3

At the Adventurers Guild

It was early and the morning at the guild, the two adventurers were eating breakfast after taking a jog around town. Yunyun was still kinda tired trying to match Mark's jogging pace earlier. Now they were talking about the mage girl's clan mate that the soldier boy met yesterday.

"I see. So Megumin is your rival. How nice, having someone to compete with in order to improve each other."

"Hehe. But you see, I never had once won against her." She felt a little embarrassed saying that.

The soldier boy almost choked when he heard that. He saw how powerful Yunyun is already, but always losing every time was just crazy. He wondered what kind of girl Megumin was.

"F-For real? I guess that's understandable. She does have an incredibly powerful spell, I bet she has tons more."

"Nope. She only has that one skill."

"Hm? Only one? Come on, stop joking." Mark laughed upon that hearing that.

Yunyun then replied with a straight face, "I'm not kidding. I'm telling you the truth. She really only knows one skill."

"No way. haha…" Mark tried to laugh at it but saw that Yunyun was serious. "Seriously? Eh?! I mean, How can she go on a normal quest then?!

"That's what I've been telling her before! She's too obsessed with her explosion magic!"

The soldier boy then laughed at that statement. He thought of a way to tease Yunyun with this. "So, Even though that is the only magic she can do, you still lose to her every time? You poor girl."

"That's because she used a dirty trick to throw me off or make rules that always gives her the advantages!" The mage girl snapped at him.

"Joking, just joking. I was just teasing you." Mark gestured his hands to calm her down. He then stood up and decided to go for the quest board. "I'll go and see if there is any good quest today."

Before he could leave the table, Yunyun grabbed his arm and stopped him. She was fidgeting a little with a tint of blush on her face.

"Uhm… Can we not do any quest today? I found the perfect place to practice shooting guns. It's an old archery range that has not been used for a long time. It's near the edge of town and I already asked permission to use it from the guards. And…"

Yunyun was not looking at Mark when she said this. But when she continued, she looked at the boy's eyes and made a cutesy look.

"Can you accompany me later? There are a couple of booths in town. I haven't gone to one yet because there aren't any like that back in my town…"

Mark wore his most powerful poker face. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her do, thinking, 'What the?! That's the most adorable thing I saw in my life! It was a short one, but still!'

"Is that a no?" The mage girl frowned when the soldier didn't reply to her question. Without wasting any moment, Mark replied calmly to hide his reactions.

"Sure. I would love to go with you later." the boy smiled, not showing his excitement.

"Really?! Thank you!" the girl said in a cheery tone.

The two then left the guild and proceeded to the location Yunyun was talking about. It was an abandoned archery range for the guards. They didn't use it anymore due to having a new one. The guards didn't fix the old one because it was too troublesome.

Once they'd arrived, Mark fixed and set up the targets while Yunyun cleaned the place. It was run down, but it was nothing a little effort can't fix. After a few minutes of working together, they finally made the place look presentable.

"Now this is a shooting range." Mark wiped off some sweat. He then prepared the guns for shooting at a table they put. He installed silencers (suppressors) at the Five Seven and M4A1 for it to be quieter. The boy didn't want to disturb any civilians with the noise the guns make. Yunyun barely held her excitement.

"Are these the silencers you told me about?! Can I shoot now?" Yunyun's eyes glittered, admiring the weapons.

"Sure sure. You really had taken a liking to this, huh?" Mark handed the Five Seven to her, then the magazine.

The mage girl loaded the cartridge, "Well yeah. While it does feel good shooting it, the real reason I like it is because of you…" She glanced at the boy for a second before drawing her attention at the target. "Because you showed how great it is!"

The soldier can't help but blush with her words. Even though it had been only a few days after they met, He treasured every second of those moments being with her. His first friend in this world, and maybe even his old world too.

Mark supervised Yunyun all the way, noticing her aim was hitting her mark more accurately than before. After finishing shooting with the pistol and rifle, he thought that he would also teach her how to use a flash grenade.

"Good progress, now let's try these." Mark gave her a flash grenade in her palm, then instructed how to use it.

"Okay!" Yunyun said confidently. She did what she was told and threw it properly. The only thing she forgot is to look away, blinding her for a moment. "Ouch! My Eyes!"

Mark scolded Yunyun for forgetting and tried again. The second one was more successful. After spending all four flash grenades, Marks decided to finish up training for today.

"Eh?! But I see one more flash grenade attached to you." Yunyun pointed at the object she was talking about. Mark grabbed it and showed it to Yunyun.

"Ah. This is not a flash grenade but an air support marker for an "Air Strike". This pops a purple smoke which signals the AC-130 to fire a barrage on its location." Mark explained further.

Yunyun was confused with the new words she heard, "Airstrike? AC-130? What are those?" tilting her head a little.

"It's much faster to just show you, but I can't right now because it will draw too much attention to us. Next time I'll show it to you." Mark scratched his head.

Yunyun nodded and didn't push further. After fixing their things, they proceeded to town to the stalls. They saw different kinds of booths ranging to food, drinks and games. Mark was immediately attracted to a familiar aroma he smelled. He sniffed in the air, trying to look for the source.

"I knew it, they have shish kebab here." Mark found the source and placed an order. "Four please."

"Here. Be careful, it's hot." the vendor handed the kebab. Mark then gave the other two to Yunyun and looked for other stalls. The next thing they ate was a candy apple, which was to Yunyun's liking.

After the food stall, the next thing they tried were the games. The first was a shooting gallery using a boy. Yunyun tried her luck but didn't land a single hit.

"Not your strong suit, huh?" the man in charge said, before offering another try which Yunyun denied. Mark was next to try and shocked the man. A direct hit.

"I still got it." Mark waiting for the prize.

"Wait a minute young sir! It says right here, no archers or sharp shooting skills! You have…" The man was cut off by Mark.

"I'm not an archer, nor used any skill. I simply know how to use it." Mark informed and even showed him his guild card. Which made the man in charge believe. He gave the prize with no choice.

Mark then gave the prize to Yunyun. It was a stuffed doll of a creature that the soldier boy had never seen before. It didn't end there, he continued to go for other stalls and won them all. The mage girl received all the prizes, making her hold a lot of stuff.

They then stopped at a nearby bench to rest, sitting beside each other. Yunyun then called out Mark as she was hugging the first prize she got from him.

"Mark. Thank you for accompanying me here and giving me these prizes. I really appreciate it!" Yunyun smiled wholeheartedly.

"Y-You're welcome. And you were the one who invited me, I should be the one thanking you." Mark replied with a slight embarrassment. The girl then went silent for a moment before saying another word. The boy felt a sudden change in the atmosphere.

"Uhm… Are you really okay with this!? Okay being with me… I'm not holding you back, am I? You could be partying with other people, but you still endure hanging around with me…" Yunyun's face started to look sad as she continued.

"You see, I don't have many friends. People tend to avoid me naturally, even animals. I started to think I'm a cursed child or something, but when you came along I no longer felt like that. Listening to my boring stories, joining me on dangerous quests and even teaching me new things. I felt really happy!" The girl's face started to tear up, hurting the boy's conscience.

"But when I think about that you were doing this because you felt pity in me and was forcing yourself to go with me, I…" Yunyun didn't finish, she only felt a tight hug around her. Mark was embracing her, leaving her at a loss of words.

"You idiot! Of course I don't think of you that way!" Mark then pulled back from his embrace and held her on both her shoulders. "Have you ever seen me look like I was forcing myself to go with you? I enjoy your stories, going on quests with you, teaching you things… I enjoy being with you!"

Yunyun almost couldn't breath when he said that. Mark on the other hand was so embarrassed that he felt like dying, but still he manned up and kept on. "I was like you, no friends and being avoided. But when I'd met you, that changed. I hope we continue our partnership."

Mark reached out his hand, offering it to her. It was his sign to let her know that he will continue being companions. Yunyun took his offer, beaming with happiness. Before any of the two could speak again, they noticed that they attracted quite a few people.

The crowd were whispering to each other, talking about the two. The two decided to go back to the inn due to the uneasiness. As they stood up and walked away, they kept their distance to one another because of the awkwardness they feel.

When they arrived in front of the door, Yunyun spoke to him before going inside. "I feel a little tired, I'll see you tomorrow then." She waved to him as she closed the door.

Mark entered his room too after waving back. But he didn't feel tired at all. In fact, he can't even rest for now. It only just got dark so he decided to go back to the guild for a light dinner. He left his rifle and pistol at his room, hidden of course, and took his shotgun along with him.

At the Adventurers guild, Mark sat on an empty sit and ordered some food. He could see the place was more active in the evening. As he was eating, he couldn't help but notice some adventurers were problemed by something as they talked to Luna, a staff of the guild.

"Can't any higher adventurers go on this quest?" a young man complained to Luna. He has a slender body, blonde hair, and a black mole under his left eye.

"There aren't many around here, remember Dust? This is the town of beginnings." Luna informed the young man, named Dust.

"But still, you can't expect us to investigate a owlbear sighting. Even if it is just a small one, there could be more of them with it." another adventurer protested. He was tall, had short brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a headband, a sleeveless shirt with a necktie, a pauldron armor on the shoulder, trousers and leather boots. He carried a large sword.

"Not you too Taylor. I'll be troubled if no one accepts this quest… Ah!" Luna spotted the soldier boy in her sight. "I know! Why don't let Mark accompany you? He's quite strong even though he just is a beginner."

The four adventurers that Luna was talking to all looked at him. Dust then walked over to Mark's table and spoke. "Ah, this guy. I heard of him. He killed three rookie killers on his first day. But he was with the strong mage girl right? I bet she weakened them all and he just made the last hit."

Mark stood up from his sitting position, noticing that height difference between him and Dust. He was taller than him and only a little shorter than Taylor. He went and asked Luna a question. "Uhm? What seems to be the problem here?"

"You see, there had been a report of owlbear being spotted in the west woods. They say it was still small, but still can't leave it alone." Luna informed him.

"Owlbear?" Mark wondered.

"You see that! He doesn't know what an Owlbear is." Dust laughed at Mark as he explained what it is, "Listen, an Owlbear is a powerful creature which resembles a cross between a bear and a horned owl. Both wise and ferocious."

A female adventurer joined in the conversation. She is a young attractive girl with a very childish face who has vibrant green eyes and brown hair. She has free-flowing bangs and long straight hair which she ties into a ponytail.

"I was wondering though, what are they doing this far away from their home? They are usually good-tempered and wise, hating all undead and evil beings, which is nowhere near here." The girl said.

"Lean is right. But what I'm most worried about is that they are more hostile recently. It's bad enough they are strong, but they can use wind magic too!" The fourth party member said. He appears to be a fit young man with black hair and black eyes. His outfit consists of a long, black coat with white furs.

"Right Keith? So I doubt a newbie like him can handle it." Dust said while making fun of the soldier boy.

Mark didn't mind the insults. He was curious about how powerful these Owlbears are. He verified the party member's class and their equipment.

'Taylor the Crusader, Keith the Archer, Lean the Wizard, and Dust the Warrior. They looked like an abled team, and Taylor seemed to be the leader.' Mark thought.

"Okay! I'll join you in this quest." Mark announced, shocking the party. Luna was happy to hear that.

"Splendid! I'll arrange everything then" Luna rejoiced as she headed back to her station.

Taylor then approached the soldier boy and said, "Look, I appreciate the help but this is dangerous. I can't promise that I can protect you."

"It's okay, I can handle myself quite well in a battle." Mark said confidently.

"If you say so." The leader had no choice but to trust Mark's word.

Dust doubted the soldier boy, "You can't be serious?! He will only drag us down!" He looked at Taylor's face saying there is no choice. He looked at his other team mate and saw the same. He gave up on the idea stopping Mark from coming, giving him a pissed off face.

"Tsk. Let's go"

The West Woods

Mark and the other four party members. Walked through the night in the forest. It was dark with only little light reflected by the Moon. Taylor and Dust were in front of the group. Mark and Lean were in the middle while Keith was at the back. Taylor and Lean held torches to light their path. Mark however didn't need it. He was wearing his newly made device.

It was night vision goggles made with his "Daily Military Needs" skill. Mark was also checking to see if the equipment he brought is okay. He was currently holding his Model 1887, loaded with a new type of shells called "Slugs." His second weapon was the German Submachine gun, "MP5". It was equipped with a red-dot sight.

The party was currently informing Mark their names and class. Lean then asked Mark his. "So Mark, what are you great at in battle?"

"Well, not that I am boasting, but Spec Ops tends to have a wide range of capabilities. But if I was to be more specific, I am a range type of guy." Mark presumed.

"Oh! I think we'll get along just fine." Keith gave Mark a thumbs up.

"That's good, we have a balanced party then. Two front liners, two ranged, and a support mage." Taylor observed. Dust hasn't said a word for a while.

Without any warning, something large and fast came rushing at the leader. Taylor reacted in the nick of time, drawing his swords and blocking the set of claws that almost got him. It was the Owlbear that they were after. It stood one and half meters high.

"Dust!" Taylor called for help. Dust charged at the beast with his swords but it quickly backed away. The crusader was glad that it did. It almost overpowered him.

"That's it alright, good thing it's still small. Must be a young one." Dust identified the beast while making a defensive stance.

"We need to come up with a plan! Arrows won't work on…" Keith didn't finish as he saw a massive flash of light followed by a loud thunderous sound.

BANG! Chkchk

The Owlbear's skull exploded, killing it in an instant. The four adventurers were shocked to see the dead beast going down so fast. They turned to the source of the death, Mark. He was still aiming at the beast while smoke escaped from the barrel.

"That's it? What a let down. I guess that's what you expect for shooting a slug at 5 meters." Mark sadly said. He then looked at his party mates with a paralyzed look. "What?" he asked.

"You just killed that thing in one shot." Taylor pointing at the dead Owlbear.

Dust on the other hand was sweating bullets. He just realized he was making fun of the guy who one shooted an Owlbear earlier. Before he could speak, Keith alerted them on something.

"Hey guys! I hear something coming our way… Something big!" Keith warned as he drew his bow. The sound was followed by a slight shaking in the earth, meaning it was footsteps made by a large creature. As it got closer to them, they saw trees falling down from the direction of the noise.

A strong wind blew at their faces as the trees in front of them were cut clean of, revealing three, two meter tall, Owlbears. But what terrified them even more was the five meter Owlbear standing behind the other three beasts. To make matters worse, the largest one was wearing some leather armor.

"Oh Sh… An enraged Owlbear!" Dust screamed before running away along with the other team members.

Mark shot at the largest beast but with little effect. So he concentrated on the other three and fired at them. But he was having a hard time doing because the beasts were chasing after them.

"Guys! I need someone to distract the big guy so that I can kill the other three!" Mark said while bringing out his other gun.

"Are you crazy?! Who would be in the right mind…" Dust got cut off by Keith.

"I'll do it! I trust that you have a plan, right?" Keith then turned around and fired an arrow at the large beast. He went a different direction, in which the Enraged Owlbear followed.

"I'll help him!" Taylor then followed the archer, leaving the other three other party members to face the other three beasts.

As the three Owlbear came closer, Mark planted a claymore down in front of him and moved back further. He aimed his SMG at the closest beasts and opened fire.

A Continuous popping sound was heard as it hailed bright flashes at the end of the muzzle. It hit the Owlbear, weakening it but was not enough to stop it's charge.

"Hey! What are you doing?! That's not enough to kill it!" Dust shouted at Mark as the beasts were almost in front of him.

BOOM!

The Owlbear that was closest to them didn't reach him, instead it blew up into chunks.

"It exploded?!" Dust didn't know what's going on anymore.

The second and third Owlbear was just a few meters behind the first and was still rushing on the attack. Mark switched to his shotgun and aimed for the second beasts.

BANG! (chkchk) BANG! (chkchk) BANG!

The slugs hit the beasts' heart, stomach and brain, rendering it dead. But the third was already just beside it. It was already five feet in front of Mark. He didn't have time to reload the shotgun and he also didn't reload the SMG when he switched guns. He was defenseless.

"Lightning!"

Lean casted her intermediate spell on the Owlbear. It was not enough to kill it due to having magical resistance, but it was enough to stun it for a few seconds.

"Thank Lean!" Mark expressed his gratitude. Without wasting any time, he threw a frag at the beast and ran away. He grabbed Dust because he was just close to him.

"Hey! What's your…" Dust was once again cut off by a loud sound.

BOOM!

The third Owlbear also exploded. Dust saw it happen and was really freaking out. "What will all the explosions!"

"No time to explain! We need to help the other two, they won't last long against the thing." Mark explained. Dust and Lean just nodded and followed.

After running to direction the two went, they could see trails of destruction left by the humongous beast. Worried for the safety of his party mates, Mark ran ahead faster, leaving Dust and Lean behind.

"He's fast!" the two said, admiring Mark's speed.

When Mark saw the Enraged Owlbear, he was shocked to see Taylor was just in front of it. Taylor was dodging it's attacks all the time while Keith didn't even damage it. The ground and trees were destroyed from the force of the beasts attack. The Spec Ops ran towards the Crusader when he saw the Owlbeast preparing for a powerful attack.

"Move!" He just got in time to push away Taylor. But unfortunately he was caught in the attack. It was a giant claw slash that even cut all the trees behind Mark within forty meters.

"Argh!" Mark screamed, breaking his body armor.

"Mark!" The rest of the team shouted.

Surprisingly Mark was left uninjured, his armor took all the damage before it was destroyed. But he still felt the pain of getting slashed. 'I knew it. Even though I was unharmed, It felt even worse than getting shot.'

"You got me good there. I know you see great in the dark, then how about this!" Mark threw a flashbang at its face. "Everyone! Close your eyes!" His party members, except Dust, followed his command.

"Eh? Why…" Dust tried to ask but got his answer immediately in a painful way. "AAGGH! My eyes!" He bawled as he rolled around in pain. The Owlbear did a ear-busting shriek.

Before the Owlbear could recover, Mark used the opportunity to kill the beast. He ran to its legs and stuck an "Airstrike" marker on its leather armor. Purple smoke came out of it while Mark ran away.

"Get back everyone! Don't get anywhere near it." Mark shouted, even though without doing so, they will.

The Enraged Owlbear was slowly gaining it's sights back. He saw the blur figure of Mark and tried to follow it. But it only made two steps before something hit it.

(whistling sounds) BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A bombardment of cannon shells was directed at the Owlbear. The first shot instantly killed it and rest was just overkill. Mince meat of the remains of the beasts were scattered all around. Mark however was only looking at the sky, staring at the AC-130 that did all this, before disappearing.

"Hmm… Okay, let's go back!" Mark announced and then walked back towards town. The rest of them just nodded and silently followed. They gawked upon the mess the soldier boy made.

They had seen powerful adventurer's before, even larger explosions. But none were quite like his. What made it even more terrifying is that he was only a beginner. They thought what else could he do when he got stronger.

'Scary!' they thought in unison.

Adventurers Guild

"He killed an Enraged Owlbear?" Luna gasped upon hearing the story that just happened. "And what's more is that he killed all of them?" She was still a little unconvinced, but she can't deny the fact it was written on his card as proof.

At this time, Mark was already back at his room in the inn after reporting the completion of the quest. The party members he partnered up with stayed back in the inn further described the events.

"It was crazy! He keeps blowing them up and I didn't even see how he did it!" Dust telling the other adventurers in the guild while drinking.

"Come on Dust, you're pulling our legs here. There's no way a rookie did all those." a fellow adventurer contradicted.

"Nope, those were all true." Taylor confirmed, having a serious look at his face. "And that's the most shocking part. He withstood a direct hit from a power slash from the Enraged Owlbear, and walked away unscathed."

The adventurers around fell silent. "If Taylor said so, it must be true then." One of the adventures said.

"Now now. Even though he killed all of them and we barely helped him, Mark decided two share the reward evenly. All of the Owlbear was worth at least 10 million eris. So we each got 2 million eris." Lean told the good side of Mark.

"That's great! But even so, I wouldn't want to party up with someone as amazing as him. I would only get in their way." Another adventure spoke up. The rest seemed to agree with him.

This was the night that he was named "too op and scary rookie". Mark wasn't aware of this.

END of Chapter

Mark's Overview

Current Level: 17

Basic Skills:

*Soldier's Daily Needs

*Refill Ammo

*Refill Ammo 2 (Can equip different types of ammo)

*Gun (Can use guns)

*Shooter (Great shooting skills)

*Sadist (Regain mana depending on killed enemy)

Spec Ops Skills:

*Weapons Armory

-Weapon attachments

-Five Seven

-Model 1887

-M4A1

-MP5

*Equipment Armory

-Frag

-Flash Grenade

-Claymore

-Body Armor (Intakes Damage, Still feels pain)

-Self Revive (Will go into a bleedout state instead of dying. Will be back to full health if somehow killed an enemy in a bleedout state.)

*Air Support Armory

-Predator Strike

-Air Strike

*Perks

-Extreme Conditioning (Sprint twice longer)

-Sleight of Hand (Faster Reload)

Current Eris: 3,789,302.25

See you again in the next chapter and stay safe guys!