Chương 216: Fuck you all

"Wait! I know what she did wrong," Andrea said while pointing at Rhea. Not this shit again…

"Andrea, I'll stop you before you start it again," I said while raising a hand. She looked at me as if I had deeply offended her.

"What? She had a spell for pinpointing the location of the cores and she didn't tell us! That's information that could have been very useful to know before we fought them!" she said while pointing first at Rhea and then at the dead monsters.

"It's a ritual, not a spell, and I created it on the fly!" shouted back Rhea.

"Yeah, of course you created it on the fly, as if it was so easy to create something like that. I know only Will to be able to do something like this, and he's a fucking genius in the real sense of the word. I don't believe for a second that you managed to create a 'ritual' in the middle of a battle, so stop pretending."

"But I did it! It's exactly what happened! And I never used anything similar before, everyone can confirm it!" Rhea replied while looking around, searching for somebody in the group who would validate her words.

"Rhea's right, I never saw her perform anything like that," I said.

"I confirm, never saw it. If this Will guy is a genius in spellcasting, then Rhea is a genius in rituals," echoed Mary. One by one everyone gave their support to Rhea while giving Andrea strange glances.

"Well, maybe she learned it before and used it now for the first time! She still should have told us!" I had had enough.

"Listen here, I don't know what your problem with Rhea is, but she's a valued member of our team, and you are constantly trying to attack and undermine her. This won't do." She opened her mouth to say something, but I stopped her with an aura-infused look.

"You came to me asking to join. If you really want to be a part of this team, then I need you to act your age and not start useless squabbles for no reason. I asked everyone what you could have done better, not what everyone else could have done better. So if you want to answer that, it's fine. If you prefer to attack Rhea or anyone else, then I would ask you to leave."

"You would lose someone like me just for speaking my mind?" she asked incredulously.

"I would, Andrea. Look around, we are a team here. We went through a lot of things together, and we learned to respect and work with each other despite our differences. If you have no intention of doing the same, then it's not worth keeping you on the team just to add internal problems. You are a powerful warrior, but I won't choose you over the trouble you are creating. We already have enough problems as it is." I saw a range of emotions pass through her face, from disbelief to anger to reluctance.

I didn't know what her deal was, and honestly I didn't care. She could join and we would gain a strong long-range fighter, or she could go and we would deal with things the same way as always. I would appreciate her help in dealing with Adrian, but it wasn't worth the hassle if she continued to behave like this.

"I second that," Tom said.

"Third," quipped Quinn.

"I mean, I don't know what your problem is, but you should chill out a bit. It's getting ridiculous." The teen's candid words caused a series of nods from everybody.

"You know what? I'm not going to stay here getting reprimanded by a fucking child. Fuck this, you clearly have no idea what you are missing out on. And fuck you, Elias. I thought you were better than this, choosing pussy over a real warrior. I saw your magic, you have no chance in hell against Adrian. I'll deal with him by myself, you clearly lack the attributes to do it." She finished, then froze for a second, looking around, and noticed how the whole group was tense and ready to fight. Love this novel?

Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. If she said something else wrong she would not be able to even reach for her weapon, and she knew it. After swallowing whatever else she wanted to say, she turned around and started marching away. No, this won't do. I flared up my aura, and the surroundings became devoid of color. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around, shock and fear painted on her face. I took a couple of steps, bringing me closer to her.

Then I looked her straight in the eyes and pressed her down further with my aura. She nearly buckled, her knees trembling.

"Don't think for a second that I won't demolish you the moment you try to pull something on me or my team. This is a warning. You want to go? Fine, go your own way, but don't cross mine, understood?" She was staring straight at me. Even under my aura I could see her face getting paler. I could nearly smell her fear. It was probably the effect of my latest achievement, Kinslayer. I really wanted to cast Veiled Marionette, but the damned protection around the city would remove the magic and potentially expose me.

That threat would have to be enough. I absorbed my aura back, and the world regained its colors. Despite being in an ugly swamp, I felt the others let out a collective sigh of relief, while Andrea stumbled backward a little but remained on her feet.

"I-I... understood..." She looked at the rest of the group, then at me again. After a moment she slowly started to move away, all the while looking at me. Even after she started jogging and then running she constantly looked back, probably afraid that she would get attacked at a moment's notice.

"What the fuck was all that about?" Alya expressed what everyone was thinking.

"Don't know, but that woman is cuckoo," said Quinn while making a rude gesture.

"What did she think would happen when she started to mess with one of us?" Chloe interjected, "It was probably a kind of power move. I heard that she was some kind of manager before the tutorial."

"Well, then she must have been a really toxic manager. I would dread having to work under someone like that..." Mary said, and I couldn't agree more. I was really baffled by the whole thing. She came asking to join, to partner up and deal with Adrian together. Was she after something else? Information? Maybe she was actually working with Adrian and her dead husband story was just a lie. I didn't think that was the case. I saw some real anger when she spoke of that, but maybe she was just that good of an actress.

"Don't know, don't care. Better to lose people like that instead of finding them. You did the right thing, Elias. It's not worth jeopardizing the team for just one new member," Marcus commented. Wow, the man was really opening up recently. It just took multiple life-and-death situations to reach this point. By the end of the tutorial we would be drinking buddies.

"She wasn't even that good of an archer. She totally missed her first shot. I mean, she's powerful, okay, but not someone we really need. Maybe we will find someone better. Why was she so antagonistic towards you anyway?" Alya asked Rhea.

"I don't know... I never even talked to her before this morning! I don't think I did anything to warrant such behavior."

"Maybe she just doesn't like goths," quipped Chloe.

"People, let's get back to business and stop shitting on Andrea. We are in a dangerous zone, let's stay focused." Tom acted as the voice of reason in this madness, but the question remained, why did Andrea behave like this? I mean, it was totally possible that she was just strange. God knew how many bizarre and crazy people I had met in my life, but I didn't think it was just that. The theory that she was searching for something was feeling more and more plausible the longer I thought about it.

There was something I was missing. I would need to keep an eye on her. Another job for Quinn, but later.

"Okay, so, to answer your question, Elias, I'll start," continued Tom.

"I stayed in the back to assess everyone's performance but failed to use my skills correctly. I should have directed everyone more specifically. I thought that micromanaging was not a good idea, but given our small number it's going to be feasible."

"Good, we have many drakes to try this on. Next?" I asked.

"Oh, me! I should have been more careful about aggroing only one. I didn't think the other one would follow given the distance, but I already have an idea to fix that!" Quinn's excitement was palpable. I didn't know why he was so hyped, but it was better than seeing him sulking.

"I could have cast some empowering rituals before the battle began..."

"I should have used more mana in my spells, but I didn't think the level disparity would affect my magic that badly," said Chloe.

"I misstepped and got caught by the arm... it won't happen again." One by one they gave me some ideas on what they could have done better. We brainstormed how to improve our teamwork and retrieved the core of the drake Andrea killed. It was cracked, and it felt like its magic was basically gone. I didn't think it would sell for much, but we took it anyway. Selling it at the System store would at least give us an idea of its value after comparing it with the good one.

Mary touched all the frontliners and healed whatever microtears they had developed. She was adamant about keeping us as healthy as possible. Then we discussed how to take on the next one and formulated a plan. We would try something different this time. We had to see how our less violence-oriented members would fare against these things.

"We're ready. Quinn, whenever you want," I told the kid.

"Roger, another lizard incoming!" I was actually starting to get excited. We had never done this kind of hunting before. It was fun, and it would help us polish our skills, both personal and as a team. Let's see how much we improve by the end of the day.