The place exploded into panic and confusion. People began rushing out of the petting barn to see what was happening outside.

Oh come on! Of all the times a cursed monster could've appeared, why'd it have to be while I'm in public?

"I'm gonna go check out what's going on out there!" Zeigel shouted in frustration as he dashed to the exit.

"Wait! Don't go off on your own, it's dangerous!" Illia called out after him, but he had already disappeared into the crowd.

"Don't worry, I'll go after him!" Saliza told her with an oddly giddy voice.

Outside, people were fleeing in terror from a golden hawk flying in the distance. It radiated the dark aura caused by a cursed shard.

A middle-aged man stumbled his way towards Zeigel and begged with a panic-stricken voice, "You're a vanguard right? You have to save us from that thing!"

Great, now there's people telling me to go throw my life away for them.

Before Zeigel could answer, Saliza rushed past him with a crude two-handed axe in her hands.

"I've got this!" She excitedly yelled out.

What the hell is she doing now?

She dashed towards the golden hawk while charging up a spell. Once she was close enough, she used her spell to create a burst of wind below her as she leapt into the sky, boosting her high up into the air and into the hawk's path. She threw her arm forward and managed to grab ahold of its right wing.

She held on tightly to its wing with one hand while repeatedly slamming her axe against it with the other, but failed to leave even a scratch on its tough golden feathers.

"Tch, why are there so many monsters with stupidly tough feathers?" She grumbled.

Once it was nearing the area where Zeigel was, the golden hawk dove down like a golden plane aiming to crash down onto him.

OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!

Zeigel's first instincts were to flee from it like everyone else, but stopped himself once he remembered that cursed monsters only targeted him. In fact, just being in a public area was putting everyone around him in danger.

If he doesn't get out of the crowded area then everyone around him will be crushed by the golden hawk, and he'd rather not see such a sight. With the streets flooded with people fleeing, there was only one other area Zeigel could escape to without causing any casualties.

Illia and the other trainees squeezed their way through the crowd and made it out of the petting barn. They spotted Zeigel climbing up onto the rooftop of the barn along with the golden hawk that was seconds away from crashing down on them.

"IS THAT A FUCKING SUNRA?" Vesfira exclaimed in shock.

So that's what they're called.

"You lot stay here!" Zeigel ordered. He charged up a spell and steeled himself.

This is a bad idea, this is such a bad idea.

Zeigel activated his spell and fired a burst of wind below his feet, blasting off a chunk of the rooftop and launching himself up into the sky like a human rocket. He zipped upwards past the sunra while screaming in terror. The sunra slowed its descent and perched on the roof of petting barn that was barely able to support its weight.

"THE PEOPLE INSIDE!" Illia alerted the other trainees. Everyone, excluding Vitren who was nowhere to be seen, rushed back into the barn to protect those inside from falling debris.

The sunra shot back up into the air, destroying the rooftop it was perched on. With the sunra coming back up for him, Zeigel began charging up another spell. He fired a blast of wind from his palm to propel him out of the sunra's path before it could reach him. He then fired a weaker blast of wind that propelled him just far enough to reach the sunra's neck. He clung onto it for dear life and created vines from his arms that wrapped around the giant neck to secure himself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The sunra began thrashing about in the air in an attempt to attack Zeigel who was clinging to its neck.

THIS IS SUCH A BAD IDEA! I REGRET EVERYTHING!

Saliza spotted Zeigel and waved at him.

"Oh hi Zeigel."

"HELP ME! OH MY GOD!"

The trainees inside the barn were healing those who suffered any injuries.

"I can't believe that coward Vitren ran off at a time like this!" Bora grumbled.

"We'll deal with him later. Once we finish healing everyone here, we need to help Zeigel and Saliza." Said Illia

Koidra shook his head. "That's a six star monster, there's nothing we can possibly do to stop it."

"But we can't just sit back and let those two die!" Illia racked her brain for any possible way to at least help the two who were on the sunra. "I'll try to get on that sunra and see what I can do!"

"Don't be crazy Illia! You'll die!" Vesfira shouted.

"But I can't just sit back and do nothing! I need to help!"

Illia squatted down below the large gaping hole in the roof and charged up a spell, determined to at least help out in some way.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned around, finding Testra beside her. "That's enough Illia, you've done enough. Leave everything else to us."

Two vanguards appeared above the sunra, one was a blonde man in a hawaiian shirt and shorts wielding a black and gold bow while the other was a woman with short turquoise hair wearing a tee-shirt and sweatpants along with a pair of sunglasses.

"C'mon, give me something good. Gotta make a good first impression here." The man mumbled to himself. A sickly red arrow with a six-sided dice spinning around it formed in his hand. He fired the arrow from his bow, sending it flying towards the sunra faster than a bullet.

Upon piercing into the sunra, the dice exploded into light that formed the number 6 for a brief moment before fading away. A moment later, the sunra was sapped of nearly all its strength, becoming too weak to maintain its flight and dropped out of the sky.

"Yes!" The man pumped his fist. The two vanguards dropped onto the sunra and got to rescuing Zeigel and Saliza.

Saliza, who was unaware of the other vanguards, gasped in amazement. "Did I actually defeat it?"

"No, that was me." The blonde man told her as he carefully pulled her up from the sunra's wing.

"You did? Cool!"

The blonde man proudly smiled. "Hehe, it's pretty cool isn't it?" He turned around called out to the woman. "Did you get the boy yet Layda?"

"I got him Coronis." Layda said with a shivering Zeigel carried under her arm. Coronis handed Saliza over to Layda who placed her under her other arm.

"You bring them down and I'll search for the shard up here." Said Coronis.

Layda nodded and hopped off the sunra.

"HEY WAIT MY LEVEL'S LOW I WON'T SURVIVE THE FALL!" Zeigel shrieked.

"Relax kid, I know that."

Layda's sunglasses slithered down from her face to her back and morphed into a parachute that slowed their descent from the sky.

Testra stood directly below the sunra, watching it fall down towards her with little to no concern. She summoned a grimoire that floated up above her head. It flipped itself open and a powerful draft shot out from it, greatly slowing the sunra's descent. Testra held up her arms and caught the sunra that gently floated down onto her hands, carrying the giant golden bird over her head as if it was made of air. The nearby citizens cleared the area and made space for Testra to gently set the sunra down.

"Did you find the cursed shard dear?" Testra asked.

"Yeah, it's at the uh, egg laying part." Coronis grimaced.

"Oh, oh, I see." Testra chuckled. Her grimoire floated to her side and grew vines out of its pages. "Want me to get it out for you then?"

"No need to trouble yourself love." Coronis told her. He carefully picked the shard out with the limb of his bow. He loosened the shard and flicked it out of the sunra, causing it to lose consciousness as the dark aura dissipates. "Ugh, gross."

The grimoire floated down to the cursed shard. Wooden tendrils grew out of it and wrapped around the shard, encasing it in a wooden shell.

Layda landed next to Testra and set down the two trainees in her arms. Her parachute shrunk and morphed back into a pair of sunglasses that slithered back up to her face.

"It's alright folks, you're all safe now!" Coronis announced to the crowd of onlookers. They erupted into cheers and applauds, thanking the vanguards for their work today.

Coronis waved at them with a big grin on his face, acting as if he was a celebrity greeting his adoring fans.

Testra turned to her trainees and pulled them all in for a big hug. "Words can't express how proud I am of all of you! You've all done an excellent job protecting everyone here!"

She turned to Zeigel and Saliza. "Both of you also did an amazing job today fending off that sunra. Reizo definitely made the right choice picking you two."

"Didja hear that Zeigel?" Saliza nudged him. "We're awesome!"

"No amount of compliments will make this job any less shittier." Zeigel grumbled.

Testra placed her hand near the sunra's nostrils. "Still breathing," she let out a sigh of relief. She placed her hand on its beak and began healing it. "Poor thing, it must've been horrible being controlled by that shard."

"Why's she healing the monster?" Zeigel whispered to Saliza. "Shouldn't she kill it?"

"What? You want her to kill a sunra?" Saliza whispered back in disbelief. "They're friendly, why would you wanna kill them?"

"I didn't know that."

"You don't know lots of stuff."

"Whatever."

"So you admit that you're dumb."

"I never said I was dumb, stop putting words in my mouth."

"Dumbgel."

"At least I'm not dumb enough to burn down a kitchen!"

"At least I'm not dumb enough to have eyes with mismatched colors!"

"My eyes have nothing to do with how dumb I am you prick!"

"You don't know that because you're dumb!"

Their quiet whispering quickly turned into not-so-quiet bickering that could be heard by the other trainees.

Layda approached the two with an anxious look.

"Hey so, Reizo wanted me to tell you two that he's leaving the country for a week." She told them.

Whoooo! More breaks!

"What? Then who's going to be our trainer?" Saliza asked.

"That would be me." Layda sighed. "For the time being of course."