Parakirt tribe's scout captain is here!

"So he saved you?"

Says the man in a deep tone. He looks over to me who is currently still standing behind Zalfious and Jargon and starts to glare.

The two men in front of me fidget once more as they ready themselves for any oncoming assaults.

"Yes."

Lyndis says with nod.

The man tilts his head towards my direction and I deliver a slight smile.

"Hmm. You don't seem that strong."

The man smirks and chuckles a little.

Well I guess I can understand what he means, since aurors temper their bodies instead of their mana, most of them should be extremely well built and fibrous. To them, even mages who practice some form of close combat art must seem like a toothpick.

"How dare you insult the lord."

Zalfious steps up and starts to narrow his eyes.

"Lord?"

"Haha!"

The man chuckles once more.

"It seems I've made an understanding."

The man releases Lyndis and starts to bow.

"Allow me to introduce myself."

"My name is Zonn, Zonn Para. I'm the leader of the scouting team and strongest warrior of the Parakirt tribe that dwells within the Eastern Etelia forest. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The man looks up and says while smirking.

"My name is Rolan."

Well, despite his huge barbaric looking size, he seems to have some elegance. As expected of the dark elves. I had half-expected him to be on edge since we're of a different race, but he seems to be fine with it. Or is it because we were with Lyndis?

But did he just say...

"Para?"

"Yes?"

The man looks at me with confusion.

I turn my gaze towards Lyndis and she too starts to look perplexed.

"Then Lyndis is..."

"I'm Lyndis, Lyndis Para."

She says while pointing towards herself.

"Is there something wrong?

Oh damn. I didn't expect that they would be related to him. Come to think of it, Lyndis didn't really get a chance to introduce herself properly since we left in such a hurry.

I tap Zalfious's shoulder and signal him to make way for me.

"Do you know a guy called Aire by any chance?"

Zonn seems to have tensed up at the mention of that name, he grits his teeth and clenches his fists.

"Aire?! That trouble maker?! What did he do this time!"

He says in a roaring voice.

Oh? It seems like he dislikes Aire? Or maybe he even hates him? I wonder what's their relationship.

"Ah nothing. I just saved him a few years ago."

I say while waving my hand back and forth so as to gesture that it's no big deal.

"I see...so you are one of the many saviors."

Many?! How many times has Aire been nearly killed? He seemed like such a dignified person when I met him, was he really a trouble maker?

The man stop speaking and lowers his head before starting to bow in apology.

He bends his torso 90 degrees quickly, straightening his fingers hastily and tucking in his arms in the process.

He does it with such precision and exactness all the while maintaining a good posture. If anyone else were to see us now, they would probably think he committed a grave mistake and was apologizing for it.

Looks like he's done this way too many times.

"I'm gratefully sorry for my younger brother's actions!"

"He has always been of a somewhat dimwit!"

Younger brother? So he's Lyndis's uncle as well. He looks nothing like his brother though.

"No worries, I was just wondering how you were related to him."

"My name's Rolan, and over there are Zalfious and Jargon."

The two men behind me bow as I say their names.

Zonn straightens his body before sticking out his right hand to ask for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you Rolan."

We had quite a lengthy conversation regarding how I met Aire all those years ago as well as the situation within the dark elf tribe.

"It just came out of nowhere. We didn't even know what it was"

Zonn says while gnawing his teeth in anger.

"A wyvern."

Says Lyndis with an assuring voice.

"A wyvern? Lyndis are you sure? The elders suggested it was a wyvern, but I really didn't believe that."

Says Zonn with a shocked face.

"It was way bigger than what I heard and also much more destructive. It even managed to invade the barrier that our ancestors had put up."

Bigger and stronger? Wait don't tell me...

Is it a dragon? But they fundamentally look different.

Wyverns are mana beasts that have two hind legs with frontal wings with claws. This is completely different from a dragon who stands on four legs with two wings protruding out from their back. The most important part would be a dragon would be capable of wiping out a nation, let alone a small tribe.

And there's what that was written on the map was well.

"It must be a wyvern king."

Jargon suddenly said.

"They are the leaders of wyverns clans. They are faster, stronger and much much bigger."

All of us were taken aback by his words. A wyvern king? That could very well be the case. Wyverns are separated into clans, and within that clan, the wyvern king is superior to it's clan members in every aspect.

"So it's a wyvern king huh..."

Zonn sighs while touching his chin.

"Uncle, I was wondering something."

Says Lyndis while looking up at Zonn's face.

"Yes, my dear niece?"

"What were you doing hunting alone? Where is the rest of the scout team?"

"Well you see..."

Zonn explained to all of us that the village is in a really bad shape, after being chased out of their home by a huge winged mana beast, they were pushed into shallower parts of the Etelia forest, where there is lower mana pressure, but much more mana beasts.

"We didn't really have a choice."

Says Zonn with an underlying tone of disappointment.

Hm. I guess I do get their decision. The Etelia forest is separated into mainly four parts.

The first one is the outer forest where there mana beast of low levels roam. The mana pressure is not very strong here, but most people would be advised to not enter due to the danger.

The second is the middle forest where there are more mana beasts. Mana pressure is significantly increased here, with low ranked mages being suppressed significantly. This is also the area where we're at currently.

The third is the central forest, where there are fewer, but higher ranked mana beasts. This is the area where the previous location of the tribe was located at.

Lastly, the heart of the forest, where there are little to no mana beasts, which might sound like a good thing, but in reality it's not. There are very few mana beasts there due to the obscenely strong mana pressure present within that area, if a regular person entered that area, they would probably lose their mind or be crushed to death by the density of mana.

Even if a high ranked mage were to enter the heart, they would still have to be prepared with many different potions and equipment capable of resisting the suppression of mana.

In my opinion, it was the best choice they could've done. As Zonn said, if the tribe exited the forest they might've been seen by humans. However if they had went in deeper into the forest they would've been killed by the density overtime.

So the best choice of option was to just dwell within the shallower parts of the forest where there are more beasts, but the danger is lower.

"The situation is dire, our rations are decreasing rapidly. Which is why I'm here hunting for food."

"The rest of the scout team are also doing the same elsewhere."

Wow. So that means this guy is doing what an entire team is meant to do? Seems like the villagers really trust his strength.

"But it seems like there's nothing here.

Just then, rattling could be heard in the buses surrounding us.

Looks like our conversation attracted a bunch of them.

Mana beasts, I mean. They seem to be of the stealth type judging by the fact I didn't sense them before they were close.

All of them are 3 stars, with one 4 star at the back. Is that their leader?

"My lord, please stand back."

Zalfious and Jargon both jump towards my side and ready themselves for a fight.

Out of nowhere, a figure jumped out from the trees above.

[ALLLOOOO!]

It that some sort of war cry?

The creature had the body of an orangutan and curved blades that looked like scythe for arms. The moment it landed on the ground it started making some sort of dance possibly to direct its comrades.

I believe it's called a crawling strangler.

They are mana beasts that are indigenous to the Etelia forest.

[ALLLOOOO!]

The crawling strangler cried out once more.

The moment it did, one dropped behind us.

And then another. And another. And another.

More and more of them kept dropping, and the next thing we knew, we were surrounded by all sides.

There's 20 of them.

"Let's finish this up and head back to the tribe."

Says Zonn while picking up his sword.