound of empty air leaking out sounded out from its throat. Finally, all movement ceased.

At this moment, Resonance Hawk No. 1 relaxed itself as well. As it lay face up on the ground with its sharp beak open, its eyes turned white and it continued inhaling, but did not exhale. Its breastbone sunk in deeply, an obvious sign that something was not right anymore.

Garen walked out of his hiding spot and looked at No. 1 who was currently in a bad state, as a series of emotions began to bubble up inside his chest.

"You’re very brave," he said as he crouched down and stroked No. 1’s feathers and watched him gulp air slowly, noticing that he had almost stopped breathing. There was an indescribable feeling in his heart.

Just then, the Potential Value at the bottom of his field of vision began to change.

From the initial three-plus points, it began to skyrocket suddenly.

Four points, five points, six points, seven points, eight points, ten points. Finally, it stopped.

"Seven point Potential Value, it’s not worth it…" said Garen as he looked at his gravely injured Totem herd with a heavy heart.

The body of the Resonance Hawk began to melt slowly, and instantly became a pool of red blood. Even the feathers were not left behind, as all of its remains flowed into the white puddle of the Bat’s blood, and dyed it bright red as well.

Garen looked at the first Resonance Hawk that had been hit by the Ultrasound Waves. Every trace of it had long disappeared, and now the only thing left was a pool of blood on the roof.

His heart continued to grow heavier.

"Two Resonance Hawks for a seven point Potential Value. This Potential Value of this White Bat is not as high as that of the blonde woman that Goth defeated. It’s obvious that it wasn’t as powerful as that blonde woman, but it was still so difficult to kill," said Garen as he inhaled deeply. "Looks like I’ll need to continue working harder…"

He ordered the Deep Swamp Croc to drag the White Bat’s corpse into a dark place to hide it.

Garen allowed the two Beetles to follow him, as they walked towards the main door of the silver-roofed building together.

At the entrance at the main door, the wooden door had been smashed open, and lay at the floor by the doorway. Inside the hall, countless dead bodies lay on the ground, and all of them were bleeding from all crevices.

Garen walked closer to one of the corpses and examined it closely.

"He’s been dead for over a day, and they aren’t any obvious external injuries, so he must have been killed by the White Bat’s Ultrasound Waves."

There were both male and female corpses, old and young. It seemed like they were having a meeting, before the White Bat’s surprise ambush got rid of them.

Garen stood up. "Such terrifying Ultrasound Waves, good thing I managed to order the Resonance Hawks to attack in time. And good thing the Resonance Hawks possessed frighteningly powerful strength, if not this would have ended badly."

He surveyed the corpses for a while, but could not find anything of importance.

Following the wooden spiral staircase on the left to the second floor, he saw a white-haired old man lying on the second floor corridor with his head separated from his body, and his neck nowhere to be seen.

The old man wore a white robe that had been embedded with an agate gemstone, and the light green agate had been soaked by his blood, causing it to be dyed in a shade of dark red.

Garen walked over and and searched the old man’s body with his hands, before quickly finding a white jewelry box.

This jewelry box had been pressed against the old man’s chest, making it obvious that it was an important item.

Garen took the box and got up, before opening it.

In the middle of the velvet layer inside the box, a little dark-spotted Stone Ball with a white base had been placed there.

Garen took the Stone Ball out and looked at it closely, before realising that the dark spots were not actually dark spots, but tiny words and symbols that had been written closely together, forming little black spots.

He looked at the inner part of the box’s lid where something had been engraved, and recognized it as Endor writing.

‘The Eye of Isaiah -- Behold the gaze of the one who stares.’

"Endor writing?!" Garen felt an illusion as if he had returned to the Secret Technique world. "This place apparently has a connection to the previous world!"

He held the Stone Ball, suddenly feeling as if the symbols of the War Shackles on his left arm were beginning to heat up.

"Looks like these are Solidifying Tactics. I didn’t expect it to be connected to the Endorian writing." There was no doubt in his mind that this item was used to train Obscuro Society Totem users before they embarked to seize items. Now that it had fallen in his hands, he wanted to use it immediately, to see the effects.

He rolled up his left sleeve, and pressed the Stone Ball against the silver arrow symbol.

Hiss…

The Stone Ball started to melt quickly, and fused into Garen’s left arm.

On the silver arrow shape near the front of his War Shackle, a new white-grey Stone Ball symbol had appeared.

Garen felt like his whole body had gained an additional, mystical strength. This strength felt like a warm hot spring that flowed through his body from his head to toes, like a snake that continuously slithered down his body. Every inch of his body began to feel warm.

He looked towards the War Shackle Pane at the bottom of his field of vision. On the first empty spot out of two, a Stone Ball symbol had appeared, ad below it was an explanation written in symbols and words.

‘War Shackles:

Effect 1 --

Eye of Isaiah: Originates from the mystical Endor civilization Tactics. This Tactic allows an individual to possess all-seeing eyes, as well as the ability to see more than the average human.

Ability: Totem users will be gain Exhaustion Ray ability once a day. Area of attack: Eyes.’

"Exhaustion Ray?" said Garen as he rubbed his eyes, vaguely feeling like both his eyes had undergone a slight transformation.

He looked at the Attribution Points in his Attribution Pane.

His Attribution Points that had reached their limits much earlier had now increased apparently!

His Vitality had increased from 2.76 to 2.82.

He remembered clearly that he had checked them before leaving, and his Attributes still remained at the initial amounts. Now, however, his Vitality had apparently undergone a new increase.

"Don’t tell me that the Solidifying Tactic can actually increase a Totem user’s physical fitness?!"