Chapter 40: Strange Bat

The ceiling started to crack and rocks began falling on the ground.

"What is happening?" Keith looked around and used his senses to see if any other ghoul was left, but there were no life forms in the proximity.

[Whatever that is, we need to get out of here first.]

Even though Keith was not on good terms with this system, he agreed that getting out of the cave was the most important thing now.

He locked his senses into the tunnel that he used to get inside. Swiftly moving through the tunnel he arrived at the entrance of the cave. As he got out of the cave, he sensed a presence above him.

"A bat."

[ No, it's not any ordinary bat. I can feel strong blood-qi fluctuations from it.]

"Is that a ghoul or what? Its size is not big enough though"

Keith picked up a rock about the size of his fist and threw it towards the bat.

Swing!

The bat swiftly avoided the rock and glared at him with its glowing red eyes. It dived down with great speed and opened its mouth, shooting a beam of red light.

The beam of red light struck Keith, but he blocked it with his own blood-qi barrier.

'A baron-level creature.'

Judging by the power emitted from the attack, he estimated the beast to be at least a middle-level baron.

"Why is it attacking me? Am I that delicious?" Keith said with a frown.

He activated his warrior frame and jumped straight at the bat.

Hong! Crack!

The aura around him intensified and a bloody red light covered his body. It was not too bright, but it showed that his blood-qi manipulation had increased a lot.

When he arrived in front of the bat, he grabbed its neck and scanned its body. The blood-qi swept throughout the bat's body and reached its eyes.

The bat started to violently shake its head as if to break free from his grip. Unfortunately for him, Keith's strength was increased many folds after the upgrade in the warrior frame. His own blood-qi was also at the peak of Baron, just a step away from viscount.

Holding its head, Keith inspected its blood-qi and what he found surprised him greatly.

'It's not an ordinary living beast.'

He looked closer into its eyes and applied his blood-qi. After a while, the eyes of the bat started to dim down and completely faded. Not knowing its origins, Keith didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

He picked the bat and started heading back to the city. Today was a great day for him as he upgraded his blood warrior frame and also the system, which he was still conflicted about.

'I hope it doesn't interfere with my choices too much, and hopefully, its memories stay buried for the rest of eternity.'

Keith cursed the system for his current predicament, but also somewhere in his mind, he was grateful for his luck, that he managed to subdue the system and make it a part of himself.

****

After getting back to his room, he headed straight to his grandpa to figure out the mysteries about the strange bat. He knocked on his door, and a deep voice was heard from within.

"Come in"

Keith entered the room and saw his grandpa looking through several documents and massaging his temple.

"What happened grandpa? Is everything alright?" He could see the exhaustion in his grandpa's eyes.

"Take a look at this."

Lex handed Keith a file made of fine leather. Keith opened the file and skimmed through the contents and was shocked by some of the information.

"Is that true?"

"Apparently yes. We've noticed a drop in the human population in our city. First, I thought it was just a disease, but the numbers kept getting lower and we looked into it carefully. The humans who were missing, all were healthy and mostly in their youth. "

"Where could they have gone? Are the vampires behind this?" Several thoughts came into Keith's mind.

"I suspect that too. I even sent out a baron to thoroughly investigate the matter, but he never returned. I think it could be an attempt to weaken our territory by decreasing the blood supply. What better way than kidnaping our healthiest humans." Lex clenched his fists.

"Do you have any leads? There must be some movement from the kidnappers. They were literally smuggling hundreds of humans out of the city." Kieth also racked his brain, trying to find a clue within the data.

"Not a single thing. It happened right under our noses. I.."

Keith interrupted him and said

"Uncle, do you think he might have something to do with this?"

"Rufus? I thought of that too, but he never left the premises, and I also have spies watching over him."

"Then who could do this?"

"Whoever is behind this, they've planned this for a long time. Also, they seem to have a lot of power behind the shadows. It looks like someone influential is also behind this. Otherwise, it's pretty hard to do all of those things going unnoticed."

Keith also agreed with Lex's judgment. He knew that his grandpa had a lot of connections and influence in the region. Even then, he couldn't find any clue. Thinking about the missing humans, he remembered the cave in the blood forest.