The horned squirrels began to move aside.
One after another, they retreated through the snow until they formed a wide corridor.
The sound of their tiny paws striking the ground mixed with a heavy rumbling that seemed to come from deep within the forest.
Liam narrowed his eyes.
Something enormous was approaching.
The branches of the trees shook.
A huge white head appeared between them.
Then two gigantic black horns emerged.
And finally, the creature’s entire body came out of the forest.
It was a squirrel.
Or at least, it had once been one.
Its body was enormous, almost as large as a van. It had thick white fur, four massive legs, and a tail that looked like a mountain of snow.
Its horns, however, were completely black and covered in tiny cracks that emitted a faint blue glow.
The monster raised its head.
Dozens of small squirrels began squealing around it as if they were celebrating its arrival.
Logan turned pale.
"No..."
He slowly lowered his arms.
"This can’t be happening."
The red barrier disappeared, leaving all the hunters exposed.
"What are you doing?"
one of the young men asked.
"Logan!"
"Raise the barrier again!"
The Emerald-rank hunter didn’t answer.
The red energy that had protected the group concentrated around his own body, forming a small protective sphere.
Liam stared at him in disbelief.
"Seriously?"
Lydia turned her head toward him.
"What happened?"
Liam gritted his teeth.
"We’re going to have to cover them ourselves."
"Us?"
"Yes."
Lydia immediately understood, and her body began to change.
Her human skin disappeared, and her body once again became that green gelatinous mass.
Then she began spreading out in both directions.
Her body rose several meters into the air and formed a huge wall around the group.
[Harden.]
The green surface became solid.
A slime wall surrounded the hunters.
The novices stared at it in surprise.
"She can do that?"
"It’s huge!"
Liam smiled.
"My wife has a lot of useful abilities."
Logan finally spoke from inside his small sphere.
"It’s a test."
Liam turned his head.
"What?"
"A test for you."
Logan was trying to regain his usual arrogant expression.
"If you want to become great hunters and be accepted by an important guild, you’ll have to learn how to survive without relying on others."
One of the Silver-rank hunters stared at him in disbelief.
"You’re leaving us on our own?"
"Exactly."
"But we’re supposed to have formed this group so we could grow together!"
Another young man nodded.
"The whole idea was to help each other!"
"And you’re the highest-ranked hunter,"
added the girl whose phone had been broken.
"You’re supposed to help us."
Logan frowned.
"I’m not going to waste my energy on novices."
Liam let out a small laugh.
"Don’t listen to him."
Everyone looked at him.
"This guy thinks he’s better than you simply because he has a higher rank."
Liam pointed toward the small barrier surrounding Logan.
"But from what we’ve just seen, it looks like he wants you to do all the work while he hides."
Lydia sent a message through the system chat.
[Lydia: I bet he doesn’t even know how to fight.]
Liam had to hold back a smile.
Logan glared at him, clearly annoyed.
At that moment...
The giant squirrel charged.
"Watch out!"
The monster lowered its head.
Its enormous paws kicked up a cloud of snow.
And then...
BOOOOOOM!
The boss’s body slammed into Lydia’s wall.
The slime mountain deformed for an instant, and the ground around it trembled.
The hunters lost their balance, but Lydia didn’t move.
"Are you okay?"
Liam asked.
The enormous green wall returned to its original shape.
[Lydia: Yes. I barely felt it.]
Liam smiled.
"Perfect."
The boss backed away again, shook its head, and charged once more.
BOOM!
Another impact.
The wall vibrated again, but Lydia continued to hold.
"It’s working!"
one of the young men shouted.
However, the boss wasn’t their only problem.
Several small squirrels began climbing onto its back.
They crawled over its enormous body while the creature battered the barrier.
One reached the top and jumped.
"They got in!"
The girl with the broken phone raised her hands, and her eyes began to glow.
"Fireworks!"
An explosion of lights shot from her hands.
Small glowing projectiles, similar to rockets, streaked through the air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The squirrels were suspended in midair for an instant before falling to the ground completely stunned.
Liam smiled.
"Well done!"
The girl didn’t seem surprised.
"Now attack!"
The novices reacted.
The spear-wielding young man pierced one of the squirrels.
The other hunter’s chains caught two creatures and slammed them into the ground.
The men who had barely participated until then began striking the stunned creatures.
"We can do this!"
"Don’t let them get back up!"
"Keep attacking!"
The group’s morale completely changed.
They were no longer waiting for Logan to save them.
They were fighting together.
Liam aimed his pistol at a squirrel attempting to climb up the boss’s back again.
Bang!
The creature fell.
"One less!"
Lydia continued maintaining the barrier.
And the boss kept charging, over and over.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The creature didn’t seem capable of breaking through it.
But Liam began to notice something strange.
There were more squirrels.
However, not all of them were attacking.
Liam raised his head and looked over Lydia’s wall.
At first, he saw nothing but snow.
Then he spotted them.
There were squirrels surrounding them.
Dozens of them, but they remained completely still.
They weren’t attacking.
They weren’t running.
They weren’t squealing.
They were simply standing there, forming a perfect circle around the group.
Liam frowned.
"What are they doing?"
One of the squirrels raised its head, and its horns began to glow.
The same blue radiance appeared on all of them.
A chill ran down Liam’s spine.
"Lydia..."
[Lydia: Yes. I saw it too.]
The horns began glowing more intensely.
Liam slowly lowered his pistol.
"Pix."
There was no response.
"Pix."
Nothing.
"Pix?"
A small window finally appeared in front of his eyes.
[Pix: Yes?]
Liam sighed.
"Is this still an F-rank dungeon?"
There was a few seconds of silence.
[Pix: Yes.]
Liam looked at the enormous boss again and at the hundreds of squirrels surrounding the group.
"Are you sure?"
[Pix: Very sure.]
"Because it looks like we have a boss."
[Pix: Oh.]
Liam blinked.
"’Oh’?"
[Pix: That’s curious.]
"What is?"
[Pix: There’s an error.]
Liam put a hand to his forehead.
"Of course there is."
[Pix: The dungeon is correctly registered as F-rank.]
"But..."
[Pix: It seems a boss appeared inside.]
Liam closed his eyes.
"Pix..."
[Pix: I didn’t drink any wine this time.]
Liam laughed.
[Pix: And I didn’t lose my glasses either.]
"That’s progress."
[Pix: Thank you.]
Liam burst out laughing.
"Then what do we do?"
Pix took a few seconds to respond.
[Pix: Maybe I should have classified it as E-rank.]
Liam looked over the battlefield.
The gigantic creature charged again.
The squirrels surrounding them simultaneously raised their heads, and the glow of their horns intensified.
Liam smiled resignedly.
"Yes."
He loaded his pistol again.
"I think that would’ve been a good idea."
[Pix: I’m sorry...]
"Don’t worry. I don’t think it’ll be necessary."
Liam looked at Lydia.
Her enormous green body was still protecting everyone.
"You’ve been a huge help so far."
A small smiling face appeared in front of his eyes.
Liam shook his head.
"Although someday, I’m going to get you to fix that system."
In the distance, the boss let out another roar.
And the squirrels began to squeal.