Monster Lore Unlocked!

Sharp Deer information obtained!

Sharp Deer

Dungeon Creature - Beast: Cervinae

Rank D Threat Level

Best trait - Agility

Preferred Method of Attack - Herd Strikes, Trample

Special Attack: Horn Knives

Known Drops: Deer Blade Horns, Deer Pelts, Venison steaks

Sharp Deer are hoofed creatures that prefer hit and run tactics when alone, and trampling their opponents when striking as a herd. The blades that unsheathe from their skulls and horns are as dangerous as they appear.

As they age, sharp deer have been known to sharpen their knives on poisonous plants and stones to increase their attack potency.

Continue combat against Sharp Deer to increase your knowledge.

—

Sharp deer?

Hoofed asshole was more like it.

Myles and his new friends were fighting something out of a child’s nightmare, deer with knives coming out of their skulls like horns. The absurdity wasn’t lost on Myles as the battle dragged on. He discovered the hard way that the knives weren’t just on the males either.

The does’ knives, if anything, were sharper and more dangerous than the ones blooming from the males as they came in for an attack. Their horns retracted into their skulls when they weren’t in use and only came out to strike like snake fangs. All in all, their hit and run attacks weren’t as effective as the herd would have hoped, and Myles, Kendra, and Will still standing and reasonably pissed off.

It didn’t help that Myles had taken a puncture wound to the leg and was doing his best to stay steady.

No, everything just cemented the idea that sharp deer were hoofed assholes.

It’s not fatal. If it were, you would be bleeding a lot more.

“No, it’s not but being stabbed in the leg hurts!”

Would you like me to take care of the deer for you?

“I’d like to see you try.” One interesting side effect of the Empathic Link between him and his new ‘friend’ was that he could sense sarcasm despite the lack of it in her tone. “How easy is it for a princess to fight a deer with her two broken legs?”

Whether she chose to acknowledge the sarcasm or not… well, that was still to be determined.

How hard is it for a child find its mother’s milk, Myles?

Apparently, killing a simple deer should be something her master… tamer should be able to do in her eyes, stabbed or not.

It wasn’t that killing the beasts were extremely hard when he could get a blade on one. It was more like getting to an exposed side of the deer wasn’t easy when there were five of them trying to run you, a [Distortion Mage], and a [Berserker] of all things, down.

A moment later, he felt the distinctly unpleasant feeling of Will, the [Distortion Mage], undo the damage the deer had done before Myles’s dagger landed a lucky blow between the ribs and into the heart to finish it off.

It wasn’t healing exactly, more like the injury being put in reverse.

The pain gave him enough clarity to notice their warrior about to be overtaken.

“On your left,” Myles called out to Kendra, their resident [Berserker].

Without missing a beat, she swung her war hammer and collided with the skull of a four-point buck with a sickening crunch not so different from a watermelon crashing against the side of a cart at high speed. As the first deer dissolved from the killing blow, the hammer continued into the side of a second dashing for Will, sending it to the ground with a satisfying thud.

Myles pounced on the fallen creature, digging the dagger into the beast’s flank and pulling it across with all the strength a [Baker]-[Monster Tamer] could muster. The blade’s cutting was rougher now than it had been a deer ago. Thanks to so much use, the blade was already dulled and pitted from hitting bone and diverting attacks that got past the other two, but it did the job well. A familiar, disgusting smell filled the air for just a moment before the deer under him dissolved back into the magic of the world.

I approve.

“I’m glad,” Myles panted as Kendra took out another.

Together, the three had already taken out seven of the deer, but the mega-herd was still strong, circling the collected Runners and trying to run them down, only to be broken into smaller groups by a [Geomancer] and other mages warping the ground under their feet.

Slowly but surely, the plains biome, the Runner’s Plaza was clearing.

With their group cleared, the group could breath for a moment.

“You aren’t bad,” Will said, taking a swig from a canteen before offering it to Myles.

He took it graciously, surprised to feel the sliver of ice on his tongue before swallowing. It was still cold! “I’d be better if I had a knife skill.”

“You would,” Kendra said, holding out a hand for the canteen, which Myles handed over without asking. “But you said this wasn’t what you signed up for.” She took a long swig as Myles gave her an obvious look. “Your monsters do the fighting for you right? That’s why you stole Marcus’s team’s kill earlier? Right?”

Stole?

You stole nothing.

Myles felt heat rise in his cheeks. “Honestly, I didn’t think before I acted, but yeah. When she gets healed up and rests, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

Well said.

Kendra simply nodded. “Wasn’t how Pecca told it, but I get it. I’d steer clear of him though. Rogues aren’t known to give up treasure lightly.”

“Like a feral dog with a bone that one is,” Will confirmed taking the canteen back and slipping it over his shoulder and bending down to pick up another pair of building vouchers.

I’ll protect you.

“I appreciate it, but if we don’t get you fixed up, you will be lucky to heal properly, let alone protect me.”

Ashra said nothing to that, but Kendra nodded. “If the bones don’t heal right, she’ll be worse than useless. Will can fix it as long as it happened today, but he needs a place to work, and you know it won’t be pretty.”

No. No, it wouldn’t be. Myles had no desire to see her blood and bone go back into the wound the same way it came out. His wounds had been clean stabs, and it was still disturbing to watch himself get un-stabbed.

Myles distracted himself by picking up the loot of the deer he’d slain after the other two made no move to do it.

—

Sharp Deer Horn

Value: 12

Crafting Material

Description: The removed metal coated bone horn of a sharp deer

Detail: A Sharp deer horn is a natural source of metal. The horn can be used for the crafting of light bladed weapons or melted down in mass for materials.

Venison steaks

Value: 10

Food - Raw

Description: The trimmed steak of a cervine

Detail: A gamey, but well-trimmed steak such as this can be used for cooking or bait. The taste is sharp and unique as the creature it came from.

Best served medium rare.

Skill increased!

Neophyte’s Item Lore has increased to Neophyte's Item Lore (+)

—

As a [Baker], he could make a passable steak, but without a grill, it was resigned to the inventory for now with the haunches. As if sensing his attention back on them, their resident [Berserker] took the conversation by the horns again.

“And you can work off the treatment by working with us in the city,” Kendra added, or more likely repeated, before quickly following up with. “Four more!”

And they were back at the task.

Three more fell to Myles before the next hour passed. It was nothing compared to Kendra’s twelve in the same time, but those had been his unassisted kills. No one could take his accomplishment from him, so all in all, he was feeling pretty good about not being useless.

In that same time, their little team had moved further in, joining a few of the others as the herd dwindled to twenty-ish.

That wasn’t to say there were as many Runners as there had been an hour ago either.

Myles had watched allies fall as two warriors were trampled under hoof, as some kind of a light armored class was run cleanly through, and as countless others were stabbed to the point of near death.

One fight just kept rolling into another, and another, and another.

For his part, Myles did what he could. Knowing the importance of numbers, he sacrificed two of the healing potions he’d gotten from Ashra on the worst of those he came across during their rare rest periods, reducing deeper stab wounds to a manageable level and closing major bleeds to keep the injured from death’s door until someone else could get to them.

Will did the heavy lifting of the injured when more conventional healers weren’t nearby, but the strain was starting to show on him. His soul had to be near spent and pushing himself past that point might kill the older man.

But he never complained, and Myles never pointed that out as his dagger scrapped along the ribs of another deer and failed to kill it.

Annoyed and bleeding emerald blood, the deer turned on him and snorted, lowering its head for another charge a moment later. It should have been paying attention to the woman at its side reading a war hammer.

Bones crunched and blood splattered as Kendra triumphantly roared. “Twenty!”

As the war hammer followed through with the strike, the creature’s eyes went dark and the body dissolved into motes of shimmering light. A flank of meat flopped to the ground along with a small, chained item that. For the first time, Kendra bent over to pick up a dropped item.

The chain and charm glinted in the moonlight as if it were made from fire, and she looked at it curiously before handing it over to Myles. “I assume you have some identification skill with the way you’re hording things?”

He tired not to look offended as he took the chain and focused on the item.

—

Horn Locket

Value: 70

Accessory - Necklace (Uncommon)

Description: A locket carved from the horn of a sharp deer on a silver chain.

Detail: The locket is most commonly used to hold pictures of loved ones or enchantments to protect the wearer. Infused with the hearing of a sharp deer, this particular one can do both!

Primary Effect: Increased Awareness (Sound).

Secondary Effect: Locket glows when hostile forces are near (Crimson).

—

Handing it back to Kendra, Myles explained the use. She shrugged, slipped it over her head and nodded. “Any bonus is a good bonus.”

He had to agree with that, but he could make do without that. He didn’t need the bonuses yet. Ashra might have been able to use it though. When he got into a proper party, he’d have to remember that he wasn’t the only one that needed equipment.

He felt a wash of approval at that and turned his attention back to the battlefield as Kendra and Will stopped talking.

The last of the sharp deer had fallen.

The herd was dead.

Myles took a deep breath. Finally, they’d have a chance to rest. They’d cleared the requirement to take up residence in the plains…

But why wasn’t anyone cheering? Why weren’t people celebrating? They should be celebrating right now. They’d cleared the plains.

A body flying through the air answered that question, quickly followed by a clarification of events.

“Boss Rush!”