Right after Perry surrendered, the party received a notification.

  ?? Crystal Notice ??

  Achievement Acquired: Beast Lord Recruiter.

  Description: Recruit your first Beast Lord.

  ??

  Adriana was the last one to see the notification, but they all promptly dismissed it as the achievement wasn’t anything grand. Instead, they all began making their way back to town as none of them really wanted to talk with Perry. They also doubted that the platypus wanted to speak with them, considering everything they had just gone through.

  Arriving at the town, the party got some glances from adventurers and frog folks alike, but they ignored all of them. Realistically speaking, the fight had been somewhat easy, as they had never been truly serious, but that didn't mean it was any less tiring. After all, even if they had a good amount of mana left and a small amount had regenerated since then, they had still taken damage, and the mental toll was nothing to joke about. Furthermore, using mana and refining their bodies, even small amounts, also took a toll, so the party decided to head straight to the chief's residence.

  As expected, they were stopped at the usual checkpoint, where they were heavily questioned about the Beast Lord with them. The entire thing had been a bit annoying, as the party was rather tired, but they worked through it and explained that they had indeed managed to recruit one of the creatures. Then, once they had given a quick rundown of the events that had taken place and the guard in question looked satisfied, they were quickly let through.

  In the throne room, Chief Ribbiton arrived faster than ever before, the frog clearly having been in a hurry once it had heard the news.

  “Amazing! Ribbit. You guys did it!” The chief had exclaimed as he approached the party and the lord, even as his guards frowned at their lord's actions.

  “Hello, Sir?” The chief continued, his question hanging.

  “Perry, Perry the Platypus,” Perry answered calmly.

  “Yes! Sir Perry, I am glad you decided to join us. Ribbit.”

  “Well, I didn’t have much choice,” Perry replied, the implication clear, causing the atmosphere in the room to turn awkward.

  “Ribbit. Ah, I do apologize for that, but it is for the greater good, after all. This conflict will greatly impact the future of the lake,” Ribbiton explained as he backed away, having realized that he had gotten rather close to a possibly angry Beast Lord. Naturally, the guards soon made the connection and rushed to get between the chief and Perry, who seemed unbothered.

  Once at a safe distance, the chief turned to the trio once more, “Adventurers, it is great that you have done this, though I do wonder if you would tell me your tale. Ribbit.”

  Deciding to entertain the chief, the trio began telling him the tale of how they recruited Perry. They began by telling him how they attempted to speak with him, but he had refused until eventually Perry had attacked them. Naturally, Perry had thrown in his part of the story, saying that they were being rude and had planned to attack him anyway. This then led Adriana to ask to hug the platypus, which he agreed to. Finally, they finished off by explaining and providing details of the battle.

  “Wonderful! Wonderful! You three are the first to recruit a lord; some have tried but have failed, and even Victor is finding it hard to complete this task. Ribbit. That said, you three seemed tired, so I won’t hold you here for longer.”

  With those final words, the party left the chief's residence and promptly headed upwards, looking to find a good spot to camp. It wasn't long before they found a decent enough spot, and it took very little time to set up their camp. Then, before they knew it, they had fallen asleep and a new day had begun.

  The next day, as the party had breakfast, they began to discuss their plan for the day. The trio had not forgotten about the eel, and they would definitely get to it. However, from the looks of it, they were rather close to a certain small lake. This lake was naturally the one with all the beavers, and the party couldn't help but head their way. This decision was mainly spurred by their interest in how the beavers' area would function during this particular phase of the event.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Unlike the rest of the lords they had encountered, Chuck had plenty of his kin nearby. He made the party wonder how any attacks on the boss would be dealt with, as with so many beasts nearby, there was a very low chance that adventurers would make it out alive. Of course, there was also the fact that the dungeon could intervene and force some of the beavers to remain peaceful, but at this point in their dungeon journey, it was anyone’s guess.

  Arriving at the lake, the party had expected to find it rather peaceful, with only a few parties fighting here and there. However, that wasn’t the case; instead, it seemed the entire lake had turned against the adventurers. The party saw a few adventurers they recognized, along with many that they didn't, which likely meant both groups of adventurers were at the lake. Yet none of the adventurers were fighting among themselves, and they were all messily coordinating to progress deeper into the lake.

  The party watched the entire fight for a minute or so, taking it in. Spells and all sorts of powers were flying everywhere as the adventurers tried to make a very badly coordinated push against the beavers. Oddly enough, neither group seemed to be mortally hurting the other, even if both sides took various hits. It also helped greatly that the beavers were not advancing, as they had the numerical advantage and could probably overpower the adventurers.

  Watching the fight from afar, they realized that it would be very easy for the beasts to kick out the adventurers. However, the beavers were only defending, which was not a typical response from monsters, at least outside of the dungeon. This meant that whatever was going on was something planned by the dungeon, probably to help train adventurers in the art of fighting in an actual field battle.

  Honestly, the party couldn't complain about the scenario, as having such a skill was useful in the real world, where not all fights were against singular or small groups of monsters. After all the fights against the Realms were never-ending, and though the world had managed to get a better handle on the invaders, their enemy had an infinite number of ever-changing participants.

  Continuing to watch the fight, adventurers were not the only ones with magical powers, and they found that there were three types of beavers. All three types basically looked the same, but they had different powers. The most common type of beaver was one that had power over metal and could turn its skin into a metal-like substance. These beavers appear to be melee types and would charge forward to directly attack the adventurers. Following the metal beavers were the ones that were able to control water. Granted, they could all control water to some extent, but these beavers specifically focused on using water attacks.

  The water beavers could be seen shooting jets of water, water bullets, and generally zooming around as they used a particular skill many lake beasts seem to have. The skill turned the beavers into blue blurs, almost like arrows. However, the beavers appeared to use the ability for pure mobility instead of slamming into their enemies. Additionally, outside of providing range support, the water beavers helped their wounded get back to safety, where they would be met with the third and final type of beaver.

  The last type of beaver had control over wood. These beavers seem to be of the defensive variety and stayed near the wooden nest rafts that their kind used. The wood beavers would control the branches and logs of their homes to erect odd walls while occasionally chucking spikes of wood at adventurers as they provided cover fire. More importantly, it was these beavers that took their wounded inside their homes, presumably to allow them to rest.

  Continuing to watch the fight, the party eventually decided to intervene. This was probably one of the best chances they would have to recruit another lord, since the beavers would keep adventurers busy while the party spearheaded the fight towards the boss. Obviously, the normal beavers would try to get in the way, but the party was more than qualified to kill a few minions. So, having made their decision, the trio headed into the water, Adriana dismissing her transport bubble in the process.

  Once in the water, it only took them seconds to reach the front lines, and from there on, the massacre began. They were an overpowered spear piercing through the beaver's defenses. Adriana easily crushed beavers in their paths, their iron skins unable to withstand the pressure. And as if the mermaid wasn’t already enough, Alexion was also there, throwing lightning and wind at anything and everything, electrocuting or cutting beavers like they were fresh meat. Finally, Arctur easily tore into the wooden barricades, turning the beaver’s own homes against them as he impaled them with the wood they themselves had collected.

  Needless to say, as the party moved forward, leaving a trail of destruction behind, the lines of battle shifted as adventurers took the opportunity to storm the newly opened grounds. Obviously, the beavers wouldn’t let the adventurers through that easily, and they moved to recapture the lost ground, some even chasing after the trio, even as more beavers arrived from deeper in the mini lake. Sadly, for the beavers, their rhythm had been broken. The time it took them to head to their broken defense allowed their lines to thin, and the adventurers began pushing in. Of course, most adventurers weren’t aware of what caused the beavers to shift, but they would eventually find out as word spread about the three individuals who tore through the multitude of D Rank monsters as if they were paper.