Chapter 165 - Larion - Part 3

"Oh, wow," Maggie bowled over the thousand pairs of eyes staring at us, all dangling upside-down up above. Is this what a bat looks like? "It seems that we had just trespassed on someone else's home. How about giving us a warm welcome and—"

The mention of a warm welcome immediately triggered the bats, who hurled themselves down from the cave's roof as they swooped at us from all directions. I had no other choice but to duck down, protecting my head with my arms. 

"Maggie, do—ack!" I could feel their wings slamming into me as they flew by, not leaving any space for me to raise my head and stand. "DO SOMETHING!!"

I heard Maggie cursing as she heard me, probably as desperate as I am to leave this place. I wish all the books I used to read taught me how to scare these bats away instead of telling me about their sleeping schedule, which we had accidentally disrupted.

"I'M TRYING!!" She replied angrily, trying to rummage through her bag—again—which was actually the reason why we were in this situation in the first place. Maggie threw her bag to the ground, spilling everything inside. I could hear the clinking sound of the fallen bottles, which appeared to be another collection of her potions.

Magic. What can I do with my magic? What is my wish? I want to keep these bats away from us. But how? Shouldn't I figure out a way to do it before telling my magic to do its thing?

More importantly, where did all these bats come from? How come there are so many of them? Even after leaving their roosts for a few minutes, there didn't appear to be an end to all of them. Did we just voluntarily step into a cave full of bats? 

Before I could figure out a way myself, Maggie threw one of her potions to the ground, breaking the bottle to pieces and spilling the content. Immediately after she broke the bottle, a strong scent—something along with the scent of rotten meat—rose in the air, prompting me to puke out the soup I had eaten for breakfast.

"Did you fart?!" I asked amid the chaos, now moving one of my hands to pinch my nose to prevent myself from inhaling the outrageous scent.

"Does it look like my fart would smell this shitty?" She grumbled, also pinching her nose. "Bats have a sensitive nose. This should keep them—" a bat slammed into her face, knocking her to the ground."—fucking bats."

She stopped her explanation and started attacking the bats, pouring her anger out on them. The bats, which previously were only passing by, started attacking Maggie, who had become a threat to them. 

A colony of bats gathered around Maggie, biting and pulling her hair. There were so many of them that I couldn't even see her under all these bats, with no way to pull her out. 

"DO SOMETHING!!" Now, it's her turn to scream for help. 

"Do what?!" I returned her question, not knowing what I was supposed to do.

With all the bats that gathered over Maggie, there were fewer bats that came my way, so I walked a little to the side to get away from them. There should at least be one of us who lived.

"I DON'T KNOW!!" 

"You should apologize to the bats!!" I said, and I could hear her cursing even under all those bats. Even though she didn't like the idea, she soon complied, wanting to do whatever it took to get all those bats away from her.

"I—" she halted, pondering about whether or not to continue, "I'm sorry, okay?! Now get the hell away from m—ack!" I'm not sure what happened, but she seems to be saying a lot more curse words now than before. "I SAID I'M SORRY!!"

Perhaps not feeling her sincerity, the bats didn't stop harassing—punishing—her, teaching her how terrifying a bat's wrath was. Now she knows.

For a fleeting moment, I considered leaving her behind. But then I remember that she would know more about Larion than I do, so having her around would be beneficial. Besides, if I didn't follow her around, I wouldn't be able to find the Wishing Tree. So I decided to stay behind, trying to figure out how to get her out of there.

Come on, Violet, you can do this. Feel the magic coursing through your veins. Feel how they move around you. Feel their warmth. Then make a wish.

I held out my hand, reaching towards Maggie and the bats, then closed my eyes. I kept repeating the course, feeling my magic become clearer and clearer until it reached the tips of my fingers.When I opened my eyes, I found one—out of the thousand bats—on the ground. 

"YOU CALL THAT HELPING?!" Maggie mocked, perhaps seeing the bat on the ground before her. 

"I'm trying!!" I said, then tried my best to focus all over again. Magic is hard. 

"Look for a frog!!" She suddenly said, and I couldn't help but wonder why she would want me to look for a frog. Do frogs live in caves? And are bats scared of frogs? 

When I voiced my confusion, she screamed again, "The doll!! On the ground!!" 

Finally understanding what she meant, I searched the ground for the things she had dropped before, looking for the frog doll that she had mentioned. 

Thanks to the light potion, it was easy to find the doll amongst other colourful potions, though a little challenging because of the bats.

The doll looked just like a normal frog, but with a crown on its head.

"What now?" I asked.

"Kiss it!!"

Given the critical situation, I did as told, despite the questionable request—order. The moment I kissed the frog, it glowed with bright light and jumped out of my hand, growing bigger as time went by. 

After a few moments, the frog transformed into a man with deep black hair and eyes red as ruby.

"Luke?" I was so taken aback to see him here, knowing that he was supposed to be lying on his bed back at the manor. "What are you—"

"STUPID!! THINK OF SOMETHING USEFUL!!" I heard Maggie scream, desperate as she had been attacked for too long. "KISS IT AGAIN AND THINK OF SOMETHING TO GET US AWAY!!"

What is she on about? Is she saying that the frog will turn into something that is on our mind? 

Assuming that my assumption was true, I tried to think about what could help us with this situation. But what could it be? Maggie told me bats have a sensitive nose, so won't it mean it should be something related to scent? 

Think of something smelly. Think of something smelly. Think of something smelly. 

When I finally thought of something, I pulled Luke—who doesn't seem to be as handsome as the real one—and kissed him. The moment our lips touched each other's, Luke turned into someone that had been on my mind.

Luke turned into the guard back at my father's house, who only washed himself once a month and smelled extremely vile. I gagged, remembering his scent.

I pushed him towards the swarming bats, but apparently, he wasn't smelly enough to chase them away. 

"QUICKLY!!" 

I pulled the smelly guard back to the side, racking my brain to find something smellier than this man right here. Is that even possible? 

Wait—a skunk!! 

I remembered reading about it in a book, and it was said to have the ability to spray a liquid with a strong and unpleasant scent. I even saw a few characters in the book fainting due to it, so perhaps this could be good enough to chase these bats away. 

More importantly, do I really have to kiss this man? 

When I heard another of Maggie's desperate screams, I decided to just screw it all up and do it.

I took a deep breath and repeated the sacred mantra, "It's only a doll. It's only a doll."

I begrudgingly pulled the man by his collar, pouted out my lips, and—I don't have enough courage to say it, but I did it. 

The man then turned small, turning into a black fluffy four-legged animal with white stripes on its back. 

I pushed the tiny skunk towards the swarming bats and it immediately released the outrageous liquid from its butt, making me stagger upon the first inhale. It's no wonder that people faint when faced with their amazing ability.

The bats, who have a better sense of smell than humans, immediately flew away and left Maggie behind when they smelt the skunk's spray. I think I even heard a few of their cries. 

With the bats that ran away to escape the skunk's ferocious attack, I could finally see Maggie for the first time in a few minutes. She looked... amazing. 

I stayed quiet as I waited for Maggie to catch her breath, too scared to even say anything to her. When I found her eyes looking at me, I smiled awkwardly, but then heard her say, 

"F#&@ you," purposely sensored for our peace of mind.