Arthur immediately stopped and looked back with a frown. He felt his heart grow colder as he realized something was about to appear. He didn't know what it was yet since he just realized that he wasn't alone.
'Is it one of those wolves?' He thought to himself as he slowly opened his inventory and pulled his Sanguine Blade. Arthur had never touched a sword in his life before so he didn't really have any idea how to use it properly. All the knowledge he had was from watching fictional characters use swords.
"Well, most of them probably were not correct techniques. But, I still get points for looking cool." He muttered as he tried to calm his beating heart. Being faced with his potential first enemy since he stepped into this world, Arthur was naturally really nervous and even a little scared.
Even though deep down he was aware that this was just a game and that he wasn't going to actually get harmed if he fought it. Still, this world simply felt far too real for him to actually pretend as if he wasn't in a very dangerous situation.
"Shit, I'm already sweating!" Wiping his forehead, the boy glared at the rustling bush and said. "Goddamit! Just show up and stop this unnecessarily nerve-wracking situation. This isn't a cheap B-Horror movie."
When he uttered those words, something finally jumped out of the bushes. However, upon witnessing it, Arthur's face froze. The thing that showed up wasn't a monster, nor a terrifying creature. Instead, it was a rather small deer-looking creature with comically long antlers that were twice its height.
The creature looked quite beautiful with colorful fur that was a mix between sky blue and white dots. Its big clear eyes were like two black pearls that shone under the sun.
"... Hey there, little buddy. You really gave me a scare right there." Arthur said as he exhaled a small breath. 'Damn, that's actually a really beautiful deer.' He thought to himself.
The creature appeared quite majestic even compared to real deer. In any case, Arthur was a little relieved that it wasn't a bunch of wolves as he knew that would've been quite a dangerous situation.
"Oh well, I'm not hunting you down. You get to live, buddy." Arthur shrugged as he was about to turn around and go back to the village. However, at that moment, the deer suddenly did something he didn't expect.
Opening its mouth, the deer started making weird noises as if it was coughing or struggling to get something out of its throat. A few seconds later, the coughing finally brought whatever was stuck out.
Arthur's eyes moved to the thing and he immediately stopped again. For the next few seconds, neither side made a sound. Then, Arthur slowly pointed at the thing and asked the deer.
"Uh, my deepest apologies, but I need to ask. Is that a bone you just coughed out? A really bloody bone?" He gulped a mouthful of saliva as a dreadful feeling washed over his body. No matter how he looked at it, that was a long bone the deer just spat out and it looked surprisingly bloody but with no flesh on it.
The deer stared at him silently the entire time. Meanwhile, Arthur didn't know how to react, so the first thing he thought of was to smile.
"H-Hey man. There is no need to be violent ok? I'm just here for some mushrooms and then I'm leaving. You seem to have enjoyed a very delicious meal. Haha… Ha…" With that, he started slowly stepping back not to alert the weird deer. Looking into its eyes, he could only see a rather terrifying glimpse of something he didn't understand.
It was not a beautiful creature anymore, this was a monster!
*CRACK*
As he was stepping back, Arthur didn't notice a small branch behind him and he cracked it with his foot. Immediately, the rather calm deer perked its head up as it stared directly at him.
Then, it opened its mouth again, far wider than before and revealed a set of extremely sharp teeth that should've not been inside the mouth of a deer. There were so many of them aligned around its mouth like a bloody chainsaw. After that, as if it lost all peace, it released a loud, monstrous screech that pierced Arthur's ear.
'Oh, goddamit.' The boy immediately realized that he had screwed up and to prove him right, the deer tapped on the ground twice and then started charging at him at top speed. Its long horns were pointing straight at him.
"Goddamit, goddamit! Goddamit!!" Arthur immediately started running as fast as he could. The deer followed after him, slowly closing the distance. "Why is it this fast?!"
Arthur had 8 points in agility which was his lowest stat out of everything and it was less than the average so the deer was able to easily overpower him in terms of speed. In matter of seconds, he found himself barely a few meters away from it.
'I can't keep running!' With no other way around it, the boy suddenly halted and turned around to face the deer. A second later, the monster reached him as it thrust its antlers forward.
But, the boy quickly jumped to the side, barely dodging the attack. Rolling on the ground, he landed on his feet before he pulled his sword out of his sheath.
'I'm glad I'm not completely useless athletically. Also, this body feels weirdly better to move in than my normal body.'
Although it was a minimal difference, Arthur could feel this body being more responsive than the real one. It was as if this body was completely ready for sudden and fast movements rather than the sluggishness he was accustomed to.
The deer continued its charge, smashing into a tree before it pulled out and stared at Arthur. The latter had already stood up and unsheathed his sword.
"You really won't make it easy on me, huh? Fine! I wanted to fight a badass wolf as my first monster but I guess it's going to be a carnivorous deer!" Clenching the handle of the sword, he took a deep breath. The two stared at each other with clear animosity.
Then, as if they agreed on it beforehand, the two charged at one another. Arthur yelled at the top of his lungs and swung the sword down sluggishly. The blade clashed with the antlers violently.
Almost immediately, Arthur felt the impact of the hit on his arms and body as his muscles and bones shook. Even that 90% pain reduction didn't fully get rid of the sudden numbness that assaulted him.
The deer yanked its head up, pushing the boy back as it lunged at him. As a quick reaction, Arthur grabbed the antler not to let it stab him. But, he still couldn't stop it from making contact.
'Ugh!'
The antler hit the upper part of his chest, almost piercing the skin. Meanwhile, his health bar had taken a little bit of damage, indicating that he had been hit. The deer struggled to get out of his group while Arthur lifted the sword up and stabbed it from the side. The long cut through the air and pierced the deer's side.
The monster screeched as it started moving even faster, hitting Arthur with its antlers and yanking his body left and right as the two brawled on the ground.
'This isn't what I was planning!!' The boy was struggling to regain control while trying to stab the monster every time he could. Blood was gushing out of both of them with the deer sustaining considerably heavier damage.
'It's chipping at my health bar! I need to kill it before it kills me!'
What was first a battle of strength had quickly boiled down to who could kill the other faster. The two were struggling to fully overpower their target.