Jackal POV

We began our charge, with Halbert in the lead, and our new acquaintances in Jalley and Arnold joining in. I'm both impressed and amused that Halbert had actually made his build as close to the stereotypical superhero as possible. Which wasn't to say in the least to say that it was ineffective, because as straightforward as his Classes were, they were definitely good at the narrow focus that they had.

The Level 100+ monster drew closer, both of our groups approaching each other. The creature navigated with its five remaining legs, and I hazarded a look past it, to an armored figure standing on top of a far away pillar. I saw her make some wide gestures, slapping the very big phallus aiming towards the sky. Orlean took off back towards her homebase right after, and I think she meant that we should signal her again should something go wrong. But she opted not to be present for the fight, so she doesn't take any of the experience that would do a lot more for ourselves.

The actual fight that followed wasn't all that difficult. Already weakened from its original form, the large monster wasn't able to display the same power that it had before. Arnold quickly began tapping his staff to collapse earth and stone on select places, limiting our opponent's mobility, and preventing it from fleeing upwards through the tall buildings.

Halbert closed in and took on one side of its cylindrical body, meanwhile Flaze and Jalley took the other. Having no eyelids and less legs to work with, it didn't take long for the creature's regenerated eyeballs to once again be popped, meanwhile I climbed up to its back and started stomping with Horsekick Gambit. Explosions rocked the carapace as I mixed in my exploding Hellish Fireballs, my barrage undisturbed as I was protected from the limbs by my stalwart allies.

[You Have Defeated a Level 105 Hybrid!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 69!]

…

[Your Level Has Risen to 74!]

I breathed a whinny of relief, as the monster with which we contended with finally grew still. I looked at my recent notifications to confirm the kill, and I was surprised by the amount of levels I was able to harvest, even when working as a team.

It was my first victory against a creature over Level 100, but I've certainly come close on multiple occasions, and none of those gains ever came close to this. Which only leads me to believe that the extra Evolution truly makes a world of difference.

We reconvened after the monster was beaten. Jalley, Arnold, and even Halbert quickly separated to look over the large corpse with great interest.

What are those silly humans doing? I pointed a hoof at them.

"I think it's a fetish thing." Flaze whispered back.

"I heard that! And I do no such thing! It'd be a terrible example to those who look up to me!" Halbert shouted back.

So... He's holding himself back?

I and Flaze giggled loudly at the sentence wreathed in fire.

"It would be great if you could help." Arnold said to us in an even tone as we made fun of them.

I pointed at the three of them again. They're asking us to join in their weird sex thing?

Flaze nodded seriously. "That they are. Furry shit too given that you're a horse."

My eyes widened at that statement. I did not even realize that I had become a furry.

Fuck.

"Your friends are weird." Arnold eventually said to Halbert in a slightly annoyed tone. Maybe we shouldn't have completely ignored his earlier question in favor of laughing at them.

But seriously, I don't even know what they're doing!

"We are indeed doing weird sex things with a corpse." Jalley laughed as she floated over. "One where we collect the parts to take back home. Very gruesome high level stuff."

"Ah. That makes sense." Flaze nodded, and so did I.

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Isn't it too big to take it all?

I struggled to write that, but Jalley disagreed.

"Where there is a will, there is a way." She nodded sagely, making some lewd gestures with her hands.

I shook my head and laughed, walking forward to help with the work.

At least, that was the intention, but I quickly found that there was little I could do. Identify pretty much pegged nearly every piece as an intermediate piece of material, and while Orlean had spoken about it being unreliable, I had absolutely no clue how else I could appraise said material. So instead of thinking about it myself, I tried to just follow along with everyone else and hack off the pieces that they thought were important. It was going good, the material not quite as tough as when the monster yet lived, but then I was told off by Halbert, as apparently I was only ruining the material by bashing on them with my hooves!

What the fuck do you want me to do then!?

Stupid humans and their stupid demands…

I left them to their stupid man things after that, content to just watch from afar as a horse ought to do. They eventually finished the work, and Jalley had even fashioned a sled out of some wayward wheels and other vehicle parts. She wasted no time handing the reins over to me so that I may pull it like a common horse of burden.

Fuck no. I quickly shut her idea down, to which the fucking asshole chased me around until I agreed. Naturally, she couldn't ever hope to catch me, and we went looping around the area until the others stopped our tomfoolery.

"Jackal." Halbert said. "Flaze told me why you don't wanna do this. And that's fine. But I will say that this is something we often do to move materials around. So…"

Hmmm… I thought about it. I didn't think Halbert was lying. It made sense, for transporting goods and such…

Fine. I take first shift. But I'm definitely out once we're at the destination!

It wouldn't do after all for everyone there to just think that they can order me around like a common horse.

The rest of the journey was largely uneventful, we were more than a match for the few monsters who wander into this well trodden path. I passed the reins of the makeshift sled onto Flaze, and soon we saw the big towering walls of this Friendom place I'd heard so much about.

Spikes jutting outwards, coils of wire at the top, metallic fences like in prisons, traditional medieval walls, and pillars arcing electricity between them and towards every metallic piece of the wall, just like in Orlean's home but even more extensive. It's like they couldn't decide which defense was best, so they just opted to use them all. And honestly, I have to respect it. Certainly an imposing welcome.

It didn't take long for us to make it to the gate, a large vault door filled with enchantments, primarily that of Orlean's handiwork, or at least using the same elements. There were people up on the walls, men and women either in medieval armor or military attire, typically a mixture of both. They were hostile as always against my appearance because they're racist, but Halbert quickly assured them of myself being one of the good ones.

Thanks pal.

"He may be a monster, but he retains the mind of a human. And he is my friend. His name is Jackal. I vouch for him!"

"And please don't make me regret it." He whispered in a lower tone.

I laughed.

"No, seriously."

I laughed harder.

Time passed as the guards conferred amongst each other, until finally a voice thundered from above. "I'll let it slide because it's you Halbert, but you'll be responsible for any damages this 'Jackal' might cause."

Yay. No personal responsibility for me!

Halbert did not like the look on my horse face. I was surprised he could even tell.

The gates opened shortly after, and the settlement beyond was revealed. I didn't realize how nostalgic it would feel to see a flourishing civilization once again, even if far smaller than before. There were still enough people there to fit in a town.

I observed the walls from within and took note of their boundaries, extending well past where the college once was. The structures and buildings within had seen better days, with clear signs of battle and destruction, but most of them remained standing, supported by new foundations of metal, and protected by various enchantments and plates of differing elements.

My eyes landed on the people, and they stared back at myself. I reeled back a little, and inspected my fur, perhaps something weird got stuck in there.

"Jackal. You're a horse." Flaze reminded me.

Ah. I didn't realize that these people have never seen a horse. City folk…

"Fear not citizens. This is Jackal, and he is a monster that has retained his humanity. Or well, whatever he has going on in there." Halbert was quick to reassure them with his booming voice, whispering those stupid nothings to us afterwards.

The citizens too began whispering furiously, and I heard a subtle clack of many pieces of armor as they moved. Their attire mostly consisted of the most pricey of brands one could afford, now ripe for the taking, with a solid underlining of protections because even in a well-defended settlement like this, it seemed people were not keen to take chances.

"Really?"

"He's sapient?"

"But he's a horse!"

"Prove it!"

I heard their pleas and I answered. Halbert and the rest had to hold people back from attacking me when they saw the Hellish Fireball I summoned.

JACKAL!!!!

I proved my intelligence, with that single sophisticated message writ in very wiggly lines.

The people saw what I had to write, and it only gave rise to more questions.

"How!?"

"Maybe you just trained it."

"Is there a tamer Class? I want my fluffies!"

"Hey, look. Down there. Not that. Beneath the horse, stupid! Yes. Right there. It's… very big. Wow."

"Ugly horse. Ugly horse. Ugly horse." I know that's you Flaze! I swatted her away from my ear.

"I get being a horse, but what's with the edgy look?"

"If monsters can be sane, then what of all the ones we killed…?"

"Jackalll!!! Stupid name. That's a different animal."

"I agree. We should eat it!"

"SETTLE DOWN PEOPLE!" Halbert shouted everyone into submission. It was honestly inspiring. "Jackal here… has been through a lot. As you can see, that he's become a horse, it's a lot to take in. And it is imperative that he gets some rest, so please… Save all the questioning for later? He is very tired."

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

The people reluctantly parted, and we were able to be on our way. Though I didn't actually know where we were going, so I headbutted Halbert until he understood the question I meant to ask.

"To Briella. We're going to the leader's office of course!"

Ah right.

AH RIGHT!

That's what we came here for to begin with.

I wouldn't mingle with humans otherwise.