In the middle area of the Vallen forest, a green bird with white plumage that was around 3ft in length and 7ft wide from wing tip to wing tip swooped down towards two teenage boy's one with cerulean blue eyes while the other had emerald green eye's.
The 3ft green and white bird dived down at them with its sharp talons extended while wrapping them in wind shrieking loudly as it dived at the two teenage boy's.
SKRRREEEE!
Just as the green and white bird was about to reach the two teenagers the one who had emerald green eye's raised his hand and sent a ball of orange fire at the green and white bird.
While the teenager who had cerulean blue eye's created a shard of ice that was about a foot long and just like the other boy did he aimed it at the green and white bird.
The green and white bird sliced apart the fireball that the boy with emerald green eyes sent towards it with it's wind cloaked talons but it was unable to dodge the foot-long ice shard the cerulean eyed boy sent it's way in time and shrieked in pain when the ice shard pierced one of it's wings.
SKREEE! SKREE!
The green and white bird screeched in pain when the ice shard impaled it's wing as it tried to stop itself from plummeting towards the ground.
Thud!
As the green and white bird thrashed angrily on the ground the boy with emerald green eye's walked up to it before he set it ablaze quickly ending it's life.
Sizzle. Crackle.
As the orange flames flickered a group of three men and 3 young boys appeared from the bushes "Very well done the both of you" a man with pitch-black hair said with a smile on his face as the group of six drew closer to the two teenage boy's.
The two boys who were fighting the bird were Kanro and Lanat while the people who exited from the bushes were Nialan, Yutas, Zeldain, Rion, Leios and Mexin.
Rion looked between his two brother's and the now dead Gale Hawk and couldn't help but feel impatient 'I wish I was 12 already?' Rion complained to himself in his mind.
Lanat looked at the body of the bird as the flames on it's body started to peter out "Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be" Lanat said as he looked at the charred remains of the bird disappointed at how easily they beat the creature.
It had been around an hour since Rion and the others had entered the Vallen forest and all they had encountered were Four-Armed Fire Apes, Spike Mice, Shadow Panther's and Gale Hawks which was the name of the creature Kanro and Lanat had just finished defeating.
Rion and the others were in the middle part of the first area of Vallen forest where Beast Knight level Mana Beast's appeared they were the equivalent of the late Stages of the Arcane Plane and the Early Stages of the Infusion Plane.
Although a Beast Squire level Mana Beast and a person at Late Stage of the Arcane Plane could be said to be equal in strength Mana Beasts had inherently stronger bodies and usually hunted in groups which gave them a natural edge over Magi.
This meant that people needed to use their ingenuity and resourcefulness in order to fight against Mana Beasts and come out alive.
Smack!
Hearing the confident tone in his son's voice Nialan hit him over the back of the head "Ow what was that for?" Lanat said as he turned to face his father Nailan as he rubbed the back of his head.
Nialan shook his head as Lanat looked at him "Don't be so arrogant Lanat you should know from the few times that you've been here that something is wrong with the forest" Nialan said as he admonished his son for his overconfidence.
The Vallen forest had a natural abundance of life filled with a large variety of Mana Beast's so the very fact that Rion and the others had encountered so few of them since entering the middle part of the first area was extremely unusual.
Although it was Rion's first time inside the Vallen forest even he knew that with a forest this abundant it should be teeming with Mana Beast's but instead it was like the quiet before an intense storm.
The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the rustling leaves high up in the branches of the trees as the wind blew through them other than that it was deathly quiet.
All the while Nialan was admonishing Lanat, Yutas had managed to dig the mana core out of the Gale Hawk's charred body as well as gathered what he could of it's feathers, talons and other useful parts of its body.
Zeldain on the other hand was keeping watch on their surroundings just because they couldn't hear or see any Mana Beast's in their immediate surroundings it didn't mean they could let their guard down he knew this was when they needed to be the most vigilant.
While their parents were doing this Rion, Leios and Mexin were talking excitedly with Rion's older brother Kanro asking him various questions about what it was like when he awakened.
Before Kanro could begin to answer any of the three's questions a terrifyingly loud roar resounded from the depths of the Vallen forest.
ROOOOOAAAARRRR!
Nialan, Yutas and Zeldain felt a powerful pressure full of Mana coming from the direction of the roar which caused a cold sweat to form on their bodies. Both Kanro and Lanat felt it too but they were worse off both of their legs were visibly shaking from the amount of Mana they felt. Rion, Leios and Mexin were in an even worse state they were breathing heavily and even kneeling on the ground from the powerful Mana infused pressure.
Rion tried his hardest to resist the powerful pressure that assaulted his young body 'All this from a single roar!' Rion thought in his mind as he struggled to not collapse to the floor.
This was the first time since he reincarnated that Rion had experienced the suffocating and suppressive effect of Mana so it was no surprise he was shocked at the effect it had on his body.
With great effort, Rion managed to turn his head and look at his friend's only to see that his friend's were no better off than him.
When their fathers saw the condition of their son's they quickly acted and cloaked them in a Mana barrier that wrapped around their bodies instantly lessening the effect that the powerful Mana had on their young bodies.
Nialan, Yutas and Zeldain went over to their son's to make sure they were okay "Rion, Kanro, Lanat are you three okay?" the three worried father's asked to which the three nodded their head's as they got to their feet letting their father's know that they were fine.
Once he got confirmation his son's were okay Nialan turned his head to look at his friend's to see if their son's were okay as well to which he received a nod in confirmation letting him know they were fine.
What Rion and the other's didn't know was that even though their father's were genuinely concerned for their wellbeing they were also terrified at what they would suffer at the hands of their wives and what they would do to them if any harm came to them.
The three men may be powerful warrior's but when it came to their wives and the safety of their children not even a Mana Beast at the level of Beast King that was only found in the center of the Vallen forest could compare to how terrifying they could be.
When they saw each of them was okay Nialan, Yutas and Zeldain each released a sigh of relief at the exact same time.
The group of eight didn't have time to fully recover before a cacophony of sound flooded the forest that was only moment's before silent.
RAWR! SKREE! AWROO!
Before Rion knew what was happening he was being picked up into his father's arms as they quickly sped through the forest running from whatever was following them.