Chapter 207: Bat
Right at that moment, Luna Dawson’s spirit sense suddenly amplified. There were over ten thousand bats to the south!
No, wait—make that tens of thousands!
And the numbers were still climbing madly!
In the blink of an eye, a swarm of over a hundred thousand mutated bats formed a dark, oppressive cloud, hurtling straight toward them!
Rollo bristled instantly. Every hair on its back stood on end as a low, rumbling warning growled from its throat.
Little Sweet Potato floated over to Luna’s ear, urgently relaying the latest updates.
Luna pressed her earpiece again. Her voice trembled, making her sound even more desperate. "Francis Grant! Are you fully awake yet?! The mutated bat swarm is over a hundred thousand strong! They’re less than three kilometers away! They’ll be here any second!"
"Got it, Luna," Francis’s hoarse voice replied through the communicator.
He wasn’t fully awake yet and his eyes were still glassy, but he executed his orders on pure instinct, delivering a swift kick to Jean Sterling, who was still snoring beside him. "Wake up! Something happened!"
Joshua Shaw and Phillip Sharp bolted upright, startled by the commotion, and looked around in a daze.
Francis rubbed his heavy temples, struggling to banish the last of his sleepiness. His voice was still raspy but carried undeniable authority. "Go next door and wake up Major General Dalton! A swarm of a hundred thousand mutated bats is attacking from the south! Hurry!"
The moment he finished speaking, Phillip, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, groggily mumbled, "Okay." A split second later, he turned into a blur and vanished from the tent.
Meanwhile, the warning of the impending attack surged through the comms channel like an electric current, rapidly spreading across the entire camp.
The nearly forty thousand military, government, and squad personnel involved in the escort mission sprang into action instantly, like a precision instrument hitting its start button.
Unit commanders roared out orders while assembly whistles pierced the night sky. Soldiers dashed out of their tents, donning their gear and grabbing their weapons in one seamless motion. The once-tranquil camp was instantly filled with the rhythmic thud of marching boots and the clatter of equipment.
Over at Tent 10, the healing ability users and military medics had already arrived, immediately surrounding Ian Wyatt to begin treatment. But as news of the massive bat swarm quickly spread, the tent erupted in chaos. Panic completely overtook the crowd.
Some turned deathly pale, scrambling clumsily for their weapons and nearly knocking over a medical kit in the process. Others instinctively channeled their superpowers into their hands, muttering in a panic, "A hundred thousand! What do we do?!"
Amidst the chaos, Edward Eaton remained exceptionally calm. He suddenly let out a deep bellow. "Shut up, all of you! What are you panicking for?!"
His sharp voice, carrying the bloodlust tempered from countless battlefields, instantly overpowered the noise in the tent. His gaze was as sharp as a blade as he quickly swept the room. "Combat personnel, exit the tent immediately and establish a defensive perimeter outside! Support staff, assist the medics with the wounded and guard the supplies! Anyone who runs around or screams again will be dealt with by martial law!"
With that, he grabbed two Omni Squad members who were still running around like headless chickens and shoved them into position. Then, picking up his own weapon, he fixed a death glare toward the south.
Shane Shaw stood off to the side in silence. He merely gripped his longsword tightly, his eyes locked on the southern horizon as his breathing unconsciously slowed.
"I’m going back to wake up my family," Evan Olson said. He glanced at the chaotic camp, then at Luna. His tone was hurried but steady. Without another word, he turned and strode briskly toward the villa.
Everyone moved quickly, rushing to their respective stations and standing on high alert, ready for battle at a moment’s notice.
Luna and Kevin Keane followed suit, heading back to the villa. Once everyone was woken up, they got dressed at top speed and hurried outside. Luna stowed the villa away and entrusted Hector and their grandfather to Purple Bean. She handed out automatic rifles to everyone; facing a swarm of a hundred thousand mutated bats, every bit of combat power was precious.
Mrs. Dawson still wasn’t sure what was going on. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the group. "What happened?"
"Mutated bat swarm," Kevin replied. "Over a hundred thousand of them."
Right then, with a muffled VROOM, the headlights of all the vehicles in the camp suddenly flared to life. Countless blinding beams of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the camp and its surroundings as brightly as day.
Outlines that had been hidden in the dark were instantly brought into sharp focus, revealing a sea of solemn faces. Soldiers and superpower users alike held their breath, their guns raised and fingers resting near the triggers as they stared fixedly to the south. Even the support staff clutched short knives, prepared to handle any sudden emergencies.
The survivors were completely terrified. Those hiding inside the convoy’s carriages huddled in the corners, not daring to breathe loudly. Some couldn’t help but quietly sob, only for the people next to them to clamp hands over their mouths, reducing their cries to muffled whimpers.
The survivors taking shelter in the town’s houses crammed together. They sealed their doors and windows tight, even barricading the doors with furniture. A few peeked out through the cracks in the windows, their faces deathly pale and their hands trembling uncontrollably.
"What’s going on? Why did all the lights suddenly turn on?"
"Is a big monster coming?"
"I’m so scared. Are we going to die here?"
"Damn it, it’s so dangerous out there. I never should’ve come if I knew it’d be like this."
"Following the army is a death sentence anyway. I might as well have stayed at the military base and scratched out a living!"
Suppressed murmurs spread through the houses and carriages, though no one dared to speak loudly, terrified of attracting whatever unknown danger lurked outside. Everyone held their breath, their eyes locked on the south. All they could hear was the heavy thudding of their own hearts and the faint rustling of the wind in the distance.
About three minutes later, a SWISH... SWISH... sound echoed from the far south. At first, it sounded like the whistling wind before a torrential downpour—faint and indistinct.
But within seconds, the noise grew sharper and more piercing. It was the resonating flap of countless wings!
The sound was so dense it made one’s scalp tingle, like an infinite number of tiny fans flapping rapidly right next to their ears. It carried a suffocating sense of oppression, closing in swiftly from the south!
Luna’s pupils contracted sharply as she extended her spirit threads outward. A massive, ink-black shadow—blotting out the sky like a passing storm cloud—was charging toward the convoy at breakneck speed.
Their lead group happened to be at the very front of the camp, acting as the vanguard that would have to face the bat swarm first.
The very next second, the swarm breached the airspace directly above the camp.
A collective gasp erupted across the encampment, immediately followed by a chorus of curses.
"Holy shit! There are so many?!"
"Are these even fucking bats?! Why are they as big as calves?!"
"They’re blocking out the whole sky! How are we supposed to fight this?!"
Everyone was utterly horrified by the sight before them.
These mutated bats looked nothing like ordinary bats. Even the smallest was half a meter long, with a wingspan stretching as wide as a grown man’s arms. The largest approached a staggering three meters in length, their wings covered in black scales that shimmered with an eerie, unnatural luster.
Their eyes were a vicious scarlet, glowing like burning beads of blood. They stared down at the humans below, brimming with ravenous, bloodthirsty desire.
The first wave of bats circled high above the camp. Their crimson eyes swept over the crowds on the ground as they let out a chaotic, piercing HISSS.
"Ahhhhh! The bats are grabbing people!"
A shrill, bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out from a nearby residential house, shattering the brief standoff.