James advanced directly to the second passage on the left side of the cavern. It was far enough down the side of the cavern that this path took him nowhere close to the passage filled with plants, and there were no other monsters lurking about the cavern at the moment.

The passage was narrow, barely wide enough for James to advance with shield raised and not at all wide enough to strike with his hammer while his shield was up. About ten yards ahead, barely visible in the dim light provided by the ever present glowshrooms, the path took a turn to the right.

James crept forward, mindful of the low ceiling and his path of retreat. When he reached a turn in the passage he leaned cautiously around the corner, protected by his shield, and saw…

A medium sized room, perhaps twenty yards on each side.

No monsters. Not even on the ceiling.

The ceiling and upper part of the room had more glowshrooms than normal, making the room relatively well lit. And when James inspected the walls-

[Ore Identification: Brown Iron Ore]

[Fuel Identification: Coal]

He found a veritable treasure trove of Brown Iron Ore and coal.

Not that he had been hurting for those materials anyway, given their abundance even back in the first cavern where his camp was.

He carefully returned to the main cavern through the narrow passage and clomped to the next passage without incident.

This tunnel was slightly wider, roughly three yards wide, which was enough to keep the shield up and at least manage an overhand swing with his war hammer, and the ceiling was at a comfortable height as well. The only problem with the tunnel was that it curved away, preventing James from seeing what lay ahead.

Step by step he advanced, shield at the ready. At first he kept his hammer at the ready, too, but after the third blind turn he dropped his arm to his side, unable to maintain that level of readiness continuously for so long. On and on the tunnel went, twisting and turning and even including several hairpin turns that James took with extra caution lest there be some pack of monsters lying in wait to ambush him.

But there were none.

After what felt like forever, James reached the end of the tunnel. It ended after the longest straight passage up to that point in a small, roughly circular room, with absolutely nothing in it apart from glowshrooms. No ore of any kind in the stone walls, not even rocks on the ground. Just empty.

Still, James didn't let his guard down. He returned carefully, periodically checking behind himself as he proceeded with shield raised, counting the steps of his return journey.

Eight hundred and forty three steps to return to the cavern.

He returned to the warded area and ate a lunch of bread and water. Meager fare though it was, just having food he could eat without having to return to camp lifted his spirits significantly. Hunger may be the best spice, but accomplishment might be the second best. Although a proper Chef would have wept at what James was calling "bread."

Fed, watered, and rested, James put his helmet back on, scanned around for monsters, saw there were none, and resumed exploration. Only two passages left: one on the left side of the cavern, and one at the far end.

Thus far, James had encountered mole monsters, bat monsters, spiders that were likely monsters, and plant monsters. And he had found where the mole monsters, plant monsters, and spiders were coming from.

Now he found where the bat monsters were coming from.

As he approached the passageway the clanking of his armor prevented him from hearing it until he stopped.

Squeak squeak squeak…

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Rustle rustle rustle…

A quiet but continuous rustling noise punctuated by frequent squeaking.

The passageway itself was dark, with only the smallest of glowshrooms growing just inside the passage and none at all after a few yards.

Moving slowly in an attempt to be quiet, James stowed his Earth War Hammer in his magic bag.

"Green Iron War Hammer." he whispered.

James had grown used to just saying what he wanted from the magic bag. The bag did respond to his thoughts, but it required more concentration to focus on exactly what item he wanted that way. And in the moment, he didn't want to mess around with all his green iron forging hammers.

This was a mistake.

Whereas the clanking of his armor and the sound of his footsteps didn't inspire a reaction from the bats, the sound of his voice very much did.

At the same time that James' hand found the handle of his Green Iron War Hammer, the squeaking and rustling noises intensified. And continued intensifying.

James withdrew his war hammer and scanned around his feet to make sure there was nothing to trip on.

And then they were upon him, scant yards from the mouth of the passage.

A swarm.

Moving almost like a single dark mass, they overwhelmed him. His vision was already restricted from his helmet, but now he couldn't see hardly anything other than the whirling, writhing mass of bat monsters.

Thud thud skritch thud skritch skritch SQUEAK thud thud thud squeak…

Many of the bats were hitting his shield, at least at first, since it was between James and the passage. But as the bat monsters swarmed around him they started tackling him all over: his arms, head, back, and legs were all taking strikes all at once.

James raised his war hammer and swung in front of him, without even targeting any particular monster nor using the [Rapid Blow] enchantment.

[Hammer Strike]

James couldn't see well, and he couldn't hear it over the cacophony of the bats, but he felt his hammer impact two or three times.

It made no discernible difference in the dense swarm.

Again and again he struck, just using his Technique, until he noticed that he wasn't hitting bat monsters anymore. The swarm had thinned out enough by this point that the monsters had room to dodge his swings.

He stopped attacking and raised his foot to try to reposition himself back closer to his wards, confident in his armor to continue tanking the tackles and scratches from the bats.

He nearly tripped.

Barely visible in the dim light and shade caused by the sheer mass of the swarm of monsters, injured and dead bats littered the floor around him. He steadied himself with his shield, ignoring the wet, fleshy feeling as he drove it into the ground, then with high stomping steps made his way back to the other end of the cavern, settling in the corner with the plant passage to his left and his ward to the right.

Thus began the game of whack-a-bat.

The Smith's mana was already warmed up from his constant use of the [Reflect] enchantment on his Tower Shield. Although he was growing fatigued from the non-stop fighting, James trusted in his armor and the nearby presence of his ward.

[Smith] Class Skill [Nerves of Steel] has reached level 2.

James ignored the intrusive thought and focused on his strikes.

[Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crunch

One at a time, the Smith focused only on each strike. He lost track of time as his world narrowed to just the target rich area in front of him.

[Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crunch

[Hammer Strike]

[Rapid Blow]

Crunch

Crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch…

Eventually there were only a few bats left and they started managing to dodge his swings. He focused, trying to activate [Rapid Blow] at the absolute last possible moment…

Crunch.

Unable to see any more bats in front of him, James paused, hammer already back ready for another swing.

The rustling sound of bat wings flapping had ceased.

All that remained was the squeaking of dying and crippled bat monsters littering the floor in front of him.

[Enchanter] Class Skill [Mana Manipulation] has reached level 4.

[Enchanter] Class Skill [Enchantment Activation] has reached level 2.

[Smith] Class has reached level 4.

[Enchanter] Class has reached level 3.

All at once the exhaustion rushed over James. His arm was burning from all the hammer swings and he felt queasy, and his mana felt hotter than ever but also less than ever. If it was like molten iron, it felt like barely enough to cast a spoon at this point.

James barely managed with trembling steps to stumble into the warded area before he collapsed, passing out.

The gentle breeze continued to blow through the cavern.

Crippled bats flopped about and squeaked in outrage.

The sound of shuffling and growling quietly emanated from the mole monster passage.

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