Episode 11

Rose stared at the zombie that had a sword stuck in its head.

“I can beat this guy no problem.” Rose extended her hand out and casted a spell. “[Greater Fireball]!”

A much larger version of the previous fireballs flew out and exploded in the face of the undead.

“!!”

To her surprise, the zombie was not even scratched.

“That was a mediocre level spell. How?” Rose glanced over at the mysterious figure at the furthest back. “Must be his doing. We need to take him out. How is Matt doing…!!”

When Rose glanced over at Matthew, she was surprised to see. Matthew was confronting the big zombie along with the smaller ones at the same time. However, the small ones were definitely faster than before and the big one was also definitely stronger. But Matthew was holding his own against all that.

“Amazing… His grades were no joke at all.” Rose muttered. She felt amazed as she watched Matthew fight. She suddenly had a little bit of confidence now.

‘You can do this Rose! Zombies are weak against fire and electrical attacks. This guy is really durable even after being hit with a mediocre level spell. I haven’t learnt High level spells yet, then I’ll need to improvise’

Rose jumped back and revised her plan. ‘Unlike Matt, I don’t have as much firepower as he does, but I can make it up with something else.’

The zombie dashed forward and was ready to slam its fist at Rose. Rose dodged out of the way casted a protective spell to defend herself.

“This is a pretty complex spell to do, but it’s worth a shot.” After affirming her footing, she prepared her spell. “Here goes…”

Mana accumulated around her palms, each forming a magic circle of different elements. Fire in the left and electric in the right. She then extended her hands outward, the circles combined and shouted the spell.

“[Flaming Thunder Arrow]!”

An arc of electricity that had flames spiralling around shot out from her magic circle.

BZZT! FWOOM!

“GROAA!!” The zombie cried out loudly.

“Yes!”

The combination of elemental magic that fits together will increase the damage done. The different elements that had to be summoned with magic makes the spell much more complex to cast.

Rose was proud of herself for being able to cast that spell. But her pride was utterly destroyed when the zombie almost immediately was back up and ready to attack again.

Rose was caught off guard. She thought of creating a barrier for herself, but it was not needed.

Matthew jumped from the side and threw a flaming punch at the zombie that completely shattered the zombie’s head and blew the entire thing away. The corpse crashed into a tree that toppled over and crushed it.

Rose was completely taken by surprise. ‘This blazing aura… It’s like back when he fought the nighthowl.’ Rose said in her heart.

Matthew was enveloped in a fiery aura and appeared very menacing. Matthew turned his head and looked at the mysterious figure.

“It’s over now. Give up!” Matthew shouted at him.

The figure bent over a little and let out a chuckle. “Kukuku!” Then he suddenly pressed his hand on the ground.

A large magic circle appeared in front of him. From it, an even bigger zombie emerged. It’s size was nearly twice that of the previous one.

“GROAA!!” It roared out loudly and created a slight breeze.

Rose was speechless and so was Matthew. Both of them can sense the intense magic emitted by the newly created zombie.

The zombie took position as a guard for the mysterious figure as he ran away. Matthew saw this and did intend to stand idly and let him get away.

Matthew leapt forward, leaving a crack in the ground. Rose did not even see what happened, but by the time she blinked, the zombie had already lost its head and Matthew was out of sight.

The one that had only been watching the battle from afar, Riea, was all the well surprised.

‘That boy… What incredible amount of astra. He took out that newly created zombie with one hit. If I was only a weak and inexperienced Hunter, even I wouldn’t see his movement. He might already be on the level of a Rookie rank. Oh, I need to catch up with him!’

Leaving her train of thought, Riea sprinted in the direction Matthew went. She tried to sense his whereabouts with astral sense.

‘Not far from here.’

Riea increased her speed and caught up with Matthew. To her surprise, Matthew had already pinned down the figure and seemed to be conversing with him.

Riea could not hear what they were talking about, but by how Matthew was reacting, it didn’t seem good. After a while, Matthew’s fist suddenly was held in the air and a terrifying amount of astra was gathered into his fist. The fist then slammed down.

BOOM!

The ground shook as his fist shattered a part of it. Riea also almost lost her footing but she quickly crouched to regain her balance.

‘That was a powerful punch. What happened?’

Matthew slowly stood up in the crater he created. “Tch, he got away.” His face was that of anger and disappointment.

Rose, who had just arrived, asked. “What happened Matt? What was that earthquake just now?”

“Oh sorry, that was me. The guy got away though.” Matthew tried to calm himself down when he saw Rose.

“Is that so… Are… Are you okay?” Rose asked.

“Yeah, just a few scratches.” Matthew looked at his arms that still had some tingling sensation under the gauntlets.

“That’s good to hear. Maybe I should learn some Divine Magic as well? I could perform healing magic then.” Rose suggested.

“Don’t stress yourself out. Well, I don’t think there’s anything else left to do, is there?” Matthew said.

“I don’t think so. Should we report back now?”

“Why not? Let’s go.”

And so, they had accomplished their very first quest together with minimal injuries. The teacher assigned to watch over them had nothing but astonishment and was simply breath taken by their performance.

‘I have no doubt, these two will pass the exam.’ Riea signed off her report as she rested on the tree close to the two student’s camp for the night.

“However, it won’t only be them in the exam. You two better be prepared to compete with the others.” Riea had a little dialogue by herself.

…..

“Thank you for your services! Here is your reward!” The receptionist at the Hunter station happily said. “For two students to complete a quest at this speed and with light injuries, you two must be quite strong huh?” The young man praised them for their feats.

“Well, we both helped each other out. Thank you anyways.” Matthew accepted the reward into his hands.

“I wish you the best of luck for the Hunter Exam!” He said lastly to them.

Both of them headed out from the station together. The envelope containing the reward money was in Matthew’s hands. He smiled wryly.

“Well, mission accomplished. Nice work Rose.” Matthew said to her.

“Thank you, although I feel like you did most of the work. I knew you aced the classes but I didn’t know you were this strong.” How Rose said indicated that she was completely amazed.

“What, did you think I was slacking off the entire time?”

“Aside from academics, not really. You could’ve even done this alone, you know?”

“Well, I did think of that for a while but… Why would I when I can do it with a friend.” Matthew’s face was filled with satisfaction and joy.

Rose could feel the radiating happiness he was feeling and smiled as well.

“Besides, we should start getting used to working together since we’re gonna form a party, right?”

“Eh?” Rose gasped.

“Hm? Are we not?” Matthew tilted his head a little.

“Eh, but but, why me?” Rose slightly blushed.

“Ehh…. Why not? You’re pretty much the only friend I know, aside from a few other guys. And we share the same objective right? To find a way back home.”

“Oh… Yeah…?” Rose sounded quite unsure but it seemed that Matthew had taken it wrongly.

“Right? So that means that it’s better if we team up since we have the same objective. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to not cause any trouble for you if that’s what you're worried about.” Matthew moved his hands around and bent a little as if to make himself smaller.

“Eh?”

“Oh, is that not why your face is red?” Matthew asked.

FWEE!!

Steam came out of Rose’s head. “You idiot of course it’s because I’m worried you’ll be trouble.” Rose bursted in a rage as her face grew redder and redder. “But…”

Matthew who had his arms up to protect himself slowly put them back down. He looked at Rose who fidgeted around for a bit before continuing.

“If you promise that then… I’ll gladly team up with you.” She shyly looked at Matthew.

Matthew was, for a moment, dumbstruck but recovered quickly with an energetic smile. “Good then.”

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