I slammed my hand on the desk.

"I can't believe it, this is the first time ya got something good for me old man!” I quickly stood up from my chair, eager to go. “I accept this quest!”

“You know that we are talking about a horned thunder bear, right?” tony threw in with a slight tone of worry.

“And ya know that I’m one of the strongest adventurers around, right? Or to be precise. I’m the strongest adventure in this place right now.” I answered with boundless confidence and anticipation.

“Yeah, I know that. I am just saying that you should be more careful this time around and not just run into the monster screaming with your axe above your head.” Tony added.

“Bah! Cut the crap tony. It’s just a mindless monster, nothing to worry about. It won’t take more than two or three swings from this baby and that thing is as good as dead.” I said pointing at the double-headed steel axe which I always carried on my back. “This thing weighs more than 200kg and can easily split open the head of a wyvern. A bear's not gonna stand a chance against it!”

Tony let out a sigh “I cannot argue with you. You are way too thick-headed. C'mon, let's not let the merchants in renz wait any longer.”

The old man bowed his head “I thank you for taking the quest, Sir Lantern. I hope you come back well and alive.”

“Bah! I will never die to the likes of a mere beast.”

I turned my back at the old man and slowly started walking outside. There was one more thing I had to tell the old geezer though.

“A little piece of advice before we leave, old man. Ya better make sure to clean this room once in a while. It’s very unpleasant to be in here.”

After that, I left the room alongside Tony who quickly expressed his thanks to the old man. We hastily left the guild without paying attention to any of the other adventures.

“It would not hurt to work on your attitude towards people. You know that everyone in this guild hates you, right?” tony said with a stern look on his face while closing the door to the guild hall.

“Bah, who cares what these cowards think of me.” I took a few steps away from the guild and then immediately focused mana into my legs.

Tony walked towards me. Seeming bothered by something, he suddenly started speaking his mind.

“You know that your attitude towards others could cause you some problems in the future, right?”

“No problems which can’t be solved with force. And now shut up.” I was ready to go, but tony stood in front of me, blocking my path.

“Your attitude is your biggest flaw and I know I can’t talk you out of it.” he reached inside his pocket and took out a small red stone. “But that doesn’t mean that there are no people who care about you. I know you can take quite a few hits, but take this healing stone just to be sure nothing goes wrong.”

“Tsk” I took the stone and put it in my pocket. “I won’t need it but thanks anyways.”

After that, I leaped into the forest without saying anything else and without looking back.

It was already night when I entered the forest.

It’s too quiet. Most of the animals must've been devoured by that bear, and those that were still alive were probably hiding somewhere safe.

I focused mana into my eyes to check my surroundings and located a small trail of electric-mana particles which were left by the bear. Following the trail, I heard a loud roar echoing throughout the forest. My heart began to race and I could feel myself smiling in anticipation. It has been a long time since I fought a Rank-A monster.

This will be fun!

I picked up the pace and started running towards the echoing roar.

While I was still running, I saw a massive shadow flying in my direction. I grabbed the axe from my back and prepared myself for a fight. The shadow came closer at a rapid speed, and once it was close enough I held my axe above my head and let it crash down at whatever was approaching, splitting it in half. Both halves of what seemed like an animal flew past me, splattering me with blood before crashing into the trees behind me.  I made one final swing shaking the blood off of my axe before looking back to see what I had just cut in half. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Laying behind me in a puddle of blood and intestines was the corpse of the horned thunder bear which I was about to hunt down. I was disappointed, to say the least, but also curious.

What on earth is powerful enough inside this forest to send a creature like this flying?

I noticed a faint black fog escaping from the bear, so I carefully stepped closer to it.

This is not natural. A horned thunder bear should not have the ability to control the darkness. Something is off...

I got down on one knee to inspect the corpse a little bit closer and saw a small hole from which the black fog was escaping, right next to the cut I made.

Who or what made this wound? The wound is surely not big enough to be lethal, but the attack was still strong enough to send this thing flying.

I had to find out who was behind all of this.

There should be no cursed creature on this continent. The only possible options are that a cursed creature somehow managed to make it over here, or something even worse is roaming the woods right now...

I stood up and looked at the trajectory from which the bear came flying from. And luckily for me, it wasn’t all that hard to follow the path of destruction which was concisely made of broken trees. So, It didn’t take long until I reached the point from where the bear got sent flying. Once I arrived there however the only thing I could find was a child, vomiting and then collapsing before he could even say a word. I stepped a little bit closer.

“A child. No older than fourteen.”

I inspected the boy and saw that he was, bleeding from the back of his head. Furthermore, his right arm was broken, he was sickly pale and his whole body was trembling.

“Looks like he exhausted his mana. But what is a child doing alone in the forest? Well, it's not my problem.”

While I turned around to walk away, I suddenly noticed a thick black fog rising from the boy's arm in the corner of my eye.

"Wait a second..." I turned back around and looked at the boy's arm. " This black fog is definitely the same I saw escaping from the bear's wound, but a child as small as this shouldn't be capable of doing something like this. Furthermore, a human child should not even be able to control the darkness at all!"

While attempting to quickly tend to his wounds, I lost myself in thoughts.

Is he a demon? But how did he get here from the dark continent? There is no way a child would get here in one piece. So maybe he got cursed? But why is he still alive?

While I was lost in thought, the boy's condition worsened. Struggling to properly tend to his wounds, I remembered the healing stone that Tony gave to me. I quickly took it out of my pocket and crushed it with my hands. The dust from the stone gently fell upon the child's body, and his wounds slowly began to heal.

Letting him die here would be a waste. Did he know about this? Was this the reason he sent me here? Knowing him, it could be possible. Well, who cares? A kid like him might be useful in the future.

Once I finished tending to his wounds, I carried the boy out of the forest and back to the inn.