Chapter 7 - Iron Bear

There were many Iron Bears in this place, but they lived far from each other. The holes in the trees served as individual caves for each of them. This was the only reason why Markos, with a level one character, had been brave enough to accept this mission.

Even though he had knowledge and skills that made him a cheat code at the early game, it was still impossible to completely defy logic. Taking on a pair of Iron Bears despite the level disadvantage was doable, but facing a pack of Silver Wolves who were also level eight was simply a fool's dream. 

Markos watched from a distance as an Iron Bear built its new cave in a tree. These monsters were similar to the bears that lived in countless zoos around the world, but with a few differences.

The size of the Iron Bears was almost identical to their Earth's counterparts, reaching nearly 2 meters in height. What really made them a monster from a game was their dirty gray fur, which looked more like an armadillo's shell. This was the main characteristic of the Iron Bears, and it gave them exceptional defense. 

Seeing that his prey remained unaware of his presence, and with time ticking down for the [Old Butcher Test] mission, Markos got ready to begin his slaughter. 

At the beginning of Exodia Quest, the only two items the Assassin class players had were the and the . Markos wasted no time and took out the dagger, looking at its attributes.

[Common 0 Stars]

[The basic weapon of every assassin. All masters of assassination began their journey with this weapon. Something more dangerous than a kitchen knife. Physical Attack +5]

Markos couldn't help but grieve when he saw the pitiful attributes. His only comfort was that he only had to use it during this mission, he would later get some equipment worthy of his status as a reincarnator.

This, in addition to his basic attributes, gave him a total of Physical Attack +25. The distribution of his attributes allowed Markos to deal 28 damage with , enough to stand a chance against the high health and defense of the Iron Bears. 

He was truly grateful to the designers of Exodia Quest for their rounding rules, which gave him 0.5 points of extra damage for free....

Markos stealthily sneaked forward, getting within 10 meters of his prey. With , he could see even the slightest movement of the Iron Bear in detail. Given its relaxed posture, it had clearly failed to detect his presence.

Markos gripped the dagger tightly and felt his heartbeat quicken. The number one rule of every assassin was to remain calm under any situation, but he couldn't help but feel excited about the upcoming battle.

Without wasting any more time, he started running towards the Iron Bear, who turned around when he heard the heavy footsteps of a human.

Perhaps recognizing the difference in level, the Iron Bear slowly raised his arm and drew out his claws, preparing to strike a blow at the fly that had interrupted the construction of his new home. 

His movements were full of laziness, as if it wasn't worth expending energy on someone as weak as Markos. But as he prepared to bring his arm down to strike, his eyes almost popped out in surprise.

The human who was a few meters away suddenly sped up and appeared in front of him. 

was truly a miraculous ability, even low-level monsters were shocked upon seeing its acceleration ability. Although it was far from comparable to teleportation, at this level, it was the closest thing to it.

Thanks to this, Markos was able to appear right in front of the Iron Bear. Without the slightest hesitation, he used to attack its chest. 

Completely surprised by the attack, the Iron Bear even forgot to defend itself, giving Markos the chance to use again in the same area where he had attacked a second ago.

Grrrrrr!

The Iron Bear grunted in annoyance at the slashes to his chest. He couldn't understand how a mosquito had managed to attack him despite the obvious level difference. His eyes went from being filled with surprise to burning with fury. He was determined to finish off Markos and continue building his home.

Inwardly, Markos was surprised that he was able to make two consecutive attacks against the Iron Bear, but he did not become complacent nor did he let his guard down. Due to his poor attributes, he had only managed to lower a fraction of its health. 

Seeing that the Iron Bear's attack was imminent, Markos rolled under its legs.

He could feel the Iron Bear's claws brushing past him. He had truly been saved by a hair's breadth. Whenever was in cooldown, he felt like his body was being tied to bags of concrete. It was truly a very unpleasant sensation.

Fortunately for him, the Iron Bear was even slower. Opponents with high agility were his only weakness. This was probably the reason why Old Butcher had chosen this mission as a test.

Almost all Assassins opted for an agility-focused build that allowed them to easily dodge and unleash a wave of attacks on windows of opportunity. The difficulty for this type of Assassin was the time limit of the mission.

Because of the investment in agility, their physical attack and defense attributes were relatively low. Therefore, they needed a lot of time to kill the Iron Bear. They also had to maintain their concentration, as a single unblocked attack could take half of their health. 

However, this was not a problem for Markos. helped him stay safe from the Iron Bear's claws and with his investment in strength it took him less time to lower its health bar compared to those who chose the agility build.

After dodging the Iron Bear's furious attack, Markos didn't waste any time and continued his attacks. The Iron Bear's entire body was covered in fur, which was more like a shell, so it didn't matter which part of its body was attacked.

This allowed Markos to use against its legs as he rose from the ground, taking every chance to inflict damage. 

This routine continued for nearly four minutes, until the Iron Bear's life bar reached zero. It took Markos almost half the effort of any other player to kill it, highlighting the huge difference in skill.

With a final grunt, the Iron Bear fell to the ground and turned into thousands of pixels of white light. All that remained was the loot.

[Killed a level 8 Iron Bear. Obtained Meat x1, Claw x1 & Iron Essence x1. EXP: 50]

Markos shook his head at the sight of the loot. If it wasn't for which had left him with only 30% MP it would have been impossible for him to kill the Iron Bear while at level 1. The leveling system in Exodia Quest was truly cruel, as he had only gotten half the experience needed to level up. 

After resting for a few minutes to recover some MP, Markos finally moved on to a new Iron Bear. He had wasted a lot of time on a single Iron Bear, but he wasn't too worried as his efficiency would skyrocket once he leveled up.