Chapter 42

“Where?” Björn slowed, his head flicking left and right with a crazed look on his face.

Hakon took note of the eagerness in his friend’s voice but pointed in the right direction anyway and said, “A monster herd is grazing in a small clearing over there. I haven’t been able to inspect them yet, but the monsters shouldn’t be too dangerous.”

Björn looked genuinely sad at the last part. Still, he rushed through the thicket, ignoring the plant life around him, and arrived at the clearing shortly after. And once he saw the bloody antlers, his lips curled upward, and he burst forth.

The others followed behind with swift strides, stepping into the clearing. Monster heads shot upright, their eyes were crimson orbs filled with carnage and bloodlust. The shrubs further into the clearing rustled, and it was only when several heads emerged from behind the trees and bushes in the back that Hakon realized two things.

First, he hadn’t counted this many monsters before. There had to be more than 50 monsters in the herd rather than the 20 to 30 he’d expected. That was bad–a mistake that could cost lives if not taken care of quickly enough.

Second, [Inspect] triggered, providing him with information that only worsened the first problem.

[Terror Deer – Low/Medium Threat]

[Terror Deer – Low/Medium Threat]

…

[Terror Deer – Medium Threat]

Terror Deer. Hakon was sure he’d read that name before, but it didn’t ring–

Oh, right. Fragments of the scroll he read not too long ago resurfaced in his mind, reminding him that Terror Deer were omnivores, highly territorial, and that their herds had, more than once, killed overly confident Barbarians. They claimed strength in numbers, which was all too obvious to Hakon at this moment.

His lips parted instinctively for a quick warning, only to snap shut when Björn crushed into the masses of Terror Deer near him.

Björn accelerated right before he crashed into the first target. His hair shimmered, a tell-tale sign of [Crushing Advance], with which he stunned the first Terror Deer momentarily. However, that moment didn’t last long enough because the Terror Deer’s head swept to the side, blocking the Blessed Warrior’s war-axe with its antlers.

But blocking Björn’s strike with its antlers wasn’t enough. Björn let out a guttural roar, pulled the axe jammed in the deer’s antlers to the side with raw physical strength, and lodged the axe resting in his other hand in the Terror Deer’s neck.

The monster stood no chance. Blood spurted through the air like a sacred offering to the Ancestors, yet the Terror Deer did not bleat out in pain or fear. Its crimson orbs locked on to Björn as the lifelight buried deep within faded. In the same instant, its kin attacked, heads lowered to impale him.

But before they could rip the Barbarian apart, Astrid emerged beside the monsters targeting Björn, her blades flashing dangerously. Hakon turned away from his friends, his attention shifting to the only problem in their group–Eren.

Björn and Astrid would be fine. Sure, Björn was likely to end up gutted by the Terror Deer, but his Blessing of the Bear made him tougher than most. Tougher than the Lightcaller, for sure.

Eren was more cautious than Björn had been, yet his excitement urged him to charge ahead as well. The tip of his blade released a glistening light, dazzling the Terror Deer around him. They let out shrill, painful noises, which Eren used to land a nasty blow on his target. But as badly as the Terror Deer bled, it wasn’t dead yet. It was angry, and so were its kin.

Are you trying to get yourself killed? Hakon cursed in his heart, kicking the ground to propel forward.

While the Terror Deer were only Low to Medium Threats to Hakon, he didn’t doubt that [Inspect] would consider them as Medium Threats for Björn and High Threats for Eren. Fighting one, let alone a group of them, was already a challenge for a Barbarian who hadn’t even reached the 1st Ascension yet.

Still, as long as he didn’t have to fight a Colossal Terror alone, Hakon was sure Eren would be fine. The Ancestors would surely reward him generously for seeing him fight above his weight class. But that did not mean Hakon had to push Eren to an early death.

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More Terror Deer headed toward the Lightcaller, so he made a move. Hakon retrieved a bone dagger and hurled it toward the injured Terror Deer. The throw was nowhere near perfect, resulting in a plethora of complaints from Enhanced Comprehension, which only made him angrier than he already was for messing this up, but the bone dagger hit the target anyway. It just didn’t inflict as much damage as Hakon had been hoping for.

Nonetheless, distracted and injured, the Terror Deer struggled to keep up with Eren.

That left him with a group of six Terror Deer to deal with.