Chapter 50: The Bat (3)

“Not a valid target for this skill”…?

Ion glared at the bat. The bat, playfully nudging the stethoscope with its wing, sensed his gaze and blinked back at him.

Choi Jungo’s skill, Monster Diagnosis.

It reads the system profile of any monster.

Currently, it works up to A-rank. S-rank requires enhanced skill power.

“No need to hesitate. This bat’s definitely S-rank. I’ll talk to Aide Dam to get us into an S-rank dungeon soon,” Jin Seongha said.

“No,” Ion said firmly.

“If it was S-rank, the message would’ve been ‘Skill cannot be applied.’ The wording’s different.”

“How do you know that? Even I don’t!” Choi Jungo said, suspicious.

Unlike Choi, Jin Seongha believed Ion instantly, lowering his phone.

“Then there’s one answer,” Jin Seongha said.

His intense gaze joined Ion’s, fixed on the bat.

“This bat isn’t a monster.”

“What… what?” Choi Jungo yelped.

“What’s with you guys? No bat on Earth looks like this! Look at its wings—those artificial, fantastical patterns aren’t earthly!” Choi spread the bat’s wings, revealing geometric patterns resembling magic circles.

“Team Leader Choi, you’re mistaken. Earth’s native plants create far more fantastical and beautiful patterns without human or system influence,” Ion said.

“Hyung, same for Earth’s animals. They make even more stunning patterns without interference,” Jin Seongha added.

“Stop ganging up on me, it’s scary!” Choi protested.

Kyuu-kyuu.

Uncomfortable, the bat wriggled free from Choi’s grasp, landing on Ion’s lap and burrowing into his robe.

“The point isn’t how great plants or animals are. It’s this bat’s identity,” Ion said.

“Hyung, know any bat experts?” Jin Seongha asked.

“Yeah, you.”

“No, like professors or scholars who study bats.”

“They wouldn’t know more than me…”

Choi, lacking confidence, called a bat ecology director, a bat researcher, and a bat professor, sending photos and videos of the bat’s cries. None could identify it.

“Then there’s one answer,” Ion concluded.

“This bat isn’t a ‘monster.’ That’s why it’s not a valid target for Monster Diagnosis. That skill, as its name suggests, only reads ‘monsters’—demonic beasts. Diagnosing something beyond a monster is too much for someone who’s never entered a dungeon.”

“Wait, what’s a monster? I thought monsters were like demons, devils, Satan stuff… Are you saying dungeons are the hell God spoke of?” Choi asked.

“Not at all. Dungeons are linked to the Demon Realm…”

“Demon Realm? The Demon Realm?” Choi reacted to every word.

Jin Seongha, stroking his chin, said, “When the Giants appeared, you said they weren’t ‘monsters.’ Is this bat… some kind of Giant?”

“That Giant was like 30 meters tall! No way a juvenile and adult differ this much!” Choi countered.

“Trees grow from seeds smaller than this bat,” Ion said.

“That’s plants, this is an animal. Different case, dude!” Choi shouted.

Pippi, annoyed by Choi’s outbursts, flattened its ears and burrowed into Jin Seongha’s arms. The bat, unfazed, sat on Ion’s lap, its eyes tracking whoever spoke, as if listening intently.

“Corps Leader Ion, ignore Choi and keep talking,” Jin Seongha said.

“Ugh!” Choi clutched his head, jumping on the small sofa.

How much should I reveal? Ion wondered.

The Demon Realm is vast—comparable to the sun, not Earth.

It has multiple domains, appearing in dungeons by stages:

• Stage 1, Levels 1–3: Monster Domain only.
• Stage 2, Levels 4–6: Giant Domain added.
• Stage 3, Levels 7–9: Demonkin Domain added.
• Level 10: Demon Tribe Domain (included in Stage 3 in the novel).

This bat is likely a chimera created by Giants.

Chimeras, crafted with the Giants’ advanced genetic knowledge, surpass monsters in power.

Giants hunt monsters for food and experiments, entering the Monster Domain periodically before dungeonization isolated the domains.

The D-rank dungeon where the bat appeared formed on the Cataclysm’s day. So…

Before the Cataclysm, a Giant left this bat chimera in the Monster Domain, and that area became a dungeon.

If true, this bat chimera… was abandoned.

Either for a mistake or because the Giant lost interest.

Ion chewed his lower lip. Jin Seongha noticed.

“Corps Leader Ion, you seem conflicted about sharing what you know. Think we’d be no help in what’s coming?”

No help? Jin Seongha was the one to land the final blow on the Demon King.

“You’ll be a huge help. But it’s hard to say now. My ‘secrecy contract’ lifts around the same time as yours, so let’s talk then,” Ion said.

First, he needed to know who told Jin Seongha about the future.

Jin Seongha pulled out his phone—not to contact the contract’s issuer, but to check his schedule.

“When’s yours lift? Exact date and time?”

“…”

“Mine’s September 1, 12:09 p.m.,” Jin Seongha said, staring into space.

Why so precise…?

Ion pretended to check a system window. “Mine’s around then too.”

“Good. We’ll talk openly then.”

“Okay.”

“Tell us what to prepare until then. We don’t want to sit idle. We’re eager, so use us.”

“I’m not eager at all…” Choi muttered, voice dying, hair a mess.

Looking at Choi, Ion thought of something useful to prepare.

Leaving the team leader’s office, the Monster Research Team members in the office were startled.

“Gasp, Jin Seongha!”

“Hey, Jin Seongha!”

“Hello, Hunter Jin Seongha!”

“Hi!”

They greeted him excitedly.

Despite its name, the Monster Research Team didn’t dissect monsters for gruesome experiments. They bred and raised monsters with valuable byproducts like leather, horns, or fluids for human benefit.

Currently, they raised small D-rank or lower monsters in low-stress environments.

Choi Jungo, a tamer, got offers from places conducting monster and animal experiments. Only Horizon promised no live experiments, so he joined.

Like Jin Seongha, he loved animals, and his team formed from like-minded people.

A deputy, greeting Jin Seongha and Ion, ran to Choi. “Team Leader! The Insalle showed weird behavior today. It seemed affectionate—check the video!”

“…”

“Team Leader?”

Choi’s silence puzzled the deputy. Jin Seongha smirked.

“From now on, Team Leader Choi will be out a lot. Batch your reports.”

“What? Why? Is he getting fired?!”

“…Better than being fired…” Choi mumbled weakly.

Ion had tasked the “eager” Jin Seongha with boosting Choi’s Monster Diagnosis power.

Now, Choi would live on mana potions, grinding experience.

[Dam Daon] Handled Spec-1 until the day after Chuseok. [Dam Daon] Onil won’t harm you, but stay cautious.

Spec-1’s next raid overlapped with Daisytown’s, so Ion asked Daon, who confirmed it was handled.

Since everyone saw Ion as “someone with special abilities and info,” they’d accept he got a special mission from above.

That was resolved, but Ion felt bittersweet reading the message.

Calling her Onil outright.

Daon had referred to Il-on and Sa-on as Onil and Ason before.

To Ion, they were Dam Il-on and Dam Sa-on, but to Horizon’s aide Dam Daon, they were D-NATE’s sibling guildmasters.

Pushing aside the bitterness, Ion continued writing on his tablet.

[Author: dAM222] [Title: Seeking Dungeons with 3+ Years Overflow ETA] [Content: Any rank, any location. F to S-rank, domestic or international, contact me if the overflow ETA is 9+ years. Will compensate. Contact: qnnsun@hunter.com]

The email linked to Ryu’s Sun Curator.

Ion planned to explore more dungeons with long overflow ETAs, like where the bat chimera (presumed) appeared. He debated delegating to Ryu or searching via the Hunter app, then chose both.

Sun Curator happily let him use the email.

Ion posted on the top Hunter site and got out of the car.

Ryu had tipped him off about a dungeon with 2 years, 11 months left.

A C-rank dungeon, originally slated for a small guild, was bought by Ryu. Ion traded info on an overseas dungeon with valuable byproducts.

[Monity Dungeon Measurement System !Prototype! 29] Dungeon Rank: C Gate Creation: 18 days, 4 hours ago Overflow ETA: 2 years, 320 days, 9 hours Clear Method: Gate Stone Destruction Attribute: Normal Terrain: Plains Modifications: 44 (Horizon) Durability: 50/100 Uses Remaining: 3/5

After checking the ETA with Moshi, Ion entered the gate, carrying Sansevieria and the bat chimera (presumed).

The dungeon was ordinary. Typical C-rank monsters, a standard gate stone.

No changes even when Ion moved to destroy the stone.

No prickling, fluffy intimidation like when the Giant appeared, no kyuu-kyuu cries like the bat’s.

Ion tapped the stone with his flame sword.

I’m gonna break it. Really gonna do it. Nothing’s happening?

Kyuu!

Ion jumped, sighing as he looked at the bat on the pot, staring back at him.

“Don’t kyuu-kyuu, it’s confusing.”

The bat started to say “Kk” but shut its mouth.

“Ugh, my head hurts. Should I just abandon it in the dungeon…?”

Ion muttered to himself, expecting no response.

But…

“What’s abandoning?”

A reply came.