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21. Victory in Another World
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With all the strength I had left, I could only manage to roll over and get a better view of everything that was going on. Balrung was swinging around wildly, as it could not see, and for fear of it's life, he didn't seem to be taking chances on anymore attacks. Each member of the party stood back far enough that his attacks couldn't reach any of them.
Wexel raised his hand to his mouth signaling to stay quiet and both Bea and Lyra nodded in understanding. Lyra began charging up another ice attack, and with Bea's hatchet still stuck in the beast's eye, she pulled a small dagger from a leather strap around her boot. She looked to Lyra and Lyra to Wexel and then all nodded in agreement.
Balrung stood facing Lyra, swinging left and right wildly, but every other moment there was a brief second where his chest was exposed and that was the moment they struck. Lyra shot out a large icicle that pierced it's chest with enough force to cause him to fall backwards. As he was falling and no longer swinging his arms, Bea and Wexel darted forward from both sides.
Balrung's body came crashing down on his back with such force, he bounced off the ground for a moment. It was at that time Wexel took advantage and with whatever dwarven strength he seemed to havr. He used the shield as a bashing weapon again into the top of Balrung's skull, bending it's neck with a crack and causing it to gore itsself with its own horn in the arm. He was stuck, bearing his own broken neck for the taking, as the beast's body finally hit the ground.
Bea was in the air still intending to launch an attack, but knew her dagger wasn't going to be strong enough. She needed her main weapon. And, as if an extension of her own body, when she reach towards her hatchet buried in the eye, even though she was not physically in reach to grab it, the axe flew into her hand and she came down on Balrung's neck with it, splitting it open and causing blood to spurt out.
Balrung writhed as it bled out, ripping it's own arm off with it's horn, reaching up with its other arm in a futile attempt to glasp it's neck and stop the bleeding. But it was too late. The beast was dead.
Everyone sighed in relief as the dungeon was finally conquered. Lyra looked to me first and then the others. I was wheezing, still on my back. Everything was getting black and fuzzy. I passed out.
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
I awoke on a little pile of pillows in a room that seemed pretty familiar. After my eyes focused, I realized it was the office of Magistrate Maynard. I still couldn't feel myself very well. My body was numb and I couldn’t even lift my wings. *I can't move at all!*
As I lied there over the next few days, healing from whatever happened, I learned it had been a week since we conquered the dungeon. While Lyra and Bea focused on getting me out, Wexel harvested the minotaur's parts to prove our victory. The party was apparently the hot topic around the guild building with a lot of people wanting to know how the boss fight actually went.
I overheard them telling the tale a couple times to different strangers and they only ever mentioned one minotaur and not two. Perhaps they were protecting me or perhaps they just didn't know how to explain how one just disappeared. I couldn't. While I was recovering, Maynard preformed the affinity and efficiency tests to their fullest.
Wexel was still an A Rank sword and shield user. Lyra had become a B Rank ice user and an A Rank sword user. Bea had become a B Rank axe user and an F Rank wind user. All of their guild adventurer identification cards reflected that and the party as a whole was raised to D Rank, skipping E altogether due to the conquering of the dungeon and their tests!
All that was left was for me to be tested… if I could get out of bed. Everyday I tried. I would roll and writhe but couldn't get up until finally, I did. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off me, but as I stood, I felt different. Heavier... on the outside?
Maynard had been inspecting me while keeping up on my recovery everyday, saying how she's never seen anything like it or heard of anything like it before. I didn't know what she was talking about until I finally took my first few steps and walked in front of a mirror she had in her room. The weight and the pain that I have felt were originating from my head, just like in the dungeon. Tiny horns reminiscent of the giant minotaur's had sprouted from my skull!
*What the hell? What the hell?! Am I some duck minotaur hybrid now?!*
I took a look at the rest my body and everything else looked the same from the last time I saw it. It was just the horns that were different. Maynard must have heard my squawk in distress as she quickly came in to see me up on my webbed feet.
"Well look at you. Finally up. Your friends have been worried about you," she said picking me off the ground and setting me on her desk and she sat down to size me up, "I know you're an intelligent creature as you've gotten this far, so let's try a little something as I haven't spent much time with you awake."
I cocked my head to the side, quizzically, with interest.
"I will try to keep it simple for now. You obviously understand me. So, let's keep it to yes or no questions. Can you nod your head forward for yes and shake it for no?" Maynard asked.
I hesitated, but nodded my head slowly for yes. No one has tried to directly do this before, so I was a little taken aback.
"Are you really a duck?"
*I mean technically, yes.*
I nodded my head again.
"Hmmm. Well, you're definitely not ordinary. Did you come by some kind of power that made you this way?"
*Again, technically, yes.*
I nodded.
Maynard paused as if she thought of something precise, "You know, elves can live for quite some time. I once heard a story of a woman who used to not be a woman, at least from here. Duc. Were you always a duck?"
I shook my head back and forth to indicate 'no'.
"A human?"
I nodded.
"From another world?"
I nodded again as she seemed stunned.
*This is getting weird. What's happening here?*
Maynard suddenly got intense, "I don't know if you remember, but between the worlds, was there a man? One that maybe talked to you and sent you here?"
I quacked in disbelief, jumping up and down, nodding my answer.
*How did she know that?!*
"Oh no."
*Oh no?!*
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End Part 21
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12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcgLhqUQkm
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Author's Notes #10
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When approaching the finale of the fight, I really wanted to make everybody shine and again show that Duc is not all powerful and sometimes needs help himself. The fight gets carried out by each member in an effective way to show their strengths and growth. Lyra stepping up her blade skills and not just focusing on her magic. Bea expanding her spark to not only be around her but also her weapon. And Wexel! Well, he did some more shield bashing. It's just what he likes is all. Anyways, by the end of this arc, which was mostly a world building and small time passing session to move us along, I couldn't forget that overall we had a big story to get back to!
I'll admit when this arc ended I wasn't sure how to tip in a different direction or approach my way back around to the main plot line. So honestly, I winged it, and decided that Maynard would continue to be the fountain of information. At the same time, I still want to get to another small character arc and I think you'll see that unfold before too long. And then, who knows what could happen?! Anything!
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
Duck Fact #10:
Ducks are pretty stellar at flying as some types of ducks can reach a top airspeed of about 100mph! Some can fly as high as 21,000 feet and many ducks can fly a really long way. The fulvous whistling duck is native to both North America and Africa and it's theorized that at some point in history the North American group flew there from Africa one day and decided to stay!
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
⋆༺𓆩The.Fellow𓆪༻⋆
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