"Get down!" Kyros shoved Sarra out of the way from the descending Noctua. In protecting her, he exposed his back to the creature, a fatal mistake most novice Hunters make. The Avian beast swooped down and plucked Kyros from the ground, taking off into the air.

"Mr. Kyros!" Sarra cried out with an outstretched hand toward her partner. They were far too high for her little arms to reach. The situation was bad. Two minutes hadn't even passed, and the duo was already in grave danger.

"I'm fine! Stay somewhere safe!" Kyros shouted as loud as he could, hoping his voice would reach the little girl. The last thing he wanted was to involve her in the battle. He came prepared to fight against wolves, not giant avians.

With each second, the Noctua carried them higher and higher into the night sky. Did it plan on dropping him? Even with his Praus activated, it wouldn't save him from several thousand-feet drops.

With a clench of his fists, Kyros' gauntlets activated and enveloped his arms. Now he was combat-ready. His first resort to freedom was by using the Ignis Vitalis. He extended his arm out and launched a torrent of flames from the palm of his hands.

The Noctua screeched and released Kyros from its grasp, sending the man plummeting to the ground. The next phase in Kyros' plan--landing strategy. He kicked off several trees, using them as stepping stones until he reached the safety of the ground.

Kyros glanced up and noticed that the Noctua was no longer caught ablaze. Burning the avian beast to death wouldn't be an easy task to do. Thankfully, the cover of the trees obscured him from the eyes of the Noctua.

But that moment of serenity vanished once the avian swooped down and tore through the trees with its talons. Kyros dodge rolled out of the way and watched in complete horror on how the monster cleared a vast area of the forest.

"If this keeps up, there won't be much of a forest left," Kyros noted and flung more pillars of flames in the shape of fists toward the creature. Each attack landed, but the Noctua refused to go down. It whipped around and flapped its wings, summoning up a gust of wind that blew Kyros back.

The young man lost his footing and skidded across the ground, coming to an immediate stop once he crashed into one of the uprooted trees. Next thing he knew when he opened his eyes, the Noctua swooped down at him once again with its talons ready to tear him to shreds. He rolled out of the way once again, narrowly avoiding the devastating attack.

Its talons tore through the tree as if it were made of paper. One hit from those, and he'd be dead. He couldn't die there. Not with his life and Sarra's hanging in the balance.

He lunged across the battlefield and landed several flaming strikes against its torso. The Noctua screeched once more, but another flap of its wings launched Kyros back again. The hunter landed safely that time around, preparing for his counter attack.

"Mr. Kyros!" Sarra rushed back into the action with her dagger drawn. She jumped from one of the trees and stabbed the blade into the beast's back.

The Noctua writhed in pain from the unexpected attack. Sarra held onto the beast as long as she could but eventually got thrown off once it took flight.

"Sarra!" Kyros leaped into the air and caught the little girl, safely landing and setting her down back on the ground. "What did I say?! Stay somewhere safe!"

"I'm not leaving you behind to face it alone! I got us into this, and I'm gonna help get us out!" Sarra declared. She was through with sitting back and doing nothing while others risked their lives. She was a Huntress, after all. She'd fight with her comrades through thick and thin.

Kyros didn't have the time to argue with the little girl. He appreciated the assistance, but it wasn't the time for it. The monster was too dangerous for someone of her level.

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The Noctua quickly recovered from the knife in the back and glared daggers at its prey. It flapped its wings and threw a volley of its feathers at them.

Kyros covered Sarra and endured through the pain of the sharp feathers cutting away at his body. His Praus took severe damage. Each hit he took caused it to shimmer viciously across his body. Thankfully, it sustained to the end of the onslaught.

But there wasn't much of it left. One more hit like that and he'd become utterly defenseless.

"Are you okay?" Kyros asked Sarra. Despite the damage he took from the Noctua, her safety was far more critical.

"Don't worry about me! What about you?!" Sarra inspected the shredded pieces of Kyros' clothing. Thanks to his Praus, no blood was shed from his body. But that wouldn't last long if they didn't finish the fight.

The Noctua swooped down, leading with its beak for a ferocious charge attack. Kyros shoved the little girl out of the way and took the brute force of the attack head-on. It was a gamble, but he'd risk it all to take down the monster and save their lives.

Kyros forced the mouth of the Noctua open, and unleashed a pillar of flames into its body, roasting it from the inside out. Afterward, they crashed through more trees, stopping a couple of yards away from Sarra.

"Mr. Kyros!" The little girl rushed on the scene and searched for her partner. She found him lying directly across from the corpse of the beast with a pale blue light shimmering around his body once more before dissipating. His Praus--the essential defense to life-threatening damage shattered. 

"I'm alright...a little tired...but I'm alright," Kyros assured the worried girl. With the fight now over, perhaps that meant the completion of the mission. With the Noctua slain, the wolves would return to using the forest as their hunting grounds.

Sarra heaved a heavy sigh of relief. She wouldn't have known what to do with herself if her partner wound up dead on their first mission. It was a small step in the right direction, but she believed that Runa would see her in a different light upon their return to the guild.

"Thank goddess," The Huntress retrieved her dagger from the charred carcass of the Noctua. "You go ahead and rest. I'll carve up the monster and bring some of the materials back to the village as proof of our battle."

"Thanks," Kyros smiled and heeded the girl's advice. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for their moment of peace to shatter. Out from the woodwork came packs of wolves. "You've got to be kidding me," He groaned and returned to his feet.

"I've got your back, Mr. Kyros!" Sarra stood back to back with her partner. That time she planned to take charge of the team. With Kyros exhausted and no Praus to defend himself, he couldn't afford to receive any further damage.

The wolves snarled and surrounded the pair, seeing them as fresh meat for their returning hunt in the forest.

Despite the clear disadvantage in numbers, Kyros and Sarra refused to go down without a fight. They proved that once they struck down the first three wolves that lunged at them. Kyros grabbed the first two and slammed them to the ground while Sarra provided cover and stabbed the third wolf with her dagger.

The third wolf snapped at Sarra with its teeth, but the girl evaded and plunged her dagger into its throat. Once she removed it from the wolf's carcass, she prepared herself for the next incoming enemies.

"Keep close," Kyros warned her after he strangled the wolves in his hands.

"I know," Sarra acknowledged the warning.

More wolves rushed the pair.

Kyros held his arms out in front of him, allowing two of the wolves to sink their teeth into his gauntlets. With their necks on full display, Sarra rushed by and slit their throats without hesitation. And with his arms freed, Kyros planted several punches to the jaws of the lunging canines.

A single wolf managed to circle behind them, staring at their backs with clear murderous intent. When it spotted an opportunity, it lunged with its teeth bared.

"Duck!" Kyros ordered as he spun around. Sarra immediately obeyed and dropped to the ground, avoiding a sharp kick that threw the attacking wolf against a tree.

When Kyros showed his back, more wolves approached to attack. But Sarra slew them within seconds.

"I've got your back!" Sarra smiled.

"Thanks, but we can't keep this up forever." Kyros took a mental count of the wolves in the area. It seemed as if more and more of them came out of the woodwork. How long had they been hiding?

"What should we do?" Sarra asked.

"We--" A sudden pain ached in Kyros' chest. It started as small but quickly spread throughout his entire body; the intensity of the pain forced the man to his knees.

"Mr. Kyros?!" Sarra fought against her instincts to look back and check on her partner's wellbeing. Looking away from an enemy in mid-combat could cost people their lives.

The wolves took immediate notice of Kyros' condition. They slowly approached from all directions. Confident they'd get the kill, they all lunged toward them, only to find themselves decapitated within seconds. Kyros and Sarra dropped their guards once they found the source of the sudden slaughter.

"Hey, guys," Their comrade and fellow Huntress, Runa das Meer, glared at them furiously as the blood of the slain wolves dripped slowly from the blade of her weapon. "Remember me?"