Gripping the rock tightly in his sweaty palms,Ryan dreaded the reveal of the creature.
Judging from the intensity of the disturbance, it definitely had to be a medium sized creature. It was just that he was not aware of it's kind.
Maybe a bear? A panther? Something even more dangerous maybe? Whatever it was it was going to be nasty.
Raising the rock above his head,he prepared himself for the monster reveal when the scary shrub shaker finally made it's appearance.
And he was floored.
Like literally floored,where was the fearsome beast cause the only thing he could see right in front of him was a deer.
A young white spotted deer that seemed to be just above a year at most. There was nothing scary about it,infact it even looked cute. That kind of dumb cuteness bunnies had that made you want to pinch their faces was also plastered on its face.
Dropping the rock,Ryan couldn't help but call you to the system while giving a funny side eye.
"I thought you said that a dangerous monster was coming out,is your dangerous monster this cute deer?"
[I'll advise you to keep your guard up.]
"Oh so now you can talk hun? From what I can see you're just being paranoid,infact I'll even walk up to it."
System:"..."
[Suit yourself.]
Taking careful,measured steps,he approached the deer. Surprisingly,it didn't make a run for it nor did it flinch even when he was less than two meters away from it. This caused him to actually think that something was wrong as deer would normally run before you could even get this close to them.
Furthermore,he couldn't help but notice that the eyes looked different. He didn't know the usual colour of a deer's eye but he was sure that it definitely was not red.
Have you ever seen a deer with blood red eyes?
Definitely no!
This and many more observations like how the antlers seemed especially sharp and the hooves seemed much bigger all made him conclude that there really might be something wrong with the deer as the system had pointed out.
He seemed to feel a weird aura oozing from the deers body,he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was but if he were to describe it it probably felt like bloodthirst.
And also why does it seem like it was getting bigger by the second?
"Hey system,I think that there seems to be something unusual about this deer."
[The host is advised to make a run for it as the beast is about to attack you.]
"What?"
Puzzled,Ryan couldn't help but ask.
However instead of the system answering him,a seperate interface panel sprung up.
[Newbie mission: A Geek's first battle.]
[Description:Real men are forged in the heat of battle,challenge your limits,kill the Blood bone deer and—try not to die while at it.]
[Rewards: Access to the system store and the activation of basic system functions.Mystery reward wheel of fortune]
[Time limit: Till you die or the deer dies.]
[ System note: Since you refused to run,you are to fight and eliminate the Blood bone deer. Good luck.]
"Wait…what? This can't be happening I don't even know how to fight! And what's with the time limit,are you cursing me? Hey don't ghost me again."
Unfortunately the system wasn't interested in his rant and neither was the deer as in the next moment it suddenly dropped it's head down and lunged at him.
Looking at the charging beast,he wanted to run but his legs seemed rooted to the floor. This was something that happened to him a lot as a kid especially when he saw a bike or a car coming. It felt like his brain froze up although in the end nothing serious usually happened.
But those times were different as there was no extreme consequences,now however, if he didn't do something he was going to die.
"Arrgh dang it,Ryan you can do it."
Huffing and puffing,he gritted his teeth as he tried to breakthrough the fear factor and just when the beast was about to hit him…
WHOOSH
BANG CRACK!
..his legs suddenly became extra springy,his ankles got compressed against the floor and then he did a vertical,360 degree flip dodging clear of the charging beast. The deer was clearly not expecting this as it wasn't able to stop itself this ramming hard into the tree. It started wobbling around as the impact force shook it's brains.
"I dodged it?...."
His back to the beast the reality of what he just did dawned on him. He couldn't believe it as this was totally unbelievable.
While backflips might be something easy for others he found it exceptionally difficult. While he had a good physique and such,he actually never took advantage of it.
The last time he did a backflip,he had to be rushed to emergency and thatvwas a long time ago,yet somehow he easily did it.
[It's the result of the system reviving you. The revival made some necessary modifications to your body to ensure faster adaptation to the current world.]
"Oh.. so you're still around? Thanks for doing nothing!"
Scoffing at the system,Ryan turned around and faced the Blood bone deer with surging confidence enough to compete with the Nile. Staring at the deer,he felt that it might not be that difficult to deal with the beast.
[ However I advise you to remain cautious as the beasts basic stats are more powerful than yours.]
"Blah,blah, blah,you don't need to lecture me, I've got this."
System:"..."
If the system had a face it would definitely be facepalming right now. This was the typical newborn calves do not fear the tiger situation,well he'd soon shake that off when he met with his first setback with the beast.
After telling the system off,Ryan felt confident as he took big,bold steps towards the Blood bone deer with his hands behind his back.
Unlike the previous times when half his heart was about to burst due to fear,this time was different. He felt that no matter what the beast did it couldn't hurt him. Furthermore,it was a dumb beast anyway,if he couldn't outsmart a dumb beast he felt like should just kill himself with a block of tofu.
Stopping at a dangerously close one meter to the beast,Ryan started taunting it.
"Hello motherfu*cker,how was the head butt,I can see you're still dizzy from it. Hehe..lemme tell you you're a dumb beast for thinking you could take me out. You see back in the days…."
Without knowing,he fell into a long charade insulting the beast. Due to not looking,he didn't know when it's eyes turned from a bloody red to a scarlet red. He was only alerted when it started dragging it's hooves on the floor.
Seeing this,Ryan couldn't help but smirk,all the trash talking he was doing wasn't just for the sake of it,no rather it was all to infuriate the beast. It was a well known fact that angry beasts were easier to deal with as their fighting strength declined with reduced rationality.
Raising his palm,he made a hand gesture that meant"Hey,come get a piece of me!"causing the beast to drop all it's inhibitions as in the next moment it burst into a mighty lunge. Since they were just standing apart by a meter it arrived Infront of him quicker than the previous time. However just when it was about to hit him,Ryan did another clean backflip,completely evading the beast.
The deer,seeing that it's target had disappeared again was lost for a while as it felt that this weak looking human had some strange tricks. It used the same method to cause it to strike the oak tree hard the last time, however,it felt smart that this time it was able to prevent another collision with a tree. It's only confusion was that whaer did the puny human go?
"Looking for me?"
Instantly the deers ears perked up as it turned back only for a huge rock to smack it's face causing it to wonder when the sneaky human got to it's back? That was strange as it didn't notice any movement at all! It had to deal with this human fast it thought and without wasting any time,it charged again.
"Yes! Come on dumbo."
Ryan felt ecstatic seeing this. This was exactly what he wanted.His plan was very simple,tire the beast out,he couldn't help but feeling smug at his simple yet efficient plan.
Hundred percent IQ!
While he had a strong body now due to the system's help,he lacked any battle capabilities and as such could only resort to this. It might not be honourable but hey, who cares about honour any way? As long as the method was working he didn't mind.
And thus inside a forest clearing a human and a strange looking deer could be seen doing what seemed to be hide and seek.
The human was backflipping while tossing rocks while the deer was well—chasing after him.
Not something you see everyday.