E-rank Threat

"Do i really have to?"

It's been a day since my sudden reunion with my childhood friend, Delia. After comparing notes on our situation, we found out that we were indeed reborn at around the same time. I told her about my meeting with both humans and those so called elves. Delia took it upon herself to name them goblin elves, gelves for short. Her reason being that i described their appearance to be very goblin-like. It was an accurate name for them though. If a goblin and an elf were to have a child then the gelves i saw earlier would most likely be what you'll get.

That aside, right now i'm having Delia prove her worth by acting as living bait for the beasts of the forest while me and my avian brethren watched from a nearby tree branch. What would predators think if they saw a lone and defenseless infant that is ripe for picking. The answer is obvious isn't it? Law of the jungle baby!

"It's a bit too late to pull back now! Don't worry, we, or at least i won't let you die. Probably."

"How reassuring!"

Of course i was joking a bit. I was going to make sure that Delia would survive no matter what, even if i had to risk my life. If a beast too strong for all of us combined appears though we're toast.

Just when i was thinking of ways to survive should we have that unfortunate encounter, the rustling of foliage could be heard from close by.

Alerted, Delia frantically looked around for the source, meanwhile all 3 of us avians prepared to swoop in for the kill.

What eventually popped out was a beast resembling a fox. It was alone but had a menacing air around it and a fiery appearance to boot. I quickly did an inspect on it.

Name: ?

Species: Ignis Vulpis (E-rank)

Lvl: 11

Health: 100/100

Mana: 100/100

Attack Power: 34

Agility: 23

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 23

E rank!? Definitely not something to be trifled with.

"Hey bro lets dip, this isn't something we can handle."

"I concur."

"Um haru? It's getting awfully close."

Me and my dumb luck. It was inevitable we would come across something of this caliber anyway. We were lucky that we had only encountered F rank beasts so far.

"HEY HARU! IT'S DOING A THING!"

Bringing me out of my thoughts was a familiar cackling sound. A spherical ball of fire had been formed by the mouth of the fox. Before i could act, the fireball was released at a speed that i would barely be able to keep up with.

"Delia!"

I heard an impact and then the sizzling of wood. Delia was down on the ground, right in front of the burning tree. It appeared that she managed to duck in time before she could get hit, to my relief.

"HARU GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!"

No longer hesitating, i swooped in and picked Delia up. Unfortunately, i didn't consider Delia's added weight to my flight speed. I struggled, vigorously flapping my wings to get away. Perhaps the fox thought i was trying to steal its' prey or it wanted to cook me for a meal too, either way it wasn't just going to watch. It started to prepare another fireball and after a few seconds, a sphere of flames came flying straight at me. Left with no choice, i dropped Delia onto the ground and with an extra strong flap of the wings, propelled myself upwards, barely evading the projectile.

Once i avoided it, i dived straight back down to catch Delia before she hit the ground and broke something. Making it just in time, i held her firmly in my grasp but i knew at this rate we wouldn't be able to get away unscathed. Just then, i felt the burden of Delia's weight decrease.

"Bro you can be so troublesome sometimes."

"I expect you to pay me back for this."

Siblings are the best!

With 3 birds, it was no problem carrying a single infant kangaroo. However, it may have been a little uncomfortable for Delia since we had to stretch her out a bit for us to be able to distribute the weight among the 3 of us.

We sped away from the fox but it continued to chase us down. What a persistent canine. It continued blasting fireball after fireball at us while we narrowly dodged every single one. The early hunts that mom brought us out for allowed us to quickly learn how to work together and we managed not to get in each others' way while dodging. Thank mother for her insight.

Eventually, the barrage of fireballs stopped and when i took a peek behind, i saw a gathering of monsters, brawling it out.

They must have been attracted by all the burning trees. It seems a forest fire is imminent. Or maybe not since the fires the humans started was put out somehow. If there are more of those fire foxes, the forest would have probably been burnt to the ground ages ago.

We found a tree a safe distance away and decided to rest up there. While we did, i had to explain my actions to my siblings and somehow convinced them that the live bait strategy was actually effective, since a beast came out in no time at all.

Meanwhile, Delia was taking a nap on an especially large branch. I pray that our next hunt will be a successful one.