Daryl returned to the road with Cindy leading the way once again. The slow pace was starting to grate on him but Cindy had been good and kept herself out of danger like he had hoped. Tired of walking slowly he scooped up his daughter once more and put her up on his shoulder. She seemed content to but up there and sat herself down. One hand holding onto his ear for stability.

“You don’t have to carry me Dad.” She said into his ear without having to speak up.

“What if I want to? Do you ever think about that? Gotta support you in any way I can.”

“You’re not mad about me bringing you here? You’re not scared?” She seemed meek when she was talking. The fear of a child.

“I’m happy that you brought me and that you’re not alone. The only thing I am scared of is that you aren’t safe.” Daryl pushed some branches out of the way when they entered the forest and just like last time all the branches were then just barely above his head. Just enough for him to want to duck down but didn’t need to.

“That’s all?” Cindy’s voice was full of hope.

“Well, I want to return home as soon as possible. We have some very important things to take care of that you running away didn’t help with, young lady.” The stern voice he used when he was serious crept back in his voice.

“Sorry dad, I just… I’m not ready for that stuff right now. Can we not talk about it right now? Please?” There was pain in her voice, raw new pain that would take a lifetime to heal.

“Well, for now I’ll stop but we have to talk about it soon. These things have to be talked about, remember what the councilor said.” Daryl reminded his daughter as he spotted the first opening in the forest. One of the blasted boroclops beasts was standing in the center of the clearing eating at the tall grass.

“Oh, there is the first Boroclops spawning point. So this time we need to form a party so we both get credit for the kill. You’ll fight it up close and then I’ll support you at range.” Cindry stood down and started to climb down on her own before she was scooped up by her Dad.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Why don’t I just do the one hit thing again? The full Titanic Blow level 2?” Daryl asked as he took a knee and set her down on the ground gently. “Wouldn’t that be faster?”

“Unless I do something it won’t give me credit. Since we both took the quest then we both need to contribute. I’ll be safe, I promise. I’m really good at dodging out of the way of a charge.” Cindy said as she brushed off her pants.

“Wait, if you're good at dodging, why didn’t you yesterday?” He asked his daughter with a hint of a dangerous, you’re in trouble, tone.

“Uhhhh, because I needed you to be motivated. I didn’t want you to just sit there confused and me to explain everything.” Cindy purposely kept her eyes looking far away from her father as he stared daggers into her back.

“You are gonna be grounded when we get home at this rate young lady.” He stood up and took a deep breath. Daryl looked forward at the Boroclops and rubbed the balls of his extremely calloused feet into the dirt. “We have more important things to do than ground you though. Let’s get this fight over with.”

“Ok Dad, I have to be close enough to hit with my spells and then you just need to keep it distracted. I have several spells so I’ll figure out which ones are best. I usually do a specific combo in these fights but I want to try some things with us as a team.” Cindy started to run before Daryl could stop her as she got into the clearing.

Daryl charged forward and easily kept up with his daughter. When she took maybe a dozen steps into the clearing she stopped and raised her staff. “Lightning, Beam, Channel!” The tip of her staff glowed electric blue as it became supercharged and she leveled it at the beast and let loose a thundercrack of power. An unerring beam slammed into the side of the Boroclops and it screamed in protest as it turned into the blow. The attack seemed to have no pushing power as the beast started charging down the electric beam. “I did fifty points of damage dad, take the lead!”

Daryl started to run at the beast, a prompt came into mind, ‘Would you like to use Boroclops Charge Level 1?’

‘Yes,’ Daryl called in his mind. His front foot dug powerfully into the dirt and sent him rocketing forward. He cocked back a fist and called out in his mind, “Titanic Blow 50 stamina!”

His backfoot finally landed as he swung his fist like another bolt of lightning into the Boroclops’s side. His mind lighting up with a damage number well over one hundred. The beast staggered and tripped in the dirt, tumbling unbalanced.

Cindy’s voice called out, “Flaming Rain Channel!” With that called dozens of balls of fire started to rain down on the beast from above burning it and the ground around the creature. “Over halfway there Dad! I’m going to use a spell to hold it in place while you recover stamina then hit it again just like before!”

The Boroclops was covered with cracks of light as motes of energy flowed off of it and into the air. It still rounded on Daryl instead of Cindy as he was closer and it started to dig its feet into the ground. “Earth Binding Channel! This is my last spell for the fight! I’m using too much!” The earth around its feet sank down like quicksand before hardening and kept the beast in place.

Daryl stepped forward and raised his hand in a mighty hammer blow, “Titanic Blow 50 Stamina!” His body shimmered with energy as he brought the mighty chop down and crushed the skull of the boroclops into the dirt. It grew still and didn’t move as more light flooded out from it. The winning announcement filled the air as Cindy whooped and danced in victory.

“You gotta do a victory dance Dad! It's awesome!”

Then the second Boroclops squealed.