Chapter 12: Oh Deer
"Shit!" Kir dove forward and ran as a blast of cold air struck the place where he'd been squatting moments before.
He felt pain in his wing as he struck a branch, and realized that with how big his body was now, getting away would be impossible in the confined space of the forest. At the very least he might break a wing.
As he dodged another blast of cold air, he realized his only hope was to enter the clearing and try his luck either defeating or scaring off the crystalbranch.
The deer stomped its hoof, an intimidating display that almost distracted Kir as it gathered mana for another attack.
Animals that used mana and monsters didn't have the most variety in terms of the magic they wielded, but more often than not they made up for that with fast casting times and a high mana capacity.
This time, the beam of cold was aimed at his legs, and he jumped before it could close, his wings flapping out of instinct and bearing him up for a couple of extra feet before he hit the ground.
If they hadn't, he would have been frozen in place.
The realization struck him that once the deer fired its spell, it couldn't see during the attack, and so each casting would leave him an opening of about three seconds.
The crystalbranch huffed in frustration, but was already charging its next attack as it backed up one step and turned its head. Compared to last time, it aimed higher.
Kir waited until the last moment to flare his wings and flap them once, pushing himself backwards instead of dodging the same way he did last time. As soon as he was on his feet, he rushed the deer, who bleated with surprise as it saw too late that Kir was going in for the punch.
His fist connected with the crystalhorn's throat, and it bleated as the force of Kir's punch took its front hooves off the ground.