Chapter 67: A Casual Quest (4)

Jake wasn't interested in the pointless argument between two rival guilds.

When he saw that Robert was on Mary's side and would assist her in the battle, he began searching for the perfect moment to make a break for it.

It came when Maria had emerged from the group to stand at the front. He bolted away when everyone's eyes landed on her, hearing only her introduction and believing no one had seen his escape.

'If maybe any of them was an archer, I would have stayed behind... nah, nope! I don't want any high-level influence!' Jake thought.

He could see that no one was an archer because everyone wielded weapons at the time. The group was overprotective of their newbie player, but perhaps that was the image they wanted to show everyone.

Anyone would feel great knowing that the guild protected them so well.

It'd bring more newbies to their side.

Jake, however, didn't think too much about it.

'I also told her I want to level up Medusa, so what is she doing? Seriously,' Jake inwardly sighed at his older sister, only to jolt as her voice slammed into him from behind.

"JAKE!" Mary screamed at him.

Unaware of how she had found him so easily, Jake turned around.

Though he may not have been so pissed at her, a mask of annoyance had been put on him. He stared at her with this familiar expression, yet Mary didn't care.

She bumped into him and threatened to kill him through wrestling!

"Why you! You little!" Mary dropped a noogie on him, then twisted his head left and right. "Your sister was so lucky to find the perfect enemies to fight, and you dare to run away?! I won't let you off back home, too!"

"Y-You aren't better!" Jake shouted back at her after finding room to breathe and speak, "You put a tracking skill on me?!"

"Hah! What tracking skill?! I'm not your nanny!" Mary performed an advanced wrestling skill, flopping over her brother onto his back.

Sprawled, Jake coughed and fought for breath again.

Luckily, he unsummoned his pets before running away so the rest of the companions didn't get into a fight, which would put a cooldown on them. He wiped off his lips and strained to stand up.

Mary still glared at him, her hands on her waist.

Robert just grinned beside her.

"You will never cuddle with Odin again," Jake said spitefully.

Surprisingly, that did a lot of emotional damage to Mary! She turned to her boyfriend for aid, but he knew that Jake would give in at some point, so he only smiled at her.

"Hmph," Mary threw her hair behind, "Let's find the bears and see what you can do! We're about to have some fun!" She slammed her right fist into her left palm, totally not looking like a mage.

Robert caught her signal and nodded.

He walked between his girlfriend and Jake.

"Don't tell me you have-" Jake reacted, only to hear a fireball roar in her right palm. Tongues of flames tried to make a break from her balled hand, roaring no end.

Once she raised her leg, stomped on the ground heavily, and threw her shoulder forward, Mary sent the first fastball toward the towering tree monster.

It splashed in abundance on its bark, devouring it in less than five seconds.

"Now, change up!" Mary exclaimed, a bad habit from her school days. The second ball she threw broke during its flight, curving to the side and smoking another monster into oblivion. "Warm-up done! Haha!"

Her laughter was so loud that Jake's ears bleed.

After the warm-up, Mary increased the pace and added more magical flavor to her pitching. Once she released one fireball, she flicked and turned the ball into ten fireballs, each breaking into either a fastball or a different change-up.

In short, change-ups were different ways of pitching, curving the trajectories of fireballs.

When the tree monsters retaliated with seed attacks, Mary scoffed and stretched her hand to the side. The long flame bat coalesced from nowhere.

She clenched it and looked down with her left hand on her head as though she was wearing a hat. "Spitting at a lady... you don't deserve to live!"

Mary obliterated all seeds aiming at her with a few swings!

Jake commented, "What lady?! You've made it sound so wrong with your stupid choice of words!"

That was when his heart jumped.

Jake noticed a bear with a half-head gone to nature. Instead of flesh, the bear sported a bark! Half of his right shoulder was replaced by dirt and grass. The rest was unknown because Jake couldn't see behind him!

Nonetheless, the first Leavie Bear has finally appeared on the scene.

The couple must have noticed him, too.

Jake entered the Soldier Form! He pulled the highest anchor point and locked his attention on the bear through Death's Lock, having a perfect view of the monster's vital points.

Because he didn't have his bow and had new stats, he couldn't use his full strength.

'I trained how to lower my stats and know how much this bow can handle. My strength, dexterity, and weight should be at an appropriate level! This angle... I can perfectly see the trajectory!' Jake thought.

[Leavie Bear Lv. 17 HP: 2100/2100 MP: 640/640]

Jake got a new idea, then...

"Medusa..." he summoned his newest companion and asked for a difficult task, "How about you coil around my arrow and finish off this bear? I'll deal as much damage I can while you find the safe spot on him."

Medusa left the nest on his chest without questioning his request and slithered up to the bow and arrow through his arm.

She was so small that she could easily wrap herself around the arrow.

"It's because of my dumb sister that we're forced to do this... I'll repay you somehow after that! We have five minutes to kill as many monsters as possible for you, my lady! Let's do it!" Jake smiled.

Unbeknownst to him, his legendary class extended toward his summon, facilitating her and opening up a new path for Medusa to connect with Jake's archery!