Trash in the Apocalypse

The entranced had walls on both sides with a sign "National Museum" by the side of the tunnel, which had a small map of the trail that leads to the petroglyph. The tunnel was three meters tall and two meters wide. As for its distance, it could easily reach forty meters easily from the entrance to the exit.

Jun used a flashlight to illuminate the area, which shone onto several bats hanging at the middle of the tunnel. Whether they were initially sleeping or waiting in ambush, no one knows. 

The bats screeched and numerous overlapping flapping of wings echoed inside the tunnel. Some flew to the entrance while the others to the exit.

"Let's go. Don't forget to Reinforce your bodies. We can't get bitten by these things. We don't know what they've sunken their fangs into." Jun said while cautiously moving forward.

"Brother Jun, I heard there are new interesting people in the fish port town. Are we going to visit them today?" Edward asked innocently.

However, Jun knew what this subordinate of his really thinks and answered, "We don't need to go, but you can go if you're interested. After we finish investigating this dungeon, everyone can have some free time for themselves. I would have some things to settle for the next few days, and you guys can do what you want."

Edward has been away from his girl for a few days since he had to stick with Jun during the establishment of the Taytay outpost. Although the two were able to chat, they were young and would of course miss each other, especially when one fights on the frontline while the other stays back at the town.

"Then, what are we waiting for? Let's speedrun through this!" Edward excitedly charged ahead enveloped by yellow energy covering his whole body.

Sheila's eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face. She turned to Adrian hinting about a date that hasn't happen for a long time.

Sensing her gaze, Adrian responded honestly. "I'm planning to visit the Sword Instructors back at Cardona. I hope they could accept me and teach me a few things."

Sheila frowned, but Adrian didn't see it due to the bad lighting inside the tunnel. She let go of Adrian's arm and produced a spear and acted tough until she stepped on something soft. 

Bat poop.

Fresh bat poop that formed another layer from the previous layer. Survivors who clear this dungeon twice a day also had to enter through this tunnel. It was natural for bat poop to get squashed when stepped on and create a layer like soil.

"Ewww!" Sheila barely suppressed her urge to cling at Adrian and forced herself to move forward.

The group easily reached the exit thanks to Edward's enthusiasm. He formed a huge fly swatter with his energy and swiped left and right, killing all the wild bats that dared move towards them.

Jun stashed the flashlight and used Aura(Death) to sense his surrounding. Any wild bats that sneakily passed through Edward's defense were killed by him. Adrian and Sheila didn't have to do anything but to follow behind them.

They easily reached the exit and arrived at the path which leads to the actual site. It took them five minutes of walking through a wide dirt path, and could only stare at the endless underbrush by the side of the path.

Upon arriving at the site, they immediately saw a building at the entrance of the site. It was a simple building that only had one floor and served as an admin building to regulate the guests. It also serves as a resting area that sells food if one was in need of food.

The place was already looted and the only thing of interest was the basic introduction displayed outside. The site, which is considered a National Cultural Treasure is managed by the Natural Museum.

It had a viewing deck that covers the whole petroglyph from start until the end. 

The group headed towards the viewing deck and got ambushed by wild bats hiding underneath.

Screech! Screech!

"They're weak and annoying!" yelled Sheila while performing a full spear swing, sending dozens of wild bats to their deaths. Her kill total was even higher than the three men combined since she had a weapon with extended reach.

After dealing with the ambush, the group was finally able to appreciate the scenery above the viewing deck. A sign giving a short explanation about the petroglyphs was near the shallow rock formation.

Due to the complexity and plurality of the drawings, it is suggested that the drawings on the rock were not only created by a single individual. It is widely believed that the figures drawn on the walls are for healing purposes as the site is an altar. 

Researchers have argued that the figures were medicinal and religious in function as they were made by ancestors to transfer the sickness of a child onto the limestone wall, thus, curing the child of their ailments.

While they were appreciating the drawings at the rock formation, a new set of wild bats respawned and hung over the cavern entrance.

"Let's go. Let's at least deal with the problem before slacking off." Jun reminded everyone of the reason they were here.

The wild dungeon has also combined with the natural world, making the cavern produce strange tunnels that weren't even supposed to be there. They should have asked for the cave map earlier.

It didn't take much time to find their way around since the cave system still connects with each other. However, wasted time was still time lost during the period.

Wild bats were taken care of easily by the three men since Sheila's spear proved to be at a disadvantage when fighting at a closed space. The only time she could vent her frustration out was at the spacious cavern where numerous tunnels meet up.

After spending almost half an hour clearing the whole cave system, the group felt that something was wrong. They already mapped the whole place, but they didn't encounter any type of boss monster.

Restless, the group investigated harder and found out that there's a hole on the ceiling of the central cavern. After using Detection, Jun could feel movement from above.

"Now that we found where the problem might have originated from, how are we going to investigate it?" Sheila asked frustratedly. She felt useless the whole time they explored the cave system. She wanted to contribute by killing everything hiding inside that hole.

"We can't use any of Evo's thingy's since they're rather explosive, so I guess we just have to use ladders," Jun replied.

"Why do you have ladders? How did you even store them in your storage?" Edward was extremely puzzled. Large items can't be stored in their dimensional storage. It's a hard truth that everyone already accepted.

"I don't have one, but I can make one."

Jun prepared a set of blueprints that he might need in the future and ladders were one of them. He had instances where he could have easily escaped a horde of carriers if he was able to climb to the other side of the wall.

With ladders, he could do a variety of things when scavenging or hunting. He could use the ladder as an escape tool when cornered and get back to safety.

He took the blueprint and set it up on the floor. The ghost-image of the ladder attached to the hole in the ceiling and Jun started giving materials to it.

After five units of wood, the ladder was formed.

Jun stepped away and stared at Edward.

"What?" Edward looked around.

Everyone was staring at him.

"You guys... you guys can't be thinking of what I'm thinking right?"

Jun nodded, Adrian and Sheila, followed.

"No. No, no. No, no, no! No! I hate you guys."

Edward unwillingly gathered energy and activated a skill. Three glows of energy orbs circled around him. It was his newly invented skill, Guardian Spirits.

He invented it, so he named it himself. He wanted a skill that could protect him proactively and this was the result of his hard work.

To be honest, he wanted to name it Calling of the Guardian Wisp Spirits, but it was too long too shout, and he could get injured before he could even activate it.

Each orb can nullify an attack and uses one hundred energy each. Currently, he had around five hundred energy give and take some. He can't focus all his energy into defense and only used three orbs at the moment.

"If I die, make sure to destroy my computer and tell Jamie that I love her."

Afterward, he climbed the ladder and poked his head into the hole. He couldn't see a thing, so he used energy to illuminate the area. Pure energy costs a lot of energy and if he had a choice, he preferred not to use it.

Screams and howls echoed in the hollow room. The room was vast and wide allowing at least twenty people to stand inside with their arms stretched comfortably.

Dozens of wild bats dropped from the ceiling and transformed into humans. They covered their eyes with their hands and started shrieking at Edward.