Instead of a comment in turn, like he was expecting, what Battler received was a sound that made his blood run cold. What.... the hell was that....? Whatever it was, it definitely didn't sound human. He gripped his flashlight a little harder, the wound from the previous night aching as though in anticipation of something similar. He intended to ignore that sound at first, pass it off as the product of residual feelings from before and an overactive imagination, but that kind of thinking wasn't something he could entertain. Not when they'd both heard it, too. In a way, it was a reassurance that he was thinking clearly, yet.... Somehow, he couldn't really consider that a good thing.

The sarcasm he'd been expecting came a little too late, and all he could really do was laugh weakly in response. He kind of deserved that, and given the situation, joking around was about the last thing on his mind.

"Y-yeah. It's not really the time for being a smartass, is it... Sorry about that."

Rather than the woman, he was more looking at the axe she was holding, lifted right in front of him. He couldn't blame her, exactly, but something about it made the hairs on his neck stand on end. When he quietly ducked into the next hall, it was as much because of that than the sound they'd been hearing.

[ducking into random hall like a sissy CALMLY WALKING HERE WITH DIGNITY AND PRIDE.]