Blood Bats

I was running through the forest, away from the six blood bats and one very big one. I had tried facing them head-on at first. As soon as they emerged from the shadows, I fired off an arrow at one of the creatures as a surprise attack. I was able to kill one of them, but that was as far as I got. The remaining blood bats immediately began shooting acid fire at me, and because I was trying to avoid their attacks while still trying to shoot them down, I accidentally fired off two more arrows and missed. I only had seven arrows left.

“More arrows!” I said to Rachel as I continued running through the woods. I didn’t know how my summoning abilities would work while I was in motion. The last time I had tried it, I was standing still. I just hoped the arrows didn’t appear in midair and fall off.

“I’m sorry, but items can’t be summoned at the moment,” the computerized feminine voice of my AI companion responded in my head, delivering the worst news possible. I quickly ducked out of the way as an acidic fireball struck the trunk of a tree in front of me, melting the wood and eating into the bark. I briefly glanced behind me and found the remaining blood bats giving chase, while the bigger one had stopped at some point. The woods ahead of me were becoming too dense with trees to run through, so I needed to stop or risk tripping over a root and falling. If that happened, I was no doubt going to be swarmed and killed instantly by a small group of very angry blood bats.

I gained some distance from the flying creatures, then dove into a corner to hide behind a tree. I snuck a peek. The blood bats had slowed their pursuit but were now looking for me. They knew I was hiding.

“What do you mean I can’t summon an item at the moment?” I asked Rachel. I made sure to keep my voice low as another quick glance showed two of the five blood bats drawing closer to my hiding spot.

“As a beginner weapon summoner, your ability to generate items multiple times in a single use case is greatly limited,” Rachel said. “You need to wait an additional four minutes before you can do so again.”

“Great,” I replied, glancing out of my hiding spot once more. The blood bats were drawing really close. There were now three of them, not two. I needed to think of a way out of this. And fast.

“Rachel.”

“Yes?”

“What is the hit damage of one of those acid fireballs?” I asked, formulating a plan in my head.

“Calculating,” Rachel said, taking a moment to process my request. I didn’t have much time. The blood bats were right on top of me already.

“Six percent hit damage,” Rachel responded, sensing my unease at how close the blood bats already were to our location. “If you take a direct splash from one of their attacks, you will lose six percent of your health. That may not seem like a lot, but that is only because you have the tough skin of a monster slayer. To any other regular person, that amount is enough to kill them instantly.”

“Alright,” I replied, deciding on a plan of action. “I can work with that.”

“Wait! What are you…?”

I stepped out from behind the tree, coming face-to-face with one of the flying nightmares staring down at me. It jerked its body back in surprise but quickly prepared to shoot fiery acid.

I released the arrow I was holding, watching it zip forward and strike the creature in the stomach. I nocked another arrow and turned to shoot down the remaining two creatures to my right. However, almost immediately I realized I had messed up.

Two acidic fireballs came rushing toward me, and I had just enough time to release my grip on the arrow in a panic before trying my best to dodge out of the way. My arrow found home and lodged itself in the head of one of the blood bats, but I wasn’t entirely successful in my dodging. The moment I found cover behind the tree again I realized that parts of my leg had been splashed with the burning slime. Nothing happened at first, but then I felt it. A cooling sensation soon followed by an unbearable itchy feeling as the slime began eating through my skin. It felt like hell.

“What were you thinking?” Rachel demanded, her voice angry. A brief icon appeared on the side of my vision indicating that I had dropped in health—but only by five percent. It wasn’t a direct hit, but thanks to the combined effort of both creatures it might as well have been. The number was now at ninety-five percent.

“That was reckless,” Rachel said, while I rested my back against the tree. I was just about to reply when she yelled, “Duck!” and I instantly did as she suggested.

Another slimy fireball splashed against the trunk of the tree, nearly melting my face in the process. Luckily, thanks to my AI companion, I had dodged at just the right moment.

I had lowered my guard for only a second, completely forgetting there was still another blood bat I hadn’t killed yet. Some of the acid got on me as I crouched to avoid the blast, and I could feel the slime as it ate away at the skin on my back. My health had dropped another three percent, and I was now at ninety-two percent.

I rolled away from the tree then came up reaching for another arrow. I only had five left. I nocked it, then aimed it at the creature flapping its wings in front of me. I released my grip and the arrow went flying through the air, through the creature’s mouth, and out the back of its throat. A second later, the bat came crashing to the ground lifeless, blood and acid spurting out of its neck.

“Rachel,” I called out to my AI companion.

“Yes?”

“How long until I can summon more arrows?”

“Two minutes,” she replied promptly. “I will advise waiting behind in order to replenish your supply, but I have a feeling they are not going to give you that option.”

I turned around and found that she was indeed right. The remaining two blood bats that had been searching for me in a different part of the forest were now drawing to my exact location, having spotted me. From that distance, however, I already had the advantage.

The trees provided limited aerial mobility, which was going to make it harder for them to dodge my arrows this time. It was also probably why the bigger blood bat hadn’t chased me into the forest either. It simply couldn’t easily maneuver within the trees. That gave me an idea.

Before the two approaching bats could draw any closer, I made quick work of them. With an arrow each, I shot both creatures, sending them crashing to the ground. I now had two arrows left.

“How much time till I can summon more arrows?” I asked Rachel. I wasn’t about to go head-to-head with what was essentially a boss-level blood bat with only two arrows on me.

“One minute fifteen seconds,” Rachel replied, prompting me to sigh in frustration. I moved over to a nearby tree in order to rest for a bit while also waiting out the time for my abilities to be able to summon more arrows to return. I sat down and rested my back on the tree, careful to keep myself hidden. The last thing I wanted was another ambush while I had my guard down. As if reading my thoughts, Rachel then made a countdown timer appear in the corner of my vision, showing me exactly how many seconds I had left before I could utilize my abilities again.

58

57

56

55

However, as I waited, another sharp pain suddenly exploded within the insides of my skull, prompting flashes of my memories to come back to me as I lowered my head in pain.

…

An operating table, some kind of lab maybe.

A woman talking to me while I slowly lost consciousness.

My brain hooked up to a machine beside the bed, with text on the computer screen reading: Transfer protocol initiated.

The images were coming in too fast now.

The laughter of children at an orphanage.

A bunch of kids fighting each other on an island, some kind of survival-based training.

Going to school only to learn about different monsters and creatures from another world.

Crying myself to sleep every night because I was the weakest of my peers.

Late-night VR simulations.

Eating in the cafeteria by myself.

Waking up to a gun going off in our room every morning.

Running.

Jumping.

Surviving.

Training.

…

My eyes widened in shock as I suddenly remembered what I was doing in the forest. She had sent me there. A woman. I also remembered where I had come from as well… Earth. This world right now was not mine.

I was one of many children. There was some kind of laboratory on an island. The doctors there were installing things into our heads. They wanted us to do something. I couldn’t remember what.

“HUNTER!” The voice of my AI companion screaming in my head brought me out of my stupor. I looked up and found the giant head of a blood bat staring down at me. Its large red eyes were fixated on me, and its mouth was opened as it continuously dripped acid and revealed razor-sharp teeth. It was the bigger one. And it had found my hiding spot.

I guess I was wrong then, I thought to myself, looking up at the creature as it slowly flapped its massive wings and prepared to shoot fiery acid down at me. It hadn’t avoided coming into the trees like I initially thought. It had been searching for an opening the entire time.