Chimera Rising: Beast King Ascension [How a human-turned-lion went from Zero to Absolute Ruler]

It took a bit of time for all of Dominic's allies to enter the clearing. Not because they didn't want to but because they were different distances away. The harashes arrived first along with their attack force which was composed of the scrins, the murrans, the trodils, the lillips, the maned wolves, and the wild dogs. They arrived first because they had been closer than the others.

Next, it was the other attack force who had undertaken another sweep of the forest on their side before charging for the centre. Their arrival was a little dramatic as the ullas and buffalos both had apparently decided that charging in was exactly the right approach to take when entering what used to be a battleground. Dominic had to speak rather sharply to both leaders when their aggressive entrance almost ended in an attack on them. The other groups which had been part of their force were more considerate with their approach: the black-backed jackals and western queerbs all entered normally.

Finally, the last group to approach were the kesh, following close on the heels of the second force and accompanied by the golden jackals and dingoes who had been helping them finish up the fight with the invading kesh. Many of them were far more nervous about entering the clearing, but Loud-Hoot and the others who had come with Dominic to the elven town walked confidently forwards. Three-Spot, their leader, and Long-Ear, one of the lesser leaders, were the next to venture forwards, and their example gave the rest of the kesh enough confidence to drop down from the trees and move into the clearing itself.

While they were arriving, Dominic walked through the different groups, greeting their leaders and meeting some of those he had not yet spoken to directly. He took the opportunity to check on their physical states and was pleased with what he saw overall.

The sweep force had only lost a couple of their members while they were rushing through the forest, and those casualties seemed to be more due to stupid errors than anything else. Overall, they hadn't encountered much resistance at all. Dominic suspected that if he looked at his Place of Power's status and checked the unrecognised denizens counter, it would be pretty low at the moment. Hopefully those who had been scared away would come back soon, though. He suspected so – the forest usually offered a level of safety and benefits which most creatures wouldn't get in the open savannah.

The dingos and golden jackals had also lost a couple of fighters in the battle with the kesh. The ulla leader had made the decision to leave them with their kesh allies to help them regain their home. While only the dingos could climb trees, the jackals offered clean-up services for any enemies which fell – or were pushed – to the ground. It was then that they sustained their casualties as a result of stone missiles to the skull. One dingo and one golden jackal were the total of their losses, though.

The fact was that with healing and level-ups available, as well as improved natural regeneration, it took far more to kill a being now than before – though the damage one could inflict was also higher. Several of the queerbs, ullas, and buffalos had also received cracking blows to the skull or their backs as they passed underneath the battling kesh, but they had all been able to recover one way or another. The two canines were only casualties from kesh attacks because their skulls were weaker and the stones had done too much damage.

Funnily enough, even though the dingos had climbed into the trees to attack the kesh directly, it appeared that the kesh were too surprised by the canines' aggressive approach to be particularly effective in fights there, especially when they were already in a fight with other kesh.

To those leaders, Dominic gave his condolences which were received with either appreciation or disinterest by the jackal and the dingo respectively. They didn't seem to blame him for the deaths, though – the fact that he hadn't been the guiding leader in that conflict probably helped in that respect. He'd asked what they wanted to do with the bodies, but apparently the living members had already absorbed them.

As for the remaining attackers, Dominic found out from Three-Spot that only nine of the attacking kesh had actually died; the rest had been injured, fled, or had submitted to their former brethren.

'I'm not happy with them just living with you like nothing's happened,' Dominic growled at the kesh leader. Three-Spot seemed to think that they should just accept the surrendered kesh back into the clan. Dominic didn't like that idea and was very tempted to ask the kesh to point out the attackers so he could rip their throats out himself, surrender or not.

On the one hand, they were kesh, and originally part of the clans who lived in this forest. On the other, they had chosen to leave and then had returned once again, this time accompanying a force that had tried to take his Place of Power and their home from them. A force which had killed multiple cubs. Even if the kesh in question weren't personally responsible for the deaths, he felt like there should be consequences for that and some sort of guarantee in place that ensured the monkey-like creatures wouldn't stab them in the back again.

'It won't be like nothing has happened. They have recognised they were misguided,' Three-Spot answered calmly. 'They followed Long-Tooth because he was the head of their clan and he believed that they should not submit to you. He told them that there was so much more in the world beyond the forest that you would keep from them. When Long-Tooth led them back here after the battle you had in the world beyond, some were already wavering in their dedication to him. There were already whispers that he ran from fear rather than conviction – a challenge to his leadership would not have been far away. Still, they were returning to what they still considered their home, so they continued to follow him.

'He set before them a plan which should have destroyed the leadership of the clans by killing us through surprise attacks – that would have forced those who remained in the forest to follow him. But we were stronger than they expected due to the strength we have gained since joining your Pride and we fended off their initial attack. However, Long-Tooth had planned things well and even with the failure of his initial attack, he and his followers were able to create far more chaos than their small numbers should have warranted. Even the departure of Long-Tooth himself was not enough to tip the balance in our favour. It was a situation which hung tenuously on a thin branch, but the intervention of your other allies meant that when the branch cracked, it was in our favour.'

'But that doesn't take away the fact that they left instead of swearing loyalty to me and then returned to attack you and my territory, killing several of those under my protection!' Dominic growled loudly, glad that he was having a direct telepathic conversation with Three-Spot rather than sharing it all in Pride chat so the mothers didn't have to suffer through the discussion. 'And now you're telling me you're just saying 'oh, they made a mistake, please forgive them'? Sorry, but that's not good enough! If you're too squeamish to kill them, just send them this way – we'll make quick work of them.' Leo, for once, sent feelings of being in full agreement with Dominic.

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'No! Please!' Three-Spot begged, his eyes going wide, his muscles tensing. 'They have done wrong, but they are still members of our clan! I would not see them killed if there is any way to avoid it! We are already fewer in number than we were a few moons ago.'

Dominic growled wordlessly for a moment and then huffed a sigh as he weighed up getting revenge for those already dead in comparison to what the kesh could offer now.

'Technically you wouldn't have to see it,' he commented facetiously. 'Alright, what are the consequences you're suggesting imposing if I decide I'm willing to not kill them today? Because there had better be some,' Dominic warned.

The kesh answered quickly, relaxing a little as Dominic lowered his lips to cover his teeth again.

'Powerful predator, there will be consequences, I promise. Their clan has been disbanded; they will be absorbed into the other clans where they will have to start at root level again. They do not even have nests – their own were taken apart after they left. They will be dependent on those they have recently tried to conquer. It will be a long time before they gain any real influence in their new clans, if ever.'

Dominic growled quietly in dissatisfaction. Leo agreed with him, a similar growl coming from his side of their shared mind.

'It's not enough!' the lion complained. 'Not for what they did!'

'I agree,' Dominic sighed. 'But Three-Spot clearly sees them as part of his group and I suspect he won't give them up without a fight.'

'Then let him have a fight! We don't need them! And now with the winged canines, more lions, and these odd canines who can climb trees, we can clear the forest of their kind if this monkey forces the issue.'

Dominic hesitated. Before his gaze, the kesh leader started to look more than a bit anxious – perhaps something in his eyes was revealing what his thoughts were.

Leo was right that they didn't need the kesh. Arguably, the elves would be able to do everything the kesh might – and far better too. But that did mean relying on a group who might only be part of the forest temporarily. And it wasn't like they'd solidified the alliance with the elves either.

The other issue Dominic had with it was timing. It was always timing. Yes, they could probably clear the forest of kesh – they were in a very different position now than they had been when this question had first come up but there was another concern: the dungeon overflow would be starting soon.

Dominic pulled up the notification about the dungeon overflow which had stayed available even when later notifications had disappeared from his log.

[Warning! Reconstituted Planet XV15246OP's unexplored dungeons are reaching critical overflow status. You are in an area which is within the overflow area of: 7 dungeons

4x rank F dungeons (0:04:24:13)

3x rank E dungeon (1:04:24:13)

If the dungeons are not cleared of beasts within the time specified for each rank, overflow waves of beasts will emerge and attack anything they encounter within the dungeon's reach until the dungeon is cleared.]

They only had four and a half hours until the first dungeons overflowed and only a day more than that until the next three did – apparently since coming back to the Place of Power they'd entered the vicinity of another E-rank dungeon. And they still had too much to do before they would be in a good position to take care of them. Adding in clearing the forest of kesh would be stupid, as would creating enemies who lived in their base of operations.

No, for now, making the kesh official allies was probably the best decision. As long as they could make sure that the recent attackers wouldn't be any threat to the rest of his Pride. He felt Leo's reluctant agreement with his reasoning – the lion didn't like it, but he recognised the dangers of being too aggressive as much as Dominic did. Logically, at least.

'I will leave the choice of what to do about the kesh attackers up to you to decide as long as you agree to three conditions,' Dominic said finally to the kesh who looked a mixture of relieved and nervous. 'First, that none of them will ever be presented as candidates to join the Pride. They had their chance and threw it away; this is one of the consequences.'

The kesh eyed him carefully, then warbled a low hoot.

'I can agree to that. What are your other conditions?'

'That you ensure none of them are a threat to any in the Pride. And if they ever prove to be such, that you will surrender as many of them to be executed as I demand.'

Three-Spot hesitated.

'If your request is reasonable-'

'My request will always be reasonable,' Dominic interrupted, fixing the primate with hard eyes. Of course, 'reasonable' very much depended on who was being asked. In this case, he wouldn't accept it being anything other than his own definition. Perhaps the kesh realised that this wasn't a point that he would give way on as he finally gave that same warbling hoot, though this one sounded more resigned.

'I agree. And the last?'

'That we make an alliance against the soon-to-arrive waves of dungeon beasts. That you will act in concert with my Pride and other allies to defend the forest and, where offence is the best defence, attack the dungeon beasts even in their own dungeons.'

The kesh eyed him again.

'I would have accepted such a proposition even if not a condition for the acceptance of my kin,' he pointed out. 'You appear to be concerned enough about our safety to gather such a great group of different beasts. Why would I not bring my people into the alliance?'

Dominic shook his mane in a shrug.

'Then it will not be hard for you to accept.'

Three-Spot hesitated for a moment as if wondering whether there was a shoe that would drop when he did, and then verbally accepted. The alliance had just grown by another party, and this one was far bigger than any of the others.

Alliances:

- Kesh (Three-Spot) (level 19) (Group representative)

- 138 members (highest level: 19, lowest level: 0, mean: 9)