Giant Hunting

After everyone had regained their breath, they headed over to the Giant, making sure it was dead.

Bluey kicked it a couple times in the stomach, but it didn't react. Poppy was inspecting it's burned and bruised face. “Blegh...”

Aurora was sniffing, “Now that I know what they smell like, I think there is another northwest of us.”

“Let's go!” Bluey shouted, kicking the Giant one final time then starting to march forward.

Damien and Betty each grabbed one of her shoulders. “Hold on.”

Bluey turned around.

“We need to call it a day. Everyone, well everyone besides you is exhausted after that. Even if we did well, we need to rest,” Damien explained.

Betty now turned on Damien. “Damien, you need to be more careful! You can't keep getting grabbed and hit every mission, or my hair is going to turn gray!”

Damien cowered a bit, “I'm sorry, I was just...”

“I know you were trying to help Kara, but you can't let yourself get grabbed! Besides, Kara would have been fine.”

Kara blushed.

Damien wasn't sure how to respond, so he just hugged her.

Betty teared up a bit, “Don't just-...I'm sorry, I just get so worked up...”

Damien patted her back, “It's okay...”

The others stood around, awkwardly averting their eyes.

Except Poppy, who flew in between them. “Hey, I want in on the hug too!”

With Poppy breaking the tension, the group went back a bit east and set up camp.

After they had set up their tents (Kara setting up her new one for this first time with some help from Bluey), and as they were eating, Damien started planning for tomorrow. “Next time, we should focus their hands and face right away. They seemed to shrug off attacks on their legs, but it recoiled a lot when I hit it's hand with Fire Breath, and obviously the kicks and magic on it's face worked as well.

Bluey raised her hand, “Oh, next time, I'll climb the Giant, and I'll smack its face.”

Damien shook his head, “No, we're not-”

“Master, you should let me focus it's face,” Poppy said, flying into his face. “If I can use my Pixie Flash, it will take it down no problem!”

Damien nodded, “That's probably a good way to start.”

“I can cast Fire Ball at it's face then,” Aurora responded.

“Then I can smack it while it's distracted!” Bluey responded.

Damien nodded again, “Yeah, if we can get it to fall over, we can finish it off easier.”

They strategized a bit longer before turning in for the night.

In Kara's tent, Betty had joined her, so there was more room for the others in their tent.

Kara blushed as they laid out their sleeping bags. “Are they gonna...”

Betty giggled, “No, just some cuddling. Well, probably.”

As they laid down, Kara looked over at Betty, who seemed to be praying as she laid there. She waited until she seemed to be done, then blushed as Betty looked over. “Sorry, I was just curious...”

Betty shook her head. “It's fine, I was just thanking the Goddess for keeping Damien safe today. Well, mostly safe.”

Kara shook her head, “Shouldn't you be praying for your safety?”

Betty blushed, “Damien keeps me safe.”

Kara sighed, “You're too lovestruck.”

Betty got redder, before looking away. “You might be right.”

Kara felt embarrassed and apologized, “Sorry, I didn't mean it like it was a bad thing. Just so unfamiliar to me.”

“You've never been in love?” Betty asked.

Kara shook her head, “No. At least, not like you what you feel for Damien, I think. I've been so focused on being an Adventurer, I haven't really thought about it.”

Betty rolled over and grabbed Kara's hand. “Do you think you might like Damien too?”

Kara blushed, shaking her head. “No, he's very nice, but...”

Betty seemed disappointed. “If you're sure...”

In the morning, they packed up and headed out as soon as dawn hit. Since everyone knew the plan, they immediately got into formation, while Poppy flew above the treetop.

After a minute, she flew back down. “I don't see any, Master.”

Damien thought, Hmm, we should be in there territory.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Aurora asked, “Did you look north? I smell it that way, directly towards the mountain.”

Poppy nodded, “Yeah, nothing.”

“Well, let's just go that way anyway, and Poppy can take a peak every so often.”

Everyone else was in agreement, so they started heading the direction Aurora pointed.

After walking about half an hour, they were on the side of the slope, and Poppy had not seen one yet.

“It's definitely getting stronger,” Aurora said, sniffing.

Poppy flew up again, coming down in a moment, “Master, Master, I didn't see it, but there's a cave up ahead that's almost the size of one.”

“It must be in there, just like the owl-bears were!” Bluey said, pumping her fist in excitement.

Damien nodded, “We'll use the same strategy as the owl-bears, too.”

After briefing Kara and Poppy, they carefully crept up to the cave entrance. Due to the sun still being low, the inside of the cave was still dark. Aurora got close and started casting Fire Breath into the cave. Everyone could see it immediately lit up. Not one, but two large figures started stirring, and they heard growling right after.

Of course there's two of them in there. “Poppy, use your Sparkle as soon as they come out.”

Aurora dashed back to them, and Poppy flew up. The two giants came out, and were instantly greeted by a Pixie Sparkle. Maybe because they were coming out of a dark cave, but it seemed extra effective, one recoiling in pain and the other even falling over partially back into the cave.

Bluey and Kara ran up and started attacking the one that fell over, Bluey punching it's face while Kara was slicing at it's legs.

Aurora cast a Fire Ball at the one still standing. It blew up in the giant's face, but it seemed to quickly recover and began shouting angrily at them. It then started running towards them, knocking over trees as it took the straightest path.

“Oh Goddess, Bind my enemy!” Betty shouted. The Giant froze momentarily, trying to run, as if fighting against ropes holding it.

Betty cast it again. “I'll try and hold it.”

Damien and Aurora ran up, casting Fire spells, trying to hit it's head. However, while it was getting burned, it kept running at them, enraged.

Aurora then activated Speed Boost and ran up a tree, jumping off it and grabbing the Giant's beard. She then cast a point-blank Fire Breath right up at the giant's eyes.

She had to jump off as the giant started clutching at it's face. It had stopped running at them, and was reeling back in pain.

Damien quickly glanced over at the other giant. It was now sitting up, and Kara was throwing daggers at it's face, seeming to be trying to hit its eyes, as it had one hand up blocking it's face. It's other hand was swiping at Bluey, who was...standing on it's shoulder, repeatedly kicking it in the neck.

I guess that's probably effective. Focusing back on their giant, Aurora slid over to him. “Master, should we continue going after it's face?”

Damien nodded. “Let's try to get it off its feet. I'll bait it over.”

“Don't get caught, Master!” Aurora shouted as they split up on either side.

They continued attacking, and the giant seemed to be teetering. Eventually, it fell over, although Damien and Aurora were both low on MP and couldn't follow up immediately.

Luckily, Bluey and Kara seemed to have finished off the other one, and came over to start slashing and punching this one's face. It seemed too exhausted to fight back, and quickly succumbed to their beatdown.

Damien grabbed his knees, bending over and taking deep breaths. He had done so much running and magic using in a short period, he felt a bit light-headed.

Aurora came over and grabbed him.

“I'm okay, just winded,” he said, standing back up and patting her head.

Bluey ran over, “I want one too!”

Damien obliged, only for Poppy to fly over.

“Me, me!”

Damien used a finger to pat her head, too.

Betty came up behind Poppy from where she had been. “Good work, everyone!”

After they cleaned up, they went a bit away and ate some jerky and bread for lunch. Poppy had leveled up, and Damien was going over it now.

Poppy leveled up

Pixie – Level 8

STR – 52

VIT – 89

MAG – 169

DEX – 125

Pixie Sparkle

Pixie Dust

MAG +20

Speed Boost

Dispel Magic

New Ability Available

MAG +10

All Abilities +5

“I'm taking more magic!” Poppy declared, slapping her status screen.

As they were eating, Kara looked over at Damien.

“What?” Damien asked, chewing on his bread.

“Are you just a genius or something? Every time we run into a new enemy, you always come up with a good plan. The giants, the chameleons...and they told me you did it with other enemies before.”

Damien slowly stopped chewing. Am I? I feel like I'm just doing obvious stuff. “No, I'm just thinking about the enemy and what we have in the party, and making a plan.”

Kara made sassy head shake, “Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.”

Betty nodded, “I've thought so, too.”

Damien was going to deny the label, but then thought about it. Maybe I am good?

“Having a smart Master is important,” Aurora nodded along with the others.

Damien thought about it some more, then it clicked. It might be from all the video games I played, I'm used to having to analyze things. Even my job required problem-solving all the time, figuring out what resources to use where. “I guess...I used to do this kinda stuff in my previous world a lot.”

Betty was confused, “I thought your previous world didn't have Adventurers?”

“It didn't,” Damien responded, then tried explaining where he thought the skill came from.

Afterwards, he got mostly skeptical nods. “I'm serious, it's not that different.”

Kara shrugged, “I believe you, just hard to wrap my head around.”

Afterwards, they went and found the fourth giant for their request. Maybe because it was the afternoon now instead of the morning, but they found one walking around the mountain slope without much trouble.

Using the same strategy they employed with the prior giants, they were able to methodically take down the giant in a couple minutes.

Everyone was in a celebratory mood when they finished.

“I was worried this request would be a lot harder,” Betty said, sitting on the ground as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“I was hoping it would be harder,” Bluey said, pouting slightly. “It was fun beating them up, but with Master's planning it wasn't too hard.”

Kara seemed flabbergasted. “I don't know why you would want it to be harder...”

They then started on the journey back to Ancona. Or more specifically, they were going back to the inn they had stayed at on the way to the mountains.

It was slightly less busy this time, and they were able to get a table in the corner to eat at.

“What are we doing next? More Giants? Ohhh, maybe we could go back to that island? Esto-something?” Bluey asked excitedly.

Damien shrugged, “Estora. And I don't know what's next, we have to see what's on the Bronze-Rank Board.”

Betty smiled, “I'm almost to level 12! Then we can at least pick up one Iron-Rank request.”

“That would be great!” Bluey said.

“I'm still surprised the Giants were Bronze-Rank, but I guess we did manage without too much trouble...” Kara mused.

After dinner, they separated out into bedrooms. To Damien's surprise, Poppy was spending the night with him. Poppy was ecstatic about this, sitting on his shoulder and grabbing his cheek.

In the room, the bath was already steaming, and Damien wasted no time slipping off his armor and clothes and soaking in the tub. Poppy slipped off her normal dress she wore, and sat on the side of the tub, kicking her legs in, before using her hands to splash some water up at herself.

Damien was watching her do this, just out of curiosity.

Poppy, however, saw he was watching, and pretended to cover herself while blushing. “Why are you watching me?”

Damien shrugged, “I just was wondering how easy it is to wash yourself if you're that small.”

Poppy giggled, uncovering herself, “I'm just kidding, I don't mind if you watch me,” she said, turning to face him.

Damien blushed slightly and shook his head, before starting to scrub himself.

Without him asking, Poppy grabbed a bit of soap and started scrubbing his hair. Due to her size, it wasn't super effective, but Damien just let her go at it, since she seemed to be enjoying herself. Once she finished, he dunked his head in and washed off the soap.

After soaking for a while longer, they dried off and got into bed. Damien thought Poppy might get overzealous, or try to get in his pants again, but she seemed happy just to curl up next to him on the pillow. She did give him a kiss on the cheek, though. “Goodnight, Master,” she said before closing her eyes.

Damien rubbed his pinky over her, and she smiled and inched a bit closer to his face.