Chapter Twenty One

While Thres and her siblings gathered together to relax, Elysia sat on the grassy ground, joined by Ione as usual. She stroked Ione’s silky soft fur as she opened her status for the first time in a while.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 12 Nascent Lightning Elemental.

Class: Level 12 Path of Lightning.

Charge: 2093/2093.

Attributes:

Available Points: 33

Strength: 42

Dexterity: 70

Endurance: 42

Intelligence: 70

Perception: 70

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Level 3.

Affinities:

Tier 2 Level 1 (6) Lightning

Resistances:

Death Resistance Level 1

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Bonus

+70% (100%) Damage with Lightning.

+10% Damage to undead.

+10% Damage to Arthropod.

+15% Damage to Ladybugs.

Skills

Electrify Level 1.

Electrify Self Level 1.

Lightning Bolt Level 1.

Chain Lightning Level 1.

Smite Level 1.

Bonds

Sereia.

Umbra.

Ione.

Should she spend some attribute points? For OCD’s sake, she should get her strength and endurance to 50 at least. She doubted she would need either a ton in the future though, and 42 is the meaning of life. As much as she would love to push it to 50, she needed to focus on attributes that would help her in her current situation.

They said she shouldn’t dump too many attribute points, but 10 in dexterity, intelligence, and perception shouldn’t hurt too badly. She hoped.

To get the worst out of the way first, Elysia closed her eyes and laid back before dumping 10 attribute points into intelligence. As usual, a headache speared through her mind, but unlike her last attribute dump, it passed a few seconds later with no lingering side effects.

Emboldened, she dumped 10 into dexterity, causing her body to twitch but calm down just as quick. After taking a deep breath, she dumped the last 10 into perception, cutting herself off from the outside world for a few seconds.

Even after the world returned to her, Elysia remained on her back, staring up at the artificial blue sky. That wasn’t too bad. At least she had plenty of charge now. She doubted she would never waste attribute points with how fast it was growing. Though she never wasted attribute points despite what the system said. It probably didn’t want her to get the bonus. The system seemed to revel in her failure. If it cared about her success, it would give her some pointers instead of snarking.

Already growing annoyed just thinking about the system, Elysia shoved the thought away and refocused on her attributes. Attribute points didn’t seem to have as big of an effect as they used to. She wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad thing. On the plus side, less time spent adjusting but also less gain her point. At least until she hit 100 in an attribute. Hopefully, she got something good from that. If she wanted, she could probably get her first 100 attribute after the next dungeon, but it was probably best to keep her three primary attributes even. At least in her uneducated opinion. She would get there eventually either way.

After resting for five minutes, they exited the dungeon to find themselves in the rain forest once more. Unlike her usual dungeon clears, no messages greeted them. Curious what else changed, she poked her hand at the dungeon barrier to find it pass through.

Half tempted to run the dungeon again, she glanced at Thauzo, but he shook his head. “No point in running it again. At least not until the night for shelter. We don’t get points for completing a dungeon more than once. Though some groups have tried that tactic to grind levels to make other dungeons easier. I don’t think we will need the boost of levels to compete so we are better off moving on.”

“I’m up for new dungeons. I only got three levels, anyway.”

All three of her teammates stared at her, confused, prompting her to explain, figuring there was no point in hiding it. “I have an affect called Solo Adventuring. It gives me a 10% bonus to solo leveling at the cost of an experience penalty for being in a group. Apparently, Thrazk has the same thing.” Her expression turned sour a moment later upon catching Thres and Thuax’s frowns. “Sorry about the flakiness. I really didn’t mean to.”

Thauzo smiled down at her. “Like I said, it’s fine. Stuff happens. I’m not sure if Urus told you, but our original member had a training accident a few weeks ago. I think she felt she wasn’t strong enough, so she pushed herself too far. She should make a full recovery, but she did a lot of damage to her channels, forcing her to withdraw from Mezo.”

“Yeah, Urus told me. I nearly did the same to myself. Fortunately, after sleeping it off, I was fine.” Wanting to change to topic, Elysia scanned the forest. “So where to next?”

Before answering, Thauzo turned to Thuax who, after a few seconds of standing with his eyes closed, he pointed to their right. “I sense another dungeon that way. It has a similar strength to this one.”

A dungeon radar? That would come in handy. Though all she needed to do was find a town for a dungeon. Another reason joining a group might be for the best. Maybe there was a device to find a dungeon like a compass. She was sure Eva could find it if there was one. At least if she doesn’t get herself kicked off Urus while she was away. She would hate to be a shop owner dealing with her. Though maybe not. She does have a habit of spending a lot of money.

While Elysia stared off into space, Thauzo and Thuax chopped through the dense foliage. The sound of the hacking drew her attention. Within seconds, they dropped a ten meter tunnel just wide enough for two people to stand side by side. Her eyes widened at the ease. Each chop felled several small trees and vines.

Screw the experience loss, grouping up in a dense jungle was a must. Who needed a chainsaw when one had two super strong Chrotile? Her stick arms wanted to fall off just watching them. Why couldn’t the system grant her with that much strength? Sure, she could fire off lightning, but still. How was she to use her new proficiency when with her puny strength? Maybe she could use her lightning to augment herself. Though firing her muscles faster or harder may just burn them out. Something to test if she got a chance. She didn’t want to incapacitate herself in the middle of a dungeon island. Especially after how much she let down her team already. She would be a good smiter!

Five minutes later, they reached another clearing about the same distance from the other clearings. This wouldn’t be too bad if it was this quick to reach each clearing, but she doubted it would be that easy. Urus probably dropped them in an easy area to start. Though she wasn’t the one chopping through the rain forest. Maybe other parts of the island were an open plain.

Her eyes scanned the two Chrotile buzz-saw standing in the center of the small clearing looking for threats. Did Chrotile sweat? Lizards didn’t, but she didn’t know how many traits they shared with mundane lizards. They were definitely stronger than humans, but that might be the system boosting them. Joe was probably strong, too. Even she was stronger than before the system. She could probably conquer the evil pull-up bar now!

Like Elysia Thres stood in the clearing, silently observing the duo of male Chrotile now chopping through the other side of the clearing. Her usual brilliant crimson scales were slightly paler, likely from exerting herself in the previous dungeon, but otherwise, she appeared fine.

Another five minutes passed almost on the dot, though without a watch, Elysia couldn’t tell. This time the clearing had a familiar cave like opening. Curious, she checked the back side of the opening only to find nothing, only the grassy clearing. These cracks in space were creepy. It looked natural from the front, at least. As long as she focused on that, she could fool herself into thinking it was just a normal cave sitting in the middle of a jungle clearing. Yeah, there was no way she could unsee that.

Hopefully, the dungeon didn’t decide to keep her. Could Urus save them from a dungeon? From what she could tell, dungeons were a space separate from the world, though she was far from an expert. Were there space elementals? That would be a terrifying element to have. How would they sustain themselves? She supposed there was space everywhere, so maybe they just existed on that alone. She didn’t need to eat anything to sustain herself, either. If only she had a friendly elemental to explain things to her.

A loud clap broke her from her thoughts. She blinked several times, returned her focus to the outside world to find all three of her teammate staring at her with annoyance and concern.

Her face reddened. “Sorry.”

Thauzo scanned her concern on his scaly face. “Are you ok? Do you need a break before the dungeon?”

His question prompted Elysia to frown. Why was she getting lost in thought so easily? Did Mezo do something to her? No, she felt fine. She was probably just bored watching those two chop their way through the forest while doing nothing. “No, I’m ready if you all are.”

He gave her a suspicious look but nodded his head in acceptance before entering the dungeon, followed by everyone else.

On the other side, they found themselves in a similar environment to the outside. Though unlike the outside, the jungle appeared much less dense. Paths cut through the jungle in multiple directions, like deer paths from her home. That thought caused her to stiffen. Her eyes scanned the jungle, ears perked, but even with her enhanced senses, nothing jumped out to her.

Still, she remained on guard as she fell into formation behind Thuax who, like her, was scanning their surroundings.

They picked a path to their right just wide enough to fit Thauzo’s bulky frame but far too small for large creatures to attack unless they bulldozed through like the triceratops but if something that big came for them, they would know with plenty of time to prepare.

The path soon narrowed, forcing Thauzo to widen it with his sword. Like outside the foliage posed little resistance to the towering Chrotile. Though with only one clearing a path, progress slowed significantly.

With the loud crashing of anything in their path, Elysia’s hearing became useless. Something wasn’t right. Why make so much noise in a dungeon? They weren’t this loud outside the dungeon. Were they trying to lure whatever lives here? But why didn’t they tell her the plan? No one seemed bothered by the noise besides her.

Her mouth opened to voice her concerns, only to snap closed as movement in the jungle to her right froze her in her tracks. Unlike her, the rest of her team continued their loud advance. She reached out to grab Thres, but she walked past her as if she wasn’t there.

Desperation set in as now several shapes moved on each side of their group just out of sight. Each time she looked, there was nothing there, but the moment she looked away, a flash of movement reached the edge of her vision.

Her team continued on ahead, not noticing her change forcing a realization. Something was controlling them. Or at least fooling their senses. Why else would they mindlessly thrash through the jungle? They were cautious with the triceratops, so it didn’t make sense they would act like this.

Thuax wasn’t even scanning their surroundings anymore. All he did was march behind Thauzo in an imitation of their formation without doing his job. Thres wasn’t doing much better. Usually, she kept her head on a swivel even during their limit practice. Like Thuax, she was staring ahead in lockstep with her sibling as Thauzo chipped away at the jungle. Instead of continuing to follow the path, Thauzo made his own, only increasing her suspicion.

To confirm her hypothesis, she broke formation and jogged up to Thuax. One look into his eyes sent a chill up her spine. His normally observant eyes were blank, as if he wasn’t conscious. She grabbed his arm, but he shook off her grip like it was nothing and continued on. Even a slap did nothing to break his trance.

An ever-increasing number of shapes moving in her peripherals only ratcheted up her panic. In the hope she could break someone else from the trance, she turned back to Thres, but even when she stood in her path, she just shoved past, easily pushing Elysia’s petite frame out of the way.

Anger sparked deep within her, smothering a bit of her panic. Answering the call, her core pulsed rapidly, sending streams of electricity through her body. The shadowed tunnel glowed purple as her armor lit up along with her veins. Sparks jumped off her body a couple of them landed on Thres. The elementalist caster paused mid-step as one of such sparks contacted her cheek. Clarity returned to her eyes for a moment before going dull once more as she continued her march.

Even in her anger, Elysia spotted the change. Electrify self flashed in her mind, but she discarded the idea, afraid to harm her teammate with her potent lightning despite the circumstances.

Instead, she focused inward and grasped a single thread of lightning from her core. She grabbed Thres’s wrist and before the stronger Chrotile broke away, then sent a thread of electricity shooting down her arm and into Thres.

The effect was immediate. The blank stare vanished, replaced by shock and confusion. Thres glanced down at Elysia’s hand gripping her wrist, then up to said girl. “Something is controlling everyone.”

Thres’s attention shot to her brothers, finding them marching ahead of them. She opened her mouth to shout, but froze as her eyes dulled. Another strand of electricity jolted her back, this time without the confusion. Anger flared in her reptilian eyes as she marched forward but didn’t pull her wrist away from Elysia despite the uncomfortable tingling bordering on pain pulsating up her arm into her head every few seconds.

Elysia’s eyes remained glued on Thres looking for any sign of her succumbing to whatever controlled her team, but as long as she sent the pulses of electricity, whom her teammate remained lucid.

A few seconds later they reached their teammates, but like Elysia’s attempts, Thuax was unresponsive to Thres’s grabs or punch.

Suddenly Thres froze as her eyes widened, and panic ignited, causing Elysia’s gaze to follow where her teammate was looking, only to let go of the twitching wrist and sprint forward.

Visible through the thinning jungle just ahead of them was a drop off.

Thres’s gaze turned blank once more as Elysia shot forward, lightning arcing off her body in her panic.