Just like Evan, the clone didn't waste any time. With its danger senses fully alert, it threw itself clear of the spot it had been standing in.
A heavy thud shook the ground as something landed exactly where it had been. A small cloud of dust rose from the impact, and through it, the outline of a creature stretched tall.
Soon the dust settled, and what Evan saw made his skin crawl.
A snake.
About five meters long, and as thick around as a grown person.
The sight of something that size was unsettling enough on its own, but what really got to him was the way it was looking at the shadow, that cold, predatory stare fixed and unblinking. Through the clone's eyes, he could see it perfectly clearly.
'Sht, looks like I wasn't the only one keeping an eye on that beetle.'
It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened. The snake had already marked the beetle as its prey, and if Evan hadn't stepped in when he did, it probably would've gotten there first.
The beetle's body was still there, but partially shriveled, he wasn't sure the snake would've even wanted it at this point.
That said, what put him on edge wasn't the snake itself. It was the fact that he hadn't sensed it at all until it attacked. That meant it wasn't an ordinary beast.
'Fck, It might be close to awakening,' he thought.
A beast near awakening didn't look much different from a regular one, but the difference was there if you knew what to look for, faint traces of mana, a stronger body, and possibly new abilities.
Those traits became more obvious the further along it was, but in the early stages the main tell was whether it carried any magical energy at all. And this one did, subtle but present. Enough to make him think it was close to awakening.
Seeing that its first attack had failed, the snake seemed dissatisfied. It didn't waste any time and lunged forward with another strike.
'Seriously, why are you taking it personally? It's your fault you showed up late," Evan thought, frustrated, as he sent the command to dodge.
Evan could take partial control of the clone, but something told him this was a situation better left to it. After all, who knows their own body better than themselves?
Indeed, as soon as the snake approached, instead of trying to dodge sideways, the clone sank downward, transforming into a shadow.
For a moment, the creature hesitated, confused by the sudden disappearance. It looked around but saw nothing.
Just as it was about to start circling the area again, the clone re-emerged silently from the shadows nearby. Before the snake could react, it swung its arm in one fluid motion and caught the side of the beast's face, and the snake, sensing the danger, tried to pull back, but wasn't fast enough. A sharp, sudden pain tore through one of its eyes.
HISSS!
Evan stared, mouth open.
'Did it just... materialize a knife?' he thought, almost not believing what he was seeing, the clone had shaped its own energy into what looked like a blade made of pure darkness. It didn't look solid, but the wound on the snake's eye was proof enough that it was.
'To think it could do something like that… but it must have consumed a lot of energy,' he thought. Indeed, he could feel the clone's energy reserves had decreased slightly.
Though not by much, combined with the fact that he had also used his ability to merge with the shadows, it wasn't negligible.
'Let's finish this quickly,' he thought, giving the command to attack again.
At first, he considered retreating, but after seeing the clone strike the beast with its hit and run tactic, he saw a small chance to defeat the opponent and didn't hold back.
Besides, how embarrassing would it be for an awakened to run from a beast that hadn't even awakened yet?
Sure, beasts tended to be physically stronger than humans at the same rank, but the gap here wasn't big enough to justify retreating.
Running away would only mean giving up free ESS.
The snake, wounded and furious, lunged at the clone again and again, each strike fast and deadly. But every time, the clone slipped away, dissolving into shadow, reappearing somewhere else. The snake grew frantic, attacking wildly out of pain and frustration, but every strike hit nothing.
Each shift through the shadows burned a little energy, and after every hit the clone had to keep tabs on its reserves, balancing aggression with caution. It moved methodically, targeting the most vulnerable spots, forcing the snake to stay on the defensive.
Bit by bit, the beast was slowing down, becoming more predictable, still dangerous, but fading.
It didn't last much longer.
Eventually, the snake couldn't take it anymore and tried to flee. As furious as it was, it couldn't stay and get slaughtered, so it decided to retreat. But Evan had other plans,
'You want to run? As if I'd allow it,' he thought.
The moment the snake turned to run, the clone moved. In one silent leap it appeared behind the creature, and before it could react, drove a fast, precise strike into the back of its neck, clean and merciless.
The snake didn't even have time to cry out. It went limp and dropped, dead.
[Ding! Your clone has killed an Unawakened (Advanced-Stage) Forest Anaconda!]
[You gained +17 ESS]
The moment the beast died, Evan felt it, a sudden rush of energy filling his body, a substantial boost way over what he'd felt killing the night beetle.
The difference between the two kills was night and day, both in terms of raw power and ESS gained.
Normal awakened creatures, as far as Evan knew, didn't grow strong just by killing enemies. They had to extract the mana cores from their victims and refine the mana to increase their own strength.
It was a process that required time and resources, but for him, none of that was necessary.
He could do the same instantly, not only because the system handled it for him, but because the energy extracted from his victims wasn't mana, it was life essence.
He wasn't sure of the exact difference between the two, but one thing was clear: he could keep the mana cores of his victims intact and use them for other purposes instead of powering himself. That alone was an additional advantage he fully intended to exploit.
That said, Evan wasn't the only one feeling this surge of power. The clone did too, and in fact, its ESS progress percentage rose from 1.3% to 4.6%.
Watching his clone grow stronger than him felt a little strange, if he was being honest. He was the one in charge, and yet he was the one falling behind.
'Oh well, even scraps are better than nothing.'