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.