RUSTLE RUSTLE CLOP CLOP CLOP

The forest winds ran in a hurry, leaves parting and rustling as they made their way. There was fear and there was suspense, rough and ragged breaths echoing in the forest time and time again, eyes filled with desperation.

Its hooves hit the forest ground hard and its antlers parted away all the leaves and branches appearing in its way. The deer sped up with every second, not looking back even a single time as death chased it with great vigor.

A deer's life was not easy. Just a second ago, it was grazing on the grassy forest floors and picking berries from the bushes, but now, it was being chased by starving wolves whose eyes were gleaming brightly that the water streams, ready for a kill.

GRRRRRR KRRRRR GRRRRRR

Grumbles and rumbles echoed from their salivating mouths, their fangs ready to tear the flesh of the deer before them. It was a chase which could very well be a matter of life and death, the lives of them all put on the line.

And just when the poor deer thought it had gained some distance from the wolves, a sudden rustle came from the bushes before it. Rustles which soon turned into a bundle of surprise when another wolf sprung towards it.

The wolves eyes were vicious and fervent, opening wide to pounce and tear apart the prey standing before it. There were no more places to run, the deer had accepted its death, sharp fangs reflecting in its eyes... However...

FWOOOSSHHH THWACK WHIMPEERRRR

... Just when all seemed to be over, an arrow came flying out of nowhere and hit the wolf before it. It bored straight to the unsuspecting wolf's skull, piercing it thoroughly and making blood spill all over the forest floor.

The wolf's death came as sudden as the winds, each of them stunned and confused about what had just transpired before them. Wariness spread amongst the wolves, all turning their heads left and right to find where the arrow came from.

FWOOOSSHHHH FWOOOSSHHH THUD THUD

Unfortunately for them, it didn't just end there. Before they even had the chance to run away, a couple more arrows bolted towards them and took them down one after another. They didn't even have the chance to escape.

In all but a single second, all the wolves chasing the deer were wiped, and the ones following after them quickly fled, fearing the sudden grasp of death which may come for them at any moment. They all went home, gaining nothing but loss.

Meanwhile, the deer didn't waste any time and quickly sprung away from the scene of devastation. It still doesn't know what just happened, but it knew full well that such a thing was as dangerous as it was lucky. It quickly fled away.

As for where the arrows came from, one would need to look over 3 kilometers away, a young man standing along a young elf. The former was holding a bow in his hands, and a relaxed expression painted on his face.

"Ah! Grey, the deer is getting away!" ［Yuna］

"It's alright... We've caught a lot of them already, anyway." ［Grey］

"Hmm... How about the other wolves then?" ［Yuna］

"That would still be overhunting. We can't have them go extinct, you know? Why do you always ask the silliest questions when you already know the answer?" ［Grey］

"Boo～! That's no fun～! You can at least pretend, you know?" ［Yuna］

Of course, those two figures were none other than Grey and Yuna, and now, they are once again hunting in the forest, taking down all sorts of prey from boars, hares, deer, bears, and wolves alike. It was a variety of animals.

But perhaps the most they caught were the waterfowls inhabiting the forest. They are large and flightless birds known for their tender, juicy, and delicious meat which won't lose out to premium meat eaten by the gentry and nobility.

But perhaps the best thing about them is that they reproduce quite quickly. There was no need to worry about overhunting as they would always recover every time. They are also pretty famous for their eggs which are as delicious as their meat.

"Then... In that case, Grey, we should find another waterfowls! Let's hunt as many as we can! They don't easily go extinct, after all!" ［Yuna］

"You... You just want to hunt them, don't you?" ［Grey］

"I don't know what you're talking about～! It's just that they easily reproduce～! There shouldn't be any problems hunting them, right?" ［Yuna］

"Haah... I guess you're right... It's bothersome when they flock around though. They always scatter whenever one of them is shot." ［Grey］

"Fufufu! It's fine～! That's what makes it fun, anyway!" ［Yuna］

It has been a couple days since Grey and Yuna had a feast with Asfara in the hidden, underground cave, and since then they have been living life well. Asfara didn't tell a single person about them, and they continued living normally.

Now, they are already in the Kingdom of Aldengard, in the city called "Alces". It was their final stop before heading towards the town of Veltofar where the Labyrinth of Thunder is located close by, stopping by just for a couple of days.

"Oh, right. Grey, can I borrow the bow for a quick moment?!" ［Yuna］

"Woah... Those are some pretty intense sparkling eyes... You really want to try out hunting with a bow, don't you?" ［Grey］

"Of course! If it's hunting, it should be bows and spears! You shouldn't hog it all for yourself, you know? Be considerate to your fiancée a little, please～." ［Yuna］

"Yeah, yeah～. Here you go, Milady." ［Grey］

There was no use thinking too much about it. With Yuna pleading ever so adorably and her eyes sparkling brightly with excitement, he could only heave a lengthy sigh as he gave the bow to his mischievous but beloved fiancée.

Yuna's eyes sparkled even more as soon as she received the bow, trying it out a little bit, and making sure her body still remembers how to use it. She may not be as good as Grey, but she should still be able to hit a target from a couple kilometers away.

Of course, with Grey's "Heaven's Eye" he's sharing with her, there was no need to worry with large obstructions such as trees and boulders. She can hunt comfortably all she wants and bring terror to any prey which catches her fancy.

"Grey, I'm going on ahead. I saw some waterfowls over there." ［Yuna］

"Sure. Just make sure to not go overboard, alright?" ［Grey］

"Un～! I'll keep that in mind～!" ［Yuna］

Or so she says, but knowing her, Grey could only pray that she doesn't hunt every single beast and animal she sees. Otherwise, not just the whole ecosystem, but the city folks would be troubled as well.

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With Yuna now dashing left and right, and hunting down waterfowls here and there, Grey decided to retrieve their previous prey and dismantle them while they're at it. There were a total of 5 wolves, each one of them bearing some decent materials.

And whilst he was doing so, he decided to summon the spirits and let them help pick out some fruits, berries, nuts, and mushrooms around the forest. He couldn't have them just battle beasts and monsters all the time, after all.

『Everyone, how's it going on your side? Any luck?』 ［Grey］

『I'm afraid not, Master... I have still yet to see any Great Deers roaming around the area. There are just mostly wild animals over here.』 ［Sirius］

『Same here, Master... It seems luck is not on our side today...』 ［Kentaurus］

As for the reason why Grey and Yuna are stopping by, and not heading there directly despite being able to, it was because of the King's recommendation. He said that only in Alces would they be able to taste the best venison dishes in the world.

It is said that the inns and restaurants in the city are able to turn normal deer meat into dishes even the Royal Family acknowledges. It was something the King and his family thoroughly enjoyed in their past visits, smiling as they reminisced about it,

And Grey and Yuna being who they are, they decided to take matters into their own hands, and decided to provide the meat themselves. They have decided to hunt a couple deers, and also a Great Deer!

Like the name implies, the Great Deer is a beast which takes the form of a massive deer, even more massive an moose and the like. It is a D-rank, earth-attribute beast known for its meat which is as delicious as it is difficult to catch.

『I see... That's unfortunate...』 ［Grey］

『Don't worry too much, Master! We'll keep on searching! We'll make sure to find one even if it means we'll have to overturn the whole forest! I'm sure of it!』 ［Procyon］

『Hahaha. It's great that you're enthusiastic, but don't go too overboard, alright? I'll leave everything in your hands, everyone.』 ［Grey］

『Yes! Good luck on your hunt, Master.』 ［Achernar］

『Take care, Master. Please look after the Mistress as well.』 ［Arcturus］

Unfortunately for them, as much as they are delicious, Great Deers are also pretty elusive and hard to find. Not only does their fur covered in moss make it easy for them to blend in in the forest, they are also very sensitive creatures.

According to the locals, they could even pick up the slightest disturbances even from over several hundred meters away. They are already quite powerful at D-rank, but the moment they sense a threat they cannot face, they quickly run away,

If there's anything good about them, it's that they like to live in small groups. As long as you can spot one of them, you'll surely spot about 4 to 7 more individuals. It would be very easy for Grey and Yuna then.

CLING CLING CLING CLING

Just when Grey was done talking with the familiars, the spirits were also finished with their harvest, the sound of soft chimes echoing in the air as they let Grey know of it, all looking happy to be of use to their master.

"Alright... Seems like everyone is done. Let's go." ［Grey］

The dismantled wolves were now on Grey's inventory, and so were the edible items the spirits got. With nothing more to do, Grey quickly led them towards where Yuna was, the young lady now out of his "Heaven's Eye" range.

Thankfully, could easily pinpoint her general direction with sudden surges of mana from time to time. It seems like Yuna was enjoying herself too much, using archery arts and ice magic as if there was no tomorrow, firing off in rapid succession.

And as expected, the number of casualties is no joke. Grey's vision was soon filled with the frozen corpses of the waterfowls, encased in big chunks of ice. There weren't just one or two, but a few hundred of them, scattered everywhere.

"Wh... What the hell is this..." ［Grey］

Impressively enough, there were only waterfowls and nothing else. It seems like she found herself a very large flock of them, and decided to rain frozen arrows on them, bringing down a downpour of frost and death from above.

In fact, even now, Yuna was still firing off arrows here and there and turning the forest blue and frosty even without her "Winter Forest", her blue arrows glimmering over the faraway horizon. She is impressive... in ways more than one.

"Oh, Grey! You're here, please help me collect the waterfowls!" ［Yuna］

"Yuna... I know I said they don't go extinct easily, but isn't this too much? It's a total massacre. They mig actually go extinct at this rate." ［Grey］

"Don't worry, I spared a lot of them! About half of them!... Or less!" ［Yuna］

"Yuna, that doesn't sound very convincing." ［Grey］

She was adorable, she really was. But when she says such terrifying things with a bright smile on her face and such innocent-looking eyes, Grey could only smile wryly and wonder just how exactly he fell for such a young lady.

Well, not like there's any point thinking about it. Grey easily gave up on the thought and simply decided things as they are. He soon moved his hands along with Yuna, storing all the frozen waterfowls inside the Inventory.

The spirits also helped, and surely enough, there were almost half a thousand of them. They would have dismantled it like usual, but with such a large number, just thinking about it was enough to bring them headaches. It was just too much.

"Hand over the bow now, Young Lady. Playtime's over." ［Grey］

"Mou... You're so strict sometimes, Grey... Just give me 10 moreー no, even 5 more minutes is enough! Pretty please～!" ［Yuna］

"No means no, Young Lady. Give it to me before I count to 3." ［Grey］

Sometimes lovers who are sweet as can be, but sometimes, they act like father and daughter. Grey hit Yuna with the good old "Before I count to three" move and all the young lady could do was follow, puffing her cheeks as she pouted.

As soon as Grey got the Armament Ring for the Divine Bow, he then stored it inside the Inventory and decided to not let Yuna play with it for a while. She had already caused enough trouble for today. Any more and she'll be grounded.

"Then, should weー" ［Grey］

『Master, Mistress! I found them! I found a herd of Great Deers!』 ［Canopus］

And just when all excitement seemed to have died down, Grey and Yuna suddenly received a telepathic call from Canopus, his excited voice ringing inside their minds. And he was rightfully excited, smiles soon blooming.

『Alright, Canopus, tell us where you are. We'll find you quickly.』 ［Grey］

『Got it! I'm southeast right now, about 5 kilometers away from the giant boulder. There are several giant trees around me and......』 ［Canopus］

There was no time to waste. As soon as Canopus gave them his directions, Grey and Yuna immediately unsummoned the spirits and started to move, bolting across the forest at breakneck speeds, riding the rushing winds.

Before long, the Great Deers immediately started appearing in Grey's "Heaven's Eye" and surely enough, there was a herd of them, 8 of them to be exact. As it seems, the herd was made up of all adults and each of them were pretty healthy as well.

Grey quickly shared his vision with Yuna once more and a smile sprouted on the young lady's lovely face. The most important ingredient of their hunt is now right before the two of them, excitement pumping in their hearts.

Of course, they made sure to be careful as well. With how sensitive the deers were, Grey and Yuna immediately stopped on their tracks as soon as they were a kilometer away. They reunited with Canopus and had him take his wolf pup form again.

"With this much, we should be able to hunt two of them, right?" ［Yuna］

"Hahaha. Someone sure is excited." ［Grey］

"Of course! We can finally taste Alces' specialty venison dish, after all!" ［Yuna］

"Hahaha. Then, shall we have a little competition, Milady?" ［Grey］

As per tradition, it was time for yet another competition. It has been quite some time since the two had something of the sorts, and there was no better time than now. They may be lovers, but they are each other's greatest rivals as well.

The rules of the game were simple. Whoever takes the shortest time in hunting down a great deer wins. There is no use of weapons needed nor magic as well. The loser will be the one who'll cook dinner for the next three days.

"Then, Canopus, if you would please." ［Grey］

WHOOOONNNGGGGG FWOOSH BOOM BOOM BOOM

Canopus nodded his head, looked up into the sky, and shot out a beam of light. It shone bright as the stars, and soon enough, the sound of explosions rocked the sky like fireworks in the lively night of the festivals.

Hearing such sounds, all the animals in the forest were quickly alerted, some running away while some hid in their burrows. The Great Deers were no exception, galloping away as fast as they could and scurrying around the forest.

Or course, Grey and Yuna meant for such to happen, otherwise, the competition would be too easy. They didn't chase the Great Deers immediately, letting them run away for a while and watching them panic ever so greatly.

"... Four... Three... Two.. One...... Go!" ［Grey］

BOOOOMMMM FWOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

The time for waiting was soon over, and with Grey's signal ringing in the air, Grey and Yuna immediately bolted away at tremendous speeds, creating sonic booms from the sheer force of their strides and leaving clouds of dust at their wake.

About a minute has passed since the fireworks of explosions and the Great Deers have all run away for a couple of kilometers. However, despite their distance, they still wouldn't be able to beat Grey and Yuna be it in speed or agility.

The two of them were already fast, but their expert maneuvering in all sorts of terrain, they were even more terrifying. In just a few seconds, they quickly bridged the gap between them and the Great Deers, hands of death reaching out to the latter.

RUMBBLLLEEEEEE RUMBLE RUMBLE BOOOOMMMM

The Great Deers tried to stop them by creating several walls with earth magic, but it was futile resistance. All it needed was a punch from either of the two and the walls quickly came crumbling down.

Of course, it wasn't just defense. The Great Deers also tried launching heavy and rocky projectiles in hopes of slowing the two down, but it was just as useless as their first attempt, the two easily deflecting their attacks without much effort.

"Now, it would be good if you stop now," ［Grey］

Or so says Grey, but there was no way the Great Deer could understand what he was trying to say. And even if it did, it was in too much of a state of panic to think about it. There was only survival floating inside its mind.

Rather than stop as per Grey's words, the Great Deer rather did the opposite. It shot out even more stone bullets and created more earthen walls, its mana depleting at an alarming rate with Grey easily breaking them down with his fists.

"Come on now, don't be too hard to getー Oh?" ［Grey］

RUMBBLLLEEEE RUMBLE RUMBLE

It soon realized running was useless, and rather than waste its stamina even more, the Great Deer quickly stopped on its tracks and decided to directly confront Grey, using all the mana remaining in its body to make a final struggle.

Several boulders formed before it, each one spanning over a couple meters wide and weighing over a ton, spinning quickly and carved to sharp boulders which could easily fell trees. A volley of boulders were fired soon enough.

"Oh, that's a pretty nice move you got there. However..." ［Grey］

BOOM BOOM BOOM CRASH CRASH THUD THUD

"You do realize it's still useless, right?" ［Grey］

It was no use. The gap in strength was far too much to cover up. The Great Deer continued to hurl boulders towards Grey's direction, but Grey kept pulverizing them with just a single punch, a cacophony of explosions ringing aloud.

The volley soon stopped, and the Great Deer frantically gasped for air. Its eyes were still burning with determination, and it was still far from giving up on life. With every little bit of strength left, it fired off a spell once moreー Or at least, it tried to.

"I'm afraid that's enough playing around.... Rest in peace." ［Grey］

However, before it could even attempt to do so, Grey immediately closed the distance between them and grabbed it by the antlers. Before it could even react, he then lifted it in the air and with great strength, slammed it towards the ground.

The Great Deer kissed the ground with its shock and impact running all throughout its body. Grey has yet to use magic, but the sheer force was enough to incapacitate the Great Deer, bubbles frothing out of its mouth.

It wasn't long before the Great Deer's flames of life started to flicker, vanishing soon after as its heart ceased to beat. With that, Grey had secured themselves a source of venison for a long, long time, tasty and juicy as can be.

"Phew... That took longer than anticipated... I wonder how Yuna's doing..." ［Grey］

Thought Grey, not a single trace of worry in his mind. He knows Yuna full well, and knows that she won't have any problems with taking down a mere Great Deer. In fact, she might have already taken down her prey by now.

WOBBLE WOBBLE THUD

And Grey was absolutely right. Yuna had just struck the Great Deer with a sweet punch, packing enough force to crush its skull in an instant. It wobbled for a moment before crashing to the ground with a loud thud, eyes white as snow.

Yuna didn't even break a sweat chasing and hunting down the Great Deer, only slowed down by the fact that she doesn't have "Heaven's Eye" like Grey. But with that, the competition has ended. The hunt was now overー

"Should I wait here for Grey orー" ［Yuna］

FWOOOSSSHHH CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE

... Or so Yuna thought. When suddenly, a massive pillar of crimson flames pounced towards her. She easily managed to dodge it, but the same couldn't be said for the trees, turned to charcoal from the devastating flames.

Yuna looked at the direction it came from, and there she saw a huge figure covered in red fur like the pillar of flames and equipped with four gargantuan arms. Its eyes were red as can be, painted with rage and hostility.

A new challenger approaches.

CHAPTER 411 END