Suddenly, a large swarm of crimson shadows moved swiftly, rushing toward the area where Dugu Chen stood.
They were blood-red bats with savage, terrifying appearances. Their bodies were nearly a foot long, and when they spread their enormous bloody wings, their wingspans exceeded a meter.
Their heads resembled those of rats, filled with sharp fangs, while bloody hooked claws grew from their bat wings.
They opened their mouths and let out piercing cries as they flapped their wings and swooped toward Dugu Chen with their bloody claws.
Blood-red bats? It seemed they were the native creatures of Hell Road!
With a thought from Dugu Chen, the Lightfire around him surged once more.
Driven at full force by his Soul Power, the Lightfire blazed into the heavens, and the dazzling golden curtain of light set both the cliff tops and the ground ablaze.
Divine light shone around Dugu Chen like a blazing sun, dyeing the Hell Road before and behind him into a golden purgatory.
"Screech—"
The instant all the blood-red bats touched the boundless Lightfire, they were burned to ashes.
Those splashed by even a few sparks plummeted into the abyss. Their terrified, wailing shrieks echoed across Hell Road.
"Squeak, squeak."
At that critical moment, a larger blood bat suddenly cried out.
Immediately afterward, all the remaining blood bats began emitting sharp cries that were unbearably piercing.
Dugu Chen's eyes flickered as he raised his gaze toward the skies.
High in the tunnel before the bat swarm, a massive creature hung suspended.
It was a huge blood-red bat, wrapped in its own wings like a cocoon as it hung amid the crimson darkness. Countless swarms of blood-red bats circled and danced around it.
Amid the shrieks of the countless blood bats, a pair of enormous wings slowly spread from its