For a second, Ted was paralysed. Cam moved smoothly and swiftly away, leaving Ted the only one standing in front of the charging animal. He stood there like an idiot, spear dangling in his right hand, his left hanging uselessly with the small shield strapped to the forearm, brain disengaged.
The tips of the Burner stag’s antlers were less than two metres away when he finally came to. Move, he thought.
He dived to the right, channelling magic into Break-fall allowing him to land smoothly and regain his feet. He heard the stag thunder past, felt the heat of its passing burn the air around it, and saw the flames from its passing disappearing as he turned.
He looked round for Cam, but the man was out of sight. He looked back at the stag. It had stopped its charge and was looking round for him. It spotted him instantly and tossed its head from side to side with frustration. It turned, setting itself up for another charge.
Ted had seen videos of stags fighting back on earth; normally they just tried to butt antlers together and push each other around. He wasn’t sure how the winner was decided, but they didn’t normally try to kill each other, he was pretty sure.
But earth deer didn’t have poisoned sharp antlers, nor fire magic. And Ted didn’t have his own antlers to fight back.
When the charge came again, with the stag tossing again. This time Ted had even less time; he’d put about three metres between himself and the Burner stag with his dive.
He dived again, trusting to the basics, rolling again with Break-fall, standing and then turning quickly. The Burner stag had passed him again, but hadn’t gone far.
With spear in hand, Ted channelled mana into Dash and sprinted forward before the stag could turn and block him with his antlers. With power enhanced by the speed of Dash, he plunged the spear into the stag’s exposed chest.
Or at least, he tried to.
The spear penetrated about an inch into the deer, and then stopped, stuck. Ted looked at the wound, puzzled, then felt a flash of instinct telling him to move. He raised his arm to try and block with the shield as the first tip came towards him, catching it straight on. But there were a dozen more antler tines coming towards him.
He channelled mana into Dodge, and instantly felt his reactions quicken and his muscles tense, letting him fall back as the sharpened spears of the antler tips race past where he had been. From his new crab position on the floor, he dropped to the floor and rolled, grabbing the spear as he did so, staying low to try and dodge the antlers.
The Burner stag had roared as he pulled out the spear, but Ted was disappointed to see little blood coming from the wound. It was like he’d barely done any damage at all; in fact, thinking about it now, he’d probably just hit a rib. He rolled twice more, trying to get away from the black antlers; the stag had yet to move its body, only its head, and its movement was therefore limited by the flexibility of its neck. He got clear, finding himself a few paces from the stag’s haunches. He took a step closer and suddenly registered an intense heat, the same that he’d felt when the stag had first charged past. The air was almost too hot to breathe, and he felt like his eyeballs were starting to dry. He fell back again, as the animal once again turned for another charge.
So the animal had a thick hide, an effective heat shield around its whole body, and a set of poison antlers the size of small trees.
And Ted had a useless spear and a shield the size of a dinner plate.
How was he supposed to win this? And where the hell was Cam? The bastard seemed to have run off.
He had an idea; a long shot, but he didn’t have many short ones. Looking down the antlers of the charging deer really was like looking down upon a tree in winter; the branches criss-crossed and provided pretty good coverage of the head; they even intertwined at some point.
But the branches were thin, and a long straight piece of wood or metal with a tip would be redirected rather than directly blocked and broken, he thought. He hoped. Because that was the plan.
He Dashed to the banks of the road, seeing that they were less baked and hardened than the central road. The Burner stag was turning, and Ted realised that using Dash he could move significantly faster than it. He could feel that he was starting to drain his MP beyond what he was used to though, as he channelled more magic than usual into each Technique to ensure it worked.
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Then, looking the Burner stag straight in the eyes, he used Stand Your Ground, giving him extra strength to slam the spear deep into the ground, sinking into the softer turf of the bank, angling it towards the enemy. He ignored the other effects of it, them being effectively negligible, and then hunched down, waiting for the stag to start its charge towards him. It did, building up speed with the six or seven metre run up he’d given it by moving away and to the road bank.
Ted suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and summoned a ball of light. As the stag neared, and he prepared to dive once more, he threw it up into the air, concentrating on maintaining its size and light as he did. He was gratified to see the stag’s head follow the movement while its body continued moving forwards. As he dived, rolled, and stood again, he saw his spear slice along the neck of the Burner stag. He cheered internally.
It was a gash and not a fatal blow, unfortunately, and while the stag roared again in pain, it was not defeated. Ted felt another blaze of heat as the stag raged, and more fires started around its hooves.
The stag started tossing its head wildly, furious, blood from its wound spraying in all directions.; Ted, fortunately, was well clear by this point, and wondering what his next move was. He was spearless, and despite the real wound he’d inflicted, definitely still the weaker warrior. His spear was still buried in the bank, though as he watched the stag knock it aside, it clattering to the floor a few paces from the frenzied animal.
He wondered whether he could risk a Dash there and back to pick it up, but the rapid head tossing of the beast put him off that. He needed it back though; he had no other weapons, no other way to damage the mad animal.
He decided to risk it, running at an angle so that he could pick up the spear and continue running that would take him away from the beast. As he started moving he saw the beast get control of itself and stop the mad head tossing. He Dashed, funnelling as much magic into it as he felt safe doing, whilst leaving him some left over. He had a plan.
Picking up the spear as he Dashed, he ran in a wide circle that led to him standing several metres away from the Burner stag. It was staring at him again, stamping its hooves, and once again, lowering its head.
It charged.
Ted charged.
He waited for the right movement, trusting in his Timing Skill, and everything he’d learnt. When it felt right, at the last possible moment, he threw up as blinding a Light ball as possible, then dropped, using his Drift skill with as much magic as possible imbued to slide underneath the antlers, just as the two forelegs of the deer rose up as part of its charge. Deer, or at least this deer, ran like a horse when going fast, bounding from front legs to back as it ran. And Ted had slipped right underneath.
Feeling the heat from the deer near burning him, he waited for just the right time once more. His spear had been held parallel to the ground as he Drifted; now he raised it up and thrust, the speed of his Drift combining with the Burner deer’s charge to drive it deep into the stomach of the beast. As it stuck, he let it go, and continued to Drift forward, his arms now over his head to protect from the hooves and potentially falling deer. But the collision never came.
When he stood up, seconds later, he found the deer skewered on his spear, its back legs held in the air by the spear it had impaled itself on, its aggression filled grunts and roars now replaced with pitiful cries of distress. Ted’s anger was suddenly replaced by pity, and he looked around, once again, to see if there was anything he could finish the beast off with; this time out of mercy rather than self defence.
Suddenly Cam was next to him.
‘We should put him out of his misery.’ he said calmly, as if he’d never left. ‘Here, take this.’ he offered Ted a long, sharp dagger.
‘Where the fuck have you been?’ Ted said, his anger returning. ‘And why don’t you finish it off? You’ve done nothing!’
‘This is your kill; you should finish it off. The CPS will recognise it as entirely your victory. I’ll explain everything once you’re done. Go quickly; the beast is in pain, and won’t be using its fire control properly.’ Cam, maintaining his tranquil tone and demeanour.
Ted took the dagger, staring them at Cam at the same time. ‘Fine.’
He stalked towards the pitiful beast. It had fallen over, to the side, the butt of the spear levered out of the earth, but the tip of the spear was still stuck in its gut. As Ted neared it, he slowed, cautious.
‘Best to go for a stab at the base of the skull, at the back of the neck. The dagger is enchanted with sharpness; you’ll be able to pierce through, don’t worry.’ Cam called, helpfully.
Ted rolled his eyes with his back to Cam, and crept towards the stag. He tried to feel out any waves of heat coming from the stag, but he couldn’t feel anything, supporting Cam’s statement. The beast was kicking and shaking weakly, but he could see that it was tremendously injured, and it knew it. He was filled with a sudden sadness at what he’d been made to do here, but pushed it down to get on with the job at hand.
He took the last few steps towards the stag confidently. Its antlers meant that it couldn’t rest its head down on the side, and in fact propped the head and neck up in a way that let Ted gain better access, as long as he crouched to avoid poking himself in the eye. He found the base of the head, as Cam had suggested, and put the dagger tip at the top. Then, closing his eyes, he pushed down.
The dagger slipped in with barely any resistance, and with a final shudder, stag died.
*Mission Complete*
Ted took a few breaths, trying to absorb what had just happened. It had been so fast.
Then he turned, and looked at Cam with murder in his eyes.