Without pressure from mini-bosses, the fight against the sharks went relatively smoothly. Even with the increased number of minions at its disposal, which they believe was still a difficulty spike for them—since no regular party could defeat a lord and so many minions—they were easily able to kill all the sharks. And even if Jaws the Shark was a somewhat tough opponent on her own, she was not able to put up much of a fight in the end.

  At the very least, the trio did not outright kill the shark, as simply charging at them in order to pick a fight was not an offense punishable by death. All right, that wasn't true. If a monster outside the dungeon had randomly attacked them, they would have definitely killed it. Things were different in the dungeon, and since they knew these monsters were partially programmed to fight them, they did not go for the killing blow right out of the gate. Instead, once they had squished, cut, electrocuted, pierced, or done whatever else to the sharks and had left the lord on its own, they had attempted to communicate with it.

  The lord, who sounded like a tough older lady, had told them off and insisted that they fight properly. Apparently, she had been very eager to fight them and generally just fight a strong opponent, so the party had obliged. For the briefest of moments, they unleashed incredibly strong attacks while Adriana spent lots of mana to make sure the lord was kept in place. The attacks ended up tearing a few chunks and fins of the shark, and once she realized how powerful they were, she surrendered, not only hearing them out but also joining their side.

  Now with a large shark in tow, the party headed back to town so they could speak with Ribbiton and introduce the frog to the shark. The conversation went much as before, with the frog chief commending their efforts and encouraging them to keep up the hard work while also reminding them to convince their fellow adventurers to help protect Fraggle’s and Rana.

  Knowing they would need to spend some time in the town and village in order to speak with their fellow adventurers, the party decided to visit the snake lord before committing to their persuasion campaign. Heading to the kelp forest where they had previously seen the lord, they began a snake-culling campaign until they found one who would speak with them. The snake didn't give them any good news, as apparently their lord had also been recruited by adventurers. With this information, the party began to question if they had missed something or if Victor’s group was really that ahead of them. They didn't remember hearing about any other lord recruitments from their side, but at the same time, they hadn't really asked Ribbiton or anyone about it. Hence, it was very possible that their side had a few Beast Lords already, and they were simply none the wiser. Looking to confirm the suspicion, the party headed back to town, now planning to begin convincing adventurers to help guard the town and village.

  Back at Fraggle’s, the trio wanted to go speak with the chief one more time to see if there were other Beast Lords that their side had recruited. However, they never made it inside the chief's mansion because, as they approached the entrance, another group of adventurers was coming out of what they believed was a meeting with the chief, and the trio decided to use the moment to try to recruit them for their side mission.

  The party consisted of four adventurers. There was a bulky male orc warrior in leather armor with dual blades sheathed at his sides, a tanned-skinned female gnome using water magic to easily move about, who wore even shorter brownish robes and wielded a wooden wand with a blue gem that glowed slightly. Then there was an elf with light blue skin, blue eyes, and hair who wore simple clothing and held a short blade on his waist. This elf seemed at home in the water and was likely of Aluquian descent or some sort of Water Elf variant, likely a Sea Elf. Finally, there was the group's apparent leader, a female lizardkin.

  As a lizard woman, her form was much slimmer than the men of her kind, and though her light green skin was much smoother than most lizard folk, it wasn’t anything new, nor was her lack of proper clothing. She wore the bare essentials to maintain her modesty, including a black crisscross top and a loincloth. Neither of which detracted from her power. Sharp teeth poked out of her shorter snout, and her slender but powerful tail swished behind her, keeping her expertly afloat above the lake floor. Getting closer, her predatory eyes followed the party, lingering on Arctur before focusing on Adriana, and finally settling on Alexion, who was in the lead. Of course, at that point, the rest of her party had already noticed them, some well ahead of others, and the two groups had been able to take the measure of the other.

  From the trio's perspective, the other party was definitely an elite one. The way they carried themselves, the well-kept gear, and the presence of underwater survival gear told them everything. More importantly, their reaction to the party's approach showed they were confident in handling any potential issues. Plus, their ability to acknowledge Adriana, who always used Mind Magic to have other adventurers' eyes slide over her, was always a good giveaway.

  Meanwhile, the other four adventurers had heard rumors about the party’s actions at beaver lake, a spot they had been at when their apparent breakthrough happened. Granted, they hadn’t seen it themselves, since they had been in a different area at the time, attempting to break through. The thing was that even without seeing it, they didn’t doubt the trio’s power, or rather, they didn’t want to make the mistake of underestimating them. Of course, now, having the trio in front of them, they knew there might be some truth to the rumors.

  “Hey guys, I see you have spoken with Ribbiton. Did he give you guys any good news?” Alexion asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible while also breaking the slight staring contest between the two groups.

  Eyeing him for a few additional seconds, the lizardkin finally responded, trying to sound polite but also slightly annoyed at being stopped among other things. “No, he hasn’t said much other than the usual. Now, not to be rude, even if you started this, would you mind telling your girl there to stop her mental nonsense?”

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  “Sorry about that, I sort of do it on instinct to avoid issues with uh...” Adriana began, but quieted down like she didn’t want to say the words.

  Looking over at Arctur and watching his body closely while caressing her thigh, the lizard woman answered Adriana, a small predatory smile curling her lips as she kept her gaze on the green man, “No worries, I know how it is with guys.” Words that made Arctur gulp, the green man’s eyes hadn’t stopped scanning the lizard woman’s body, his eyes having shifted to those of a beast, quite literally.

  Noticing the interactions, Alexion hastily interjected in an attempt to stop things from spiraling. “Right, sorry about that, we will be on our way shortly. Though before we go, have you guys heard if anyone else has recruited any Beast Lords?”

  With Alexion’s question, the lizard lady’s slitted eyes returned to the elf, and she snorted with derision, “Of course, we just brought in the turtle Beast Lord.”

  “Seriously?” The white-haired elf asked, actually surprised at the news.

  “You calling us liars?” The orc warrior called out with a rough voice, his words very much looking to push for a confrontation.

  Of course, even if he knew they could beat the other party easily, Alexion wasn’t one to make enemies for no reason. “No, sorry, I just didn’t expect it. We hadn’t heard of anyone else bringing in other Beast Lords, so it was a bit of a surprise. That said, do you guys know of anyone else who has brought in another Beast Lord?”

  For some reason, the other party only expected their leader to answer, so they kept quiet. The problem was that their leader was still busy eyeing a certain green man next to Alexion. Annoyed at this, Alexion reached out to Arctur mentally, while the blue elf on the other party went to poke their leader, only to be smacked away with a swing of her tail.

  “Arctur! Fuck off, I am trying to speak with them here!”

  “You got it!” Came Arctur’s reply, the green man sounded more excited than expected, and his response made sense seconds later.

  Arctur moved forward, and to everyone’s further surprise, was allowed to approach the lizardkin. Then, the green man whispered something in the lizard woman's ear, and before Alex could react, they both swam off. Shocked by this development, both parties could only watch them go before they both stopped some distance away, only for the lizard woman to wrap her tail around Arctur’s leg, as they began a full-on make-out session.

  “Dammit! This guy. Ugh. Alright, can one of you guys just answer me?” Alexion said with exasperation, his last words directed at the other party, who were naturally as, or even more, embarrassed at the actions of their companions than the two of them were, considering that theirs was their party leader.

  Sighing, the blue elf finally stepped up. “Yes, there is another party that recruited a Beast Lord. If you ask Ribbiton, he can tell you who has recruited the lords. We know you guys have gathered three, then we got one, and another party managed to recruit the snake Beast Lord.”

  “Really!?” Alexion and Adriana asked with surprise. They hadn’t expected the snake to be one of the lords that were recruited.

  “Yes, really. Have you guys not asked Ribbiton for this information?” The gnome lady asked, giving them a look that clearly told them she was questioning their intelligence.

  “No, we have been busy getting Beast Lords,” Alexion said matter-of-factly, causing the other trio to look away in shame, considering they were losing to Alex’s party.

  Following Alex’s rebuttal, and in an unexpected fashion, it was the orc who acknowledged the elf’s point, his tone letting them know he was impressed by their deeds. “That makes sense to me. After all, who has time to check all of this information when you have been busy recruiting so many of the lords?”

  With the orc's words, his party was forced to recognize that Alex had a point, and the conversation continued on without issue.

  “Do you know who recruited the snake lord?” Adriana asked, wanting to know who did it and how they managed to pull it off.

  Thinking about it for a second, the blue elf answered. “It was another party, and it had something to do with them having a snakekin in their group.”

  “Hmm. I can see how that might make a difference, but not enough to allow them to recruit a lord,” Alexion wondered, more to himself than anything.

  “Not sure, now if that’s all, how about you guys get your green friend, and we get our so-called leader, and we go our separate ways?” The gnome woman suggested.

  “Sure, though, mind if we ask for your help with something first?” Alexion inquired.

  “What is it?” The blue elf said, already sounding over their entire conversation.

  Taking the chance, Alexion explained Ribbiton’s request and how they were trying to recruit adventurers to guard Fraggle’s and Rana. That, since they likely wouldn’t be in the final fight, it was something to do while they waited for the event to finish. Plus, if they helped, they might have a higher chance of winning the event.

  “Doesn’t sound very appealing,” The gnome told them.

  “That sounds a lot like Ribbiton is already expecting to lose, plus we don’t even get a reward for doing it. Just doesn’t seem very worth it for us,” The blue elf stated, understandably not interested in doing more work without a reward.

  “Yeah, if we already don’t get to fight in the final battle, I'd rather go kill a few things while we wait rather than stand around doing nothing,” The orc added.

  “Well, you don’t know that, what if the dungeon has monsters attack while you’re guarding the town? Ever thought that this is also part of the event?” Alexion lied. He doubted something like that would happen, but if it got this orc on board, it might be worth it.

  Thinking on Alexion’s words for a few seconds, the orc began to nod. “True, true. Maybe it is worth guarding the town.”

  “As for you two, what if we make a trade?” Adriana asked, pulling a few monster drops from her spatial ring. Seeing the items, the gnome and elf smiled, and Adriana knew she had them.

  “Alright, now we just need to convince your leader, though I doubt that will be very hard,” Alexion said with a smirk as he looked over at Arctur, and… that’s when he realized they all had yet to introduce themselves to each other.

  “By the way, we completely forgot, but I'm Alexion, she is Adriana, and our friend over there is Arctur.”

  Alexion’s words caused the other party’s eyes to widen in surprise. They had also forgotten to introduce themselves and quickly did so.

  “You can call me Yroh,” Yroh the orc said.

  “Am Widdy,” The tanned gnome told them with a smile.

  “And I am Brothis, while our fearless and horny leader is called Inzia,” Brothis the elf answered by pointing at himself, then at Inzia, who was still with Arctur.

  With the introductions done, the two parties move to get their companions, and though they were all annoyed, they were also thankful that both had shown great restraint by sticking to kissing and superficial play.