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

Dominic flew over the forest. It was a different view from what he'd experienced before and he could now say that he'd seen his territory from all angles but underground. It had been a bit of a laborious struggle to gain the altitude he needed to sail over the treetops, but once he was up in the air, it was far less difficult to maintain the height and soar forwards. Flying would never get old, he decided with a curl of pleasure.

Of course, he wished that the reasons for taking to the air were a bit more relaxed, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He hadn't levelled up yet. It had been a hard decision to make but since he had no idea what might happen with his level up to 30, it would be better to do that when he wasn't about to go into battle. For all he knew, he'd be forcibly transformed into his human form and be unable to get back to his lion form until some conditions were met. That was the worst case scenario, but just the sheer possibility was bad enough that he had no desire to risk it. Not when the alternative was needing to simply have a bit more patience.

He'd been even more tempted to at least level up to 29 but had decided that having a level up in the tank was a good idea – just in case. He'd already waited for days to get here – he could wait for a few more hours. And it did mean that if, in the middle of the battle, he found that his health, stamina, mana, or all of them were dangerously low, he could replenish them in just a few seconds. He already knew what he'd be choosing for the perks, after all. And since he didn't want to level up to 30 in the middle of a battle, that meant he had to save his level up to 29 for that.

Neither patience nor discipline came easily to him, but when it was potentially his life or those of his Pride members on the line, he found himself with a surprising amount of both.

Surrounding him were the majority of the flyers from his Pride – the albuhas and, curiously, Jenkins. As it turned out, she had put enough level ups into her wings for them to be able to bear her with only a little more difficulty than Dominic himself.

Part of that was surely due to her insistence on learning Airborne from him through Group Enhancement. Ever since she'd learned that his intention was to have a multi-pronged attack, she'd been determined that she would be one of those flying in this fight. Whether that was because she wanted to be with Dominic or the albuhas, he wasn't sure and hadn't asked.

Either way, her determination had seen her gain the Ability the second time she borrowed it. And Dominic suspected it only took that long because the first time she had spent a bit more time getting into the air at all, and probably didn't really use the Ability enough to level it up.

Below them, though they couldn't see more than the odd flash through the canopy, Dominic knew that the rest of the Pride and his allies were playing their own parts. This would be the first test of most of their new allies in a battle and, as such, Dominic had made sure to put the allies they'd had for longer in command.

He'd have appointed his own Pride members as leaders, except for the fact that it would hamstring those members. The fact was that Immunity made a big difference in fights and their new allies didn't have it. That meant they would both suffer from area of effect attacks like his Poison Cloud and the amesheks' Sonic Attack, as well as perhaps dealing their own.

As such, Dominic had decided to break the ground force into three groups – it was big enough to do that.

One group was his Pride, of course, composed of the recently increased group of lions, and the amesheks. The albuhas and Jenkins were obviously not part of that group since they were with Dominic up in the air. The kesh were too anxious to find out what had happened with their families to be much use anywhere else, so Dominic had allowed them to go with the group which was going to be heading in that direction. He understood wanting to find out what had happened to those close to them and their absence would most likely not make a massive difference.

They were travelling with the second group which was led by the ullas and included the buffalos, black-backed jackals, golden jackals, western queerbs, and dingos. Their task was to be the first wave pushing through the forest below where Dominic, Jenkins, and the albuhas were flying, using the charging power of the massive herbivores accompanied by the quick and vicious predators to clear the way ahead of the Pride. Then, instead of actually entering the battle at the centre, they would swoop left and work their way through the forest, driving out or killing the intruders.

The final group consisted of the rest of their allies. Led by the slower, yet curiously logical harashes, it also included the vicious scrins, the long-eared murrans who looked to be something of a cross between a rabbit and a wallaby, and capable of quite amazing leaps despite their relatively small size, the trodils, the red-nosed lillips, the maned wolves, and the wild dogs. They were travelling at the Pride's flank until they got to the centre and then would travel to the right and work their way through the forest in the opposite direction from the other group of allies.

By doing that, they would make sure that no reinforcements could be called in from the forest, which in itself might have a considerable effect on the battle.

It had been tempting to just throw everything he had at the centre, but not only would that limit the Abilities they could use, but Dominic had a couple of other concerns too. Principally among those was what the System would think about it. Arguably, his allies were under his command, but would that be enough to count as him taking back his Place of Power? Or would it open the doors to a power struggle where he needed to defeat or even kill the allied leaders who helped him to retake the centre?

It seemed unlikely that he'd be forced into a life or death battle – it had happened with Nyx, but even so he'd been given the option to let her live when he'd defeated her. These wouldn't be fights against beings who currently held control over the Place of Power which should eliminate that possibility. But it was still possible that he might be forced to prove himself against them if he wasn't capable of taking back the Place of Power without their help – something he didn't think was true anyway.

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Based on the information he'd got back from the scouts he'd sent in not long after he'd heard Shrieker's report, he thought it likely they could take the centre just with the Pride alone, as long as they planned it carefully. Besides, he still remembered the warning Selessa gave him about what might happen if someone who wasn't the owner of the stone touched it.

He had directed the elves to climb into the trees and do their best to fade into the background. Dominic had left Hathor with them – a lioness with an excellent Stealth Ability – in case the mages needed a little more protection than their own guards could provide. It would also allow him to quickly know if something happened. It wasn't ideal since Hathor wasn't capable of communicating directly with the elves, but Dominic wasn't willing to spare Sekhmet to be their babysitter. Fortunately, a couple of the mages proved to be able to at least communicate their intentions to beasts – beyond those easily identified through clear body language or scent. Hopefully that would be enough.

'They've seen us,' Leo's voice warned him and Dominic's attention immediately sharpened. The flight itself was relaxing, but their destination would be anything but.

Sure enough, as Leo had said, a group of the flying creatures Shrieker had spoken about were now circling the centre. And even as he watched, more came to join those already present, gathering on the side of the clearing closest to Dominic's air force.

As Dominic's group got closer to the enemies, he was easily able to identify the creatures as the ones the albuhas had fought before. His companions were clearly doing the same if the bristling hackles he saw and snarls that cut through the air were anything to judge by. Perhaps the pterodactyls were also able to identify their foes as their flight patterns became a little more disordered. Some seemed to be spoiling for a rematch, drifting closer to the oncoming albuhas and then pulling back to the group again, while others were hanging back hesitantly.

'Now?' Leo asked, his voice tense. 'The females are almost at the centre. The groups are about to split off.' As usual, he had taken over paying attention to the Pride chat, enabling Dominic to block it out without fearing that he'd miss anything important.

'Just a moment longer,' Dominic murmured back to him, judging the distance between his forces and the enemies'. They continued flying, until the distance between them was so short that Dominic was easily able to see the thin fur on the pterodactyls' wings.

'First group, go,' Dominic ordered, when they were close enough. Howler took five of his strongest and most agile albuhas and shot forwards at speeds at least twice of what they'd been travelling before.

The pterodactyls weren't expecting the suddenly increased speed and struggled to evade in time. Several of their number were sent spiralling towards the forest floor, squawking angrily but their broken wing bones and perforated wing-membranes were unable to hold them up.

Those remaining closed in on the six albuhas who had burst into their midst, clearly intending on doing the same to them that they had done to some of their fellow pterodactyls.

'Second group, go. Third group, preventative measures.'

About half of the remaining albuhas shot forwards almost as fast as Howler and his group had done before, striking at the ball of flapping pterodactyls who were assailing their leader. He was grateful he'd found the time to have a quick dominance match with Howler during the first of their rest breaks on the way from the elves' forest. Trying to direct the new albuhas in battle when the lines of command weren't entirely clear to them would have been a nightmare.

The third group Dominic sent was only about five albuhas strong and started acting almost immediately. Due to their aggressive manoeuvre, one of Howler's original group had suffered too many injuries to his wings and started dropping through the air. The small third group immediately intercepted the falling albuha. Fending off the pterodactyls who continued to follow the injured canine, the rescue group helped slow his descent and aided him to land safely in one of the trees below. If the albuha's regeneration was good enough to heal his injuries quickly, he might get back into the fight, but chances were he was out of the fight completely. But hopefully he'd live to fight another day.

Companion saved, the rescue group returned to watching for anyone else who needed help – that was their only responsibility. That, and staying away from the rest of the fight.

As for Dominic, he and Jenkins led the final group of albuhas around the battling mass. The attacking albuhas had attracted the attention of most of the pterodactyls and so Dominic's group was nearly unbothered. Those who did try to attack them were swiftly set upon by some of the remaining albuhas arrayed protectively around the lions.

Dominic was glad of that – most of his Abilities weren't suited to being used in the air. Though he could use his Roar, it would have attracted too much attention. He did use his acidic spitballs from time to time when he thought it would be effective, but he didn't find too many openings – even if the acid of the spit shouldn't affect his own Pride members thanks to Immunity, a ball of liquid hitting them at the wrong moment might be problematic in itself. He considered using Poison Cloud, but decided against it – too much risk for not enough gain. Besides, Dominic had another plan in mind.

The lion surveyed the ground below. The earth was full of those rabbit-like vetens, falling eagerly upon any creature which tumbled to the earth. The pterodactyls which had survived the fall didn't make it any longer than that – razor sharp teeth ripped them to pieces within moments. Dominic was extra glad that he'd assigned a rescue team to ensure that none of his Pride fell to the earth.

On the edge of the clearing Dominic could see the flicker of yellow and black – his Pride members, delivered by the ulla-led group, had reached the centre of the forest. The allied group had already broken off to sweep towards the kesh's area. But he didn't need Leo to tell him that his Pride hadn't yet started to really attack.

With perfect timing, Dominic's little group reached their intended position.

An observer might have noticed something about the albuhas around Dominic – all of them had a bracelet around one leg or something hooked into their ears or around the base of their tails.

'Alright. Let them go,' he ordered his companions.