Chapter 13 The Team

Since she had no idea where City Hall was, Elysia exited the bathroom and retrieved her whip. She flicked her wrist, this time extra careful of slashing herself. Her cautiousness earned her another limp whip, but undeterred, she tried again with a little more force.

Finally, a weak crack sounded before the whip fell limp. A smile blossomed at her success, but knowing it was far from enough, she tried again and succeeded again with a slightly louder crack.

Satisfied for now, Elysia carefully coiled the whip before mounting it back on her hip.

A glance toward the city revealed the streets were extra empty. Everyone must be at the City Hall. Should she try to find it? It wasn’t like she could get lost with such a simple city layout. Every major street seemed to reach the lake. Still, did she want to deal with a massive crowd? Especially as an outsider, though the Chrotile seemed friendly. She could ask the nosy turtle, but she would rather avoid too much interaction with her.

Before making her mind up, Elysia activated electrify self, curious what the difference was without clothes interfering with the connection. An instant later, her entire armored form glowed purple as little sparks of electricity arced off her.

Despite herself, an ominous giggle escaped her mouth. Who needed super strength when she could give a shocking hug? She wondered how effective electrify self was. Was it as strong as electrify? Electrify shredded zombies, so maybe she could hug things to death.

Elysia’s face suddenly turned green as a disgusted expression took hold. As long as her target wasn’t a zombie or anything else gross. In other words, almost every creature she had faced in a dungeon. Why couldn’t they throw something cute and fluffy at her? Though in that case, she might feel reluctant to fight them. Actually, wouldn’t that be a perfect defense? It would be harder to gang up on something cute than a vicious monster, even if the cuteness was only skin deep.

Deciding to push those thoughts away, Elysia dismissed electrify self and palmed a throwing knife from sheaths on her left hip. While twirling the throwing knife, she turned toward the target, only to find the plate slid over the target’s face.

With a scowl, Elysia sheathed the knife before approaching the target and heaving the protective cover away to reveal the target she never tried out. Like the archery targets, her father forced her to shoot at, there were a dozen target rings of various sizes and colors.

She took another glance at the scaly city but, figuring that they already set her team, there was no need to rush. Though at the same time, she didn’t want to leave a bad impression on her temporary teammates. Her face warred with indecision as she twirled a throwing knife, wanting to try out her target but knowing from her track relays having hostile teammates would lead to problems, especially when they faced life or death situations. Since she was an outsider, they would probably choose their kin over her if they had to flee, so a good first impression was a must. If only Sereia were with her. She always had a knack for socializing.

As usual, her gaze drifted westward only to freeze upon feeling their connection was stronger, as if her sister was closer. Hope blossomed as she prodded the connection through her status menu to find her twin was now several thousand kilometers closer, though still way too far away for her to reach her with Umbra. Despite the distance still separating them, a radiant smile formed, knowing her sister was trying to reach her.

With new hope and a buoyant mood, Elysia sheathed her throwing knife and hopped off Umbra before trotting toward the city, uncaring for her current attire. As usual, a silvery white flash leaped over the railing after Elysia from her sunbathing spot.

After several minutes of walking down the mostly empty streets, she finally became aware of her armor. Though, after a glance at her scaly environment, Elysia shrugged her shoulders. Though the armor was a bit too formfitting, it probably made her fit in a bit more. Besides her hair and face, the rest of her body was just as scaly as a Chrotile. Hopefully, the armor helped with first impressions if her team even waited for her, though she only put it off for a few minutes. Only way to know for sure was to find the City Hall. Actually, why didn’t the nosy turtle just beam their teammates into their heads? Maybe there was a ceremony or something. Mezo seemed like a big deal after all.

Elysia’s eyes landed on several Chrotile walking down a slightly wider multi colored scaly street leading toward Urus’s head, which was pointing north. That must be the direction to City Hall. Hopefully, she wasn’t the only straggler. Maybe they were going somewhere else.

A few minutes of following the trickle of Chrotile brought her to an expansive multi-colored scaled building. It appeared to have scales representing every color of Chrotile she had seen. The building was easily on par with a football stadium and likely had seats to accommodate just as many people.

Her eyes shifted from the building to the line of Chrotile, causing her to frown as it would take ages to get inside. A sign to her right drew her attention next. It stated participant entrance with an arrow pointing toward a narrow street which appeared to curve around to the back of the massive building.

Figuring she had nothing to lose following the sign, Elysia walked past the line. Unlike the other entrance, no one followed her. She paused just inside the street and glanced back. Was she the last one to arrive? Maybe the spectators to whatever this was got a later message to give the participants a chance to get ready? If there was some ceremony, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be part of it. Maybe she should withdraw from Mezo. Seraia might have a harder time finding her if she went into some dungeon island. It might be better to stay in one place. Though she was still over five thousand kilometers away so she probably had time to do this Mezo thing.

Before she could think further on it, a sudden gust of wind blew her down the street through a wide-open door. Knowing the culprit, Elysia spun toward the door, but it slammed closed before she could take a step.

Hands balled into fists, Elysia glared down at the floor. “Stupid oversized nosey turtle!”

Elysia froze as the room she didn’t notice was occupied suddenly became silent. With a rapidly reddening face, Elysia turned around to find dozens of Chrotile staring at her.

The Chrotile stood in groups of two to three likely partially formed teams, though Elysia only did a brief glance before shifting her gaze toward a board filled with names.

To hide her embarrassment, Elysia straightened her back, raising to her full height before striding toward the board. The silence continued as the Chrotile stared at her with curiosity in their slitted eyes while Elysia scanned the board.

After a few seconds, she spotted her name among three others she didn’t recognize. Before she could figure out how to find her team, a deep voice similar to Thrask boomed right behind her.

“Greetings Young elemental.”

Elysia stiffened, but prevented herself from jumping. She directed her annoyed gaze over her shoulder to find a familiar towering Crimson Chrotile.

Just in case he was a member of her team, Elysia softened her gaze. “Hello. Aren’t you Thrask’s nephew?”

A smile formed on his scaly face. “Affirmative, young elemental. Thrask tasked me with directing you to your team, which just so happens to be my team too.”

Thankful for at least a semi-familiar face, Elysia’s shoulders slumped as she turned fully toward the towering Chrotile. “Thank you.”

He dipped his head in response before gesturing his clawed hand to follow as he turned. A dozen meters away he stopped next to two other Chrotile both much smaller than him though of the same coloring. Upon noticing their similar crimson scales, Elysia scanned the room to find a majority of the Chrotile were Crimson.

Either most of the stragglers were Crimson or the Crimson Chrotile were a sort of warrior caste. Now that she noticed it, a majority of the Chrotile waiting in line outside were of different coloring. Maybe each coloring excelled at different things. She didn’t know enough about their culture to say for sure, though.

Not wanting to keep her new team waiting, Elysia trotted over to them, unconsciously running her hands over her scaly armor as if to straighten out any wrinkles. As she reached them, all she found were smiles on their scaly faces, bolstering her nerves.

Before she could speak, the towering Chrotile directed them toward large double doors next to the board with teams. The other two followed without a word, as if understanding what he wanted, which they probably did for all Elysia knew. Beyond the doors was a long hallway with numbered doors on each side.

Elysia silently followed the Chrotile for a couple minutes before they stopped in front of a door engraved with the number 36. The team listing flashed in her mind, causing her to remember her team was team 36.

Inside the room there was a picnic table, followed by an open area a dozen meters in both directions. The trio sat at the bench, prompting Elysia to follow, sitting next to Thrask’s nephew.

The moment everyone sat, he glanced at Elysia, ensuring he had her attention before waving at the two Chrotile across from them. “These are my clutch siblings Thres and Thuax. Thres will be joining you in the back line as a fire elementalist while Thuax will be our scout and extra melee damage alongside myself. As for me, my name is Thauzo and our tank.”

Elysia nodded her head at the two across the table. “Thrazk mentioned my primary role will be dealing damage from range. So does that mean I’ll avoid physical confrontation?”

“Not always as fights can be unpredictable, but a perfect scenario would be Thaux scouting out enemies followed by me drawing their attention, then you and Thres putting them down with your elements. However, all delvers need should have at least basic capabilities in most roles.”

“I understand. I’ve never fought with a group, at least not an organized group, but I’ve delved several dungeons solo.”

Thauzo perked up. “Excellent. Before we try some drills, let’s explain our strengths and weaknesses. As the main spokesperson for our group, I’ll start. As I said, my primary role will be tank. However, I have excellent strength and am capable of melee damage with sword and shield. My primary weakness would probably be my speed and below average dexterity because of my size.”

Before Elysia could speak, Thres directly across from Thauzo went next with a light toned voice giving away her gender if her smaller frame didn’t already. “I will provide fire damage from range, but am a liability in close combat.”

Elysia stared at the slight Chrotile girl expecting more, but none more came, prompting Thuax to go next. “As my honorable clutch brother said, I will function as our scout and supplementary damage, though I will struggle against heavily armored enemies with my daggers and strength.”

Three pairs of eyes turned in her direction, silently willing her to speak. “As I’m sure you’ve heard, I am a lightning elemental, so I’ll excel at dealing damage with lightning. I have decent agility and speed too, so if need be I can help in melee range, though my current skills with my new weapon are lacking. I’m also good at throwing knives which I can use with my lightning. Likely my biggest weakness would be my strength and with my glowing veins and loud lightning, I doubt I’ll win any contests of stealth.”

Elysia prodded her bond to find Ione under the table. “Also, I have a bond named Ione. She is still too young to help in combat, but expect her to follow me wherever I go.”

An indigent, low meow greeted them from under the table.

Excitement flashed in Thauzo’s eyes. “Excellent, we can work with that. We might even manage a top five position.”

“This is a competition?”

“Oh yes, us Chrotile love competition. If Urus wasn’t watching over all of us and keeping the peace, we would be competing over everything. For Mezo, Urus will judge us on levels gained, kills, loot obtained, and dungeons cleared.”

Elysia’s elemental pride spiked, causing a vicious smile. “Let’s win it all.”

All three Chrotile shared Elysia’s smile, though much more vicious with their pointed teeth and scaly face.

A moment later, Thauzo turned serious. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, we need to practice. If we can’t work as a team, we have no chance.”