Chapter 77: Devil Bat Expedition [2]
As everyone examined themselves, checking armor, wiping blades, and tending to light wounds, some of the Guardsmen moved among the fallen, delivering finishing strikes to bats that still twitched with stubborn life. The hiss of breath through clenched teeth, the soft groan of wounded men, and the crackle of torchlight filled the cavern.
Then it came again. The sound of wings.
The beating air was like distant thunder rolling through the tunnels, and it was no longer distant. Heads turned sharply toward the echo. Tension shot through the company like lightning through a field of blades.
Hound, who had been squatting before a Guardsman, inspecting a long gash along his arm, froze. His crimson eyes narrowed. He sniffed once, then sprang to his feet like a coiled spring loosed.
In a heartbeat, he was moving.
With inhuman speed, his powerful frame blurred forward, his claws leaving gouges in the stone floor as he dashed toward the growing sound. His breath came in steady, rumbling growls. The white fur along his back bristled like spears. He unsheathed his twin Mountain Sabers with a shing of steel that echoed like a challenge.
Just as the five incoming bats screamed into view, Hound leapt.
He soared into the air with terrifying grace, a blur of muscle and white fur. At the apex of his jump, his arms crossed, then slashed outward in an ’X’, his sabers cutting clean through the air and into the lead bat’s chest.
A crisscrossed gash burst open, and blood exploded from the creature like a fountain.
The bat shrieked in agony as its wings flailed, its momentum lost. It tumbled through the air, eyes already dimming, and struck the ground in a twitching heap.
Still in midair, Hound didn’t slow. He twisted violently, using the force of his spin to hurl one of his sabers like a javelin. It spun end over end and slammed into the gut of the bat to his left. The blade sank to the hilt, skewering the creature midflight. It screamed once, then dropped like a stone.
But Hound wasn’t done.