The Warped steps into the proximity of my trap and activates the runic circles behind me, they start charging up in preparation for taking down the deer with a killing blow. Magic runs across the runes and the trap begins to come alive inch by inch.

  All the other circles start their own countdown, magic— both ambient and from cores. — fueling their runes.

  Mutations show themselves as the surrounding area is pumped full of the arcane, trees grow metallic tree bark, fruits with eyes start to bud from hibernating flowers, leaves gain an aggressive look as spikes sprout from their sides, and these are only just the mutations that I am noticing.

  The encroaching corruption hastens as the rest of the trap activates, my own body reacts, pain envelops me and yet I keep standing, I refuse to look away from the Warped's gaze, I want it to know who killed it once this is all over.

  Oil seeps out of my right arm and my fingers start to feel like water, I notice them elongating, their length increasing to the forest floor in mere moments. Looking down, I see that they now resemble tentacles, is that what I'll become once I'm an Aberrant? An octopus?

  Well, I guess it could be worse, like the giant flesh-slime that most of the population seems to turn into when corrupted.

  Several mutations sprout out of my skin, these ones seem benign and a few are even part of the normal human body, like the nails growing along one of my tentacles or the hair slowly covering my neck.

  A hoof touches down on one of the magical circles, magic courses upwards but the Warped does not react, and why would it? Debuffs probably don't matter to something like this, ones that specifically lower defenses would be barely noticeable to something who's never been hurt.

  If it does notice, then it won't be long before it's mind would begin to decay, by then, it wouldn't be able to notice anything at all, rational thinking is already nonexistent for this thing, with the debuffs active, it might as well be half asleep.

  On top of all the debuffs, I also designed a few spells that gave it softer skin, dried up organs, and dulled senses. If not for its altered state of mind, the effects would give it a full-body itch. Do deers care about that?

  More spells worm their way into the Warped, the amount of magic entering its body is now making it glow, the Warped started to look ethereal, a thin veil with the color of a collapsing star coats its entire body, right now, it looks like a cosmic god who descended down to earth.

  When the rest of its body enters the range of my trap, everything falls into place, all the dormant parts of the magic circle flare with power and the Warped is no longer just being hit by debuffs, attacks capable of harming it are starting to come towards it too.

  The trees grow strange branches, spikes the size of spears pop out of the wood, then they start crawling like worms toward the Warped, the closest tree wraps around a leg and blood finally starts to flow.

  Once the crimson fluid touches the magic circle, its color goes from a deep purple into a dark shade of red.

  Metal begins to layer on top of the trees, now, they are no longer just wood. Entire sections of the forest disappear as the rest of the trees move to attack the Warped, when the legs become full, they crawl up to the body and stick themselves there.

  Before long, the Warped is covered in a metallic suit that covers it from the neck down, and with few remaining trees slithering up to its face, it'll only take a few minutes until its entire body is taken over as well.

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  And yet it keeps walking, like it doesn't feel the trees sucking out its blood, or how the debuffs are now beginning to damage it from the inside out. It is slowly weakening and it doesn't even notice.

  The other attacking spells join in, arrows molded from earth and enchanted with explosive runes shoot out of the ground and strike the deer on the side, an earthquake shakes the forest as it falls down.

  What was once a mountain is now a hill, looking at the Warped like this... It made me smile, through the haze of corruption, through the pain wracking my body. The parts of me that weren't there before start to twitch, I can feel them, are my nerves starting to connect themselves to the mutations? I think they're happy, I don't know why.

  As more attacks come at the deer, my body starts to hurt as well.

  Visions of something I couldn't quite name, a past life that seems so faraway now...

  "Sometimes... We miss you, you know? Your mom and I have been wondering about you, life outside our town must be lonely."

  They didn't get it back then, they thought that whatever life that place could give me would be satisfying, that I'd be more than happy to sit in place and do nothing all my life. Naturally, I would lash out, it's like they didn't support me.

  How long did it take for me to start visiting them again? I don't remember. It must've been long though.

  I touch my face, when I pull my hand back, it's wet. Tears? Am I crying? For what? The people who didn't support me?

  ... No, they did support me, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to leave my town and live in a city if my parents were shitty enough to push me down while only focusing on themselves. If not for them, I wouldn't have the kind of life I did back then.

  Guilt eats away at my heart and my tears stream down endlessly, I am a bit of a bitch aren't I? For someone who's valued herself and her achievements, she never saw her point of origin.

  "You're doing really well, if you keep this up then maybe you'll even be important one day!"

  Funny how I believed those words back then, how I took all the admiration coming from my peers and teachers but never my parents, hell, I even blamed them when I started to burn out. It wasn't their fault though, I've long since realized this, that doesn't mean that I don't feel guilty when thinking about it...

  Screaming at my parents because I no longer get the results that I wanted, holy hell, I'm a narcissist aren't I?

  Why didn't my parents just hate me? Why the hell did they have to support me? Whenever I remember, all I can think of is them being supportive, and isn't that the fucking worst? At least if they hate me then my spite can be rationalized.

  Spikes come out of the ground, there are supposed to be hundreds of them but only a few manage to come out of the deer's body, the rest must have been stopped by its durability.

  "Flail." I cough, my voice is hoarse, painful. "Struggle all you goddamn want," I don't even recognize myself anymore, it's like the person who's talking is someone completely different, am I experiencing dysmorphia? "You're not coming out of this alive."

  A part of me wishes I can personally attack it as well, to go down there with my wand and start damaging it with my own spells. I genuinely doubt that will work though, the only reason why my trap is doing damage to this thing is because of all the monster cores powering it.

  Burst of light fell down from the sky, they hit the deer several times, no shot missed their target. The places that got hit looked burnt, and even the trees in that area have disappeared. I didn't expect this particular spell to be effective...

  The Warped's ribcage shows itself after another barrage of miniature suns hit it, it's close to death, I can feel it. A bit more and this thing is going to die.

  I turn back at the final and last spell my trap will cast, this thing will be the one to finally put the gigantic deer for good. And once it's dead I'll... I'll die? Maybe.

  Focusing on my looming death didn't feel good so I decided to think about something else, my trap seemed like as good of a topic as any.

  What level would this trap technically be? 100? The amount of cores I put into this thing should put the trap way beyond that, my best estimate is in the 150s.

  Weeks and hundreds of monster cores, that's all I need to make a trap that can kill a Warped. Isn't my class too overpowered?

  No, probably not... There's the fact that I need a large area to make this thing, if not for that then the trap wouldn't be able to accumulate the amount of magic that it did.

  Can I turn an entire city into a trap? I totally can, can't I? Maybe I can do the same to Misery Swamp?

  A trap powered by a leyline, how cool would that be?

  A flash of light momentarily blinds me as the final piece of my trap fires off, I close my eyes, the need to see the gigantic laser coming from behind me was strong, and I would have loved to witness it kill the Warped. Sadly, I wouldn't be able to see it even if I wanted to, it's simply too bright.