Chapter 818

Bear-san Defeated a Bat

I created a bear light and illuminated the cave.

“You really like bears, don’t you?” (Mane)

Mane-san said as she looked at my bear light.

I didn’t know how many times she had told me this, so I didn’t deny it.

“I’ve also prepared some lighting tools just in case” (Mane)

Mane-san said so as she took out a lantern-like object and a flashlight from her item bag.

“Mane-san, you can use magic, right?” (Yuna)

“Only basic magic. I can use light magic, but I often use magic tools instead.” (Mane)

Mane-san hung the lantern on her waist.

It seemed like she was thinking about various scenarios, like if we got separated or if my light magic disappeared.

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, carrying Mane-san and me, entered the cave.

The Bear Light illuminated the cave.

“Adventurers go into caves like this, huh?” (Yuna)

“To defeat monsters, to find precious herbs and ores, the reasons vary from adventurer to adventurer.” (Mane)

In the game, we went in for similar reasons.

“In the first place, why are you asking me, a researcher? You’re the adventurer, Yuna…” (Mane)

“That’s true, but you know, I was wondering why you would willingly go into such a damp, dark place like this” (Yuna)

“Well, I have my reasons…” (Mane)

Listening to Mane-san, I checked the inside of the cave, which was lit up thanks to my bear light.

With this much light, we probably won’t be ambushed by snakes.

I checked my detection skill.

There was a reaction from a snake nearby.

Looking in the direction of the reaction, I found a snake coiled under a small rock, looking at us with its long tongue sticking out.

I didn’t know if it was because of Mane-san’s medicine or because of Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear, but it didn’t seem to be coming any closer.

As we moved cautiously while I scanned our surroundings, I heard a rustling sound of something flying from above.

“Yuna, above!” (Mane)

Mane-san also seemed to notice and looked up.

I also looked up and saw countless bats hanging from the ceiling, occasionally flying around.

I checked my detection skill, but there was no reaction.

In other words, the bats were not monsters.

“Gross.” (Mane)

Mane-san looked at the bats stuck to the ceiling and made a face as if she was looking at something she disliked.

I also have an aversion to bats, but snakes were still worse.

There weren’t many people who liked bats in the first place.

That mouse-like face and those creepy wings.

If I had to keep either a bird or a bat, I’d definitely choose a bird.

“Aren’t they watching us?” (Mane)

Maybe it just feels that way because we’re scared.

The thought crossed my mind that I should kill them, but if dead bats started raining down on me, that would be disgusting in itself.

Even if we avoided the falling bats, the ground would be covered in bat corpses.

I didn’t want to walk over them.

Since Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear were the ones walking, the best option is to just get away.

“Swaying Bear, Hugging Bear, let’s run through” (Yuna)

“Kuu~n”

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear started running, and the bats started to chase after us, making rustling noises from behind us.

It seems the bats recognized us as prey because we ran away.

“Yuna!” (Mane)

-Mane-san shouted.

The bats were about to pounce on us.

Their mouths were wide open, and fangs were bared.

Were the bats trying to bite us!?

So I used wind magic to create a small tornado.

The small tornado then swirled around the cave, sucking the bats in.

Since they attacked me, I would not be showing any mercy.

The bats’ wings were shredded by blades of wind. When the tornado stopped, many bats fell to the ground.

Without wings, they couldn’t fly.

“By the way, can bats be used for medicine?” (Yuna)

“I don’t use them” (Mane)

It seems that we won’t be collecting them.

I didn’t want to store them in my bear box either, so I decided to leave them alone.

As we moved away from the fallen bats, nearby snakes started moving.

I braced myself, but it didn’t follow us.

When I turned around to see where it went, I found it heading towards the bats, whose wings had been damaged and could not fly.

And then I saw something I didn’t want to see.

A snake opened its big mouth and swallowed one of the bats whole.

“Ewww.” (Yuna)

“Yuna, what’s wrong?” (Mane)

“Mane-san, don’t look back” (Yuna)

Even though I warned her, Mane-san still turned around and looked back.

“Ugh.” (Mane)

Mane-san reacted the same way I did.

“See, I told you already.” (Yuna)

“You told me not to look, but my curiosity got the better of me” (Mane)

Well, I couldn’t help but agree with her on that.

If someone told me, “Don’t look,” I would wonder, “Why?” and end up curious and looking.

Maybe the right response would’ve been “It’s nothing.”

I looked back again.

There were fewer bats now and a lot more snakes.

By the time we come back, the bats will likely disappear, only to be replaced by snakes with bloated bellies.

I felt a little sorry for the bats, but it was their fault for attacking us first.

If they hadn’t, I would have left them alone.

After watching this survival of the fittest scene, we continued deeper into the cave.

We turned right, went down a little, turned right again, and climbed up a slope.

There were snakes here and there, but none of them attacked us.

“There sure are a lot of snakes here” (Yuna)

There were snakes along the walls and on rocks.

“Maybe we should kill some of them” (Mane)

Since they didn’t come near us, we could easily take them out with magic from a distance.

“By the way, can snakes be used for medicine?” (Yuna)

“Not for medicine. They might be food for adventurers, though. I’ve never eaten one, but I hear they’re pretty tasty.” (Mane)

I’ve heard of people eating snakes as well.

But that didn’t mean I would just kill, skin, cook, and eat one here.

First of all, I didn’t even know how to process a snake.

I wonder if Fina could do it.

While thinking about that, we continued moving forward.

Occasionally, bats flew overhead, and the snakes watched them, but aside from that one attack, everything was going smoothly.

Then all of a sudden, Mane-san yelped.

“Kyaa” (Mane)

Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear stopped, and I quickly checked our surroundings.

I detected nothing.

“Sorry, I was just surprised by the water falling from above” (Mane)

Looking closely, I did find water droplets falling from the ceiling.

The droplets landed on Mane-san’s neck by some unfortunate luck.

As I kept checking my detection skill, a reaction that had been bothering me for a while caught my attention.

“Kuuu~n.”

Swaying Bear seemed to have noticed as well and cried.

“Swaying Bear, what’s wrong? A monster?” (Mane)

Swaying Bear’s reaction was the same as when it found a monster, so Mane-san asked.

“It seems there are people up ahead” (Yuna)

There were two human reactions.

“People? Adventurers, maybe?” (Mane)

Anyone was free to enter and leave the forest.

It wouldn’t be strange to find adventurers around here.

Personally, I didn’t want to run into anyone because it was troublesome.

The detection skill reaction showed that they were still some distance away, so we wouldn’t be meeting them anytime soon.

More importantly, my detection skill could not tell if the people were inside the cave or outside.

There was no movement in the reaction, so they might be resting.

“What should we do if we meet them?” (Yuna)

“You can just leave them alone. The adventurers we meet aren’t necessarily good ones. If you’re attacked in a place like this, no one will help you. And if you’re killed, monsters can eat the bodies and erase the evidence.” (Mane)

Indeed, not all adventurers were good, unlike Jade and Blitz.

There were good and bad people in every profession.

“It’s not good to doubt, but it’s also dangerous to easily trust someone” (Mane)

And so, we decided to wait and see what happens if we meet them.

We were making good progress without being attacked by monsters or bats when suddenly Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear stopped moving and cried.

“What?” (Mane)

Mane-san was startled.

I quickly checked with the detection skill.

The person’s reaction was moving.

They were moving fast.

Were they running?

And a single snake reaction was chasing after them.

Were they running away from a single snake?

Did that mean they couldn’t even defeat a single snake?

They could be ordinary people, not adventurers, but it’s hard to believe ordinary people would be in such a deep forest.

“What are these bears trying to say?” (Mane)

“It seems like they noticed those people running away from a snake and coming this way,” Yuna said.

“…!?” (Mane)

Mane-san was deep in thought after hearing my words.

“What should we do?” (Yuna)

My job was to protect Mane-san.

I couldn’t act on my own.

“I told you earlier that it would be best not to get involved. But, I also don’t want to abandon them” (Mane)

“So we’re going to help?” (Yuna)

Mane-san then shook her head.

“I can’t fight, so I can’t say I’ll go and help. And I can’t ask Yuna to fight. But…” (Mane)

It seemed like she was reluctant to abandon them.

I didn’t want to see dead bodies on the way, either.

“By the way, I can easily defeat snakes,” (Yuna)

I said this to encourage Mane-san.

It was for my own sake too.

“That’s right. Also, we still have the medicine that snakes hate. So maybe, we won’t need to fight” (Mane)

I made Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear run.

“Run faster” (Person 1)

“I can’t do this anymore,” (Person 2)

A man’s and a woman’s voices echoed through the cave.

I could also hear the sound of something heavy crawling.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“Hugging Bear, hurry up!” (Yuna)

Hugging Bear and Swaying Bear increased their speed.

“Yuna, I see them” (Mane)

Perhaps because of her elven blood, she spotted them before I did.

A few seconds later, I saw them as well.

The two of them were running.

Furthermore, a giant snake was chasing them from behind.

My detection skill was showing it as a snake.

Which meant that even if it’s much bigger, the name didn’t change.

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