A Useful Ability

 

After putting out the fire, the party was walking down the road east of Ancona, looking for a second group of parasaurolophus to fight.

Damien was still thinking about their last battle. I feel like we got kind of lucky. It would be nice if we had more control abilities besides Betty's bind. Maybe one of the others will learn one eventually. It would also be nice if we had someone who could use stealth, too, since I feel like we're always trying to sneak up anyway.

Betty looked at him. “What's wrong? Are you thinking about something?”

Damien nodded. “Yes. I was wondering if we could get someone who's good at stealth.”

Betty tapped her lips, thinking. “Hmm. Like a rogue-class? We could ask around the guild, there's probably some around our Rank who might want to join.”

Hmm...it would be nice if we could fine one. “Would you be opposed to getting one?”

Betty looked down, “No, but... we would have to start splitting our earnings with them. And they might not get along with us.”

Damien groaned slightly, remembering how Carleen and her members were (particularly Baurus). “That's a good point, I guess we'd have to pick carefully.”

Bluey seemed interested. “Hmm... does Master need another cute girl to mate with? I wouldn't mind another little sister,” she said, blushing and grabbing her cheeks.

Damien blushed, “No, that's not what I'm after.”

Aurora nodded, “He already has three of us.”

Betty (to Damien's surprise) shook her head. “Actually, that might be the best idea...”

Damien, taken back, asked, “Wh-what? I would think you'd be against it.”

Betty nodded. “At first I was, but think about it practically – if we got a guy, it would be weird having them around when us four are so close.”

That's true, it would be kinda awkward having me with three girls while they're by themselves...

“And if it's a girl who doesn't want to, she might feel weird, or even pressured to do something she doesn't want to, in order to fit in better.”

Damien sighed. “I feel like I made this complicated, sorry.”

Betty shook her head vehemently. “You don't need to apologize, I was the one who started everything with you anyway.”

“I'm really happy that Master summoned me,” Aurora added, while Bluey nodded vigorously along.

Damien blushed, I guess we'll figure something out later.

 

After a while more of walking, they saw three more parasaurolophus in the distance, on a hill overlooking the road.

Remembering what had happened the he previous group when binded by Betty, Damien came up with a quick plan. “Bluey will bait them after her down the hill. Once they're on the slope, Betty will bind all of them so they slide down. Once they hit the bottom, Aurora will cast Flame Wall under them. Assuming they break free from the bind before they die, Aurora will distract them while Bluey smashes through their shells to finish them off.

Everyone nodded at the plan, and they went to set it in motion.

Bluey was easily able to bait them, as the three grouped up and started charging as soon as she hit them with a Lightning Bolt.

“Oh Goddess, bind my enemies!” she shouted.

The three parasaurolophus tripped and fell into each other, their momentum causing them to roughly slide down the hill, although they didn't get all the way down before they got stuck in the ground.

Aurora ran up and started casting Flame Wall underneath, completely enveloping the three parasaurolophus in flame.

They started crying in agony as the flame cooked them, although they were starting to move more and struggle out of it.

“Get ready!” Betty shouted to warn them.

As soon as the Flame Wall's dissipated, Bluey jumped up and did a diving kick on the nearest one. As opposed to just fracturing, that portion of the shell just completely shattered, and a loud wail came from the parasaurolophus as it bucked to try and get Bluey off.

Aurora was casting Fire Breath at the other two to keep them distracted.

“Oh Goddess, bolster my allies!” Betty shouted, buffing them. Betty wiped her forehead, “I'm out right now.”

Bluey punched several times, and the first parasaurolophus fell.

Aurora had activated Speed Boost and was busy dodging the attacks of the other two.

Bluey repeated her diving attack into punching combo on the second one, and then the third one, and in short order they had finished all of them off.

“That went...really well,” Damien said, smiling as Bluey and Aurora ran back over.

They both hugged him (then hugged Betty) and Damien pulled up the status screen. Finally.

 

Bluey leveled up

Slime – Level 13

STR – 161

VIT – 128

MAG – 46

DEX – 122

 

STR +41

VIT +8

Lightning Attunement

Lightning Bolt

Squishy Membrane

Bouncy

New Ability Available

 

STR +11

DEX +11

 

“Master, I'm gonna take the STR bonus,” Bluey said.

Damien chuckled, “I would be worried if you didn't want to take it.” Damien saw the level up notification for himself, as well. Alright, let's see what the Goddess was talking about.

 

Damien leveled up

Summoner – Level 8

STR – 42

VIT – 46

MAG – 97

DEX – 45

 

Stat Share

Heal (summon)

Summon Boost

Summon XP Trade Boost

Message

Summon Start-Up Boost

New Ability Available

 

Copy Ability – Can cast abilities of summons. Uses summoners MAG to determine power of spell damage. Passive abilities cannot be copied.

 

This...this is amazing! I can actually do stuff now!

Seeing the excited look on his face, Bluey asked, “What did you get Master? Something to make us more powerful?”

Damien shook his head, explaining this new Copy Ability.

“Wow, that's so cool! Master can also cast Lightning Bolt,” Bluey exclaimed.

Aurora nodded. “Having Master use my abilities is an honor.”

Betty smiled, “Are you glad?”

Damien nodded, “Yeah, I'm glad I can finally help out.”

Betty frowned a bit, grabbing his arm. “Damien, I told you, you were already helping out plenty.”

Damien sighed, “I know. I'm just...I want to help more.”

Betty smiled and hugged him, “I told you, you already were. Just make sure you're careful.”

Bluey nodded. “She's right! We should teach you how to use them.”

Damien nodded. Pointing his hand to one of the parasaurolophus, he tried to use Lightning Bolt. A crackle of energy burst from his palm, and the bolt of yellow lightning flew into it.

“Wow!” Bluey said. “I think that's more powerful than mine!”

Damien nodded. “It says I use my own MAG so it probably is.”

“Use mine next!” Aurora said excitedly.

Damien held out his hand, and cast Flame Wall. A large line of fire sprung up, just as intended. He then held out his palm to cast Fire Breath...but nothing happened.

“What's wrong?” Betty asked, realizing something was amiss.

“Well I tried using Fire Breath, but it didn't work.”

“Master, Fire Breath comes from your mouth, not your palms,” Aurora explained, opening up her mouth and pointing to it. “Like this,” she explained, roasting the parasaurolophus they were using as target practice.

Damien was a bit freaked out, but then tried it anyway, leaning his neck forward. As Aurora instructed, a spout of flame burst forth. It wasn't actually in his mouth, and it didn't burn him at all, but he could feel the heat from it. I'll need to get used to that...

He tried Speed Boost next. He felt a bit weird as he started to run down the road. His body felt light and his movement effortless. It also seemed to quicken the speed of his punches too, something he hadn't seen Aurora use it for.

As he ran to them, he noticed Bluey was taking a knife at to the parasaurolophus. “Are you that hungry? We have more jerky.”

Bluey blushed, “The parasaurolophus smelled really good after you two cooked it, though.”

They all waited while Bluey used her strength to slice off a few strips of charred meat. Aurora finished cooking them for her, until they were well cooked.

Bluey took a bite. “Hmm...” she said while chewing. “Ith kine of tuff.”

Betty giggled, while Aurora used her canines to tear off a chunk. “I can chew it okay. It tastes a bit bland, though...”

Damien and Betty declined to try it, so they left the rest of it there and continued on their way.

 

After waiting for their MP to fully fill, they continued searching, until they ran into another group of four parasaurolophus. This time, there was two larger ones.

“Okay, same strategy as last time. Let's try to take out the smaller ones first so we can focus down the larger ones together. I'll help Aurora distract the others while Bluey takes them down.”

They all nodded.

As they went to get closer, Betty grabbed his sleeve.

Damien looked at her, “What's wrong?”

Betty blushed a bit. “Promise me you'll be careful. If you get hurt, don't do anything stupid, come back so I can Heal you.”

Damien smiled, “I know, I-”

“No, promise me,” Betty said seriously.

Damien, realizing she was especially serious, nodded. “I promise.”

Betty smiled, then gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Let's go!”

 

As they got close, Betty bound all four of them at once.

Bluey charged one of the large parasaurolophus, while Aurora cast Flame Wall on the two smaller ones. Damien also cast Flame Wall underneath the other bound large parasaurolophus, then cast Lightning Bolt as it was struggling.

He could hear the the others fighting, while Betty was buffing all of them. He stopped using his spells when his MP got low. I guess I should try the enhancements. He activated Fire Enhancment, and his hair started to glow the same color as Aurora's. He could feel the heat enveloping him, although it wasn't burning him. He then used his remaining MP to activate Speed Boost and ran towards the parasaurolophus, punching it's side. He felt like it wasn't doing much, but the parasaurolophus did start roaring at him.

It then struggled to its feet, before trying to whip it's tail at him.

Damien dodged back with Speed Boost, then switched to Lightning Enhancement to try that.

The parasaurolophus writhed slightly at his punches, but then recovered and tried to bite him, though he was able to dodge away again.

He had recovered a bit of MP at that point, so he cast Flame Wall underneath it, forcing it to run sideways before it was burned to a crisp. It then turned back towards Damien, swinging it's tail once more.

Instead of dodging away this time, he decided to run towards it, attempting to get onto it's shell and attack it's neck as he'd seen Aurora do. About two-thirds the way, however, his Speed Boost ran out. He tried to re-cast it, but his MP had not recovered enough, and the thick part of the parasaurolophus tail near it's body clobbered him in the side of the head, sending him flying.

Damien thought he heard a shriek from Betty, but his ears were ringing and it was hard to focus on anything. He noticed just in time that the parasaurolophus was rearing up above him, and he just had time to roll away before it stomped on him. He then tried to get up and get away, but was too disoriented to figured out which way to run.

He then saw the parasaurolophus was about to swing it's tail again, but it stopped mid-wind up.

“Master, I got it!” Bluey shouted. She had grabbed the parasaurolophus's tail, and was preventing it from attacking him.

Damien remembered Betty's words and he started running towards her green outline. His head still hurt a bit, but he was able to keep himself upright and was able to scramble over to her, before collapsing on the ground.

Betty started to use Heal on him, putting his head on her knees. “Damien...”

Damien felt the pain in his head starting to recede. “Sorry...”

Betty had a couple tears on her face, but smiled. “Why are you sorry, you kept your promise.”

Damien smiled back, feeling relief wash over him.

After a few more moments of Healing, Damien felt almost good as new. He sat up, and then looked over at the others.

Aurora seemed to have defeated one of the small ones singlehandedly, and was busy battling the second one, while Bluey was on top of the shell of the large one Damien had been battling. The other large one was lying slain a ways away.

Another minute later, and it was all over.

“Are you okay, Master?” Aurora said, rushing over. “Did you get hurt?”

“Yeah, but I'm fine,” he replied, petting her head.

Bluey ran over, “Yeah Master is tough, he's not going to die from that,” she said, while offering up her own head for petting.

Damien smiled and complied. “You two did all the work again.”

Bluey shook her head. “That's not true, you distracted that other big one, and it was so weak when I got to it I barely had to do anything.”

Aurora and Betty nodded along.

Damien smiled sheepishly, “If you say so...”

 

After everyone was ready, they started the trek back to town, although at that point it was starting to get dark.

“Master, we should camp! We brought all the stuff, we might as well use it,” Bluey said.

Damien chuckled, “Do you miss camping?”

She nodded. “The inn is nice and all, and the couch is comfy, but sometimes I miss sleeping in the meadows in master's lap,” she said, as if reminiscing.

Damien looked at the others, “Do you want to?”

The others nodded, so they went and found a good hill to camp on.

Bluey and Aurora found a few rabbits to cook for dinner, and soon they were all busy enjoying themselves around the fire, eating chunks of rabbit meat.

Yeah this brings me back Damien thought. Although having Aurora and Betty around is a nice addition.

When it got dark, Bluey came over and sat in his lap. “Sleep time.”

Damien patted her head, “I don't think this will work.”

Aurora nodded, “There is no room for me.”

Betty giggled. “Why don't we cuddle together in the tent?”

Bluey and Aurora seemed to like this idea, so they laid out the bedrolls in the tent, then all curled up together on top of them. Bluey was on one side while Aurora was on the other, and Betty was spooned in between him and Bluey, hugging his midsection.

“How am I supposed to sleep like this?” Damien asked, although other three had already fallen asleep after the long day.

Damien sighed, although smiled. This is fine, he thought, looking around at his companions. I should thank the Goddess everyone is fine and everything is going so well. He half-expected the Goddess to start talking to him right there, but he didn't hear anything. Well, if you can hear me, thank you.