Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang Novel - Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Zzzzzzzzeeeeeee—
An ear-splitting screech and an overpowering odor.
That was what first struck me as I peered down into the cave.
A cavern housing hundreds of thousands of bats meant not only a constant, piercing noise, but also vast accumulations of waste heaped below.
[Ugh… this smell… So-ryong, are you alright?]
[So-ryong, how are you not bothered by this?]
Hua-eun and Sister Seol came closer with revolted expressions, cloth pressed over their mouths and noses, watching me as if my behavior made no sense.
They had clearly noticed my eyes were practically gleaming.
Their instinct was to block their ears and pinch their noses shut, yet I stood there grinning broadly. It was beyond their understanding.
[Oh, I’m fine.]
I answered them and laughed to myself.
‘Mwahaha. More than fine—I’m absolutely delighted.’
It wasn’t just Sister Seol and Hua-eun—nearly everyone in our group was staring down into the cavern with pure dread.
Of course, my senses were under assault too—the screeching was skull-piercing, and the stench was potent enough to overwhelm someone with weaker constitution.
But unlike them, I was smiling.
Because I had just realized something extremely significant.
‘A cave full of bats means… a cave full of guano!’
The reason for my grin was simple—bat guano.
Bat droppings, known as guano, are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, making them a powerful natural fertilizer and a critical component in explosives.
More importantly, guano-rich caves often host intricate ecosystems.
And that meant… a strong possibility of finding new species.
‘Where there are new species, there is Fabre. And where there is Fabre, there are new species.’
How could I not be thrilled?
Still, as Sister Seol and Hua-eun had noted, the noise was an issue.
‘This racket is intolerable… Is there a way to quiet them?’
As I considered whether to cover my ears or find another solution, I glanced downward—
Chrrrk!
Beside me, Cho let out a chitter of comprehension, as if she had just understood something.
Then, without any warning, she vibrated her antennae and projected a powerful sound deep into the cavern below.
Chrrrrrrrrrrr…
A warning cry that crashed against the cave walls like violent thunder.
The reverberations rolled through the cavern.
And then—
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
It was as if hail was falling.
A moment later, the deafening noise within the cave vanished.
As if someone had hit mute.
“Incredible…”
I looked down and saw—
Among the hundreds of thousands of bats, the weaker ones had collapsed, their small bodies tumbling through the air before dropping to the cave floor like rain.
The survivors, now terrified, had hidden themselves deep within the rock crevices, utterly silent.
A stunned silence followed, broken by the shocked voices of my sister, Hua-eun, my adoptive father, and Grandfather Mandok Shingun.
Their exclamations echoed through the space.
“What in the—!?”
“T-this… is killing intent!?”
“To think it can emit killing intent… It’s not like the Heavenly Venomous Serpent, but it is one of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures, after all!”
“Haha, that level of killing intent is enough to make a person’s knees buckle in fear!”
From their reactions, I understood that Cho had just unleashed killing intent, a technique typically used by martial artists.
‘Wait, I haven’t even mastered killing intent yet… Is my daughter a martial arts genius? No, hold on—Cho isn’t human. This must be an innate ability.’
As a responsible parent, it was my duty to recognize my child’s talents and support them.
At first, I thought my daughter might be a prodigy, but since Cho wasn’t human, this had to be a special skill.
I quickly organized it in my mind.
Cho’s Skills:
Skill #1: Aerial Control.
Skill #2: Weak Killing Intent.
Skill #3: Likely Poison.
I had always wanted to shout something like:
“Cho! Use your second skill, Weak Killing Intent!”
‘That anime was popular back in my day.’
“Cho, excellent work! My daughter is so capable!”
I enthusiastically ruffled Cho’s head, praising her lavishly.
And then—
Chrrrk!
A sharp chitter came from my left wrist.
Which meant…
Bin-ah.
She was obviously sulking.
It seemed that praising only her sister had made Bin jealous.
I thought I had resolved her tantrums previously, but it appeared Bin was a true tsundere.
I flinched slightly before withdrawing my hand from Cho and turning to my adoptive father.
“Shall I go down first to check the area?”
“Will you be safe?”
“I’ll have Cho and Yo-hwa with me. There’s no need to worry. And if Yo-hwa spins her web as we descend, we can use it as a rope to help the others come down faster.”
My adoptive father still seemed uneasy, but with two of the Ten Great Venomous Creatures beside me, what could go wrong?
After looking at Cho and Yo-hwa, he finally nodded.
“Ah, that’s a good plan. And you’re right—those two are strong enough that I don’t need to be overly concerned. Just be cautious. Ensure neither you nor your precious companions are harmed.”
“Of course.”
As expected of the Beast Palace Lord, he truly valued the animals.
Even with his permission, he wasn’t fully reassured—so he instructed Sister Seol and Hua-eun to join me.
“Take your sister and Hua-eun with you, just to be safe.”
“Understood.”
While the warriors braided vines into ropes at the cave entrance, I led Sister Seol and Hua-eun to the edge of the large hole in the collapsed ceiling.
Then, I addressed my companions.
“Cho, we need to go down. Can you carry two people?”
Chrrrk!
“Yo-hwa, can you take Sister Seol down with you?”
Ksshhh!
Sister Seol hesitated but eventually climbed onto Yo-hwa.
She appeared slightly nervous, but since Yo-hwa had taken Hua-eun’s form, she adjusted quickly.
And so, we began our descent, slowly lowering ourselves down the 30-meter deep hole.
As Sister Seol and Hua-eun held their lanterns aloft, the light illuminated the cavern walls and ceiling.
The ceiling was still lined with thousands of bats, trembling fearfully between the stalactites.
The closer we got to the floor, the worse the stench became.
And then—
I saw it.
Beneath us, hundreds of dead bats littered the cave floor.
Among them, countless cockroaches, centipedes, and cave-dwelling millipedes swarmed over the corpses, feeding on the remains.
I desperately wanted to dive in and search for new species, but first—
‘Calm down, So-ryong. There will be time for that later.’
Clenching my fists, I suppressed my excitement and turned to Yo-hwa.
“Yo-hwa, don’t step onto the floor just yet.”
Ksshh!
Bat guano was useful as fertilizer and even for explosives, but that didn’t make it any less repulsive.
Moreover, bats were known carriers of numerous viruses.
The black sludge covering the ground was undoubtedly guano, mixed with decomposing bat bodies and crawling with insects.
I didn’t want the kids touching that directly, so I instructed Yo-hwa to hang from her web and wait before we proceeded.
Meanwhile, I had Cho scout the surroundings.
“Cho, head that way.”
As we descended through the collapsed ceiling, the lantern light revealed this was indeed a natural cave.
We had landed in an enormous cavern.
One side was piled with rubble from the collapsed entrance, while on the opposite end, beyond the stalactites and stalagmites, a long passage came into view.
It was a circular tunnel, roughly three meters wide.
Unlike the cavern, the tunnel was clean—free of bat droppings, suggesting the bats didn’t go that far.
After setting Hua-eun down, I went back to retrieve Sister Seol and Yo-hwa.
When I told Yo-hwa to swing across like a pendulum, Sister Seol nearly fainted.
“Huaaah… That was terrifying. But, huh? There’s no smell here?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, strangely, it’s completely odorless.”
The foul odor of decomposing guano contained methane, which tended to rise, so once inside the tunnel, the smell disappeared entirely.
Hearing this, Hua-eun finally removed the cloth from her nose and mouth, shuddering.
“I thought I was going to die. That was the worst smell I’ve ever experienced.”
I hadn’t considered it before, but given the Tang Clan’s expertise in poisons, they likely trained their sense of smell extensively.
No wonder the scent affected her so strongly.
I turned to the two of them.
“The other side is just the blocked entrance. If we follow this tunnel, we should be able to go deeper inside.”
“Then let’s proceed further in.”
“Agreed. If the only entrance is that hole in the ceiling, then no one has been here in a long time.”
The drop from the ceiling was dozens of meters.
And since there were no human traces around the entrance, it was safe to assume no one had entered for years.
Feeling reassured, I had just taken a step forward when—
Chiiik. Chik.
A faint screech made me look down.
A bat was crawling at the tunnel entrance.
It must have fallen from the ceiling.
It was still alive, but barely.
I didn’t pay it much mind and moved to step past it when—
Chrrrk!
Bin suddenly scurried up my left arm to my shoulder, then hurried down toward the bat.
“Bin-ah?”
I tilted my head, watching her.
She stopped in front of the trembling bat, then turned to look at me.
Her posture was practically demanding, Pay attention!
Curious, I crouched down.
Bin raised her antennae and emitted a soft sound.
Chrrrr…
Then again—
Chrrr…
And once more—
Chrrrrrr…
I had no idea what she was attempting, but then Hua-eun whispered to me through a private transmission.
[She’s trying to show off. Like Cho did earlier.]
‘Wait… REALLY? Oh, that’s adorable.’
If Hua-eun was correct, I was witnessing something precious.
Bin was throwing a tantrum—trying to prove she could use killing intent just like her sister.
But, well… she was still just a baby Blue-Spotted Centipede.
There was no way she could release genuine killing intent.
If she failed here, she would be heartbroken.
‘Oh no! What do I do?! Why won’t this bat just die already?!’
I felt an irrational anger toward the bat for not dropping dead.
Then—
[Be ready. I already told your sister.]
Hua-eun’s sudden transmission made me blink in confusion.
Before I could ask what she meant, she discreetly flicked her wrist.
A needle—so tiny and silent I barely saw it—shot through the air.
Thwip!
The bat’s head was cleanly pierced.
It went limp instantly.
And then—
Sister Seol gasped.
“Oh my! Bin-ah, you just killed the bat! Our Bin can use killing intent too? Wow, incredible! Such a small thing, yet you can do that? Bin, you’re Mommy’s pride and joy!”
“Auntie knew Bin could do it! If your sister can, of course you can too!”
[What are you waiting for?!]
Hua-eun’s urgent whisper was quickly followed by Bin’s expectant gaze.
The moment our eyes met—
I immediately exaggerated my reaction.
“Oh my goodness! My daughter! You’re amazing! Absolutely incredible, Bin!”
Chrrrk! Chrrrrk!
After being showered with praise, Bin finally puffed up with pride and happily returned to my arm.
Mission accomplished.
“Alright, let’s move on.”
Bin’s ego had been properly fed, so it was time to actually investigate the tunnel.
But just as I took a step—
Chrrrk!
This time, Hyang scurried up my right arm and tapped my cheek.
Then she pointed at the ceiling.
She wanted a turn too.
‘Oh dear… Raising three daughters is exhausting.’
Suppressing a sigh, I turned to Hua-eun.
“Hua-eun, could you knock another bat off the ceiling? Hyang wants to show off too.”
Both she and Sister Seol laughed awkwardly.
“Haha… Sure, why not.”
“Oh dear, Hyang wants to show Auntie too?”
…Would we ever actually begin our investigation?