“Alright, we’re here; what was different about that last fight?” I asked as we settled inside the entrance to the second layer.
“Well, the first thing is the obvious; I was able to get all of us to communicate without words. It was better than that, actually, since we could understand what we meant without misinterpreting each other.” Nisos answered.
“Unfortunately, my beasts weren’t included in that, but I was connected to both the other two and my tiger, so I coordinated the latter to fit in line with us.” Jezibel added.
Ati nodded.
“I think it goes beyond that. I was able to feel instinctively what you guys were going to do and what you felt. I even felt a gentle nudge as to where I should be and when to release my arrow.”
“That was actually another racial trait of mine. At a small cost of mana, I can guide you guys to act in synch with each other and with how I’d like you to move.”
I whistled.
“Well, that’s even better than I’d expected! What about you Jezi? Anything felt different with your tiger?”
“Well, kind of? My class only lets me give general orders to my monsters, but I can’t give them precise commands or the like. Now, it’s like I can feel what they can feel and move them even more precisely than Nisos moved us. There’s a connection that’s hard to describe, but I can now feel the loyalty and affection they have for me directly. It’s heavy now that I understand just how absolute their trust in me is and in my ability to keep them safe. That said, my tiger didn’t get any new abilities, and I’d wager the same goes for the rest of my monsters.”
Nicotris shook her head.
“This is much more useful than an ability or two, Jezibel. You’ll see in time just how invaluable your direct connection to your beasts is. I strongly recommend that you do not take an evolution that takes it away from you, even if you must resort to the standard evolution.”
Jezibel looked mildly surprised, but she nodded.
“Well, given how easy that fight was, what do you say we go and kill monsters deeper in the jungle?” I nudged at Nisos.
“…I don’t know. I feel like if we keep fighting even further above our own rank, we’ll end up meeting our match.”
His unease was shared by Jezibel, but I pushed regardless.
“Come on, you’ve seen what the three of you can do. You eviscerated a rank C monster without a scratch, and that was when it got the drop on you! In fact, the two of us haven’t even joined in yet. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
I huffed as a hint of smoke bellowed from my nose.
“You won’t reach greater heights if you don’t take risks to match. Besides, don’t you want to be like Instructor Adelphius?”
I had a feeling that it was only the last bit that shut his mouth. After a brief silence, he nodded.
“Alright. Let’s go further into the forest. Make sure to keep an eye out for any danger.”
***
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” the rhinoceros beetle roared as nearly two thirds of its body fell head-first into a hole in the dirt, exposing its soft underbelly.
Everyone backed up as Ati dove from the sky and disembowelled the monster with his khopesh, killing it in a single blow. We’d hunted a few rank C monsters without trouble, and the three were rapidly advancing through rank E, gaining plenty of attribute points. As we settled down to see what we can take from its body, I spoke up.
“Since it’s all going so well, don’t you guys think we should go for a rank B monster?”
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“Not this again. Aren’t you getting greedy, Kiara?” Jezibel replied.
“And you guys are killing rank C monsters just as easily as rank D ones. In fact, since rank B monsters are higher ranked than me, I’ll be joining you as well! Come on, we’ve had this argument before.”
“Then you’ll just pressure us to fight a rank A monster with Lady Sept on our side, won’t you?” Nisos said.
“I mean, why not? If we kill a rank B monster easily, we might as well go for it!”
He put his face in his hands as Jezibel looked to the sky and begged the gods for patience.
“Prepare yourselves. Looks like the decision was made for us!” Ati warned as a shrill cry from the sky approached us.
[Abyssal Quetzalcoatl]
HP: 10790/10790
MP: 3230/3230
SP: 2975/2975
Vitality: 320
Strength: 350
Dexterity: 610
Intelligence: 830
Wisdom: 390
Rank B creature. The Abyssal Quetzalcoatl is one of the three apex predators of the second layer. With its powerful wind magic, it dominates the air with impunity.
“Prepare to fight; I am going to force it down!” I said, summoning my wings and flying towards the flying bag of experience points.
A flap of wings behind me indicated that Ati was right behind me, ready to support me if needed.
The Quetzalcoatl launched an immense number of feathers at us, all with wickedly sharp points. From my mouth, a burning hot current of fire burst to meet the feathers, incinerating them on the spot!
The monster cried, trying to veer off course to avoid me now that its dive attack failed.
“Oh no you don’t!” I yelled, activating [Law of Attraction] on the monster and myself.
It failed to resist, and I multiplied this force with [Gravitational Multiplier]. Since I had little in the way of class levels, the force they applied on the monster was not enough to bring even a human man to his knees, but it was enough to disrupt the monster’s flight to a degree where its dexterity advantage could not help it dodge me.
I crashed into it like a javelin from an angry god, my claws smashing its brittle bones and ripping its flesh, denying the monster its ranged advantage. After getting entagled with the monster, I removed [Law of Attraction] and [Gravitational Multiplier] from it. Then I activated [Field of Oppression] and amplified it instead.
As we hurtled down, I was able to get in a few more hits as the beast struggled to overpower me, despite being higher ranked. The near 50-point disparity in strength and my body being built for melee combat made all the difference as it fought in vain. Ensuring that we were falling a safe distance away from the others, I disengaged from the monster, kicked it away, then activated [Force Inversion] on [Field of Oppression] to slow my momentum in time. I was able to stop my descent just inches away from the nearest treetop and deactivated the three abilities successfully. The same couldn’t be said for the Quetzalcoatl, which crashed with a mighty boom, rustling the leaves as the sky rained dirt.
“Ati, prepare to shoo–” my words stopped in my throat as it turns out that the beast was in its death throes at the heart of a crater of dirt, with shredded wings, a broken beak, and blood in its throat. A few moments later, the familiar ping from the system alerted me to the monster’s end.
You have killed an [Abyssal Quetzalcoatl Lv. 37]!
892,000 EXP awarded!
Experience gain divided between [Dragon Shifter] (60%) and [Sovereign of Gravity] (40%)!
“…”
What the hell?! That’s it?! How was this monster in the same rank as the Gorilla and the Eagle?!
My class level shot up from 7 to 28 in one go, granting me many of the skill points I needed to improve my class.
I turned to Ati, who looked just as shocked as I was to see the monster killed that easily.
“We need to get the others.”
***
“Unbelievable…” Nisos said under his breath.
All the surrounding wildlife ran far away after the Quetzalcoatl’s crash, leaving us isolated for hundreds of meters.
“Well, uhh. I meant to smack it down so you guys can finish it off, but I ended up killing it on accident. Sorry about that, hehe!”
“’Hehe’ my foot! How do you accidentally kill a rank B monster?!” Jezibel screamed as I played dumb.
“I think I can see a little of why dragons rule the skies.” Ati muttered to himself.
“Well, if you guys are that upset about me killing it, then why not go to the third lay-”
“Don’t you even dare!”
“Stop it, Kiara!”
***
I’d like to imagine what a random stranger would think when they see a silent party with grim expressions on two of its members’ faces heading down a tunnel to the third layer behind a saddled dragon humming a happy tune. The only missing part of this picture would be the random stranger since I’d be able to see that reaction directly.
“Can you stop it? You’re making my headache worse.”
“Well, Jezi, can you blame me? We’re about to go and get you guys some crazy evolutions and classes! I can’t help a little song and dance~”
She groaned as we entered the third layer in search of larger prey. It won’t be long until the concerns Jezibel and Nisos have prove to be unfounded. I should probably start thinking about how to gloat when they get legendary or even mythic ranks and classes.