"Give it up Boar, even if you kill me here I wouldn't tell you where my Master is. Moreover, it wouldn't let you beasts off so easily either." Viosus and the Boar glared at each other so intensely that one could even see the fire sparkling between them.

"You sure about that little fox? Even if one of us died here, it would still be a better trade for a female. Only the weak would die in battle, if they do, I must thank you for strengthening our clan." The atmosphere was so dense, if anyone was watching, they must be holding their breath and covering their mouth to not make a sound.

Viosus and the Boar were starting to circle each other. Even though their circle was quite wide, they can clearly see each other's smallest move. Beast men were usually prideful and therefore they fight one on one, however, there was no guarantee that even if Viosus wins the first round, the tiger and the leopard wouldn't take the chance and jumped into the fight right after. The situation proved to be quite troublesome for Viosus.

*Kee-eeeee-arrr* Another sound made by the Hawk. All the beasts gathered there immediately looked up. This time, the Hawk circled above one more time and leaped down into the forest like he was diving for a fish in the river.

Viosus knew right away that it was bad news. He was hoping that Yilas would run away but he underestimated her. It must be her come running this way!

Viosus looked at the Boar already making contact with the tiger and the leopard. He must not let them get to Yilas first.

With that thought, Viosus turned into his fox form and ran after the brown hawk.

..

Yilas was exhausted. She was trying to follow the hawk as fast as she can.

Yilas's feet were dirtied and bleed a little on some spots with thinner skin that just healed.

Having no shoes was so inconvenient, the modern world had so many things that Yilas used to take advantage of like transportation and shoes. Oh how she wanted to get back to her world right now.

Yilas used one hand to lean on a tree to rest for a bit. Sweat was glistening down her neck. Yilas was never allowed to run outside for too long, this was probably the farthest and longest Yilas has been able to be outside.

*Kee-eeeee-arrr*

The bird noise scared Yilas to the point where she jumped. Holding one hand on her chest, she immediately looked up to find a brown bird flying towards her.

The bird looked like it noticed Yilas existence already. She didn't know where to hide at this point.

The bird started to circle above her head. At least Yilas couldn't let it know her identity.

But there was no leafy big tree around her to cover her face, just big tall trees and grass.

The bird circled one round, two rounds... It was slowly flying down to the ground near Yilas!

Then poof, just as fast as it was flying, something touched the ground, now a tall, young man appeared out of thin air. He jumped and landed on the ground, made a heavy *thud* noise.

Yilas squatted down immediately, hiding her little body behind a big tree, hands covering her face.

"I saw you beast! Come out here!"

Yilas rolled her eyes, who would be stupid enough to just go out when somebody just asked? She was still looking around for something to cover herself with.

Her dress was quite long, she could use that to cover her face. But the dress was made out of soft rabbit fur. In the modern world, it would probably be worth some money. What a waste of good material if she tore a piece off, Yilas thought to herself.

"I can see you, little one! Nobody can hide from me."

Yilas panicked so her hands holding the edges of her dress accidentally tore a long piece off, making a loud shredded sound.

Well, there was no point feeling wasteful now. Yilas quickly used the piece to wrap around her face and tie it in a knot in the back of her head.

Once it was done, Yilas sneakily peeked through the tree she was hiding behind, but she couldn't find the guy that was just there. He was just about 10-15 feet away from her.

Yilas stood up and moved away from her hiding spot, this time actively looking for the strange guy.

'Where did he go? 'Yilas thought, she looked from left and right, back and forth but he was still nowhere to be found.

Yilas walked over to where the guy was standing, giant bird's footsteps are still here but it just stopped without a trace.

"Looks like the prey finally showed itself!" The voice was from above. Yilas looked up and instantly locked eyes with the strange guy.

It was a young man with a bird's like legs, it seemed like he was one of those second civil Viosus mentioned. But the transformation started at his knees instead of all half of his body.

He was using his giant yellow claws to hold himself tight on a big branch of a tree.

Yilas was not only surprised at the fact that this man has bird feet, but also because he was a very handsome young boy. Brown hair with bright yellow eyes just like yellow topaz. His hair was medium length where it touched the base of his neck but his nose was the most beautiful nose Yilas has ever seen. It was tall and straight, but just enough like how it was exactly measured and drawn out by an artist.

If it weren't for his weird legs, this man would probably be scouted for modeling on the street. Especially with that perfectly symmetrical 6 packs and the broad shoulder, moreover he looks about 185cm tall even without fully extending his bird legs.

The Hawk name is Neo.

The Hawk noticed something strange about this female instantaneously. Her face was covered but one could clearly see that her eyes were wounded, it didn't take his exceptional vision to figured that out.

But what made him curious was that he had a feeling this female was outstandingly gorgeous even with her face covered.

Her hair was pure white, it was very long and silky. Under the sunlight it looked like the clouds in the sky but more sparkling.

She was small and had a slim figure but it was full in the right places. The female was wearing a two piece exposing her stomach and legs. The dress was quite short, it could make any beastmen blush. Female at his village was daring with their clothing choice but since Noe barely had any experience with females, he was inexperienced when dealing with them.

This female must be worthy, Noe thought to himself. But her eyes and scar were scarry, it must be something terrible that had happened to her. That thought made Noe's heart suddenly soften.

Noe jumped down from the tree to land right in front of Yilas.

Yilas didn't know what to do but to stare at him. This man just turned from bird to human, she certainly couldn't outrun a bird. So Yilas took a step back, putting some distance between the two of them.

Yilas took one step back, Noe took one step forward. Yilas backed up some more and Noe followed her by stepping forward. It wasn't before long that Yilas reached the nearest tree and had no more room to back up anymore.

"Stop right there!" Yilas shouted, putting her arm straight up at the man. "What? Who are you?"

Didn't he just call Yilas a prey, he must want to eat her, Yilas thought to herself. This was bad news, she must get out of this situation.

Yilas didn't get reincarnated just to be eaten by a bird. T^T.

"Whoo-hoo..?" The weird bird man laughed. "Got some guts aren't you? Do you even know the position that you are in? I am the one asking questions around here."

Now laughed and then smirked, he stopped at the same spot, crossing his arms. He must show her who was the leader here.

"You are talking to the young hero, the great Neo here! Be grateful to even talk to me." Neo and his team just earned the title heroes from his clan. The last mission they went on to rescue some females and their clan men, they killed and injured a record of 50 beast-men during the process.

Neo moved one step closer.

"What are you little one?" Neo was leaning closer, now he was just one arm length away from Yilas.

Yilas was panicking on the inside but she couldn't let it show. Reverse psychology was something she saw people do in movies to get out of the sticky situation.

"I am just a lowly nobody... Even if I tell you, you wouldn't even bother.. haha" Yilas said in a joking manner, waving her hands in front of her.

Noe scrunched his eyebrows, slamming one hand onto the tree Yilas was leaning on, just right above her head.

"I don't need your opinion. Talk!"

This Neo seemed impatient, Yilas must not make him mad before she found a way to escape.

But showing him signs that she was scared would only let him tremble on her even more.

Yilas remembered Viosus said something about females being precious in this world, maybe she could use that against him.

Yilas looked up and stared at Neo in the eyes. Neo, the big mouth one just shouted earlier now was avoiding Yilas's gaze, he even moved his hand from the tree, standing straight now.

"Eh.. hem.." Neo was avoiding Yilas stare, crossing his arms on his chest pretending to cough.

"I mean, go ahead, tell me your name little one." Yilas was right! If females were precious, this man wouldn't hurt her. That means he won't eat her either, right?

"It's Yilas."

"Are you with the clan here?"

"I think so... Yeah..." Yilas had just woken up in this life a few days ago, she didn't even know what to believe at this point.

"Heeeh. .? You sound unsure, are you lying to me?"

"Of course not!" Yilas was wary about everything but maybe if this man didn't know who she was, he wouldn't do her any wrong. "I just recently lost my memory after I was attacked by another clan."

Neo's suspicion was correct, she had just gone through something horrible.

Neo was raised to protect all the females by his father, and mistreating one was considered a great crime in his clan. Hearing Yilas explained herself, something pulled Neo's heartstring a little.

But why would anyone hurt a helpless female?

"Who attacked you and for what reason?" Neo was even more curious about this female now.

"I am not sure, I have forgotten about everything before I woke up. They said I was lucky to even be alive."

Yilas wasn't lying, she had just steered the fact a little so that this man wouldn't doubt her story. Even if she told him she was from another world and had already died there, he would just laugh at her face anyway so why bother.

"That's terrible!" Neo couldn't hide his emotion "If you were in my clan no beast-men would even be able to touch you!"

Neo realized he was just spurting out something ridiculous. He did't even know this female, he didn't have to feel sorry for her or had a strong urge to protect her, but he did.

"They said our clan is small so it was an easy target for those people. In fact, this was not the first time our clan has been attacked." Yilas remembered Viosus said something about that to her before.

Neo suddenly felt overwhelmingly pity for the little female in front of him. He was once small and frail not too long ago. He was constantly being bullied by his brothers and clan men when he was younger. He knew that since he was a Hawk so he couldn't be physically as strong as the Boars and Tigers and Bears, so he was easily singled out. Not even his own mother took his side when he was weak.

Neo imagined Yilas's small frail body trembling in the wind, running away from giant, dangerous beast-men made he just want to hold her in his arms and protected her so she wouldn't have to suffer any injustice.

"Ehem.. that must be what happened to your eyes." Neo glanced his eyes over, trying to change the topic.

Yilas unconsciously touched the left eye with her hand.

"Oh yeah... I forgot it was there, it must look gross." Yilas hadn't dared to look at her own reflection.

One, she was scared to see a stranger's body when inside there was still her old soul. Two, this scar must look hideous so she was rather oblivious of her own ugliness. They always said, ignorance is bliss.

Neo already saw her wound, one of her eyes was red and the other was white. He wondered if she might have been partially blinded.

The wound didn't look scary to Neo, he had seen many wounds and gory injuries on his missions. He heard that usually males have higher pain tolerance than females so they can fight longer and harder. But when he looked at Yilas's deep scar, he knew it was a deep one. Even he would have screamed in pain so it must have been terrible for her.

"No! No!" Neo didn't mean to make Yilas feel self-conscious. "I just know it must have been painful for you. I don't look that bad."

"You don't have to be so kind to me."

Neo blushed a little at the half-compliment Yilas said just now. 'Did she think I'm kind?'- Neo thought to himself.

"I .. I am just speaking the truth! It is not ugly, I think you might be very beautiful, I have very keen eyes you see."

Now Yilas was blushing, when it comes to being complimented by a guy, this was her first time experiencing it too.

"Haha.. you must have bad eyes then!" Yilas burst out laughing out of awkwardness but her laugh sounded genuine. Moreover, it made a pure, bell-like sound that made the heart of the one listening skipped a beat.

The one listening was not only Neo but the four beast-men catching up close to them.

Viosus was ahead of the other three but he knew they would hear it too. He recognized right away that it was Yilas's voice, he didn't hear her laugh often but every time she did, it always had the same effect on his heart.

The Boar, tiger and leopard heard it too. They recognized it was a female voice, and started to exchange looks. But none of them expressed anything else.

Viosus followed the sound and finally caught up close to his Master. He could see her from a distance, being hunched over by a half birdman. Viosus's blood started to boil, if anything happened to his Master he would tear that bird apart and eat it raw.

Neo already noticed a rattling noise rushing their way before Yilas saw anything. He pulled her arm and yanked her whole body to hide behind him. Yilas was surprised and hurt at the same time, didn't these people know that touching other people without permission was rude?

"What is happening?" Neo didn't answer Yilas's question, rather he just looked in one direction in the forest, hunching down like he was anticipating something.

Yilas followed his eyes and looked at the tree too but she couldn't tell what was going on.

But Yilas soon started to hear a loud rattling noise like somebody was running towards them at a really high speed.

"Aaahhhh..!!!" a fox suddenly jumped out of the tree, while he was in mid-air Yilas already recognized that it was Viosus. And then he transformed into a human right before he landed.

He was planning to jump onto the birdman! And he did, knocking all three of them on the ground.

"Ouchhyy.." Yilas landed on one of her arms but she didn't get hit by the full weight of two grown men.

Viosus quickly got on top of the half-bird, securing his hip and neck on the ground.

"Milady! Are you alright?" Neo was struggling underneath Viosus, since he couldn't reach Viosus's face he just kept punching Viosus's ribs and arms.

"Stop! Stop! You two." Neo stopped punching and Viosus's grip loosen a tad big around Neo's neck.

Yilas stood up and used her little arms to pull Viosus's arm, telling him to let Neo go.

Viosus didn't know what was going on but he followed Yilas lead and stood up straight, letting Neo out of his lock.

"You don't have to be so violent Vio. Take a look, I am fine." Viosus took a good look at his Master up and down, and then he pointed at her feet.

"Your feet are bleeding!"

Neo finally got up and positioned himself in a squatting position, trying to catch a breath. But now all three of them were staring at Yilas's tiny white toes.

They were indeed covered in dirt and dried up blood.

"Haha they are just dried scabs I had for running over here.." Yilas laughed nervously, she patted Viosus's sweaty shoulder saying that she was okay. Viosus must have run over here really fast, looking at how tired he was.

Yilas's laugh was interrupted by a loud sound.

A loud rattling noise was approaching, this time even louder like a herd of animals was tearing through the tree with every move they made.

Neo and Viosus both know who was coming. Viosus was especially not so thrilled about this.