Chaos Year 3, Day 109, 11:31 pm.

Lynx-san's eyes appeared solemn as he gazed over the arena, as if he was thinking about something very deep and noble. Not something a commoner like me would ever be able to guess.

"Do you think those two are kissing?" Lynx-san suddenly asked. "I can't quite see from this angle."

"Ehhh!?" I was taken by surprise.

That's what he was thinking? It really was something I could never guess.

"What, are you jealous?" Hikari-san asked.

"Of what? Ann kissing Boss?" He scoffed. "No way."

"No, Boss kissing Ann-san." Smirked Hikari-san.

"That's even more absurd." Lynx-san frowned. "Anyway, I'm going down to fight those."

Before disappearing again, Lynx pointed at the zodiac monsters, who still stayed unharmed somehow, even though all the other monsters of the arena got completely wiped out.

"Only two of them died, all the others mostly dodged the combo." Hikari-san's eyes sharpened. "These zodiac monsters are smarter, faster, and stronger."

Yeah, like the Black Sheep[modern_footnote]The Black Sheep is one kind of Legion which are the fictional AI robots in a Japanese anime and light novel series called 86. Legion is a collective, self-sustaining, AI army that comes from the remains of the Giadian Empire. And Black Sheep is the Legion that had adopted the decayed brain structure of dead humans, capable of limited human intelligence[/modern_footnote].

"Can Lynx-san do anything against them alone?"

"Who said he is alone?" Boss finally stood up, pulling up the blushing Annette-san along with him. "He has all of us supporting him. That's what a squad is about."

"Armair's Gloves, awaken! Chain Bind."

Three chains from Boss's every hand darted at one of the zodiacs and tied it down. Right about then Lynx-san appeared behind it, ambushing the monster.

He slashed the monster more than five times per second with his dagger, killing it in one go.

Wah, a true assassin…

"!"

Behind him, another monster lunged at him at high speed.

"Lyn..!"

Whizz…

An arrow swooped past me, almost taking my ear off, and dived toward Lynx-san.

"What..!" I exclaimed with shock.

Lynx-san disappeared right before the arrow hit him. It pierced the monster behind his back instead, and then came the explosion. Boom~

The arrow explosion took out that monster too.

"Oh, Moonlit Dance is still in effect it seems," Hikari-san said with a pleased look.

I was astounded, unable to speak, as I glanced at Hikari-san, who just readied herself for another shot.

These guys fight too well together.

Then it suddenly hit me how little I knew about them. Others knew all about each other's abilities, their limits, and their thought process. But I knew nothing.

It had been a week since I joined them. Almost the whole week we stayed inside Cephia City, or near it. We didn't fight all together before, but I really thought I came to know them pretty well. We spent days after nights the whole week together after all.

Yet I knew next to nothing about them, not even their true personalities. Unapproachable Hikari-san becoming feisty and dependable, always elegant Annette-san suddenly acting cute, eccentric Boss's care for his subordinates, calm and composed Lynx-san's awkwardness; I never knew any of these sides of them before.

A human's personality can be so complex and distinctive. Maybe I still don't know many of their other sides. I was so naive.

At that time, I still didn't know an even bigger shock was waiting for me soon.

One by one my squadmates started hunting down the rest of the monsters. I tried helping them with Gale Blade and Gale Torpedo, but could not quite match the timing. So I was pretty much useless.

Annette-san might seem to be doing nothing much on the surface, standing there with hands clasped together. However, just her existence on the field was enough to motivate the whole squad to fight on more aggressively, with absolute trust in their health insurance. And she might be hiding way more things than I ever knew. For instance, she still didn't use that cloning ability of hers. It made me feel even more hopeless.

Am I really that useless?

As I sulked over my incompetency, I noticed a dimly glowing geometric design inside a circle on the ground beneath Annette-san.

Is that a transmutation circle[modern_footnote]In a popular anime series named "Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood", alchemists use a symbol called a Transmutation Circle in order to begin an alchemical transmutation. Inside the circle are specific alchemical runes. These runes vary widely based on ancient alchemical studies, texts, and experimentation.[/modern_footnote]?...no, wait a second, it could be a…

"Annette-san!" I shouted. "Run!"

"Eh?" Confused Annette-san just tilted her head.

Right at that moment, the ground under her started shaking violently and the circle mark kept brightening.

Finally, when she understood what was going on, it was already too late. A large streak of light beam shot upwards toward the ceiling from that circle, creating a bright light shaft.

No way…

"Annette-san!!" I cried out.

"Don't worry." Hikari-san pointed at the south corner of the arena. "Look over there."

Huh?...

Annette-san stood there completely unscathed, as she waved at me. "I'm fine, Pika. Lynx saved me."

"..." I blushed, embarrassed for screaming so hard.

The fierce earthquake reached the boulder eventually and the immense tremble began, forcing us to descend from there. Just as we left the rock boulder, it broke down to the ground.

After a few moments, the shaking stopped, leaving the place a huge mess of dust. But the light pillar was still there, glowing proudly. But inside the shaft, an enormous silhouette appeared out of nowhere.

"Is that what I think it is?" Boss gaped at the shadow.

Gradually the light shaft extinguished, and a massive disturbing-looking monster emerged from it.

[A field boss appeared.]

[Naked Mole-rat King, Level: 295]

"Damnit Boss, you jinxed it again!"

"Aughh! It looks so disgusting!"

"Don't look at it!"

So that was a summoning circle. It was there all along. Those monsters hesitated to get near us before, because we were standing directly over the summoning circle.

Why didn't I think of it before? Ugh…

There were still 5 of the zodiac monsters left in the arena. An appearance of a Boss monster had been the worst possible thing that could have happened right now. It might just be a field boss like that wolf king we faced before, but the level difference was too large. Lykos only had 210 levels.

"Can't we just escape from this area?" My voice quivered, as I asked my squadmates.

"We came here on a raid to get treasures." Hikari-san frowned. "Why on earth would we escape from a boss?"

Ah, that makes sense. They really have amazing confidence. I guess that's how the veteran players are.

"So, what's the play here?" Lynx asked, suddenly appearing again.

"Gotta kill the speedy ones first." Boss said. "I'll keep the big one busy. You guys take out the others."

Giving out instructions, Boss rushed in toward the monsters who were scanning our movements like hungry wolves.

The zodiacs dispersed away, as Boss leaped in. Ignoring them, Boss crashed his large shield into the Mole King's head.

Chriiiii~ the mole cried out, shaking its head violently.

Then it got up to its two feet and slammed its massive body on the ground, which bred an earthquake together with a huge shockwave.

The shockwave whisked us off to the end of the field, scattering us all away from each other.

Damn, only a shockwave dropped 20% of my HP. Is everyone else alright?

Getting up, I looked around to check my surroundings. Annette-san also got on her feet, and Lynx-san was nowhere to be found like always.

Wait, where is Hikari-san?

After searching for a while, I found her lying on the ground, quite far away from me.

"Hikari-san!" I called out to her, but no reply came back.

Did she hit her head and black out? Is it even possible inside the game?

"Oh, no!"

Two of the zodiac monsters slowly approached her. But she was unconscious, unable to even hear my warnings.

Someone…anyone…

"Lynx-san! Are you there?" I screamed.

"Kinda busy." He responded, fending off the other three zodiacs while protecting Annette-san behind him.

Ungh! I can't just let her die like this.

Teleporting myself next to Hikari-san, I started chanting.

"..Wind Barrier!"

That should buy me some time.

Then I started shaking her as roughly as I could. "Hikari-san! Wake up!"

What's wrong with her? What do I do? Anyway, let's get her somewhere else first.

Grasping her hand, I started chanting for the teleportation skill. But before I could finish the chant, a hand suddenly barged inside the wind barrier.

"Eiiik!" I shrieked out, breaking off my spell.

The monster slowly forced its whole body through the barrier, breaking it in the process, and screeched. "Aurghh!"

Tears glinted at the corner of my eyes, as I kept shaking Hikari-san continuously.

Someone… Please, help us. Senpai, when will you come?

There was no time for teleportation anymore, and I could not just leave her here either. There was no way I could leave someone alone when she needed me the most, no freaking way. I hugged Hikari-san tightly.

Closing in, the monster lifted its war ax to strike us down. All the sound vanished just like the time inside the square chamber, as I glared at the ax.

Senpai, you promised me, you will never leave me alone when I need you, right? Right now, I really do need you. Please, hear my call.

My vision started to get a bit blurry, as the ax plunged at us with incredible force.

With fuzzy eyes, I could not properly see what happened next, but a black shadowy figure appeared before me. The figure deflected the monster's strike with a bright glowing sword.

Instinctively I mumbled, "Sen..pai?"

"Hey." The black figure answered back.

Instantly all my senses came back. I clearly recognized the man standing before me, as he peeked over his shoulder with a smile.

"Senpai..you came.."

"Sorry, I'm so late. Wait a bit longer." His large hand rustled through my hair and ears. "Let me take care of these guys first."

"Take care…? Wait, Senpai!"

These things are way stronger than they look!

I tried to warn Senpai, but my voice could not quite carry the words.

Clasping his Psion Blade, Senpai lunged at the zodiac quickly. His blade pierced through the monster's chest. Then slicing its upper body into two parts, he retracted his sizzling sword.

I-it instantly died! I stared in astonishment.

Then he disappeared right before my eyes. And appeared a bit further away, behind the other zodiac monster, which approached Hikari-san earlier.

Teleport? Wait, what? Didn't he just use a Psion Blade like a magic swordsman? Maybe…it's not teleportation?

Sneaking behind the monster, Senpai landed a huge slash, cutting down its Hp to half.

"Aurghh!" The monster screeched, as it dived toward Senpai.

Without even dodging or anything, Senpai just stood straight, extending his left arm toward the monster, as the monster thrust its sword at him.

"Electromagnetic Blast." He spoke, placing his hand over the monster's head, right before it could attack Senpai.

Boom!

An outward explosion was generated before senpai's hand, as it blasted on the monster's head, blowing it 30 feet away. And the headless body of the monster dropped down, kneeling before Senpai.

What the…

Then he again vanished and appeared where Lynx-san fought off the other three. He kept switching places, slashing and blasting away zodiac monsters one by one.

I didn't know if he knew, but his face wore a huge bright grin, as he massacred the enemies. Blood spewed all over his face and body, giving him a devilish look together with that grin. I could no longer tell who was the real monster here anymore.

It's like a whole new version of Senpai.

And after all this time, it looked like he truly enjoyed the game for the first time at this moment. Finally, he could be happy again.

Senpai slaughtered all the zodiacs, transporting himself all over the place. Wherever he went, in a moment, he completely overwhelmed the enemy with sheer firepower.

I could only gawk in awe, as he flew all around the arena.

S-so cool!