As big as I may be, I was still nothing compared to this majestic animal. I watched the animal graze from a safe distance while I cast my physical barrier. I then started looking around for both cover and a place to hit the creature from.

There was one downside here.

The animal was large enough, and the nearby trees were short enough, that his antlers would easily reach the lowest branches. I wouldn’t be able to attack it from above without being in the range of attacks myself.

If I wanted this kill, I would have to either wait until I got to an area where I could strike it safely from above, or I would have to take risks. I chose the latter. I did not have the time to wait.

I was quick enough that I should be able to dodge its attacks.

I slowly moved forward, keeping its flank in my sight. I intended to hit it with a fireball and do as much damage as possible before it even knew I was here.

The beast still had his head down. I charged my fireball spell and, in an instant, the beast turned his head to where I was positioned, causing me to let loose my spell to not waste the element of surprise.

I followed the fireball as it headed for the beast’s flank, but at the last second, the buck turned his head and mighty antlers and used them to block the fireball. Blocking might have been too strong of a word. Rather, the spell impacted its antlers and shattered into tiny fragments. Some of them hit the deer’s pelt, but they didn’t seem to cause much damage.

Crap.

The beast fully turned his body and lowered his head. I knew what was coming and quickly skittered away as the animal charged at me. I managed to get behind a tree in time and saw the animal charge past the tree without hitting me.

As it turned around to face me once more, I cast my paralytic venom bolt several times, aimed at the eyes and neck. I missed the eyes, but got a few hits on his neck, although they didn’t penetrate as deep as I’d like. It seemed this beast had some tough skin.

The beast, for some reason, stopped moving and just stared at me. I was questioning what it was doing, when I felt slight vibrations in the ground. My legs seemed to be quite sensitive to them.

I then realized there was something right below me. I jumped away as soon as I noticed that but failed to fully dodge the spike that erupted from below me.

A spike of hardened earth grazed my abdomen, causing a jolt of pain to shoot through me. My physical barrier had blocked some of the attack, as did my exoskeleton, but this was an attack based on magic. As such, it still harmed me.

Damn buck. I was not expecting it to be able to use magic. Not after it charged at me like that.

With no time to assess the damage, before the beast started another charge, I quickly cast my magical barrier to prevent taking damage from another unexpected spell. As the creature passed me once more, I threw another couple of venom bolts at its body.

I felt that my venom reserves were much larger now, but I didn’t know how many bolts it would take to paralyze this creature. It weighed at least twice as much as a wolf, so I imagined I needed quite a few hits.

I was holding back on using my fireball as the creature kept passing the tree that I was using to block his charges. I did not want to start a fire here. Especially with the humans not too far away. A fire would certainly draw their attention.

If only I had taken the Lightning Arc spell…

I did not regret my previous choices so far. My physical barrier had absorbed quite a bit of damage from the spell the buck had used before.

The game of cat and mouse continued for a while. The buck kept charging, and I kept dodging and using the tree to block its charges. After each unsuccessful charge, I cast another venom bolt or three. I was impressed with my ability to keep using the ability without running out of venom.

Eventually, the paralyzing effect started to kick in as the buck slowed down. After that, it didn’t take long for its legs to give out and it collapsed. Its antlers hit the dirt outside the grassy clearing and remained there while its eyes blinked rapidly as I approached it.

It was time to bring this game to an end.

Because of the beast’s proximity to a tree (it was lying about a foot away from a trunk), I opted to use a weaker version of the fireball spell. I would make sure that this deer was the only thing that burned.

It was cruel, to be forced to have such a noble animal die such a gruesome, and most of all, slow death, but it was the option that would ensure my safety, as well as Cellestra’s.

I cast a few weaker fireballs in quick succession, aiming to still do this as swiftly as I could. Soon enough, the beast’s body went up in flames.

A large series of messages appeared before me with the buck’s death.

I left the creature behind as I skittered to the closest vegetation to take a look at the wound I’d suffered during combat.

It appeared that the left side of my abdomen had a puncture wound from the spike that hit. It hurt, but I could deal with the pain. The fact that I saw some drops of blood worried me, though.

I had no idea how spider anatomy worked, so I did the logical thing. There was a skill that was long overdue to increase.

Without hesitation, I confirmed the regeneration skill upgrades. Level by level, I brought the skill to its maximum rank. Its effects took hold soon after, as the bleeding stopped within minutes. The wound was still there, but as long as it didn’t bleed I imagined I’d be fine.

I started walking back in the direction of Cellestra’s home and climbed into a tall tree as soon as I encountered one. I wanted to look at how many evolution points I had accumulated from that kill.

I was victorious and had gotten many points, but I wasn’t too happy about it. I took a wound that could have been avoided. From now on, I would make sure to use both my magical and physical barriers out in the forest. The mana I needed to cast both at this point was negligible.

That… was a lot of evolution points. Even after I’d upgraded my regeneration skill, I still had so many left over.

I might as well spend them now…

I first obtained the lightning arc spell, knowing that afterward I would still have many points remaining. I would spend the rest on whatever defense skills I could get.

Warmth grew in my core and then in my head as the spell’s secrets were revealed to me. After going through the physical and mental changes of the spell being forced into my being, I took a good look at my enhancement options once more.

I started with the highest rank of the magical barrier. I wanted to make sure I would not be surprised by magic anymore. I still had 167 points remaining and decided to spend 60 of those to increase my magic resistance by two levels as well. I was damn serious about not dying.

I was tempted to also increase the healing light spell, but before doing so, I cast it on myself to see how much of the wound it would heal. This spell was pretty low in mana cost, so if it turned out to be efficient for now, I could leave it as it was.

Besides, I’d just increased my defenses quite a bit.

The healing light, combined with the regeneration skill, made quick work of the wound that I’d suffered. It closed almost completely after one cast, and after a second cast, it was as if there had never been a wound in the first place.

I decided to leave it as it was for now.

I still had 107 points remaining and, while I had resolved to level the cyclone spell to its maximum rank earlier, I was now reconsidering.

What should I do…?