Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 101: Bat Attack

The stone platform was about five square meters in size. Evelyn Ford took out some dry firewood, and Ronan Kendrick took it to light a fire, which quickly began to blaze.

Evelyn Ford placed Mina and Lola in front of the fire to warm up. They were a little listless, but thankfully, still alive.

"Are you okay?"

Evelyn Ford’s eyes had been treated with medicine and were now bound with a black cloth. Ronan Kendrick turned his back to her so she could change into clean clothes.

After she finished changing, Evelyn Ford took out two boxed meals and handed one to Ronan Kendrick.

"I’m fine."

"Is the snake dead?"

"Yes."

Evelyn Ford relaxed. After rinsing her mouth with water, she began to eat. She was blind for the moment, so Ronan Kendrick didn’t have to turn away when he changed. She simply sat by the fire, unconcerned.

Ronan Kendrick saw that although her eyes were covered, she ate steadily without the slightest hint of panic, and couldn’t help but be curious.

"Aren’t you scared?"

Evelyn Ford was confused. "Scared of what? We’re still alive, aren’t we?"

Ronan Kendrick was silent for a long time before saying wryly, "You’ve got a great attitude."

’In the apocalypse, your mentality is what gets honed. How could I have survived this long if I wasn’t mentally tough?’

When Evelyn Ford finished eating, she held out her hands to continue warming them by the fire.

Mina and Lola also managed to eat a little. Evelyn Ford stroked their heads, silently comforting the two little ones.

"We need to find an exit."

Evelyn Ford felt it wasn’t that simple. "Are there still fireballs outside? Even if there aren’t, the whole place is a raging inferno. If we go out, we’ll be barbecued."

When they entered the cave, everywhere the fireballs had landed was ablaze. The entire Broken Cloud Mountain was a sea of fire.

They both fell silent. After Ronan Kendrick finished eating, he and Evelyn Ford took out a flashlight and began to examine the stone platform. He was looking for a secret passage, but after a thorough check, he found nothing.

"There’s no secret passage here."

There were hundreds of branches in the cave system, each one more or less the same. Evelyn Ford had already forgotten the route they took last time, not to mention she couldn’t see now.

"Let’s rest a little longer, then keep moving forward."

Evelyn Ford nodded, putting the Crossbow away. She left one gun with Ronan Kendrick and kept the other clutched in her hand.

"Did we use up all the gas canisters?"

"I fed them all to it."

’No wonder it was so loud earlier. I thought the whole cave was going to explode and collapse.’

’For him to get away unscathed... his power is truly unfathomable.’

Once they had warmed up, it was time to set off again. Evelyn Ford put Mina and Lola into a cloth bag, took out an inflatable raft, and the two of them continued forward.

"Those fireballs... what do you think they are?"

"Probably meteorites. Some meteorites burn and explode on contact with oxygen." After Ronan Kendrick said this, Evelyn Ford was more convinced.

They squeezed through a narrow section of the cave and entered a new waterway. Evelyn Ford took out a brick and threw it into the water. After waiting for half a minute and seeing no change, they continued paddling the raft forward.

The deeper they went, the lower the temperature dropped and the thinner the air became. Aside from the sound of paddling, their surroundings were utterly silent.

"I wonder if a compass will work in here."

If the magnetic field inside the cave was disrupted, a compass would be useless. Evelyn Ford took one out and handed it to Ronan Kendrick, letting him decide which way to go.

"It’s useless. The magnetic field is a mess." Ronan Kendrick glanced at it and handed it back to Evelyn Ford.

"Let’s find a place to hide. We can wait until the fireballs outside stop and the fires die down, then we can leave."

Evelyn Ford was exhausted. The spot on her back where the snake’s tail had struck still ached, and her tailbone felt like it was broken. She could only sit on her side now.

"Okay."

"SQUEAK SQUEAK... SQUEAK SQUEAK..." A shrill cry broke the silence of the cave. Evelyn Ford gripped her gun, instantly on alert.

"It’s bats. I remember there being bats in here."

Ronan Kendrick scanned their surroundings but saw no sign of any bats.

"How many?"

"A lot. Thousands, tens of thousands. They roost on the ceiling. Look up."

Ronan Kendrick looked up. Just then, a bat swooped down, spreading its wings like a parachute.

"Get down!"

The moment Ronan Kendrick spoke, the bat let out another "SQUEAK" and lunged at him. Evelyn Ford took out a long military knife and a protective suit for him. Using the Crossbow or guns on bats would be a waste.

Ronan Kendrick was incredibly fast. The bat was still half a meter away when he sliced it in two with a single strike.

With the first attacker killed, the swarm of bats grew agitated. They used sonar to broadcast an attack signal. As the first bat flew out, the rest poured out from their roost, all of them diving toward the two humans.

Evelyn Ford took out the poison she had prepared earlier and a gas mask. She tossed two spray bottles to Ronan Kendrick. After putting on her protective suit and gas mask, she aimed at the bats and began spraying indiscriminately.

’Thankfully, I kept something in reserve.’ Though Evelyn Ford couldn’t see, she could hear the bats falling into the water. The poison was highly effective.

The poison was mixed with a tranquilizing powder; anything that inhaled it would pass out.

But there were simply too many bats. They swarmed them, and the SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK was loud enough to pierce their eardrums.

"How much poison is left?"

Evelyn Ford did a quick mental calculation. She had mixed a large barrel of it and filled thirty bottles, which should be enough.

"Thirty bottles in total. I also have insecticide."

She took out some insecticide, and they sprayed a mixture of the two. Bats came at them in waves, and in waves they were sprayed down. The water’s surface was soon covered with a dense layer of dead bats.

’It’s a good thing I can’t see right now, or my trypophobia would be acting up.’

Ronan Kendrick started paddling while Evelyn Ford continued to spray. He rowed the raft about ten meters away, but the bats followed relentlessly, impossible to shake off.

"Looks like we have no choice but to wipe them all out."

Bats use sound waves inaudible to humans. They rely on this special ability to navigate and hunt. In a contest of speed and evasion, humans are no match for them.

Evelyn Ford felt like Ronan Kendrick had gone berserk. Standing next to him, she could feel a murderous aura radiating from him.

A few bats landed on Evelyn Ford’s back, clinging on tightly and refusing to be shaken off. She could only continue spraying the bats swarming toward her. It wasn’t until Ronan Kendrick saw them that he swatted the bats off with a single slap, saving her once again.

The two worked together seamlessly. Even while fighting against thousands upon thousands of bats, they didn’t fall behind.

"Ronan Kendrick, how many are left?"

"Almost done."

Two minutes later, Evelyn Ford shook her sore wrist, stomped on a bat clinging to the raft, and asked wearily, "How many are left now?"

"Almost done," he said, giving the same answer.

Evelyn Ford...

Evelyn Ford wanted to use a torch to scare them off, but Ronan Kendrick thought it wouldn’t work.

"They’re all committed to swarming us now. They’ll charge even if we have a torch."

The unity of animals can be terrifying. At this moment, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick were their enemies in a fight to the death. Just as Ronan Kendrick had said, they would not back down.

After killing one wave, Ronan Kendrick would paddle the raft some distance away and they would continue spraying. Behind them, the bodies of the bats were piled layer upon layer, completely covering the surface of the water.