Chapter 23: Facing Off A Giant Threat

Joan Taylors was one of the highly skilled Assassins trained by the Luxem Family. Each descendant of the Luxem Family was assigned one expert to protect them.

The fact that Joan suddenly became cautious meant that Ryan and the rest were in real danger.

It meant that even Joan herself perceived the threat to be something she was not confident to handle.

Ryan glanced at the Kobolds who were now cowering and shivering in a corner.

‘It’s easy to assume that we have been betrayed by the Kobolds, but their loyalty is mine. It means that they probably just forgot… I mean, of course, something as special as magical oats would have some kind of protector. I should have thought of it earlier,’ Ryan thought as he pulled his sword out.

Spike, Doran, and Tom all gathered closer, eyeing the vicinity with unease.

The hunter pair readied their bow and arrows.

The reason why they were told not to travel into the forest was because of its multitude of dangers, and now, they were about to see one of the major ones.

“There!” Joan shouted and pointed her dagger in one direction.

Red eyes glowed menacingly within the shrouded forest, and a giant creature thundered out of the expanse of trees.

It was not a wolf, but a giant buck.

The tallest deer variant back in Ryan’s old world was actually the moose, proudly standing around 7 feet tall on its shoulders, with antlers that were around 6 feet in length.

In comparison, this Giant Buck was taller.

Much much taller.

It was more than twice the size of the Moose—around 15 feet tall with antlers that were around 14 feet in length.

Its antlers were thick and spiraling. Everything about it was huge. By far, it was the biggest creature that Ryan had personally seen.

The giant male deer thundered towards them at a great speed, its antlers lowered down. Anyone unlucky enough to ram into it would turn into a human skewer.

“Dodge!” Ryan shouted to the others and dove to the right, dragging Joan with him.

The other three quickly dodged as well and then to attack it. A couple of arrows were shot from Spike and Doran, but the fur of the giant buck was too thick and landed helplessly against it.

Meanwhile, Joan, who narrowly avoided being pierced thanks to Ryan’s help, gritted her teeth and charged toward the creature as she held out her dagger.

Her dagger looked simple, but it was an Enchanted Dagger with the Sharpness Attribute imbued to it.

Joan tried to slash the monster's vulnerable quarters, but the Giant Buck expected it and used its hooves to knock the Assassin back into several trees.

“Joan!” Ryan’s blue eyes widened before it narrowed in fury. He turned to Tom and said. “Tom go take care of Joan.”

“Yes, Master Ryan!”

Ryan then clutched his sword tighter and pointed at the Giant Buck.

He called out to the two hunters. “Aim for its underbelly or eyes if you can!”

Spike and Doran tried to hold their ground, but the Giant Buck suddenly swerved and turned its attention to them.

They shot another couple of arrows and followed all of Ryan’s instructions, but the Giant Buck’s antlers knocked back the incoming arrows from reaching it.

“This is a difficult one.” Ryan thought about the situation some more and tried to find a solution. 'My own sword can’t probably deal much damage if even Joan’s enchanted dagger had no effects. Trying to get on top of the deer is a challenge in itself.'

The former Sixth Prince glanced at the Kobolds, who all initially looked like they wanted to run away but suddenly dispersed in different directions.

All of them now had stones in their hands and were preparing themselves for a fight.

Since their Master Ryan was fighting the scary Giant Buck, then they were also required to fight it too and defend their master's life.

The first Kobold threw a rock at the Giant Buck’s behind. It was such a weak and poor throw that the Giant Buck didn’t even seem to notice it at first.

Until the Kobold threw another rock harder and shouted.

“Kriee!”

Once the Giant Buck turned to one of the Kobolds, the Kobold behind it threw its own stone harder.

“Kriee!”

It was challenging the Giant Buck to hit it instead.

Ryan was impressed, but he knew that it wasn’t going to work for long. The Giant Buck already decided to skewer the first Kobold to death.

‘If I let that Kobold die, there'll be time for me to escape with the rest but I don’t think we can easily outrun that buck.’ Ryan thought. He glanced at the nearest Kobold and then yanked it up and whispered something into its ears.

“Okay?”

The Kobold nodded, then pointed in a direction.

“Hey! Pick up on someone a little more your size!” Ryan shouted. The Kobold in his arms threw a decent-sized stone at the Giant Buck.

The creature’s head swerved to Ryan and the Kobold.

“Master Ryan!” Spike and Doran tried to shoot arrows to attract its attention, but the Giant Buck’s already red eyes glowed into a malicious color.

Ryan immediately darted into the forest, luring the Giant Buck to chase after him. The Kobold in his arms shrieked and pointed in various directions.

Ryan made sure to avoid all of them as he ran.

It shouldn’t have been possible to outrun a deer of that size, but Ryan was able to get a decent head start. He also put his all into running because his own life was on the line.

“Krieee!” the Kobold suddenly shouted and pointed in front of him.

Ryan stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder.

Still furious, the Giant Buck continued to thunder down towards him relentlessly.

At the last possible second, Ryan dove to the right side, successfully evading the Giant Buck, who had now ran right past him.

The ground beneath the Giant Buck suddenly gave away, and it fell into the Kobold’s largest piked pit traps, specifically made to capture creatures with the Giant Buck’s size and bigger.

The giant buck let out a terrible cry as it died.

“Phew, great job.” Ryan wiped the sweat off his brow. He felt a little nervous taking such a huge risk, but he had faith that the Kobolds had made traps for bigger threats.