Chapter 11: Face-off

"Fuck. This isn't good." All of Samuel's work was undone. The fire was extinguished and his setup was scattered all over the forest.

He stared back at the alpha female. A white glow lit up his eyes.

[Gale Deer Alpha (Female)]

[Description: A Gale Deer Alpha is almost always female. They gather other females, forming a large herd which the alpha leads. Gale Deer Alphas have evolved, gaining more powerful magic and stronger bodies. With higher intelligence, they are able to manipulate their strong winds better.]

[Stats:]

[Strength: 18]

[Vitality: 16]

[Agility: 24]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Willpower: 9]

[Abilities: Gale Missile, Wind Dash, Gale Blast]

Immediately, he considered his other options. He needed to lessen the pressure of the horde. He knew that this controlled fire plan was the best option. Setting the entire forest on fire would be counterproductive and he would also miss his chance to push Rick into a corner.

If Angela's fire wasn't strong enough, could his hellfire work? It was possible, he thought, because it was much hotter and more chaotic. The wind blast might not be able to easily put out his hellfire.

The issue was that his hellfire was clearly different to Angela's fire.

"Fuck it. No point in hiding anymore. Now's the best chance." Samuel cursed and steeled his resolve. He had to take this chance.

He looked around, gauging the situation. The horde was advancing again, which meant that the group was back on the retreat. He needed to redo his setup, after all the kindling was scattered around. This time, he already had it envisioned. He kicked into action, dashing around like a maniac.

As soon as he finished with the setup, he formed a small gauntlet of armor on his left hand. A small black flame lit up and he gently pushed it on the fuse that would light the path.

The black fire spread extremely fast, forming a boundary that the deer didn't dare to cross. They could only go around the fire, hoping to find a way through. Unfortunately for Rick and Mr. Bo, that meant almost 40 deer splitting off towards them. Samuel's plan had worked. Even if Mr. Bo was powerful, there was no way he could fight off all those deer on his own.

Samuel saw past the fire. The alpha was still staring at him. Her blue light shone once more as the wind began to build up. She was clearly attempting to put out the fire again.

When the wind blast exploded, Samuel braced himself behind a tree. He could only bank on his hellfire withstanding the wind. When he turned back to look at the fire, he saw that it was still burning,

Unfortunately, Samuel had miscalculated. His fire was too chaotic. The sparks that came off the fire flew too far, too fast. The explosive property of his fire was coming into play, creating variables. Trees began to light ablaze. It was no longer a controlled fire.

"Shit. This isn't good. But we can still make it." Samuel muttered.

Anastasia took the chance to regather the group, focusing on retreating. At this point, the fire was spreading too quickly. The deer had all scattered chaotically, some of them even succumbing to the flames. She knew that this was a chance that Samuel had created for them, so she took it.

"With me! We're gonna get out of this forest." When the rest of the group heard her, the ones nearest immediately ran towards her.

Samuel also began to turn around, wanting to join the retreat, but he stopped in his tracks.

He heard a whoosh as the alpha launched up into the air over the fire. She landed with a light tap, barely kicking up any dirt. Her beady stare bore into his eyes.

In her mind, Samuel had become the biggest threat. The fire that she saw him produce scared even her. Her herd had scattered because of this human and she was angry.

As the man and deer faced off against each other, the rest of the group was still retreating. Samuel knew that they were getting further away. He knew that he could just equip his armor and the fire wouldn't hurt him. He could run through the burning trees and shake this deer off, but for some reason he just couldn't step away.

He didn't want to step away.

For the first time in his life, he felt his blood boiling. A strange excitement was beginning to wash over him, permeating his entire existence. It came from the depths of his soul, finally seeing the light of the world.

'I want to fight.'

His entire life, he'd felt powerless. From the moment he was born, he was destined to be a failure. Now, he had power. An untamed and unpolished power that he was eager to know more about.

"You sure are regarding me highly." Samuel didn't know why he said that. The deer wouldn't understand. He was merely affirming to himself that the deer had chosen him. Instead of Anastasia or Mr. Bo or any of the other Awakened, the deer had deemed him the biggest threat.

He smiled. His devil arm materialized into existence. He started with his formation of the black hell armor, but he definitely would have to stall for time while it formed. After his first time, he grasped the mechanics so it should only take him thirty or forty seconds this time. But in a battle like this, even ten seconds was too long.

As soon as the black armor began forming, the deer began her attack. She kept her distance, forming gale missiles to bombard him. The wind projectiles whistled towards him.

He backpedaled slightly before rolling towards the nearest tree and using it as cover. The missiles turned in midair but not enough to hit him.

For the next thirty seconds, he ran around, using the trees and the fire to disrupt the vision of the alpha. A few missiles had come too close for comfort, impacting near his legs. Luckily, the deer was staying cautious and didn't want to charge directly in. If she had chosen to do that, there was no way that Samuel could have withstood her attack without injury.

Finally, the black armor formed and the helmet covered his head. He felt his whole body become lighter and stronger, more flexible. His heart was beating heavily, pumping blood through his body.

"Time for a counterattack." He grinned. Although he couldn't see it, a thin red line on his helmet appeared, smiling.

He climbed onto the tree and pinpointed the location of the deer. Once he did, he formed a hellfire ball and chucked it at the deer. Immediately after, he leaped towards the deer with his arm cocked.

The fireball didn't reach its target, as the deer shot a wind missile at it which collided in midair. The hellfire exploded.

But Samuel wasn't intending for the fireball to hit. As the flames scattered, he flew through the fire, using it as cover to hide his approach. His right fist slammed into the alpha's face, but the impact was less than he expected. The deer reacted extremely quickly and dashed backwards away from Samuel.

Samuel landed on the ground and immediately accelerated towards the deer. He intended to keep the assault going without letting up. His mana pool wasn't high, so he needed to take full advantage of the time he had.

The deer continued to backpedal, using its wind to burst in different directions. Wind missiles were still forming, shooting towards Samuel and forcing him to dodge. He weaved through the projectiles, forcing the deer further into the forest.

Occasionally, he would get a hit in but without any initial burst of acceleration the damage was minimal. The alpha was simply faster, and could use her dashing ability to minimize the force. His reach wasn't long enough and he wasn't fast enough, so how could he remedy this?

He knew the answer as soon as he thought about it. Hellfire. Specifically, its explosive property. By conjuring the flame near his feet and sending it into the ground directly, he could force it to explode and use the energy output to propel him forward. This would grant him the burst of acceleration that he needed to land a killing blow. There were just two problems. One, he could only use this ability a few times before his mana ran out. And two, he had no idea whether he could control the explosion in such a way that it would propel him forward and not just blast him in a random direction.

"Shit. Okay, I'm going for it." He had at maximum five tries before his mana ran out.

While he chased after the deer, he channeled his mana into the bottom of his heel, a small flame forming underneath. The next step he took, as soon as his heel lifted off the ground, he launched the flame into the ground.

Boom! The explosion completely propelled him forward, yet he didn't manage to control the extra force, causing him to stumble instead. Although he didn't fall over, the alpha made use of this mistake to drive a wind missile into him. The wind sliced into his armor, leaving cracks and puncturing his flesh.

"Ugh. One more time." He grimaced from the pain and stood up. This time, he had to do it.

He continued to pressure the alpha. Now that he was prepared for the force, he would finish this fight in the next attack.

Again, the flame built up underneath his heel. When the explosion occurred, he bent his knees and sprung forward, letting the energy propel him forwards. He covered twenty meters in a single instant, a cocked punch at the ready. When he threw out his fist, he felt bones cracking under the force. But they weren't his bones. The alpha had no time to react to the punch and its skull caved in under the stress. The whole body of the alpha was flung away from Samuel, spinning around comically. Blood splattered everywhere, most of it splashed across his right arm.

Samuel ground to a stop. Heavily breathing and bleeding from the stomach, but a victor. He stared at his hands and on his helmet, a long red line could be seen curving up. The adrenaline pumped through his body and he felt an ecstasy that could only be described as bestial.

"I won. I won! FUCK YEAH." He pumped his fist in the air as the fires raged around him.