The swim up to the surface continued with the group encountering a few more enemies. However, there was nothing new, and the victims were mainly more sharks, gators, or suckerfish, none of which could threaten them. More importantly, they didn't run into any more large groups of monsters.
Of course, upon arriving on the surface, things changed. During their last walk along the lakeshore, the party had experienced a relatively peaceful swim, except for the annoying geese that had attacked them. However, it seemed that with their new quest, monsters were not so keen on leaving them alone. It had not been something that happened right away, and they had spent a few minutes resting above water without much issue.
Their moment of rest had been mainly for the frog man, who had been tired after such a long swim. However, once they started moving, the frog man began picking leaves, herbs, and mushrooms, monsters started seeking them out, or those that had been previously passive turned aggressive.
The fights began with monsters that they had encountered before. This mainly involved more of the hawks, eagles, geese, and even the Stealth Gators, which had come to play on the surface. Eventually, though, the party ran into some new monsters.
Three incredibly pink flamingos with red streaked feathers ran atop the water, heading straight to them. The thing was that they weren't very efficient in their runs, and instead, they tippy-tapped their long legs, almost like they were dancing. It was an interesting thing that had everyone, except the frog man, look at the tippy taps with amusement. Amusement that was quickly wiped from their faces when three other flamingos sent three beams of pink force towards them. These flamingos, which were providing cover fire, were behind the dancing ones and flying slightly above the water.
The three beams of force were targeted at Pepe, Alex, and Arctur. Adriana blocked the one targeting their frog friend while the two boys easily dodged the attacks, each beam striking the water, causing large splashes of dirt-filled water.
“I will protect our frog friend; you guys deal with this,” Adriana told the two.
She was sunbathing, floating peacefully above the water, her scales glittering in the light. However, in reality, she wanted to let the two have their fun. So far, she had made most fights relatively trivial, and decided it was time to let her two friends enjoy themselves.
Of course, the two guys knew what Adri was doing, and they honestly didn't need to be told twice. They rushed forward, Alexion taking the lead, his Body Enhancement going more for speed and mobility than the general one he often used. Meanwhile, Arctur was happy to take the back seat as he began tapping into the vegetation near the shore. Either way, the two were moving above the water, which allowed them to easily dodge another two beams of force; Adriana easily blocking the third before it got anywhere near her.
Finally, Alexion made contact with two of the three dancing birds, receiving their kicks with his forearms and being somewhat surprised at the force packed into them and the toughness of their skinny legs. Still, that didn't stop him, and he quickly maneuvered his hands to grab the two legs, having switched his enhancement over to strength moments before making contact. In one motion, he went from taking the kicks to slamming the birds together in front of him.
Arctur noticed the third dancing flamingo coming at him, and quickly uprooted some nearby tall grass, hardened it, and launched it at the three range flamingos, giving them something to dodge. In the meantime, the third flamingo had jumped up high and was now twirling down sideways like a ballerina. Arctur realized what the monster was trying to do and braced himself, receiving the kick with a grunt, which surprised the bird if its squawk was anything to go by. Having stopped the bird in its tracks, Arctur promptly grabbed its two legs together and smacked it hard into the water like a club of pink feathers.
Alexion’s plan to sandwich the two birds worked, but not for long. Right as a few feathers spluttered into the air with squawks of pain, the birds remembered they had their other legs, and before he could let go, they both, and in synchronicity, kicked him in the stomach. The two kicks sent him tumbling across the water, his magic momentarily disturbed, causing him to fall partially under once again.
Arctur was forced to let go of his bird club after smashing it from side to side a few times. The three flying flamingos had dodged his attack and retaliated by targeting him with a barrage of glowing pink feathers. Also, it's not like he could hold the flamingo down for too long, and the monster had been basically out of his grip. So, Arctur had gladly let the semi-stunned monster go, choosing to dodge or block the feathers with a green shield.
Deciding to focus back on the three kinetic birds once again, he splurged some mana.
Above the water once again, the storm elf found the two flamingos on top of him. He blocked another horizontal kick from the right with his forearm and then sidestepped to the right, dodging a straight kick from the front and using the motion to get him closer to the flamingo on the right, the one he had just blocked.
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Using motion from the sidestep, he brought his left arm behind him, backhanding the head of the first flamingo. The motion then brought him around once again, letting him see another incoming kick from the second flamingo. A kick he ducked, choosing to strike the leg of the bird whose head he had just slapped. Of course, this placed the recovering bird's head right in the path of the second bird's kick, and the first flamingo was sent stumbling back. Still crouched and in the perfect position, albeit with more waves splashing against him, Alexion threw a kick forward at the second flamingo, striking its leg and making it fall into the water as well.
Arctur caused many of the small weeds that grew at the bottom of the lake's shore to extend upwards like vines. The flamingos had not been expecting this, and the reinforced weeds were able to wrap around their legs, continuing to rise in an attempt to encase their bodies. Annoyingly, one of the birds had enough brains and unleashed a wave of force, tearing away its bindings. However, in a panic, the other two did not react in time, and they were quickly covered in vines that, with a command from Arctur, became incredibly sharp. Then a second command caused the birds to be brought under the water, and their bodies were cut into pieces.
Deciding enough was enough, Alexion tapped into his lightning magic and, with a lunge, tackled the bird he had forced to fall into the water. The bird wasn’t fully under, and he quickly came into contact with it, unleashing a large jolt of electricity, frying the thing. With that done, he promptly got up and found two flamingos running away, the water covered in blood. A third flamingo was getting the crap beaten out of it by Arctur, his green friend, just messing around with it. The thing was, Alexion didn’t want to let the Flamenco Flamingo and Psychic Flamingo get away; as such, his body began sparking with lightning as a small gust grew around him. Finally, feeling charged up, Alexion took a deep breath, placing his arms in an L shape, close to his sides, his fist closed, and his palms facing upward.
After a few seconds in the ready stance, Alexion opened his eyes, which momentarily flashed with power. Power that was unleashed as he shot his arms forward, hands open, and positioned directly towards each of the birds.
Two bolts of lightning shot forth, both covered in a gale of wind that swirled around the lightning like drills.
The two drills of wind and lightning mixed in flight and struck the birds, tearing into their bodies, sending blood-covered feathers everywhere as the two monsters were torn to shreds.
After the fight, the party continued on with their frog friend; their only job was to watch him gather various goods while keeping him safe. Of course, as he gathered, he also kept talking about the multiple things he gathered or gave the party more information about the lake. Additionally, the frogman was rather curious and asked about the world above water, particularly about what mermaids were and why Arctur was green, asking if their friend was part frog. In the end, the party had a relatively good time above water, and the only other time they didn't completely let Adriana wipe the floor with the monsters was once more when they encountered some new monsters almost at the end of their gathering journey.
A small flock of ducks was coming their way, two quacking louder than the rest. These two were primarily gray, whereas the other three were an odd combination of blue and green. Ready to see what fun things the ducks had to show them, the party assumed the same battle strategy as with the flamingos. However, this time around, they were more intent on killing the monsters than simply enjoying the fight. After all, it was getting into the late afternoon, and after dropping Pepe off, they were looking to finally rest.
Rushing to meet the three blue and green ducks, Alexion and Arctur got ready to dodge some possible ranged attacks from the trio, the ducks' bodies glowing a ghostly green. However, instead of range attacks, the magic manifested as the three ducks summoned three greenish-blue geese. It was, in fact, these geese who rushed at the duo, who were naturally taken aback by ducks that could summon. Not that it mattered in the end, as the three summons were torn apart with fists of lightning and blasts of green energy, which was also how the three actual ducks, which were called Duck Duck Goose, met their ends. Naturally, their names had brought even more confusion to everyone, which was why the duo had forgotten about the two grey ducks.
Adriana had not forgotten about the two grey ducks and had been watching them the whole time. The ducks were preparing an attack high in the sky while their brethren skillfully distracted Arctur and Alexion. Now, could she tell the two about the attack? Sure, but where was the fun in that?
Alexion and Arctur slowly noticed a growing static noise in the air. It was like stone grinding on stone, with a bit of lightning mixed in. Looking up, the two saw two balls of whirling grey energy coming straight down, with two ducks flying behind them.
“Shit!” They both cursed and began charging up their attacks.
A beam of deep green energy left Arctur’s hands, Alexion following with his own attack of wind, lightning, and water. Both attacks struck the incoming balls of energy but did not stop them, at least at first. The thing was that the two friends were much more powerful than the two ducks, and eventually their attacks pierced through the ducks' attacks, which caused a deafening quaking scream to resonate from their magic as it fell apart.
After the fight with the ducks, the party decided Pepe had gathered enough, and they quickly brought the frog back to Ribbit. They had encountered one or two more fights in their journey, but nothing significant. Upon arrival at the village, Pepe tried to give them some of his gathered goods as payment, but the party declined. The frog had given them plenty of knowledge, and even though they knew he probably didn’t actually need the goods being part of the dungeon and all, they still felt better letting him keep his stuff. So, with that, the party said goodbye to Pepe the frogman and happily made their way back to the surface.
