There had been a celebration after Zorah Magdaros had been driven away to the sea. The Chef had outdone himself and had cooked a feast so large that many hunters were able to grab seconds, Asim did. While the celebration was a much-needed break from all the hunting and fighting for Asim and his companions, the trouble was not yet over. There were still so many monsters to explore and new lands to study. Most importantly, there was The Eater of Elders. Nergigante. That was the name the people of Astera had given the Nergigante that had attacked the group of hunters while on their mission to stop Zorah Magdaros. Asim had been far away enough not to be knocked back by the dragon's horrid roar. He watched the rest of his team fall to their knees in pain and staggered back away from Nergigante. While the mission to drive Zorah Magdaros away had been a successful one a new problem had risen. The hunters of Astera would have to slay Nergigante, and his team had been chosen for the quest. Not only that, but there had been sighting in the Elder's Recess of other dragons... Dragons that had not been spotted in The New World as of yet and all of Astera didn't like the sound of that one bit.

It was early morning when the Handler knocked on his massive, lavish room he had been given shortly after coming back from their mission with Zorah Magdaros. All three of his companions had been given similar rooms, all in the same level and next to each other. It was convenient when someone ran out of points or antidotes because Asim was right next door to restock his fellow companions. Now that he had a garden he was able to grow his plats and mushrooms without having to rely so much on the Biologist. Bugs, on the other hand, were a bit harder to come by in his garden, so he still had to go to the man in the courtyard for any bugs he needed for other supplies.

After the Handler gathered the group in the canteen, she quickly briefed them on their quest and where Nergigante would be located. Elder's Recess was a place with much large crystal jetting out from the ground and caves with lava rivers. Cool potions would be a must in this mission if the Nergigante decided to lead them on a chase to one of those lava-filled caverns. The group was given an hour to get armored up and set up for their quest to slay the Nergigante. Asim was nervous. This would be the first elder dragon he would ever hunt and the name the rest of Astera had given the dragon was not putting his nerves to rest.

"I need to head to the Smithy and get my bow checked out before heading out," Asim said as he turned to the rest of his group. Asuka, Damien, and Diana were sitting around the table, empty plates before them. "I have about twenty potions and ten megas I can spare. We should take demon drugs and armorskins too. We still have no idea how powerful Nergigante is, and we don't want to find out the hard way." He stood up and smiled down at his team, "We can do this team! If we were able to drive out the big lava guy we can do this." He had confidence in all of their abilities to slay Nergigante.

Everyone was celebrating after Zorah Magdaros’ defeat. Damian had to admit, it was kinda cool that they managed to drive away an Elder Dragon, especially one as big as Zorah Magdaros. Hunting was tiring work and Damian wouldn’t have minded a long break. Damian was in his room, having woken up recently when the Handler alerted him that he was needed. As much as he didn’t want to, he reluctantly met with his other companions at the canteen where they were briefed on their quest, hunting the dreaded Nergigante.

Damian went and took a seat at the table with his companions. He had to admit, this was going to be pretty nerve-racking as it was the first time he’d be going against an Elder Dragon. Good thing he had his helmet on or the others would possibly see the distress on his face. Damian heard Asim speaking but didn’t pay him any attention. He already had enough gear with him and didn’t plan on getting any more. Damian wasn’t too fond of being paired up with these others in a team. He was usually the lone wolf, hunting by himself, he always thought of himself good enough a hunter to not need a team. However, he had been placed with them and he just had to bear it.

Diana assisted the chef quite well in cooking the food since quite a handful of hunters ate so much, Diana even got a little flustered when the chef almost burned off a part of her belt. Though after preparing, Diana did eat as much as the others, maybe less since Diana isn't as big of a glutton as everyone else or anything like that. After she had finished her meal, Asim briefed her and the other team members of the Nergigante hunt, she was quite excited but her face didn't seem to flinch at all when she thought about it which was still a problem.

"I need to bring along whetfish scales then." Said Diana, her voice was rather monotone as she stood up and walked off to her quarters to pick up the supplies, she had a look back at everyone else before doing so. She brushed her hair back before she pushed open the doors to her quarters, it wasn't as big but it had a impressive looking aquarium which was fine for her, she didn't care much for things looking all the pretty anyway. She walked over to her chest and fished out the necessary supplies.

"Lets see... Ten potions, two cool drinks, two armourskins, three rations, just incase, my only mega demondrug? I'll bring that along too I suppose, and one, two... three-, five whetfish scales, that should be enough." Diana spoke to herself as she fished all of those out and placed it in her pack. She then shuffled over to the weapon stand to see her divine slasher, it was customised with white and blue instead of black and red, she specifically asked for that since it reminded her of the snow back in Pokke. She pulled the sword down and unsheathed it, running her whetstone on it a few times before sheathing it back and strapping it to her back.

Asuka sighed quietly, drinking in the atmosphere around her. She'd repelled an Elder Dragon before (a Kushala Daora with rusted scales, to be precise), but never killed one. That said, repelling an Elder Dragon that was almost literally a walking volcano felt really damn good. She made her way back to the table with the team she'd been assigned to. For the most part, up until now, Asuka had been tackling her missions and assignments solo.

So, because of her skill, the higher-ups had decided to group Asuka up with three other promising Hunters. Each of them were Fivers, and came to the New World for their own reasons: starting a new life, fame and fortune, escaping money troubles, evading jilted lovers, gods only knew what else. Asuka had decided that it would be a good experience to venture to another continent. True, the ride here had been rough, and one of the Fifth Fleet's ships had gotten stuck on Zorah Magdaros' back, but she and everyone else in the Fifth had made it in one piece, if roughed up and missing their stuff.

She sat down, making sure nobody had touched her food. All good, Asuka decided. She took a drink from her mug. Despite the festivities, she was abstaining from alcohol for now. However, when the team leader Asim began speaking, Asuka wished she'd have gotten a mug or two of Ratha Whiskey. It wasn't that she found his voice annoying, but the pep talk felt sappy to Asuka. She knew they were up against a dangerous enemy (Seriously, who would willingly go up against something called "The Extinction Dragon"?, she thought), but she didn't need a rousing speech.

Once finished with her meal Asuka stood, stretching. "I'll get some things, and I'll be ready," she said curtly.

Asim was left standing there with two of his teammates gone to prepare for their first mission together and one who not happy to be there. Asim sighed and shook his head. While he was happy to be placed in a team, he was worried that the matches that they have given him seemed to be hunters who often took quests on their own. He usually went on hunts with other hunters who were willing to take him since he didn't do good on his own. Not because he was a bad hunter, but because it would get lonely to go out in The New World. "Well," he looked at Damian, "we got an hour to get ready, so I suggest you do." He drank the last of his ale and turned around to head to the Smithy.

Great. This team would be difficult to deal with, but he wasn't going to give up so easily to make everything work. They still didn't know each other or who each of them fought. Asim was the bowman who would move and roll around the monster firing shots at its weak spots. He wasn't one who would stay back and do support damage. He had experience working around different hunters who used all sorts of weapons, but he had never worked with this new team. The only thing he could do is wish for the best.

After the Blacksmith had taken a look at his bow, he took it and went up to his room to gather all of the arrow coatings and potions he would be using for the Nergigante hunt. He had ten potions and seven megas, enough demon-dragon and armor skins to last him a while during their hunt. It took him a while to get into his armor, but with the help of his Palico, Emrys, he got into it before their departure. He made his way down to the courtyard, waving hello to some of his fellow Fivers as they went on with their chores. They wished Asim good luck on his team's hunt. It was no secret that they were the first team to attempt to slay Nergigante, and he wanted the only team to do so.

Asim leaned against the post near the entrance of Astera and waited for the rest of his team to meet up.

Damian watched as both Asuka and Diana left to go gather some more gear while Asim was still with him. He still wasn’t too fond of this team he had been placed in and would much rather work by himself like he was used to. Alas, he probably wouldn’t be able to get out of it anyway. Damian ignored Asim again as he had prepared prior to coming to the meeting and was already equipped with all of his gear. Instead of going to prepare like the others did, he just went straight to the entrance to Astera and waited there.

He had to pass the time while he was waiting for everyone else, so he pulled his notebook and started reading through the contents. He was brushing up on his knowledge on some of the monsters when Asim walked up to him.. Damian didn’t bother speaking to him as he didn’t have anything to talk about so he just stood there and continued waiting for the others.

After Diana had finished her preparation, she stepped out of her room and straight back on the wooden bridge, she lightly jogged back to the canteen and stood there in the middle, lightly dusting herself as she waited for the others. She had noticed that one of her team members just sat on the side reading what appeared to be a notebook, she would have talked to him but he didn't look like the type of guy who would like to have a chat right now.

She sat at a different table, her posture while sat looked rather proper and she didn't know why she defaulted to that. She hoped the others to get here much faster since she got a bit giddy just thinking on hunting, then again she also felt a bit scared since she didn't want to see anyone die to an elder dragon again, please, by the name of fatalis, not again.

Asuka opened the door to her quarters, and made her way to her chest. She began digging around, grabbing what she knew she would need. The young woman thought about which weapon she should pack. "Nergigante is an Elder Dragon, so..." she muttered to herself. Asuka grabbed her Charge Blade, fastening the sheathes to her armor. Her armor skills would help; a Dragon Element weapon with Critical Element would certainly be very helpful, as well as Mind's Eye. "Yeah, this should--"

The attack came from above and from the left. Asuka had no time to react as talons latched on to her armor.

Warm scales and feathers brushed against her exposed skin, and she smiled at the little creature perched on her shoulder now. "Litho, you scamp you," Asuka crooned at the Forest Pteryx. The feathered creature hopped down, perching on the edge of the open chest. Asuka scratched under his chin, and Litho purred. "I gotta head out now. People are counting on me, even if I don't like 'em."

Litho chittered, cocking his head quizzically. The Pteryx was only an animal (a bright one at that), but sometimes Asuka felt the feathered creature understood every word she said. "I'll be back, hopefully in one piece," she assured. Litho snorted before hopping down and going to her bed, curling up on the pillow to mope. He always did this when she left. True, he would often run around and hunt birds and rodents around Astera, but he was always happy when she came back.

Asuka hefted her pack and made her way to the gate. The little interaction had put her in a much better mood. She took a breath. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Once everyone had gathered Asim motioned everyone closer. "Well, this is it. Our expeditions suggest that Nergigante will be in zone 14, so we'll be landing nearby to scout first. We'll position ourselves first, and I'll lure the dragon in where we will have a surprise round. After that, we will slay it. Asuka, you will be concentration on slashing that tail off with Diana. I heard they can make us pretty armor with that thing. Damian and I will be in charge of breaking those horns as quickly as possible to throw that thing off balance and gain us an advantage. After those two things are dealt with we rain pain on that dragon." Asim crossed his arms over his chest; his face was collected and calm. He had confidence in their skills and their abilities as hunters, but facing something like a Nergigante as their first quest as a team was challenging. He just hoped his plan to give them specific goals would help them to work together for future missions if there were any to be had.

Asim pulled his bow and strapped it on his back before giving his team a slight nod. "Follow the plan, and we'll finish this easily." He hoped. "Let's go hunters." Was the last thing he said to them before calling his wingdrake.

---

Crystals upon crystals. All of them reflected the sun right at Asim's eyes as they all traveled over the Elder Recess. He could see the rives of lava and unusual rock formations from the sky. As they descended to the ground, there was no spiked back or wing to be seen around their location. They would have to track the dragon. Once his feet hit the ground, he began to walk around, small crystals cracking under his weight. Stealth would be a problem here. He turned to face his teammates, waiting for them to ready themselves before they went out adventuring.