AN: H3ctic. Helped edited this chapter. Credits to him! :)

New Objective: Hunting

(30 Minutes earlier)

Kazuma, Aqua and Megumin met up with Darkness the next morning at the cafeteria, mainly to discuss a few things about their living conditions. It was starting to get cramped (it was only a two bedroom unit, and Megumin already took the couch), meaning that Darkness would have to sleep on the floor.

She accepted the living conditions, but refused the conditions that she had to pay the rent of 3500Ks, mainly due to her financial assets being frozen from the paperwork error.

"How about I offer you my services instead?" Darkness stated.

"What type of services exactly?" Kazuma asked, subtly gazing towards her chest again.

"I'm an armed contractor, and I fought in Iraq before," she elaborated, "I can keep your group safe in these hard times."

'This seems like a good deal,' Kazuma thought. He looked at his other roommates, both of which looked to agree with the terms.

"Alright, we accept," Kazuma stated, shaking her hand, "Although may I ask why you want to provide those services? Because we did have a bad run in with the chedaki after all…"

"Kazuma!" Aqua whispered harshly, making Kazuma realise his choice of words.

"That just makes it even better!" Darkness blurted out, slamming a hand on the table as she started panting, "The chedaki have always been notorious for their record of brutality, and being captured will surely result in a humiliating fate for someone like me… That alone makes the job worthwhile!"

"…I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Kazuma stated, sharing the looks of confusion with Aqua and Megumin.

"Besides, my task is to prevent innocent citizens like you!"

'She seems awfully eager to get into it… Are contractors not in it for money only?'

"Honestly, we all hope your services won't be needed," Kazuma stated, albeit more reluctantly than before, "But otherwise my group seems happy to have you-"

"Thank you Kazuma!" Darkness exclaimed again, taking the poor lad back into her marshmallow hell again.

'She is soft, but why does it have to be like this?' Kazuma thought, raising his hands in surrender. Mainly so he can breathe again…

(Later…)

Darkness had agreed to go hunting with Kazuma that day, as part of 'offering her services'. After a half hour window of everyone getting properly dressed and geared, they would head out. The group talked about leaving Megumin behind, but she managed to convince them to take her along as she stated that being left behind is the greatest insult to a team member, which caused everyone to relent.

The group had reached the town at around 9 AM, much slower than expected given the amount of hills the car needed to traverse. Apparently the Skoda really doesn't like inclines (especially with four people crammed inside with all their guns), and it made a dull groaning sound from the motor as they struggled to get past 30km/h. The occasional tractor didn't help matters either, as passing them was a chore given how the sedan was only slightly faster than them when going up a hill.

The hunting area in question was a town named Chuderov, some ten kilometers north of their hometown. Despite the agricultural allegations, the town looked rather modern, with a small housing block and commercial area. Surprisingly enough, there was even a car dealership around, and they had a number of new BMW cars parked in the lot.

'Who buys BMWs in the middle of nowhere, anyways?' Kazuma thought as he left the car. They had found an unoccupied dirt patch to leave the vehicle.

Aqua had agreed to carry the Rachot*, as Kazuma stated that it was too heavy for him to carry all the time. In return, they had to split a third of the earnings with the goddess, as 'good pack mules do not work for free'. In turn, Kazuma had to carry six of the 50-round boxes for the machine gun, but the boy primarily complained at the logic of taking all 550 bullets with them to go hunting.

Darkness was offered to borrow Aqua's PB for defensive purposes, an offer which she had turned down. This is due to Darkness possessing a huge arsenal at hand, even for a private military contractor. For this instance, the storage cases she brought in the car contained an M4A1 rifle with a futuristic looking scope*, and a USP .45 as her sidearm. Additionally, she had taken various pieces of field gear on her person such as hand grenades, smoke bombs, a bulletproof vest and even an M320 grenade launcher. She still claimed that this wasn't the entire arsenal, and that the rest was with Wiz, much to everyone's disbelief. She could obtain an arsenal of prohibited weapons that large, yet she can't obtain proper paperwork…

All of this firepower was rather overkill for the mission at hand: They were to clear out a portion of the forested area behind the farmlands of the town. The main issue was with the brown bears strewing the trash around, and livestock being attacked by foxes and wolves. To a lesser extent, deer were damaging the crops as they were still growing (It was around mid spring). The locals were insistent that the animals be kept relatively intact, and that they would pay them extra for doing so (Meat and hides).

The plan for the mission was fairly simple. Aqua would carry the Uk 59 into position (with as little noise as possible), while Kazuma would pick off any suspecting game with a few well placed shots. Darkness would be their backup in case something goes hairy, as she claims that her 'stopping methods'* would likely ruin any chance of the animal being used for meat or skin. Granted none of them had hunting experience, but they all figured that if they were quiet enough, it should work out…

"Hey! What about me?" Megumin complained, upon realising that her name was not included in the plans.

"You have the most important job of all," Kazuma started, trying to think of something useful to assign to the self proclaimed explosives expert, "You get to count tally of all the things we stack up!"

"Huh?" Megumin responded, with an utterly unimpressed expression.

"It's not so bad, in fact not even goddess Aqua can do that job correctly," Kazuma reminded her.

"Hey! I'm right here you know!" Aqua complained, "Anyone can count-"

"Yet you still overspent your pocket money by 200Ks the last time we went to the strip mall"

"But that's a different story!" Aqua cried, "It was Pilsen beer we were talking about, so it was worth the 310Ks overcharge!"

'I will get back to this one later…' Kazuma mentally fumed.

"I am Megumin! The most powerful of Arch Wizards, I command only the most powerful of Explosion magic! I shall not take a second seat as the world plunges into chaos!" Megumin chanted to Kazuma, reaching into the back seat of the car and pulling out the M320*, "Besides, we still have an extra gun laying around…"

"Oi, don't point that around!" Kazuma exclaimed, trying to disarm Megumin as gently as possible, "Besides, Darkness owns that piece-"

"I can teach her how to use it," Darkness stated.

"I thought you were on my side, dammit!" Kazuma exclaimed.

"You know, people didn't fix dirty hands by not using them," Darkness elaborated, "But rather in teaching people how to wash them-"

With a dull 'pang', Kazuma heard something whiz past his left ear. At this, he turned around to see Megumin still holding the grenade launcher, although with some white smoke now coming out the barrel.

"…Whoops!" she blurted, as the grenade exploded a few hundred meters back.

….

Apparently, Darkness had 'forgotten' to unload the launcher. While she has indeed admitted to being clumsy at times in forgetting the safety, she also pointed out that she had a tendency of carrying things 'cocked and locked'* as a habit of sleeping in dangerous areas while on duty, something which has been carried over to the grenade launcher. Nonetheless, Megumin's little scuffle convinced Kazuma to let Darkness properly educate their fellow teammate on the weapon; if she can't control the habit of firing it, they might as well teach her how to do it safely…

As a result, they sidetracked away from the forest, taking time to find a fairly open area nearby that wasn't a farmer's field. There were a couple of trees here and there down the distance to use as targets as Darkness had Megumin fire off a few rounds with the butt stock and strap now installed onto the launcher.

"Alright, what do you do now?" Darkness stated as Megumin just fired off a grenade.

"Safety on," she repeated, flicking on the safety.

"Good, now what?"

"Unload," Megumin continued, popping open the breech to the side, ejecting the empty grenade casing.

"Continue…" Darkness said, handing over another 40mm grenade.

"…grenade in, breech locked…" Megumin mumbled, inserting the grenade and closing the breach.

"Mm…"

"…Safety off, and now… Explosion!"

With that she pressed the trigger, and the grenade was launched out the barrel with a dull 'pang'. It sailed out into the field for a few seconds before hitting the ground and exploding with a fairly loud bang, kicking up a small puff of white smoke and dust.

"Good stuff, you're getting the hang of this," Darkness smiled, handing Megumin another grenade as she properly repeated the loading process, "How about hitting that tree over there?"

"You got it!"

"Oi, aren't those things expensive?" Kazuma asked, noticing that Megumin had fired off almost a dozen grenades already.

"Sort of," Darkness shrugged, "Wiz sells them for around 400Ks normally, but I'm sure she'll give them to you for less… Plus we have a large stock still laying around"

"What if it runs out?"

"Won't be happening anytime soon, especially with Takistan right next door…"

"Huh? Takistan?" Kazuma questioned.

"Oh yeah, that's a country just west of Chernarus," Aqua elaborated, "They have large stocks of western military equipment even after the monarchy was deposed. Their economy is in a bit of a recession right now, and many soldiers sell their weapons to make ends meet…"

'So this whole region is plagued with bad financial decisions…'

"Say, I heard that ION was planning to extend their security contracts to Takistan as well…" Darkness remarked, while handing Megumin another grenade, "But either way, that's your last one for today… we still have a job at hand"

"You got it," Megumin remarked, setting the noob tube* down, "We still need to do this again sometime."

"Please don't," Kazuma pleaded to himself.

"Huh?"

"I mean, how long do those things last before they need to be replaced?"

"Personally speaking, the barrels get destroyed before they wear out*, so it's fine," Darkness shrugged, "Besides, we still have at least a few spare parts laying around with Wiz"

'This better not get out of hand…'

"Say Kazuma, we never got around how the gun works yesterday…" Aqua pointed out.

"…shit"

They were supposed to ask Wiz for help yesterday, something which had gone over their head as they were trying to nab some food and get a deal on cleaning materials.

"Huh? That's easy sauce…"

Depressing the latch on the pistol grip while squeezing the trigger, Darkness pushed the grip forwards, then backwards. Then she pulled the belt through the receiver until it made an audible click.

"…And now it's ready"

(break)

Weapons now ready (along with scratching a certain explosive expert's itch), the group now headed back towards the wooded area behind the farms. Apparently the farmers had some of their livestock stolen in the past few days, and wolves were spotted in the general direction they were travelling in. Luckily the brush wasn't too dense nor was the ground too muddy, making it easier to travel with less noise (and not alert any potential prey).

About ten minutes into the trek Kazuma signalled the group to stop. Through an open area in the tall grass, he spotted a group of around five wolves some fifty meters away, enjoying a meal of what appeared to be a farmer's pig. Darkness had already moved out the line towards another opening in the grass nearby.

"Megumin, stay back from this one," Kazuma ordered, gesturing towards a tree some fifteen meters back, "Aqua-"

The goddess seems to have taken matters into her own hands at the moment- being a short distance beside Kazuma, she had already taken aim at the first wolf she spotted and fired a three shot burst before proceeding to dump a good half of the belt into the other four while sweeping the gun a little. She appeared to have hit three of them, with the remaining two hurriedly running off at this intervention.

Kazuma immediately dropped to the ground, clutching his ears in pain. The gun barrel was too close, and a mix of the sound and the overpressure left his ears ringing like hell and his sense of balance slightly disorientated when he tried to stand up immediately.

"AQUA!" Kazuma shouted, retrieving the earplugs from his shirt pocket.

"WHAT?" Aqua returned, putting the gun down.

"WE FORGOT OUR EARPLUGS!"

"…WHAT?"

It looks like it was going to be a while before the goddess can hear again. Kazuma physically guided her to a nearby tree to have her sit down for now.

"Aqua, your earplugs!" he repeated again, pointing towards her shirt pockets and gesturing towards his ears.

"HUH? NO WAY!" Aqua shouted back, "I CAN HARDLY HEAR RIGHT NOW, THAT WOULD MAKE IT EVEN HARDER"

"Hey, could you guys tell her to put in her earplugs after her hearing comes back?" Kazuma sighed, gesturing towards Aqua for his teammates, to which they nodded.

"Also, get Megumin some protection too, I don't want her getting caught up with Aqua," Kazuma ordered, picking up the gun (As he felt that his hearing has returned enough to carry on), "I'll take her point from here…"

….

With that, Kazuma checked the wolves Aqua just shot. The first and second one received only one and three shots in the neck to body area, but the third one had at least eight holes in the body and the head was unidentifiable, meaning that they had to write this one off in terms of selling it (and probably use it as bait instead). After returning the other two carcasses to their 'safe area', Kazuma continued into the wooded area to continue their deed.

Five minutes of marching later yielded Kazuma getting caught into some waist height grass and thick brush. Kazuma cursed at his misfortune when he stepped on a twig, hearing sounds of grass and bush rustling in front of him. The sound probably scared off his prey, yet much to his surprise he saw a glimpse of something move at the edge of his peripheral vision. Quickly aiming at the opening in front of him, he proceeded to fire a burst, causing the brownish-red silhouette to fall out of his sight.

Gingerly making his way to where the color fell, Kazuma found a fairly large buck laying in the grass, if the antlers were to tell. It had received two shots to the head and one to the neck, with the rest of the body being intact. Kazuma smiled at his luck, but then quickly realised that he had to haul this back. He better get paid well for this, lugging the gun and seven boxes of ammunition through the forest was heavy enough as it was.

'I should probably get some help…' Kazuma thought as he got out of the shrub before hearing an ever familiar shriek from a particular goddess.

"Kazuma-san! Kazuma-san!" Aqua wailed in the distance, and although Kazuma wasn't able to see her he could tell that she was fairly close, "Please help, Kazuma!"

"What's going on-" Kazuma started, before seeing Aqua emerge through a small bush and a large brown blob behind her.

'Holy shit! Brown bear!'

Kazuma's heart raced. It was their first attempt at hunting and already they had run into one of the most dangerous animals for any hunter to encounter. Although this one did not appear to be chasing Aqua at full speed, it was still following her and it was huge, making it a threat regardless.

"Aqua! Don't run towards me, dammit!" Kazuma shouted as he tried to aim his gun, only to discover that Aqua was taking up most of his aiming work.

"Please, Kazuma! I'll treat you!"

'Like you ever had any consideration for spending my money…'

Quickly looking around, Kazuma saw a fairly tall rock, almost as tall as him. There was still some distance between him and Aqua, meaning that he had enough time to climb and take aim over the ever pitiful goddess. Besides, where was Darkness…?

"Aqua! Please slow down!" Darkness ordered, emerging from the bush a short moment later with Megumin, "I can't get a safe* shot off!"

"KAZUMAAA-"

At this point, Aqua had tripped on a log and fell face first into the grass just in front of the rock. Kazuma had already climbed the rock at this point and had a clear shot of the bear, while Darkness finally got a proper side shot. Kazuma held down the trigger until the gun clicked dry (Nearly knocking him over from the recoil force) while Darkness tried to get some follow up from the side. Granted Kazuma did a very un-recommended move in terms of proper fire control, but at that distance it was hard to miss.

Fortunately their efforts seemed to have worked, as the animal collapsed forwards onto Aqua in a heap.

"Oi! Aqua!"

The group was now trying to dig their fellow goddess out of the carcass. With everyone pulling, they were able to create enough free space to allow Aqua to crawl out from underneath. Unfortunately, she was covered in blood, given the amount of times the bear was shot and the fact that it collapsed right over her.

"T-thank you, Kazuma…" Aqua sobbed, pulling herself into the young man and burying her face into his shirt, "Thank you so much!"

'She smells disgusting!' Kazuma thought.

"You know, I wouldn't mind being covered with that stuff as well…"

"Huh?" Kazuma turned towards Darkness.

"Nothing!"

(Later)

The group decided to head back to the town given the turn of events. Aqua was completely soaked in gore (a portion of which was shared with Kazuma), and they had no means of recovering even the deer from the brush. They might as well tell the town-folk where they left their hunt, as they were not collecting it for themselves anyways.

"I'm a goddess, and look at how I've been defiled!" Aqua complained, trying to wipe her hands off with the few clean spots on her pants, "If the Axis faith members see me, I'll surely lose their support!"

'Axis faith? Was that some cult of hers?' Kazuma thought, 'Besides, Aqua is literally the last person to be commended for godliness…'

"Huh? Axis faith?" Both Megumin and Darkness asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah, she gets carried away like that, don't mind her…"

"But it's true!"

Luckily for Kazuma, the group seemed to not buy into Aqua's banter and was trying not to snicker. Aqua grumbled in defeat at the fact she wasn't believed.

Nearing the village, Kazuma paused as he got a glimpse through the path leading up to the road. There was a green jeep parked in the roadway with a poorly spray-painted black and red star, with two masked men wearing green and white camouflage idling nearby. Both of them were armed with what appeared to be Kalashnikov style rifles, and there were a small group of villagers kneeled over next to them.

"Kazuma? What's wrong?" Aqua asked.

"There's two armed men in the way," Kazuma whispered matter of factly, "And it appears that they are holding some villagers hostage or something…"

"Let me check it out…" Darkness stated, peeking out towards the roadway. Her eyes widened at the sight.

"This is not good," she whispered to the group, "It looks like they're about to execute those villagers or something."

Kazuma's eyes widened, "What? Why?"

"I don't know, but the most common excuse for such an event occurring is that they're partisans," Darkness shook her head, "I've seen this happen before, and it won't be pretty…"

"What should we do?"

"We should take them out," she declared while taking aim, "Kazuma, you get the one on the left, I'll get the right one. If we're quick, they won't-"

Once again, Aqua decided to take matters into her own hands, charging out of the bush before everyone was ready. The two gunmen had noticed her presence by now, and turned their attention away from the villagers by now. Aqua was faster, and while her aim was off, she managed to put two shots into the one on the left, causing him to drop his weapon as he fell to the ground. Darkness had followed up to Aqua by now, and popped a few shots into the second man, and despite not hitting him, caused him to flee.

"Aqua, what the heck was that?!" Kazuma scolded. They weren't even done the plan and she already jumped to action…

"I thought I was helping out!"

'I swear she will be the end of us one day or another…'

The villagers got up, grateful that they were rescued. They had told them that the chedaki had arrived in a truck and several jeeps, some of which had mounted heavy weapons. They had also told them that the militia groups were on the way to relieve the town, and that if they could join in the action right now they could prevent much of the town's resources from being pillaged (along with being rewarded for their efforts).

"Very well," Darkness stated in comprehension, "Kazuma, the guy over there dropped his weapon. You should probably take it as an increase for firepower…"

"And Megumin, take these," Darkness continued, pulling out a few more 40mm grenades, "If they try to grab you or something, just shoot them with the launcher. They won't explode at close range, and it's like hitting them with an extreme fastball*. Got it?"

Megumin nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation as she pocketed the shots. Kazuma was a bit uneasy, but still armed himself with the carbine (AKS-74U) on the fallen enemy, along with cramming three of the magazines into the pouches on his waist.

"Let's move"

Objective Cancelled: Hunting

New Objective: Eliminate the ChDKZ* presence in the town

The group split in two, at opposite sides of the road. They moved quickly until they got to near the town, taking cover in a nearby bush. From here they had a view of the west road entering the town, which an open topped machine gun jeep was driving down and into the town.

"I got the gunner, you get the driver!" Kazuma ordered, taking aim.

"Mhm!"

Aqua had immediately started firing into the hull of the jeep upon hearing this. The jeep machine-gunner was unable to spot them immediately, but still fired a few bursts into the general direction where the gunfire was coming from. Kazuma managed to shut him down with a quick burst, causing him to collapse back into the jeep as it continued driving into another parked car down the road.

"We should make our way across to the car," Kazuma reminded, looking around before walking onto the road, "Stay alert"

"Here they come…!" Aqua shouted, resting the machine gun bipod on a nearby parked car.

A group of maybe seven or so masked men was now approaching down the road, probably going to investigate what happened to the jeeps, or having received the message from the one guy that escaped from the jeep earlier. Aqua had already started clattering away with the Uk 59, forcing the group to break up behind the few parked cars at the T-intersection. Darkness took the opportunity to move up into an alley and off the road, taking cover behind the building's wall.

"Megumin, get into the other alley!" Kazuma barked, grabbing the girl's hand as he moved forwards, "We need to get off the street!"

The opposing squad had began to return fire at this point, with the distinct clatter of the AK-47 rifle and the occasional sharp cracking of the more modern AK-74, although he did also hear several distinctive pops of something similar to a lower caliber weapon like the PM. Kazuma felt a concrete fragment ricochet sharply off his leg, prompting him to shove Megumin into the alley as he hastily dove forwards. Being unsure if he was safe or not, Kazuma crouched deeper into the alley than he probably should have, given how loud the 'crack' was when the bullets flew past his position. He peeked out again to fire his carbine when he noticed that Darkness was firing short bursts at the enemy, determining that the attention was now directed towards the contractor now. It was now that he noticed that the enemy was firing somewhat erratically, with at least three of them seeming to be frantically sweeping their rifles around on full auto.

Aqua had just gotten ready to fire again, given that she had burned through a box of 7.62 already, and managed to strike one of them in the leg in the first burst as the round penetrated the car, producing a pronounced streak of crimson. The man collapsed onto the ground, screaming in pain at the wound inflicted.

"Aqua, move up to that other car!" Darkness ordered, gesturing towards the vehicle, "Kazuma and I will cover!"

"Got it!"

Both Kazuma and Darkness fired quick bursts, peeking out the wall and back. Once the clatter from the machine gun came up again, Darkness quickly reloaded her rifle and ran to the next available form of cover, this time a yellow fire hydrant next to a chain linked patch of grass. Kazuma took aim again, now steadying his aim against the wall as he fired a burst at a man popping up from behind the car hood, and while the rounds merely got absorbed into the front end of the vehicle, it forced his opponent to keep his head down. He had comprehended the general idea of their plan: they were keeping the enemy down while they leap-frog continuously to the next form of cover.

"Moving!" Kazuma stated, as he got out of cover to move into the next alley.

Darkness merely nodded as she emptied her magazine before crouching back down to reload again. A few rounds had smattered into the steel structure, causing a jet of water to shoot out the top of the hydrant, effectively ruining her ability to return fire from cover. Aqua had managed to dump another box of ammunition in the meantime into one of the cars, causing steam and hot gases to start to rise from the trunk. This forced one of the men behind it to run into the open in panic, as a natural response of not wanting to get burned. Kazuma managed to get a shot off him, dropping him onto the ground. The enemy squad appeared to have had enough by now, and hastily started to retreat down the street.

"They're falling back! Let's move!" Darkness barked, standing up from the fire hydrant, "Watch the houses!"

Everyone cautiously moved out of cover, with Kazuma loading another fresh magazine into the weapon receiver. They moved quickly towards the car Aqua just skewered, but still paid attention to the windows in the buildings for any possible movement. Megumin had just past a bakery's front window when Kazuma saw some green move behind the window reflection.

"Megumin! Look out!" Kazuma warned, aiming his weapon.

Darkness was quick to catch on, quickly lunging at Megumin to get her down. Kazuma had already steadied a burst towards the suspecting figure, shattering the glass and apparently hitting his weapon in the receiver as he saw metal sparks coming from his hand. Either way, he was forced to abandon his weapon and flee through the back of the store.

"Thank you, Darkness," Megumin said, brushing off the dust on her shirt and readjusting the grenade launcher slung over her shoulder.

The group quickly moved to the road perpendicular to theirs at the intersection, not wanting to pursue the enemy as they were too on the edge. They were passing through the town center when they noticed the truck parked in front of the entrance to the car dealership, once again with the distinctive black and red star embalmed onto the doors and hood of the vehicle.

Then a crack rang out, a bullet whizzing past Aqua's head, eliciting a shriek from the blood-stained goddess as she dove to prone.

"Sniper!" Darkness called out.

Kazuma saw it, a lens flare* as the sniper went back into cover behind one of the BMWs parked in the lot. Aqua was not going to have any of that after the near miss, and started to indiscriminately fire the Uk 59 into the parked cars, a notion which was shared by Darkness. Kazuma began to move into the lot with Darkness as Aqua started to reload again, but much to his surprise she began firing into the BMWs again, with a notable bang coming from one of them by the time she dumped her second box.

"Kazuma, give me some more bullets!" Aqua called out, realising that she just loaded her last box and that her waist was now empty.

"You have to move up, dammit!" Kazuma retorted, waving at her, "And you gotta stop wasting your rounds!"

At this, the sniper cracked again, this time nearly hitting Megumin as he popped out over another car farther left from the entrance. The younger girl freaked out at this, cowering behind the truck as she fumbled for a grenade and loaded it into the launcher. She was still too shaken to pop out of cover to try and take a shot however, for obvious reasons.

"Megumin!" Kazuma shouted. He peppered the suspecting vehicle with a few bursts, forcing the sniper down again, "Aqua, move up!"

"Ok!"

Darkness was now moving down the lot, trying to catch the sharpshooter while he was moving. Aqua had made a sprint towards the car Kazuma took cover behind, with the young man handing her another three boxes latched onto his waist. Megumin started to crawl from the truck, breathing deeply.

"EXPLOSION!"

'!'

In a move that surprised everyone, Megumin started a sprint towards the car adjacent to Kazuma. She had fired off the grenade just as the sniper was peering up, and while it didn't hit him, it struck the electrical transformer nearby when it exploded. In a bright plume and a loud bang, the transformer blew up in a size of spectacular proportions, the flame momentarily spreading enough to torch the two cars nearby while the shockwave of the blast knocked the sniper over. This was followed up by Aqua dumping another box of 7.62 into the car that their opponent was taking cover behind before they finally saw a pair of hands being raised, indicating that the sniper has finally surrendered.

"Kazuma! What's going on?!" a familiar voice called out.

"Wiz?"

Surely enough, Wiz had shown up with a few masked men, along with some civilians coming to inspect the carnage. Kazuma felt a moment of relief, given that the men weren't firing at them, help had finally arrived. They were saved!

"What are you doing here, Wiz?" Kazuma questioned. He knew that she owned a sporting store, but he did not expect to see her here…

"I was called up as the chedaki was attacking again," she explained, "But it seems like you guys took care of it well. The rest surrendered when the militia showed up…"

"We did it Kazuma!" Aqua cheered, pumping a hand into the air, "We saved the town!"

"Yeah!"

Kazuma was less excited about this. What was supposed to be a simple hunting trip ended up in a carnage that costed much in terms of property damage and casualties. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to pay for all of this…

….

Final tally:

1x man killed (ChDKZ)

6x men injured (ChDKZ)

10x men captured (ChDKZ)

3x wolves killed

1x deer killed

1x bear killed

3x BMW 3 series destroyed

5x BMW 3 series damaged

2x Toyota Hilux destroyed

9x Toyota Hilux damaged

1x Skoda 130L destroyed

3x UAZ-469 damaged

Undetermined amounts of property/real estate damaged/destroyed

Items acquired:

1x AKS-74U

77x 5.45x39mm rounds

Final verdict: We win(?)

(break)

More Technical aspects (Denoted with star, *. Can be skipped):

-Rachot: Nickname for Uk 59

-Futuristic scope: More specifically, the Light Weapon Thermal Sight, an infrared scope designed and produced by EOTech, the creators of the Holosight.

-Stopping methods: Most of the times, it's shoot to stop, not to kill. Darkness is a 'wall' in the original series, intended on stopping/blocking the enemy. The combat mechanics here are obviously different, but the prospect remains; as a result, Darkness would not have many hits/kills/etc. here, with primary intention of 'stopping' the enemy. Classic Darkness moments will still appear from time to time, however

-M320: The M320 is able to be used as a standalone grenade launcher, unlike the older M203

-Cocked and locked: Originated from the M1911 pistol, where a round is loaded in the chamber, hammer in the fire position but the safety is on. When the safety is off, the weapon is immediately ready to fire

-Noob tube (I'm sure most people here already know this): An under-barrel grenade launcher attachment, gaining controversy with the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series for its ease of use

-Wearing out: I couldn't find a specified barrel life on the grenade launchers, but I have heard that the launchers themselves wear out before the barrels needed to be replaced (if you can find a specific figure please let me know)

-Safe shot: Mainly to avoid an overpenetration and hitting an unintended target (In this case, Aqua)

-Extreme Fastball: The M433 grenade weighs one and a half times that of a baseball, and travels roughly twice as fast as the average fastball (I'm assuming 87.5 mph), making it around 6 times more powerful (If we use kinetic energy formula E=0.5*(Mass)*(Velocity)^2). Nasty stuff if it hits something

-ChDKZ: Abbreviation for Chedaki

-Lens flare: When a rifle scope is used in daytime, this can happen. The resulting flash of light emitted gives away the sniper's position.

….

Other Notes: Darkness will be more like Darkness soon enough (With the combat and masochism). Additionally, I just want to clarify again that Chris will likely show up in the future (After an inquiry on the Notes last chapter), along with other potentially interesting characters. Once again, they may be tweaked a bit to fit in.

In regards to NanoKnight1's comment: They will obtain a proper rifle of sorts later on, along with more powerful/modern weapons in general to cause more chaos… :)

Once again, please review!