Chapter 2: A whole new world
"I beg of you, please save our world."
/~/
Paper bowed in front of me. Not many people would ever beg me for anything so this came completely out of left field for me.
"…sorry, I can't," I muttered.
"What?"
"I said I can't be okay. I can fight as a hero, that sounds cool as fuck. But I can't command an army for shit. I failed my C.O training so many times that I got put on the blacklist. And that was before the war started."
"Wow… issues in self-confidence?"
"When you hear your drill sergeant tell you it's literally impossible for me to command someone to make a sandwich. You'll feel the same."
"I guess a full army is a pretty hefty task for beginners, but it's still a must. Several of your abilities require you to be the leader of the party, so you can't opt out."
"I still don't think that's a good idea."
"Don't worry, I have someone that could whip you into shape."
/~/
It took around an hour, but the person Paper referred to finally showed. Her presence immediately sent me into soldier mode as I saluted her as she entered.
She had blond hair and purple eyes. Her clothes were quite plain as opposed to Paper. Her skirt was blue and reached down to her knees, while her top was white with a red jacket. She did wear a lavender scarf and red tophat to add some uniqueness. But overall pretty plain.
Well. That would be true if she didn't look like she hadn't slept in days. The bags under her eyes were very noticeable. She also carried a mug in her hand which I could only assume was coffee. Insomnia maybe? Or does she just refuse sleep?
"So, this is the Morale hero. Decent size around 6ft respectively, not to mention properly trained considering the muscle and that reaction." The girl took a sip of her coffee. "Paper, I think we hit the jackpot on this one." The girl chuckled. She spoke in a very monotone voice while trying her best to sound peppy.
"Congratulations Mihare. You single-handedly brought our hero to their knees by just your presence alone."
"That's the sign of a soldier, they know who's on the top of the pecking order." The girl chuckled again. "See, check this out. You, speak your name now!"
"Yes Sir. I am Sylvester Flores, Lance Corporal in the US Marines Sir… ma'am!?" I immediately blurted out my name and rank. I just couldn't help it, she just carried this presence that made me feel like my old drill sergeant came back from the grave to yell at me. Now that I think about it. Since I was transported here, that's quite literally a possible outcome.
"Ha, okay I had my fun. At ease."
"Yes sir… ma'am… Mihare?"
"Mihare is fine. Now I believe Paper has already given you a rundown of what's going on, so I'll skip the details." The girl yawned before continuing. "I have a small squad armed and ready to start your level-ups. All you have to do is give us the word so we can truly begin."
"Wait, how did you already prepare? I just summoned him?" Paper questioned.
"You're pretty predictable. I could tell from the meeting we had two weeks ago that you were planning on doing something yourself. Speaking of which." Mihare held out her hand. Paper groaned as she took out a pouch and dropped it in.
"Thank you for the generous donation." Mihare teased.
"Fuck off." Paper muttered. She stepped on her paper platform and ascended to the top of the lab.
"Different bet same results. Alright then, are you prepared to meet with the squad?"
"Y-"
"And if you say yes mamm, I will kick you in the shin."
"...Mihare."
Mihare sighed. "I'll allow it. But as of now, I'll shape you into a commander one way or another. So no more of that sucking up to authority bullshit, you are the authority."
"So I'm going out to fight again huh. Not much different from back home."
"I see. I have someone coming to pick you up so you can begin in just a few ho-"
"Paper really needs to remodel this place." A masculine voice complained.
"Never mind."
Looking down from the balcony. I see someone coming through the front door with a raven on his shoulder. He had blond hair with his eyes too far away to see. He wore black and silver armor with purple pauldrons, and had a prism necklace on his neck along with a recurve bow on his back.
Inspecting the metal part of the wall, I heard the blond-haired dude muttering something before he started to walk on top of the wall like it was normal ground. Once he reached the top platform. he landed back on the floor and walked over to us.
"Mihare."
"Lizen."
The two nodded at each other while also giving the stink eye. Now looking at it, they do look pretty similar. They even had the same eye color?
"Mother and Son probably? No, they're on a first name basis. Most likely siblings." I thought.
"I'll leave him to you." The tired woman walked over to the edge. I hear another set of mumbling as she walked off. Instead of falling however, she walked down as if a pair of stairs were there. Two instances of ignoring the laws of physics just occurred in front of me, and I have no clue as to how.
"I'm going to assume you are Flores?"
"How did you-"
"Walk up the wall? Lightning magic. Ha. If Paper were here, she would say-"
"Yeah yeah, "The normal reaction." Who are you?"
"Lizen, your tour guide for today. Also this is Nox."
"Caw!" The bird chirped.
"...I see. So if what Mihare said was true. You're here to take me to the guild then?"
"We're an army Flores. Why would we go to a guild." Lizen shook his head.
"I'm just spitballing here. Usually the protag of the book goes to a guild or something."
Sigh "Just follow me. I need to rally up the idiots anyways."
"Alright, lead me oh great leader." I mocked as I followed him. As he walked down the wall, I forgot I couldn't do the same and was forced to ask Paper to let me down. Aww
/~/
"Listen up you idiots! We will do some leveling today, as well as deal with today with enemies ranging between levels 1 and 5. Be on guard and try not to get injured. I am not going to carry you back if you do!"
"Yes Sir!" The soldiers in his rank saluted by dragging their fingers in an x motion across their chest, followed by a fist pump into the air.
"I mean… it's not the worst salute ever."
The squad was small and only had 4 others plus Lizen, making us a party of 6. From what I could tell, there were 2 mages in red and purple robes, with the rest being close-quarters fighters with their own polearms. Lizen was the exception to this, as he seemed to be the only archer in the group.
"Good. Now follow the carriage!" I was quickly ushered into the wagon by the warriors. Once I was in, the carriage started to move along with the other soldiers. The formation that followed me was downright atrocious. Significantly scuffed at its best. The soldiers were too close to each other and weren't even encircling the carriage.
Even worse, they left their supposed leader behind… at least that's what I thought. Seconds later a bolt of purple lightning fell from the clear sky and struck in front of me, leaving a man in its place.
"Holy shit." The lighting was highly startling, and I fell back a bit before getting grabbed.
"Sorry if I startled you." The man pulled me back onto the carriage and sat across from me.
"Was the lightning really necessary!"
"Yes, actually it was. Now, any questions about the mission Lord Hero?"
"Not much. My life is in your hands oh great captain." I mocked as I did a mini bow.
"The name Lizen my all mighty hero," Lizen replied back while also doing the same bow.
"Yeah. Guess I deserve that."
We continued our travels on horseback until we entered a forest. As soon as we entered, we were forced to board up our horses at a nearby post before entering on foot. I don't know why, but I heard something about unicorn activity.
Once we entered and traveled a bit inside, one of the mages ran forward and aimed her staff at some kind of burrow. My suspicions were confirmed when a white rabbit with its ear twisted into a drill shape peeked its head out.
"Flame of the beginning, engulf the sky. Unleash your wrath and burn what I spy! [Star Fire Crash]"
Part of the sky turned red. Flames spewed out and crashed into the ground, picking up dust. When the dust settled, the poor bunny that was the target was nowhere to be seen, only leaving behind a pile of singed white hair.
3 EXP
Level 1 → 2
"HAHAHAHA. BURN!"
"Congratulations you pyromaniac. Now go deal with that fire."
"Yes sir. Sorry sir." The embarrassed pyromaniac ran out and started to stomp out the small fire left from her attack. When she left, several more bunnies drilled out of the ground and attacked. The rest of the knights split up and all started to kill the monsters. Their methods were… interesting.
The fire mage who I will dub as red mage, went off alone and cast fire all over the place. This attracted more drill bunnies into the area, which meant more fire.
The two warriors of the group who I'll dub Jeffery and John worked together to kill the bunch. Although their initial assault was successful, they constantly hindered each other's movements and attacks. This caused many of the drill bunnies to be able to escape and regroup.
The only useful one of the party was Purple Mage. She was pretty much the white mage of the group and used her spells to heal and conjure barriers out of various elements. She was lacking in the attack spell department though, so she was forced to be constantly moving in order to not get caught.
"The Warriors of Ken'bitch are really weak."
15 EXP
Level 2 → 3
"You gonna fight something or just stand there?" Lizen asked me. He held the corpse of another drill bunny, this one is significantly larger than the one everyone else was fighting.
"I was just looking at our allies. Not to be rude and all, but this is really disappointing."
"They're new recruits. A good majority of Ken'bitch is."
"Come again?"
"We're an army to stop the waves. The thing is, nobody thought the waves would come again, so they abandoned us."
"So when the waves came back, the world had an "oh shit" moment and joined in mass. Now you have a bunch of untrained idiots?"
"Pretty much. We're training up the new idiots," Lizen said with a sigh. He shot an arrow into a rustling bush and hit a drill bunny peeking out a square on its forehead.
3 EXP
"You should be at a high enough level to kill these things without getting too hurt. This will give you a chance to get a feel for your weapon as well."
"I've already had some bo-staff training. Just not enough to be actually used in combat."
"Have you considered poking it with the pointy end of the flag?" Lizen mocked, pointing out the flag's tip.
"Shut up." Picking up my flag. I head over to another burrow of the drill Bunny. As soon as I arrived, two of the bunnies drilled out the ground on cue, and all rushed at me. I bring my flag back and stab it toward the ground, and I missed it. The bunny ran up to my staff and spins its ears in a drill formation, hitting me with a fluffy but painful tackle.
"Agh." Despite it being fluffy. It drills made it feel like I was hit by a baseball. Surprisingly though, I was fine and didn't even draw blood, but it left me with a pretty rough bruise on my chest.
"Guess these things aren't as tough as I expected. Fast as hell though."
Backing up from the first bunny, the second attacked with another drill run. I waited for it to get close, and when it spun its ears for its tackle, I stabbed it midair."
3 EXP
"Alright, you can do this. A spear is like a gun. Except you thrust with that gun instead of pulling the trigger but you get the point."
I focused my eyes on the bunny once more and stab where I believe it was going to hit. Like before, I missed, and the bunny ran toward me with another drill tackle. I brace myself for another hit, but before it could touch me, it was hit by a translucent ball and knocked out of the sky.
"Well then… one for one isn't bad for a beginner. Now open your shirt."
"... Look I know this is awkward and all but I'm into girls."
Sigh "So this will be our relationship moving forward."
A set of translucent-looking stars form in front of me. Forming them into the shape of a cross, Lizen pushes the stars into my opened shirt and slowly healed my bruise.
"Woah. Magic is so convenient."
"Tell me about it. Anyhow, we shouldn't waste time."
"Right. Lets try round tw- huh?" Looking at my flag, the purple gem was glowing as it hovered near the drill bunny remains.
"Oh right. Paper said I can absorb this stuff." I grab one of the drill bunnies and dropped it into the gem, receiving a notification seconds later.
Bundrill Flag Condition Met
Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +2 Atk
My flag changed into another flag. This one had a picture of the Drill bunny, with the tip of the spear turning into a drill tip.
"Just noticed this thing was called a Bundrill? Very clever world. I believe I can get more forms if I just do a bit of handy work as well."
"Lizen, you got a knife?"
"Yeah, just don't mess it up, it was my fathers… actually, mess it up all you want."
"If you start talking about your father, I will personally strangle you."
"Ha. Like you could ever strangle me."
Lizen handed me his knife and I went to work. Ripping through the bunny's body, I pulled out several different bones and meats and absorbed them into my flag. Lizen also handed me the rabbit he killed so I can do the same, unlocking me several new flags as well.
Several Flag Conditions Met
Bundrill Meat Flag: Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +1 Agilty
Bundrill Bone Flag: Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +1 HP
Bundrill Mother Bone Flag: Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +2 HP
Bundrill Mother Meat Flag: Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +2 Agility
Bundrill Mother Flag:
Abillities Locked: Equip Effect: +3 ATK, Skill: Drill Run
The flags gave me various boost to my stats, as well as a very gruesome image for the meat and bone variants.
The mother flag however gave me a skill, but it was locked for some reason along with all the other boosts. I was still curious to see if it'll work, so I went over to find some more bunnies. After some searching, I did find one. Bad news, it was a baby.
"A child. Or a kit if we want to get technical?"
"Who cares. Stab it already."
"I don't wanna kill it. Look, it's so adorable." I picked up the bunny and it nuzzled my hand a bit. I then assumed it was tired, as it jumped onto my hair and fell asleep. Its balance was pretty incredible.
"I'm going to call you, Fonhare."
"You can't be serious."
"What? You have a rav- oh shit!" I jumped back, just in time to dodge a large bundrill. It must have been the mother of Fonhare because she was very aggressive toward me, and completely ignored Lizen.
When I struck at the mother, she dodge and drilled into the ground, coming up seconds later to hit my stomach with it's drills. This attack actually drew some blood and hurt a lot more than the kits.
Ignoring the pain, I did my best to deflect and attack the mother, but it was extremely quick, pulling off several hits on me as I stepped back. Bloodied and bruised, I thought of something and quickly ran towards a tree. Standing my ground, I allow the mother to get close and start another tackle. When it finally got close and leaped into the air, I dove to the ground, letting the mother drill itself through the tree.
"Okay better to test this now than never. Sorry, Fonhare. [Drill Run!]" Unexpectedly, the skill worked and drained some of my sp. The drill turned purple and started to spin. The mother who just barely managed to turn around got caught and was drilled through in an instant, leaving a hole in the area the drill struck.
15 EXP
"Woah, this thing packs a punch."
When I went over to pick up my kill, I was suddenly swarmed by several other bundrill coming out of the ground area. I quickly took two out, but soon enough they all tackled me to the ground and started to spin their ears on my chest so they could dig through. My shirt unfortunately did not last for long.
"Look out they're surrounding you!" Lizen joked as chuckled.
"Just get them off of me already!"
"But where's the fun in that."
/~/
Before I knew it, day turned to night. The day was considered a success by Lizen, racking up an average of 5 levels for everyone, and a lot of bunnies that would be used for food.
"Healing of life, bless this bandage. Healing all wounds, and lessen the disadvantage." [Star Blessing]
"Agh. Man, this thing stings."
"Seriously, Sir hero. You should try dodging next time when a bundrill tries to tackle you. They're very vulnerable midair, and are easy to-"
"Yeah yeah easy to dodge. I already heard the entire lecture from Lizen." I interrupted, not wanting to hear the bunny-killing guide.
"I'm just saying. You're lucky a hero is much stronger than normal people. If it weren't for that, your wounds would be harder to treat."
"It's just some punctures. Nothing compared to being stabbed with a knife."
"Then you should be able to take this wrapping without much difficulty. This should treat your wounds without me running out of mana."
The purple mage named Mary then lectured me on combat safety and then scolded me again for allowing myself to take so many hits. I would usually tune them out, but I've been conditioned to listen to though who reprimand me carefully, courtesy of my drill sergeant.
"Calm down Mary, he's a bit new to this. Give him a few days tops to get into the zone, and he'll be unstoppable." The Purple mage's partner named Gyile retorted.
"Maybe I can teach him some fire magic so we can raze the world together!" The pyro-manic named H'lock chimed in.
"No. None of that." Lizen appeared next to H'lock's horse on foot and hit her head with a foam sandal. My fear of this man just went from 4 to 11. And the scale is from 1 to 10 by the way.
"I swear I do not need to deal with two children."
"Oww. You're so mean, captain." That comment got her another slap to the head.
"We don't need another destructive force released upon the world. Riala is already difficult enough."
"Why am I not considered a threat?" H'lock whined.
"Because you're no-"
"Captain. Home base is up ahead!" One of the knights called out. I never got his name, but he rode at the front of the "formation." Looking ahead was Ken'bitch in all its glory. Riding through the front gate, the citizens moved to the side as we made our way up to the fortress.
Once we made it to the fort, Mihare stood at the door
"Welcome." yawn "Welcome back. You ready to par-tay!"
"Is that seriously why you rushed us out of the city?" lizen slapped his forehead.
"Well obviously. What's a welcome party if it isn't a surprise. It's been a while since we shared a drink."
Mihare dragged Lizen away and took him inside the base. When I followed them in, the whole cafeteria area had all the soldiers drunk and dancing to the music a couple bards were playing in the corner.
"Come on Flores. Let's get crazy."
"No thanks. I'm not much of a drinker."
"Who cares!" H'lock grabbed me by the arm and dragged me over to the bar.
"I may have died today and got tackled by several monsters with the power of that one robot anime. I guess Mihare was right when she said it was a day of celebration… I'll grab shirt later."
I picked up the drink the bartender gave me, and slowly stare at the ripples. Those ripples filled my heart with a feeling of comfort, and affirmation. Something that I only felt from two people in the previous world.
"Celebration for a new life. A new purpose. Grandmother would have wanted this. Tim would have wanted this. I shouldn't take this new life for granted." And with those thoughts out of the way, I chugged my first drink, of the new world.
/~/
"Flores. Whether it be heaven or hell, Purgatory of Paradise, or even a goddamn isekai. I pray for your safe arrival and a peaceful afterlife." The soldier dropped a rose on the grave of Flores. "Even with all the drama and depressive shit in your life, you moved on in hopes of a better future. I have a lot to learn from you." Tears started to stream down Tim's face.
"Once this war is over. I'll be sure to return with my kid. I'll live on for you, Flo-. No, my brother."
