The calm expression on Liam’s face disappeared completely.
Until now, he had preferred to stay out of it.
Logan was the party leader. As long as his decisions worked and everyone made it out alive, Liam didn’t particularly care whether the man was arrogant or had an unpleasant personality.
But this...
This was different.
The healer was still breathing heavily between him and the girl whose phone had been broken. She had given everything she had to keep alive a group of people she had barely known, and the first thing she received in return was criticism.
Liam frowned.
"It wasn’t her fault."
Logan barely turned his head.
"What did you say?"
"I said it wasn’t her fault."
The other hunter let out a disbelieving laugh while continuing to hold up the crimson barrier.
"Then whose fault is it? If she’d had more energy..."
"She’s a lower rank than you."
Liam spoke calmly.
"She did exactly what she was capable of."
The healer slowly looked up at Liam.
Logan snorted.
"Excuses are worthless inside a dungeon."
"Blaming the teammate who just saved your life isn’t worth much either."
For a brief moment, the two men simply stared at each other.
The rest of the group remained silent.
Even Lydia was watching her husband closely.
It wasn’t like him to argue.
Before Logan could answer, another deafening impact shook the entire barrier.
BANG!
A crack appeared across the crimson surface.
The hunters swallowed nervously.
"It’s breaking!"
"More are coming!"
Liam immediately looked up.
The squirrels were still pouring out of the snowy forest.
They were no longer arriving by the dozens.
There were hundreds now.
They leaped between the trees, raced across the snow, and even used rocks to launch themselves forward.
Some had already figured out that repeatedly striking the same spot weakened the barrier.
"They’re intelligent..."
Liam murmured.
Another message appeared in the chat.
[Lydia: Honey... these don’t look like ordinary beasts anymore.]
’I know.’
That was the truly worrying part.
The creatures were learning during the battle.
They weren’t attacking on instinct.
They observed.
They analyzed.
Then they changed their strategy.
Another squirrel jumped onto one of Lydia’s flying boulders and used it as a platform to launch itself even higher.
The projectile sailed harmlessly past.
"It dodged the rock!"
one of the young hunters shouted.
The next squirrel even waited for another boulder to smash through a tree before exploiting the opening it created.
Liam pressed his lips together.
"They’re getting harder to kill every minute."
The young spearman skewered another creature.
"It doesn’t matter! As long as we keep killing them...!"
But then...
His spear became stuck.
The body of one squirrel twisted itself around the spearhead.
It wasn’t dead.
It had grabbed onto the weapon with its paws.
Another squirrel seized the opportunity and lunged toward him.
"Watch out!"
Lydia shouted.
A massive rock shot through the air and crushed the second creature before it could reach the young man.
He managed to free his spear.
"Th-thank you..."
Lydia simply gave him a thumbs-up.
"No problem."
The rocks continued flying one after another.
But even she was beginning to tire.
Her breathing grew heavier, and her arms no longer fired projectiles as quickly as they had at the start.
Liam noticed immediately.
’Don’t push yourself too hard, honey.’
She answered almost instantly.
[Lydia: I’m fine. I can still keep going.]
He smiled.
He knew perfectly well she was lying.
His wife never wanted him to worry.
Another impact shook the barrier.
CRAAACK!
The crimson crack widened.
Logan gritted his teeth.
Sweat streamed down his jaw, and the veins in his arms bulged as though they were about to burst.
"It... won’t... break!"
he roared.
But even he no longer sounded convinced.
One of the front-line fighters swallowed hard.
"What if we fall back?"
"Fall back where?"
another replied.
They were completely surrounded.
There was nowhere to run.
The girl with the broken phone looked at Liam.
"What do we do?"
He slowly raised the pistol in his hand.
He hadn’t fired a single shot until now.
He had waited because the melee fighters had the situation under control.
But that was changing.
He aimed at a squirrel sprinting across the top of the dome.
He took a breath and remembered the stance Evan had taught him.
Left foot forward.
Body turned sideways.
Arm steady.
He exhaled slowly.
Bang!
The bullet pierced the creature’s eye.
The small monster tumbled lifeless into the snow.
The others turned toward him in surprise.
"Nice shot!"
Liam only smiled faintly.
He didn’t answer.
He aimed again and fired.
Bang!
This time he hit another squirrel in the neck as it tried to widen the crack in the barrier.
It wasn’t a perfect shot.
But it worked.
Evan had been right.
All he needed was practice.
The girl with the broken phone stared at him.
"I thought you said you were new."
"I am."
"Then you shoot better than some veterans!"
Liam let out a quiet laugh.
"Two days ago, I didn’t even know how to hold a pistol."
That left several people speechless.
Two days?
Logan heard it too and frowned.
He didn’t like the group’s attention shifting toward Liam.
"Don’t lose focus!"
he shouted again.
"Keep attacking!"
Everyone obeyed.
The chained blades spun once more.
The spear pierced another creature.
The hammer strikes came crashing down whenever a squirrel managed to get too close to the barrier.
It seemed like the party was finding its rhythm again.
Until...
The squirrels stopped attacking.
Every single one of them.
At the same time.
Hundreds of creatures stepped backward.
No one understood what was happening.
"Did they..."
one of the boys asked.
"...give up?"
Liam slowly shook his head.
"No."
The squirrels began opening a path through their ranks, as though they were waiting for someone to arrive.
The snow started trembling again.
But this time, the vibration was much heavier.
Trees bent under the force.
Rocks rolled down the hillsides.
Even the crimson barrier shook without anything striking it.
Lydia swallowed.
[Lydia: Honey... something big is coming.]
Liam nodded slowly.
He could feel it too.
A massive white silhouette emerged from the depths of the forest.
At first, only two enormous horns were visible.
Then came a gigantic head.
Then a body as large as a truck.
It was a squirrel.
But many times larger than all the others.
Its white fur was covered in scars.
Its horns were black as coal.
Its completely blue eyes locked onto the group of hunters.
The monster let out a deafening screech.
Every other squirrel answered in unison.
The confidence vanished from Logan’s face.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
"No way..."
he muttered.
"A boss... in an F-rank dungeon...?"