Clang!

  The heavy oak club bounced off a sudden obstacle.

  An iron shield had flown out of the darkness, interposing itself between Ryn and the creature at the last second. Wood met metal, and the impact numbed Ryn's hands.

  He recovered instantly and swung again, but he hit only empty air.

  The Mole was gone.

  A small, perfectly circular hole in the ground marked its escape route.

  Ryn stepped back and rested the club on his shoulder. He scanned the cavern with his [Mind's Eye].

  The ground beneath him rumbled.

  Clatter. Clank.

  All around the cavern, piles of scrap metal began to shake. Old and new helmets, breastplates, and gauntlets rose into the air.

  They snapped together, held in place by invisible magnetic tethers.

  Within seconds, over ten hollow suits of armor stood before him. They raised their swords and pickaxes while their empty helmets fixed on Ryn.

  Ryn smiled.

  'Of course. It is a Boss Monster. It wouldn't go down without a fight.'

  The hollow knights charged.

  They were fast and aggressive. A sword slashed at his neck while a pickaxe aimed for his knees.

  Ryn stepped sideways.

  The sword cleaved through the air where he had just been.

  Ryn slipped past the first knight and reached out. His hand brushed against a cluster of glowing blue crystals growing from the floor.

  Swipe.

  [ Acquired: Arcana-Infused Crystal x3 ]

  He ducked under a swinging hammer.

  Swipe.

  [ Acquired: High-Grade Iron Ore x2 ]

  He weaved through the chaotic melee like a phantom. Every time he dodged an attack, he snatched another valuable item from the Boss's hoard.

  'Mine. This is mine too. And that one.'

  The ground shook violently.

  Deep underground, the Mole sensed its treasure disappearing rapidly. Its greed and possessiveness outweighed its caution and reason in an instant.

  "KIIIIIIII!"

  A screech echoed from the tunnels below.

  The magnetic field in the room intensified.

  The ten armor puppets moved even faster, their attacks becoming a blur of rusted steel.

  Simultaneously, every loose piece of metal in the cavern levitated into the air. Screws, nails, broken blades, and ore chunks formed a storm of shrapnel.

  The Mole intended to shred him to pieces along with the stolen loot.

  Ryn stopped looting. He looked at the swirling vortex of death forming around him.

  'Finally.'

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He tapped his chest.

  'Nero.'

  "Kyu!"

  The black mist swirled.

  Nero materialized on Ryn's shoulder with his eyes glowing in hunger.

  The Mole unleashed the storm. Thousands of metal shards flew toward Ryn from every direction.

  Nero hopped forward.

  "KYU!"

  The little Void-Eater opened his mouth.

  Immediately, the darkness expanded and created a vacuum that distorted the light itself.

  WHOOSH.

  The iron shards, the weapons, and the heavy ores were all sucked into the tiny abyss. Even the hollow knights found themselves dragged forward, their armor plating ripping apart as they vanished into Nero's mouth.

  Crunch. Crunch.

  Nero ate faster than the Mole could throw. With every pound of metal he consumed, Nero's body expanded. He grew from the size of a kitten to the size of a beach ball while his fur became darker and denser.

  The suction force from Nero's mouth increased.

  It overpowered the Mole's magnetic control.

  "Squeak?!"

  A confused cry came from the hole in the ground.

  The Mole tried to dig deeper and scrambled its claws against the rock. However, against Nerp's signature move, it was all useless. After all, Nero was a force of nature!

  Pop!

  The Mole was ripped out of its tunnel. It floated helplessly through the air while its limbs flailed against the gravity.

  Ryn watched it fly past him.

  However, he knew Nero's limits. It couldn't eat a monster alive, not yet at least. And not with this high level gap. Heck, it was a miracle that it was able to devour at this rate.

  So, Ryn moved immediately.

  He drew the Twin Shadow-Forged Daggers from his inventory. Since the Mole was currently suspended in mid-air and fighting Nero's gravity, it couldn't focus on controlling Ryn's weapons.

  Ryn appeared beneath the floating beast.

  The Mole's belly was exposed. It was soft, pink, and almost unarmored.

  Ryn's eyes turned cold.

  He drove both blades upward and buried them to the hilt.

  Schlick.

  Blood sprayed.

  "KREE!"

  The Mole screeched in agony as its health bar instantly dropped by half.

  However, the pain only triggered its survival instincts.

  The creature's eyes flashed with blinding white light. It realized it could not pull the metal out, so it pushed.

  A violent magnetic shockwave erupted from its body.

  Ryn felt a massive force slam into his chest. It was like being hit by a wrecking ball. He refused to let go of his daggers, so the blast launched him backward along with his weapons.

  He flew across the cavern and smashed into a cluster of blue crystals.

  Crash.

  "Cough!"

  Ryn fell to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood. His vision blurred for a second. The impact had nearly emptied his health bar. If he hadn't twisted his body to take the hit on his shoulder, his spine would have snapped.

  The Mole also dropped to the floor. It panted heavily while blood pooled beneath its belly.

  It glared at Ryn with pure hatred.

  The air in the cavern began to vibrate.

  The Mole let out a low, guttural growl. The iron ore veins in the walls cracked. Dozens of sharp rocks and metal shards peeled away from the cavern surface and began to orbit the creature.

  It formed a spinning sphere of debris. It was a perfect defensive shell.

  'Troublesome,' Ryn thought as he forced himself to stand. He quickly downed health and aura recovery potions.

  The liquid settled in his stomach and knit his bruised muscles back together; his core was refilled, though the ache remained.

  Nero floated nearby. The little void-eater looked sluggish. He had eaten too much and could not move properly, let alone maintain the suction force.

  'Rest, Nero. I will handle the rest.'

  Ryn recalled his pet.

  He was alone again.

  The Mole roared and charged. The spinning storm of rocks and metal moved with it, turning the boss into a living meat grinder.

  Ryn gripped his daggers. His knuckles turned white.

  He couldn't get close without being shredded. He couldn't attack from a distance.

  He had to time it perfectly.

  The Mole closed the distance in a heartbeat. The outer edge of the debris storm grazed Ryn's cheek, drawing blood.

  [ Mind's Eye ]

  Ryn's irises glowed blue.

  Time seemed to slow down. He saw the chaotic rotation of the rocks. He saw the pattern in the madness.

  There was a gap.

  A small opening in the debris field appeared every 0.5 seconds near the creature's injured flank.

  'Now.'

  Ryn channeled his remaining Arcana.

  [ Blink ]

  Zip.

  He vanished from the path of the charge.

  He reappeared right inside the storm, barely inches away from the Mole's face.

  The Mole's eyes widened. It hadn't expected the human to be crazy enough to teleport inside the grinder.

  It reacted instantly. It manipulated a jagged piece of iron to stab Ryn in the chest.

  Ryn couldn't dodge. He had just used Blink and was still in the post-teleport stiffness.

  Clang!

  A translucent golden barrier shattered around Ryn's body.

  [ Effect Triggered: Rune of the Kinetic Ward ]

  [ Fatal Damage Absorbed. ]

  The mystery reward saved his life.

  Ryn ignored the shattered barrier and drove his daggers into the exact same wound he had inflicted earlier.

  This time, he didn't just stab. He twisted.

  "Die."

  He poured every ounce of his remaining stamina into the thrust.

  The blades severed the creature's spine.

  The Mole stiffened. The spinning storm of rocks faltered and then collapsed. The heavy stones rained down around them, burying both the hunter and the prey in dust.

  The creature twitched one last time and then went limp.

  Ryn panted heavily, his hands still gripping the hilts of his buried weapons.

  [ Ding! ]

  [ Congratulations! ]

  [ You have defeated the Magnetic Terror Mole (Lv. 20)! ]

  [ ... ]