A majestic stag slowly walked through an icy forest. The trees around it had a blue sheen, and some of their needles had seemingly transformed into icicles.

The Stag's body was only 1.5 meters high, making it only a bit taller than a normal stag. However, its antlers were majestic beyond compare. The antlers were a deep blue, and white veins seemed to travel through them, releasing a blue glow periodically.

The antlers stretched upward and to the side like a tree, making one believe that this Stag was some sort of envoy sent by nature.

Whenever the Stag passed an icy tree, the blue color of the trees slowly subsided until the trees no longer shone in any color, and after that, they simply looked like normal, almost lifeless trees made of ice.

The Stag absorbed the Ice Mana in the Ice Wood Trees as it passed them. The Ice Mana in the trees acted as the Stag's sustenance and energy.

Humans weren't afraid of this Stag.

Why?

Because this was a peaceful beast.

It was one of the few beasts that didn't consume meat.

One of the few?

But weren't there many herbivores?

Well, one had to differentiate between animals and beasts.

Beasts were animals that took their first step towards power. Beasts were the animals that managed to come into contact with the Mana in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, animals were just animals.

As beasts became more powerful, their diet slowly transitioned into one mainly made of meat. The reason for that was that there were not as many plants that came into contact with Mana.

Yes, the Ice Wood Trees were one of these kinds of plants, but the Ice Wood Trees were not powerful. A beast in the First Realm could become more powerful by consuming them, but they would be useless for beasts in the Second Realm.

This Stag would also only consume these trees while still being in the First Stage.

As soon as it became an adult, it would change its diet to water beasts.

This Stag was the very beast that the Elder had asked Alex to kill.

It didn't injure or endanger the villagers, but it consumed all the Ice Mana in the Ice Wood Trees, making them nearly worthless.

So, while the Stag didn't directly threaten the villagers, it was essentially softly pushing them into stagnation and poverty just by existing.

'That's it!' Alex thought as he narrowed his eyes.

In the distance, Alex saw the Stag consuming the Ice Mana of the Ice Wood Trees.

'That should be the Frozen Lake Stag,' Alex thought.

Alex watched the Stag for a while.

The majestic and peaceful gait of the Frozen Lake Stag gave the surrounding forest a kind of peaceful and tranquil feeling.

It was almost like this place was a holy ground for nature.

'Well, sucks for you. I need money,' Alex thought.

Alex inspected the Stag's antlers closer, and a frown spread over Alex's face.

'The Elder's fears have proven to be true.'

Alex remembered the words the Elder had spoken to him.

"If the Frozen Lake Stag's antlers pulsate with a white aura, it is close to becoming a beast of the Second Realm. This would essentially make it a Peak-Grade beast. We haven't seen the Frozen Lake Stag in a while, so we're not sure if it's still a High-Grade beast."

Alex looked at the white aura emanating from the Frozen Lake Stag's antlers.

'I never fought a Peak-Grade beast before,' Alex thought. 'However, I'm actually glad that it became stronger. The God said that I should push myself, and I'm certain that the God knows more about becoming stronger than me. If he says that I should continually push myself, I should probably do so.'

'So, this Frozen Lake Stag came at just the right time.'

Would the Elder still want Alex to kill the Frozen Lake Stag if he knew that it was about to change its diet?

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Yes!

Why?

Because the Frozen Lake Stag needed an incredible amount of Ice Mana to reach the Second Realm, and it was gathering this Ice Mana right now.

It wouldn't stop consuming Ice Wood Trees until a big part of this forest was without Ice Mana.

Alex checked his equipment.

His coat was on him.

His left arm was numb due to its low temperature.

His sword was in his right hand.

Everything was ready.

Alex took a deep breath to ready himself, and then…

BANG!

Alex exploded forward with his full speed!

The Frozen Lake Stag turned towards the explosive sound and saw Alex charging at it. As soon as it saw Alex, it turned away and ran into the distance.

Its speed was pretty fast, but its gigantic antlers made it difficult for the Frozen Lake Stag to navigate. It was powerful enough to ram through thick branches, but every branch destroyed by its antlers would slow it down a bit.

Because of that, Alex was slowly gaining ground, even though his body was weaker than the Frozen Lake Stag's body.

Was it fleeing?

No!

It was fighting!

Alex immediately jumped to the side as he felt Ice Mana gather below him.

SHING!

An ice spire shot out of the ground, and Alex had just barely evaded it!

This was how the Frozen Lake Stag fought. It transferred its Ice Mana into the ground and made it explode into mighty ice spires.

This was also how it would kill water beasts in the future. A water beast that came close to the shore would suddenly be penetrated by a gigantic ice spire, which would then keep the beast above the water.

The sudden appearance of the ice spire had slowed Alex, but he had expected it. After all, the Elder wouldn't send Alex blind into the fight.

As the Frozen Lake Stag galloped through the forest, the Ice Mana of the surrounding trees entered its antlers, refilling its Mana Storage.

Alex was fighting the Frozen Lake Stag in its most favorable territory.

As long as there were Ice Wood Trees, it wouldn't run out of Ice Mana.

SHING! SHING!

Another two ice spires shot out of the ground, and Alex managed to sidestep them.

Alex could always feel the Ice Mana arrive at the ground, which allowed him to evade.

When the Frozen Lake Stag saw that its attacks couldn't hit Alex, it increased the intensity of the attacks. Even more, the deployment of its attacks became smarter.

It became harder and harder for Alex to evade the icicles until he had to stop completely.

SHING!

An ice spire stopped just ten centimeters in front of Alex's face. This ice spire would have been inside his head if he had stopped only a bit later.

However, Alex still jumped to the side.

SHING!

The ice spire in front of Alex's face suddenly expanded one more time, but Alex had evaded to the side.

The Frozen Lake Stag had control over its ice spires, even if they had already been deployed. It simply had to send another pulse of Ice Mana towards them.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Another barrage of ice spires shot at Alex, but he managed to barely evade them.

The barrage of attacks continued, and Alex was stuck evading inside a constricting mass of ice spires.

The ice spires had shot out of the ground in many different angles, essentially creating a chaotic field filled with spires.

Alex kept an eye on the Frozen Lake Stag.

The Frozen Lake Stag had stopped running away and turned. It was circling Alex from about ten meters away as it deployed its ice spires.

Alex was stuck inside the ever-growing mass of Ice Spires, and he couldn't escape. He had already tried to destroy the ice spires with his sword, but it proved to be surprisingly hard. Whenever Alex's sword hit an ice spire, it would break into two, but Alex's entire body shook due to the force.

Cutting through the ice spires was not easy and required a lot of force.

That short moment of pause could spell Alex's doom, which was why he stopped cutting the ice spires.

After the Frozen Lake Stag had fully circled Alex once, it suddenly stopped and lifted both of its front legs.

At the same time, Alex felt that everything in a ten-meter radius around him suddenly glowed with a crazy amount of Ice Mana.

The Frozen Lake Stag had created over thirty ice spires that would shoot at Alex simultaneously!

Every spot around him would be filled with ice spires in a second!