‘It worked!’

Red’s ears hurt from the stag’s bellow, but he still watched the beast’s antler shattering with delight. The fire along its horns fizzled out, and the creature seemed to be in great pain. The monster entered a frenzy under this painful sensation and started to kick its head and hooves around, destroying anything in its path. In fact, it was getting closer to the boy.

‘Crap!’

Red was then reminded he still wasn’t in the clear. He dove just in time to avoid a kick that would have most certainly taken his head off if it hit. The monster jumped over the youth, completely ignoring his presence in the process, and Red was left staring at it while laying prone.

All of a sudden, the beast rose up on its hind legs and let out another bellow. The boy felt his head buzzing from the deafening sound, but before he could gather himself, the monster’s demeanor changed. It stopped jumping and instead turned around and trotted forward with intent. Red was confused for a second, before his gaze wandered to where the monster was charging to.

His heart skipped a beat.

“Allen!”

Red screamed at the top of his lungs. Still, his voice could barely be heard over the raging inferno and the raging beast.

Allen was still in his original spot, staring at the monster in a daze while holding out the now useless slip of paper. When he finally noticed the stag had set its eyes on him, it was too late to run away. The monster waved what remained of its flaming antlers like a mace.

Allen tried to dodge, but the horns still clipped him on the side. That was enough to send the boy flying like a rag-doll, clashing against a tree with a loud thud. The young master let out a groan of agony on impact, but he remained conscious. Still, he didn’t get up immediately.

The stag wasn’t done either. It turned around and continued to charge at Allen. It was intent on finishing him off.

Red cursed himself. He got up to run to the young master and assist him, but he knew he wouldn’t reach him before the monster. Thankfully, though, someone else did.

Reinhart’s figure flashed by his vision. The knight put himself in between Allen and the stag, absorbing the impact of the beast’s blow with his barrier. The creature let out another bellow of rage at having its attack thwarted. Still, it didn’t let off.

The stag continued to hammer against Reinhart with its front hooves, pushing the man back with every blow. The knight, however, didn’t give way.

“Get up, kid!” Reinhart screamed at Allen.

His words got some reaction out of the young master. However, as soon as Allen tried getting up, he let out another groan of pain and collapsed to the floor, holding onto his side. This didn’t escape Reinhart’s notice.

“Fucking shit, move!” the knight cursed. He was urging the boy on with a tone full of urgency.

The stag’s attacks were getting even more frantic.

Allen, who was also aware of his situation, tried to get up again. Still, it was no use. His strength failed him, and the young master resorted to crawling away in desperation. Suddenly, however, he felt a force lifting him up.

“Come on!” Red pulled Allen up and started to drag him away.

The young master looked at him with eyes full of gratitude and did his best to hurry along with the youth’s help. The monster, however, was quick to notice its attacker’s escapes.

It tried to circumvent Reinhart to reach Allen and Red, but the knight kept putting himself in its way. The stag let out another roar of rage. With no other choice, it continued its attack against Reinhart.

A dozen meters away, the two boys were trying their best to retreat.

“We need to hurry.” Red said. “Reinhart won’t be able to hold it back for lon-”

Before the youth could finish his words, a crackling sound came from behind them. It resembled the noise of glass shattering.

The boy had a bad premonition.

Red looked back. There, he saw that Reinhart’s previously invisible barrier now had a large white crack appearing out of thin air. The youth’s worst fears were confirmed.

“Kid, I need your help!” Reinhart called out to him, his voice full of distress.

Red frowned. They were still in the open, and he hadn’t managed to drag Allen somewhere safe yet. He looked over at the young master, but what met his gaze was a face with a resolute expression.

“Go!” Allen said. “I-If you don’t, we all die anyways!”

Another crack appeared in Reinhart’s barrier.

Red didn’t hesitate any longer. He nodded at Allen and set the boy down.

The boy gripped his cleaver with both hands and charged at the monster from its flanks. The creature was too distracted by the knight in front of it, whose barrier was finally showing signs of giving way.

Reinhart also noticed his approach. “Wait for it to rear up!”

The knight didn’t even look at him as he yelled his instruction. Red, however, was more than ready to put them into action.

Another crack appeared in the barrier, and the stag saw victory drawing near. It reared back in preparation to clash back down and finally break the invisible shield. Suddenly, though, the monster felt a sharp pain at its hind legs and it faltered for a second.

The stag looked back just in time to see Red try to run away after pulling his cleaver out of its leg. The boy hadn’t been able to cut through the creature’s limb as he wanted to, but he had done his part in distracting it.

The monster was about ready to punish the pesky creature that dared to attack it when it suddenly felt another pain flare up in its body, this time far more intense than before. Reinhart had taken advantage of the monster’s moment of distraction to stab it in the side of its chest.

His longsword lodged itself to the very hilt, and the monster let out another bellow in agony. It tried to shake the weapon and the knight grabbing onto it off, but Reinhart didn’t let go. Instead, he dragged the longsword down even as he was being rag dolled around, opening the wound up even further.

The stag got desperate as its attempts to throw the man off didn’t work. Suddenly, it reared its head back and bit down onto Reinhart. The man’s barrier offered some resistance, but at that point, it was completely spent. It finally broke.

Unimpeded by the barrier, the monster’s bit down onto the knight’s shoulder. Red heard the distinctive sound of bone shattering as Reinhart let out a scream of pain. Finally, the man couldn’t hold on to his sword any longer, and the stag slung him away with its mouth.

Reinhart crashed down almost ten meters away. The man groaned in pain, and didn’t get up.

Now there was only Red and the monster still standing. The stag slowly turned around to face the boy and the feeling of danger flared up within his senses once more.

The creature looked worn down, its damaged antlers no longer aflame, and blood was pouring from the sword in its chest and from other wounds. Still, it remained standing on its own four legs, exuding unmatched strength out of its enormous frame.

‘Is this how strong a beast in the Lesser Ring Realm is?’

Red felt like he had gotten the wrong impression from Viran’s fight against the Insectoid. Back then, the old warrior made the fight look much closer than it should have been. Yet now the boy could feel the true distance between someone who had opened their Spiritual Sea and someone who had not.

The stag took a moment to catch its breath, but soon enough it was staring at Red again with rage in its eyes. It charged at him, but the boy didn’t turn around to run. He knew that was useless. Instead, he focused and prepared to face death head on.

First the stag swung one of its hooves down, hoping to crush Red in one fell swoop.

The boy, however, was wise to its preferred attacks. He dove to the side beforehand, dodging the strike by a small margin. The monster’s hoove made an indentation in the ground, and the stag bellowed in rage at the fact its prey escaped. Another hoof swung down in a flash.

This time, Red didn’t have an easy time dodging it. He stepped to the side and put his cleaver up, hoping to block the attack. The monster sent the weapon flying out of his hands, and Red almost felt his arms would have been taken with it if he tried to hold on. Still, he managed to dodge once more.

The stag, however, didn’t offer him any respite this time around. Its head swung down, whipping at the boy with what remained of its antlers. Red saw this attack coming, but this time, he lacked the speed to dodge it. He knew death was approaching, and the only thing he could do was put his arms up to block.

A force stronger than anything Red had faced before struck him. His arms offered no protection, bending and breaking under the stag’s unimaginable strength. The rest of the force of the blow was transmitted to his chest, making his ribs shatter like twigs.

Red was sent flying, twirling like a leaf to the wind. Then, he crashed down, and the pain hit him all at once. He didn’t even have the strength to scream. Blood pooled at his throat, causing Red to almost choke on it as he hurried to spit it out. Still, through some miracle or the other, he retained consciousness. Though, he almost wished he hadn’t.

With the last of his strength, he raised his head. His vision was blurry, but he still saw it. The stag had already stopped paying attention to him. Instead, it now had a new target.

“I-I’ll kill you!” a voice full of hatred echoed out.

Red recognized it. It was Allen.

The boy was leaning against a tree, pointing his sword at the stag. Red couldn’t see his expression, but he could make a good guess. It was the expression of an idiot who had gotten his courage at the worst possible moment.

‘He’ll die.’

Red knew it.

‘I promised Domeron I would look after him… I can’t give up here.’

Yet, when he tried to get up, his body failed him. Even after fighting through the pain, he couldn’t gather the strength necessary to continue. He had lost feeling in his arms, and every breath he took felt as if the boy was trying to swallow in fire. Blood continued to pool at his throat, too.

His voice wouldn’t come out. His body wouldn’t respond fast enough. And yet, he continued to struggle.

‘I can’t… Not now.’

There was no time, though, and his pure will alone didn’t cause a miracle to happen. The stag continued to close in on Allen, and the young master continued to stare it down, unafraid of death.

The time was up.

The stag reared back on its hind legs, ready to crush down the boy. Red felt time come to a stop.

Then, all of a sudden, something flew out from within the woods. It lodged itself into the monster’s eye, and the creature let out another bellow of pain.

“I-I won’t let you hurt the young master!” Rimold’s voice echoed through the forest, a mix of determination and fear.

‘Aren’t you a bit too late for that?’

Red cursed the rogue in his mind. Yet, the man’s actions were enough to save Allen. The monster jumped around in pain and agony, forgetting all about the boy he was just about to kill.

Rimold used this opportunity to approach Allen. “Quick, young master! We have to run!”

“I-I’m not… ning.” the boy said between heaves of pain, not diverting his gaze from the stag. “We… lling it!”

Red had a hard time making out the rest of their conversation between his failing senses. However, he could take a guess as to what Allen said by the fact he didn’t move, even as the rogue tried to drag him away. In the meantime, the stag’s panic was wearing down, and the monster was once more looking for the ones that had hurt it.

‘I need to do something…’

Yet, he didn’t have the strength. In fact, Red felt his consciousness slipping away ever so slightly.

‘I need to… do something.’

But what and how?

‘If only I had one of those pills… Wait!”

Suddenly, an idea crossed the boy’s mind. With his remaining strength, he looked around the burning forest ground for something. Then, a few seconds later, he spotted it.

No more than ten meters away, he saw the shattered remains of the stag’s antlers. His attention, though, was on the small pool of blood that had formed beneath it.

Blood from a creature in the Lesser Ring Realm.

Red recalled what had happened earlier with the wolf’s blood - the burning sensation and what came after. It had healed his arm, and that was from a normal monster alone. What would happen from a creature this strong?

With no further hesitation, he crawled towards the crimson fluid, using his legs and what little strength remained in his body. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he reached it.

Red looked down at the pool of blood, and for a moment he had second thoughts. He had a distinct feeling that what he was about to do would put him down a road with no return.

'Is this really what I want?'

“Young master, we need to run!” Rimold’s voice once more sounded out.

Shortly after, the bellows of rage from the stag reached the youth’s ears.

‘No… I have no choice.’

Red pushed the last of his doubts aside and splashed his face down into the pool of blood.

Immediately, a burning sensation spread through his skin.

Then, the world became crimson.