Chapter 7: Chapter – 7 - Falling Into An Abyss
Rihanna had already frozen in her stance. The ground shook again, the tremors much larger this time. Rihanna could feel something moving and pulsating underneath her feet. Suddenly the entire layer of earth underfoot shifted like a moving wave, making them lose their balance.
"What....what in the world is that?!"
Ye Luo was as expressionless as ever, but she could see anxiety flash past his half closed eyes.
"That's an Earth Eating Caterpillar. Go, run towards the stony mountain wall to your right. Climb as high as you can, and stick to the boulders in the wall and stay out of sight. This is a level 4 Demonic Beast. I won't be able to protect you and fight at the same time. So climb high and hide well. These beasts cannot see, but they can feel all vibrations in air, ground or water. So be very quiet...don't even breathe too hard. Go, and don't come out till i tell you. I will try to distract it away from here. Go!"
And Rihanna set off like sprinting in a 200 meter race. She didn't turn left nor right, just glued her eyes to the stony wall with sharp rocks jutting out of it, and rushed forward like her life depended on it.
Well.....it kind of did feel like a race for life....level four?!....She could barely fight with a level one beast...that too against a max of two beasts!.....She didn't even want to know what a level four beast looked like. Gritting her teeth at the cuts and pain from hanging onto these sharp rocks, she pulled herself up the mountain. She went on climbing till her arms were almost coming off from her side, her hands and feet covered in innumerable small and big wounds. Finally out of breath to the point of feeling dizzy, she hauled herself onto a bigger rock and fell flat on her face from exhaustion.
Wait – why did this seem so familiar?....Oh...this is what she had been doing in her initial days in this world. And now she was back to the whole running and escaping scene again. Tsk!
Meanwhile Ye Luo had escaped towards the river. What the hell was there in the first layer of this swamp that so many high level beasts were crawling out of their territories? These earth eating caterpillars were generally quite lazy, preferring to stay in their own territory and rarely attacking unless threatened. But they were definitely not timid. Though they were called earth-eating, but they could pretty much eat through anything – stones, metals, earth....their saliva turning whatever they ate into poisonous excreta which they could vomit out of their mouth.....and their extremely hard metal exterior gave them an excellent defense. In fact, these hard shells were in great demand amongst weaponry and armory guilds. But who wanted to chance poisonous vomit to gather hard shells.....it's stench was unbearable and un-washable!
The fine cracks on the ground trembled, growing deeper, as a dark, murky, blacking slush started pouring out of the cracks. And then the whole area around the cracks collapsed. The body which stormed out of the cave-in was as thick as 20 people, and as tall as half the mountain. Four large eyes were embedded just below a thatched head, giving it a very ugly appearance. But Ye Luo knew that despite it's four large eyes, it could see next to nothing. Instead it was the fine slit-like-openings just below the head which were the most important. Those were it's inbuilt super-sensory detectors, and could detect any sound or vibration all around it. Ye Luo climbed down into a cluster of reeds in the water, and slowly submerged himself. He had to bide his time.
The caterpillar twisted around, trying to sense it's surrounding. Rihanna was surprised. Even such huge monsters were blessed by nature. It's upper-side was lustrous metallic black, with yellow, red and green patterns running all along the length. The down-side was silver scale like, and a number of tiny legs adorned on two sides down the length, flickering around in the air. It was disgusting and funny at the same time.
The caterpillar had clearly sensed two other creatures on the ground just before, but now both auras had disappeared. Irritated, it lifted it's head into the sky and let out a sharp, ear-splitting shriek. Rihanna almost toppled off the rock as pain assaulted her ears. Ye Luo meanwhile took this moment when the creature was still in a huff and tossed out a sharp hidden thorn-spear towards the massive head. The thin, fragile looking spear was encased in an aura binding spell, and the creature failed to notice it's approach till it was too close to avoid. The thin metal struck deep into radar system, and then the energy hidden inside exploded.
The entire left side below the thatched head exploded, with flesh, bones, blood and small parts of outer shell splattering into the air. The beast roared in pain and anger, it's huge body twisting around and thrashing against the nearby rocks and trees. Suddenly it stopped, and it's entire head turned towards where Ye Luo was just getting prepped up for another shot.
Shoot!....He had been discovered!
Instinctively he turned and rushed along the water, going upstream. Just as he moved away, a splatter of black vomit hit the cluster of reeds, which quickly sizzled and shrunk, turning black and slowly corroding away. The creature had already hit berserk mode, and crazily chased after Ye Luo. Thankfully Ye Luo was faster, and very soon both man and beast disappeared from Rihanna's range of sight.
Rihanna shuddered, but her mind was too numb to respond to the scenario.
Once upon a time she was one of those cowards who did eat meat, but only when they came in packets. One trip to a chicken slaughter house had rendered her incapable of even looking at any meat, cooked-uncooked, for more than 3 months.
Perhaps her regular exposure to these bloody slaughters – beast killing beast; human killing beast – her mind was redefining her concepts of normalcy. Indeed, hardcore training and over-exposure to treacherous challenges created a strong mentality!
But before Rihanna could wonder if Ye Luo was okay or not, the earth trembled again.
'What?!...Has that thing returned?.....Then where is Ye Luo?....No, wait.....the tremors are coming from below me!...I-is this.....Is this another one?...Did they come in a pair?!'
Rihanna was grabbing onto the rock for life as she fearfully peered down below. The ground below was forming similar hairline cracks, except this time the cracks were running up the mountain wall. Suddenly a large amount of black slush spilled out of the cracks, corroding the surrounding rocks, and a large portion of the mountain side crumbled and caved-into an abyss. The surrounding mountain side also started cracking under the pull of gravity. The rock Rihanna was clinging onto was also crumbling. Rihanna dared not move, but she closed her eyes, grabbed onto the rock with all her strength, and waited for the inevitable.
And then the inevitable happened.
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Ye Luo was rushing back towards the mountain. He had managed to trick the Caterpillar into following it to the border of first layer and second layer where a large group of Ice Feather Vultures resided. He had come across them in one of his previous ventures. And thankfully managed to escape as well. Or perhaps they merely looked down upon his meager cultivation.
But the sudden emergence of the Caterpillar threw those hawks into disarray. They were level three beasts, but their sheer numbers held a terrifying force. So escaping once more, ye Luo was rushing back in peace.
That's when he felt a huge force rushing towards him from the other side. Bouncing out of the path, he jumped onto a tall tree, and squinted to see what was coming. Yet he barely managed to catch a glimpse of the Earth Eating Caterpillar which zapped past him, disappearing in the direction he had just run in from.
"What...there is another one of them?...They came in pairs!...Then..."
Ye Luo jumped down and started rushing again, his brows furrowed in anxiety.
The area where they had parted a few moments back had vastly distorted. Half the mountain face had disappeared, along with the surrounding ground. He went forward, cautiously stepping on the still crumbling, cracked ground, and squatted down at the edge of the large gaping hollow.
The hole was large, and so deep that all he saw when he looked down was darkness. But loose earth was flowing in from some unseen source, and the hole was rapidly being filled in. He sat at the edge, wondering what he should do next.....To save or not to save....but was she still alive? He was feeling extremely conflicted as he pondered on his decision.
'I have to go find the Flaming Ice Coral. There are only two days before it starts budding and I have to nab it before its full bloom. Little girl....I am really sorry. But my Master's life is depending on this coral. I don't know if you'll be able to live through this, but if you do survive....then maybe we'll meet again in the future.'
Ye Luo exhaled a deep sigh. Anyhow, he was a cultivator...and she was a commoner. He had already done her a huge favor. He turned around decisively and disappeared into the forest.
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