Chapter 153: The Sub-Boss of the SS-Rank Dungeon

"Attack!"

Liam’s order had barely left his mouth when Jordan shot toward the enormous mole.

The hunter gritted his teeth as his body began rapidly consuming the fat reserves he had accumulated.

Heat coursed through his muscles.

Jordan raised both fists.

"Let’s go!"

He punched the monster directly in the chest.

BOOM!

The impact made the ground tremble.

But the mole barely moved.

Jordan’s eyes widened.

"What?"

He punched again, this time with even more force.

BOOM!

His fist bounced off the monster’s grayish skin.

Jordan staggered back several steps.

"What kind of skin does this thing have?!"

The mole raised one of its enormous claws.

Jordan barely had time to move out of the way.

The claw slammed into the ground.

CRASH!

Dirt exploded into the air.

As Jordan dodged, Chuck raised a grenade.

"Let’s see if this works."

He threw it into the air.

The grenade began traveling slowly toward the monster.

Chuck hadn’t pulled the pin.

Liam watched the scene as he fired.

Bang.

An explosive bullet struck the mole’s body.

The explosion forced the creature back slightly, but it didn’t fall.

Liam frowned.

’It’s too tough.’

Then he used the system chat.

"Pix, can you tell me what kind of creature this is?"

The answer appeared before his eyes.

[Pix: It appears to be the dungeon’s sub-boss.]

A chill ran down Liam’s spine.

[Pix: But I need to analyze it more precisely.]

Liam gritted his teeth.

’That’s what I was afraid of.’

He fired again.

’We’ve already run into a damn sub-boss.’

He looked at the enormous monster.

’Or rather... the sub-boss found us.’

A thunderous sound interrupted his thoughts.

Lena appeared in front of the mole.

Her black hammer was blazing intensely.

"Take this!"

She slammed it into one of the monster’s legs.

BOOM!

Fire engulfed part of its grayish body, but the mole merely let out a shriek.

"I didn’t even hurt it?!"

Lena backed away.

The monster violently shook its body.

The worms crawling across its skin began falling off.

One.

Two.

Five.

Dozens.

The small worms shot through the air.

"Watch out!"

Carol appeared from the side.

Her arms were completely covered by the metallic material she had generated earlier.

She punched the mole in the ribs.

The monster leaned slightly to one side.

Carol punched it again.

And again.

But its skin seemed to absorb much of the impact.

"It doesn’t look like I’m hurting it."

Emily ran toward one of the worms.

An electric discharge traveled down her arm.

"Get away!"

She struck the worm before it reached the ground.

The worm exploded, sending a yellow substance flying in every direction.

Emily quickly backed away.

Some of the liquid landed on the flowers.

The grass began to burn.

"Watch out!"

Emily looked at the others.

"Those worms are corrosive!"

Liam raised an eyebrow.

’Corrosive?’

Another worm flew directly toward Lydia.

She stretched out both hands.

"Got it!"

Her arms transformed into slime tentacles, trapping the worm.

Lydia held it in front of her body.

"Maybe if I consume it..."

Her body began absorbing it.

Liam watched her.

"Lydia, wait..."

Too late.

The worm disappeared inside her body.

Lydia waited, but nothing happened.

She blinked.

Then she looked at Liam.

"Liam..."

"Yeah?"

"Does the system tell you if I leveled up?"

"No."

"Or if I learned a new skill?"

Liam shook his head.

"No. Why?"

Lydia pointed at her body.

"I just consumed one of those worms."

Liam’s eyes widened, and a message appeared before him.

[Your Slime has stored an Explosive Worm.]

Liam began laughing.

Lydia looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Your power malfunctioned again."

"What?"

Liam pointed at the message.

"Instead of consuming it, you used [Storage Slime]."

Lydia looked at her own body.

"I stored it?"

"Yeah."

Lydia lowered her gaze.

"But... why?"

Her expression filled with concern again.

Liam continued firing at the mole.

Bang.

Bang.

An explosive bullet detonated against its shoulder.

"Don’t worry about it!"

Lydia looked at him.

"But what if my powers keep failing...?"

"We’ve got you covered."

Liam fired again.

"Your job is to protect the dungeon’s inhabitants, honey."

Lydia looked at the gray humanoids.

Several of them were crouching behind her and her copy.

"Understood."

Meanwhile, Chuck’s grenade was getting closer and closer to the monster.

The mole didn’t seem to have noticed the small object approaching it.

Chuck smiled.

"Perfect."

He pulled one of his knives and held it between his fingers.

"Now."

He threw the knife.

The weapon shot forward at incredible speed.

It passed right beside the grenade.

CLINK!

The knife struck the pin directly.

The pin went flying.

Chuck smiled.

The grenade fell directly into one of the monster’s empty eye sockets.

Then...

BOOOOOOM!

An explosion shook the meadow, and smoke completely engulfed the mole.

Chuck raised both arms.

"That was incredible!"

He looked at the others.

"Don’t bother telling me how incredible I am."

He smiled.

"I already know."

Jordan shook his head.

"Idiot."

"But it worked."

"That it did."

The gray humanoids watched the scene.

They were still terrified.

But now there was something else in their eyes.

Confusion.

They didn’t understand why those humans were fighting the creature.

Much less why they were protecting them.

The gray leader raised his head.

His voice echoed inside everyone’s minds again.

"You haven’t defeated it yet."

Liam froze.

"Be careful."

The smoke began to dissipate.

Liam raised his pistol.

"What?"

In front of them was a massive crater.

The ground had been completely destroyed, but the mole was nowhere to be seen.

Lena slowly lowered her hammer.

"Where is it?"

Carol looked around.

"I don’t see it."

Jordan stomped his foot against the ground.

"Did it die?"

No one answered.

The ground began trembling again.

This time, with even greater intensity.

Liam felt his stomach tighten.

’No...’

He looked at the crater.

There was no corpse.

No blood.

Nothing.

The monster had simply disappeared.

"Everyone, stay alert!"

The squad went back on guard.

Lydia kept her copy close to the humanoids while the other remained beside Liam.

The gray creatures huddled together.

Their leader stared at the ground in terror.

Then a new message appeared before Liam.

[Pix: Liam, you need to be careful.]

Liam quickly read it.

[Pix: According to my analysis, this species of blind zombie mole is just as powerful as an S-Rank Dungeon boss.]

Liam’s eyes widened.

"What?"

Lena heard him.

"What happened?"

Liam didn’t answer immediately.

’Just as powerful as an S-Rank boss?’

They had needed a considerable number of hunters to face creatures of that level.

And now they were facing the sub-boss of an SS-Rank dungeon.

A monster that had survived several combined attacks from every member of his squad.

The ground trembled again, even harder.

A crack appeared several yards away.

Then another.

And another.

Liam slowly turned around.

The monster could emerge from anywhere.

"Don’t let your guard down!"

Everyone began looking around.

Jordan raised his fists.

Carol prepared to attack.

Emily gathered electricity.

Lena gripped her hammer tightly.

Chuck pulled out another knife.

Lydia extended her tentacles.

The gray humanoids hugged each other.

The trembling continued.

Liam raised his pistol.

He didn’t know where it would appear.

He didn’t know if they could defeat it.

He didn’t even know if they could escape the dungeon.