I got picked.

Turns out since I tried out the last bridge, I should try out this one. Taegan notices the look on my face and chuckles. “You tried one bridge and it was fine, this is the same.” He says with a chuckle.

I look up at the hammer, wait for it to come down, and then cross quickly. I stay in the safe space as I nod. “Seems easy, c’mon.” I say, now returning the smirk of Dalyva’s that she had before when I got picked. She glared at me, and then they both waited for the hammer, and crossed.

This one’s much easier than the last, you just need to be observant. We get across 3, before coming to a slightly larger wait zone, with several monsters in it. There are many corrupted rats, about twelve. Taegan observes them quietly.

Suddenly, a person approached us, and Dalyva’s eyes lit up. So did mine, but Taegan just remained calm. He was purple as well, which was why Taegan wasn’t hopeful. “I am a feature in this dungeon, so don’t get your hopes up.” He says. “I am here to give you weapon options to fight your way through the dungeon. Follow me please.” He turns, and gestures for us to follow. Taegan nods, and follows first.

We go behind Taegan as he trails behind the…. merchant? Something like that. Anyways, the guy leads us to a room full of weapons. I notice they don’t seem to be of high quality, but they’ll certainly do.

“These all have anti corruption.” The merchant says. “You can each take up to 3 weapons, and your choices today will impact the loot you’ll get. This is so the Master, or Corruption God,” shivers run down all our spines as he says the name, and the merchant seems not to notice this as he continues.“As you know him, so he doesn’t have to waste good weapons.” Taegan nods. “Thank you.” He says before looking around the multitude of weapons.

There are rapiers, swords, short swords, daggers, spears, even things like chains or chains and a ball at the end and even ninja stars. He looks at us. “Anyone have any preferences?” He asks. I think for a while. “I practiced with a sword a couple times before I was taken here.” I say. He nods and turns to Dalyva. “Maybe a spear or dagger?” She says nervously. He then goes to the merchant. “Do you by any chance have a halberd?” He asks.

The merchant nods and points towards a rack at the back. Taegan walks over to the rack, picks up the halberd, and then walks back to Dalyva. “This.” He gestures to it. “Is a good weapon for your specialisation and you. Like it?” He asks. She nods, and takes it into her hands with cautiousness. “Why didn’t you give her a bow?” I ask, curious what he was thinking. “Well, the bow does seem good, but it absolutely is terrible for her specialisation. Blood is generally one specialisation that if used correctly is feared from all over. Mainly because of their regeneration and fighting style of using others strikes against them.” He says. “For you though it's a bit harder, because you already use your specialisation. Well, just choose a weapon.” He says as he goes to get his own weapon.

I look around, almost overwhelmed by the choice of weapons. Dalyva is practicing with her halberd, crudely yes, but at least she was trying. I look at the racks of different weapons. I was thinking something like a short sword, or something like…. that one there? I walk over to it curiously. It had a handle at the bottom, with a curved and one sided sword. (A Katana.) I picked it up. The merchant comes over to me, and hands me a sheath. “This is the katana’s sheath.” He says simply. I hold the, now I know the name, katana up in the air appreciatively.

“Found your weapon?” A voice behind me says. I jump slightly, having not seen them and whirl around. “Taegann” I whine. “You surprised me…” He is just chuckling. I notice two daggers that curve towards him in sheathes at his hips. “Need some help attaching your sheath?” He asks, still with a laughing undertone.

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“No.” I say firmly, trying to attach it myself, but failing. “Here.” Says Taegan as he grabs the sheath, and attaches it himself as he kneels to do it. “There Shankhe.” He says as he rises. Dalyva is looking at our weapons as I sheath my katana. The merchant looks at us all. “Happy with your weapons?” He asks.

We all nod, and he then starts to walk to the exit. “Well, have a good day.” He says as he gestures for us to leave.

We follow Taegan as he leads us out of the room. “Thanks.” He says as the merchant closes the door behind Dalyva. As we return to the twelve rats, Taegan draws his curved jambiya daggers, which are edging on being short swords . He rushes them, and about half go to him. I draw my katana, and start to attack as well. Dalyva just holds her halberd ready, it shaking a bit, but decent for her first time with a weapon.

Five surround me, and one goes to Dalyva. I, as much as I want to look at her, don’t, knowing that it’d just give the rats fighting me an advantage. I pop my bottle, and water sprays out to help me. I start with the one closest to me, drawing my sword and trying to slice it, two hands on my sword as I swing hard, even as it goes through the rat, I still swing hard to make sure it goes through the rat completely. Another rat attacked my undefended side, but my water instantly killed it, water going through its brain as it collapsed dead. Three left.

I turned one which had launched itself at me, and, reversing my wrists, swung the other way with force as I cut through it. Its head rolled one the floor nearby as the rest of its body collapsed onto the floor. Two left.

They decided to attack together, even though it was pointless, as I was just too strong. I used my water to eliminate one, and just as my sword was going through the second one, the water merged with the sword to make an even easier and deadlier cut. My eyes widen in surprise as I realise what I did. Suddenly I realised that Dalyva has her own rat to deal with. “Dalyva!” I say, whirling around.

Taegan is already done, and is watching her as she tries to stab the rat. He gestures for me to join him, and I notice his sand is sitting on the ground near her. I put my water away from my fight, and watch the show.

Dalyva’s mostly using the spear part of the halberd, probably not having the strength to do much else. Despite not using the full efficiency of her weapon, Dalyva was still decently winning, as the stratches and small wounds on the rat were building up. Eventually, she managed to get a good thrust, and impaled the rat right through the heart.

Both me and Taegan cheered. “Good job Dalyva!” Says Taegan. I nod. “Yeah, that was decent.” She smiles at us as she puts down her halberd wearily. “Could’ve helped me out!” She protests. “You seemed down to me.” Said Taegan innocently. She glared at him, and he put up his hands in surrender. “Fine, but you should practice with your weapon.”

She sighs, and we loot the corpses. We put it all in a bag, and then continued across the bridge. Dalyva, being tired, almost got whacked by the hammer as Taegan quickly pulls her across, a hair's width from getting killed. “Thanks.” She says gratefully. He grins. “No worries, we’re a team now.” He then turns to me.

“Onwards!” I cheer.

After three more hammers, we came across a platform, again, except this time, it was ducks about one and a half metres tall. Almost as high as us. Dalyva let out a piercing scream, and started to shiver as she fell to the ground, stock-still with terror.

Taegan and I instantly whirl around. “Dalyva!” We say in unison.

Taegan is the first to realise what it is. “Shankhe, you take six and I’ll take six.” I nod, the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together. She had a fear of ducks. For some reason or way, she had gained an immense fear of the creatures, and we needed to eliminate them before tending to her. It was hard, fending off six ducks, but I quickly saw through their patterns.

They would surround their prey, and then two on either side would dash in, attacking, and swap spots, then this repeated as they all rotated in a practicedd way.

I observed for a bit, and then went in for the attack, drawing my sword and slicing the head of one of the ducks. Its head fell to the ground, and its body collapsed without a brain to lead it.

Five to go. My katana was out now, and the duck's partner was rushing at me, I lifted my sword, and swung down to cut it in half. In its enraged state, it didn’t notice the sword until it was crashing down on its head, and collapsing to the ground.

Four. Two more rushed at me, having no concern that their comrades were dead. I sheath my sword, and as I released it, I chopped off one head. Then I release my water, and shoot the other through the head. Both of them collapse onto the ground.

Two left. They hesitate for a second, before rushing in together. I sheath my katana, and split my stream of water into two, and then send both streams into one of the ducks brains respectively. Both fall dead, and I wait for Taegan to finish looting his own before looting mine as well.

I go over to Dalyva. “You good?” I ask, and her, still shivering, nods slightly. “Y-yeah.” She says. Taegan walks up behind me. “What was that?” He says, looking at her cautiously. “Care to share? You don’t have to.” He says quickly.