"Good luck he says..." Luna grumbled, glancing at Jay and the others sharply. The others did not move from their spot and kept observing the monster from the bush.
"Is there anything I need to know?" she asked shyly. Although she was reluctant to face such a creepy enemy on her own, the reward she could receive from defeating it was too alluring. That monster alone was worth one and a half gold coins, meaning that she could achieve 50% of her goal, as her current quest required her to earn three gold coins.
"It's called a Night Deer. It may be just as tall as a human, but don't underestimate its physical strength. It's a lot tougher than a Hunter Bear." Erik replied.
"Many people failed to take it down with physical attacks. However, it's weak to magic attacks." Jay took over from there.
In the Tutorial Section, the Night Deer was a monster most of the Challengers avoided because the mana stats of the majority of the beginners were too low to even cast magic. But Luna was special.
"With your mana stat and your magic skill, you have the chance to fight it head-on." Jay hyped her up.
The amount of mana she possessed was far above the average, and due to her exclusive ability, which helped her level up her magic skills faster, she managed to level up her lightning skill to level 3 in a short amount of time.
"Her mana?"
"Luna, is it fine for her to know?" Erik asked Luna for permission since he noticed that Alice was out of the loop. Currently, only Alice did not know about Luna's skill and mana stat. By explaining that to her, Alice would also grow to understand why the Night Deer was the perfect opponent for Luna.
"Huh? Sure..." Luna responded absently. She did not even look at them, as her gaze was already following the Night Deer that was spinning around the small open space slowly.
She was still crouched, but her body was already prepared to plunge into the fight as the grip on her spear was tight. She only had to resolve herself.
Luna knew that the enemy was objectively a more dangerous foe than the Hunter Bear, which was already a fearsome monster. If she were on her own, then the Hunter Bear would have killed her with ease. There was no doubt about it in her head. And now, she had to fight that Night Deer alone. Even if she was the perfect counter against it, she could not help but feel anxious. What if she were to make a mistake? What if her magic was not strong enough? What if...
Doubts flooded her mind, and her breathing turned ragged without her noticing. She broke into a cold sweat, and her teeth clacked against each other. Before the Night Deer could notice her, Luna's fighting spirit had already broken down.
"Luna." Jay called her softly, resting his hand on her shaky shoulder. He looked her deep into her eyes. No words followed. Instead, he just kept staring at her, his eyes firm.
The creepy appearance of the monster did not help in giving Luna confidence, but the people on her side did. She realized that it was okay to fail. No one expected her to succeed on the first try.
"I know." Luna said, taking a deep breath. She realized that if she were to fail, then she had reliable comrades who would come to help.
Finally, having steeled her resolve, Luna shot up from the bush and threw her spear at the Night Deer. The throw was not necessarily packed with power, and it also did not hit its target, but that was already calculated by Luna. Even if the spear ended up stuck in a random tree, it was enough.
The Night Deer's attention was steered toward the stuck spear, leaving its back fully open to Luna, who emerged from the bush and released lightning from her hand—which hit the target this time. The monster was screaming as its whole body was in enormous shock.
"Is she really a beginner...? With this kind of magic output, she could be mistaken for a mage from the middle sections." Alice remarked, baffled.
Another effect of Luna's exclusive skill was doubling the damage of any magic skill. The effect might not have been visible when her skills were at level 1, but now that her lightning skill was level 3, the change in the damage was visible to the naked eye.
"Wow..." Luna gasped, taken aback by her own attack. She reached level 3 after her fight against the Haunting Tree, and since this was the first time she had used the skill after that fight, even she was taken by surprise.
Smoke emitted from the deer's body and sparks danced across its fur after the shock calmed down. Its glowing red eyes locked in on Luna, and it flew right at her, its arms reaching toward her.
Luna reacted just in time and unleashed a barrage of lightning on the monster, stopping it in its tracks. The amount of magic Luna was using was larger than before, and she did not show any signs of stopping. A confident smirk crept onto her face as she thought that maybe... Just maybe she had a better chance at winning against that monster than she initially thought.
The monster let out an eerie screech as it tried moving despite being attacked. Meanwhile, Luna raised the magic output, noticing the Night Deer closing in on her. Blood flooded from its mouth, and the way it moved looked rigid. It appeared weak, and yet it still moved forward.
"I-it's still moving?!" Luna grumbled, clicking her tongue in frustration.
She attempted to land the finisher by pouring everything she had left, but all of a sudden, the lightning disappeared. Not even a faint sparkle appeared from her hands.
"No way...! I-I ran out of ma- Argh!"
She was too surprised by the fact that she could not use her magic skill anymore, which led the Night Deer to sneak up on her, choked and slammed her down to the ground. Its grip was tight, but it was not as tight as Luna expected.
Luna was struggling to free herself and desperately gasped for air. And because she was focused on freeing herself, she did not immediately notice the state the Night Deer was in. It was weakened and severely burned. The body looked like it was about to collapse, and it struggled to raise its other arm to form a fist. The monster was just about to faint—still, it refused to do so without finishing off Luna. It might have become weaker, but it was still strong enough to kill her with one blow.
Frantically, she flailed her arms, but to no avail. If she could not break free from its grip, this would be her end. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes as she gradually felt lightheaded. And just before she blacked out, she managed to hear the sound of bushes rustling.
A blunt sound was caused when Erik suddenly jumped between them and blocked the deer's attack with his arms. Following that, the monster let out a painful scream as Alice slashed it across its body.
"We will take it from here." Jay stated, appearing behind the monster and hitting it with six quick, heavy blows.
As if tired, the deer fell on its back, huffing in exhaustion.
"Are you okay?" Alice asked worriedly, offering Luna her hand.
Luna took that hand and got up. She coughed painfully before she could speak somewhat normally again.
"Thank you, and sorry..." she said, disappointed in herself. Luna knew that she was too conceited for thinking that she could take it down on her own.
"Nah, it's fine, Luna. It's good that you've learned from this! Next time you will defeat it for sure!" Jay reassured her with a smile.
Luna nodded, returning a faint smile as well.
"But that next time will have to wait for at least tomorrow. Luna shouldn't face any monster without mana, especially here." Erik chimed in.
It was only because Luna's mana stat was so high that they suggested Luna fight a monster there. However, without her mana, she would be just another regular beginner.
"I guess you're right..." Luna agreed, laughing wryly.
"That means that there's only one thing left." Jay said, glancing warily at Alice.
Now that Luna could not hunt any monsters anymore, the group's priority shifted to Alice's mission—finding the source of the monster stampede. They were already deep in the forest, meaning that their target could potentially be within reach. And since it was something more dangerous than any monster in the Tutorial Section, everyone had to be even more vigilant than ever.
"It's right ahead of us." Alice stated sternly. Using her exclusive skill, she was able to detect its presence, albeit faintly.
The four of them were about to move on, leaving the Night Deer's corpse there as they would pick it up later if possible. However, Jay stopped as if he remembered something.
"What do you want to do, Luna? Do you want to stay behind and wait, or do you want one of us to guide you back?" he asked genuinely out of concern. The thing they were about to approach could kill Luna the moment she let down her guard even slightly. Therefore, it would be reasonable for her to want to return or wait.
"I-I want to come, too!" she responded, her voice shaking but at the same time sounding resolute.
The moment she said that, a loud roar came from ahead. It was so loud that everyone's body was trembling, with Luna even falling on her butt.
"That must be it." Erik muttered determinedly.
"M-maybe I-I will wait h-"
"Let's go, everyone." Alice declared without looking back to the others—including Luna, who changed her opinion.
Jay picked up Luna's anxiety and tried to talk to her.
"If anything should happen, we will run away." Jay said, helping Luna get back to her feet.
However, Luna was dumbfounded.
"R-run...? But I'm way slower than all of you..."