The swamp village

The first party successfully reached the vicinity of the kroken monster village through Zain's guidance. They stood at the edge of a peak and saw the village near a huge pond. The swamp was all over it making it a terrain best suited to the advantage of the kroken monsters.

Zain pointed at the Center of the village where half a dozen buildings lay.

'The big one at the Center of the village is where the kroken mage lives. He's the village chief and the most powerful one among them. He could most probably give Pyra a good fight in a one-on-one match.'

'Really? I'm getting fired up.' Said pyra.

'Let's cool down for now. Look at it, there's atleast 50 of them inside the village. We should strategize beforehand.' Added Luro.

'I agree with Luro, master gave us a task to subdue them, Not turn this place into a graveyard' said Rosev closing his arms.

'The monsters around the village are mere animals with no intelligence. We don't have to worry about not killing them. The ones who reside in the surroundings of the village chief are the ones we're after. They have the potential to become stronger because they are the evolved ones with more consciousness, just like I was. And when such powerful monsters live in a group like this, more evolved monsters are born. Excluding the monsters around the village who are just placed there defensively, I would say 30 percent of this village is what we should worry about. The rest of the 70 percent includes children, old and less evolved monsters. And that 30 percent is approximately 20 monsters. Out of which, 10 are more powerful close to third-stage monsters.'

'We take out that 10, and we complete our task'

Concluded Zain.

'Understood, let's get a move on. We shall pave our way through the swarm of monsters surrounding the village and reach the village. Then we let Zain negotiate with the chief. He should be more convincible once he acknowledges how powerful we are as we clear through the horde of monsters.'

Devised Luro as the best way to proceed.

'Sounds fun!' Pyra screamed with excitement.

Rosev loaded his bow and launched his first arrow straight into the head of a kroken monster near the village.

'First point is mine' he declared and moved swiftly into the swarm with his wind-accelerated steps.

Hearing this, pyra activated her fire fists and sprinted straight into a group of monsters. The monsters were knocked out as flew farther away.

Luro summoned his undead, and his summoned wolves slid into the horde and started tearing the monsters apart.

Rosev and Zain worked together as Rosev needed Someone to cover him as he fired his accelerated wind arrows at the monsters.

The battlefield portrayed a well-planned teamwork of the first party. The well-coordinated formation brought out the high potential that the party had to offer. They brilliantly burrowed their way slowly into the monsters.

After minutes of battle against low-level monsters around the village, the party finally made it to the entrance of the village with minimal effort.

'That was a good warm-up, wasn't it?'pyra said.

'It Surely was.' Added Rosev.

'Zain, could you now try to contact the chief?' Requested Luro.

As the party stood before the village, A kroken monster covered with a blue robe recorded by other monsters walked towards the party. They stood at a certain distance from the party with hostile intent.

'Didn't know you would turn against your own village like this.' Said the chief pointing at Zain.

Zain was previously a part of this village and he was ordered to go out to explore resources around. That's when his encounter with Viru happened.

'I have a new master now and I am his loyal subordinate. I urge you to submit to him and become a part of his dungeon. Viru Sama treats everyone equally with the utmost kindness he can offer. By submitting to him, he will give you and our village a safe haven under his protection.'

Explained to Zain about Viru's proposal.

'Our submission won't be achieved easily, we are proud monsters who won't go down without a fight.' The chief expressed his verdict.

'Yeah, I knew you'd say this. We don't want much bloodshed as our goal is recruiting everyone here. Let's avoid involving the entire village. Just bring out the strongest ones and we'll have a showdown right now.' Proposed Zain.

'I agree. Try and subdue the ten of us and you have our loyalty.'

As the chief uttered his last statement, including him, ten of the most powerful monsters lined up. They were significantly more powerful than the low-level monsters that the party previously defeated. Their hostility was palpable.

Zain crossed his broad forearms taking a defensive stance. Rosev, Luro, and Pyra readied themselves for the upcoming intense battle.

'Try not to kill, but don't get killed yourselves either.' Said Luro and signaled the party to attack.

The ground surrounding Luro darkened and looked like a black cloudy liquid surface. His undead started emerging out of it one by one. The two dire wolves jumped out emanating a malicious aura, ready to tear apart the enemy. Then came out the fanged boars with their sharp claws and sturdy body. Half a dozen flying monsters flew out taking it to the skies.

This scene caused the kroken monsters to get a little weak on their knees but didn't affect them enough to make them surrender as they saw it.

Zain activated his terrain manipulation and made the terrain in front of him swampy which hindered opponents' movements. This wasn't very advantageous because the kroken monsters had experience fighting on such grounds.

Rosev positioned himself behind Zain and started shooting out arrows targeting the weak spots of the monsters carefully enough to not kill them. Any degree of injury can be healed by the core later.

Pyra didn't actually care much about her position and jumped straight into the battle, immediately dealing with three of them at the same time.

'Our target is the village chief. Take him out fast to end this sooner.' Uttered Luro.

Zain and Rosev signaled each other and proceeded in the direction where the chief was. Pyra and Luro were taking care of the rest.

Noticing Zain's advance toward him, the mage chief summoned a series of water arrows and made them fly toward Zain and Rosev at great speed.

Zain dodged the first couple of them and defended the rest using his forearms protecting Rosev. Taking the gap in time that the mage took in casting spells, Rosev aimed his shots at the monsters guarding the chief. The guards took damage by defending the chief as Rosev's arrows pierced their parts with astonishing speed. Looking at his injured guards, the mage cast a spell to heal them immediately. The spell seemed to relieve some of the pain but the injury was much deeper.