Jiran scouted ahead. The flames from the bottom of his feet left no visible smoke in the air. His body was wrapped in a sheen of obfuscating light that left only a shimmering in the air. His aura was working furiously to hold still the vibrations in the air, muffling what would otherwise sound like a missile racing above the treetops.

With his mana body easily reaching the forest floor, Jiran had access to a real-time feed of information, It was not long before he found a den of skolleks.

The beasts were three times the height of a man at six meters. They had a body covered in feathers, with thick muscly legs that supported a cone-shaped torso. Long necks covered in thick scales led to a head that was just a huge beak.

Their only real weapons were the serrated edges of their beaks. They also had a ring of large spikes growing out of the top of their necks that circled the head. When they faced a foe that could not be cut to ribbons by their knife-like beaks, then they would pummel them to death by turning their bodies into giant spiked clubs.

They look like wingless Pterosaurs with built-in wolf collars.

The most dangerous aspect of the monsters was how quickly they could strike with those long beaks. If you were faster than that strike, they were a relatively easy tier four to defeat.

Perfect.

Jiran flipped end over end in mid-air and flew back to where he had left Mayalyn. He found her rummaging around a skinny half-rotten tree.

He landed on the ground beside her and released his camouflage.

“C’mon, let’s go, I found the perfect beasts for you,” He didn’t wait for her response as he walked toward the lair of Skolleks.

Mayalyn cheerfully followed him, completely unaware of what he would soon be expecting of her.

Walking through the woods, it took them over an hour to reach the lair. Mayalyn’s cheer faded quickly upon seeing the torn bark and upturned ground marking the territory of a powerful predator.

Jiran was pleased to see her walk slow to a crawl. She crouched low to the ground, eyes wide and head swiveling every which way. The soft round ears on top of her head were twitching like an electric current was running through them.

Good survival instincts, we’re still well outside of their range and she’s already this on edge.

He reached out and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“You’re going to be fine, I won’t let them hurt you. You are going to kill them though,” He pointed to the prototype dagger sheathed at her waist.

Her eyes widened even further as the meaning behind the words she couldn't understand became clear. He heard her gulp before she nodded her head slowly.

A calmness settled over her as she accepted the situation. With another nod, more firm this time, she stood straight up and marched into the lair.

Twenty paces later, a series of crashing booms accompanied a shriek so loud leaves broke and fluttered down through the air.

Jiran flooded his body with mana and lightly hopped forward, landing between the oncoming beast and Mayalyn. He looked over his shoulder at her with a calm expression before turning back to the beast.

Its towering form crashed forward, displacing trees and flattening everything unfortunate enough to be in its way. When the deadly predator was in range, its long whip-like neck reared back and then shot forward faster than a bullet.

Jiran bent like a reed in the wind. The serrated beak clacked shut where he had been less than a second ago. The force of its mouth slamming shut vibrated the air hard enough to make Mayalyn’s bones ache.

The beast’s completely black eyes regarded Jiran with an evil delight just before its head exploded into gore. His fist was still outstretched, glowing with a soft golden light.

“Mayalyn. You’re up next. When it lunges you need to make sure you dodge enough to avoid the spikes. Then strike the base of the skull behind its eyes.”

Jiran pointed at the relevant areas on the giant bird as he spoke. He paused at each part of the description, waiting for her to nod in understanding.

She took several steadying breaths as he leapt through the foliage. When the second beast came charging after him and he jumped behind her, she was ready.

The monster’s head screamed toward her soft torso. To the bird, she was just another delectable treat waiting to happen. To Mayalyn, the beast was her chance to prove herself. Not just for Jiran, but for herself.

She threw her entire body to the side in barely a restrained panic. The attack was avoided, but she was in no position to counter after the near-instantaneous strike.

Jiran’s aura flared and three dozen layers of pressure held the beast in place while she recovered.

“Good! You’re doing great Mayalyn. Bend at the hips and let your torso fold out of the way next time,” He demonstrated the correct move to her again while the beast railed inside its invisible prison.

She nodded at him. The glint in her eyes took on a homicidal intensity that made him shiver with excitement.

Wow, that's a look you’d never get to see on Earth.

When the beast was released, it screeched to the heavens before diving at her once more. This time she flowed at the waist correctly, allowing her legs to stay firmly planted, while the giant beak passed mere centimeters from her torso.

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With a feral scream, she plunged the impossibly deadly dagger into the base of the beast's skull, right above where scales ended and the beaked head began.

With a scrambled brain, the overextended body came crashing to the ground. A postmortem spasm of muscles sent the long neck smacking into Mayalyn. One of the spikes, ringing its head, impaled her outstretched arm.

She screamed in shock and agony. Her instinctive leap away from the danger and pain caused the spike to come loose, throwing her red blood into the air.

Jiran approached her slowly, he softly murmured calming sounds to her as she looked in horror at her arm.

“It’s not that bad, you’re going to be just fine. Look, I’ll heal it right now,” When he reached her, Jiran placed his hand over her wound and forced a regenerative shaping into the gory mess.

Her sticky blood coated his hand, but when he withdrew his fingers mere moments later, the wound was closed. Mayalyn screamed again, tears spilling from her brown eyes. She looked like a woman who had given up on the world.

Confused, Jiran asked. “What’s wrong? Does it still hurt?”

Mayalyn stuck her fingers into the gaping hole in her sleeve, grabbing the fabric she looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks.

“That asshole bird ruined my new shirt!” Jiran didn’t need a translator to piece together what she said.

He threw his head back and howled in laughter.

“This beast’s neck scales alone are worth more than three of those shirts. Once we’re done turning them in at the gate, we can go buy you more clothes. Okay?” He reached out and affectionately patted her head.

Jiran brought her the rest of the beasts one by one. As the morning dragged to a close, they stood looking over her handiwork. She had killed fourteen of the huge birds, completely cleaning out the lair.

The two of them worked together to gather all their bodies. Once in a large pile, he jumped on top and motioned Mayalyn to join him. She gave him a concerned look but decided to humor the insane blessed.

Once she was on board, Jiran lifted all the bodies into the air with his aura. He was far too focused on his difficult task to hear Mayalyn’s cursing as they slowly flew over the trees. By the time they arrived at the edge of the forest, he was exhausted.

After resting for a few minutes, he put two necks under each arm and started the long walk toward Cruex. Mayalyn shook her head in defeat before grabbing two of her own and following along behind him.

Jiran set a pace that was just beyond what Mayalyn could handle. He made sure to stop and take breaks whenever she fell to her knees in exhaustion. Each break was a chance he used to push more mana into his depleted aura.

It took two hours to reach the gates. Just before they arrived, a group of five men in military uniforms came trotting over to meet them. A single city guard trailed behind.

No, not men. Just a year older than me. Except for the guard, he's probably seven, about Micah's age. Looks like him too.

Jiran was annoyed before they reached him. This was not how beast trades were typically managed.

Classic shakedown, judging by their sneers and them meeting us so far from witnesses.

Jiran glanced over his shoulder at Mayalyn, then at the Tier four cadavers. Individually they weren't worth much, especially to him.

However he had seen the notice posted every time he entered or exited this gate. The reward for clearing the lair was a platinum.

I could just go kill something higher tier instead of dealing with them. But these are Mayalyn’s kills. Nah, if they want to push it, I'll push back.

With his decision made, Jiran faced his soon-to-be comrades in arms.

The one with two stripes and a ribbon pinned to his vest moved to the front of the group. He had silver hair and blue eyes. He was a little taller than Jiran and had considerably more meat on his frame.

He spoke without bothering to look at Jiran, his attention was on the beast corpses. A greedy glint shone in his eyes.

"Leave those here, we'll discard them for you."

His tone left no room for discussion. He didn't even stop walking forward. Jiran took a step to the side so he stood in front of the soldier.

They finally made eye contact. Jiran looked calmly at the soldier whose face had morphed into furious disdain.

"I seem to remember a two-hundred gold reward for clearing that lair. Interesting you would say 'dispose of,' as if these are worthless."

He stopped just short of physical contact with Jiran, doing his best to look down his nose while he puffed out his chest.

"That's right, they're worthless. Someone else already claimed the reward. So go tell the boss of whatever shite mercenary company you're delivering for that you left these with Sergeant Cutter Smautick."

One of the troopers behind the Sergeant couldn't hold it together, he let out a chortle while elbowing one of his comrades who joined him in their laughter.

Cutter took a step to the side, trying to move closer toward the corpses, but Jiran matched him and remained in his way.

"I see, well if they're worthless I would be a terrible citizen to leave them here like this for you fine defenders of the empire to clean up."

Without looking back, Jiran raised his palm. A flicker of red flame appeared then was quickly swallowed by a dark black ball.

The evil-looking globe, no larger than a head, flew into the closest cadaver. It melted its way into the body releasing noxious fumes and a sickly sweet smell.

Jiran took two steps to the side, once more standing next to Mayalyn. She felt his aura firm up around them just as the giant bird's body exploded in a massive shower of gore that soaked everyone in the area.

Everyone except Jiran and Mayalyn, who stood behind his protective layers of aura.

The soldiers and single guard jerked back in disgust, their hands ineffectually brushed at chunks of smeared offal and meat in an attempt to clean off their drenched uniforms. Eventually, each of them succumbed to the foul smells and they wretched their last meal onto the ground.

The gagging eventually stopped as Cutter unsheathed his sword. A deadly glimmer shone brightly in his eyes.

"Sergeant Cutter, that is enough. I will not be reporting to your father that you died to a Tier five when you attacked him after attempting to rob him."

The guard finally spoke up.

Thanks, old man. Who would have thought a Tier three would be dumb enough to attack someone with an aura.

As if realizing the situation for the first time, Cutter took a step back from Jiran. Jiran could hear the leather creaking in protest as Cutter’s sword pommel was squeezed. Hate brimmed in his eyes but he finally got himself under control enough to turn and walk away.

“You’ll regret this,” Was all he said as his lackeys quickly followed.

Jiran chuckled under his breath at the clean backs of their uniforms.

The artist in me weeps at a half-empty canvas.

Jiran called out to the old guard before he left.

“Hey, is there a sled I could borrow? We’ve got nine more of these to drag back here.”

“N-nine more? I’ll let the carters know you need a delivery. I assumed the rest of your group would be bringing them.”

“Nope, no group. It’s only the two of us.”