The next morning, Lyonel woke to the sound and smell of sizzling meat. For a brief moment he thought he was on fire, but when he opened his eyes he found a strange sight. Off to the side of their sleeping circle, a fire pit had been set up and flames were licking at the bottom of a pan.

Lyonel hadn't enjoyed a campfire in quite a while. Both Gerry and Samson had mage classes, but neither had any fire spells, and no one knew how to start a fire without magic or a flint. Even with a flint, Lyonel was only sometimes able to get a spark. That didn't seem to be a problem for Pebble.

Not only had he managed to get a campfire going somehow, but he had also set up a ring of stones around it, many of which were quite tall, allowing him to set a grill across it. On top of the grill was a pan in which strips of meat were cooking and a pot with what looked like porridge bubbling away.

Hector had been on last watch and was still out walking round the camp. Samson was still asleep, but Gerry was sitting by the fire, eagerly holding a bowl. Lyonel went over and sat next to his teammate.

"Can you believe it, Lyonel, hot breakfast!" the giraffe man said.

"Where'd he get the food?" Lyonel asked in a whisper.

"Not sure, boss, I woke up and he was cutting up a slab of meat into strips."

Lyonel was taken aback, not because Pebble seemed to be full of surprises, but because Gerry had called him boss. After Vesper was killed, Lyonel had become the de facto leader, but this was the first time someone had officially addressed him as such. A noise behind them announced Samson waking up. They could hear the rabbit man's nose start working and he soon joined them by the fire.

"Is that for us?" Samson asked.

Pebble heard and looked over before nodding. He reached for his pouch again and two bowls and three forks appeared. Just how much was in that pouch? He passed the bowls out, and the forks, before returning to his preparations. He must have felt that the porridge was properly cooked because he gestured for them to hold out their bowls.

Gerry went first, which was fair since he was also the first one awake, and Pebble filled the bottom of his bowl before adding a couple of strips of meat on top. Lyonel watched as Gerry tucked into his, drool pooling in his mouth. He apparently thought it was good because he began shoveling it into his mouth.

While Lyonel had watched Gerry eat, Samson had gotten his bowl filled. He eagerly held out his own bowl, excited to try the delicious smelling food. The porridge was steaming and the meat was still sizzling as it sat on top. The first bite would have burned his mouth before the Network arrived, but his increased constitution was enough to handle it. Barely. The flavor was another matter. Truthfully, it was probably nothing special. There did seem to be some kind of spice on the porridge, but it was a fairly basic meal.

After the unappetizing and raw meals they had been consuming for the last month, however, it tasted heavenly. Hunger makes for the best seasoning. Saving Pebble was turning out to be one of the best decisions they had made. Watching the human, he saw him take out two more bowls. He filled them both up with the last of the porridge and placed the final few strips on top. Lyonel was initially confused, but then he realized one was for Hector. That was very considerate of him.

"Pebble, where did you get all of this food?" He asked him.

Of course Pebble couldn't answer verbally, but he was very eloquent with his hands. The finger pointing at his pouch was easy to interpret, but he went on to try and explain more. It took them a few minutes of guessing before they arrived at the answer of 'the tavern'. It made sense. He had worked at a restaurant, so he had access to both dishes and food. He must have picked up some cooking skills there as well.

Hector finally came in and happily grabbed his bowl. He had obviously noticed what was going on, but he waited until everything was ready before coming off watch. He was a dedicated scout and the team was lucky to have him. Now that everyone was here, Lyonel thought it time to share what he had decided the night before.

"Okay gents, let's talk about the plan. I know that Vesper's death was shocking to us all…" he noticed Pebble gave a strange look at that. He had died before they ever came to the village, so the man would have no idea who he was talking about. "...but we can't just give up. We already know we can't go back to the previous zone, so we're stuck here anyway and might as well make the most of it. I picked up a couple of quests from that large board in town, and I think we should do the town dungeon one."

His pronouncement was met with nervous looks, but no one objected out loud, so he pushed on. "The dungeon isn't too far from here, I think after we break camp we should head there. One thing we have to consider is Pebble."

Gerry was the first to ask, "What about him? I thought he was coming with us?"

Samson and Hector nodded at that. After this morning's breakfast there probably would have been a mutiny if he suggested ditching the human.

"Well, yeah, but what does he do while we're in the dungeon? The way I see it, we either bring him into the dungeon with us, or we find him a safe spot to hole up in until we finish. What are your thoughts, and you too Pebble, this certainly concerns you."

Lyonel punted the choice to the rest of the group. He didn't want to seem like he was making all of the decisions so soon after taking charge. This should show that he was the leader, but that he still valued their input.

Hector offered his opinion first. "I'm not sure where we could find a safe place, but I think that would be better than bringing him into the dungeon."

Gerry was thinking with his stomach. "He'd be fine in the dungeon. We could leave him by the entrance and he should be safe there while we do our thing. He could even set up a little camp while he waits if it seems like it will take a while."

"Or while we are off somewhere else, a dungeon monster comes by and eats him," was Hector's retort.

Samson gave his two cents as well. "Yeah, I'm with Hector. I think we should find him a safe space."

Pebble seemed to like the idea of finding a secure campsite as well. With the decision made, and only a little grumbling from the giraffe man, the group set off toward the location of the dungeon, but they kept their eyes peeled for a likely campsite. Hector was their fastest member, and he had the best perception, so he did most of the searching.

The ferret man was unsurprisingly the one to make the best find. It was a crevice in a small cliff that Hector found in the forest. It was several meters wide, so it shouldn't be uncomfortable, but it was a little exposed. Luckily Samson was on the job.

For his upgraded mage class, Samson had gotten the uncommon Earth Handler class. It had come with knowledge of a few more spells, all focusing on earth mana. One of the spells he liked the most was a stone wall skill. He could have made Pebble a stone cottage at any time, but unfortunately his walls weren't very sturdy unless he was there to actively feed them mana.

However, he was more than capable of putting together a series of small walls that helped narrow and hide the opening to the crack, and even a wall to act as the ceiling. It wasn't perfect, but it should be enough to keep him safe for the hopefully short time they would be gone. Also, Pebble did have Lyonel's old club if he got desperate, but it hopefully wouldn't come to that. Monsters did exist here, but they were still relatively uncommon, and the campsite was no longer obvious, thanks to Samson's efforts.

Pebble waved goodbye to the group as they set out again for the town dungeon. According to the directions Lyonel remembered from the paper, the dungeon entrance should only be a couple of kilometers away. It wouldn't take them more than an half an hour to get to the general area, and a hopefully short time after that to find it.

His estimate for travel time was spot on, but he was quite a bit off with how long it took to find it. The dungeon entrance was a small stone building, about the size of a shed. It had a door on one side that contained the usual shadowy black entrance of a dungeon. It was also sitting in a field and was obvious from quite a distance.

Making sure everyone was still listed in the party, Lyonel stepped into the door. He knew that his fellow party members were receiving messages right now asking if they wanted to join him in the dungeon. This would allow them all to enter the same instance of the dungeon. Some dungeons could be run by multiple people at a time, like the starter dungeons in tier one.

Any number of people could be in those dungeons at once, but you were not allowed to enter with a party. Many of the dungeons in tier two could also be done by multiple people at once, and most of those allowed groups. If they had not been in a party, then most likely, each of them would have been taken to their own version of the dungeon. Lyonel liked having his squad with him better.

New Quest: Clearing the Field

[The local farmers have been diligently tending their field of corn. A herd of Scavenger Deer are on their way to devour their efforts. Kill all of the deer to prevent them from eating the corn.]

So there was still a Network given quest, even though there was also a quest on the board, interesting. Lyonel and the party found themselves standing on a dirt road adjacent to a field of corn. There was a small wooden fence surrounding the field, but it was only a meter high and would not provide a real impediment to anyone trying to get in. Maybe these deer things were small though, and wouldn't be able to jump over. It seemed unlikely, however. He had never heard of a deer before, but he doubted the dungeon would make it that easy.

On the other three sides of the cornfield were sheer rock walls. It didn't seem as if those sides would be vulnerable, maybe the dungeon was trying to help them out. That left the side they were currently standing on as the only possible point of entry, unless these things could fly. Please don't let them be flyers.

Taking charge, Lyonel gave out orders. "Samson, can you set up a couple of walls for you and Gerry to take cover behind? Hector, why don't you see if you can get an eye on what we're dealing with. I'll check out the field, and make sure everything seems ok there."

Everyone acknowledged in the affirmative and set about their tasks. Gerry was a water and dark mage, in addition to being a scholar and having a dexterity class. Samson had a variety of spells, mostly earth obviously, but also had a spirit and strength class. Both could deal a good amount of damage with their spells, but their personal defense was not the greatest.

Between the walls and Lyonel's taunting talent, they should be ok as long as they didn't draw too much attention to themselves. Hector had his rare perception class, Huntsman. The name hadn't sounded much different than the basic quartz class, but it truly was an upgrade. Rather than someone who occasionally hunts, the huntsman's entire life is centered around it.

Not only did it give him improved perception abilities and boosts to speed and tracking, but it also had a rather versatile class ability that could boost either a melee or ranged style hunter. Hector had embraced the adaptive nature of the ability and could use either a nice recurve bow he had earned or his spear. Both would be options, depending on what these deer things looked like, but Lyonel was hoping that he and Hector could fight together, to help hold the creatures off of their squishier mages. Unfortunately, the scout didn't have a strength or constitution class, but his dexterity class would help. His focus class was only common and was probably not going to be much of a factor.

It had been about 10 minutes when Hector came sprinting back. In front of the corn crop was a flat area that extended for a couple of hundred meters. After that there was a steep rise that prevented them from seeing any farther. It was down that hill that the ferret man was now sprinting.

"Incoming, a LOT of incoming!" they could just barely hear him yelling.

The nice thing about their stat boosted bodies was that they could handle exertion much better. When Hector got close enough for them to have a real conversation, his breathing wasn't affected much, so he could start talking right away.

"I saw these deer. There are about twenty of them and they look serious. They are about our size, and are quadrupeds with short fur. Each leg is pretty thin but there were large claws on the bottom. On top of their heads are large antlers that look incredibly sharp. Also, their mouths are filled with sharp teeth and they seem to be doing a lot of drooling."

"How soon will they get here?" Lyonel asked.

"They were walking when I first saw them, not all that fast either. As soon as they noticed me though, they started running. They move pretty quickly and they should be coming over the hill any second now."

Lyonel didn't have much time to plan, but with that many creatures arriving all at once, he knew that Hector would have to help him keep the deer off their ranged party members.

"Samson and Gerry," he called out behind him, "take out as many as you can before they get here. Focus on the sides first though, try and keep them clumped up so that they don't run past us into the corn. Hector, you're with me. We get to play meat shield. Focus on defending yourself over taking them down. That'll be the mages' job."

Everyone hollered their assent and they got ready. Hector was correct about the timing, it was only about ten seconds after Lyonel gave them their tasks that the first deer appeared at the top of the hill. Hector had told them it was only twenty enemies, but that many slavering beasts stampeding toward you certainly made it seem like twice that number at least.

Gerry was the first to strike out. He had a spell called Crushing Depths that combined both dark and water mana. It summoned water in a variety of shapes and anything caught inside would feel like they were being squished by a vice. Not unlike how Vesper must have felt at the end, Lyonel thought with a grimace.

It was a decent spell, but the biggest drawback was that it usually took a while to inflict any serious damage on a target. Gerry was a quick thinker, however, and he specifically targeted the legs of the deer. Those spindly things were not made with combat in mind. After only a second or two, the balls of water encasing a deer's leg would cause the bone to snap and the animal to collapse. The first time he used the spell, the falling deer also took out the two running directly behind it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It only took a moment for them all to get back up, but it slowed them down, and the targeted deer was running on three legs, the fourth bent at an unnatural angle. At the very least it should make it harder for the deer to maneuver in a fight. By the time the animals made it down the hill, four of the twenty had a broken leg. Three from Gerry and one from getting tripped up.

Now Samson got in on it. Pairs of stone spikes started shooting up from the ground, each one impaling a deer. True to his orders, he alternated his attacks on first the right and then the left side of the mass of savage beasts. Where Gerry's attack had helped to spread out the group and impair some of their fighting abilities, Samson's attacks meant almost instant death. Between the sharpened stone pillar and their charging speed, they were devastating themselves when they ran into the attack. By the time the deer were close enough for Lyonel to start to sweat, there were only three deer left in the front, and nine more strung out behind.

"Come get some you mangy vermin!" For some reason insults worked well with his taunting talent combined with his aggression drawing class ability, and the front three all made for him. Lyonel's preferred combat gear included a tower shield and a mace. Setting his feet and locking the shield on the ground, he braced for impact.

When the first deer impacted the shield it dropped its head, leading with its antlers. An inhuman scream could be heard as they shattered on the reinforced metal of his shield. The other two were smart enough to learn from their companion's misfortune and checked up their charge.

It's not easy to go from an out of control sprint to zero in an instant and one of the two collapsed as both of its front legs snapped. Hector was able to take advantage of the last one's sudden stop to drive his spear into its neck, and ripping downward he extricated it in a fountain of blood.

Lyonel smashed the head of the deer with two broken legs and Hector stabbed into the chest of the one with no antlers left. Three more enemies down and nine left, two of which had broken legs. Gerry was now blasting out with beams of darkness. They were a relatively short range attack, only good under twenty meters, but their power was impressive. Each beam left a large hole behind, and unlike a fire attack, the flesh was simply gone, not burned away. This left the unfortunate deer to bleed out from the giant gaping wound.

Samson switched from his ground based stone spears to flying rocks. Each one was tiny, smaller than the pebble that the human had used to demonstrate his name. But Samson was able to accelerate them to an impressive speed in a short amount of time. Each casting also created over twenty of these small rocks. The effect was devastating on bunched up groups. Sometimes a single pebble would pass through two or three targets before losing its inertia.

Four minutes after the first deer had been spotted over the hill, Hector was putting the last one out of its misery. Lyonel looked around, impressed at the carnage they had caused. He was also pleased with his decision to take on this dungeon first. The danger here was real, but they had been able to overcome the challenge with nothing more than effort. A few more encounters like this and they should have their nerve back. It seemed like the Network agreed with him.

Quest Update: Clearing the Field

[The first wave of deer are dead. Kill all of the remaining waves to prevent them from eating the corn.]

Okay, so this wasn't a one and done deal. They had handled the first wave alright, but if there were going to be more, it was time to see exactly how everyone was doing. Not just physically, but in terms of resources spent and remaining. Lyonel didn't know exactly how much time before the next wave arrived, so it was best to start right away.

"Each of you give me a quick report. Tell me your health, any consumables you used in the last fight, how low are your mana and stamina pools right now, and how long till you're 100%."

Hector went first, "Health is full, didn't use any potions or arrows, mana is full and stamina is at seventy percent and will be full in a couple of minutes."

Samson was next, "Health is also full, I used a mana potion, my mana is now at 40% and will be full in about five minutes."

Gerry went last, "My health is also full, I didn't use any potions, my mana is at 20% and will take about eight minutes to max out."

Lyonel took stock of himself. He hadn't taken any injuries either, and his stamina wasn't even as low as Hectors. It seemed like they should be able to handle a lot more waves, as long as they had a little time in between. That was going to be a factor.

Lyonel gave them their marching orders again. "Ok, we don't know how many more waves there are, so Samson, try to hold off on using a potion this time, if you have to slow down your casting to make that work, then so be it. Hector, Why don't you take out your bow and see if you can pick some off before they get into range. Also, stay back here, don't bother scouting. Maybe it will take them longer to get here if they don't see you ahead of time and start their charge early."

"Sounds good, what about the bodies?" Hector asked.

That was an interesting question. At the moment there weren't that many and they were scattered around. There was a cluster of them near where they had fought the last time, maybe they should move those to keep their fighting area clear.

Lyonel, Samson, and Hector did the heavy lifting, well Lyonel and Samson lifted, Hector was forced to drag. They soon made a couple of piles of carcasses, well away from where they would be fighting. It had been about eight minutes since the last wave and there was still no sign of the next. At this point everyone was back to full resources and eager to test themselves against the another wave. When it finally came, perhaps fifteen minutes after the last wave ended, Lyonel wasn't the only one to notice a difference.

Hector, with his high perception, was the first to speak up. "Anyone else think that there are more of them this time?"

It was hard to get an exact count as they milled around, but it was definitely more than twenty. It seemed that not only would there be multiple waves, but they would get harder too. The deer had come over the hill at a brisk walk, but after noticing either the corn or the defenders, they once again began charging. It took them a little bit to get up to full speed, and they held off their attack until them.

Gerry's leg breaking attack was most effective when they were moving quickly, and Samson's stone spears also relied partially on their momentum to deal fatal damage. This meant fewer attacks early on, and Samson was also spacing out his spells a little more, trying to preserve his mana.

By the time the deer approached Lyonel's position, only six were dead, but eight of them were running on three legs. Gerry had managed to improve his efficiency in targeting and casting time. This allowed him to break up the mass even better than the last time.

The close in work was much harder than the first wave. Lyonel's taunt was just as effective as last time, but there were a lot more enemies behind the vanguard. By the time they dropped the last deer, Samson and Gerry were completely out of mana, and both Lyonel and Hector were injured. Lyonel's weren't serious, and might heal up enough on their own, but the more fragile scout was forced to drink a healing potion.

The third wave had even more deer in it, and both Samson and Gerry had to drink a mana potion. Lyonel realized they would need more advantages if the waves kept up, so they decided to do something other than just move the bodies out of the way. They had enough now that they could make a wall of them in front of their position.

Lyonel was worried that if they made the wall solid, that the deer would try and go around it, allowing them to either flank them, or get into the corn. They didn't yet have enough bodies to block off the whole field. Instead, they left a small section open in the middle, just big enough for Lyonel and Hector to hold it. They would still be exposed, but only from the front, unless the deer could jump a wall of flesh more than a meter high.

The next wave taught them that yes, deer could jump that high. If he had to guess he imagined that even a two meter high wall wouldn't be an issue for them. It still slowed them down, and Gerry made it his responsibility to hit any that did jump. This allowed the meat shields to focus their efforts forward and they came out of the fight in better shape than last time.

They were still a little scraped up, but nothing that would require a precious healing potion. They had stocked up on some from the dungeon store in the last tier, but they didn't have access to any more consumables at the moment. Gerry and Samson had unfortunately needed another mana potion each for that wave. The good news was that the latest quest update was different.

Quest Update: Clearing the Field

[You have managed to protect the cornfield through numerous waves of deer. All that remains to threaten that golden treasure is the Scavenger King and his personal guard. Kill them and the field will be safe.]

This looked to be the final wave of enemies, but it also seemed like this one would have some elites. The scavenger deer had been level seven uncommon beasts, dangerous, but mostly because of their numbers. If there were as many deer in this last wave, and they were of a higher level, they could be in trouble.

A benefit to the increased number of enemies in the last wave was that they could add onto their wall. Lyonel left a few dead deer scattered in front of their fighting position, hoping it would foul their enemy's stance. In addition, they stacked the carcasses taller in the section right next to their opening. They managed to get it over two meters high on either side, but that didn't allow them to expand the wall much. It would hopefully make jumping over it, near them, too difficult. That should also give Gerry time to take them out if they made the leap farther down.

It was only ten minutes after the last wave before the deer showed up, and when they did, it was obvious it wouldn't be like before. Instead of charging down after reaching the top, they stood, looking down at the defenders. There were only twenty of them, same as the first wave, but Lyonel's identify skill told the tale of the quality difference.

Beast: Scavenger Deer Guard (Rare) level 9, threat: moderate.

Beast: Scavenger King (Epic) level 10, threat: serious.

The levels weren't too bad, Lyonel had killed a level twelve once on his own, but the rarities were concerning. He had only encountered a few rare creatures and had always defeated them with a group. This was the first time he had seen an epic rarity beast. Most of the creatures didn't appear much different from their uncommon brethren, other than being slightly larger, so they probably had other, less obvious advantages.

The King was another matter. He was another head taller than even the guards around him, and his rack of antlers was at least twice as wide as any of the others. He looked like a solid physical threat, but that epic rarity also suggested he had another trick or two hiding in his fur.

The hill was a good way off, and elevated, but Hector was no longer a normal archer. He unfortunately didn't have a strength class that would naturally allow him to use bows with much higher draw strengths, but he had at least consumed some strength boosting fruits so he was stronger than a normal Corellian. Also, the true limiter on an archer wasn't their maximum shooting range, but their longest effective distance.

Thanks to his perception and dexterity, in addition to his bullseye and penetrate talents, he was able to hit targets at a longer range than the deer were at now. His first shot would be the most effective, before they learned to fear his bow, but he didn't try and hit the King to start. He figured it would be better to see how well the attack did on one of the guards. There were more of them so it would be at least as important to understand their capabilities as the King's.

The first arrow was headed toward one of the guards on the far edge of their line. Before it was even halfway there, Hector had already nocked his next arrow and was drawing it to his chin. As the first strike hit, the second was on its way. He knocked a third, but waited to see how they would react before he drew.

As his initial shot descended, the line of deer didn't seem to realize the danger. The ferret man's aim was true and it landed in the body of his target. The arrow sank halfway into its chest and the deer collapsed. It wasn't dead yet, but it was also unable to rise back up. Lyonel noticed that the shaft hadn't gone in as far as it had against the regular deer. It seemed either their skin or muscles were tougher, providing some extra armor.

The second arrow hit only a couple of seconds later and was equally effective. It was a good thing he hadn't tried to get a third shot off, though, because the herd was already on the move, even as the second deer was falling. Now that they were charging, Hector adjusted his aim and didn't try to arc it in as much, aiming for a straighter shot.

He got in two more arrows, one dropping his target and the second only glancing off, before they were in range for Gerry. His leg crushing water spell was still effective, but with the deer spread out more there was less collateral damage. When they were in range, Samson's stone spears were also still lethal. By the time the deer had reached the bottom of the hill they were down to fourteen, including the King.

Speaking of the larger deer, after reaching the flat ground, he dropped his head and his antlers started to glow. He was still charging forward, and much too far away to be thinking of hitting Lyonel or Hector with his horns, but the other deer soon followed suit. After a couple of steps, the light from his antlers started to spread to those nearest to him. Six steps later and all of the deer had their heads down and their racks glowing.

Suddenly, Lyonel found himself flying through the air, surrounded by bloody and torn deer bodies. It wasn't until he landed and managed to regain his feet that he got an idea of what had happened. The wall of dead deer that they had so carefully formed was gone. In its place was the line of elite enemies, far closer than they should be.

At first he couldn't find Hector, but then he saw him lying nearby, not moving. Rushing over, he found several large bleeding gouges spread around his body. Lyonel had been holding his shield in front of him on principle, and it must have absorbed most of whatever attack that was. Without a similar defense, Hector's was forced to tank all of the damage, and without a constitution class to help out.

It didn't look good. His chest was still rising and falling so he was alive, but he seemed to be unconscious and was bleeding out all over. Lyonel took out two healing potions and poured them into as many of the wounds as he could. They had figured out that applying the potion directly to injuries was more effective than simply drinking them. That was all the time he could give his teammate, as without Lyonel to draw them off, the deer were trying to engage with Samson and Gerry.

The rabbit man mage was a terror with his Stone Shot spell. At such close range he was taking out clumps of enemies as they charged. Unfortunately it was also eating up his energy and Lyonel saw him drinking down a white mana potion to restore it. He probably didn't have too many more of those. Gerry's attacks weren't as instantly lethal and he was being hard pressed. It looked like he was the one in more desperate need of help.

Sprinting over, Lyonel cut into the flank of the group trying to get around Gerry's wall. His mace came down on the spine of one deer, and he could hear the crack as it broke, sending it crashing to the ground. His shield caught a retaliation strike from one of its fellows before he swung the mace into the face of another deer who was lowering its head to carve him up. Lyonel's mace landed first and it was enough to pulp its brain.

The Scavenger King was rather passive this whole time. Lyonel wasn't sure what it was doing, but he noticed that its whole body seemed to be glowing slightly. That didn't bode well, but he was busy finishing off the last of its guard at the moment. As the final deer threatening Gerry was killed, the giraffe man asked after his friend.

"Boss, is Hector…" he trailed off, unwilling to finish the question.

"No, he's alive. I gave him a couple of potions, hopefully he'll be ok."

Samson called out, having finished his opponents as well. "What are we gonna do about the big guy?"

Looking back over, the King was still just standing there, but the glow was much brighter. Whatever he was doing, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to let him finish. "Hit it with everything you've got."

Samson let loose with several stone spears and Gerry used his dark beams. This time it was Samson's attacks that weren't very effective. There were small wounds left behind, but mostly the stone pillar simply crumbled on its skin. Perhaps the glow was giving it increased armor. Gerry's attacks were more effective and left behind the expected holes, although Lyonel could see them visibly healing.

If the King could restore himself that quickly, then they would have to try and do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. He told Samson to switch to a different spell and for Gerry to keep it up. Moving closer, Lyonel started hitting it with his mace. The first blow landed on its ribs, and it felt like hitting a rock wall.

A gust of wind blew past Lyonel's shoulder as Samson switched to Wind Blades. It wasn't a spell he was particularly talented at, but it was one of his few non-earth attack spells. Surprisingly, the blades managed to cut through the hide, leaving a bloody line, but it didn't seem to do much to the muscle behind. The deer had a very tough body.

He kept wailing away on the King's body, damaging it as best he could when it finally started to move. It was just as Lyonel had decided to take a swing at its head, and it was able to smoothly slide out of the way. It was moving much better than before. Perhaps that glow was some kind of boosting skill. If it was more agile, with a tough body, and self-healing, they were in trouble.

He was just thinking that perhaps running away would be the best course of action right now, when something happened to the large deer. The eyelashes around one of its eyes seemed to grow much longer and the previously sure footed King actually stumbled. When the second eye grew its own set of eyelashes he realized what was happening.

Looking behind him he saw Hector on his feet again. He didn't seem to be in the best of health, but standing there, holding his bow out after putting an arrow in each of the deer's eyes, the fletching all that was sticking out, he looked like a hero out of legend. The only thing missing was a beam of sunlight shining down on him.

Turning back to the boss, he saw it vanish in a swirl of flesh and blood before reforming into a collection of glassware. Samson was the first to make it over and he shouted with triumph. It was a collection of mana and health potions. Not enough to replenish what they had used, but it was close. At the same time they also got a notification.

Quest Completed: Clearing the Field

[You managed to eliminate the Scavenger Deer threat without losing any of the corn. Reward: one Opal. Further rewards can be collected at the nearby village of Elstree Town Hall.]

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