Wild Cat's Eye

After exchanging a glance, the two understood each other's intent and quietly sprinted deeper into the forest. Their steps were light and swift, as if merging with the surrounding environment—a skill they had honed since childhood.

Time ticked by, and before long, Allen and Laxus heard several piercing screams from ahead, cutting through the silent woods and sending chills down their spines. Then, a deafening explosion followed, making the entire forest seem to tremble.

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

In a clearing within the forest, an enormous tiger stood imposingly, its sharp fangs glinting coldly as low growls rumbled from its maw, enough to strike fear into anyone. Even more astonishing, waves of magical energy flickered like ripples across its massive body, signaling its formidable strength.

In front of the tiger stood a middle-aged man, his arms hanging limply, his body covered in wounds of all sizes, blood staining his clothes. Behind him lay four young men of similar age, sprawled haphazardly on the ground, all unconscious, their fates unknown. Clearly, these people had just endured a brutal battle.

The middle-aged man stared grimly at the tiger before him, his eyes filled with deep despair.

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

But the moment he spoke, the tiger lunged forward with a sudden burst of speed, its massive jaws wide open, bringing a fierce gust of wind straight at the man.

The man had no time to dodge the sudden assault. He could only close his eyes in resignation, sighing inwardly as if bracing for the impending blow. Yet, something unexpected happened in that critical instant! Two fists appeared like lightning above the ferocious tiger's head, striking it simultaneously with overwhelming force. Two dull, heavy thuds—bang, bang—rang out.

Struck by such a powerful blow, the tiger let out a miserable, agonized roar. Its massive body, which had been lunging forward, collapsed as if losing all support, crashing heavily onto the hard ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

The man snapped his eyes open as if waking from a dream. When he saw what had happened, his face showed disbelief, his mouth gaping wide enough to hold an egg. For two youths who looked no older than seventeen or eighteen to effortlessly knock down such a huge and fierce tiger was simply beyond belief.

Once the dust settled a bit, the man got a good look at the two mysterious young men. To his astonishment, one of them had a pure white armor covering his hand, gleaming brilliantly under the sunlight; the other's fists crackled with faint blue lightning, as if harboring destructive power.

As his gaze shifted, the man noticed an even more striking detail: the leather jackets both youths wore had the same emblem printed on the back—a lifelike fairy, seemingly ready to leap off the fabric at any moment.

Seeing that fairy emblem, a guild name surfaced in the man's mind.

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

The middle-aged man's voice stammered slightly, because his guild's city wasn't far from Magnolia, so he immediately recognized the guild's insignia.

Hearing the man's voice, Allen and Laxus turned to look at him. Seeing the surprise on his face, Allen nodded and said with a hint of apology, "That's right, we're members of Fairy Tail. I'm Allen, and he's Laxus. We're on a mission right now and heard this tiger's roar from outside the forest, so we came to check. We saw you were in danger and acted without your permission—sorry about that."

The man quickly waved his hand at Allen's words. "No, no, if it weren't for you two, all five of us might have died here. Oh, I haven't introduced myself—I'm Ur Wald. The four behind me and I are from Wild Cat's Eye in Obanis. We're here because a tiger escaped from a circus passing through Obanis, and the circus owner hired us to capture it. But we didn't expect the tiger to be this overwhelmingly strong, and it even had magical energy flowing through it. Caught off guard, the four of them were taken down. If I hadn't reacted quickly and blocked with my arms, I'd probably be on the ground too."

After hearing Ur Wald's words, Allen and Laxus exchanged a glance, finding nothing amiss. Then Laxus looked at the four still unconscious behind Ur and said to him, "Let me check on them first, at least wake them up, and then we'll decide what to do. Is that alright?"

"Is that possible? Then please, go ahead, young man Laxus."

Ur quickly stepped aside to let Laxus pass.

Laxus approached and examined the four. Their injuries weren't severe, but their physical resilience was insufficient to withstand the tiger's attacks, so their bodies had gone into shock and knocked them out. Even if Laxus hadn't come, they would have woken up on their own before long. So Laxus simply controlled a small amount of electric current, gently stimulating them to speed up the recovery process.

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

Ur was taken aback, not expecting Allen to notice his injuries. A bit embarrassed, he said, "Is that alright?"

Allen didn't say much. From his earlier observation, he knew Ur's hands were just dislocated. With his experience in bone-setting, he placed his hands on Ur's shoulders and twisted slightly. Ur heard a crisp sound from one shoulder, and just as he was about to let out an "Ah~," the other shoulder clicked too.

"There, you can move them a bit now, but don't overdo it. Your shoulders still need rest."

Allen quickly fixed Ur's dislocation, and only then did Ur let out an "Ah~!!" Afterward, he moved his shoulders a little as Allen instructed.

"Hey! They're really better! Thank you, young man Allen!"

Ur moved his shoulders in pleasant surprise. By then, Laxus had finished and returned to Allen's side. Ur looked back and saw the four lying on the ground slowly sitting up.