Chapter 722: Bat Owl

Spurred on by Henwell's rebuke, the others hurry to the entrance.

In the light of a fallen oil lamp, they see Jonah, one of Danny's men, struggling on the ground as two strange creatures attack him.

Jonah can barely fend them off, much less get back on his feet.

Henwell takes the greatbow from Miller's back and tosses it to Philir. "Give me your Recurve Crossbow!"

"Miller, throw Jonah your grappling hook. Once he's close enough, Danny, run out and get him!"

With the orders given, Henwell smoothly cocks the military crossbow and loads a bolt.

He immediately fires at one of the monsters attacking Jonah.

The heavy bolthead tears through the monster's hide and buries itself in its abdomen.

The wounded creature lets out a shrill hiss and crashes onto its side.

Miller seizes the opening and throws out his grappling hook. "Jonah, grab it!"

Jonah grabs the rope and slips the grappling hook through a metal ring on his belt.

As Miller hauls in the rope, the other monster lunges after Jonah, only for Philir to drive it back with a bolt.

The bolt punches straight through its body.

By now, Jonah has been dragged more than ten meters closer. Danny takes a deep breath and sprints out.

He bends down, grabs Jonah by the back of his collar, and drags him toward the building.

The moment Henwell finishes reloading, his gaze snaps upward and he fires into the air.

As a Battle Knight, Danny moves quickly and has already dragged Jonah to the entrance.

Almost at the same moment, a powerful gust howls down upon them.

A huge figure crashes to the ground, nearly knocking Danny and Jonah off their feet.

A bolt is buried so deep in the monster's head that only the fletching remains visible. When it still tries to rise, Henwell calmly puts another bolt into it.

Henwell orders, "Fall back inside and bring that monster's corpse with you!"

Philir grabs the monster by one leg and hurriedly drags it into the building.

Henwell drops his pack and starts giving orders. "Philir, Miller, guard the entrance!"

"Danny, stay beside me and keep watch. Abbas, clear some space. I need to stop Jonah's bleeding first!"

The others obey at once. Henwell takes out his surgical kit, grabs a leg bone, and presses it into the groaning Jonah's hand.

"Listen, I don't have any anesthetic, and you can't afford to lose consciousness down here. Bite down on this and bear with it!"

Jonah eyes the leg bone, which may or may not be human, then grits his teeth and shakes his head. "Guildmaster, I can take it!"

Three oil lamps are propped up on skeletons. Henwell removes Jonah's leather armor and begins examining his injuries.

Blood and torn flesh cover Jonah's body. He has at least five serious wounds.

One wound on his neck is particularly dangerous. It missed the artery, but Henwell still needs to treat it immediately.

Jonah trembles and growls through clenched teeth as Henwell rapidly treats his wounds.

A little over ten minutes later, Henwell finishes bandaging him.

Henwell then turns to the anxious Danny. "Bring the monster's corpse over. I want to examine it."

Under the lamplight, everyone can finally see that the creature resembles a bird, yet also looks something like a bat.

Its wings consist of membranes, with small hooked claws at every joint.

Its lower limbs resemble those of a bird, though to Henwell, they look more like the powerful, razor-sharp talons of a carnivorous dinosaur.

The strangest part is its mouth. It has a bird's beak, but there is no tongue inside the long, pointed bill. Instead, it is packed with teeth.

The structure is wholly unlike a true bird's beak and more closely resembles the jaws of a carnivorous mammal.

The monster has no eyes. A ring of spiracles circles its head, each fitted with an eardrum-like membrane that can open and close.

At the center of the spiracles lies a round piece of soft cartilage.

Standing upright, the creature is more than one meter and seventy centimeters tall, with a wingspan exceeding three meters.

Henwell dissects the creature with a dagger, recording what he finds as he works.

Half an hour later, he looks up at the others. "For now, I'll call this creature a bat owl."

"It lives in groups and has no vision, but it possesses something similar to a bat's echolocation. That may also be an extraordinary ability."

"Its bones and muscles are remarkably dense. In a direct fight, one could easily kill an unarmed adult."

"One thing is strange. This creature weighs nearly a hundred kilograms, and its wings are nowhere near large enough to let it fly."

"I still don't understand how it gets airborne. It may have an extraordinary ability similar to Featherlight."

"I haven't found any toxins, but its scratches and bites will almost certainly become infected, if they don't cause something worse."

Miller asks, "Did the tremor wake them?"

Henwell shakes his head. "No. The tremor woke their prey. They only came out to hunt!"

As he speaks, Henwell produces a mass of flesh about the size of a large bowl.

Philir asks, "What is that?"

"Some kind of crustacean, perhaps an insect, or perhaps something else entirely."

"The bat owl's unusual mouth tore it apart, so it's hard to tell what it originally looked like."

Danny's expression darkens. "I think I know what it was!"

Danny points toward a corner. "Look over there!"

Everyone turns and sees a round stone about the size of a human head.

Its grayish-white shell blends in with the countless bones, making it almost indistinguishable from the surrounding skulls.

Henwell starts toward it, but Miller raises a hand to stop him. "I'll go."

Miller approaches cautiously and brings the white stone back.

The moment Henwell takes it, he realizes that the object is alive.

Philir asks, "Is that some creature's egg?"

Henwell does not answer. He takes a long needle from his medical kit and drives it into the stone.

The white "stone" instantly splits open and unfurls into a large insect.

It has savage mouthparts, two long pincers to assist with feeding, and a tail raised high in the air.

A small sphere covered in tiny holes sits at the tip of its tail. It is not a weapon, but a means of sensing the creature's surroundings.

It is a sensory organ rather than an offensive or defensive one.

Henwell crouches beside the irritable little creature and studies it carefully.

After a moment, he notices something and throws a piece of the bat owl's flesh near the stone bug.

The stone bug immediately tries to curl into its defensive ball. Henwell has damaged one of its nerves, however, leaving it able only to tremble and struggle in place.

Henwell boldly picks it up and dissects it beneath the lamplight.

Afterward, he washes the filth from his hands with clean water.

"I have good news and bad news!"

"Bad news first."

"Here's the bad news. I'm calling this creature a stone bug. They're numerous, and they're carnivorous."

"Their small size and vast numbers make them far more dangerous than bat owls."

"If we become trapped in a swarm, the outcome will be disastrous."

"The good news is that they're the bat owls' prey. The bat owls have come out to feed on them."