Chapter 28 The Team

After her heart recovered, she peeked out once again, this time expecting the vine. With a chop of her machete, she sliced away a meter of the vine, causing green goo to spill on the ground. Before the vine wound up to attack again, she glanced down to find a single body with an A patch on his shoulder matching the two who died from the stink bugs.

Elysia’s machete flashed up, slicing the reformed vine, reinforcing her discovery of needing to use her element. Without direct contact with the machete, she couldn’t use electrify so she retreated to form a plan. How did those two make it this far? Sure, they probably had a higher level than me, but if they can’t kill anything, how did they make it past the assassin bug? Maybe there was something I missed. Oh well, I survived, though losing my spear sucked. I would have broken it eventually anyway.

She slipped the machete back into its sheath before grabbing a throwing knife, prodding it with electricity, finding unlike the machete, it allowed her to electrify it. At least these work, though it will be hard to chop vines with them. I’ll have to make it work or I could fetch the remains of my spear and mount a knife on it. Her eyes widened when another thought came. Crap! I forgot to grab the knives I threw! I only have five left now.

Elysia jogged toward the tunnel leading to the first floor, but her face smashed into a barrier at the edge of the cavern. While rubbing her forehead, she glared at the tunnel, but after a second, she gave up, turning her back to it with a huff. Her eyes landed on her backpack and tent, causing a shiver to run up her spine. What if I left my gear and explored down here? I would’ve been screwed! Well, less screwed than I am now. Just being trapped in this dungeon is bad enough. If I survive this place, I’ll be a ton stronger. Hopefully strong enough to do the bullying and not be the bully, though now I can understand why he took the opportunity to force me down here. They lost five soldiers to get this far, and I soloed it.

Confidence renewed, she edged toward the exit with a throwing knife in each hand. The moment she caught movement, she slashed an electrified throwing knife, but missed her target. Her eyes widened as the tip of the vine shot toward her, flailing her other knife in desperation. The knife nicked the vine, causing it to sizzle and retreat. Before it could attack again, she dashed back into the cave, breath coming in short gasps.

After taking a few seconds to calm down, she replayed the confrontation in her mind, coming to a conclusion. There’s no way I can keep up with the vines unless I raise my attributes. I had a similar issue with the assassin bug. If I could follow its movement, I could have killed it or at least stood a chance without tricks. I think dexterity and perception are the priorities again.

Elysia laid in her tent on the sleeping bag before dumping five attribute points in both. After her senses returned, she didn’t feel much different, so she dumped another five in each, but nothing happened, causing her to growl. Stupid attribute limit!

As soon as she climbed out of her tent, the scent of a decomposing body hit her, but compared to the stink bug’s gas, it felt like nothing. Still, it gave her some confidence. She approached the exit once again with her throwing knives in hand. Upon stepping out, the vine struck out again but this time her vision just barely tracked the blur, allowing her to lash out with her right knife slicing through the vine just before it reached her stomach.

-9 Charge.

Her breaths came in short pants, but a victorious smile bloomed. The smile drooped when her eyes landed on the dead body with a hole through his chest. If I was a hair slower, that could have been me.

Elysia stepped out of the cave entrance, turning her attention to a vine coiled around a tree trunk to the left of the cave. The vine shot out, but she saw it ahead of time, allowing her to take a step back before slashing down chopping another chunk. The vine reeled back, green goo gushing out of the open wound. While avoiding the goo, she advanced, slicing another chunk, leaving only the portion coiled around the tree, which she diced before it could move.

-54 Charge

Killed Level 40 Poisonous Vine.

Level up! Level 33 Channeler.

With her foe vanquished, she surveyed her surrounding finding it of a similar environment to the previous floor but much more overgrown. Her shoulders slumped, sheathing her knives, finding nothing ready to jump out at her. She bent down to check his dog tags, committing the third name of the Alpha team to memory.

She returned her attention to the dense forest, eyes landing on a cleared path straight ahead. After a moment of indecision, she followed it, but a meter away another body laying face down stopped her. While monitoring her surroundings, she flipped the body over, finding it to be a woman with an A patch denoting her as the last member of the Alpha team. Her eyes traveled down her body, finding a hole in her gut revealing the culprit of her death. With a downcast expression, she dug under her shirt, finding her dog tags, committing them to memory before retreating to her camp to pull out her radio from the backpack.

“Hello?” Said Elysia into the speaker.

Elysia wait for several minutes but all she received was static. Still, in hopes they could hear her, she continued. “Lucas Neal, Tristan Porter, Michael Reid, and Rebecca Cook of the Alpha team perished.”

After speaking, Elysia held the speaker to her ear in hopes of hearing anything. A few seconds later, a faint static filled thank you transmitted, so she turned it off, stuffing it back into the side mesh pocket of the backpack before turning back to the cave exit.

Almost against her will, her gaze gravitated toward her tent, luring her in. She stripped off her gear before nestling herself into the confines of the sleeping bag, falling into a blissful sleep.

Her exhausted body snoozed for twenty-four hours before her eyes flickered open with a droopy but refreshed expression. While still half asleep, she wiggled her body, enjoying the warmth for several minutes before her mind booted up.

She reluctantly withdrew from her cozy nest, nose scrunching as a potent wave of body odor and dried blood hit her. After climbing out of the tent, she plodded toward the pond naked, peering down, finding the water clear and deep. With her toe, she tested the water temperature, finding it warm, eroding the last of her reluctance. She hopped in, allowing herself to sink several meters before swimming to the surface. Her long snow-white hair stuck to her face, blinding her, prompting her to flip her head back, spraying the floor with water. Elysia rested her arms on the edge, holding her body up while basking in the warm water, washing away the grime from her body. Lulled by the warm her chin dropped to her arms as her eyes drifted closed.

The sound of footsteps caused her eyes to spring open. They shot toward the entrance to the cavern, finding movement nearing her cavern. Elysia pulled herself out of the water but thought better of it and dropped back, treading just above the surface while keeping her eyes on the entrance. Fortunately for her, the water running down the wall obscured her treading.

A few seconds later, the first person emerged from the tunnel. Her eyes immediately landed on the early twenties man’s short white hair before moving on to the next person, a mature-looking woman also with white hair cut to just brush her shoulders. Following her was another younger teen with spiky white hair atop his head. The last member was a teen girl with long white hair reaching to her shoulder blades, similar to Elysia.

Elysia dipped further down into the water as the group approached her camp. “This must be the camp of the unregistered Changed Major Evans sent in.” Commented the short haired man.

The teen boy scoffed before speaking, “Hopefully she died, serves her right for dodging the draft.”

A sharp glare from the short-haired man and presumably the leader shut him up before he spoke. “You don’t know her story. What if the system day stranded her? Never assume the worst, especially of a fellow changed.”

After successfully cowing the boy, the leader turned to the mature woman before asking, “Do you smell that?”

The mature woman looked toward the exit before replying, “Yes, a body, from the scent I would say at least two days old.”

The teen boy’s eyes widened before a look of shame took hold while the teen girl’s eyes watered, coming to the same conclusion.

Unlike the younger members, the leader and presumably second in command approached the exit to investigate, returning a minute later. “Two dead, both from a team sent by the local military outpost last week.” Reported the leader, causing the teen to sigh in relief only to catch another glare from his leader.

The leader surveyed the camp before returning his attention to his team. “First objective is to clear the dungeon. Second, find and bring back the unregistered Changed. A lightning variant will be a great boost to our fight. Any questions?”

Elysia stiffened, sinking a little deeper now with her eyes barely above the water.

Taking the opportunity to finally speak, the teen girl asked while nervously biting her lip, “Are you sure you want to take her back with us? You know what they do to late reporters.”

The leader’s face flashed sympathy, but hardened a moment later. “Our orders are final. We must bring back any unregistered Changed, willingly or not.”

After no one else spoke, the leader turned toward the exit, announcing, “This floor focuses on plant-based creatures with dense foliage, expect surprise attacks and poisonous plants. The changed killed the Poison Vine just beyond the exit, which presumably killed the two Alpha exploration team members. A trail beyond leading to the north is our first target.”

The other three nodded their heads, following their leader through the exit, leaving Elysia alone at last. Even after they left, she treaded for a couple more minutes before pulling her exhausted and pruned body out of the water.

Elysia tiptoed to her clothes left in a pile at the entrance flap of her tent. Her nose scrunched at the stench, but she pulled the camo cargo pants and long-sleeved shirt on. After checking to make sure her remaining throwing knives and machete were secure, she snuck to her backpack, grabbing her compass, stuffing it into her right pants pocket. She chugged her canteen before refilling and purifying it. Then grabbed the remaining two meal bars, eating one, stashing the other in her left pants pocket.

As prepared as she could be, she trotted to the exit, senses on high alert for activity. She peeked outside, finding the group moved on before sneaking outside with careful steps taught to her and her sister during their father’s hunting lessons.

She stood at the trail listening for a minute to ensure she was alone before pushing her way through the dense forest to the east while avoiding leaving a tail until several meters in. When it became too dense to push through, she unsheathed her machete, chopping herself a path. Sweat caked her hair to her face as she worked, but with her survival and freedom at stake, she pushed on.

Finally, after thirty minutes of chopping, the dense forest cleared to reveal a dark clearing filled with mushrooms.