"You're really a good girl." Looking at the girl who, despite obvious pain, still remained strong, Takeru couldn't help but reach out and pat her head.
However, Takeru currently looked even younger than her, which seemed a bit comical.
Feeling Takeru's care, Hinatsuru, who had been captured here by the bats after trying to save a friend, felt the urge to cry.
In this place of despair, surrounded by layers of terrifying monsters, in this dark, sunless cave, her ability to quickly pull herself together and comfort others was an act of immense courage.
There were even a few children older than her who could only hide in corners and cry.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine from now on." He said softly.
With a 'Poof' sound, Takeru's true form slowly appeared amidst the smoke. Hinatsuru stared blankly at Takeru. Although the light in the cave was poor, she could vaguely see the nearby situation with the moonlight from above.
"You are...?" Seeing this fantastical scene, Hinatsuru was stunned.
"My name is Nara Takeru." Hearing her words, Takeru said with a light laugh.
"Alright, then next, Shadow Clone Technique! Healing Magic! Purification!"
Speaking softly, Takeru's figure instantly multiplied into five. Two gentle lights, one green and one blue, quickly radiated from Takeru, enveloping everyone in the cave. Bathed in the light, everyone felt warmth, and their hearts were soothed.
Pain, fear, and confusion also dissipated quite a bit in an instant. Then, almost immediately, everyone stopped crying. Some children who were already very tired even fell directly asleep.
Seeing the light emanating from Takeru, Hinatsuru was extremely shocked in her heart. The look in her eyes as she gazed at Takeru became filled with excitement and admiration...
The sudden appearance of light not only caught the attention of everyone in the cave but also alerted the giant bats guarding outside. However, as soon as one approached, it was pierced by ice shards from Takeru's clone.
Five minutes later, Takeru stopped the Healing Magic and Purification, then looked into the distance.
Through sensing, Takeru understood the location of the bats' leader, which is a super-large bat not far away.
Just hanging upside down on what resembled a throne, it was visibly four or five times larger than ordinary giant bats. Below it were many skeletal remains, including those of many unknown special animals and quite a few children's bones. Clearly, some had already been harmed.
Feeling angry inside, Takeru didn't show it on his face. After softly comforting everyone, Takeru left two clones here to guard, while his main body and the remaining two clones directly jumped out of the prison.
Some giant bats still transporting children noticed Takeru, the uninvited guest, and let out loud cries.
The screeching caused the entire cave to tremble slightly. Then, in the darkness, countless bats hanging from the cave ceiling opened their blood-red eyes and began flapping their wings, preparing to attack Takeru.
"White Ice Shards!" Seeing the numerous giant bats, Takeru showed no mercy, directly summoning a large number of ice shards. Under Takeru's control, soon, many bats were pierced by the dense ice shards and fell dead to the ground.
Takeru caught the kidnapped children and had his clones use telekinesis to send them to the cave, where the other two guarding clones treated them.
Although they were all himself, Takeru had different clones perform specialized tasks for greater efficiency.
Meanwhile, Takeru quickly fought his way through, heading straight for the Bat King's location.
Relying on formidable strength, Takeru moved unimpeded through the heavy encirclement. All obstructing bats, without exception, turned to ashes or were pierced by ice shards, falling to the ground with regret.
In a little over ten minutes, Takeru passed through the long cave tunnel and finally saw the Bat King. Noticing Takeru's ill intent, the Bat King let out a piercing screech.
The somewhat sharp sound was accompanied by special sonic wave attacks, making Takeru's head buzz a bit. However, facing his extremely strong defense, this special sonic attack couldn't harm him either.
"As the Bat King, I'll give you a dignified death. Sage Art: Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!" As he spoke, a huge fire dragon quickly manifested within the cave.
Because the cave interior was also extremely spacious, Takeru could slightly increase the power of his Ninjutsu. Three giant fire dragons, claws bared, flew through, igniting many giant bats along their path before charging at the Giant Bat King.
The Giant Bat King, which had never seen fire before, was submerged amidst screeches and terror by the fire dragons, eventually turning to ashes.
As the Bat King died, the surviving bats around collectively emitted piercing sounds and then charged at Takeru, wanting to devour him.
But it was all like moths flying into a flame. Takeru's released freezing power directly froze the surrounding area, turning all the bats into sculptures.
Then, with a snap of Takeru's fingers, the ice layer shattered, and the bats inside became fragmented. Below, many dark purple pools of blood appeared...
After dealing with these, Takeru noticed a huge nest-like structure not far away. At that moment, there were many small bats there, about the size of common bats in the main world… probably the young of the giant bats.
Looking at the tens of thousands of bat offspring, Takeru's expression was indifferent. Three fire dragons rushed forth, directly wiping them all out in one go...
As the smell of burning and a peculiar odor continued to spread, all the bat offspring turned to charcoal under Takeru's flames.
Regarding the bats eating humans, Takeru had nothing special to say. It was a struggle for survival between two species. However, clearly, his appearance now gave humans the absolute upper hand, that's all...
Shaking his head, the flames burned for over thirty minutes. Takeru left only one clone here to observe, while the main body went to the cave entrance to intercept returning bats.
While Takeru was here saving ordinary people, his clones outside had also killed thousands of giant bats and rescued hundreds of humans.
Besides Takeru's clones, Yukino and others also formed small teams, fighting the giant bats and treating the injured.
…
Meanwhile, at a city square, a large squad of police officers was battling giant bats, and Yukino, Ui, Yui, and Rikka appeared here.
"Who are you? This place is dangerous!" Noticing the arrival of Yukino and the others, a man who appeared to be the chief frowned and spoke to Yukino.
"This is our identification. Leave this place to us now. You go provide cover and rescue." Looking at the person in charge, Yukino directly took out her organization member ID. Seeing the official seal, the person in charge was stunned.
"But..." Although the seal indeed represented very high authority, and he had heard of this suddenly appearing organization for Ability Users, he wasn't clear about the specific people or special abilities within it. So, Yukino's order for them to abandon the fight made him hesitate.
"Sigh, alright then. Yui, take action." Seeing the person in charge's hesitation, Yukino sighed lightly, then directly looked at Yui.
"I got it. Leave it to me. Fire Wall!" After a moment of charging, soon, a wall constructed of flames appeared in front of the many police officers.
Seeing the sudden large fire, the police officers who were fighting instinctively retreated. The giant bats, facing the high temperature of the flames, became chaotic.
"Go, Koro! And take this, Magic Missile!"
Then, Yui quickly gave orders to the doll-like Koro and continuously released Magic Missiles herself.
When the Magic Missiles passed through the fire wall, they transformed into attacks resembling Fireball spells.
However, compared to Fireball, the Magic Missile attacks consumed less energy and had a higher firing rate.
Boom! Boom!
The sounds of flaming Magic Missiles colliding with giant bats rang out constantly. Accompanied by the flames, these bats quickly fell and were rapidly burned to ashes.
Because the blood of these giant bats contained components similar to glycerin or alcohol, which allowed flames to burn more fiercely, and they themselves had low resistance to fire, fire attacks were one of their weaknesses.
Watching Yui's action, the person in charge was stunned. Looking at Yukino and the others, who were completely calm, he understood why the country placed such importance on this organization.
Thinking this, he decisively ordered the police officers to withdraw, to now shift to searching for casualties and fighting isolated monsters.