Creating A Succubus Army In A Fantasy World!-Chapter 76: Rift Exploration! (6)

The battle erupted into pure chaos.

The energy shield the Stage 5 woman had thrown up was their only saving grace.

Without it, the team would have been completely overwhelmed in the first few seconds.

The bats were too fast, too numerous, and worst of all, invisible attacks kept striking from their soulless eyes.

If not for the shimmering blue barrier absorbing most of the hidden strikes, someone would have bled already and that would mean instant death!

Yet, even with the shield, the fight was far from easy.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The silver-haired leader was a force of destruction.

He wielded his glowing halberd like a divine weapon, its golden light streaking through the air with terrifying power.

Every time he swung, a wave of violent energy would sweep outward, slicing through dozens of bats at once, sending their grotesque bodies splatting into the walls.

His control was so precise, so absolute, that his attacks never once threatened the cave walls or hit a pure crystal buried into the walls.

Sometimes he would even charge past the barrier and kill a few more bats with a single swing of his weapon!

Creed, on the other hand, knew better than to rush in recklessly.

He wasn’t dumb.

If he fought in close quarters and got even a tiny scratch, it would be game over.

He couldn’t release his summons either due to fear.

His summons were strong, but what if they bled too? Would their blood also trigger the rift’s curse? He wasn’t willing to risk it.

Instead, he stuck to Thunderclap Orbs.

The moment they exploded, they lit up the cavern like miniature lightning storms.

The air crackled and boomed, and the closest bats shrieking as they were shredded by the electric blast.

They weren’t the most efficient method of killing, but they were safe. Each orb took out a handful of bats at best, but Creed wasn’t complaining.

He’d rather fight smart than end up like the dead stage 3 woman.

The other Stage 3 and 4 Awakened were fighting in their own ways.

Some wielded flaming swords, their slashes leaving behind burning trails that set bats ablaze mid-flight.

Others used long-range wind blades, slicing through the swarm like invisible razors.

There were even one stage 3 guy who relied purely on speed, dodging and weaving through the chaos, striking with precision before retreating behind the energy shield.

And then, there was Trent.

Creed was honestly a little surprised.

For a Stage 1, Trent’s arrows were insanely strong. They weren’t just poking holes in the bats, they were ripping through their bodies like hot knives through butter.

Every time he loosed an arrow, another bat crashed to the ground, lifeless.

Kent’s Crimson attacks were even more terrifying.

Each arc of his blade sent out a deadly red energy slash, carving through the enemy like a scythe through grass.

Creed watched as a single strike took out ten bats at once, and he had to admit; he was a little impressed.

It wasn’t easy, but after several minutes of intense fighting, the team finally cleared the first wave of bats.

Creed hurriedly brought up his system interface, expecting to see the usual rush of stat points since he usually turned off the notifications to not get distracted during a fight.

It never came.

Instead, a new notification appeared in his vision.

[You have acquired 31 "Strands of Killing."]

...Huh?

His excitement instantly fizzled out into mild disappointment.

What the hell were Strands of Killing?

No Strength? No Speed? No Constitution? Not even Energy? What was this mysterious nonsense?

Creed sighed. As usual, his system refused to explain anything to him.

Typical.

Well, whatever. He wasn’t going to sit here worrying about it. No point in overthinking something he couldn’t change.

If it was important, he’d figure it out later. For now, the team had more pressing matters.

They moved deeper into the cavern, pushing forward cautiously. The tension in the air was heavy, but at least for the moment, no one had died.

Thanks to the Stage 5 woman’s barrier, they had managed to avoid the worst-case scenario.

But the danger wasn’t over yet.

As they progressed, they encountered more waves of these horrible bats.

This time, they were stronger; clearly Stage 3 and 4 variants. But the team was prepared. The strategy remained the same.

The barrier held, the silver-haired leader dominated with his halberd, and the rest of them provided support.

Slowly, but surely, they were making progress.

Still, something felt off.

As they fought their way forward, some members of the team started muttering among themselves.

"Shouldn’t we have found something valuable by now?" someone whispered.

"They say unexplored rifts are supposed to have natural treasures... but all we’ve seen are these damn bats," another said.

"Yeah, and those weird Crystals, but we don’t even dare touch those..."

Creed frowned. They weren’t wrong.

Even if this rift was dangerous, it should have something worth the risk. Yet, so far, there was nothing.

Not a single treasure. Not a single rare resource. Only death and suffering!

Something was definitely wrong.

A Peak Low-Level Rift was supposed to be dangerous, sure, but it was also supposed to be rewarding.

No one risked their lives exploring these places unless there was something worth finding.

Yet, here they were, having fought through multiple waves of terrifying bats, barely surviving the cursed magma, and dodging the absurd rule that their blood couldn’t even touch the floor—and what did they have to show for it? fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

Nothing!

RUMBLE.

A deep, earth-shaking tremor rolled through the cavern. At first, it was subtle. It was alow vibration beneath their feet, like a distant growl from the depths of the earth.

Then, it grew. The walls shuddered, loose pebbles rained down, and suddenly...

CRACK!

Something exploded in the distance, and a violent shockwave sent dust and debris flying.

Creed’s stomach dropped. The moment the rumbling stopped, the nightmare truly began.

Thousands—literally thousands—of pure red bats came pouring out of the darkness ahead, their piercing screeches shaking the cavern like a living storm.

The air itself seemed to boil from their presence, the very pressure of their numbers making it feel like a crushing wave of death was bearing down on them.

And as if that wasn’t enough, it grew worse!

CRACK!

The walls behind them split open, deep fractures running through the rocky surface like veins of doom.

And then, searing crimson magma started oozing out, slow at first, before it rushed forward like a living beast, devouring the stone floor in its path.

The heat alone was already unbearable, a scorching, suffocating presence that made the air distort and shimmer.

For a brief, terrifying moment, no one moved. Then came the cursing.

"Oh, come on!" someone screamed.

"This damn rift is cursed!"

"Are you freaking kidding me!?"

Even Creed felt like crying.

This was just too much. First, the rift had crazy rules that made even a paper-cut instant death.

Then, they had to deal with invisible attacks from ugly bats. And now? They were trapped. A wall of death behind them, a storm of monsters ahead.

"I can only make one shield at a time!" the Stage 5 woman suddenly shouted, her voice filled with frustration. "And it has to stay in one place! I can’t move it along with us!"

The group froze. That meant that meant the shield was useless.

They couldn’t fight while standing in one spot! Not when the bats were overwhelming them from all directions!

Not when the magma was ready to swallow them whole from behind if they stopped moving for even a second!

Panic set in.

Even the Stage 4s and Stage 5s looked tense, realizing the horrific situation they were in. This wasn’t just a tough battle anymore, this was a massacre waiting to happen.

Then, a calm voice cut through the chaos.

"Put the shield behind us."

It was the ruthless, dark-haired Stage 5. His voice was calm. Deadly calm.

The Stage 5 woman looked at him in shock. "What?"

"Place the shield behind us," he repeated. "Block the magma for a few minutes. That’s all the time we’ll get. We have no choice but to carve a path through these damn bats while trying not to get injured."

Silence.

Then, with gritted teeth, the Stage 5 woman slammed her hands onto the ground.

BOOM!

A massive blue energy shield materialized behind them, stretching across the cavern’s width. It sealed off the magma, holding it back for now.

But the battle had only just begun. The bats swarmed. It was a nightmare.

There were too many. They attacked from all angles, their screeches shattering the air, their invisible attacks piercing toward them like unseen daggers.

The group had to constantly move, duck, weave, dodge because even a single scratch meant death.

Creed didn’t hesitate.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His spear shot forward like lightning, using his Pierce technique to skewer two bats at once before instantly pulling back.

Another wave of bats rushed toward him, but he twisted his body and activated the first pounce of the Triple Pounce, using its rapid movements to dart through the air while leaving behind a streak of afterimages.

He fought with deadly precision.

Every time a bat got too close, his spear would strike, his movements perfectly timed.

He was like a storm in motion, his entire body flowing between attacks with terrifying efficiency. Dozens of bats fell to his spear, but he wasn’t untouched.

Claw!

A bat’s razor-sharp wing sliced into his arm. Pain exploded but Creed didn’t even blink.

[Damage Transfer Activated.]

The moment he was hit, he pushed the injury into one of his summons.

The pain remained, burning into his nerves, but the wound itself vanished from his skin, transferring over to Lilith.

He had to time it perfectly.

If he hesitated even for a millisecond, his blood would have splattered onto the ground and he’d be dead.

But the others weren’t as lucky.

The first to die was a Stage 4 Awakened, a man wielding a massive twin-axe.

He fought valiantly, carving through the bats with furious swings, but his foot slipped on a pile of fallen corpses for just a moment, and that moment was all it took.

A blade of energy pierced his shoulder.

His eyes widened in horror. He tried to cover the wound desperately. He truly tried to stop the blood from falling.

But he failed.

The moment his blood hit the cavern floor, it was over for him.

Thud!

He collapsed.

The two Stage 3s who died after him were even worse. One was a woman who was too slow, her leg getting sliced open by an invisible attack.

She screamed, desperately trying to bandage the wound, but it was too late. Her actions actually made the blood flow even faster until it hit the floor and she collapsed right after...

The third death was a young man, barely in his twenties.

He actually managed to stop his own bleeding. He had wrapped a cloth around his wound, sealing it tight.

Yet the devilish bats had all concentrated dozens of rapid attacks at his wound until the flimsy cover shredded and he died as well.

Creed barely managed to keep moving, his mind screaming at him to focus.

Through the chaos, he saw Trent take a deep slash to the chest.

Creed’s eyes narrowed, but then, something weird happened. The moment Trent’s blood flew out, Kent appeared beside him.

Kent’s hand moved unnaturally fast, his palm absorbing the blood before it touched the floor.

And then, when Kent himself got slashed, his own blood didn’t fall. It hovered beside him briefly and then vanished.

What the hell?

Creed didn’t have time to process it. Because finally—after twenty minutes of sheer hell, the next tunnel appeared.

It was narrow, barely wide enough for them to fit through, but at this point, it looked like the gates of heaven.

"GO! GO! GO!" the silver-haired leader shouted.

The group squeezed through, panting, bleeding, exhausted.

They had emerged into the next layer!

And the moment their eyes adjusted to the new cavern, their eyes lit up.