Two palomino rabbits stared down at the intruders as they entered the dungeon oblivious to the eyes watching them.

“Should we take them out?” [BENJIMEN] questioned.

“I don’t think that’s wise. We are strong enough to defeat them now, but first, let’s try talking to them. We should send people that can communicate with them” [THUMPER] argued.

[BENJIMEN] nodded before using a skill he had picked up after watching his eccentric brother use it, [TELEPATHY]. “[VASILIOS], take [ULA] and the humans to go greet our guests. We need to see if they’ll be friend or foe.”

“Yess, Lord [BENJIMEN], I sshall carry out thiss tassk at oncce” The reply went through his mind.

****

Evindal’s shoulders were tense and he focused his hearing on every sound. Something was wrong. None of his four party members believed him, but he was sure of it. The usual sounds of monsters clashing came from all around them like usual. Nothing seemed out of place so far. But his [ENHANCED PRECOGNITION] skill was giving his body goosebumps and his pointed ears were trembling with fear. There was something strong nearby, maybe several strong somethings. However, his skill had overreacted many times before. This led to his team not taking the warning seriously. He couldn’t blame them, but it was different this time. Evindal always had a sense of how certain the skill was. Every previous time he had felt the skill go off, he’d understood that the danger was only a possibility. Some possibilities were bigger than others. Certain doom was now hanging around him like a dense cloud. If they entered the dungeon and didn’t show a least the minimum amount of respect required to whatever was setting off his skill, then his entire party would die. It was definite. There was no range of possibility this time. Unless they turned around, they were about to face something extremely powerful. The terrified elf shivered as the sense of doom came ever closer.

“Lord Droth, Commander Connak, please listen to me, we have to leave.”

Once again, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

“Watch it scout, you wa only assigned to this team due to yer so-called [EPIC] grade skill, bu its dun squat fer us so far” Connack berated him “Shut up an wait fer ya Lord’s commands.”

Lord Droth acted as if he hadn’t even registered the conversation. As he was basically the crown prince of their tribe, that was his right. Only the best had been chosen for each role of the team. Every member had at least one [EPIC] grade skill and had a slew of [SPECIAL] grade skills. The only exception being Lord Droth himself. The hope of this expedition was to have the young Lord upgrade the rarity of his skills. How he was supposed to do that while the four of them were doing the brunt of the work was beyond Evindal’s comprehension. Commander Connak had upgraded his initial [CLASS] of [GUARDIAN KNIGHT] to [PALADIN]. Their ranged fighter Hastos went from [ARCHER] to [ARCANE ARCHER]. And their only female party member Amara upgraded from [MAGICIAN] to an [ELEMENTALIST]. He himself had gone from a [ROGUE] to a [NIGHTBLADE], but due to his penchant for perception and a concealment [ABILITY] gifted by his [PATRON], everyone thought he had upgraded to [SCOUT] instead. The only one still with his initial class of [WARRIOR] was the young Lord Droth.

Following orders, Evindal kept quiet while keeping an eye on every possible abnormality. As soon as he sensed the threat approaching them, he would alert the others before tucking tail and running. Just as he felt like a calamity was breathing down his neck, the nearby sounds of fighting died off, then came a voice.

“Hello there! We bring peaceful intentions. And you?”

The voice was male and confident. Looking towards the voice they found two figures walking on top of a sandy crest a little distance away. As they walked closer it became clear that there were four entities, not two. A young human woman sat astride a watery horselike creature. Walking next to them was the man who had spoken. An onyx snake with bright green patterns was coiled around the man’s arms and neck. A black mist was emanating from the pair. Evindal noticed all this well before the rest of his party. He could see that although the humans were strong, their party should be able to take them. The real shock came when he tried to identify the beast companions. Hang on a minute… Were… Were the beasts stronger than the humans!? What? Why? How was that even possible? When a [TAMER] or similar [CLASS] bonded with a creature, the beast could almost never surpass the [LEVEL] of their master.

Stolen story; please report.

Then the truth struck him. The beasts weren’t bonded to the humans. The humans had no control over these powerful creatures. If anything, it was the other way around. He was in so much shock from the realization that it was too late by the time he remembered that he should clue his party in.

“Human! Ya dare delve in a dungeon tha has bin claimed by elven people! Impudent! Fer tha crime tha has bin committed, I sentence ya ta be executed!” Droth proclaimed with rage.

“Lord Droth, we need to rethink this. Please talk this out with them” the terrified elf squealed.

Hastos and Amara took a few steps back and looked at their scout questioningly. However, the bull headed commander and the idiot young Lord paid him barely any mind. Evindal’s mind was so scattered with fear that he didn’t noticed Connack hitting him with his shield face on until it was too late. Sprawled out on the ground and barely conscious he heard the commander shout, “Disrespect tha young Lord again an I’ll silence ya fer good!”

The nightblade knew why they were acting this why. In general, there was no point identifying a tamer’s beast because they were almost always lower levelled then their master. Maybe a few levels more with specialised skills but that was it. Droth and Connack had seen the humans half decent levels and decided that they weren’t a true threat since bonded beasts would be around the same level. He also knew they had made the biggest mistake of their lives, perhaps their last.

“Hey, hey” the girl said in a bright tone, “There’s no need for that kind of talk. We’re just here to let you know that these monsters live here and we were also invited to live here by them. If you’ve levelled here before, its understandable that you’d want to continue to do so. Just make sure to do it away from the sections of the dungeon where we live. Then we can all get along. No problem.”

“Enough a’ this nonsense. Connack. Kill ‘em.” The idiotic young Lord commanded.

****

[VASILIOS] was troubled at the developments of the conversation. It didn’t take long for the situation to devolve into murder. Weren’t humanoids supposed to be more civilized? And smarter too?

[ULA] rarely spoke. She was a quiet soul by nature.

“He’s a dumb dumb” she communicated softly with some light nickering.

The basilisk silently agreed. He was disappointed with how this meeting was going. Would he have to kill them? He had shrunk himself down with [DOWNSIZE] and draped himself around Enzo to appear less threatening, but things weren’t looking good. Lord [BENJIMEN] and Lord [THUMPER] had been very clear about wanting to talk things out. They wanted to follow their weird big brother’s example. So did [VASILIOS]. However, this time it was looking impossible. Then something very unexpected happened. The ‘scout’ that was actually a [NIGHTBLADE] according to his [ABILITY], [DISCERNMENT], ran forward ahead of his young Lord and fell to his knees and bowed with his head to the ground. “Have mercy! Please spare us.”

Both the [PALADIN] and his charge looked infuriated at the display. The [PALADIN] was so angry that he immediately ran his sword straight through the pleading elf’s back, severing his spine. Looked like it was time to step in.

Without him needing to say a word, [ULA] trotted forward and healed the wound while simultaneously using her magic to bind the two idiots. She made the water flowing through the air look natural as it healed in one direction and secured unstable hotheads in the other.

****

Evindal felt his chest where the injury had been inflicted and then healed. Hastos and Amara kneeled to either side of him. The [ELEMENTALIST] gazed at the kelpie in awe and envy. Water and air were her best elements after all, but even she couldn’t wield magic that well. It had taken him a while to figure out who was really in charge, but he finally had it figured out. None of them moved unless the snake moved its head. The snake was the one giving orders.

Since they weren’t dead yet, he decided to risk a proper [IDENTIFY].

Monster – [********* AFFLICTION ****** BASILISK ******] – [LEVEL **]

Affliction Basilisk? Basilisk!? This thing could literally kill them with a look. No wonder it was in charge. And what about the parts that were marked out. Levels he could understand, if the level was too far above your own and whatever identifying skill you had wasn’t enough, then you couldn’t view the level. Not being able to see part of the [RACE] though. That was highly unusual. He’d never heard of such a thing happening before.

Less than a second after taking the risk, the basilisk’s eyes locked on his. His heart felt like it stopped as he stared into those dark green depths. Then he could breathe again as it glanced away and the male human spoke.

“My fellow servant has asked me to relay that you should all mind your manners. Remember, if things take a turn, we won’t hesitate to defend ourselves. Even if that means ending all of you.”

Evindal’s heart froze once again. The death threat was expected after the stunt he had just pulled. But the start of what he said shook the elf to his core. ‘My fellow servant’. If even the one in charge was just a servant, then how strong was what they served!?