On The Path of Honor

Sif moved his head towards a point on his left. His dark eyes found rapidly a large creature that stood in the shadows.

'She seems confused.'

The large bat was indeed incredibly confused. It was alternating rapid looks from the small white cub to the thin bronze-skinned man standing next to it. The beast's mow, filled with razor-sharp teeth, opened and closed several times, but in the end no growl of admonishment or threatening sound came out of the bat's throat.

Sif's mouth curved upwards. He gave a kick to the little cub sitting next to him, pushing her forcefully towards the other side of the room.

The mom-bat didn't move. It only looked strangely at the flying white bat, but it didn't show any sign of aggression against the person that literally kicked her daughter away.

'Ok, this should work then...'

Although he had been pretty sure that his plan would succeed, actually seeing the lost look on the beast's eyes was pretty satisfying. Hiding his good mood, Sif moved back towards the group of corpses. On his way, he sent another order through the invisible chain that connected him to the white bat.

'Come here Luna'

The little creature was nonresponsive at first, but when Sif used the chain to punish her again, she immediately started to yelp and ran obediently back towards him. Ignoring the beast's wronged and scared look, the youth grabbed the bat by the collar. Not caring at all about how loud her painful wails were he kept holding her and walked between the rotting bodies.

'wuu' 'wuu' 'wuuu'

Luna kept screaming, but she didn't dare to attack the hand that was holding her. Every time she even thought about it, a lacerating pain shocked her still.

A smiling Sif, pushed the thin white bat to towards the hole on the ceiling, making sure that the two black robbed middle-aged men that were on the upper cave saw him holding her. He then gestured the number four and that something "big" was "sleeping".

On the other side of the tunnel, Tong and Juin looked the young violet clothed youth come back from his exploration of the cave. He even had a little white bat with him.

"Heavens, he really did it?" Seeing Sif coming back with a little bat in his hand, Jiun almost couldn't believe his eyes. "However, is that truly a Bloodshed Bat?" Jiun wasn't that sure. He had never seen an actual one. He heard talks about them, but that was all.

Tong was more experienced than his companion. He had served for years in a mercenary company and had traveled around the Coast of Republics for quite a while. "All the Bloodshed Bats I saw back in the days were black or brown..." murmured Tong, looking at the thin creature in the hand of Sif.

He had never heard of a white Bloodshed Bat. "However I never heard of any other race of bats living in the Ashen Grotto..." He nodded to his friend. "Yes, it should be it. We really got lucky."

Jiun eyes shined with greed. He kept looking at the gesture that the moron on the lower cave was doing. "I think he's trying to say that the big bat is sleeping... or that he has a big belly and need some slapping"

Tong sneered. "Just the fact that he can walk around means that the bat is sleeping… if it wasn't sleeping he would be already a pile of bloody flesh...as for slapping…he's going to be slapped dead either way, ah ah ah ah" without wasting more time, he immediately tried to jump into the hole.

Juin's face fell. "Brother Tong! Are you insane! You are going to wake up the beast! Wait!" The man latched to his friend, forbidding him to jump down.

Tong looked at his companion like if he was an idiot. "Do you think that a beast in hibernation would wake up for such a small commotion?" Juin stopped, confused about the answer of his companion. He really did not know much about beasts. He spent most of his life in his clan and had very few experiences with such exotics thing.

Tong smiled patting his friend's shoulder. "Look at the moron down, he also doesn't dare to speak because he's afraid of waking up the bat, but isn't that puppy he's keeping his arm screaming like his life is on the line?"

Juin's felt illuminated. Of course. If the bat was to wake up for some noise, he would have already woken up and killed that idiot downside. Face red with shame, he nodded to his companion.

"I'll go first" said Jiun before jumping down. Tong laughed lightly, immediately following the man.

"BAM"

The two black-robed men let themselves fall for the five meters that separated the upper and the lower cave, landing with a loud slam between the group of corpses in gray.

Juin's face was brimming with confidence. He immediately grabbed towards the little white bat held by Sif. "I'll be taking this no-"

"Ok" said calmly the thin youth, simply dropping the cub to the ground before retreating with a long jump. The animal was firmly grabbed by the black-robed fighter before it could touch the ground. The middle-aged man grinned, thinking that this was a good opportunity of getting rid of the moronic youth.

"Mph, I told you to give it up not dro- ?" before the man could finish his phrase, he was stopped by an imprecation coming from Tong. "Dammit" the ex-mercenary's slowly took out a long black knife, moving to a fight stance.

"Uh, brother Tong?" Juil could see that the blade on Tong's hands was slightly trembling and his face was rapidly losing color. He immediately felt a shiver running along his spine. He never saw his companion that serious before. "What is going on, brother T-"

It was at that moment that a low threatening growl echoed in the cave.

"What?" Juil felt the blood freezing in his veins. "No way" He really couldn't believe his ears. However, there were no doubts: that wasn't the growl of a cub. That was the threating call of a grown-up beast.

"She's awake?"

Juil looked where he heard the growl coming from. "This..." He immediately saw them. His senses where less powerful than Tong's but the lack of light in the cave didn't stop him now that he knew what to look for and where.

Four black cubs and a meter and half tall bat. Five sets of vermilion eyes looking voraciously at him. "I told you Tong! We woke her up!" said panicking the man, putting a hand under his dress and taking out a three section black staff. With a single movement, he assembled the weapon. All while looking with an extremely worried expression toward the giant mother bat.

The moment the weapon was assembled, it was also the instant that the white cub he held with his right hand suddenly twitched in pain. She looked around herself in a confused way. A voice echoed again in her mind.

'Attack or the next one will be even stronger'

A furious glint emerged in her eyes. She immediately stopped weeping and focused all her energy into attacking. Her sharp teeth found rapidly their way towards the flesh of the man holding her by the scruff.

"ARGH"

The defenses of a rank 3 fighter were impressive, but they were nothing that a bronze ranked beast couldn't breach. The white cub found herself falling to the ground, with a finger between her sharp teeth. Juin screamed in pain and used his staff to send the bat flying away.

A shocked look appeared on his face: a finger? Only a little cub was able to bite away his finger? He was a rank 3 fighter! He could crush rocks barehanded!

"Fuck fuck fuck!"

Juil followed with his eyes the white bat and saw that he landed in the area around Sif. The latter was calmly looking around him while sitting on a large black boulder. The fighter's blood started to boil in anger. This moron didn't realize how much in trouble they all were? How about the cub that was now being aggressive? He didn't fear him? Was he a complete idiot?

Suddenly the white bat darted towards the youth, screaming with anger and baring out his sharp teeth. 'Mph, blame only yourself being useless...' Yes, he had lost a finger to the beast, but this Sif was going to lose his entire life to it.

"Wuuu"

Juil eyes almost fell from his eye sockets when he saw Sif standing up from his rock and moving toward the white cub. The latter began to tremble at the sight of the youth, lowering her head and giving long submissive laments. A firm foot stomped on the body of the bat, pinning it to the ground.

Sif threatened it with his finger, making the little creature tremble terrorized even more.

On the side, Tong's eyes shined with surprise. "What an insanely strong suppressing power" He almost couldn't believe it: that weak looking youth that seemed so lost and useless had such a powerful ability! "He immediately made it submit! He must have used some first class soul-bridge technique!"

Soul-bridge techniques were the most important thing for Summoners. They were the way that they bound and controlled their familiar. Stronger the skill, more powerful was its suppressive capability.

A resolute expression appeared on the middle-aged man's face. There was still hope!

"Brother Sif! You will need to play support in this fight. Try to use your soul-bridge skill on the Bloodshed Bat. It won't work as well, but it will lessen its control of his body and give us a chance to put it down quickly." Called out Tong, his eyes moving back on the body of the beast hidden in the darkness.

"Brother Sif, I swear on the Path of Honor that I will secure your safety until we get to the third level if you help us against this beast." He then gave a look to the man next to him and nodded. The two started to be surrounded by a red glow and began to emit a powerful aura.

"Die!" Juil was unexpectedly the first to move, bashing towards the giant bat with his staff. Tong followed right after, his black knife vibrating with a layer of red energy around it. "Now, Sif!" screamed Tong.

The thin youth moved his foot from Luna, scratching his head. 'Are these guys retarded? I remembered them cruel not completely clueless.'