New Shoes and Dinosaurs

In the morning, the group was planning over breakfast again.

“Should we get another big request? Or do more training? I'm almost level 13,” Bluey stated.

“I'm almost level 10,” Betty added.

“I'm almost level 8,” Damien also added, looking at his status screen. It was about 80% of the way there.”

Aurora did a fist pump. “Let's take on those wood elementals again. I can burn them easily, and if we find another large one, that will be a good amount of experience.”

Bluey seemed excited. “I wanna fight them too!”

Damien was about to protest that her Lightning wouldn't be good against them, but then remembered Bluey had jumped straight through trees before. “We should probably be fine.”

After they finished, Damien went to grab some new shoes. Although, since Damien wasn't familiar with the shoes of this world yet, the shopping process was mainly Betty picking some out that she knew would be comfortable for long trips.

“How are these?” she asked, handing a pair over to Damien.

Damien slipped them on (this world had no notion of shoelaces), and walked around. Surprisingly, they were fairly comfortable, even feeling a bit springy when he stepped off. “Yeah, let's get these.” Maybe I can run better now!

Once the shoes were purchased, they went to the guild, but upon arrival were struggling to get in as it was extremely crowded.

“What's going on?” Damien asked, trying to look over the person in front of him.

The person turned around, and turned out to be Kevander, who gave him an irritated glare when he recognized him. “Are you just following us? I'm not letting you pass.”

I mean, we work here too, so it's not surprising we'd see each other...

From behind Kevander the face of Feya shot out, smiling and giving him a wave. “Heyyyy!”

Betty instinctively grabbed onto Damien. “Why are you stopping us from entering!?”

Before Kevander could reply, Feya explained, “Some guy named Herod is getting a Divine-Rank request.”

“Divine-Rank?” Damien repeated, confused.

Betty explained. “Remember I said Orichalum-Rank requires you to be level 40?”

Damien nodded.

Betty continued, “When you hit level 50, you become eligible for the highest rank – Divine. However, unlike other ranks you can't just do a set number of requests, your party gets a specially assigned one from the guild. There's only a few Divine-Rank parties in any country. To think Herod reached it himself...”

Aurora tapped Damien's shoulder. “Herod was that one summoner, right? I don't like the way he smelled.”

Damien gave a wry grin, “I wasn't too fond of him either, but the way he smelled?”

Aurora nodded.

Kevander pointed to Aurora. “What!? You got another girl!?”

Aurora bowed and nodded. “I am Master's Fire-fox, Aurora.”

Feya replied, “Oh my, you are so cute.”

Betty shook her head, “You don't need to be nice to them Aurora.”

Aurora seemed confused, but Kevander was getting angry again.

“Come on, let's get out of here. Who cares about some Divine-Rank asshole anyway,” he said, grabbing Feya and storming off.

As she had the last couple times, she smiled and waved at them as she was drug away. “Hope to see you again!”

Betty seemed thoughtful, so Damien asked, “What's wrong? You shouldn't let him bother you.”

Betty shook her head. “I know, it's mostly just so I get an excuse to hold onto you,” she blushed. “But...I was thinking, Feya doesn't seem that bad. I don't know why she's with that...idiot. Maybe she's blinded like I was.”

Damien nodded. Maybe she sees something we don't...

After a few moments, they started to get pushed back by the crowd, who was forming a path.

Herod came walking out, followed by five women with collars, like last time (except with one more).

There was some polite applause, while Herod smirked. He didn't seem to notice them, or if he did he paid them no mind, just thinking of them as faces in the crowd.

Eventually, he was out of sight, and the crowd started to disperse.

“Is it normal to have this?” Damien asked.

Betty shook her head, “Normally there's a celebration to see the group off. With Herod...well, I don't think he has friends, so this is the most that would happen, is curious onlookers.”

Once the crowd had dispersed, they went inside towards the Bronze-Rank board, and...there was no wood elemental requests.

Damien looked down, disappointed.

“We can fight them without the request, right Master?” Aurora asked.

Betty replied, “Err...if we want to save up for the apartment, we should do a request, at least.”

Bluey poked a request. “What about this? A par-...parl-...pear-...”

Betty grabbed the request. “A parasaurolophus? Those roam the countryside east of Ancona.”

How can she even pronounce that? It sounds like a name for a dinosar.

Betty showed it to him. “It's for five.” She looked around, then found another for five. “Okay, let's do these, they're ten silver each, so not bad money either. It's about two hours from Ancona, so we should be able to complete it in one day.”

Damien thought, then replied “I'll bring the camping gear, just in case.”

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Bluey elbowed him, “What? You think we can't handle the request?”

Damien shook his head, “No, but you never know. What if we can't find ten easily?”

Betty nodded. “That's a good point, let's go get it and head out. We'll prepay the room for an extra day, too.”

After getting their supplies, they started making the trek eastward. While the grasslands between Silaro and Ancona had been mostly empty except near the towns (except rabbits and slimes), the eastern grasslands were more developed. There was farms every which way, and the creatures here were usually higher level than the western side.

“Have you fought these before, Betty?” Bluey asked as they walked.

Bluey shook her head, “No, but I remember seeing them before. I believe our current party should be able to defeat them without too much of a problem.”

They continued on through the farmland, until they reached a more sparsely populated area, and the beginning of the parasaurolophus territory. They only had to walk for a few minutes before they found them.

They were fairly hard to miss, being probably three or four meters tall, and seven or eight from nose to tail. They had horns on their head, a shell on their back, and spikes at the end of their tail.

Yeah that kinda looks like a dinosaur.

Bluey activated Lightning Enhancement. “Alright, let's do this.”

“Hold on!” Damien stopped her. “Let's be careful.”

Bluey nodded, deactivating her ability.

The three girls looked at him eagerly.

“Um...I don't have a plan.”

“Won't you think of one though, Master?” Aurora asked.

Betty nodded. “You got this.”

Damien grew red, and started sweating a bit. I better think of something fast...

Damien thought for a couple minutes, before coming up with a start. “Let's have Betty bind that close one, then Bluey and Aurora will use their magic from a bit of distance on either side. I'd rather we didn't get too close to them without knowing how they'll react with that scary looking tail. After we defeat one maybe we can change tactics.”

The three girls all nodded seriously.

They turned to the nearest parasaurolophus, and readied themselves to follow the plan.

“Oh Goddess, bind my target!” Betty shouted.

The parasaurolophus stopped moving. It's head was low to the ground where it had been munching on some grass, and the bind didn't cause it to fall over.

Bluey started casting Lightning Bolt and Aurora cast Fire Breath, hitting it from each side.

The parasaurolophus seemed to be struggling, starting to shake slightly despite the bind.

Betty shouted, “It's going to break free soon!”

After another moment, it got free with a loud roar. Since Aurora was closest, it swung it's tail at her, although Aurora was able to easily dodge out of the way.

Damien watched to see what it would do next. It roared again, and then...turned and started barreling away at top speed.

What...what!?

They all took off after it.

The parasaurolophus ran down a hill, towards a group of three other parasaurolophus, howling at them. The other three parasaurolophus lowered their horned heads and started charging past the first one, towards Damien and the others.

Trying to think quickly, he shouted, “Bluey, Aurora, try to distract one each. Betty, bind the large middle one until the others are dead.”

The others followed his orders exactly. They sort of worked, as the side two split off to charge at Bluey or Aurora, and the middle one slid into the ground as the bind took effect.

Damien watched, nervously trying to figure out what to do next. Aurora was getting low on MP already, and Bluey was down to fighting with Lightning Enhanced fists. She was punching it's legs, but it bit at her, forcing her to dodge away.

Suddenly Betty started chanting, “Oh Goddess, bind my enemies!” and both of the other parasaurolophus stopped moving, crumpling to the ground. Betty wiped her face, “There...”

Damien ran over to her. “Is your MP okay?”

Betty gave a nervous smile. “Ummm....”

The large one in the middle was starting to shake slightly, the bind wearing off. Bluey and Aurora were preoccupied with wailing on their respective parasaurolophus.

Not sure what to do, Damien decided the best course of action was to get Betty to safety. As the large parasaurolophus started to get up, Damien picked up the weary Betty in a princess carry and started sprinting in the opposite direction.

“Damien...” she said, blushing.

Damien was going to tell her it wasn't the time or place, but suddenly something appeared in front of them. It was the original parasaurolophus they had fought, Damien able to see scorches on it's side from earlier.

He quickly turned and slid off the road, down into a ditch, barely keeping hold of Betty.

Looking up, the large parasaurolophus was looking down at them, letting out a roar.

“Oh Goddess, protect us from harm!” Betty shouted, pointing her palms up.

The barrier appeared just in time, deflecting the parasaurolophus's teeth as it bit down onto it.

The first one came up, and the both started roaring.

Damien looked over at the others while Betty was praying (not to cast a spell, just praying). Aurora had activated Fire Enhancement and seemed to be dodging in an out, getting attacks in where she could. Bluey was still punching the other one repeatedly. These things must have a ton of HP.

He took off his bag, hoping it wouldn't be trampled, so that he could run quicker. There was a small irrigation canal a bit away, probably a few meters wide. “Can you swim, Betty?”

Betty was confused. “I can a bit, I'm not fast or anything. Why?”

Damien pointed to the irrigation canal.

Betty understood. “That should buy them some time.” She got ready to run, but Damien picked her up again. Betty blushed, but shook her head to dispel her thoughts. “Ready?”

Damien nodded, and Betty lowered the barrier. He took off running towards the canal.

The two parasaurolophus started off after them, but the initial burst after the barrier went down had been enough to beat them to the canal. It was about two meters deep, and his feet touched the bottom when he jumped in before they swam up and over to the other side.

The parasaurolophus were roaring at them as they climbed out. The large one tried stepping over, but his leg only reached about two-thirds the way across, and he started to sink into the water.

“Oh Goddess, bind my target!” Betty shouted.

The large parasaurolophus sunk into the canal, unable to move. The slow moving water of the canal started to carry it away.

The first parasaurolophus started howling as it watched the other one.

“I'm out again after that,” Betty replied, grabbing her knees and breathing heavily.

Damien was about to pick her up again so they could keep running, when he noticed something moving behind the first parasaurolophus. Bluey and Aurora were running towards them, the slumped over bodies of the other two parasaurolophus behind them in the distance.

Well, Bluey was running, while Aurora was more of an orange blur, slamming into the back of the first parasaurolophus.

It roared and started turning, trying to whack it's tail into her, but Aurora easily jumped up onto it's shell and started casting Fire Breath at it's face.

“Bluey, get the big one!” Damien shouted. It was starting to struggle slightly as it was carried along, it's tail dragging along the far side of the bank.

Bluey turned and ran towards it instead, before sticking her hand in the canal and casting Lightning Bolt.

The large parasaurolophus started twitching in shock from the electricity coursing through it. Once Bluey stopped, it roared loudly as it struggled to get out of the canal towards her.

Aurora had finished off the first one now (presumably it having been weak from their attacks earlier) and started casting Fire Breath at it's face.

Bluey used her Bouncy ability to jump high, before dive-kicking onto it's shell. There was a loud 'crack' as a fracture appeared. Bluey repeatedly punched the fracture until she shattered part of the shell. With one more punch, she connected with the innards under the shell.

The large parasaurolophus's roaring turned into crying as it started violently shaking, until finally slumping over onto it's side, still half in the canal, dead.

Damien could feel the adrenaline leaving his body. He checked their status, and somehow, miraculously, no one had even taken damage, although their MP (besides himself) were all near zero.

Bluey bounded over the canal, giving both of them a hug in turn. “We did it!”

Aurora also jumped over, and noticing they were wet, immediately grabbed some brush and started a small fire. “Master, Betty...”

Damien smiled and sat down next to it. “Thanks Aurora.”

They all sat down next to the fire, and after everyone had caught their breath, took some time to eat some jerky (after Bluey ran over to retrieve their mercifully unsmashed bag) while they talked.

“I think we did great!” Bluey said.

Damien shook his head. “It could have been a lot better. We shouldn't have let it get away to the others. In the future, we should try and bind it when it starts to run, instead of right away.”

Betty nodded. “ I was thinking that too.”

Aurora said, “They have a lot of HP. We can whittle them down, of course, but it takes a while.”

Bluey nodded. “If we can break their shells, their insides get exposed, and I can just reach in and punch their guts!”

Damien grimaced a bit but nodded. “That seems like a good way to get around their large HP. I'm impressed you were able to smash through it.”

Bluey did a fist pump, “With how strong Master makes me, I can punch through anything. Err...I guess I kicked through it, but you know what I mean!”

Betty giggled, patting Bluey on the head. “Good job Bluey.”

Bluey hugged Betty in appreciation.

Damien noticed Aurora's ears twitched a bit. He reached over, scratching her ears. “You did good too, Aurora.”

Aurora blushed, looking down and smiling, before hugging him as well, her tail spinning in overdrive.

As they were finishing drying off, Damien checked their levels. He was much closer, and Bluey was also most of the way to her next level.

“Oh, I hit level 10!” Betty said, looking at her status screen. “No new ability, but my stats went up!” She nodded confidently, “I'm gonna bind all of them this time!” she exclaimed, holding up her fists.