That was its weakness.
The Alpha Deer lowered its head, snarling, antlers glowing faintly with unstable light. It hadn’t realized it yet—hadn’t grasped that every shot it fired brought it closer to shattering its own horns.
And that knowledge... changed everything.
I stepped forward, legs trembling but refusing to buckle, and raised my voice:
"Alright, big guy. Let’s see how much power you can throw without ripping yourself apart."
The plan was simple: push the Alpha Deer until it spent itself dry, until the unstable energy in those antlers snapped them clean off. Simple didn’t mean safe. It was reckless, borderline suicidal—but it was all I had left.
The beast snarled, antlers flaring with predatory fury, its eyes locked onto me like it had already claimed my corpse.
"Arrogant insect," it rumbled, its voice like stones grinding together. "I will tear your soul apart and feed it to the forest."
"Geez," I muttered, shifting my stance. "That’s dark."
A beam snapped past me, close enough to turn the air molten. I warped aside, lungs burning as the shockwave rattled my ribs.
I wasn’t going to beat the Alpha Deer in raw strength. Not in stamina. Not in skill. The only weapon I had left was its rage. If I could force it past reason, drive it to burn itself hollow, maybe... just maybe... I’d take it down with me.
I steadied my breathing, forcing my legs to hold even as every nerve screamed mutiny. My chest rattled like broken glass in a jar. The pain was unbearable—but pain I could bury.
"Tell me something," I shouted, voice cracking but loud enough to echo. "What kind of alpha sacrifices its herd? What kind of leader drains his own people to ash?"
The Alpha Deer stiffened. Its silver-lit eyes snapped to me.
"They were weak," it spat. "Their lives meant nothing beside mine."
I sneered. "That’s not what I saw. All I saw was a coward gorging on corpses. You call yourself alpha? You’re nothing but a parasite."
A low growl rumbled through the clearing, vibrating in my bones.
"Watch your tongue, insect!"
"Couldn’t even protect your mate, could you?" I shot back, voice scraping raw. "She died screaming while you—what? Played king?"
Its antlers flared so bright the ground itself trembled.
"You call yourself alpha," I snarled, spitting blood into the dirt. "But all I see is a coward feeding off the dead."
The forest thundered with its roar.
A torrent of light erupted from its horns, ripping trees in half and searing the ground into glass. I warped sideways, reappearing just in time behind a smoking log as the blast detonated. The shockwave flipped me head over heels, dirt and ash clawing at my face as I rolled.
I forced myself up, lungs burning, and laughed.
"Is that it?" I coughed, blood trickling from my mouth. "You shoot straighter when you’re aiming at your own herd!"
The Alpha Deer bellowed and unleashed another volley.
The world became fire. Trees split like bones, bark ignited, branches came down in blazing heaps.
"You dare mock me?" it roared, voice shaking the air itself. "I am the Apex! The herd exists for me. Their flesh, their blood, their souls—all mine!"
"And yet," I shouted back, diving behind a half-shattered stump, "for all your big talk, you can’t hit a single goblin."
Beams raked the clearing. My [Mana Shield] cracked and fizzled under near-misses, every hit leaving it thinner, weaker. Each dodge seared my skin raw, singed my hair, blistered my flesh. Smoke and heat choked me, but I kept moving.
Warp. Leap. Stumble. Crawl.
Seconds from death, fractions from annihilation. I warped when I shouldn’t have made it. Leaped when I wasn’t sure my legs would catch me. Laughed through it all—bitter, broken laughter that echoed across the clearing, sinking claws into the Alpha Deer’s fury.
"You’re not a predator!" I shouted, rolling out of the way as another beam tore a tree in half. "You’re a coward hiding behind corpses!"
Another roar. Another volley. My shield flickered again, bones vibrating from the force.
My body was breaking. Every muscle burned, every nerve screamed, my vision swam in and out of focus. But I kept taunting, because through the chaos I saw it—
Thin, glowing fissures crawling across its antlers, spreading wider with each blast.
Yes. Keep going. Break yourself.
"You’re pathetic!" I spat. "A failure of a leader. A coward who kills his own!"
The antlers pulsed—once, twice—then the light flared so bright the world went white.
The sound tore the clearing apart.
One antler fractured, shards of glowing bone scattering like sparks. The Alpha Deer reeled, its roar breaking into something jagged, almost pained, as unstable mana tore through its body.
Warping forward, I appeared beneath its head, Gravefang burning in my grip. I coiled every ounce of fury, every scrap of strength, into my arm and roared.
Because she was there.
Her outline shimmered like a memory dragged from the deepest corner of my mind—her smile, her warmth, the way she had once said my name like it mattered. For a moment, the battlefield blurred into something cruelly intimate.
Her face. Her body. Standing right before me, chest heaving, eyes wide with fear.
And Gravefang—poised to pierce her heart.
"No," I gasped, choking, shaking my head. It wasn’t real. Couldn’t be.
[Illusion Resistance] flared, breaking the image apart like shattered glass. Through the cracks I saw the deer, its outline shimmering behind the lie.
The illusion crumbled and agony followed.
The Alpha Deer lunged. Its fractured antler rammed into my side. Armor split like paper, flesh tearing open with a sickening crunch.
The world spun sideways. Blood sprayed, hot and heavy, drenching my arm, staining the dirt.
I screamed—raw, guttural, torn from somewhere deeper than lungs or throat. A sound made of disbelief, fury, and pain all at once as the beast drove jagged bone into me.