Ignoring the amused looks from those around him, with the exception of [PETER] and Mother, the monsoon jackalope introduced [ABRAXAS] and [MAX] to his family.

  “This is one of my summons, [ABRAXAS], and my friend… Um…” the rabbit trailed off as he realised, he shouldn’t just be giving away his friend’s [TRUE NAME].

  “Call me Fenrir around anyone else. It’s my [RACE] and I want to keep it generic. I would prefer to keep my [TRUE NAME] from spreading, but when its just us, you can call me [MAX]” the wolf said with a charming smile while stepping forward.

  Hold up. Could wolves even be charming? It felt like a complete shift in personality. Where was the tired next-door neighbour who just worked and slept? Standing before them was a proud predator that was powerful and knew it. The cautious and exhausted person had mysteriously vanished. Arrogance and nobility radiated from him in waves. He was definitely making an impression.

  “While I would love to get to know you, being [ROGER]’s family and all,” he continued, “I just want to head back up and relax as soon as possible. Your brother wants to continue back down with you, but I seriously need a break from all the levelling and constantly being on edge.”

  There were nods of understanding. [REYNARD] gestured at the two kuro kitsune and they quickly strode forward and bowed. With soft voices the brother and sister spoke in unison. “We would be happy to guide you home. Please follow us.”

  They waited for his acknowledgement, then turned, leading him away.

  “Catch you all later.” [MAX] said while glancing behind him smoothly, then continuing on.

  The monsoon jackalope’s jaw dropped. That predatory grace. That confidence. Where did he… How? Why? Thinking back, a little bit of that had been there since meeting again. But to him, he’d just been speaking with his neighbour. [MAX] must have felt that way too as the confidence had been very toned down as to almost be unnoticeable. [MAX] mustn’t have regarded his summon as someone to put on a show for, which was a little rude to be honest. But meeting his family had triggered something, making the Fenrir want to show off his power and be a bit arrogant. It had to be the new race that had brought out this side of his friend. He remembered the mythology from his previous life. Fenrir had been notorious for being a giant wolf whose arrogance and rebelliousness had known no bounds. He really hoped that rebellious nature would never be turned on him.

  “Wow, he’s so cool” Mopsy swooned.

  All of his sisters nodded in agreement. Even most of his brothers were awestruck.

  “He’s alright I guess” [SNOWBALL] sniffed without any awe whatsoever.

  [ROGER] chuckled to himself at [SNOWBALL]’s lack of reaction and [REYNARD]’s bored stare.

  “Well, there’s no time like the present. Let’s get going” the sovereign called out.

  Without further delay they all headed off.

  Moving on from the chimeric floor, they travelled down the tunnel towards the fourteenth floor of ice, which he knew didn’t hold much life anymore. [BENJIMEN] and [THUMPER] came up on either side of him before [PETER] tackled him from behind continuing their earlier rough housing. The sovereign allowed it, then swatted his energetic brother playfully in the side. Before a second take of their earlier bout could start, a voice cut in.

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  “Not now,” [THUMPER] chided, “there are things we have to discuss.”

  The competitive duo both gave inquisitive looks. The two rasselbocks gave glaring looks at [PETER] as if he should already be in the know. He continued to stare in puzzlement. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, [BENJIMEN] took up the conversation.

  “We have wargs keeping watch around the dungeon entrance during the day and undead patrol at night. Everything was running well at first, but then we had a few… incidents.”

  The sovereign’s eyes widened at what sounded like some kind of guard watch for the dungeon. When had they implemented that?

  “What kind of ‘incidents’?” he asked the more pressing question.

  He turned his head as [THUMPER] spoke, “First, we had some more elves visit the dungeon. Nothing we couldn’t handle, though you will need to make some decisions regarding them when we get back.”

  ‘That doesn’t sound good’, he thought.

  Unaware of his misgivings, [BENJIMEN] said, “We only had a scout go out every now and then originally, but after our altercation with the elves, we became more vigilant. And that’s when we noticed them.”

  “Oh, yeah. Those weirdos” The more troublesome brother interjected with glee from the other side of [THUMPER].

  “They would lose their own heads if they weren’t attached,” he continued to cackle, “but don’t worry, I’ll deal with them.”

  Stopping and sitting up on his hind legs he looked like a boxing squirrel rabbit as he jabbed his paws in quick succession. “I’ll give ‘em a one, two and ‘Pow’, they’ll go down no problem,” he proclaimed, the confidence of victory in his eyes.

  The two Rasselbocks gave disapproving looks. The jackalope just smirked. “Well, I guess it’s all taken care of. We’ll just leave everything to you, shall we?”

  Already on the war path [PETER] narrowed his eyes at the clear sarcasm in his older brother’s voice. Swiping one foot like a bull, he got down on all fours, readying a charge.

  “Enough!” [THUMPER] chided once again, “This isn’t the time.”

  [BENJIMEN] nodded as the two snow furred rabbits in the conversation each backed down. “Exactly. Our main point is that ten powerful individuals have travelled by the entrance several times. The shadow patrols sent have noticed whenever they are far away, the party will point towards the entrance with some sort of compass, but if they are closer then they can’t figure out where is.

  “The shadow patrols are what we are calling our stealth specific groups. We don’t won’t them to know about us yet” [THUMPER] commented.

  After a brief pause, allowing the comment, the other beige furred brother continued. “All of them are estimated to be around level sixty to seventy. It’s actually the main reason we started grinding levels. Its only a matter of time before the confusion that occurs around the dungeon isn’t enough to deter them. If they keep searching as doggedly as they have been, eventually one of them is going to ‘see’.”

  “That is very concerning.”

  After a moment he went on, “The party might not be hostile, but you were right to focus on increasing our strength. We need to be ready for when they figure out how to get in.”

  Looking around as they crossed the icescape of snow and sub-zero temperatures, the sovereign took note of how his family were protecting themselves magically from the mana laced environment. He nodded in approval at their efforts. [PETER] and [SNOWBALL] appeared to be the weakest in that aspect, but mainly because they clearly weren’t putting much focus into it. Both of them kept glancing towards him. [SNOWBALL] in adoration, [PETER] with competitive spirit.

  After pondering the situation for a while, the sovereign came to a conclusion. “[LEVEL 100].”

  The three brothers traveling closest to him stopped their quiet chatting and perked up at his words.

  “Let’s all reach [LEVEL 100] as soon as possible, then head back down. I’ll head out and try to talk things over with them. But even if things don’t go well, we should be strong enough to handle whatever happens.”

  Despite his family not travelling closely together they were all near enough to hear him, and murmurs or nods of agreements went around the small herd.