After our unlucky encounter with Cetus, Lia wouldn't let me get rest in fear of something like that happening again, and to be honest, I push myself to the limits and bring myself to the brink of collapse as I also don't want to run into something I can't handle because I was sleeping. I guess as a good thing, we managed to arrive in Lausiel about five days ahead of schedule, almost nullifying the time we lost due to being from my poor sense of direction.
But because of how hard I pushed myself nonstop over the past week since the run-in with Cetus, the moment we made land I end up falling asleep. Thankfully, Lia had the foresight to use her magic to hide me from sight. And after what I believe to be a few days of rest, I finally manage to pick myself up.
Lifting up my upper body, I feel large amounts of sand falling off of my body as I rise and realise that I had gotten us to a beach. If the hole I had been in is any indicator then I was well dug in beneath the sand and no one even noticed I was here until now. Seeing me rise from the sand, the many visitors who came to the beach went into a panic, some of the adventurers around a grabbing their weapons to take a fighting stance.
A familiar uncomfortable feeling washes over me and I recognise it as the adventurers trying to identify me. From the way they are grouped, it seems to be three parties totalling up to seventeen adventurers. Returning the favour, I take a quick glance at their status and find that the standard here is much higher than back in Talonia. While there isn't anyone who stands out amongst the crowd with a tier 5 class, there isn't anyone with a class tier lower than 3 and they're all at the very least level 30.
As the noncombatants continue to disperse and leave, I take a good look around and realise that I can't find Lia around anywhere and I quickly begin to worry. She was here to hide me when we arrived, but it has been a few days since then and I'm worried she might have gotten caught or something. As my worry over her safety continues to grow, I try and leave but the groups of adventurers stand between me and the exit.
"You will go no further, beast!"
The feeling of being inspected continues to shower me as I hear the adventurers say, "Has anyone gotten their inspection skill to work yet? Mine keeps failing."
"Same, mine keeps failing as well-- oh, I got it to work... Damn! A tier 8 Elite Monster, something called an Elemental Spirit Dragon. I don't know what that is but the stats of this monster are ridiculously high for only level 7."
"That ain't no Dragon! I've seen Dragons and they don't have feathers, and this thing doesn't even have legs! Ignoring the feathers it's just a snake with wings!"
"Ignore that fool, is there anything special we need to know from the description?"
"Yeah, those feathers aren't feathers but scales that just look like feathers and they are apparently much tougher than they look. And it seems as though we should avoid using elemental attacks on it. It says that the exact elements will differ between individuals, but if we use an element that the Dragon is capable of using then it won't only not do any damage but instead will just heal them."
Despite my better judgement telling me to attack them while they are discussing their strategy, my concern for Lia causes me to ignore them and instead continue to shift my view around to look for any signs of her.
"Hey, does anyone think this monster is acting strange? It's like it hardly recognises that we are even here and isn't even bothering to attack us. Hmm... hey, Julius, why didn't you say anything about it being a named monster!"
"Marcus, you idiot, you know I still only have Inspect at level 8 so I can't even see if it has a name, it was just pure luck that my Inspect actually worked. Besides, aren't most Elite Monsters named, it's just common sense. But this isn't important, a monster as strong as this appearing near the town is dangerous, we need to end it here before it causes any damage."
"Fine, I know you're right. I got some more information though. The elements that this Dragon absorbs is Ice, Water, Fire, Metal, Wood, and Air, so make sure not to use those. Now let's do this!"
No longer able to ignore them as they begin to engage in battle. Their frontline fighter is running at me, as their backline shoots a mix of arrows and magic at me. Using my Wind Wall, I repel the arrows but it doesn't stop the magic as several large stone spears hit me. Even with my resistance to Earth attacks, they still do around 650 damage per hit, totalling up to 2,600 damage.
As the melee fighters approach me, I decide to try something that has been on my mind for a while, a way to combine the Fire and Ice Elements. Back before I died when I was still a university teacher, one of the professors was doing experiments with a kind of fire that didn't burn. While I never paid too much attention back then, I do recall that helium was used to create this fire, but even though I know he explained the scientific process behind it to everyone who was in the staff room, I never really cared for it so I didn't pay attention.
Using my Element Fusion, I mix my Fire, Ice and Gale Breaths, and even though I can't explain or even know the full process behind it, it doesn't matter as the system takes care of the rest and even grants me a new skill.
"You have developed a new skill, Freezing Flame Breath."
With the advent of this new skill, a blue flame is released from my mouth. Despite the fact that I somehow missed every one of the adventurers running at me, the effect I left behind is pretty potent. Upon contact with the ground, the sand began to freeze over and the ice started to spread for a couple of metres before stopping.
"Holy shit! What the hell was that!" One of the adventurers say.
One of the adventurers tries to test the ice as he puts his foot on it and within seconds his boots begin to freeze over and climb up his greaves. In a hurry and with the help of some of his nearby companions he breaks his leg free from the ice, using his axe to smash it to pieces and freeing his leg.
"This stuff is dangerous, it spreads like fire but it freezes you instead of burning you. Take care to avoid this ice and wait for the summer's heat to melt it."
Seeing just how strong this stuff is, I grin in glee, revealing a row of sharp teeth to the adventurers. Of course, I will never let my newfound power go to waste as I continue to blast my Freezing Flame Breath all over the place.
After around half an hour of fighting... no at this point it is more like dodgeball. They have practically given up trying to hit me and have solely focused on avoiding my attacks. Well, I guess they have gotten some hits in here and there, but it hasn't been anything substantial as my natural healing from Air Absorption has been keeping me topped off. And while none of them are dead yet, they are all missing a good portion of their health. At this point, most of the beach has been covered in my Freezing Flame, leaving very little room left to move freely.
In the distance near the entrance to the beach, I spot another large group of adventurers. I guess this has been going on for a bit long now, long enough for someone to have reported to the guild and them to organise a raid on me.
"About damn time reinforcements got here," Marcus says.
The several dozens of adventurers begin rushing down the hill towards the beach grouping with the people who I had been fighting, but before they can make a move on me a voice calls out to everyone from the sky.
"Stop!"
Wings stretched out, a very familiar figure lands on the ground, standing between me and the army of adventurers. Even with their back turned to me I know who it is. Azure blue scales on her tail and wings with horns reminiscent of my own.
"Isn't that the lady with the tier 5 class? She here to help with the raid too?" Someone calls out.
"Miss Lia, I know you're strong, but you should have your back to a monster as dangerous as this." A middle aged adventurer says.
"Rather than dangerous, I'd caller her strong and unhinged," Lia says, before turning her face to me, "or do you have a better way to describe yourself, Cordelia."
Seeing Lia, I rush to use my Humanoid Shapeshift and jumping towards her, ignoring the look of surprise on the adventurer's faces. The anxiety I felt when she wasn't around, has been completely swept away with feelings of relief upon seeing her. I'm no fool who can't see myself and come to a couple of realisations.
"I didn't see you when I woke up, where were you?" I ask, while quietly mumbling that I was worried.
"Oh," Lia speaks up in surprise.
"what?"
"The System just said I have the option for a special class change. But we can take a look at it later, we should probably sort this mess out. Thankfully, you haven't killed anyone yet and only injured a few people."
As the first one to break out from the surprise, the middle aged adventurer from before walks over, "Miss Lia, care to explain?"
"Of course, Guildmaster. Remember what I said when I first arrived a few days ago? That I had a companion who wasn't feeling well, this is her.
Raising his brow with suspicion and confusion, the Guildmaster asks, "so the companion you mentioned is a monster, is that right?"
"Well... you're not entirely wrong in calling her a monster, but she's a Dragon."
"I don't believe I've heard or seen Dragons with feathers and no limbs. Even with her current appearance, she looks more like an angel, assuming I ignore the tail and horns."
"I'm not surprised as this information isn't terribly widespread unless you're a scholar or high official, but Dragons can be split into two groups. There are of course the ones that you are familiar with, and then there are what is known as a Spirit Dragon, which had supposedly gone extinct a long time ago. My friend here is the last one, moreover, the Spirit Dragons are the ancestors of the Red, Blue, White, and Brown Dragonoids, so I would hope you treat her with the respect and care she deserves."
Taking a glance over at me and inspecting me, the Guildmaster remains silent for a moment before saying, "All right, we're done here. Everyone is free to go. The Guild will reimburse the time wasted for everyone that came here."
There are some grumbles over this whole ordeal from some of the adventurers, but they don't put up much of a fight as they are getting something out of this without really having to do anything.
With the adventurers leaving, Lia speaks up again, "Lets head to town as well. I'll fill you in on what I've been up to and we can take a look at my new class option."