Chapter 7: Glowcarapace Shrimp
Gray watched the shrimp colony for a long moment, studying their movements. They skittered in erratic patterns, but there was a rhythm to it. The ones on the outer edges of the group tended to drift farther from the main cluster. Stragglers. Loners. The weak ones that the colony wouldn’t immediately miss.
His bell pulsed with quiet anticipation.
’Alright. Time to harvest some EXP.’
He eased out of the crevice, keeping his movements slow and his bioluminescence as dim as the passive skill would allow. The shrimp’s own red eyes gave him an idea, they relied on light to spot predators. If he stayed low and didn’t flash brightly, maybe he could close the distance before they noticed him.
The first target was a small one near the base of the left boulder. It had wandered a good two feet from the nearest colony member, its tiny pincers busy scraping at a patch of moss.
Gray positioned himself above it, letting his tentacles dangle downward like fishing lines. The shrimp didn’t look up. Didn’t sense the danger drifting inches above its head.
’Gentle. Slow. Don’t spook it.’
He descended.
His lowest tentacle brushed the shrimp’s carapace.
[NEMATOCYST STING — 3 DAMAGE]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP — HP: 5 / 8]
The shrimp jolted. Its legs kicked frantically, trying to skitter away, but the paralytic venom was already taking hold. Its movements slowed. Stuttered. Gray wrapped another tentacle around it and squeezed.
[NEMATOCYST STING — 4 DAMAGE]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP — HP: 1 / 8]
’One more.’
He pulsed his tentacle tighter.
[NEMATOCYST STING — 3 DAMAGE]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP — HP: 0 / 8]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
The shrimp went limp. Gray pulled the corpse toward his oral arms before the colony could notice. The tiny body dissolved against his feeding surface, absorbed in seconds.
He checked his experience bar. A thin sliver of progress toward Level 4.
’Okay. Twenty more of these and I might level. Let’s go.’
The second shrimp was even easier. A straggler near the right boulder, too focused on a scrap of something organic to notice the translucent death drifting toward it. Three quick stings. Dead.
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
The third shrimp noticed him at the last second. Its red eyes flared bright, and it let out a shrill clicking sound before Gray’s tentacle silenced it.
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
He froze, watching the colony. A few shrimp near the edge looked up, their antennae twitching. One skittered toward the spot where the third shrimp had been. But after a moment of confusion, it returned to its scraping.
’They didn’t see me. The alarm didn’t spread.’
He exhaled a bubble of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding.
’Stealth build it is, then.’
The fourth shrimp fell. Then the fifth. The sixth. Each kill was methodical, almost meditative. Identify the target. Approach from above. Sting. Sting again. Absorb. Move on.
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
The colony continued its mindless scraping, unaware that a serial killer was picking off its members one by one. Gray felt almost guilty.
’This is what you wanted, right?’ he thought as he drifted toward his seventh target. ’To stop being pathetic. To become stronger. This is how it works. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten.’
His tentacles wrapped around the seventh shrimp.
’Besides. They’re shrimp. It’s not like they have families.’
[NEMATOCYST STING — 2 DAMAGE]
The shrimp thrashed. Its pincers snapped wildly, and one of them caught Gray’s tentacle. A tiny red number flashed.
[-1 HP]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 29 / 30]
’...Okay. They have pincers. Noted.’
He tightened his grip.
[NEMATOCYST STING — 3 DAMAGE]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP — HP: 3 / 8]
’Die already.’
[NEMATOCYST STING — 4 DAMAGE]
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP DEFEATED — 5 EXP]
Gray absorbed the corpse and checked his status. HP 29. MP had climbed to 15 during the hunt. His experience bar sat at roughly 35% toward Level 4.
’Seven kills. Thirty-five EXP. I need... maybe twelve more for Level 4? Something like that.’
He turned back toward the colony.
And stopped.
The colony had changed. The scattered feeding pattern had collapsed into a tight defensive huddle. Red eyes gleamed outward in every direction. The stragglers and loners had vanished, absorbed into the mass of bodies now pressed tightly together.
’...They noticed.’
It wasn’t panic. Not yet. But the colony had sensed that something was wrong. Their numbers were thinning, and the survivors were closing ranks.
’They’re learning. They’re level 1 shrimp with maybe three brain cells between them, and they’re LEARNING.’
The clicking started. Low at first, then louder. A rhythmic pulse of sound that vibrated through the water. Each click bled into the next, a thread of meaning weaving through the colony, pulling them closer together.
And then, as if responding to some silent signal, the entire colony began to move. They streamed toward a narrow crack in the boulder face, a gap too small for his bell to fit through.
’No. NO. My EXP! My beautiful, delicious EXP!’
He pulsed forward without thinking, rushing toward the retreating swarm. If they all disappeared into that crack, he’d lose his grinding spot. He’d be back to square one, floating aimlessly through the dark, hoping to stumble across another pack of easy—
One shrimp didn’t retreat.
It stood alone on the highest point of the boulder, facing him directly. Larger than the others. Its carapace gleamed with a dull red sheen, and its eyes burned brighter than the rest. Its pincers spread wide, like a branch catching the current.
[GLOWCARAPACE SHRIMP — SENTINEL VARIANT]
Level: 3
HP: 20 / 20
MP: 5 / 5
« Analysis »
A rare defensive variant of the common Glowcarapace Shrimp. Evolves when a colony is threatened repeatedly over a short period of time. Possesses reinforced carapace plating and larger pincers. Will sacrifice itself to protect the colony’s retreat. Highly aggressive.
Threat Level: Moderate
’...It evolved. I killed too many of them, and one of them EVOLVED to fight me.’
The sentinel shrimp clicked its pincers together. The sound was sharp, deliberate, almost taunting. It wasn’t running. It wasn’t hiding. It was standing its ground.
’This shrimp is braver than I ever was as a human,’ Gray thought, and the realization stung more than any pincer could.
But then he remembered the old man with the cane. The way he had stood there, watching, doing nothing. All the times in his human life when fear had pinned him in place.
’I’m not that person anymore.’
He faced the sentinel shrimp, his bell flaring bright with bioluminescence. The pink and blue glow cast long shadows across the rocky slope.
’Alright, little guardian. Let’s see what you’ve got.’
The sentinel shrimp charged.