"This is crazy. I'm going to get myself killed," Enzo gritted his teeth as he lay on his belly behind a giant sand dune, looking downwards.
The creatures around the universe were ferocious, ruthless, and generally unfeeling. The rule of the jungle went to the very extreme when facing one.
Thankfully, with the advent of Weavetech and its technology, humans were able to steal the essence of these beasts after slaying them, turning it into treasures and tools for survival.
These were called Echoes.
However, according to Victoria, this was something that had always been possible throughout the universe. Even beasts could gain some boost or the other from this process.
It made Enzo think… Why didn't humans do this earlier? Why was it only possible after Weavetech?
"Sigh… things are only going to get more dangerous from here on." Enzo shook the thought off and looked around.
Killing a Sand Trihorn without a weapon was basically impossible at his level of strength. They were too fast and too numerous. Killing one might be possible, but then what about the second one? The third? Maybe even the hundredth? Before he knew it, he'd be overwhelmed.
So he decided on something else.
[Bone Wing Nephron: a species of short flying birds native to Galafray prison world. Its hunting talent is poor, akin to a bottom-feeder. They swoop down from above and take already-injured prey from predators, then drop them kilometers away to feast.]
The coffin's voice resounded in Enzo's ear as he watched a human-sized bird creature with blue-hued feathers and a build that made it look almost malnourished.
This particular bird had been following him for a week now, waiting for him to get wounded or killed before swooping down to grab his corpse.
It was an annoying presence that had frustrated Enzo without end, so Enzo decided to do something about it
The predator was about to become prey.
"I am the shadow, and the shadow is me: Shadow Step," Enzo muttered under his breath.
In the next second, he phased through his own shadow on the ground and appeared 200 meters away, right behind the bird, which was currently eating.
-Caww?!!
The Night cloak concealed Enzo's presence up to a certain distance. But who wouldn't notice someone appearing right behind them from their shadow?
The beast noticed him and spread its wings in fear and panic. That made it stumble forward, and its claws hit the ground.
A big mistake in this desert—it meant the Sand Trihorns were now alerted.
Fortunately, it was a flying beast, so the moment it hit the ground, it flapped its wings and launched into the air before the Trihorns could swarm it.
-Caww!!
After narrowly escaping the swarm, the Bone Wing Nephron looked around to make sense of the shadow that had appeared behind it. But to its surprise—there was nothing there.
Enzo had vanished.
Or so it thought.
"Die, you dirty vulture!!" Enzo's head rose from the back of the creature as he smashed a rock down at its left wing blade.
He'd used the chaos of surprising the Nephron to phase through its shadow and climb its back. And because it was so focused on the Sand Trihorns, it didn't even notice him.
-BAM
-BAM
Two consecutive strikes smashed against its wing blade, dislocating it and forcing the creature into a spiral.
The beast struggled to stay airborne for a good three minutes before eventually giving up and crashing to the ground.
-BOOM
As its body smashed into a desert sand dune, Enzo was flung off by the impact, tossed a few meters away.
"FUCK!!" he cursed, his body slamming into the sand as a jolt of pain tore through him. But he didn't falter, immediately dragging himself up and searching for a silhouette or shadow.
It was imperative he phased before the Trihorns arrived.
"Got you!!" Luckily, he spotted a dried-up bone sticking out of the sand, its shadow looming nearby.
The beautiful thing about Shadow Step was that it didn't matter how big the shadow was, as long as it existed, he could phase into it.
And so he did.
A split second later, where he'd been standing was overrun by sand Trihorns looking to eat him raw.
-Caww!!
-Caww!!!!
-Caw!!!!!!
The Bone Wing Nephron screeched in agony nearby as several Trihorns drilled into its body from all sides.
These two creatures were apex survivors in Galafray, one king over the sands, the other king of the skies. But when they crossed each other's paths, they became natural enemies.
Enzo watched as the Trihorns invaded the Nephron's body, drilling out and dying pathetically as a blue liquid poured from their mouths.
Its body was poisonous.
A natural defense against the Sand Trihorns.
"Yeah… it's getting around that time," Enzo muttered from within the shadows, his eyes panning to a large sand dune not far away.
He had planned this whole thing.
It didn't look like it, but Enzo was a meticulous planner. He'd inferred the Nephron likely had some kind of countermeasure, since there weren't many of their corpses scattered through the desert.
That gave him a window—just enough time to pull this off.
Enzo phased out again and appeared atop the sand dune, right next to a massive black metallic box.
He grabbed it by the sides and leapt into the air, gliding atop it like a surf board.
All they heard was a whistle in the air…
And in the next second, the Void Coffin smashed through not only the Bone Winged Nephron, but also several Sand Trihorns—like a moving trail of death.
[You have slain a Sand Trihorn…]
[You have slain a Sand Trihorn…]
[You have slain a Sand Trihorn…]
[You have slain a Blue Bone Winged Nephron]
[You have received an Echo]