Chapter 30

When the fairy finally noticed Divine's face hovering above her, she startled terribly.

Divine thought, that was a little rude.

Her musical laughter turned into a cute shriek.

Her pretty face turned from a happy face into a frightened face.

The fairy fluttered her wings hastily to get away from Divine, lighting up like the midday sun to his qi sense.

Her abrupt start burned so much light qi, using it to accelerate her flight with impressive results, that a trail of light qi partices fell off her ethereal wings, creating a shimmering cloud.

Divine just watched the fairy fleeing from him and sighed.

In her hurry, the fairy noticed pretty late, that she was heading down right at the dazed, orange-furred, three-headed and 17-tailed monster that she had gotten pretty good with her illusion.

Where was the fourth head?

Divine sensibly chose not to look too close into it.

Luckily for the fairy, the four foxes were still dizzy and didn't notice her right away.

The tiny glittering light qi particle cloud was still flowing through the air, right in front of Divine's green nose.

It seemed the glittering didn't happen during normal flights and only happened because the fairy was startled and used so much light qi at once.

Could that be fairy dust? What to do with it?

Divine flexed his spirit qi and caught the fairy dust, curious if the particles would break down or dissolve.

An enraged growl reverberated through the surroundings.

Flaming Paw's dizzy spell was over and the fairy was still in view.

The five-tails' qi spread out and the air grew notably hotter.

A fireball missed the escaping fairy by some distance and exploded on a mighty tree trunk beneath her flight path.

Divine doubted Flaming Paw's aim was that bad, even if he was still a little dizzy from his collision with the tree. Because of Divine's past experince with the fox, he knew the fox could have made the shot, if he had wanted to.

Flaming Paw was watching the fairy disappear into the forest, letting her off with a harsh warning, but he was still furious.

Even if Flaming Paw was only talking to himself, he was so angry, that he still projected it into the surroundings.

The fairy dust, or light qi particle cloud, or whatever it was called, still hadn't lost its luster.

For lack of better alternatives, Divine guided and filled the light qi dust into his half-full water gourd.

While the three four-tailed foxes were still slowly recovering and trying to up again, Divine jumped down from the tree branch and safely landed not too far from Flaming Paw and the others.

It looked like the collision with the tree had hurt the three four-tails a little more than Flaming Paw.

Regardless, Flaming Paw's plan didn't seem to change.

The hunt was still on.

After a short break, they set off again.

Only the three four-tails couldn't keep up the pace from before.

Every time they had to slow down, Flaming Paw became angrier and more frustrated.

Divine surreptitiously touched the boiling five-tailed fox with his qi, sensing that Flaming Paw's earlier giddy anticipation had turned into an angry and prideful stubbornness, that was almost completely drowning a tiny nugget of worry.

Divine couldn't guess if that increased or decreased his chances to safely get through this hunting trip.

Four healing pills wouldn't put a dent into his savings, but Divine decided against handing them out.

At some point, Flaming Paw slowed down the pace from a moderate jog to a careful prowl.

The five-tailed fox stopped right before a clearing, hiding behind a big tree and next to some bushes.

Divine didn't like the look of that clearing.

The whole ground of the clearing was trampled flat and there was a really big cave entrance.

Flaming Paw surveyed the surroundings for some time, leaving the others not much choice, but to do the same.

Except for insects and other small animals, nothing bigger than a squirrel was around these parts.

The cave was silent and looked very dark.

Flaming Paw gave orders, obviously intending to bait whatever lived there out of the cave.

For a moment Divine thought Flaming Paw was talking to him, but when he looked over, he saw Flaming Paw was looking at one of the four-tails.

Divine could be wrong, but he seemed to remember, that the selected four-tailed fox was the same one, that had followed center behind Flaming Paw earlier, before the crash into the tree had happened.

The chosen four-tails hesitated.

Flaming Paw looked at all of the alternately.

His final look rested on the chosen four-tails again.

The four-tailed fox complied, but only hesitantly and slowly, nervously looking around the whole time.

Stopping in the middle of the clearing, the fox yowled softly.

Nothing happened and Flaming Paw grew impatient.

Flaming Paw let out a loud bark, one that should be completely sufficient for his purposes, but still expected the four-tails to bark loudly too.

The four-tails meekly did as told and barked. Not that it mattered, since it was quieter than Flaming Paw's.

But even the two barks didn't change the situation.

The cave and the surrounding area stayed silent.

A while later, Flaming Paw led them carefully into the cave, leaving only the one four-tails in the clearing.

Divine would have preffered to be the one to stay outside, but Flaming Paw insisted and Divine didn't want to start anything at that moment.

At least Flaming Paw was taking the lead and heading in first.

The cave was high and wide, but not very deep.

Except for many bones, some unidentifiable filth and excrements, the cave was pretty empty.

But there were traces here, hinting at the inhabitant.

Big claw marks on the floor and cave walls. Much shedded fur. And the pungent animal smell.

Divine couldn't identify it right away, but he knew here lived something very big and very hairy.

Flaming Paw was disappointed the cave was empty.

Divine was glad.

But if the cave's inhabitant, or maybe worse inhabitants, weren't here, then where were they? And more important, when were the inhabitents coming back?

They had to get out. It could be catastrophic, if the inhabitants came back now and cut off the cave's only exit.

Divine went to the exit, intending to quickly get out of this dead end cave, before it became a death trap.

Flaming Paw didn't stop him.

Divine was glad. He would just wait with the four-tailed fox outside.

Suddenly the earth rumbled and a painful whine sounded outside.

A giant, brown bear bodychecked the four-tailed fox and without stopping or even slowing down, it was coming right at the cave.

The four-tailed fox had been sent flying and landed at the edge of the clearing in some bushes.

Divine had to make a split-second decision.

Either retreat and join up with the three foxes in the dead-end cave or try to get out, before the giant bear blocked the cave's exit.

Divine quickly sped up and even further accelerated, traversing the shadow, utilising the part of the Stepping Light Traversing Shadow Movement Technique he could execute.

It was close.

Almost, Divine managed to slip by the giant bear and make it out, but he was a tick late and got clipped by the bear's front leg.

With his sturdy body and excellent robe, Divine wasn't really hurt much, but the blunt force rattled his whole body and threw him against the wall and the he bounced back into the middle of the cave.

For a moment, Divine lay there dizzy and pretty helpless. The giant bear right before him, still moving forward with a decreased but still impressive momentum.

Divine closed his eyes and readied himself for a painful collision.

To his qi sense, the bear felt like a giant boulder, coming to overrun him.

Suddenly a blur of fire streaked past Divine and collided with the earthen boulder.

Rolling to the opposite side, Divine opened his eyes.

The bear was stumbling to the other side and Flaming Paw followed as fast as he could, scratching and biting to keep the bear off balance.

Hurrying to his feet, Divine noticed Flaming Paw's attacks were having little effect and hadn't even managed to draw blood.

The other two four-tailed foxes attacked too.

Together with Flaming Paw, the three drove the bear out of the cave, back into the clearing.

Divine didn't waste any time to flee the cave.

This time he made it out.

He stopped at the edge of the clearing next to a mighty tree, that he could hide behind in a pinch, observing the fight.

The foxes were fast. One darted close and attacked, immediately retreating again before the slower bear could retaliate.

Then the next fox used the opening the bear inevitably presented to get close.

And the play repeated itself. The foxes showed really good teamwork, always supporting each other in the fight.

The bear couldn't land a single hit on the foxes, but it wasn't really getting injured either.

Its hide was so strong, that the foxes still hadn't managed to draw the bear's blood.

If the fight continued this way, Divine was sure the bear would win.

The foxes would definitely get tired first and as soon as they weren't fast enough to dodge anymore, it would be over for them.

The four-tails, that had been left in the clearing, the one the bear had bodychecked at the beginning, still hadn't gotten up again.

The other three could really use his help.

Divine thought about just taking off, but Flaming Paw knew where he lived and if Divine abandoned him and the five-tailed fox survived this, there would be trouble.

When Flaming Paw started coating his claws in fire qi, he finally managed to break through the bear's tough hide. Even if he inflicted only shallow wounds, at least he injured the giant beast.

The bear roared enraged, lashing out wildly with its long arms.

The foxes backed off a little. The two four-tails started firing up their claws, too.

Screaming around the whole clearing, metaphorically, the bear obviously was proficient in the Magical Beast Language, too.