The seed activated. A silvery green glow bloomed from the seed.
The glow grew outward, covering Ash's chest and crawling into his arms.
The stag's eyes seemed mesmerized. The silvery green glow enraptured its being as it inched closer and closer.
The mycelium began growing out of Ash's fingers, only a few steps away from touching the stag.
Ash's heart quickened. Threatening to jump out of his chest.
But Ash held it in. He was only a step away from avoiding a possible deadly fight with his nemesis in the Verdant Necropolis.
The mycelium almost touched the stag. His seed of hope nearly bloomed into a garden.
Alas, the goddess of luck, whether she really existed or not, didn't give Ash her blessings.
There was only a finger's distance from Ash's mycelium and the Verdant Stag's vines, but the stag broke free.
Stupor ceased from the stag's eyes. Its feet kicked the ground, jumping backward and avoiding the mycelium from touching its body.
It bleated. Even Ash knew what it meant despite not speaking deer.
"I guess, we have to do this the hard way, eh?"
Not wasting a second, the stag produced its own silvery green glow, enveloping its whole body.
Intense light blinded Ash's eyes.
The exact same ability the stag used before when it was almost defeated by Ash and viney.
The stag's body grew to 8 meters tall, the imposing stag that chased Ash relentlessly had come back.
It realized what Ash was trying to do and took offense as if Ash had desecrated its mother's grave.
"You want a fight? You got it!"
Ash shot the modified acid, one that was responsible for eating away the Titanbark's bark.
The stag just commanded the vines from the trees to block the acid for it.
Which earned the stag's surprise when it saw the bundle of vines was only able to slow down the acid bile, not being able to completely stop it.
The vines just disintegrated the moment they touched the acid bile.
The stag jumped away once more, realizing that being hit by the acid bile could mean its death.
It knew now that Ash was stronger than before.
It couldn't let Ash drag the fight for long and harass it with the strong acid.
The stag commanded the roots and grass. The two of them from the nearby trees launched themselves.
All were aiming to skewer and tie Ash to keep him in place.
But they hit nothing.
Ash had disappeared.
Just outside the stag's attack range, Ash waved two middle fingers, "Come chase me! You damned overgrown vegetable deer!"
The words were incomprehensible for the stag, but the tone was clear enough for the stag to register it as an insult that would make its ancestors angry.
It bleated once more. Staring down at Ash, its eyes only had one determination, to eat the annoying human who had escaped from its grasp twice.
Ash stacked his buff. The tier 2 berserk skill and the thorny berserker.
Twitchstep activated on top of the stacked buff. He disappeared faster than the stag was able to catch up.
He didn't have the mana to stack the two skills before, and he was barely able to maintain the status quo, but now, the stag was only able to catch up because Ash let it.
Ash meticulously used twitchstep and ran at the right timing, making sure he was just barely outside of the stag's attack range.
A distance that he had memorized from his last brush with the damned stag.
The stag's anger and annoyance had bubbled out of control. It had been played by Ash twice.
The stag would make sure that Ash wouldn't escape this time.
Even when the stag realized that Ash could move faster than itself, the stag kept its chase.
Thanks to his resilience and innate talent to piss off the stag, Ash succeeded in his actual fight plan.
The plan in the case where he failed miserably in trying to tame the stag.
Ash suddenly stopped running. He did a 180 instead and squared at the stag.
The stag timed its skill to the split second Ash was inside its area of influence.
There was barely any time for Ash to react to the stag's skill.
However, that was only the case if Ash didn't know about the stag's skill firsthand, and he didn't have any preparations before.
"Now!"
His shout reached the sky. His own pent-up vexation against the creature was released in that one word.
And it manifested beautifully.
With a single command, 4 things happened all at once.
Titanbark grew on Ash's body, protecting him from the blades of grass that stood all around him from stabbing him.
Woody, who was hidden behind a tree beside Ash, moved its titanbark-covered vines.
Barriers of titanbark formed from the vines. Standing rigid and tall, protecting Ash from any incoming damage.
The flying ordinary vines and tree roots were helplessly repelled when they hit the titanbark.
Not a scratch appeared on the body of the titanbark vines.
Crimsy jumped from above the tree branch. Its crimson vines untangled as it began corrupting the Verdant Stag's own vines.
Viney, who hid inside a bush near the stag, shot its vines. Their targets were none other than the stag's feet.
The vines tied the four hooves, robbing the stag's right to stand as it toppled onto the ground.
It was a similar situation as before when Ash had almost finished off the stag for good.
However, it was different from before.
After its transformation to an 8-meter-tall beast, there was barely any delay for the stag to command the vines, roots, and even the grass.
This time, the stag fought back immediately.
The grass wrestled control of Viney's vines. Easing the tension binding its hooves.
Enabling the stag to slowly, but surely, free its own feet and come back standing.
The tree roots and vines moved, changing their targets from Ash to Crimsy and Viney.
Just like Viney, Crimsy prioritized Ash's orders above all else.
Even when its body was pierced by roots and vines, it held strong.
Keeping the crimson vines tight around the stag's body, constantly corrupting the viney body of the stag.
It was only after Ash gave them a command to let go and prevent themselves from being destroyed that Viney and Crimsy saved themselves from the spikes of roots and vines.
Ash kept his feet rooted on the ground. Not moving an inch despite his doppelgangers being relentlessly assaulted by the flora around them.
"Help them, Woody. Keep them safe."
Woody jumped to the front, joining the battle. The doppelganger triplets then seamlessly worked together as if they had been fighting together for decades.
Woody spread apart its vines, covering the forest ground. Forcing the roots and vines to hit his vines instead of its brothers.
Viney kept trying to restrict the stag's movement. And having a hard time dealing with the numerous grasses that obeyed the stag's command.
But it did succeed in taking the stag's attention, letting Crimsy sneak in more attacks.
Crimsy lashed its crimson vines as much as it could. Causing wounds to constantly appear and heal from the stag's unnatural regeneration.
But the necrotic venom piling up in the stag's body gradually slowed the stag's healing.
Making it seem like the stag wasn't an immortal, cheat-like being anymore.
It watered the seed of victory in Ash's mind.
'We might be able to do this! We may not need the extra preparations after all!'