"Just how tall is this thing?" I asked myself as I approached the giant tree, "this is taller than that other tree... Is this the tallest one in the forest?"

  Ultimately, I knew that the comparison was meaningless. Both trees are gigantic, and they dwarf the rest of the plant life so much that they might as well be a different species altogether.

  Mutations borne from magic aren't all that weird to see, yet the tree in front of me is technically an anomaly, if it was an animal, this thing would have gone past the Aberrant and Monster stages and immediately jumped to being a Warped.

  This thing existing also means that the land has enough mana to sustain such a miraculous growth, I don't know if a Warp exists here though, I can only hope that nothing like that has grown over the years and that this place is the same as it was back in Firelight Chronicles.

  Save for a few monsters meant to hinder the player, this place was empty back then, so there shouldn't be something as powerful as a fully manifested Warped around here...

  As if the forest heard my thoughts and made that bet, the ground started shaking, I almost fell down, actually no, I did fall down. When I got back up, I rushed to the nearest tree and hugged its trunk like my life depended on it.

  Holding it tightly enough to feel the creases and lines on the surface of the bark through my gloves shows just how scared I am of the incoming threat, my heart is beginning to race and I am genuinely praying that this thing isn't a Warped, an earthquake bad enough to destroy Flotol is fine, just make it so that it isn't a Warped please...

  No matter how much I prayed, no one answered me and what came out from behind the tree was a titan, something so big that an adult human standing up wouldn't be tall enough to reach halfway through its hooves.

  Dark brown fur with spots the color of ink dotting parts of the mat's surface, a long, arrow-shaped snout, and legs that look like tree stumps. This deer must have been alive during the time of the mender, it may have even been her pet. That explains why it's turned into a Warped and why it's so close to the location of the mender's cloak.

  Two antlers shaped like lightning protruded from the Warped's head, the angle of each turn so sharp that they looked like upside down lightning strikes, eyes as red as fresh blood scanned the surroundings, they briefly passed me by and I felt the pressure of the creature's gaze.

  Without [Mental Resistance], I would be on the ground by now, breathing ragged and my heart racing. I wonder how the weight of its presence feels? I'm guessing a lot? It wouldn't surprise me if simply standing close to this thing without protection is enough to turn normal humans into screaming mad men on the verge of corruption.

  The deer looked around some more, its stance stoic, its legs refusing to move. For all intents and purposes, the giant creature is rooted on the spot, like it refused to go any further than this.

  Guardian. That's what this deer is isn't it? I realized that this thing must be guarding the treasure hidden inside the tree, confirming that I have found the [Mender's Cloak].

  How do I get to it safely though? And if I do get it, how do I escape the monster keeping it safe? I have a feeling that if I picked it up and ran away, this thing would chase me until I'm dead or I let go of it.

  Killing the Warped is the only way to obtain the cloak, but how?

  I wracked my brain for a solution, forcing myself to list out all the things I can do. The mental exercise didn't do anything to push an idea out of my skull. There's nothing someone of my level can do to kill a Warped, I can't even damage a dungeon monster, something of this caliber is beyond my current ability.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "No, I've come this far." Why the hell am I giving up? I glared at the giant creature in defiance, I'm not stopping now.

  I pushed myself off the tree and moved quickly, passing the canopy in complete silence as my perks did their work, slipping resistance is a god send when moving through snow, my boots help too.

  The way I hold my dagger unevenly and how I use my free hand to push off of tree trunks would have me slipping if not for my perks, and I don't even know why I'm rushing straight to the Warped, I can't even kill it for crying out loud!

  Yet I didn't stop moving, no matter how much my rational thoughts reminded me that I'm nothing more than a mortal human vulnerable to any and all attacks, I kept going. I refused to give in, fuck my mortality.

  Soon enough, I reached the hooves of the Warped, from this distance, I noticed that they look like stone, coloration and all. There's snow everywhere, practically covering everything the eye could see, and yet the hooves remain gray with shades of green, like an ancient temple overrun with moss.

  [Shockwave] can definitely do damage to something like this right? It's basically built to combat things like this, to shatter stone and break it apart.

  My breath caught as I prepared to use my wand, slowly, I looked up, my head tilting upward until I...

  There's nothing in its stare, no malice, worry, or hell, curiosity. Even when it's the kind of being who's known to only kill things they come across, even if it's reached the end point of all monsters, whose existence now revolves around is dedicated to killing other things.

  Apathy. Indifference. Call it whatever you want, it doesn't change the fact that I'm nothing to it.

  Raise my wand? Use my spell? Shatter the hooves? What the hell was I thinking? I can't fight something like this!

  The Warped raises its foot, to me, it looked like a building was suddenly taken from the ground, the empty space left behind by the massive limb is a crater that dented the earth, a wound that hurt the world itself.

  And if I stay here any longer, I would also get hurt... No, die. I'm going to die!

  Everything went into focus and I quickly turned around, facing away from the gigantic monster and bolting in that direction. I moved as fast as I could, my legs kicking the ground in short bursts, my body expertly weaving through the forest like I'm some kind of wood elf.

  Whenever I slow down, I get a moment to think and I can't help but ask myself: why is nothing happening? If that thing slammed its foot down to the ground, it would raise the earth itself, upheaving the crust and causing it to jump, albeit momentarily.

  Was that an attack or was it simply walking? Either way, I can't stop moving, otherwise I'm gonna become collateral.

  Scratch that, this part of the forest will become a collateral, the trees, the animals, and whatever spirit is unfortunate enough to be near us are going to die.

  Then everything shook, my mind went into slow motion, my senses caught everything that happened perfectly, from the cracks that crawled through the earth, slithering like worms as they splintered the ground and loosened tree roots, to the vibrations that ran through the earth, slow at first, but gradually picking up speed.

  A moment passes and it all stops, my mind goes back to normal and as the earthquake comes rushing towards me, my first thoughts were simple, almost sad, I was like a kid suddenly thrown to the center of a trampoline, my body bounced high into the air, none of my perks kept me standing straight as the flat, even ground I was standing on moments ago shattered like fallen glass.

  "Ah—" I didn't even have the time to scream, and if I did, then the rush of air that followed the earthquake would have drowned it out.

  Dust and mud washed over everything, and the land, once covered in snow, is now an earthen mess, wood and leaves are sparsely spread across the altered landscape, dead bodies too, their presence unmistakeable in the chaos. A lot of the corpses are that of monsters, if an adventurer came across this scene, they'd think it's a gold mine.

  Me though? I was too busy groaning on the ground and nursing my broken leg, I held it by the knee, feeling though the skin made me notice the bone that's clearly gone out of place, I should fix this right?

  With gritted teeth and eyes looking everywhere but my leg, I took hold of calves and ankle, then with a deep breath, forcefully snapped it back into place.

  The scream that came out echoed across the forest, my face was pale and sweat was falling down my forehead in droves, a rain localized in my face.

  My hands shook as I reached for a fallen bush, I used my dagger to cut the stalks and stem, I thinned them down until I could tie them together into a primitive rope that got used on my leg to hold it steady.

  With a fallen branch I used as a crutch, I picked myself off of the ground and started walking back to my home.

  I gave the Warped one last look before walking away, I'm gonna kill that damn thing even if it's the last thing I'll do.