Pointless sacrified

The pattern of a generational hatred war that happened with only a few simple reasons then continued on meaninglessly without a stop, just so they could take revenge for people who had lost their lives in it.

Just like the herd of normal bats that flew faster upon seeing his face bashed in the torchlight, leaving his shadow behind on the dead bat, they hissed louder together in tone, creating a terrifying melody as they got closer to Ren Ying.

Ahead of them were a small pack of Thunder Bats; they flapped their wings aggressively, unleashing a low rumbling across the cave, shaking his eardrum slightly.

Feeling the increased sensation on his ear as they got closer, Ren Ying pulled his sword out of the ground, raised it to his shoulder level, and rested it there.

His breathing became uneven while he fixed his eye from one bat to another as the number of bats entering the range of his torch went up without any sign of it stopping.

"Calm down, Ren Ying; this is your first fight in a unique battlefield." He comforted himself with a slightly shaky voice.

"I have to get used to any battlefield as soon as possible... if I want to guarantee that my next battle won't become my last." He affirmed as he controlled his breathing back to its calm state.

The swarm of bats appearance was getting clearer as they approached deeper into the only source of light in the cave. 

His grip on the sword became more steady as the first Thunder Bat blinked and appeared next to him. Ren Ying had locked its eye onto the bat without failing to follow its movement since its last blink, took his sword resting on his shoulder up, and slashed toward the Thunder bat swiftly, leaving behind a Thunder particle.

The bat couldn't dodge away in time, as the attack came unexpectedly.

It took on the slash head-on, splitting its body into two parts.

The other Thunder Bats that hadn't reached Ren Ying slowed down as they let out a surprised squeak loudly after seeing its companion fall.

"Surprise, huh? Just because I'm alone, facing you guys doesn't mean that I am hopeless." Ren Ying asserted as his breathing became even more calm.

After all of the Thunder Bats caught up to each other, they blink at the same time, disappearing from Ren Ying vision.

Without trying to find their position, Ren Ying used his Thunder Trace, leaving an afterimage on his previous spot.

Just as the Thunder Bats showed up on his previous spot, each at a different location surrounding the area from up and down. Ren Ying also popped up next to them, slightly far away from his original position.

The Thunder Bats squeak confusedly among each other as Ren Ying strikes down the Thunder Bats closest to him from behind its back.

Followed by a splash of dark crimson blood directly onto his face.

He slowed down his movement and stepped backward a little as the fishy smell of the bat blood slowly entered his nostril. 

The other Thunder Bats reacted immediately after seeing one of their companions fall. They flapped their wings faster and more aggressively, projecting a stronger thunder roar throughout the entire cave.

"Crap!" Ren Ying realized his mistake instantly while seeing the Thunder Bats blinked from their position yet again.

He moved extremely fast away from his spot without any hesitation.

This time, Ren Ying appeared on another spot close to it, earlier than the Thunder Bats, as he gradually got a better understanding of their speeds after confronting them twice.

And just like the previous time, the Thunder Bats arrived in circle at his last spot.

Having learnt his last mistake, Ren Ying swung his sword downward, painting his clear face with blood once more.

Unlike the first time he fought them, he kept on swinging his sword without giving them a chance to react while he tried to ignore the discomfort of breathing in accompanied by the fishy smells.

The Thunder Bats, one by one, blinked away in panic far from him.

Unfortunately for them, by the time all of them fully fled away, half of their companions bodies were already on the cold ground, turning colder slowly along with it.

Above the Thunder Bats cold bodies, tiny thunder particles that Ren Ying attacks left behind were flooding around; its blue glows brightened up the dark atmosphere, making it a breathtaking moment.

Regrettably, Ren Ying couldn't take his time to enjoy this view properly. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the light range getting smaller as the cloud of normal bats made their way closer to him.

He got into a defensive stance by holding his sword out toward his enemies in two hands.

'This will be tough.' Ren Ying speculated while trying to better his defensive position.

He had never underestimated the capability of the Thunder Bats along with the normal bats; the reason why he could easily take down half of the Thunder Bats was due to them not taking him seriously, allowing him to control the momentum of the earlier battle.

But now that the Thunder Bats fully understood his strength, they no longer struck him aggressively without any strategy.

Ren Ying scanned his surroundings everywhere without leaving a spot to find the hiding Thunder Bats. But to no avail; he didn't find a single of them.

'So, they plan to ambush me while I am distracted with this bunch of normal bats.' Ren Ying mused as his eyes opened wide.

He inhaled deeply as he recalled that the Thunder Bats confrontation against Liang Chen, which he saw using his innate pupil, didn't show any sign of it possessing intelligence.

In those visions, Liang Chen brutally destroyed these bats without any difficulty or twists, unlike him.

But soon, he realized that he wasn't Liang Chen, a rank 1 late realm cultivator. While the Thunder Bats were considered a rank 1 low realm beast.

It couldn't use their intelligence against Liang Chen because the difference of realm was too great; on the other hand, Ren Ying's realm and strength weren't good enough to nullify their intelligence, just like what Liang Chen would do in the future if it wasn't for him changing it.

As the saying goes, "Scheme and trick is nothing in the face of absolute strength."

Ren Ying shifted his attention back to reality as the swarms of normal bats almost arrived within his reach, cutting off the torch range by almost half of it and returning it back to its gloomy state.

'The remaining Thunder Bats should be hiding among them.' He reminded himself as he had his ears up, ready for any upcoming ambushes.

This time, Ren Ying didn't wait for the bats to initiate the fight; he took a few steps forward in a row rapidly and arrived before the bats without any warning for them. He coated his sword with his lethal thunder and slashed it out, directed at the countless bats.

Zzzzzzzz

A lot of bats fell to the ground once they were hit by his slash; all of them had the same ending, whether the slashes left them with a light injury or a heavy one.

Their bodies, upon reaching the floor, began to shake on their own as if they were possessed by an evil spirit due to being paralyzed by Ren Ying thunder.

Ren Ying kept on swinging his sword at the seemingly countless swarm of bats, but every time he eliminated the front bats rushing at him, the new batch of bats coming from behind would take its spot and continue to charge at him fearlessly.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless on you, when you kept coming at me like this." Ren Ying roared loudly while the force behind his every attack was getting heavier.

As he pretended to have his attentions entirely on dealing with the normal bats, the Thunder Bats finally made their appearance from behind his back.

'Tch, annoying.' He frowned at the ignorance of the Thunder Bats as he used Thunder Trace, vanishing from his spot.

Whoosh.

He emerged back from behind the Thunder Bats, with his sword constantly emitted thunder swung down.

His sword only took down 2 of them this time. Glancing at the remaining Thunder Bats, he got puzzled.

'NO, not good' Ren Ying reacted directly, trying to use his thunder trace to move away when he saw a few bats missing.

Before he could run away, the unseen Thunder Bats showed up next to him.

They flapped their mutated thunder wings strongly at him, releasing proud thunder roars overwhelming the sound of other normal bats flying to Ren Ying.

When they were about to continue hitting Ren Ying after the sound of thunder roars subdued, a voice with an irritated tone sounded out.

"Why can't you just let me go without any battle? You scarified tons of your people just for what exactly?" Ren Ying questioned the surprised-looking Thunder Bats seriously.

This pack of bats always had a choice to retreat from this fight that they caused...