Chapter 55: Vampire Fangs

With such thoughts in mind, as he continued climbing upwards, Xiao Yang found himself surrounded by an increasing number of blood-thirsting bats.

The builders of this skeletal dungeon had forcibly drilled a massive hole right into the forehead of the giant skull, carving out a platform. The broken rope bridge connected directly to this platform on the giant's forehead.

Xiao Yang was almost at the top; the platform was not far away from him now.

Yet, it was precisely at this moment that an accident occurred once again.

Xiao Yang startled a particularly gigantic blood-thirsting bat.

While normal blood-thirsting bats were typically the size of a basketball, this colossal blood-thirsting bat was the size of a grown human, hanging upside down at the highest point of the giant skull's eye socket.

Xiao Yang's climbing disturbed its slumber, waking it up instantly. With a sudden burst, it rushed out fiercely, followed by a swarm of blood-thirsting bats.

Amidst piercing screeches.

The shrill cry of this giant bat agitated the flock of ordinary blood-thirsting bats lingering around Xiao Yang.

A massive number of blood-thirsting bats lunged furiously at Xiao Yang, pelting against his body like raindrops.

However, Xiao Yang remained completely unfazed by this.

He was only two or three meters away from the platform. Once he climbed up there, no matter how many of these large bats came or what kind of trouble they tried to stir, he would not be afraid.

Until this exceptionally huge blood-thirsting bat slammed violently into Xiao Yang's body.

Now, a piece of good news and a piece of bad news arrived simultaneously.

The bad news was that, in this wave of collision, Xiao Yang failed to grab onto the bone of the giant skull's eye socket, meaning he was about to play the role of a human flyer in the sky once more.

Of course, there was also good news. The good news was that he managed to grab hold of the oversized bat that wanted to turn him into an airborne acrobat again.

Bearing his teeth and wearing a ferocious expression, Xiao Yang grabbed onto the leg of that particularly huge blood-thirsting bat for dear life. Even if he had to fly through the air, he was determined not to let this damned giant bat off easily!

Man and bat wrestled with each other in mid-air. Hindered by Xiao Yang's tugging, the giant blood-thirsting bat's normal flight was impaired, and the two of them wavered unsteadily in the sky.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yang was utterly furious and beyond caring about the possibility of a crash. He was resolved to kill this damned creature. He had been only a single step away from climbing up—"If you could have just waited for me to climb up, damn it, you just had to ruin my day at this exact moment! You really deserve to die!"

The giant blood-thirsting bat let out panicked shrieks. All the blood-thirsting bats in the surrounding area were stirred into a frenzy, and the sound of numerous wings flapping filled the air.

More and more blood-thirsting bats converged around the struggling, entangled man and bat. Yet, these smaller bats dared not truly participate in the brawl between the two behemoths, so they could only circle around them, screeching shrilly.

With an irritable expression, Xiao Yang forcefully gripped the giant bat's neck.

The colossal blood-thirsting bat could no longer maintain its flight posture; a crash was inevitable!

Flying erratically, Xiao Yang and the giant bat swept across the sky, plunging heavily down to the ground with a whistling force. They slammed onto a platform, tumbling over several times until, finally, man and bat separated.

The giant blood-thirsting bat, thoroughly terrified by Xiao Yang's ferocious demeanor, hurriedly flapped its wings, attempting to escape.

How could Xiao Yang possibly let it get away? Having just picked himself up from the ground, ignoring his dizzy state, he lunged forward toward the giant bat in massive strides. With a hairs-breadth timing, just before the colossal bat could take off into the air, he leaped high and grabbed its claw. Once again, man and bat rolled into a tumbling ball on the ground.

Xiao Yang pinned the giant bat down, pulled out the Executioner of Justice from his hand, and bellowed, "You deserve to die!" Without a second thought, he rained down blow after blow.

As luck would have it, one of Xiao Yang's strikes triggered the "Turbid Blood" trait. Flames suddenly surged from the body of the giant bat. Soon, the giant bat's health bar bottomed out, its movements gradually slowed, and it stopped struggling altogether, completely consumed by the flames and reduced to a pile of ash.

With the battle over, Xiao Yang sat panting and paralyzed on the ground. Witnessing the death of the giant bat, the blood-thirsting bats circling him scattered in panic with shrill cries, and tranquility finally returned to Xiao Yang's ears.

This skirmish had consumed a tremendous amount of Xiao Yang's stamina. Sitting there limply on the ground with a flushed face and holding his breath for a long time, Xiao Yang squeezed out an extremely aggrieved sentence.

"I climbed for so long!"

Clearly, he remained deeply bitter about this fact.

The Turbid Blood trait seemed to have slightly affected Xiao Yang's state and emotions as well, making him more restless during the combat. At the same time, following the high-intensity physical exertion, a faint scent of sulfur drifted from his body.

Still, it was no big deal. Judging from the fact that his immediate reaction was to complain about how long he had climbed, this guy had not been overly influenced by the trait originating from the Abyssal Flame Demon.

Xiao Yang scooped up the items dropped by the giant bat. Only then did he have the leisure to observe his surroundings. He seemed to have been brought to a faulted platform on the cliff face. Raising his head, Xiao Yang spotted a fractured tunnel opening that only revealed a gap.

This place seemed vaguely familiar. If he was not mistaken—Xiao Yang took a few steps toward the tunnel opening overhead—sure enough, this was the exact end of the tunnel on the left side of the skeletal warrior plaza. In a pile of debris, he found an iron chest mostly buried, with only a single corner exposed.

Dragging the iron chest out from the debris and opening it, a skill book and an employee ID card appeared before Xiao Yang.

[Torture]
Quality: Fine
Effect: Inflicts a torture mark on an enemy suffering from fear, wavering, or flinching, increasing damage dealt to them by 5%.
Description: You really do not want to see me pick up a club!

[Prison Warden Employment Certificate]
Quality: Superior
Effect: Qualifies the user for the special profession of Prison Warden.
Description: Although I am greedy, manic, and beat up inmates, I am a good prison warden!

Unexpectedly, this iron chest yielded these two fine items. Such generous rewards and heavy prison themes made Xiao Yang catch the scent of a hidden zone.

Looking around his surroundings, Xiao Yang successfully spotted a dark fissure on the nearby cliff face, just barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.

If he had indeed stumbled upon the hidden zone of this second layer in this manner, it could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Only then did Xiao Yang finally have the chance to examine the drops from the giant bat.

Vampire Fang, Crimson Brew, Pocket Watch of Value.

Upon this glance, Xiao Yang immediately realized something was amiss. Wait a minute, why did this blood-thirsting bat drop vampire fangs?

The fight had been too hurried and chaotic, and he had been far too irritated; Xiao Yang hadn't even bothered to cast an appraisal spell before beating the giant bat to death. Now, checking the drops, he finally noticed the blind spot.

[Vampire Fang]
Quality: Superior
Effect: As everyone knows, a vampire only has four fangs.

Almost all the drops from this giant bat were of blue quality as well.

Just as Xiao Yang stood there in a daze, Little Bone silently pulled out a blue vampire fang and handed it to him. Well, well, Xiao Yang realized that he had apparently beaten a literal vampire to death while completely oblivious to what it was.