I Was Summoned as the Weakest Hero, But I Awakened a Military System

John walked around the crystalline structure while looking up at the trapped elf-girl. He was contemplating whether she is part of the dungeon or was simply trapped here.

Because he couldn’t find the exit either. Does that mean he has to get her out there?

John stopped in front of the floating blue crystal, slinging his FN SCAR-H across his chest. He reached up, resting a gloved hand against the ice-cold surface of the crystalline monolith.

The moment his tactical glove made contact, a sharp, pulsing hum resonated through the marble room.

[System Notification: Hidden Mechanism Detected!]

[Target: Mana-Sealed Crystalline Vessel]

[Condition for Floor Unsealing: Dispel Mana Matrix / Release Sealed Entity.]

[System Solution Available: Use High-Energy Explosive Thermal Charge or Direct High-Precision Physical Disruption.]

”So you really are the key to getting out of here,” John muttered, stepping back down the dais stairs.

He didn’t want to use C4 or a shaped charge—explosive blast overpressure in an enclosed marble room might liquefy her internal organs before the crystal even shattered. He needed raw, high-density kinetic force concentrated onto a single, precise structural focal point.

John opened his system interface with a razor-sharp thought.

He summoned his Barrett M107A1 Anti-Material Rifle.

The heavy, .50-caliber anti-material beast materialized in his hands. He racked the heavy bolt back with a metallic CLACK-CLACK, chambering a single .50 BMG MK 211 Mod 0 High-Explosive Armor-Piercing Incendiary round.

He stepped back twenty feet to the base of the dais, dropped onto one knee, and deployed the bipod onto the marble floor. Lowering his cheek to the foam riser, John aligned the Leupold Mark 4 optic with the top corner of the monolith—far away from the girl’s head and torso, where the crystalline lattice was thickest.

”Here we go,” John growled softly behind his mask, his finger taking up the slack on the MatchGrade trigger.

BOOM!

The Barrett detonated with a deafening roar that shook the vaulted sanctuary. The heavy muzzle brake blasted a shockwave of dust sideways across the marble.

The MK 211 round struck the top corner of the crystal at nearly three thousand feet per second.

CRACK-KABOOM!

The tungsten penetrator punched through the outer structure, triggering its internal zirconium charge. A blinding flash of thermite fire ignited inside the crystal’s fault line, sending microscopic stress fractures spider-webbing across the entire twelve-foot monolith in milliseconds.

SPIDER-CRACK! SPIDER-CRACK!

The blue light inside the structure flickered violently. Then, with a sound like shattering glass amplifed a hundred times, the entire crystalline monolith exploded outward into a shower of harmless blue dust and sparkling mana light.

The sudden loss of containment released a sharp blast of cold, pressurized air.

The silver-haired elf girl tumbled forward out of mid-air, her limp, porcelain body falling straight toward the hard marble steps.

John’s maxed-out Combat Perception and reflexes reacted instantly. He dropped the heavy Barrett to the floor, lunged forward across the dais in a low sprint, and extended his arms.

CATCH!

He caught her mid-fall, cradling her against his tactical rig. Her skin was freezing, her long, silver hair spilling over his Crye Precision plate carrier.

Gasping violently, her chest heaved as warm air rushed back into her lungs for the first time in centuries. She coughed softly, her long, slender pointed ears twitching as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Deep, radiant amethyst eyes locked directly onto John’s white-phosphor goggles and tactical mask.

At that exact moment, the far wall of the sanctuary groaned loudly as ancient golden runes flared to life, unsealing the true exit archway.

The elf girl blinked weakly, looking up at the heavily armored, masked human holding her, before her eyes darted down to his tactical gear in sheer, disoriented confusion.

”...Who... who are you?” she whispered in a soft, melodic voice.

John looked down at the naked, freezing elf girl in his arms, then toward the glowing exit archway ahead.

A cold, dry chuckle escaped his lips behind his mask.

”United States Special Forces ma’am,” he said coolly. He had been wanting to say it since it was really his dream to become one.

He looked at her again and damn she was really beautiful. However, she was completely naked.

The moment his brain fully registered her bare, porcelain frame pressed against his tactical plate carrier, John’s face flushed hot under his mask. His military training and maxed-out reflexes immediately took over—not to strike, but to violently snap his head to the side, averting his gaze toward the far marble wall.

”Jesus Christ,” John muttered under his breath, his eyes glued firmly to a pillar on his left.

She shivered violently against his chest, her teeth chattering as the freezing sub-zero mountain draft from Floor 6 washed over her bare skin.

”...Ah... cold...” she whimpered softly, her amethyst eyes wide with confusion as she tried to wrap her slender arms around herself to cover her chest.

”Hold on, don’t move,” John said quickly, keeping his face turned strictly away.

With a rapid thought, he brought up his system menu, bypassing the small arms and military hardware tabs to navigate straight to specialized field equipment.

”System! Deploy US Military All-Weather Poncho and Modular Sleep System Fleece Liner!”

FLASH!

A heavy-duty, waterproof foliage-green military poncho alongside a thick, dark green fleece liner materialized directly onto the marble floor beside his boots.

John reached down blindly, snagged the fleece liner and poncho with his right hand, and shook them open. Still carefully keeping his eyes locked onto the ceiling, he draped the thick fleece liner over her shivering shoulders, wrapping her tightly in the soft, thermal material before securing the waterproof poncho around her frame like an oversized cloak.

Only when she was completely covered up to her chin in heavy military fleece did John finally turn his head back to look at her.

The silver-haired elf girl blinked up at him from within the giant, oversized bundle of olive-drab fleece, looking small and thoroughly bewildered. She clutched the warm material around her neck, her pale cheeks flushing a faint rose pink as she processed her situation.

”...United... States?” she repeated slowly, the foreign words sounding strange on her tongue.

”Is that... a kingdom?”

John cleared his throat behind his mask, picking up his Barrett M107A1 off the floor and slinging his SCAR-H back into a low-ready position.

”Something like that,” John replied, offering a gloved hand to help her stand. ”Can you walk?”

She tested her legs, taking a hesitant step onto the cold marble, but her knees buckled immediately from centuries of muscle atrophy inside the crystal. John caught her elbow before she could hit the floor, supporting her weight effortlessly thanks to his maxed-out physical conditioning.

”All right, guess we’re doing fire-and-maneuver,” John grunted, pulling her arm over his tactical shoulder and securing his grip around her waist.

He looked toward the glowing golden runes of the unsealed exit archway at the far end of the hall.

”Name’s John, by the way,” he added, adjusting his AN/PVS-31A night-vision goggles as he guided them both toward the light of the teleporter. ”Now let’s get out of this room first.”