I sat among the branches of a large tree overlooking a sandy plain. Holes big enough to swallow a full-grown adult littered the dry soil. Within them lived my next target. 

These trees weren’t very tall but spread their branches very far out, making them perfect for an aerial ambush. 

The Sand Soldier was an insect-like cryptid, resembling a large beetle, with overgrown mandibles. They hid inside their burrows most of the time, only ever coming out to chew on the barks of nearby trees or to remove whatever waste that accumulated in their dens. This made them rather annoying to hunt, as these particular cryptids were very skittish, wasting no time to flee into their burrows the moment they sensed my approach. 

I have tried my luck with other burrows and even waited near the entrance hoping for one to crawl out, but after spending a few hours just standing near burrows; I realized that these beetle-like creatures knew I was still there. They could probably feel vibrations in the sand, making my previous methods useless. So I opted to wait within a nearby tree. I hoped these cryptids preferred to live alone, as the thought of being swarmed over by these things like ants would an intruder caused me to shiver. Which made the thought even more unfavorable, since these cryptids were the size of a large dog.

I had long left the large grass field that seemed to halt, giving way to a landscape that consisted of thorn bushes and large trees with far-reaching branches, not quite like a desert, but it was close. The sun and heat were borderline unbearable, the main reason I retreated into the trees.

This also meant I had no access to the stars, but I expected this and drew a map that was more understandable for me. It seems they split this domain up into many small biomes. Each area changed sharply as if someone cut out different parts of the world and stuck them together like a badly thought out jigsaw puzzle.

I looked back in the direction I came from, memories of the previous fight replayed in my head. One of my main priorities while fighting is the conservation of energy. I thought at the time based on the difference in power I would be able to save more energy if I simply attacked it without using mana, but what I failed to realize is that sometimes these cryptids display animalistic or even human-like behaviors. They are just collections of corrupted mana given form, or even mana possessed items or corpses, altering them in form and purpose, but I often wondered if that’s really the case. Showing intelligence, fear of death, even growth mid battle are among the many things I have seen them do. Learning how best to conserve energy, when to use mana or to just use my martial arts. I still had a long way to go.

While in thought, a black beetle-like creature exited one of the nearby holes, the sand bulged and shifted to make way for its oversized abdomen. Its three pairs of legs moved near the entrance of the burrow, antennas twitching nervously.

My patience had paid off, I just needed to get into position. 

It used its long mandibles to push the sand away, clearing the entrance of the burrow and then turning around to walk towards the tree I was currently in. I climbed over to the nearest branch to get a better striking position. The height wasn’t particularly high, but it was enough to injure me if I landed wrong. 

I pulled out my sword, aiming it downward, and crouched on one branch in an awkward balancing act. Mana flowed into my arms as the familiar crimson thunder coupled with magenta flower petals flared up once again. I waited for it to wander directly under my branch as it searched for food, luckily it had no sense of mana.

The moment it entered striking distance, I pounced on its back, aiming for where I thought its core would be.

The Sand Soldier noticed me at the last moment and turned just in time for me to miss my target. My sword pierced its hard carapace, but didn’t have enough power to go all the way through, causing green, almost caustic fluid to ooze from it.

The thing then went into a frenzy. A myriad of clicking sounds resounded from it and it ran all over the place to throw me off. A sharp pain shot through my thigh and looking down, I could see that it had now clenched its mandibles around my upper leg. I tugged to get it out, but it had me in a vice grip that was getting tighter by the second. Blood now dripping out from my leg, I struggled to get it loose. 

I tried pulling out the sword once again, but it wouldn’t budge. The cryptid then ran forward, crashing into a nearby tree with me as its cushion. For a moment, all the air left my lungs as the blow made my vision go blurry. I had little time to consider anything else before it rammed me into the tree once again.

Realizing it was going to repeat this, I abandoned my original goal. I held the hilt of my sword with one hand, grabbing onto a low-hanging branch. The cryptid tried to pull away, but I held on, keeping it in place. The clicking noises devolved into violent gnashing as it pulled hard on my leg. I began drawing mana from my core once again, and with ragged breath forced myself to speak.

Behold the static that lives beneath the firmament, behold the static that sleeps hidden within the wind, with my will and my words I beseech you, my body is thy conduit. - Stun bolt.

A rush of current flowed from the surrounding air and into my body. The sudden increase in power caused me to hold my breath. I held onto the sword with both hands and quickly channeled all the built up energy through it and towards the cryptid. With a pop and a flash of light, the cryptid seized up and then collapsed, its jaws loosened on my thigh and its body relaxed. I quickly got up, using my legs and arms to pull the sword out of the hard carapace.

This spell was a simple version of another spell my mother used. Although the original was lethal, this one simply disabled opponents. I had but a few moments to end this and I didn’t want to waste that brief window. I aimed my sword one more time, this time aiming for the soft cartilage between the hard carapace. 

Air whistled out of the cryptid as I struck the core. Its body twitched slightly before sagging. Slightly acidic liquid oozed from the cut, releasing an awful smell that stung my nose. I was covered in this stuff but luckily all it did was leave a tingling sensation and some reddening of the skin.

I stood up to assess the damage I had taken, several splinters and cuts on my arms and back. My thigh bled profusely, and the pain made it slightly difficult to walk. A long gash was visible through a tear in my clothes. 

“I’m such an idiot.” I whispered.

I was so focused on the initial ambush, I completely ignored the potential dangers to myself. I truly didn’t expect its outer armor to be that sturdy, and I didn’t respect its mandibles enough to be wary of it. Going forward, I needed to recognize the potential strengths and weaknesses of my opponents when necessary. 

I took out the sac of water and poured it over the wound to wash away the dirt and sweat and then pulled a potion out of my satchel, repeating the previous action. Drinking it would work as well, but those are usually for internal injuries or very severe ones, not to mention it took much longer to heal. 

The warm liquid flowed down my leg and in a few moments my skin began to stitch back together, causing me to wince slightly. The acidic slime didn’t pose much of an issue, so I let it be, opting to save my healing and cleansing potions for later. 

With the sweltering heat still hammering at my back, I got up and began the search for my next target. I had three more cryptids to catch, and I didn’t have time to waste.