The grassy plains stretched endlessly before Derick—an ocean of gold and green swaying beneath a sky that always seemed a little too bright, a little too sharp, as if the very realm wanted every creature to remain awake, alert, and aware that death lurked in any direction.
His steps slowed when a faint vibration pulsed through the earth beneath him.
Thump… thump… thump…
Something was approaching. Something large. Far larger than the bees he had fought earlier.
Derick crouched, letting the tall grass swallow his form. The Phoenix Carapace responded to his tension, plates along his arms tightening and shifting. It wasn't sentient, but it felt strangely alive—hungry for conflict.
The vibrations grew heavier. Closer.
Derick steadied his breath and parted the grass with his fingers.
A hulking insectoid creature lumbered ahead—its thorax thick as sculpted stone, its mandibles clicking with slow, deliberate menace. A Primeval Stone-Mandible Beetle of the dung species. Its shell gleamed like polished granite, its movements radiating raw power.
A dangerous fight.
And a perfect test.
Derick's heartbeat steadied. This was why he ventured here—to test the limits of the Phoenix Carapace, to push himself, to evolve.
He set the sack of collected bees behind a tree and tightened his grip on his twin daggers. The chains connecting them to the bangles on his wrists rattled softly—quiet enough not to alert the beetle, firm enough to ground his focus.
The beetle paused.
Its antennae twitched.
It sensed him.
A low rumble vibrated through its thorax. Then its mandibles snapped open, and the massive creature charged.
"Here we go," Derick muttered under his breath as he surged forward.
He sprinted, boots tearing through the grass. Wind roared past his ears—the Phoenix Carapace amplifying his speed until the world around him blurred into streaks of color.
The beetle thundered toward him, each step splitting the ground beneath it.
At the last second, Derick dropped low, sliding beneath the beast's massive body. Both daggers slashed outward.
Sparks scattered like fireworks as the blades scraped across the beetle's stone-like underside, carving only a faint glowing scratch.
"Tch. Tough bastard."
The beetle screeched, twisting with shocking speed for something so heavy. A hooked foreleg swung down with enough force to shatter boulders.
Derick raised his armored forearm instinctively.
CLANG!
The collision rattled him from shoulder to spine, launching him backward. He tumbled across the dirt before digging his heel into the ground to stop.
His bones throbbed. But he was intact.
"Alright…" he breathed, stretching his neck. "You want to play rough?"
He flicked his wrist and hurled the black dagger.
It spun through the air like a shard of night.
THUNK!
It embedded into the beetle's face—right beside its antenna. A known weak point. But also the trigger for the beetle's natural defense:
Poison gas release.
A horrible idea for close combat.
And yet he still chose it.
The dagger pierced—but only shallowly. The beetle's facial armor was incredibly dense.
The creature shrieked and whipped its head upward—sending Derick flying with it because of the chain tether.
"Shit!"
Air twisted around him. He flipped mid-flight and landed hard on the beetle's back.
Without hesitation, he stabbed downward repeatedly with the white dagger.
PING! PING! PING!
Each strike chipped fragments of the beetle's armor. The creature thrashed violently, trying to dislodge him.
Then—
It curled inward, rolling.
Trying to crush him.
"Not today!"
Derick tore his dagger free and leaped. The Phoenix Carapace responded instantly—rigid fins snapping outward.
They caught the air, letting him glide away from the rolling mass of stone and chitin.
He landed softly and turned as the beetle righted itself with furious determination.
It lunged again—a sudden, vicious thrust. Mandibles clacked like steel snapping shut. Derick slid beneath its torso, dirt spraying behind him—
A system prompt flickered across his vision.
Skill Activated: MERGE
His daggers pulsed.
He understood the intent instinctively.
He slammed the blades together beneath the beetle's body. They fused into a longer, two-toned weapon—half white, half black.
A tunnel spear.
He sliced upward along the faint line he'd cut earlier.
This time, the blade sank deeper.
A wet tear split along the underside of the beetle, fluids dripping down in steaming rivulets.
The creature screamed, slamming a foreleg down. Derick flipped aside just before the blow cratered the earth.
He weaved between its stomps—fast, precise. Cracks spread along the beetle's carapace where he had struck earlier.
He needed one decisive strike.
Then—there.
The beetle lifted slightly, preparing another crushing strike. Derick jumped, using its own motion as leverage. His body arced—
And he brought both blades down in a brutal X-shaped strike right into the gap between its neck plates.
CRRRK—!
Armor split. Chitin cracked.
The beetle convulsed. Its massive body trembled as it collapsed sideways, crashing into the dirt with a seismic thud.
Silence settled.
Dust drifted down.
Derick stood over the enormous corpse, chest rising and falling heavily.
"That… took more stamina than I expected," he muttered.
A soft whisper echoed in his ears.
You have slain a Great Dung Beetle.
Derick placed his hand on the cracked shell.
"Kill and Consume."
Power surged.
Skill activated: Kill and Consume
Consume activated…
Primeval essence flooded through him in warm, pulsing waves. His gauge climbed steadily; heat pooled in his belly like molten metal.
Zero points gained…
Zero points gained…
One point gained…
One point gained…
Zero points gained…
His muscles tightened. Bones vibrated. Power seared through him—raw, intoxicating.
His primeval gauge swelled.
By the time he felt full, he had absorbed four full primeval points. The beetle's body had shriveled to a hollow husk.
Steam escaped his mouth as he exhaled.
This was power.
Raw. Addictive. Dangerous.
He flexed his fingers. The daggers dissolved back into the pendant at his chest. The Phoenix Carapace melted under his skin, leaving him looking ordinary but undeniably stronger.
"I need more beasts like that," he said softly. "More essence… more strength."
The sky darkened.
He turned.
And froze.
A massive shape moved toward him—not a cloud, but a swarm. An enormous cluster of black wings.
Frenzy Bees.
And at their head—a Primeval Bee.
Derick's eyes widened.
"Shit. I forgot…"
Frenzy Bees carried a post-mortem secretion—odorless to most creatures, but a beacon to their hive for over a hundred meters. Anyone who killed one became marked.
Hunted. Relentlessly.
Until the killer died, the swarm died, or the scent faded.
And Derick had killed eighteen.
A cold realization washed over him.
"I really messed up… Why did I kill so many this close to their hive?"
Only one thought hit him—
Run.
He spun and sprinted into the deeper plains as the Phoenix Carapace materialized around him. His daggers snapped back into his hands.
Behind him, the swarm roared.
He ran.
Faster.
The buzzing grew louder, closer. Cold sweat collected beneath his armor. His lungs burned. His heart hammered.
Not like this.
They were too fast. Too relentless.
"I have to do something… or I'm dead."
The bees fired their detachable stingers, each one whistling past him like a thrown spear. The ground shook with every impact.
Derick dodged left and right—barely—until the plains abruptly gave way.
A deep rumble echoed beneath his feet.
The earth split open.
Before he could react—
CRRRRK—!
The ground collapsed, and Derick plummeted into darkness. Dirt and stones showered around him as he tumbled through a narrow chute and crashed into a cramped underground tunnel.
He groaned, forcing himself upright.
A narrow choke point.
A perfect battlefield.
Above, the swarm raged—forcing their bodies through the cracks.
Only one or two could enter at a time.
Derick retrieved his blades and steadied his breathing. The Phoenix Carapace gleamed in the dim light.
He planted his feet.
"Alright," he murmured. "Come then."
The first Frenzy Bee forced its head through the opening—
And Derick's eyes sharpened.
The fight began.