=== Our first dungeon – part 6

But then something unexpected happened. Before I was able to use my ability, the presence I felt earlier appeared before my eyes. It popped up out of the hole, blocking the passage with its own head. What a sight it was, this bird is called a dodo I think? It has a very large beak, very small wings and feathers like it was still a child. I could tell that it wasn’t friendly since it launched a mud ball from its mouth, directed at me.

It was far too late to do anything against it, but I still attempted to use Antimagic Shell anyway. It works on magic damage only, but again, I had to try something. Fortunately, Noctia was there for me and with her right click, she erased the bullet quickly. However, another shot was made. This time however my ability already was in effect, so the shield was able to block the projective. During that moment, Corona took the initiative and shot the bird with a bolt. It connected and the foe sank down back to the earth.

[Huh? What was that, a welcoming party? Let's just proceed with the same plan like before more come. Okay...what? Teleport doesn’t work. There is a solid object in the hole preventing me from descending. Let me try jumping then...No, I just float a little above instead of falling down. This is ridiculous! What is the point of a hole when...]

[There is no reason to upset yourself my child, for the answer seems to be obvious, as you can see.]

[Wow, it's like an army of them now. I believe if we deal with them we can finally save Jielby, right?]

It was as the girls told me. From every direction, dodos started appearing randomly and disappearing, firing mud-like bullets that were very slow and yucky. Even if they provided some kind of challenge, I had skills and speed to deal with them without breaking a sweat. Nevertheless, the designers expected us to play their little game. It was about who will get more hits in a certain time. Really, why do we...

This was akin to whack-a-mole, a very old toy, yet appeared to be still in fashion. In order to save Jielby, we had a time limit, or at least I thought there was one. We were invited to strike fast at the popping out birds from the ground, over and over. What a way to entertain yourself, after all this days of grinding. The other word to call that activity is "farming". Quite literally, this is what I have been doing right now, whacking the poor birds that supposed to represent pests, for the sake of saving the field.

All that remained for me was the proper outfit, a large straw hat, murky overalls, and high uncomfortable galoshes. I don’t know which is worse. Dealing with stubborn and annoying teammates, being covered in dirt and other filth, or simply trying to be satisfied with the minimum wage from a repetitive and dead-end job in the other world?

[Okay I'm glad I didn't need to say a word—we covered our respective partitions perfectly. I think we got every single one of them, but they stopped appearing so I dunno what we should do next. Do you girls think we can finally jump down now?]

[Wow Oddia, you were so great! You got most of them, due your quick thinking. I really do admire your perseverance, even if you got yourself covered in all this mud, you didn't falter and push through the inconvenience to save Jielby.]

[I don't think good girls should play with dirty things, but you really did your best. For that I'm sure the Lord is thankful.]

[Wait what are you guys even saying, I just did...wait what is this?]

I appeared dumbfounded by the absence of my mind, suddenly realising that I could no longer see the dark colour of my coat. Not even my skin was left spotless—I was completely covered with what appeared to be shots made by those dodos. Honestly, I wanted to cry but the mud in my cheeks was hardened to the point they couldn't move. Only tears felt quietly down the chin, my face remained emotionless. All this time I kept my shield up, but despite that it seems that the visual effect was still here.

Anyway, this is just a minor hurdle, eventually my clothes and body is going to return to normal, just like it always does. I could move normally, jump and even use my skills. There was no special effect, I felt, just the texture of the hardening substance all over me. Furthermore, we all did this all and there was no turning back now. We still had one or two things left to do here after all.

[Okay, I can't help it. I don't want to hear your options about my beauty mud, or else. You understand that?]

[Yes Oddia, I think this is very brave that you do this for Jielby.]

[Keep at that, we are going to try to jump down again. Please be ready Noctia. Besides...Do you know which hole was it? I forgot where we started after all those dodos appeared.]

[Of course, if my memory serves me right, is was the first and closest hole to the hatched eggs. You can also see the rope trails here, so it is without a doubt the place we are looking for.]

I really do appreciate that, Noctia, I nodded her silently. Without any further stops, we still had the time to save her, I hoped as I teleported downwards. This time I was successful, and reappeared just little above the ground. It was dark, so I used my dancing lights to illuminate the area. Briefly, I saw how this underground cavern was carved into the earth. Although the mud felt like it was even denser that on the surface, thanks to the fact I was floating my feet did not sunk into it.

As for others, they used their own methods to descend. Noctia, who teleported near me, had the pleasure of not falling down. Corona on the other hand, she had to jump, hoping at she will be timely by caught by her friends before she would hit the ground. Luckily for her, she was light enough that the nun girl successfully aided her in that endeavour, though a little shaky on her legs.

With us three on the job it was just a matter of time before we would find her, I thought, especially because in this slush it was easy to locate footprints. But surprisingly, Jielby’s were nowhere to be found. What in the world has happened to her? We were soon to find out as something suddenly appeared.

[What is this thing? It looks like a giant dodo. It was never meant to be flying but why here? Why underground? Actually, this is the same thing we saw inside the nest right? So this was the cause of our troubles all along.]

But it wasn’t just the boss that entered the room suddenly...

[Precisely so Corona, I can see also where Jiebly went. She was simply riding the bird all this time. Wait a second, she was supposed to be a pegasus knight not a...whatever you would call that! Goddamit! Can you come down already?]

[I can't, I am taking this one as my mount! Who cares if she’s not pretty and cute, I like her unique charm really. It doesn't matter that she looks nothing like a horse, I am going to find a way to change the model and then...]

[Quit daydreaming, it is the enemy! We have to defeat her or we will go back empty handed! You don't want that, don't you?]

The giant stupid looking dodo bird tried to shake off the little pink stowaway, but she appeared to be holding quite firmly. She wouldn't want to let go of her dream of becoming a fully fledged whatever now, yet that was just her wishful thinking. There is no possible way she can take it back home, unless she was actually a developer of this game, which she wasn’t.

[Please listen my child, Oddia worked the hardest out of all us—you can see clearly her dedication just by looking. Imagine that she did that all because she wanted to save you. When you didn't reply to our calls and the rope...]

[Yea I noticed that too, I just rolled it back to my inventory when you girls stopped pulling. I actually needed it. So you see girls, I tried playing rodeo with her, but she is quite a fierce one, this poor little birdie, aight ya?]

[That is way too weak of a reason not to answer, isn’t it? At least some kind of message would have been fine. We were really worried for you, even I was about to cry. No special performances for you until you behave okay?]

[Okay, okay, you girls win. Right, I understand that we actually need to grind and that it is not that easy to go to cosmos, yada yada...but at least I tried! I thought this could somehow work, you know, like a secret quest or something. Other games actually, they allow you make a pet out of everything nowadays, why would this one be different? Just look at her adorbs little bill!]

There was nothing adorable about it, it looked very fierce and ready to eat up anyone who would oppose it.

[Okay, quit your dabbling and let's get started!]

Finally, Jielby jumped down and faced the bird head on. The boss was ready to strike at her.

[Looking good Oddia, your mud disappeared!]

[It did! Yea, thanks for tell me, but you ought to warn us before jumping!]

[Quickly, it charges! God, please shield those children from harm.]

Things did really pick up the pace from then. It appeared that all this time we were suffering from a slow condition, thanks to the mud beneath us. Fortunately, it was smart of Noctia to prepare Freedom Feet to counter that. Thanks to her, we could now move normally instead of sluggish. Thus, we positioned ourselves like always, with the Tank in the front, ready for the initial charge, and others on the sides, ready to move away. Quickly, we started preparing our abilities. This was a boss after all—we had to give our best to defeat it.

With me lowering its magic resistance, the Priest prepared her charges and spells she would use to damage the giant dodo with. At the same time, Corona was using her abilities, like Arrow Trap, Piercing Shot, Thunder Bolt and Mark Target. And finally, our Tank who didn't get much action so far, used her Armour Pierce, Blessing and Disarm Weapon. We were going all out now.

The results were that even if the dodo tried to hit Jielby, she was probably too exhausted to do so. All this running in the circles, and in this mud, was enough for her. So, unfortunately for the boss, we had to do our part. The pink Tank initiated our combined attack. She used Come at Me, and then Spear Grapple to launch the opponent into the air. Chaining our grabs we dealt some serious damage.

[I'm sorry my little birdie, you were never meant to fly. As sad as I am right now, this is the better for us both...]

[Gee, don't get all sentimental over a boss monster, Jiebly.]

It wasn't the end of it, but thanks to our cooperation, the bird was barely standing. In all honesty, it was not a serious fight. I don't know if that was because our team was extremely over-prepared for this type of battle, or that our leader already tired her out before. Whichever was the case, we did eventually beat the boss monster and managed to finish our very first dungeon as a team. Hooray...

[Finally, we managed not be the ones to die. There is treasure chest—I'm going to open it.]

[Right, we should see what loot we got after all...]

[Heavens forgive us, for we have sinned.]

[Birdie...I'm shoo....sorry *tear*]

Everyone was making sad faces, this wasn't what I expected. But at least it was worth for the loot, right? Alas, I was mistaken. It just happens that we cleared an entry level dungeon, the loot was pitiful. Knowing so, I decided to join others in their sorrows.

[I just...want to cry sometimes.]