With enough layers of vines melted by the acid bile and the necrotic venom, the Verdant Stag's true body was starting to show.
There were still some spots covered by the vines, but it was already clear enough to see.
The foreign texture Ash felt before, when his crimson vines pierced through the layer of vines, was the stag's fur.
Its actual body.
The fleshly deer body that was buried under a braided layer of vines.
'I shouldn't kill this thing, should I…?'
Without its viney skin, the stag looked like just any other deer in the forest.
A pacifist creature that really used the flowers on its back to keep itself safe instead of hunting other creatures like the verdant wolf did.
A literal gallon of phantom bloom venom flowed in its bloodstream.
What once was the mighty Verdant Stag now looked like any ordinary helpless animal.
Despite almost killing him more than once, Ash felt kind of bad having the thought of killing such a helpless creature.
The stag didn't really harm Ash too much after all. If you didn't count the physiological trauma, that is.
'I should just use the seed and mycelium agai-'
Ash's thoughts stopped.
When he was considering whether to kill the stag or not, the three doppelgangers weren't doing so.
Despite the progress being a little slower without Ash's acid bile, Viney, Crimsy, and Woody kept using their vines to hold onto the stag.
The most active one was Crimsy. Who didn't stop lashing out its crimson vines and tearing apart the vines that covered the Verdant Stag's body.
All the time Ash spent hesitating, Crimsy used it all to peel deeper and deeper into the Verdant Stag.
At last, all the vines covering the top half of the deer's body were gone.
And now, Crimsy did its first strike against the flesh of the deer.
The thorny crimson vines struck.
The fur resisted nothing. Its hide easily pierced by the thorns. The necrotic venom entered the stag's body.
Flesh tored. Blood flowed out.
Muscles began rotting due to necrosis. And to everyone's surprise, the super regeneration the stag had for its vines didn't extend to its flesh body part.
The wound stayed there. Worsening as the venom ate more flesh and more blood poured out.
The actual body of the Verdant Stag had been harmed.
Pain. An agonizing one assaulted the stag's real body.
Warning signals. Feelings of danger blasted throughout the stag's mind. Sending out painful bleats that made the vines, roots, and weeds of the tree all around it tremble.
Color returned to its eyes.
The phantom bloom venom's effect was temporarily suppressed.
At that moment, its vision became clear.
The dreamy surroundings it saw before disappeared. It realized its body lying down, strapped to the ground.
And on the corner of its eyes, it saw him.
The one creature that had almost killed itself before. The only one who ever breached past the layer of vines and touched upon its weakness.
The stag realized now that it had happened for the second time.
Its protective layer of vines, the gift from the benevolent deity of the forest, had once again been stripped away from it.
When it thought about the deity, the stag remembered the silvery green aura the oversized monkey creature had.
For a creature who had been living with the grace of the gigantic tree, the stag knew it was the exact same aura itself had.
The same one the benevolent deity gave it.
The stag was confused. Questions bloomed in its mind.
Why did the annoying creature also have it? Had the deity also blessed the creature with its powers?
Why? Why did It do that? Wasn't I supposed to be the only one? The one who will keep this forest, our home, safe?
Safe from those other strange creatures… The similar looking ones as this one…? Why did the tree give its powers to its enemy…?
And why did It protect this creature…?
Am I not enough anymore…?
Has the deity decided to replace me…?
The stag raised its head, looking directly at the annoying creature.
It stayed still on its feet even after all this time. Not moving an inch while 3 vine creatures that somehow felt similar to its own vines moved and attacked the stag.
More pain echoed from its body to the stag's brain.
The crimson vines were the best there was when it came to inflicting pain on creatures of flesh and blood.
After 3 more lashes, pain overfilled the deer's head.
It wanted nothing more than for the pain to end soon.
It had regained its clarity, but the stag didn't find its reason to stand back up.
Has the deity betrayed me? It just left me after choosing another creature? After everything that I did for it? For this forest…?
Another lash of the crimson vine forced another agonized bleat out of the deer's mouth.
It just couldn't stand it anymore.
It just looked at its own body.
There was now blood flowing out of wounds on its back.
Something that would have never happened if the vines were still there protecting it.
However, the Verdant Stag realized something.
Despite the real blood and torn flesh, the silvery green aura was still flowing out, covering its whole body.
The dizziness it felt before wasn't there anymore.
The silvery green glow allowed the stag to keep its head clear.
The stag thought about something.
Another crimson vine made yet another new wound on its flesh.
But the silvery green aura was still there.
The stag now understood.
The deity didn't abandon it.
It wanted to see.
Which one of them deserved to be the deity's guardian.
The unnecessary fog in The Verdant Stag's head disappeared.
It stared at the one creature it needed to defeat to prove itself worthy.
It had been the guardian of the forest for years.
The Verdant Stag will now prove why it had succeeded for years.
It will show the reason why no foreign creatures ever dared to set foot in the forest for decades.
And it will give another reason for it to stay that way even in the next millennia to come.