Chaos Year 3, Day 110, 12:32 am.

Many runes were carved into the ceiling and the wall. They glowed bright yellow, lighting the entire underground arena. Beneath that light, the Naked Mole King's whole body glistened, which made my skin crawl.

It seemed like the creature's skin was turned upside down and its body was smeared with a gooey and greasy substance.

I hated the idea of getting closer to this thing. But my new playstyle forced me to be at a close range.

So, this is a bad side of this playstyle. Who knew the first boss I would fight would turn out to be this disgusting.

"Alright, Guys," Boss spoke, taking the lead. "Let's do this like usual. And Pika, stay near Ann. She will explain our team play and help you with your role in the squad until you get in sync with everyone properly."

Pika nodded, responding to Boss.

Next, he turned toward me on his right. "I don't really know what you are up to." Then he let out a sigh before continuing. "Do whatever you want. Just don't get yourself killed."

"I know." I nodded, assuring him.

The arena after that suddenly got quiet, too quiet actually. Nobody made a move, not even the monster.

Well, except Pika. She kept fidgeting. Annette-san beside her stood straight holding her eerie wooden stick tightly close to her huge bust.

She is holding that 1-meter-long crooked magic stick wrapped between her… Damnit! I hate my mind.

Quickly shifting my gaze, I caught a glimpse of Hikari's magnificent stance. Bending one knee forward, she kneeled on her other one, aiming for the monster, patiently waiting for the moment to strike. She looked dazzling, with her face gleaming next to the glowing arrow.

And Lynx probably hid somewhere close to the monster, prepared to lunge in, true to his name.

Everyone waited for a perfect opportunity to strike. It was just like the calm before a storm.

And that storm came faster than anyone could expect.

"Chriiiiii~"

The deafening cry of the mole king reverberated around the arena. To stop the pain in my eardrums, I tightly grabbed around my ears. The ground beneath trembled violently, as the monster threw a tantrum, resulting in a dense haze of dust, completely shrouding itself.

"Is it powering up?" I squinted my eyes, trying to see through the dust.

"Umm… Shouldn't we do something?" Pika's ears flickered above her head, indicating her vigilance toward the unknown. "I mean, if it is evolving, then shouldn't we interrupt the process?"

"It's too dangerous," Annette-san replied. Her anxiety could clearly be pictured from her higher-than-usual tone. "Who knows what will happen when you approach a boss in its rage mode."

After a while, the tantrum stopped, and when the haze cleared away, the scene waiting dumbfounded all of us.

The Mole King with a size larger than a freaking T-Rex disappeared into thin air, literally nowhere to be found.

"What the hell?"

“What just happened?”

"Did it get summoned back?"

"Is that even possible?"

Everyone kept racking their brains to figure out whatever was happening. Soon something both ridiculous and outrageous crossed my mind.

"It can't be, right? Haha." I let out a nervous laugh, as I backed away slowly.

"What is it?" Hikari frowned.

"Guys, do you think naked moles also tunnel underground?" I asked with eyes fixated on the ground.

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"You don't mean…" Hikari widened her eyes, jumping onto her feet.

"N-no freaking way!" Pika's voice quivered.

Boss started to dash toward Annette-san and Pika, while Shinji moved toward Hikari to protect them. Those two were the only ones here who could momentarily stop the monster.

Oh, right…

"Pika!" I shouted out. "Teleport everyone to that tunnel."

Extending my right arm, I pointed at the gap, where I broke the wall earlier. That place was high enough from the arena. The mole king shouldn't be able to reach that tunnel easily.

Nodding, Pinkpika started chanting, tightly gripping her wand.

Realizing my idea was the best course of action, Hikari and Shinji also ran toward Pika to get her to teleport themselves too.

Boss almost reached them, just a bit more than 10 meters away. But right then he suddenly tumbled down to the ground.

Thud!

What the hell? Did he just trip over his own foot while running?

A grown man stumbling onto his feet was indeed funny, but not now. Our tank making such mistakes at this crucial moment was rather disastrous for us.

He immediately tried to get up but for some reason, he could not. He kept pulling his left leg, but losing balance, he again crashed down to the solid ground. Then focusing on his leg, I realized he got his foot stuck on the ground.

I ran toward him to help. As I got closer I discovered a crack on the ground, and between the rift his foot got stuck.

"How did you even get yourself stuck there?" I asked while trying my best to pull his leg out.

"I don't know," Boss replied. "It wasn't there before. The crack suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

Wait, doesn't that mean?

As if to prove my hunch right, the ground beneath us started to tremble.

Crack!

And the rift where Boss's foot was stuck suddenly grew larger. Then with an ear-splitting sound, the crack spread forward fast in a zigzag, toward where Annette-san and Pika stood.

Their eyes shuddered, watching the upcoming disaster knocking at their door in an instant. They didn't have any time or strength to move. Dread quickly crept up to their heart, as teardrops glinted at the corner of their eyes. Pika's lips also stopped moving, as if she forgot about chanting for her teleportation skill.

"Run!" I screamed.

But my words didn't reach their ears anymore. Pika just held onto Annette-san, stuffing her pink head into Annette-san's bust. And Annette-san shut her eyes, hugging Pika back tightly.

Damnit! They are not listening. I have to do something. Think fast Ryoki!

Just as the crack reached near the two, it stopped spreading further.

"It stopped?" Boss asked, halting his struggle with the hole.

Hearing Boss's words, the endangered two opened their eyes. Sighs of relief left their mouths, and both plummeted onto the ground, still hugging each other.

Well, the crack did stop, but unfortunately, it was only for a moment. Soon the ground started to quake terribly, crazier than ever. And with a thundering burst, the simple linear crack turned into huge rapture.

Boss's cursed mouth!

Soon the area of 2 meters radius in front of the two turned into a crater, with large numbers of cracks on the ground. The sign of relief on their faces disappeared faster than they came.

With a tremendous burst, the naked mole king jumped out of the huge hole. Annette-san and Pika froze, with their eyes widened in the horror of their imminent death.

"Shit!" There was no time to think anymore. "Teleport."

I teleported myself next to the two. Above us, in mid-air, there was the huge monster plunging at us.

Even though I knew I would be jumping into my own death, I still did it without thinking anything, as if my body acted on its own.

Now it was a do-or-die situation. In a split second, I needed to figure out a way to save all of us. I could grab around their asses and use Volt Charge to get away.

But with that, rescuing them both might be out of my league. Being a mage, my physical strength was minuscule. Right now, my physical strength was just that of a regular teenager, not someone from Tokyo Revengers though. So carrying them both and getting out of there was just wishful thinking.

So what I did was absurd, absolutely crazy. But in that split second, my mind decided to do it anyway. Since, in theory, it had a better chance to work than the previous one

Just before the mole king could squash us, spreading my left arm downward, I mumbled, "Electromagnetic Blast."

Boom!

An explosion took place beneath us, right in the middle where we stood. It blew all three of us away.

"Kyaaa!"

"Gahhh!"

Wait, there's someone else?

There was a male voice mixed into the screams. I stifled down my own voice as I was pretty much ready for it or rather excited actually. Pretty sure there was a grin on my face.

Did Lynx come there to save us, and got blown away instead?

As we were flying away, the huge monster landed on the ground, destroying the whole area in a 20-meter radius around it. If we still remained there, surely it would have crushed every bone in our bodies, killing us instantly.

Well, my skill also damaged us, more than 8000, according to my HP bar that showed 21,869 now. But thanks to that, we still breathed.