Exchanging a glance, the two of them reached a mutual understanding and silently dashed deep into the woods. Their steps were light and swift, as if they were merging with the surrounding environment—a skill they had honed since childhood.
Time ticked by second by second. Before long, Alan and Laxus heard a few piercing screams echoing from ahead. The sound tore through the silence of the woods and made one's hair stand on end. Immediately afterward, a deafening explosion rang out, making the entire forest seem to tremble.
Their hearts tightened. Without the slightest hesitation, they accelerated their pace and sped toward the source of the sound. As the distance closed, the scene ahead gradually came into clear view.
In a clearing within the woods, an extraordinarily massive tiger stood imposingly. Its sharp fangs gleamed with a cold light, and it emitted a low, bone-chilling roar from time to time. Even more startlingly, ripples of magical power constantly pulsed across its huge body, demonstrating that this tiger possessed extraordinary strength.
Standing in front of the tiger was a middle-aged man. His arms hung down uncontrollably, and his body was covered in wounds of all sizes, his clothes stained red with blood. Behind him lay four young people of similar age, sprawled in disorder. All of them were unconscious, their fates unknown. Clearly, these people had just been through a fierce and brutal battle.
The middle-aged man stared with a grave expression at the tiger before him, his eyes revealing deep despair.
At that very moment, the middle-aged man suddenly caught sight of Alan and Laxus appearing behind the tiger. Seeing that the two seemed intent on stepping forward to attack the beast, the man panicked and hastily shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey, kids, get out of here quickly! You're no match for it!"
However, the moment he spoke, the tiger suddenly lunged forward fiercely. Opening its blood-dripping maw and kicking up a fierce gust of wind, it charged straight at the middle-aged man.
The man had no time left to dodge the sudden attack. He could only resignedly close his eyes and sigh inwardly, seemingly prepared to endure the violent assault about to befall him. Yet, at this critical, life-or-die moment, the unexpected happened! Two fists flashed like lightning directly above the ferocious tiger's head, striking its skull simultaneously with the force of a thunderbolt. Two dull, heavy thuds—*bang, bang*—rang out consecutively.
Struck by such a heavy blow, the tiger let out a miserably shrill howl of agony. Then, its massive, lunging body seemed to lose all support, crashing heavily onto the hard ground and kicking up a large cloud of dust.
Only then did the man snap back to his senses and open his eyes. When he saw everything happening before him, an expression of utter disbelief crossed his face, his jaw dropping so wide it could nearly fit an egg. It was simply baffling that two teenagers who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old could so easily knock down such a huge and fiercely powerful tiger.
As the dust settled slightly, the man was finally able to take a closer look at the two mysterious youths. To his astonishment, one boy's hands were covered in a layer of pure white armor that gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight, while wisps of blue lightning crackled around the other boy's fists, seeming to hold destructive power.
As his gaze shifted, the man noticed an even more startling detail: the backs of the leather jackets worn by both youths bore the exact same emblem—a lifelike fairy that seemed ready to leap right off the fabric.
Upon seeing the fairy emblem, the name of a guild flashed into the man's mind.
"You... you're members of Fairy Tail?"
The middle-aged man's voice stuttered slightly. Because his guild's city was not far from Magnolia, he instantly recognized the guild's insignia.
Hearing the man's voice, Alan and Laxus turned back to look at him. Noticing the astonished expression on the man's face, Alan nodded with a hint of apology and said, "That's right, we're members of Fairy Tail. My name is Alan, and he's Laxus. We're currently on our way to do a job. Just now, outside the woods, we heard this tiger roaring, so we came over to check it out. When we saw you were in danger, we stepped in without asking your permission—we're truly sorry."
Hearing Alan's words, the man waved his hands hurriedly. "Not at all, not at all! If you hadn't stepped in, the five of us might have died right here. By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Ul Wald, and these four behind me are all from Cat's Pupil in Albanis. We're here because a tiger from a traveling circus passing through Albanis escaped, and the circus owner hired us to capture it. But none of us expected this tiger's strength to be so terrifying, and it even had magic surging through its body. We let our guard down for a moment, and these four were knocked down. If I hadn't reacted quickly and blocked it with my arms, I'd probably be lying on the ground right now myself."
After listening to Ul Wald, Alan and Laxus exchanged a glance, neither seeing any problem with the situation. Then, Laxus looked toward the four still unconscious people behind Ul and said to him, "Let me check their condition first. At the very least, let's get them to wake up, and then we can figure out our next steps. How does that sound?"
"How does that sound? That would be much obliged, Laxus."
Ul quickly stepped aside to let Laxus walk past.
Laxus stepped forward to examine the four of them. Their injuries were not severe; it was simply that their physical stamina wasn't high enough to withstand the tiger's attack, causing them to faint from the body's shock response. Even if Laxus hadn't shown up, the four of them would have slowly regained consciousness before long. Therefore, Laxus merely controlled a trace of low-voltage current in his hand, gently stimulating the four to accelerate their awakening process.
Meanwhile, Alan walked over to Ul and said, "I noticed your arms are injured too. Do you need my help?"
Ul was startled. He hadn't expected Alan to notice his injury, and he said somewhat sheepishly, "Can you?"
Alan didn't say much. From his earlier observation, he already knew that Ul's arms were merely dislocated. With his rich experience in bone-setting, he placed his hands on Ul's shoulders and gave them a slight twist. Ul heard a crisp snap come from his shoulder and was just about to let out a "Ah—!", when the other shoulder snapped right along with it.
"Alright, now you can move around a bit, but don't make the movements too large. Your shoulders still need to rest for a while."
Alan swiftly resolved Ul's dislocation issue. Only then did Ul let out his delayed "Ah—!!", and then tentatively moved his shoulders according to Alan's instructions.
"Hey! It really is fixed! Alan, thank you!"
Ul moved his shoulders with pleasant surprise. By this time, Laxus had finished dealing with the others and returned to Alan's side. Turning back, Ul saw that all four of the previously lying figures were slowly sitting up.