Wild Cat's Eye

After exchanging a glance, the two understood each other without words. They quietly sprinted toward the depths of the woods, their footsteps light and swift, as if they had merged with the surrounding environment. This was a skill they had honed since childhood.

Time passed second by second. Before long, Allen and Laxus heard several shrill screams coming from ahead. The cries tore through the silent woods and sent chills down their spines. Immediately afterward, a deafening explosion rang out, and the entire forest seemed to tremble.

Their hearts tightened, and without hesitation, the two quickened their pace, rushing toward the source of the sound. As they drew closer, the scene ahead gradually came into clear view.

In an open area of the woods stood an enormous tiger, its presence imposing. Its sharp fangs glinted coldly, and low growls rumbled from its mouth from time to time, making anyone who heard them shudder. Even more astonishingly, waves of magic power rippled across its massive body, showing that this tiger was extraordinarily powerful.

Standing in front of the tiger was a middle-aged man. His hands hung limply at his sides, and his body was covered in wounds of various sizes. Blood had dyed his clothes red. Behind him, four young people of similar age lay sprawled across the ground. All of them were unconscious, their fates unknown. Clearly, they had just endured a brutal battle.

The middle-aged man stared at the tiger before him with a solemn expression, deep despair showing in his eyes.

Just then, the middle-aged man suddenly caught sight of Allen and Laxus appearing behind the tiger. Seeing that the two seemed intent on attacking it, he grew frantic and hurriedly shouted at the top of his lungs, "You two, get out of here! You're no match for it!"

However, the instant he spoke, the tiger suddenly pounced forward. It opened its blood-filled maw, whipping up a fierce gust of wind as it charged straight at the middle-aged man.

The man no longer had time to dodge the sudden attack. He could only helplessly shut his eyes, sighing inwardly as if he had prepared himself to endure the violent attack about to descend upon him. Yet, at this critical moment, something unexpected happened! Two fists suddenly appeared above the head of the ferocious tiger like bolts of lightning. With thunderous force, the fists struck the tiger's skull at the same time. Two muffled, thunderous impacts rang out in succession.

After suffering such a heavy blow, the tiger let out an unbearably shrill howl of pain. Then, as if it had lost all support, its enormous body, which had been lunging forward, crashed heavily onto the hard ground, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air.

The man opened his eyes as if awakening from a dream. When he saw what had happened before him, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face. His mouth fell wide open, almost large enough to fit an egg, because two youths who looked no older than seventeen or eighteen had effortlessly knocked down such a huge and fearsome tiger. It was simply inconceivable.

After the dust had settled somewhat, the man was finally able to examine the two mysterious youths carefully. To his astonishment, one of them had a layer of pure-white armor covering his hand, the armor shining dazzlingly under the sunlight. The other youth had wisps of blue lightning constantly winding around and flickering over his fist, as if it contained destructive power.

As his gaze shifted, the man noticed an even more astonishing detail: the backs of the leather jackets worn by both youths bore the same emblem—a lifelike fairy that seemed ready to leap right off the fabric at any moment.

Upon seeing the fairy emblem, the name of a guild surfaced in the man's mind.

"You... You're members of Fairy Tail?"

The middle-aged man stammered slightly. Since the city where his guild was located was not far from Magnolia, he immediately recognized the guild's emblem.

After hearing the man's voice, Allen and Laxus turned to look at him. Seeing the astonishment on his face, Allen nodded and said apologetically, "That's right. We're members of Fairy Tail. My name is Allen, and he's Laxus. We're currently on our way to complete a mission. We heard this tiger roaring while we were outside the woods, so we came to take a look. When we saw that you were in danger just now, we attacked without your permission. We're truly sorry."

Hearing Allen's words, the man hurriedly waved his hands. "Not at all, not at all. If you hadn't stepped in, the five of us might have died here. Oh, right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Ur Wald. The four people behind me and I are all from Wild Cat's Eye in Obanis. We're here because a tiger escaped from a circus passing through Obanis, and the circus owner commissioned us to capture it. We just didn't expect this tiger to be so incredibly strong, and it even had magic power surging through its body. We let our guard down for a moment, and the four of them were knocked down. If I hadn't reacted quickly enough to block the attack with both hands, I might be lying on the ground right now too."

After hearing Ur Wald's explanation, Allen and Laxus exchanged a glance. Neither of them found anything amiss. Laxus then looked toward the four people still unconscious behind Ur and said, "Let me check on them first. At the very least, I can wake them up, and then we can decide what to do. Is that all right?"

"Is that all right? Then I'll have to trouble you, Laxus."

Ur hurriedly stepped aside to let Laxus pass.

Laxus went over to examine the four people. Their injuries were not serious; their physical constitutions simply were not strong enough to withstand the tiger's attack, and their bodies had passed out from the shock. Even if Laxus had not come, they would have gradually awakened before long. Thus, he merely controlled a small amount of electric current in his hands and gently stimulated them to speed up the process of regaining consciousness.

Allen walked over to Ur and said, "I saw that both your hands are injured too. Do you need my help?"

Ur froze. He had not expected Allen to notice his injuries as well. Somewhat embarrassed, he asked, "Can you do that?"

Allen said nothing more. From his earlier observation, he already knew that Ur's hands were merely dislocated. With his extensive experience in bone-setting, he placed a hand on Ur's shoulder and gave it a slight twist. Ur heard a crisp crack from his shoulder. He was just about to let out an "Ah~" when the other shoulder cracked as well.

"All done. You can move them a little now, but don't make any large movements. Your shoulders still need to rest for a while."

Allen quickly fixed Ur's dislocated shoulders. Only then did Ur finally let out an "Ah~!!" He then followed Allen's instructions and moved his shoulders slightly.

"Hey! They really are better! Allen, thank you!"

Ur moved his shoulders in delighted surprise. By then, Laxus had finished treating the others and returned to Allen's side. Ur looked back and saw that all four people lying on the ground were slowly sitting up.