In the sky, a purple bird descended into a volcano near a rice field that stretched for two kilometers. In the middle of the rice field is a castle with mosses, spiderwebs, and small cracks.

There are scarecrows in the rice field ten meters apart which each other which made the entire race field a sense of gloominess.

"Damn, these scarecrows are quite frightening." Sofia jumped from Aoi's back and landed on the rice field. Then he walked near the scarecrow and stared at it. The scarecrows are humanoid figures dressed in old farmer's clothes with its arm raised wide open. It has a straw hat that has a sign of wear and tear and its arms were actually made of a sharp hook.

"Well, this looks really scary. It was as if it would jump at us at any moment." Fein chuckled. "Unfortunately, we need to make a stop, since the sun is about to go down."

"Then where would we set camp? In the middle of this rice field?" Sofia sighed.

Fein scanned the whole place before his sight was fixed on the volcano. Then a grin appeared on his face. "Let's go on top of the volcano!"

"What? Master, no... It looks uncomfortable to sleep there." Voli immediately tried to dissuade Fein.

"Voli is right. And what if the volcano suddenly erupted while we were on top?" Sofia added.

Aoi didn't speak as she just let the three discuss the matters. After all, in the end, Fein would be the one who will decide.

"No, this is a volcano that doesn't look active. It's an extinct volcano. It means it won't erupt because the magma in the mantle could no longer reach it." Fein tried to explain his knowledge in layman's terms.

"If you say so... I trust you," Sofia replied.

Voli looked downcast at the final decision."It's over. My goodnight sleep..."historical

"You're always sleeping. Is sleep all you could think of?" Aoi said disdainfully.

"But sleep is essential for humans!" Voli retorted with a smug face.

"Are you human?"

Voli tried to open his mouth, but he couldn't think of a rebut. After all, he wasn't a human. So he just shrank back like a deflated balloon. Aoi, in turn, felt proud she won a discourse. 'Stupid bear, do you think you're smarter than me?'

"You two don't bicker with each other. Let's go!"

As Fein said this, he jumped to Voli's back while Sofia went to Aoi's. Suddenly, lightning wings emerged from Voli's back and a pair of lightning boots covered his feet. Instead of running like a bear, he ran like a human.

BOOM!

Voli's figure disappeared... The sound of a thunderclap echoed as Voli ran at literally the speed of lightning. Although he has lightning wings, he couldn't really use them to fly, but just to boost his speed.

"Aoi, you can't lag behind him," Sofia said.

Aoi nodded with her master words. She infused degu energy on her wings that caused them to exude icy mist. With a flapped of her wings, she rose to the sky and disappeared.

...

On top of the Volcano, a lightning flash flickered, then a bear with golden fur appeared with a person in his back. This is exactly what Fein and Voli... Exactly thirty-four seconds later, Aoi with Sofia on her back also appeared.

In terms of speed, Voli was far superior to Aoi. After all, Voli can be considered a master of wind and lightning that was known for their speed attribute.

"I'm first! I'm far faster than you." Voli raised his furry chest and looked provocatively at Aoi.

"Tch..." Aoi clicked her tongue and snorted. Although she was already in the sky, which was an advantage, she still couldn't beat Voli. "The race this time is just near, but if it was two miles or eight miles, I would have an advantage."

"Still you lost." Voli stuck his tongue out. He knew that if it was really a race that was far in the distance, his speed advantage won't do anything as he won't be able to beat Aoi if she was flying.

Fein and Sofia stepped on the reddish soil of the volcano, and they felt a cold, flaky sensation on their feet.

"Wait for me here." Fein's expression turned solemn as he caught a powerful presence nearer him.

His passive perception reaches ten meters around him. Fein continued with a brisk pace, 'An S rank monster!?'

'What happened?' Sofia thought as she saw Fein solemnly walk towards the mouth of the volcano.

Aoi and Voli looked at each other tacitly. Voli's glittered with a golden light, and dark lightning started to cover him. Aoi followed as she condensed a small green flame that ruptured the surrounding space. They were ready to fight in case something happened!

They are ready to fight and protect their master this time. Voli and Aoi made a secret discussion that both their master don't know. Since the incident in the Monster Secret Realm, after the fight with the platinum statue. Voli and Aoi didn't want to feel powerless again as they can only watch Fein sacrifice himself.

Now that they have grown to S rank and become a mythical beast, they aren't the same animal they were once. But a different breed!

Seeing this, Sofia immediately produced a purple scythe in her hand that reeked an aura of destruction.

As Fein arrived at the mouth of the volcano, he saw a big guy with reddish skin and long hair. His body was as big as forty meters and filled the volcano. His whole figure exuded heat that materialized into a red-yellowish aura.

The big guy had his two pangs exposed, he had big blue pupils and blood-red wild hair that had reached his waist. He wore a brown shorts with holes in some parts of it.

'Damn, is this an orc!?' Fein exclaimed in his mind. Followed by another question. 'And a Westerner at that?'

The red orc and Fein looked into each other's eyes. The orc was in a daze as it saw a human, as it had been a long time since a human dared to walk upon his territory. After all, he turned the last human into black charcoal.