Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

"Not cute at all."

"Strangely fitting."

"This scar… Haven't I seen it somewhere before?"

"Sooo coooool!"

Aqua, Kazuma, Darkness, and Megumin let their opinions out when I sat on Megumin's shoulder in an owl form.

The Explosion Cultist reached out her hand to pat me on the head. Wait, I am a hum- What is that feeling?! It's so comfortable!

Now I knew why that owl didn't seem even a little bit scared if it felt like this when being petted. It was like a jolt of happiness streaming down, through the entire body until it reached my new talons. This feeling was dangerous. I had to get away!. Or maybe… just a few minutes wouldn't-

"Okay guys, let's stop dillydallying and let's move. We still have some way before we reach the river bend according to the map Luna-san provided. Kazuki, if you can fly, will you take care of scouting?" Kazuma voiced as a party leader, stopping Megumin from inflicting any petting addiction I might've received if she didn't stop her hand soon.

Thanks to the skill's effect I instinctually knew everything required to start flying like a professional bird so I answered by lifting my wing up and giving an owl-salute. I then flapped my wings and took off into the air.

"Free like a bird" was a perfect description of what it felt like to be able to fly. Especially as an owl. My vision became a lot sharper and my hearing… I could hear a mouse squeaking inside its nest around two hundred meters to the east.

When I flew very high and started gliding towards the tree line I could spot several animals in the forest. From rabbits and foxes to deers and goblins. I could see four goblins far to the west of my team's position. As we were heading north and the trees were densely packed there was no way for the goblins to spot our party but I thought that informing them would be a good idea.

I descended slowly toward the ground and as soon as I started landing near the party I changed to my human form. Unfortunately, I wasn't touching the ground yet and as an owl I was a little bit tilted vertically so when I transformed I appeared in a position from which I couldn't recover quickly enough and my b.u.t.t had a sudden meeting with the ground.

This made Aqua guffaw so loudly that she had to bend down to keep her voice down.

"Ahahaha! That looked so stupid! Hilarious!"

"You okay?" Kazuma and Megumin both asked at the same time while trying hard to not start laughing themselves.

I gave a thumb up while lying on the ground and g.r.o.a.n.e.d. "Uhhh… yeah."

"Did you spot something?" was the next question Kazuma voiced.

"There's a group of goblins a few hundred meters to the west. Do we do something about them?"

"How many?"

"I could see four of them."

Kazuma then scratched his chin while thinking. Megumin, on the other hand, just stood calmly behind him seemingly not interested in such a small group of small-fries. Aqua didn't seem to care about the news since she kept laughing uncontrollably and Darkness was silently alternating between looking in the west direction and Kazuma but he himself seemed unaware of that fact.

"There's no reason for us to take care of them. We won't be paid for it and by changing our course we risk stumbling upon some other monster even with you acting as a scout. We could kill them and sell their ears in the guild, but that doesn't seem to be worth the effort."

I just shrugged in agreement but Darkness looked downright devastated.

There was no reason to dwindle about so I turned into an owl and took flight once again. Owl's hearing was a really amazing tool but thanks to it I now had to listen to Aqua laughing even two hundred meters away. She was still going strong… but soon her laughter changed into cries when I dropped a smelly owl-rear-bomb on her. Do pigeons feel such satisfaction as well when they poo at some polished car? If so, then I suddenly understand pigeons.

Besides that, the further journey was rather uneventful. I have spotted a team of adventurers after flying for around an hour but they were seriously far from our team. They were hunting some kind of rabbits with horns. There were 6 of them and 4 adventurers but the team seemed to have everything under control.

After some time I noticed the river bend that quest was talking about. After making sure that no monster is around I came back to my own party. This time I made sure to be firmly touching the ground with my talons before transforming.

"We are very near the place. There are no monsters in sight. I scouted the water from above but I haven't seen that Gator."

"It's okay. Luna-san mentioned that these species like to remain at the bottom of the water tank until they find prey."

"How will we lure it out then? Jumping in the water doesn't seem like a good idea."

"I will gladly act as a bait! Don't worry, I am very-"

Kazuma looked at Darkness with 'What-the-hell-is-she-talking-about' face and interjected.

"Arrows being fired at the lake surface will be enough for Gator to take notice and surface. Then Kazuki will fire even more arrows to annoy it and it will come out to the shore."

"And then Explosion!" Megumin shouted.

"Yeah. And then Explosion." And Kazuma nodded.

Well, I was glad I didn't forget to bring arrows.

Darkness seemed to be unhappy with the plan but Kazuma ignored it and we proceeded towards the river bend. I stayed in my human form, readied my bow, nocked the arrow and kept walking. When we reached the treeline the rest of the team marveled at the beautiful sight. I already saw it in owl form so my reaction was diminished but it was a really stunning place.

"Usually adventurers are disallowed to come here since this is a perfect habitat in which Onion Ducks can reproduce and killing them without a proper license is forbidden. But as you can see the monster is lurking at the bottom of the river lake and is killing those valuable monsters and they left the area."

Suddenly Darkness provided a backstory of the quest.

"What is an Onion Duck?" I asked.

"It's a monster that even after being killed is able to provide decent experience points to the person that ate it. Rich people are buying them to level up easily." Darkness once again delivered an explanation.

"Woah, that's awesome. How much does it cost?" Kazuma voiced his enthusiasm for the idea of leveling easily.

"Nowhere near any starting adventurer can afford. Even my fa- ekhem. Even veteran adventurers can buy one or two per year."

That's expensive!

Kazuma, on the other hand, seemed to begin to think about something. Darkness found it suspicious and added warningly.

"Don't even think about poaching. When there's Duck mating season there are heavy patrols around this area to ensure no adventurer will try to steal them for themselves."

"How- I mean… I wouldn't do anything like this!"

Kazuma answered quickly and looked at me at the end of the sentence but quickly turned away. Something told me he wasn't entirely honest in his statement.

As we got closer to the shore Kazuma stopped at some point and asked me.

"Do you think you can shoot the middle of that river lake from here?"

Similar to my power [Imitate], taking up Bow skill gave me some understanding of how to use my newly bought weapon so I answered. "Ummm… Probably." There was a wind to consider and other minor things but it should be doable, according to my gut feeling.

"Okay then, Megumin be ready... Darkness to the front with me behind you... Kazuki shoot your arrows and Aqua… be useful."

I pulled the bowstring with an already nocked arrow and said: "Ready."

"Hey, what do you mean use-"

"Loose!" I did as Kazuma instructed and the whiz of an arrow stopped Aqua from continuing her shouts. All of us turned silent and observed the arrow curving after reaching the maximum height and falling down almost directly in the middle of the lake.

Besides the ripples that my arrow made, there was no change in the surface of the lake even after several seconds so Kazuma started again:

"Draw."

I nocked another arrow and drew the bow.

"Loose!"

This sequence repeated itself four more times until Aqua blurted out:

"Do you think it looks cool? That's why Kazuma is shouting those instructions? Can't you just shoot normally?"

I definitely didn't imagine myself as an archer in a giant formation of archers releasing hundreds of arrows in a single volley.

"Y-yeah, Kazuki. Shoot as you see f-fit." Though Kazuma definitely imagined himself to be a leader commanding that formation of archers.

I shot another 5 arrows into the lake but nothing had happened. Darkness's breathing had been getting heavier and heavier ever since I started to loose arrows. Her shoulders were now going up and down rapidly and others started to notice that as well.

"Darkness, everything alr-" Megumin started in a worried tone but couldn't finish in time.

"I will go and lure that monster out myself!" Darkness broke into a sprint out of nowhere.

The others tried to stop her by shouting but it looked as if she didn't hear them at all. She ran with reckless abandon towards the shore and stopped when her shins were halfway submerged.

I, on the other hand, looked at the surface of the lake that seemed to now have two points emanating ripples instead of one point created by my arrow. Suddenly the water stirred powerfully and everyone could see something coming quickly towards Darkness.

"It's coming!" I shouted and upon hearing this Kazuma asked Megumin:

"Are you ready?!"

"It is too quick! Darkness is already in Explosion range!"

Kazuma seemed like he would start sweating bullets any second now. "Do you think Darkness can handle it by her- Why didn't she draw her sword yet?!"

She was standing with open arms while the monster rushed towards her. Suddenly it emerged from the water and we saw a totally black, giant alligator-like monster with a horn on its nose.

I released two arrows in quick succession which seemed to be able to penetrate the monster's hard scales but I didn't hit any weak points so the Gator only became angrier. When I tried sending in more arrows the Bow skill pinged my brain that there's a chance I will hit Darkness. I told that to others and their expression has darkened.

"This isn't a Gator! They usually have violet scales and don't have those horns. It must have evolved after leveling up from Onion Ducks!"

As Megumin shouted this Darkness finally seemed to realize that she had a sword. She stood in the same place without moving otherwise.

"That idiot isn't running away! Aqua! Boost her defense!" Kazuma shouted in panic.

"Now you come back to me! See how useful I am! Enhance Defense! Increase Strenght!" Aqua chanted her spells and a magic aura appeared around Darkness.

Before Darkness could even swing her sword the mutated Gator already tackled her with its horn. To everyone's surprise, after a hulking mass of muscles collided with the blonde crusader her feet were still firmly on the ground and she was sent only few meters back but kept holding onto the Gators horn with her hands.

"Haha! That's what I am talking about! Show me what you got!" Darkness laughed maniacally while wrestling the monster.

"Aqua, are your boost really that powerful?" Kazuma asked with eyes bulging out the sockets.

I expected Aqua to boast but she also looked as if in trance and answered "No way. My boosts are top notch but there's just no way that this could be happening."

"We must help her! She won't hold it much longer!" Megumin shouted gravely and indeed Darkness seemed to lose strength by the second and the monster started struggling with even more power.

Kazuma's gaze fell on me and suddenly he looked as if he thought of something. He shouted a few short instructions and broke into a sprint towards Darkness as well.

I nodded to Kazuma's plan and changed into an owl. My wings were sore after flapping so hard but I quickly arrived above the monster, went a little bit farther and then turned back. I flew a little bit higher and made sure I was directly above the monster before I transformed again.

Into a Giant Toad.

Gargantuan body, similar in size to that of mutant Gator, suddenly fell down from dozens of meters onto Gator's back. The monster released the loudest roar yet but couldn't thrash around anymore with the fat me on its back. I might have broken some of its bones but it was still alive and kicking. It wouldn't be long until it threw me off.

Then Kazuma in the distance shouted. "Aqua, give me strength buff, now!" and this time she did it without any additional comments.

He was still a few meters away when I opened my toad's mouth and used the tongue to catch him and pull onto the Gator's head.

"Darkness give it your all now!" Kazuma exclaimed knowingly because the slightest monster head's thrashing could very easily knock him down and she kept it in place by wrestling the horn.

Darkness's reaction to Kazuma's words was a jovial laugh.

Kazuma not minding the crusader's weird answer took up his sword and stabbed the Gator's head as hard as he could but his strength, even when buffed, was not enough to penetrate the hard scales in one go.

The monster seemed like he was about to break out of Darkness' hold but suddenly we heard Aqua chanting 'Heal' on the blonde crusader.

"I can hold him for another five minutes now!" Darkness exclaimed with great vigor but without letting her 'enjoy' even another second of wrestling Kazuma managed to stab the monster a second time after which his sword went full-length into the monster's skull.