Chapter 4 004

"You rascal, are you a rat or a mole?!"

Inside the Port Mafia's corridors, Chuuya Nakahara was utterly exhausted from chasing after Romain Rolland, who was determined to escape.

Putting everything else aside, Romain Rolland's ability to move inside rocks is absolutely disgusting. It's incredibly disgusting when he's focused on escaping, and to force someone out, he has to use his ultimate skill to knock the entire rock out, which is both laborious and time-consuming.

Then, with a quick, diving motion, it slid back into the ground...

In the wild, Chuuya Nakahara wasn't lacking in confidence; he could simply kill the thing underground through the soil. But the problem was, this was Port Mafia territory, and it was a concrete building…

Chuuya Nakahara was well aware that concrete was notoriously bad at earthquakes, and he preferred to attack concrete structures when fighting others because it was quick and easy.

As for what would happen if he unleashed his ultimate attack on his own territory... Ozaki Koyo and Mori Ōgai would likely rush in and kill him together, and depending on the situation, they might even have to add the Black Lizard, and that lemon bastard might also join in the fun...

And to be honest, in order to chase this mole (that is, Romain Rolland), he had already smashed quite a few corridors and floors. In fact, he himself was a little hesitant about whether he should continue chasing him if he kept smashing things...

This meant that he really had no good way to deal with Romain Rolland, who was single-mindedly trying to escape into the concrete...

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that Chuuya Nakahara's special ability was really useful, he wouldn't even be able to catch up to this distance.

As for Romain Rolland, this wasn't the first time he'd been chased, so he was quite adept at it, focusing solely on running and ignoring everything else.

Although he had a glorious past that was stolen and sold without anyone discovering it, it was more of a show of skill to gain fame.

Most of the time, his daily routine is to sneak in and then run out—as a mercenary, as long as he gets the intelligence, everything is OK. The lack of a clear backing force also means he doesn't have to be afraid of giving the other party a moral high ground by exposing himself and thus acting timidly.

Besides, when you can hire mercenaries to obtain inside information, you also need to save face.

Unless there are special requirements, Romain Rolland's infiltrations all stop at knowing how to get in—and then immediately disappearing underground.

Actually, after giving all those excuses, if you think about it carefully, he was just spoiled by the ability to burrow underground. Before he had this ability, he was a good mercenary who would spend half a month preparing before infiltrating, but...

Running away underground is really efficient; even the most skilled mercenaries are only willing to risk their lives for money.

Previously, he would only take on one job every two weeks, but now, by using the underground running tactic, he can complete three jobs a day. This efficiency is enough to make Romain Rolland abandon his reserve and frantically farm those small (relatively speaking) faction missions.

Especially after forming the UN with Christie and Verne, the three of them have seen their personal coffers visibly shrink, causing them to worry about finances every day. Now even Romain Rolland has to come out and do small tasks to subsidize the organization.

Therefore, money is the most important thing.

Thinking about a bunch of random things, Romain Rolland, who was once again knocked out of the ground by Chuuya Nakahara, calmly used a rock pull—no, a concrete pull—to pull himself back into the ground, dodging Chuuya Nakahara's gravity kick in a different way, and started running away again.

Only Chuuya Nakahara, his face contorted with rage, was left behind, running wildly behind.

—Romain Rolland, who had already started swimming freestyle, and Chuuya Nakahara, who was furious, passed by one after the other—

Some trouble...

Romain Rolland, swimming in the soil, looked at the wall not far away with a somewhat solemn expression.

Even when Chuuya Nakahara slammed into him once, it didn't change his serious expression.

Not only was Chuuya Nakahara aware of his destructive power, but Romain Rolland was also aware of his escape ability. Frankly speaking, on a flat surface without any obstacles, he absolutely could not outrun that humanoid stone-digging vehicle behind him...

Then we can only deepen our imitation...

Frankly, that would be very uncomfortable, which is why Romain Rolland didn't like that approach.

But we can't do without it now.

Slightly annoyed, he scratched his head. Romain Rolland, who was lying on the ground, began to stir slightly. The sand-like substance that had changed his appearance and body flowed again, and then solidified.

[Celebrity Biographies - Level Two In-Depth Imitation]

"Haa"

Sensing Romain Rolland suddenly surging at fifty miles per hour, Chuuya Nakahara's forehead veins throbbed violently.

For some reason, after chasing Romain Rolland at about 30 miles per hour for half a day, he felt like he was being outmaneuvered by the guy.

With a sudden acceleration, Romain Rolland rushed out of the Port Mafia's building almost instantly. However, Romain Rolland did not flee headfirst; instead, he buried his feet in the ground and stood upright on the ground.

Take a deep breath, and the surging sand within your body continues to flow and shape, gradually building up a structure completely different from your previous body.

[Biographies of Famous People: Simulated Reenactments]

His body suddenly spun around, one foot remaining in place, using his special ability to influence the soil and make himself spin, while the other foot moved as if in water, creating ripples on the ground.

Almost at the same time that Romain Rolland was ready, Chuuya Nakahara kicked open the wall and charged straight at Romain Rolland, who was standing still.

The ever-spinning Romain Rolland ignored Chuuya Nakahara on the other side. Instead, he suddenly used his spinning foot to launch a huge stone ball towards Chuuya Nakahara.

Journey to the Center of the Earth: The Fluid Planet

"You think you can stop me with something like this!"

Feeling underestimated, Chuuya Nakahara also kicked out, sending an even larger rock flying from the ground towards Romain Rolland's stone ball.

"Idiot."

Romain Rolland, whose personality had changed slightly due to his deep imitation, was no longer silent, but openly and frankly made sarcastic remarks.

Of course, Romain Rolland, who was quite serious during the battle, only uttered a curt "idiot" when he was affected, swallowing back the rest of his explanation.

—I wonder if all the celestial models that specifically mention fluids are actually filled with magma inside?

The stone sphere exploded upon impact with the rock, sending a jet of intensely hot magma flying out.

Chuuya Nakahara, who was prepared, suddenly turned pale and his body, which was rushing forward, flew into the air, neatly dodging all the lava, but his expression was very ugly.

On the ground, Romain Rolland, who had simulated "Journey to the Center of the Earth," had once again launched seven or eight "fluid planets" and kicked them toward Chuuya Nakahara.

"You annoying mole!"

After descending a short distance, Chuuya Nakahara kicked a stone ball in front of him with a whip kick, sending the stone ball flying back the instant his ability was activated.

And—that stone ball was kicked back toward Romain Rolland.

Romain Rolland saw it, but made no attempt to hide.

Without dodging or flinching, the entire stone sphere struck Romain Rolland's head head-on, then exploded, splattering a large amount of lava all over him. But Romain Rolland seemed unfazed, continuing to kick the stone sphere despite the lava covering his head without even setting his hair on fire.

Chuuya Nakahara remained expressionless as he watched this scene.

—It's decided, from now on, besides mackerel, the animal he hates most is the mole.