I turned away from the charred corpse, ready to move on, when a low, vibrating hum rose from behind me.
[Danger Sense] spiked instantly.
Something was coming, and it was moving fast.
I didn’t have the time to dodge.
So I did the only thing I could.
I threw up [Mana Shield].
The impact hit an instant later. My magic barrier fracturing like ice under a hammer.
[Mana Shield] wasn’t strong enough to take the full brunt of whatever that was, but it was strong enough to throw it just off course. Lucky me.
The redirected shot still clipped me, skimming along my cheek in a burst of heat and pressure. Unlucky me.
A hot line of pain flared across my face, and I hissed through clenched teeth, twisting my body into a sidestep to break the attacker’s line of fire. The sting was sharp and immediate, and I could already feel the thin warmth of blood sliding down toward my jaw.
But there was no time to dwell on the pain.
I pivoted, scanning for the source of the attack, and there it was.
A deer stood between the trees, its eyes locked on me, antlers glowing with an unnatural light. Recognition hit instantly.
It looked almost identical to the one I’d had Narg, Dribb, Thok, Zonk, and Gobbo bring down not long ago. But higher level.
[Gnarlbeast Deer – Level 20]
The air around its horns shimmered, the glow deepening as a low, resonant hum rolled through the clearing. I didn’t need to guess what was coming—it was the same devastating beam that had nearly taken my head a moment ago.
But instead of dodging, I stayed exactly where I was. I let my stance settle, my eyes narrowing into a glare that dared it to fire.
The Gnarlbeast took the bait. The hum reached a sharp, piercing pitch, and then the beam erupted from its antlers in a blinding flash.
The instant it left the horns, I triggered [Swap].
The world twisted, space folding in on itself, and in the blink of an eye, we traded places.
One heartbeat, I was staring at the deer.
The next, it was standing where I had been—directly in the path of its own attack.
The impact was brutal.
The beam punched straight through its chest with a wet, tearing crack, the force lifting it off its feet. It crashed backward in a violent tumble, hooves flailing wildly before slamming into the ground with a spray of dirt and blood.
A guttural, broken bellow tore from its throat—part roar, part strangled gasp—each sound fractured by shuddering coughs. The hole in its chest was brutal, raw edges of flesh charred black around the wound. You could almost see clean through it.
On the ground, it writhed in tight, jerking spasms, its powerful legs scraping deep furrows in the soil. Blood poured from the wound in a steady, pulsing stream, spreading into a dark, widening pool beneath it.
Even so, the Gnarlbeast tried to rise, its legs trembling violently under its own weight. But before it could so much as lift its head, I was already beside it. Gravefang in my hand.
I didn’t hesitate. The point drove down with a solid, final thrust, punching clean through the skull and into the earth beneath.
And the struggling stopped immediately.
Then I felt it once again. Seriously?
I hadn’t even had the chance to exhale before it hit me—a sudden, bone-deep chill that spread across my skin like ice water.
Slowly, I turned, Gravefang still in my grip, and my eyes caught them—ghostly shapes in the darkness, their outlines barely visible against the forest gloom. What stood out were the antlers, glowing with that same eerie, unnatural light, their twisted branches cutting strange patterns into the night.
One pair. Then another. Then more.
They were everywhere.
The glow shifted as the heads moved, and in that cold, silent moment, I realized they weren’t just watching, they were aiming. Shit!
The cold in my veins hardened into something heavier, hotter—a weight that demanded action. And I didn’t wait.
I triggered [Warp] and blinked skyward, reappearing high above the treetops just as the ground below erupted in a hail of destruction.
The blasts tore through where I’d been standing a heartbeat ago, kicking up dirt and splintering tree trunks into jagged shrapnel. Even from above, I could feel the heat radiating from the impacts.
"Crazy..." I muttered under my breath.
From my vantage point, I could finally take stock. The forest floor was scattered with pale antler glows, each one tracing a distinct shape in the darkness. By the count, there were at least a dozen of them, spread out in a loose hunting formation. The eerie light from their horns made it impossible for them to hide—their own power betraying their position.
I narrowed my eyes and called up [Analyze], letting the skill sweep over the nearest two.
[Gnarlbeast Deer – Level 22]
[Gnarlbeast Deer - Level 20]
[Gnarlbeast Deer – Level 21]
High-level. Organized. And definitely not here by accident.
This had to be their territory, and my fight with the Nightmare Vulture must have been the equivalent of ringing a dinner bell. The sound, the flames, the scent of blood—it was enough to pull every Gnarlbeast Deer within range straight to me.
Their levels were all in the twenties, which made them dangerous. But it also made them valuable. If I could take them down, I wouldn’t just hit level twenty-five—I could push past it and finally evolve.
Worth it? Without question.
I let my body drop, the cold air rushing past my ears as I fell. And at the last second, I triggered [Swap], trading places with one of the unfortunate Gnarlbeast deer below.
And in an instant, I was no longer falling—I was standing on solid ground, the startled Gnarlbeast now plummeting from where I’d been just moments ago.
My gaze snapped to the nearest Gnarlbeast deer, still unaware that I was among them, its attention fixed on where it thought I was above.