Chapter 2: A whole new world

"I beg of you, please save our world."

/~/

Paper bowed in front of Flores. Many people would scoff at the thought of begging him for anything. So this ended up shocking Flores, as it came completely out of left field.

"Sorry, I can't." Flores muttered.

"What?"

"I said I couldn't, okay. I can fight as a hero; that sounds cool as fuck. But I can't command an army for shit. But I'm not a commander. I failed my C.O. training so many times that I got put on the blacklist. And that was before the war started."

"Wow, self-conscious, much?" Paper teased.

"When you hear your drill sergeant tell you it's 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 up. Her presence immediately sent Flores into soldier mode. And he saluted the girl as she entered the room.

She had blond hair and purple eyes, with her clothes being quite plain when compared 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 a red tophat to add some uniqueness. But overall, she looked like a girl wearing a casual fit to Flores.

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 he could only assume was coffee.

"The hell happened to her? Is she an insomniac? Or does she just refuse to sleep?" Flores thought as he attempted to show no reaction.

"So, this is the Morale hero. Decent size, around six feet, respectively. Not to mention trained, considering the muscle and that reaction." The girl took a sip of her coffee. "Paper, we hit the jackpot on this one." The girl chuckled. She spoke in a very sully voice while trying her best to sound peppy.

"Congratulations Mihare. You single-handedly brought our hero to his knees by your presence alone."

"That's the sign of a soldier; they know who's at the top of the pecking order." The girl chuckled again. "See, check this out. You, speak your name now!"

"Yes Sir. I am Sylvester Kennedy Flores, Lance Corporal in the US Marines, sir… ma'am!?" Flores immediately blurted out my name and rank. He just couldn't help it. She carried this presence that made him feel like his old drill sergeant had come back from the grave to yell at him. Now that he's been isekaid, he assumed that it was 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." Mihare 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 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 5 pink coins from her pouch and gave them to Mihare.

"Thank you for the generous donation." Mihare teased.

"Fuck off." Paper muttered. She walked away as she slammed the door to her room.

"Different bet same results." Mihare smiled. "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; you are the authority."

"So I'm going out to fight again, huh? Not much different from back home, I guess." Flores sighed.

"I see. I'll have someone come to pick you up so you can begin in a few ho-"

"Paper needs to remodel this place." A masculine voice complained.

"Never mind."

Looking down from the balcony. Flores saw someone coming through the front door with a raven on their shoulder. He had blond hair, and his eyes were too far for Flores to see. He wore black and silver armor with purple pauldrons and had a prism necklace around his neck.

He was an archer, from what Flores could tell. He had a recurve bow on his back but no quiver or arrows. Along with the disc hanging from his belt. He had no idea what he could do.

When the man reached the wall, he took a step and started to walk on the wall like it was normal ground.

"Mihare."

"Lizen."

The two nodded while giving each other the stink eye. Getting a closer look at the man, Flores noticed that they looked pretty similar.

"Same color, too. Mother and son? No, they're on a first-name basis. Most likely siblings." Flores thought.

"I'll leave him to you." The tired woman walked over to the edge. This time, Flores heard a series of mumblings as she walked off. Instead of falling, though, she instead walked down as if a pair of stairs were there.

"Two instances of ignoring the laws of physics just occurred in front of him. Adding paper with her... well, paper. This world makes no sense."

"I'm going to assume you are Flores."

"How did you-"

"Walk up the wall? Magic. Ha. If Paper were here, she would say-"

"Yeah, yeah, "The normal reaction." Who are you?" Flores asked.

"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 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 anyway."

"Alright, lead me, oh great leader." Flores mocked him as he followed. As Lizen started to walk down, he realized he couldn't do the same, and he was forced to ask Paper to let him down.

/~/

"Listen up, you idiots! We will do some leveling today as well as deal 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. They drag 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 it a party of 6. From what he could tell, there were 2 mages, with the rest being close-quarters fighters. Lizen was the exception to this, as he seemed to be the only archer in the group. At least to Flores's knowledge, he was.

"Good. Now follow the carriage!" Flores was quickly ushered into the wagon by the warriors. Once he was in, the wagon started to move along with the other soldiers. The formation that followed me was downright atrocious. 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 Flores thought. Seconds later, a bolt of purple lightning fell from the clear sky, leaving a man where it struck.

"Holy shit." The lighting was highly startling, and he fell back a bit before getting grabbed.

"Try not to fall. Mihare already got on my ass for being "unsafe." Lizen pulled Flores back onto the wagon and sat across from him.

"Was the lightning really necessary!?"

"Yes, actually it was. Now, any questions about what we're doing? Lord Hero?"

"Not much. My life is in your hands, oh great captain." Flores mocked as he did a mini bow.

"Please, stop doing that." Lizen scoffed.

They continued their travels on horseback until they entered a forest. As soon as they got in, they were forced to ditch their horses at a nearby post before going further on foot. He didn't know why, but he heard something about unicorn activity.

Once they entered and traveled a bit inside, one of the mages ran forward and aimed her staff at some kind of burrow. His suspicions were confirmed when a white rabbit with its ear twisted into a drill 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, and flames spewed out and crashed into the ground. The explosion left the area dusty, and when the dust settled, the poor bunny was nowhere to be seen.

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 they all started to kill the monsters. Their methods were interesting. And by interesting, Flores meant shitty.

The fire mage was named H'lock. She wore a red cloak and hat and utilized fire magic. She went off alone and cast fire all over the place. This ended up attracting more drill bunnies into the area, which meant more fire.

The warriors of the group were named Gyile, and someone Flores would dub as John since he never caught his name. Solo, they were decent. But when working together, they would constantly hinder each other's attacks.

The only one Flores would consider useful was the mage in purple robes, Mary. She was pretty much the white mage of the group. She used her spells to heal and conjure barriers, but he was lacking in the attack spell department.

"The Warriors of Ken'bitch are really weak." Flores thought. It also didn't help that they appeared to be around his level of power. He'd had to put that thought aside, however, as a notification appeared in his face.

15 EXP

Level 2 → 3

"Are you gonna fight something or just stand there?" Lizen asked. He held the corpse of a drill bunny, this one 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."

"It's... complicated."

"Come again?"

"We're an army to stop the waves. The thing is, nobody thought the waves would come again, so they ignored 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.

Flores could tell that he had more on his mind. But he didn't get a chance to ask, since Lizen shifted his attention to a bunny peeking from a bush.

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 Bayonet training. Not sure how that translates to spear combat, though."

"Have you considered poking it with the pointy end of the flag?" Lizen mocked, pointing out the flag's tip.

"Shut up." Picking up his flag. Flores went over to the bush Lizen was focused on. As soon as Flores arrived, two of the bunnies jumped out of the bush on cue and rushed at him. He stabbed at the drill bunny but missed and got his flag stuck in the ground. The bunny who dodged ran up the grounded flag and spun its ears, hitting him with a fluffy but painful tackle.

"Agh." Despite it being fluffy, the tackle made Flores feel like he got hit by a baseball bat. Being knocked to the ground, he noticed that it didn't draw any blood but left a pretty rough bruise on the spot he was hit.

"Guess these things aren't as tough as I expected. Fast as hell, though."

"Good attempt. Perhaps try stabbing it when they're at their least agile."

"When's their least agile moment?"

"Figure it out."

"Fuck you!"

Backing up from the first bunny, the second attacked with another drill tackle. Flores watched closely as the bunny approached with a powerful burst of speed. When it jumped and weaved its ears together to make a drill, Flores rolled to the side and stabbed at it, killing it before it even touched the ground.

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."

He focused his eyes on the bunny once more and stabbed it when it folded its ears. This time, however, the bunny didn't jump and dodged the flag before rushing up it once again.

He braced himself for the hit. But before it could touch him, it got hit by a translucent ball and killed instantly.

"Well, one for one isn't bad for a beginner. Monsters are smart; don't expect the same method to kill one work on another." Lizen Lectured. "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." Lizen sighed.

A set of translucent-looking stars forms in front of Flores. Forming them into the shape of a cross, Lizen pushed the stars onto his bruise, slowly healing it.

"Wow. Magic is so convenient." "Tell me about it. Anyhow, we shouldn't waste time."

"Right. Let's try round tw- huh?" Looking at his flag, the purple gem glowed as it hovered near the drill bunny remains.

"Oh right. Paper said, I can absorb this stuff." Grabbing one of the drill bunnies, he dropped it into the gem.

Bundrill Flag Condition Met

Abilities Locked Equip Effect: +2 Atk, Pierce Up (Small)

Flores changed his flag to the one he just unlocked. It had a white pole and a white banner that had a picture of a drill bunny on it.

"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 strangle you."

"Ha. Like you could ever strangle me."

When Lizen handed Flores his knife, he immediately went to work. Ripping through the bunny's body. He pulled out several necessary parts and stuffed them into his flag. Lizen also handed him the rabbit he killed earlier, so he did the exact same thing to the much larger bunny.

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: Abilities Locked: Equip Effect: +3 ATK, Pierce up (Small) Skill: Drill Run

The flags gave him various boosts to his stats, as well as a very gruesome image for the meat and bone variants.

The mother flag, however, gave him a skill, but it was locked for some reason along with all the other boosts. He was curious if it'd still work, so he went off to find some more bunnies to fight. Good news! He did find one. Bad news, it was a baby.

"Oh, it's a child. Or a kit if we want to get technical?"

"Who cares? Stab it already." Lizen groaned.

"I don't wanna kill it. Look, it's so adorable." Flores picked up the bunny, and it nuzzled his hand a bit. It jumped onto his head, where it fell asleep.

"I'm going to call you, Fonhare."

"You can't be serious."

"What? You have a rav- oh shit!" Flores jumped back just in time to dodge a large bundrill. He assumed that it was the mother of Fonhare because it was very aggressive. It even ignored the chuckling Lizen and focused primarily on Flores, who still had Fonhare on his head.

"Fonhare has a nice Balance-. No, task at hand."

Flores stabbed at the mother. But instead of dodging, she drilled into the ground and came up seconds later, hitting him in the stomach. This attack actually drew some blood and hurt a lot more than the kits.

Ignoring the pain, he did his best to attack the mother, but it was extremely quick. Flores was forced to the defensive, getting hit by several attacks at the bunny dashes around him.

"Okay. Stop attacking and remember. They can drill through the ground pretty fast, and they lunch out when they leave the hole. I got it!"

Flores ran towards a tree. Standing his ground, he allowed the mother to get close, and like before, it drilled through the ground. Once it did, Flores rolled to the side of the tree and watched as it leaped out of the ground.

It drilled through the tree effortlessly. But when it got to the other side, it looked confused, as it didn't see its target. That was when Flores came up behind it and struck.

"It looks like you can't see underground. Sorry, Fonhare. [Drill Run!]" Unexpectedly, the skill worked and drained some of his SP. The drill turned purple and started to spin. The mother barely managed to turn around before getting hit. The skill drilled through the bunny in an instant, leaving a hole in the area where the skill had struck.

15 EXP

"Woah, this thing packs a punch."

When Flores went over to pick up the kill, he was suddenly swarmed by several bundrills coming out of their burrow. He took two out, but the rest all tackled him to the ground and attempted to drill through his chest.

"Look out, they're surrounding you!" Lizen joked as he chuckled.

"Just get them off of me already!"

"Nah. I think you can handle it!"

/~/

Before he knew it, day turned to night. The day was considered a success by Lizen, racking up an average of 5 levels for everyone. Not to mention all the bundrills they're bringing back for food and materials.

"Healing of life, bless this bandage. Healing all wounds, lessening the disadvantage." [Star Blessing]

"Agh. Man, that 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 sort of figured that out." He interrupted, half lying to avoid the lecture. He knew they were easy to hit midair. He just had trouble dodging them, since they would attack him in groups. Not to mention the mother who just spammed dig like a pokemon.

"I'm just saying. You're lucky that 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 can compare 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."

Mary had then lectured him on combat safety and then scolded him for allowing himself to take so many hits. Flores would usually ignore her. But since it's relevant information, he's been conditioned to listen to it thoroughly. Courtesy of his drill sergeant, of course.

"Calm down, Mary; he's a bit new to this. Give him a few days to get into the zone." Guile argued.

"Maybe I can teach him some fire magic so we can raze the world together!" The pyro-manic chimed in.

"No. None of that." Lizen appeared next to H'lock's horse on foot and hit her head with a foam sandal. That made Flores' fear of the man jump from 4 to 11.

"I swear, I do not need to deal with three magical children."

"Oww. You're so mean, captain." That comment got her another slap on 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 not."

"Aww." H'lock whined dejectedly.

"Captain. Home base is up ahead!" One of the knights called out. He rode at the front of the "formation." And Flores still never got his name.

"At this point, I should just ask."

Looking ahead was Ken'bitch in all its glory. Riding through the front gate, the citizens moved to the side as they made their way to the fortress. Once they finally made it, they saw Mihare standing in front of the door.

It was hard to tell. But Flores noticed the blood on her hat and jacket. He decided not to question it, as he saw the source right next to her. A giant bird that was the length of the base. And Mihare was holding it down with one hand while it tried to fly away.

"Welcome." yawn "Welcome back. Did you have fun today?"

"Are you just now dealing with this?" Lizen scoffed.

"There was also the rat problem in the sewer. One second." Mihare pulled the bird back to the ground and punched it once. The bird's pupils rolled to the back of its head as it fell to the ground.

"I guess I can go for chicken. And You're going to sleep."

"OW OW OW!"

Lizen grabbed Mihare by the ear and dragged her inside. Following them inside, the whole cafeteria area was active. All the soldiers inside were drunk and dancing to the music a bard was playing on stage.

"Come on, Flores. Let's get crazy."

"No thanks. I'm not much of a drinker."

"Who cares!" H'lock grabbed Flores by the arm and dragged him over to the bar.

"Well... I did die today. Then I got tackled by several monsters with the power of that one robot anime. I guess I could use some sort of break. I'll grab a new shirt later." Flores thought. His shirt has been drilled through in several places, so he was using a backup Lizen had.

Flores picked up the drink H'lock ordered him and slowly stared at the ripples. They filled his heart with a feeling of comfort and affirmation. Something that he 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, he chugged my first drink of the new world.

/~/

"Flores. Whether it be heaven or hell, purgatory or paradise, or even a goddamn isekai,. I pray for your safe arrival and a peaceful afterlife." The soldier dropped a rose on Flores' grave. "Even with all the drama and depressive shit that happened to 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."