*Sigh* "Well... This officially sucks." I was still hiding on the tree branch. The Alpha Deer that decided to steal my food was still hanging around.

But it gets worse. Two more Alpha Deer showed up to join the feast. One had horns like the first two, while the other did not.

And it didn't look like they were going to leave anytime soon.

Now, If it was only one or two of them around, maybe I could do something. Whether it be escaping or trying my luck at taking them down.

But with three of them here, I would rather not take the risk.

"Hmm, What are they doing now?" Two of the deer were staring each other down. They would stomp one of their legs down, then huff at the other.

This repeated a few times, and then they would step towards the other before stepping back again.

"What are you doing?" It almost looked as if they were getting ready to fight, but.... Surely they won't, right?

They repeated the cycle a few more times before I got my answer. The larger of the two raised its front legs into the air and kicked a few times. Before it ducked its head down and charged. The other followed only a moment later.

*Crash!* Their horns clashed together and interlocked. The smaller of the two buckled under the force for a moment. Before it straightened and stood its ground.

The two's horns would come apart for a moment, only to be slammed back together in a fight for dominance.

While they were doing that. The much smaller deer without horns was walking around the clearing.

And if I wasn't mistaken... It looked as if it would walk directly beneath my branch.

At the moment, I was much too high up to take advantage of this. I could change that, however.

"Is it worth the risk, though? If I somehow manage to pull it into the tree with me, I might be able to stay up here until it's dissolved. Of course, I might not be able to bring it up here. The branch could break under our weight..."

Well... If the other two stay distracted long enough for me to haul it up here, that is.

Deciding to give it a shot. I slowly moved to a branch only about twelve feet above the ground. Once there, I waited for my chance to strike.

Thankfully, I was correct in my assumption. The deer walked directly beneath my branch, and I struck.

*Pained grunt* my teeth latched onto its neck, and with my lower half still wrapped around the branch. I started to pull its struggling body up into the tree.

Of course, it's cries alerted the two other deer that something was wrong, but instead of trying to help like I thought they would. They bolted in the other direction.

"Looks like I was worried for nothing." Though the branch creaked a few times. I managed to pull the deer into the tree and wrap my body around both it and the branch. After I secured it in place, I slowly squeezed the life out of it.

After two or three minutes of this. It lay still, and never took another breath.

*Sigh* "This would be so much easier with venom." I maneuvered my head into position near its hind legs and began my meal.

As this deer was approximately half the size of my first deer. I somehow managed to swallow this one whole.

*Whew* " I didn't think I could do it, but I actually managed to swallow it whole."

Now... I could either stay up here and wait for it to digest, or I could make my way down and leave.

After thinking about it for a while. I decided to wait up here until it was completely digested before I left the tree.

I didn't want a repeat of last time, after all.

With my body still wrapped around the branch, and a digesting deer in my stomach. I thought I would get a bit more sleep while I waited, so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I'm unsure of how long I slept, as I still couldn't see the sky from here. However, when I did wake up. Another Pop-up was floating before my eyes.

You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Gluttonous Water Boa Would you like to Evolve?

"No." The window disappeared, and another took its place.

You have eaten the following species for the first time. Alpha Deer: Tier 2

"I guess now would be a good time to go. *Rumble* Hmm?"

It started out as a slight rumble in the distance. Then the shaking got progressively worse over the course of a few minutes.

"What's going on!?" The tree was now shaking violently. *Crack!* Then the branch snapped, and I fell to the ground.

After landing on the ground. I heard trees being knocked over, and something heavy coming my way.

"Ooh, that's not good." Raising my head up as high as I could. I looked into the darkness of the forest for any sign of what was coming.

*Roar!* I could see a large heat signature running in my direction.

"I'll... I'll be going now!" The large heat signature entered the clearing at a full sprint, and I got a good look at it... Before I started to flee.

"It was an Alpha deer like the others. Well, it would have been, If the others had been twenty feet tall, and weighed several thousand pounds.

Following in its footsteps were two more Alpha Deer, and they looked almost like...

"Went and tattled on me, did you!?" It looked like the two from before had gone and gotten either the dad or big brother to come and fight their battle for them.

The big one stood before me and was staring me down.

"Uh... Hello. My name is- *Roar!* And you obviously don't care!" It tried to stomp on me, but luckily I managed to dodge around it.

Weaving through its legs, I got around behind it, and bit into its back left leg.

*Grunt of pain* The beast began to kick its legs out in panic. One of the other deer, while trying to help the large beast, attempted to bite me while I was distracted.

It received a kick to the face from the big one, for its trouble. The kick snapped the much smaller deer's neck and sent it tumbling into the river.

The big deer stopped thrashing around after feeling its kick connect. It looked between its front legs to see what it had kicked, and it saw the much smaller deer floating down the river.

" I think that's my cue to leave..." I released the leg while the deer was distracted, and attempted my getaway.

*Growl*

"...Damn it." Moving to the side as fast as I could. I just barely dodged the deer's hoof as it impacted the ground. It then continued trying to stomp on me, and it was getting closer every time.

"Think, Think! What can I use to get out of here!?" I kept weaving my way around the beast's legs, and occasionally biting into a leg. While I came up with a plan.

"... If I'm going to do this, I only have one chance. Otherwise, I may be too tired to escape." I bit into its leg one more time, before making a break for the river. My plan was to see just how well this body could swim, while hopefully not dying from either drowning or the deer.

I was moving my tired body as fast as I could for the river. When I noticed the other deer charging at me. I used my tail to propel myself the final few feet, and I narrowly dodged the smaller deer's charge and hit the water.

After landing in the water, I tried to swim, but the current was too strong. So I just relaxed as much as possible, and let it carry me downstream.

"Hopefully, I won't run into anymore Extra large deer, for a while..."

I could see the two deer chasing after me in the distance, but the current was too fast for them to keep up with for long, and I managed to survive my first encounters with the Alpha Deer race.