I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The only sound in the world was the wet rattle of my lungs as blood spilled down my chest. My mouth filled with iron, and when I coughed, scarlet sprayed across the Alpha Deer’s muzzle.
It roared, a sound so deep it rattled through the horn still impaled in , vibrating every organ like a drum. Then its head jerked sideways. My body went with it. The world blurred...
CRACK!
The sound wasn’t just bark splitting—it was sothing inside , ribs giving way under pressure.
"GHHHHHAAAHH!"
The tree stopped . The bark split against my back, pain screaming down my spine. Blood poured out of in another mouthful, hot and thick, and my vision tunneled. The edges darkened, closing in.
If it kept this up, I was finished.
The thought wasn’t dramatic; it was simple math. I could already feel the numbers dwindling—blood out, oxygen down, strength leaking out of in thick streams
Even [Danger Sense] had gone silent, like the skill itself couldn’t decide what warning to give.
One more slam, one more twist of that horn, and I might just snap like dry wood.
I needed to escape. To warp away before my body gave in.
But through the haze, through the white-hot agony boiling in my veins, a single thought cut clear:
This is the closest I’ll ever get to the Alpha Deer.
Every strategy, every gamble I’d played had collapsed under its monstrous awareness. But pinned here, on the edge of death, I finally had the opening I could never force.
This was the mont.
I’d spent everything trying to close the distance. Every plan shattered against its impossible senses, its piercing eye ability, its beams of death. I had never gotten this far.
Now—impaled, broken, bleeding out—I was as close as I’d ever be.
If I warped away, I’d never get another chance.
So I tightened my grip on Gravefang. My knuckles split, blood slicking over the hilt, fingers slipping against the crimson ss. My teeth ground together hard enough to crack. And with every scrap of hatred, desperation, and raw instinct left in , I drove the blade up.
Steel ripped through flesh.
The resistance was sickening—like sawing into rawhide, sinew tearing under pressure, warm blood rushing over my knuckles until the hilt nearly slipped free of my hand.
The Alpha Deer howled, thrashing wildly, but I didn’t let go. Couldn’t. I wrenched Gravefang free and stabbed again.
And again.
And again.
Each plunge was wild, ssy, frantic. My arms scread, my ribs scread, every nerve begged to stop—but rage burned hotter than pain. I beca nothing but motion, nothing but steel and fury.
Blood sprayed across my face, hot and sticky. My own mingled with the beast’s until the world blurred into a haze of red. I couldn’t see properly. Didn’t need to. My body moved on instinct, each strike a hamr blow against death itself.
"DIE!" I roared, voice breaking. "JUST—DIE—ALREADY!"
The Alpha Deer bellowed back, resisting. And then I felt it—
The horn lodged under my ribs began to hum. A low, dreadful vibration that rattled my teeth. Light cracked along its surface, mana pulsing like a heart ready to burst. The air shimred with heat, the sear of it burning my skin until I slled my own flesh cooking.
But instead of crumpling, my body surged.
A terrifying thought flashed through : if this killed , so be it. But I’d make sure the bastard went down with .
Then I understood.
[Iron Persistence]
The passive skill I’d earned from the badger fight roared to life inside . It locked my muscles in place, dulled the screaming nerves, drowned my body in unyielding drive. Every ounce of weakness blurred under a single command: keep moving.
I hadn’t even understood what it really ant until now. It wasn’t strength, it wasn’t healing—it was the refusal of a body to obey common sense. It was death delayed by pure stubbornness.
My arm, heavy as stone, stabbed faster. Harder. My grunts broke into snarls, animalistic sounds tearing from my throat as Gravefang plunged again and again into the beast’s skull.
I didn’t feel human anymore.
Sowhere between the pain and the fury, I had crossed into sothing primal, sothing that wanted nothing more than to drag this monster into the dark with .
Steel crunched bone.Blood slicked my arms.Each thrust was another second stolen from death.
The world narrowed into that rhythm: stab, pull, stab, pull. My vision blurred, sweat and blood dripping into my eyes, but the skill kept upright. Kept going.
The Alpha Deer staggered. Its movents grew sluggish, its roars hoarse. Yet the horn’s glow only flared brighter, mana spilling out in waves of blistering heat. Blisters bubbled on my skin, the stench of burnt flesh clinging to the air.
Urgency clawed at . If that horn exploded, I’d be nothing but ash.
"CO ON!" I bellowed, half-sob, half-roar. "FALL!"
With everything I had left, I drove Gravefang down. The blade sank deep this ti, wedging between cracks in the skull. My hands trembled, bones grinding in my grip, but I leaned my entire body weight onto the hilt, forcing it deeper.
Just die already.
The Alpha Deer convulsed once. Twice.
Then it stilled.
A long, ragged groan rattled out of its throat before trailing into silence.
Its massive fra shuddered, legs buckling. The light in its eyes dimd. The glow along its antlers flickered, then guttered out.
And with one final shudder, the monster collapsed.
The horn that had impaled slid free, tearing at the wound as it fell, and I gasped in pain before collapsing with it.
The impact shook the earth, a heavy thud echoing through the forest. Dust plud around us. Even the night itself seed to hold its breath.
I lay across its corpse, panting, drenched in blood and sweat, Gravefang still buried in its skull. My arms trembled, barely able to hold the hilt. My chest rattled with every breath, each cough spraying flecks of red onto its hide.
It was over.
The Alpha Deer was dead.
And sohow, against everything, I was still alive.
For now.
The Alpha Deer’s body was...
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A/N:
Hi everyone. Just a quick heads-up: I’ve set up a new privilege tier for upcoming Chapters. While it’s updating, the new Chapters might not be imdiately visible or purchasable.
Everything will be unlocked normally once the update is complete, so please be patient—it won’t take long.
Thanks as always for your support!
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