After I heard the sound of the log wall falling down, I rushed out of my hut to see what was going on.

The sky was a brilliant orange colour, which let me know that it was still evening, and I could see the gas giant this moon orbited at the edge of my vision, with all of its oranges, reds, and other plethora of colours you’d associate with a gas giant.

But my eyes quickly moved on from the sky I had grown accustomed to, and to the broken part of the log wall some 60 meters away from me, and through the broken part of the wall, I saw what I could only describe as... a mutated Ram deer... or deer ram. I don’t remember what I called them exactly but—you get what I am talking about, so I am just going to move on.

It was on a whole another league than the male I had went against in my second day in the new world, and it was a lot bigger than any other tier 2 I had met too!

It was the size of an Asian elephant, the base of its horns resembled the horns of a ram, but they had started branching upwards and backwards, and had started resembling the antlers of a deer, though it still was mostly grey with the ends of the horns being nearly black.

And its fur had taken on a darker colour than the other deer ram’s I had seen before, with dark brown teetering on the edge of black covering most of its body with a few splotches of brown that was a few shades lighter covering the rest.

And, of course, its body was covered in bulging muscles I could see from even this far away.

And it was... just looking around?

For a few moments the monster looked around without doing anything other than being threatening, but then it raised its head up and started sniffing something, and after it got a whiff of... whatever it was looking for, its head snapped towards my direction.

*ding*

Quest Whispers From The Dark completed! Rewards, 20 Exp + 2 Research Points have been granted in the Empire System!

And as its head snapped towards me, I ignored the sudden notification, and my head snapped back, and I saw the rainbow sapling resting on its hammock...

“Ahhh... I should’ve burned that thing the moment I found it.” I muttered before hearing the sounds of something galloping approaching towards me from the distance, turning around, I was stunned for a moment by such a large monster running towards me, but I snapped out of it, and got away from my hut, and ran towards the others who were as stunned as I was just a moment ago.

“Snapp out of it!” I screamed and started shaking the smelters out of their stupor.

“You 2, go get the construction workers over there and call them here, James and the other carpenters too, you 2 go get the lumberjacks, and you 2 go get the farmers and the construction workers that are helping them. When you return, go to weapon stockpile and... grab spears and bows.” I then ordered them to bring the others here.

I know that these people don’t know how to use a spear or a bow, but I was kinda desperate right now because if this thing decided to attack us after it was done getting the sapling, we’d not be able to do anything against it as the hunters were away right now... I should’ve set up guards, shouldn’t’ve I?

Lamenting my past decisions for a moment, I ran to the weapon stockpile and grabbed a long bow, a primitive quiver, and some iron and copper arrows.

Getting out, I saw that the Tier 2 deer ram had destroyed my hut, and as its head rose, I saw that it had the rainbow sapling between its jaws.

I the immediately took an arrow from the quiver on my back, and prepared to draw the string but didn’t, as if I did that, the monster would definitely stay and attack, but maybe, just maybe, it may go away now that it has what it came here for.

Then after a few seconds of just holding the sapling in its jaws, and standing there doing nothing, the monster turned its head towards me.

It was only about 60 meters away from me, so while it was uncomfortable that it was looking at me, I didn’t want to show any signs of aggression and just hoped it’d go away.

And then it fully turned towards me and started clearly rearing for a charge.

“You must be kidding me...” I muttered and just... ran.

I ran towards the hole it made in the log wall, and hoped I’d be able to get there faster than it, and then go into the forest as, while repairing my hut wouldn’t be a problem.

Repairing my hut, 30 others, and all of the weapons and tools we had in our possession after an elephant-like creature crushed them would be a problem, a pretty big one at that too!

Running as fast as I could around the huts, I hoped for a moment that the monster wouldn’t just crash through them... and I was disappointed after I heard sounds of something breaking through the houses, but thankfully I was fast enough to make it out of the walls before it reached me.

Though its size and it running through some huts helped slow it down too! So, not all the credit was mine.

As I ran down the hill, and hoped that it was still following me instead of massacring my people...

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

*BANG*

*BOOM*

It... broke through another part of the log wall and just charged through it... even though the opening it first made was literally right there...

You know what? Don’t care.

Run Damian! Run!

And run I did!

And run through the forest I did! I was hoping it’d lose interest in me and go back to where its home was or whatever, but it continued to chase me into the forest and... I was kinda fucked.

There were traps in the forest I knew of, but they were for small prey like mole rabbits and such.

Not for an elephantine monster.

But as I ran, I quickly realised something, which gave me a moment of solace as I realised that being an elephant sized creature in a forest as dense as this?

Yeah, not that easy.

I could hear the monster hitting the trees, and breaking branches and such.

And no matter how strong its hide and flesh were because of all the mana in it, that will hurt after some time.

So, I can just run until it can’t run because of its bruises?

...Yeah... no.

While I, like humans and other homunculi, could run for a long, long time thanks to my hairless body and sweat glands or whatever they are called.

But I’d overheat, and tire out after some time, no matter how adrenaline filled I was.

And I was not sure how much stamina the deer ram had, but assuming the worst, it had more stamina than me, and would outrun me.

So, I had to do something before the inevitable happened but... what?

...

No good, I am not in the right mind to think right now. I just can’t focus on what to do while an elephant is chasing me.

“...Empire System” I muttered, wanting to see how much my empire’s population was.

Level 2 Experience: 110/200

Population: 101

“...101, so, I am considered a citizen of my empire, right?” I asked myself, and hoped it was right.

“Hooh... Absolute Order: Damian, be calm.” I muttered to myself, hoping the skill would work.

“...Interesting.” I muttered as I felt like I was watching reality through a window.

The outside world was... reality. It was the world where I was being chased by a tier 2. But the world behind the window was... calm.

I didn’t need to worry about the tier 2 monster chasing me, because it was faraway, and I could only see it through a window.

So, I just didn’t worry about it.

“Hoooh.” My body let out a sigh as I slowed it down a bit and started regulating its breathing.

“Hmm... for how long can I stay like this?” I asked myself, and opened my system window, and saw that I had 60 mana, and felt how much mana I was losing.

“Hmm... 2—no, 2.5 hours if we count the mana regeneration. So, 20 mana per hour huh?” I muttered and started thinking of a way to get out of this situation, so I may return back to the village and help other rebuild.

“I can at max continue running like this for another 30 minutes, but after that I’ll collapse from overheating and exhaustion, so not good.

“I have 10 iron tipped arrows, and 20 copper tipped ones. So, I should be able to take out its eyes at worst case scenario or injure it a bit. But I don’t have the time to stop, and turn around to take a shot... where was the hunters hunting again?” I muttered, and changed my direction slightly to in an attempt to intercept either Jonathan’s or Jonathanne’s group while they were returning, so that they may help me kill this thing.

Because, it was still a tier 2, so we didn’t need anything fancy to kill it.

Bows, arrows, and spears should do the job. And while a gun would be much preferred... I don’t know how to make gunpowder, so that will have to wait until Rae gives me the research for it.

And I hope that brat won’t attempt to block me out of researches like black powder and steam engines by blocking them behmind a 100-point wall.

If she does so, I’ll just punt her—but that’s for later.

Putting the arrow on my hand back into the quiver with precise movements, I then moved my hand to my mouth, and started whistling.

*whistle~*

And I help onto my whistle for about 5-7 seconds before I stopped for a few seconds, and then whistled again.

*whistle~*

*tweeet~*

Some birds were answering me, but that wasn’t a problem.

And why was I whistling exactly?

Well, a few weeks ago I had whistled in front of everyone, and they tried to imitate me. And, while most couldn’t imitate me, they still knew what my whistle sounded like.

And I hoped they remembered how my whistle sounded like too.

And if they didn’t, and I was not able to intercept any hunting groups, I’d just die, I guess.

For a moment I felt weird talking so casually about my death but... I also felt distant to the thought.

Remember? I was watching everything from a window. So, even the thought of me actually dying didn’t bother me, even though my body’s heart started beating faster.

“...Wonder if I can teach this skill to others... but even if I could, I shouldn’t.” I thought to myself as I continued running.

I might be looking at the world with apathy right now due to the absolute order I gave myself, but my understanding of what could and would happen if this power was ever given to the wrong people didn’t escape my mind.

No one was infallible and incorruptible. And neither was I.

But the less people had a power like this, the less were the chances of something bad happening.

*THUD*

Suddenly a sound came from behind me, and slightly turning my head, I saw that the deer ram was faster than I had thought it was.

“So, I shouldn’t’ve slowed down to conserve energy?

“... Well, I had a good run but, oh well—huh?” I muttered as I saw the silhouette of something familiar on the ground, and after a moment, leaped over it with a long jump.

And then continued running for a bit, until I heard—

*snap*

And like that, a single foot of the deer ram was caught in a trap.

Turning around immediately, I saw that the deer ram was momentarily in capacitated because one of its feet had been pulled up, and like a well-oiled machine, my body moved efficiently and I grabbed an iron tipped arrow from my quiver, and knocked it into my bow, and drew the string, and I aimed directly for the heart, and let go of the string.

*Swooosh~*

As the arrow cut through the air, I was hopeful for a moment, but sadly my hopes were crushed the moment the deer ram pulled on the strings that were pulling its feet and freed itself in a single movement.

And the arrow that was destined for its heart instead found itself stuck to the arm of the deer ram.

Then the animal let out a roar of pain, and it looked at me angrily for a moment, but by that time, I had already knocked another arrow into my bow and fired it.

*Swoosh~*

Though this time I aimed for the eyes, but the deer ram quickly defended itself by using its antler like horns, and my arrow just fell down to the ground with a pitiful thud.

*Swooosh~*

*Swooosh~*

*Swooosh~*

Then 3 sounds came from the forest suddenly.

And unlike my shot, these 3 were not aiming for the head.

*thud thud thud*

*Rooar~*

Roared the deer ram in pain and anger as 3 arrows hit its sides in quick succession, and it turned to look at me in anger, but sadly for it, another sound came from behind me the moment it turned towards me.

*Swooosh~*

*thud*

*ROOAR~*

The deer ram gave out a guttural roar unlike any as this arrow was not aimed at its body, but at its eye and it hit true.

“Jonathan, you came at just the right—oh.” I said as instead of my long-time friend Jonathan, I saw Jonathanne was the one holding the bow.

“Yeah... he doesn’t use a bow, does he? Anyways, thanks for coming Jonathanne, but beware this is going to get... bloody as I am pretty sure we are not going to get any more free shots.”