章節 5: Never Corner a Mouse

Morgana first made sure to distance herself as much as possible from the former lair. Preserving mana was important, of course, but right now she had other priorities.

By taking only the narrower routes, she was pretty confident that the terrible monster would not be able to follow her.

After running for one whole kilometer underground, she finally stopped. Hiding at a small rocky crevice hidden behind a thick pilar of dirt.

Morgana was very concerned about one point in particular.

Those large claws that grazed her skin. Were they actually poisonous?

The wizard was starting to feel a sense of numbness spreading through her left arm. A fact that deeply preoccupied her.

Back in her native world, Morgana had spent many years increasing the poison resistance of her body by ingesting small doses every single day.

But she was very unsure if this would work in case the poison turned out to be deadly. After all, this was a strange animal she had never encountered before, a complete alien.

Thinking about this, Morgana resolved herself - "I need to quickly become stronger and come back to kill that damned bat. Developing an antidote is essential in case the artificial resistance isn't enough to save my life."

While thinking about all of this, Morgana withdrew a black tissue from her robes. This was a material acquired through the smaller bats.

By wrapping It around her arm, the bleeding was stopped.

She had long realized the uses their leather-like skin could have, in the absence of common cloth.

Besides their innards were resilient yet flexible. Morgana kept some, planning to craft some rope in the future.

.....

In an isolated chamber, somewhere in the dungeon stood a frustrating creature.

The bat king was a monarch in the truest sense of the word. In the whole of this dungeon there was no one who dared to challenge its supremacy.

On the previous day, however, during it's the hunt, this ruler had encountered a very good spot, the perfect nest to be. It was large yet isolated. Everything a lair required.

Nevertheless, it was already occupied by a estrange creature. A bizarre biped without wings.

This creature had even dared to challenge the true king, by clashing with it before running away. It was truly preposterous. As the apex predator, the Bat King just wasn't used to it.

Even after a day had passed, it was still very mad, venting anger as it devoured the lesser members of its own kin.

...

Suddenly the monster lifted it's head as if sensing something and gave three hasty steps back.

It was just in time because as soon as the bat king withdrew, a stone shard pierced the place in witch It had previously stood.

Morgana was at the entrance with a sadistic smile on her face.

A rat when cornered will fight until the very end. This wizard was a coward at heart, putting self-preservation as a first priority. She would have had no problem just ignoring the Bat King, even after he wounded and chased her away.

But the creature made a terrible mistake by poisoning her. It gave Morgana a reason to fight since there was a good chance she might die without the antidote made from the Bat King's venom.

Morgana thought - "You cannot blame me now. This path was of your choosing, stupid animal. Never corner a strong foe. This is a lesson for which the price will be your very life."

As the creature sprang forth, Morgana immediately withdrew along the pathway and the Bat King gave chase just as she predicted.

It had made another grave mistake in the art of war, facing the enemy on its own terms.

It's opponent clearly had chosen the battlefield and was about to take full advantage of this.

Somewhere along the corridor trap and prey met each other, engaging immediately, like a living couple.

A circle on the ground, made of arcane symbols, glowed purple and commanded by Morgana a mighty spell took effect of the target.

However, the target was not the bat, but the terrain itself. Such was the nature of the magic chosen for this battle, Transmute Rock.

Soon the ground, the walls and even the roof were converted into mud trapping the bat king inside.

But it wasn't dead yet. Besides its light body compared to its size and two pairs of wings which facilitated movement, there was still a chance for the creature to escape.

But Morgana gave it no chance, launching several enchanted stone shards on her opponent.

Her mana reserves had been greatly enhanced in these past few days, proportionally to the new knowledge she acquired through endless practice. After all, when she wasn't hunting or sleeping, she had nothing to do except for studying the laws of magic in this new world.

As the five shards pierced it, the Bat King finally stopped struggling. Its last thoughts were marked by regret. Regret that it ever met the strange bipedal creature. A few minutes later, It had died from blood loss.