Obscured by the cloud of dust, Solomon burst out from under the vulture corpse. He was moving so fast that he had become a blur.

The scorpion that was right above him tried to respond but didn't have time to act. In a flash, he had buried both of his daggers into its bulbous compound eyes. A disgusting black fluid sprayed out and the scorpion screamed.

It tried to attack Solomon with its tail, but he managed to parry it away with his own. Sparks flew as Solomon's metallic tail clashed against the carapace of the scorpions.

'Shit! I need to kill this one before the other two can react!' Solomon swore internally. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight three scorpions at once.

Knowing that his life was on the line, Solomon managed to hold his ground against the scorpion's tail. With a grunt, he pushed the wickedly sharp point to the side.

Currently, he was standing on the scorpion's head, just above its ruined eyes. Because of where he was positioned, the scorpion's claws weren't able to reach him and all he had to deal with was the tail.

And, after he had parried the tail to the side, he plunged the razor-sharp tip of his own tail like a spear through the scorpion's ruined eyes.

The monster was killed so fast, it didn't even have time to make any sounds and died with a whimper.

Despite the fact that Solomon managed to kill the lone scorpion quickly, and with minimal noise. Even that little amount of noise was enough to alert the other two scorpions.

They barrelled towards Solomon while hissing and clicking like some sort of monstrous steam train. Since they were separated by the corpse of the vulture, the scorpions split up and went around either side.

Picking his target, Solomon leapt from the corpse of the second scorpion he had killed to his next target.

Lit only by the moonlight, it was hard to even see Solomon as he leapt towards the Scorpion. He was nothing more than a blurred shadow in the night.

The scorpion he was targeting reared up and held its enormous claws towards the approaching Solomon. The claws alone were big enough to crush a car in half.

However, this wasn't Solomon's first rodeo. He had already killed a scorpion before and knew how to get past its claws.

Ducking and rolling past the outstretched claws. He jumped up and barrelled into the scorpion's underbelly.

Using his full momentum, he managed to tackle the scorpion to the ground and they landed together in a crash, sand, and something pointed were sent flying by the heavy impact of the scorpion hitting the ground.

The scorpion let out an ear-piercing screech and acidic saliva sprayed out from its mouth into the air. However, Solomon was glad to let it scream as much as it wanted. Now that he was standing on its chest, pinning it to the ground, that was all it could do.

Now that the scorpion was stranded on its back and unable to retaliate, Solomon was able to send the tip of his tail through a gap in its exoskeleton. He injected venom into the scorpion's body which began to dissolve and eat away at the scorpion's vulnerable body beneath the exoskeleton.

He didn't have time to sit around and congratulate himself however, although the scorpion he was standing on was incapacitated, there was still one remaining. It was exactly this final remaining scorpion that barrelled into both Solomon and its fallen comrade.

Both Solomon, and the injured scorpion were sent flying by the impact of the blow. The scorpion that was hit landed limply in a heap after smashing into a sand dune. It had handled the brunt of the blow.

Although Solomon had managed to avoid being crushed by hastily raising his arms and blocking the encroaching claw with his daggers, he was still left shaken.

The final remaining scorpion gave him no time to recover and pressed on with its attacks. In the last second, Solomon managed to desperately roll to the side and an enormous claw speared the sand where he had been lying just before.

He tried to respond in kind, but his daggers bounced off the hardened shell around the claws. Although he had managed to kill three of these scorpions before, he had always done so by aiming for gaps in their exoskeleton.

Solomon's heart clenched up and he sensed danger. He barely managed to raise up one of his daggers and it was impacted by the wickedly sharp hooked point of the scorpion's tail. His dagger was sent flying out of his hand by the impact, but he did manage to block the attack.

He had managed to redirect the tail to beside him and was glad that he did. When the scorpion pulled its tail out of the sand beside Solomon's head, some venom was left behind. The sand that came into contact with the venom sizzled and burned dangerously.

Right then, Solomon made his move. Before the scorpion could fully drawback its tail for another strike, He sliced the tip of it off with the serrated edges of his own tail. The tip of the tail sailed off and landed distantly in the desert.

The scorpion screeched and writhed in pain. It began smashing at him madly with both its claws in rage. Solomon scurried backwards while barely keeping his whole body intact. All it would take was one it from those claws to turn him into a paste.

Rearing up, The monster brought down both its claws on either side of Solomon. Trapped between the claws, Solomon edged backwards away from the looming mouth of the scorpion.

As the scorpion's mouth drew closer, he could feel its disgusting breath blasting into his face. Its mandibles edged closer to his face and he was surrounded on either side by two enormous claws.

He kept backing up, But the scorpion was gaining on him. When the scorpion's mandibles were only a few inches from his face, Solomon's panicked expression changed drastically.

A white streak flashed past Solomon's waist and the sound of metal scraping against something appeared simultaneously. The scorpion's mandibles came to a stop. Its eyes, which had been glowing with madness and rage, showed confusion and then, they went blank.

The scorpion's body went limp, and Solomon barely had time to remove his tail from its throat and roll backwards out of the way before its body, which weighed more than an element, crashed into the ground.

Lying on the soft sand, looking up at the brilliant white moon and glittering stars, Solomon panted for breath. His pale face was flushed red and slick with sweat. His clothes had become torn rags that were burned in places by the venom and acidic saliva of the scorpions.

His chest rose and fell in rapid succession as his heart thundered in his chest. The adrenaline that was pumping through his body and his racing heart was sending his mind into a mess.

"That... that... was... incredible!" Solomon panted through deep breaths.

Blood dripped down from a wound on the side of his head, blinding his left eye. This pulled him out of his adrenaline riddled stupor and immediately brought his attention to the searing agony coming from the top of his head.

The pain was worse than anything he had ever experienced and sent daggers of agony into his mind. It travelled down from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers, then back again. His limbs twitched and his muscles spasmed uncontrollably from the pain.

He couldn't string two thoughts together because his mind was flooded with pain. In desperation, Solomon tried to raise his hand to his head to find out what his injury was... and nothing happened. His limbs weren't listening to him.

"Arghh... Ffffuuucckkk... mmeeee...." Solomon hissed through gritted teeth. His mouth was clenched so tight in pain that his words sounded strangled.

'What happened to my head? There's no way that was just a cut.' Solomon asked himself. He looked back through the fights he had just had but wasn't sure when he could have received such a grievous wound.

In his scrambled memories, he finally found something. When he had tackled the scorpion to the ground, Something pointed had flown off into the desert. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but now, that moment stood out to him.

Swearing and gritting his teeth, he shakily raised his hand to his head. When his hand came to the top of his head, and he touched where his horn should have been, a wave of agony crashed into his mind.

His left horn had been snapped off and only the base remained, cracked and crooked. To demon's, the horns were both weapons, and weak points. Solomon was experiencing the reality of this right now.

'Just my luck... I lost my horn before I even used it for anything.' Solomon bemoaned. He knew there wasn't any time for him to mope around. If he stayed near these corpses for too long, more scorpions and other predators of the desert would be drawn here.

Solomon desperately crawled towards the corpse of the last scorpion he had killed and slid his tail into its armoured chest. As he absorbed the life force of the scorpion, he felt the pain fade slightly and the venom gland in his tail grew stronger.

Each time he absorbed a scorpion, his body would also grow stronger, along with his tail. When his body became more robust, the pain would lessen slightly. After realising this, Solomon began absorbing the rest of the scorpions with enthusiasm. He would do anything to ease the agony coming from his head, even if only slightly.

After dragging himself between the corpse of the scorpions and absorbing the remaining two, Solomon's body was now more than twice as strong as when he first arrived in the desert. Each time he absorbed one, he would grow roughly 20% stronger and so far he had absorbed the life force of five scorpions.

It was thanks to his strengthened body, that he was now able to stand. Although his legs shook, and his teeth chattered together, as long as he was able to stand up and take that first step. The rest would come naturally.

Taking one shaky step after the other, Solomon managed to drag his weary body away from the vultures corpse and out into the desert.

Now that the fight had ended, Silence returned to rule the night. The only sounds that could be heard in the still night air, were the shuffling of Solomon's feet. Each shuffling step kicked up sand. As he walked, he left a faint trail of blood behind him.

...

He wasn't sure how it happened, but as Solomon kept walking aimlessly through the desert, he stumbled his way back to the city. The walls that towered above him had even more soldiers guarding them than before.

Solomon's mind was hazy from the pain and his train of thought kept being interrupted. Each step he took would take him 20 steps forwards as his brain shorted out for a second.

In the end, judging that there wouldn't be too many monsters near the walled city, Solomon passed out, face first in the sand.

...

Solomon was awoken by the sound of heavy feet hitting the desert sands nearby. Immediately on guard, he turned his head to see what was making the sound.

He was just in time to see a caravan of hunters bearing down on him. The lizards that drew their sledges were almost on top of him.

Luckily, for Solomon, who was too weak to put up a fight, after the night he spent in the desert, he had been covered by a dusting of sand.

As the sledges raced overhead, Solomon made up his mind. He waited for one of the final sledges to come and, right as it passed overhead, He sprung up and onto the bottom of it. He crawled stiffly up the back of the sledge and was presented with a sledge full of corpses.

Holding his breath, Solomon buried himself beneath the corpses and stayed as quiet as possible. He was making his return to the walled city earlier than he had been expecting.