Chapter 76: Reflective Ray
Gray pressed himself flat against the seafloor, his body nearly invisible behind the massive crab shell. The Razorwing Ray circled above, its reflective body catching the faint glow of the sea plants and scattering it like a mirror in slow motion.
’It’s waiting for me to move.’
Cindy’s voice came soft, tense. "Gray... can you feel where it is?"
’No. Only when it passes through the light. Its skin absorbs my electroreception. When it moves, it’s invisible.’
"Then you have to wait for it to attack and predict it."
Gray’s tentacles tightened against the sand.
’It’s Level 32. If it hits me too many times, I’m dead.’
"Then don’t let it hit you."
A faint shimmer passed through the water above. The Razorwing Ray tilted, its boomerang-shaped body aligning. Predator’s Instinct gave a single, faint pulse. A sign without a source.
’It’s coming.’
He pulsed sideways, the motion so sharp it left a small vortex behind.
For one frozen instant, the water above him shimmered.
Then it tore.
The Razorwing Ray cut through the space where he’d been, its body a perfect line of pale silver, so fast that the eye couldn’t follow. The only proof it had passed was the rent it left in the water, a thin white seam of turbulence that collapsed a moment later with a sound like a whip crack.
Gray felt the passage after the creature was already gone. His bell margin tingled where the displaced current had kissed him, close enough to remind him how close death had just come.
’Missed.’
He fired Cavitation Pulse at the spot where the Ray’s body had passed. The superheated jet tore through the water, but the creature was already gone, banking into the darkness.
’Too fast to hit after it strikes.’
Cindy’s voice came, urgent. "It’s circling again. It knows you’re behind the shell."
Gray studied the crab shell beside him. its carapace thick enough to deflect even the Razorwing’s slashes.
’Maybe tanking is the smarter play.’
He wrapped his tentacles around the shell and dragged it closer, using it as a shield. The Razorwing Ray passed overhead again, its body a silver blur against the dark. It hovered just outside the light, waiting for a better angle to strike.
’Oh, you want me to move? Fine.’
He shoved the crab shell upward with both tentacles and pulsed back, putting just enough distance between himself and the impact.
The Ray hit the shell at full speed.
The sound was immense, a crack like breaking stone, sharp and hollow at once. Water surged outward in a ring. The shell split down the middle, but didn’t shatter. The Ray’s momentum stopped cold, and for a fraction of a second, it simply hung there, pressed against the broken carapace as if stunned by its own failure.
Then it slid off, twisting sideways, its wing-like fins beating in awkward, uncoordinated strokes.
Before the Ray could recover, Gray was on the move.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — ACTIVATED]
He launched himself at the Ray while it recovered. The crystalline barbs caught its wing-like fin, tearing through the reflective skin.
[ABYSSAL LANCE — 96 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY — HP: 354 / 450]
[REFLECTIVE SKIN — DAMAGED]
[STEALTH CAMOUFLAGE — PARTIALLY DISRUPTED]
SKREEEK!
The Ray’s shriek tore through the water. Its body flickered, the reflective layer shattering along its left side. Gray could feel it now, a flickering electrical signature at the edge of his perception.
’Got you.’
The Ray wheeled around, its damaged fin trailing pale fluid. It was still fast, but no longer invisible. Gray tracked it as it circled, his electroreception locked onto the flickering signature.
’Cindy, barrier on my left. It’ll try to flank.’
"Understood."
A flash of silver-blue light split the darkness.
The barrier materialized exactly where Gray had asked, cutting off the Razorwing Ray’s preferred angle.
The Ray hit the edge of the barrier’s influence and veered. Its damaged side dragged through the water, forcing it into a wider, sloppier arc.
’Cindy, you’re getting good at this.’
The creature’s new path was already mapped in Gray’s mind.
A blast of boiling water and crystal shrapnel ripped toward the Ray.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 54 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY — HP: 300 / 450]
The superheated jet struck the Ray’s damaged side, tearing through the broken reflective layer. The creature convulsed, its body flickering in and out of Gray’s perception as its camouflage failed.
"It’s losing control!" Cindy called.
The water flashed white. Lightning arced from his tentacles and crashed into the Ray’s exposed side.
[OVERCHARGE — 86 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY — HP: 214 / 450]
[STUN — 5 SECONDS]
The Ray hung motionless, caught mid-thrash like a sculpture of silver and pain. Its camouflage shimmered weakly, cracking apart in slow pulses.
’Now or never.’
Grip Jaw snapped shut around its tail, holding it in place. At the same moment, Neurotoxic Drift bled into the water, flooding its gills with invisible death. Then Gray pressed close and fired Cavitation Pulse directly into the soft underside of the creature’s body.
[GRIP JAW — 28 DAMAGE]
[NEUROTOXIC DRIFT — 19 DAMAGE]
[CAVITATION PULSE — 52 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY — HP: 115 / 450]
The stun shattered. The Ray’s body came alive in Gray’s grip, twisting with desperate, feral strength. One wing lashed out and caught him across the bell, the edge razor-sharp.
[-32 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 664 / 730]
Gray didn’t let go. He wrapped more tentacles around the creature’s body, dragging it close, pressing every crystalline barb into its flesh.
’You should have picked easier prey.’
Overcharge detonated again.
[OVERCHARGE — 88 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY — HP: 27 / 450]
The Ray’s struggles weakened. Its reflective skin was entirely gone now, dissolved into the water like scattered mercury. It was small, fragile, already dead.
Gray squeezed.
[GRIP JAW — 30 DAMAGE]
[RAZORWING RAY DEFEATED — 480 EXP]
The creature went still in his grip. Its body, so swift and deadly moments before, now floated limp and dull. Gray released it and let the corpse drift slowly to the sand.
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Reflective Skin" (1/5)]
[New Trait Discovered!]
[REFLECTIVE SKIN — Preview]
« Analysis »
A defensive trait derived from creatures with bio-reflective integument. Allows the user to partially absorb and scatter incoming energy-based attacks, including electricity, light, and certain forms of thermal radiation.
Effect at Completion: 15% damage reduction from energy-based attacks. Passive. May synergize with existing armor traits.
’Haah... hahh...’
Gray floated in the water, his bell heaving with exhaustion. The battlefield was quiet now. The Razorwing Ray’s corpse lay in the sand, already beginning to dissolve as small scavengers emerged from hiding.
Cindy’s voice came soft.
"You’re hurt."
’I’m fine.’
He absorbed the Ray’s corpse slowly, letting the familiar warmth of biomass spread through his body. The wounds on his bell throbbed, but they would heal.
"We should return to the shelter," Cindy said.