Unfortunately, while the [BULETTE]s and [BULGURA]s could be lone wanderers, [CATOBLEPAS]’ and [WARG]s were not. Perching on a high branch, the rabbit looked down on the apparent omnivores. These creatures seemed to be more pacifistic and only really fought when they had to. No wonder they were slowly losing their territory. That’s not to say they weren’t dangerous. Dangerous had to be a [CATOBLEPAS] middle name. Eight of the ape creatures had tried to attack four of the moose bull monsters. While the grazers had lost a member of their group, the gorilla monsters had been decimated. Having observed for an extended period, the bunny decided to test out a theory. A breath in, a breath out. Then he teleported on to the backs of one of the bovines. All five of the current group looked up in surprise. The one that he was sitting on turned its neck all the way around to glance at him. After a few moments they all lost their startled looks and continued stare at him. Their looks turned to lazy attention as they continued to chew on grass. “Well, that answers that” he thought to himself.
He would leave these monsters be. Now to check out the [WARG] packs. He actually had a plan for them if he could manage to wrangle some into obedience. He did need some guard dogs for his family after all.
Half an hour later he had narrowed in on a pack of twelve. The one leading was labelled an [ALPHA].
Monster – [ALPHA DEATHSHADOW WARG] – [LEVEL 20]
That was the one he would have to convince first. The entire pack ranged from [LEVEL 16] to [LEVEL 20], with the [ALPHA] being one of the highest ones. Okay, maybe he was a little ambitious, but it meant that each of his family members would get a guard dog to help them at all times. He would try a civil approach first though. He didn’t expect it to go well. Breathe in, breathe out.
The rabbit jumped down in front of the biggest [WARG], the alpha. “Hi there, I’ve got a deal for you. How about you come and help out our warren of rabbits, then we can work together to get stronger?”
The rabbit got an immediate response. “Food no talk.”
Then the wolf creature lunged at him. Its shadow felt of [DARK] and [DEATH] magic as it moved. He was a special little wolfy with multiple affinities. Most of the others had one or the other, with [DEATH] magic being the more common one. For the first time, the rabbit used his [DODGE] skill. He felt it unlock as he moved out of the way while listening to his [ENHANCED PRECOGNITION] skill. The bunny could have teleported, but he didn’t want to give too much away before he knew what the huge canine was capable of. A pool of shadows gathered around the monster while the rest of the pack stood back, they didn’t want to kill steal a measly little rabbit. As his jaws snapped over nothing, a low growl came, then the rabbit felt the shadows begin to spew [DEATH] magic. He dodged back again while preparing his own attack. “Down boy” he yelled while blasting the [WARG] with a face full of water.
The [WATER] mana washed away the other affinities with ease, leaving a soaking wet dog glaring at him with its tail tucked between its legs. He had tried not to hit it too hard, but it had still packed quite the punch. Also, he hadn’t expected the other affinities to be gone so quickly. Even if the alpha had been given fifty percent proficiency with each affinity and he had a full one hundred percent proficiency with [WATER]. He guessed that he just had more practice, or maybe it had something to do with his attributes. Either way, he had clearly won this battle as the leader of the pack laid down on the ground in defeat. The rest of the [WARG]s looked at their alpha with distain. That only lasted for another fifteen seconds as they were also drenched in [WATER]. A moment afterwards they were rolling belly up. “Well, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be” the bunny thought to himself. He told them to keep hunting as he would be back later. He wanted to reach [LEVEL 20] before going home. The rule was also set to leave the [HORNED RABBIT]s alone. The pack bowed their heads in agreement. It was strange for five foot tall [WARG]s to submit to a foot tall bunny rabbit, but that was just the way things had worked out.
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Before going back on the hunt, the rabbit began a proper search. He had learned that all monsters had a special sense when it came to family, and how closely related that family was. Just sensing another monster’s presence instantly informed you of whether they were sister, distant cousin, or a complete stranger. It had to do with sensing magic, which all monsters could do to some degree. This meant that only after an hour of searching the vast area, he had found his two older brothers. They weren’t hunting together, but they must have been within each other’s vicinity on purpose. They sensed him as well and looked over at him.
Monster – [HORNED RABBIT] – [LEVEL 20]
Monster – [ELETRIC HORNED RABBIT] – [LEVEL 21]
One of them was a variant. The reasoning behind the name, despite almost every rabbit having [LIGHTNING] affinity, was completely obvious. His electric brother constantly crackled with voltage. It ran along his fur in waves. He instantly knew why this particular brother wasn’t dead yet. It would really hurt to fight him if you didn’t have the same affinity. The regular brother must have been alive because they stuck together. It made sense.
“Hi, I’m your younger brother and I’m here to tell you off. Mother is worried sick, so you need to come home now.”
They both just tilted their heads a bit in confusion. “You… talk…lots. You… talk… big… words” the electric brother said.
Wow. That sounded painful. Right, small words. “Home now. Mother worried.”
They both nodded in understanding. Very slowly. Okay, these two might have been on the same level as the gorillas. Not exactly the brightest bulbs of the litter. Smart enough to survive, one of them was even smart enough or lucky enough to activate a variant race, but that was about it. Then the regular one spoke “Careful.”
That was all he said before moving cautiously in the direction of the first floor. Both of them were extraordinarily cautious. With them surviving down here, it really should have been the logical conclusion.
Four hours. That’s how long it took to hop them all the way back to the tunnel. He had actually teleported ahead a few times, just to take care of the monsters impeding their way. He did not, repeat, he did not want to slow this trip down any more than it was already going. Travelling so slow was exhausting. Watching them be constantly on the lookout, turning their heads this way and that way, was even more exhausting. He was tempted to just follow them all the way back home and go sleep in the family’s cozy burrow for the night. But no. He wanted to reach [LEVEL 20] before heading homeward for real. Finally, they reached the destination, so the two older brothers hopped onwards and he himself turned back around to get some hunting done.