The Lightning Hawk's corpse lay steaming in two halves behind him. Alex allowed himself exactly thirty seconds to recover before he forced himself upright.
He had gained one thousand life essence.
At this rate, he would reach the next threshold after nine more kills. He would need to defeat nine more Saints.
He looked toward the deeper mountain ranges where the peaks grew sharper and the clouds themselves seemed to avoid certain areas. Somewhere up there, beasts that could crush him like an insect were undoubtedly roaming.
But he had faced a mid-level Saint and he had won.
"I need nine more," he repeated quietly.
He began to move forward.
Alex found an armadillo after looking for 30 minutes.
The armadillo had made a critical error.
It had chosen to sleep in a shallow depression between two boulders, and its massive shell was reflecting the pale sunlight that filtered through the canopy. From a distance, it resembled nothing more than an oddly shaped boulder.
