บท 178: Chapter – 178 - Separated From The Group

Rihanna paused before entering recklessly. Heightening her senses, she glanced around the interior which was shadowy and dark due to the lack of proper light. A heavy musty smell hung within the cave walls, making Rihanna frown as the stench hit her nose.

There seemed to be something rotting within these walls. Rihanna turned more alert, checking the surroundings thoroughly.

Contrary to her expectations, the walls of the caves were not rough and crudely carved out of the mountain wall. They were very smooth, and had a sheen, which helped in bouncing off the little light entering the cave. It was enough to let a person sense their surroundings.

A large pile of dried grass, damp twigs, broken branches, rotting leaves, and other odds-and-ends were piled high in the center of the cave. And the three large yellow eggs were sitting on this half-moldy nest.

Her eyes however, furrowed in disgust at the sight of the half-eaten worms and bugs strewn around the nest. The bodies of these bugs and worms were sticking to the outer shell of these eggs, and strange, muffled sounds could be heard echoing within the cave. It sounded eerie in the semi-darkness.

"What is that sound?"

"The eggs feed on those worms and other small bugs. Their shells can suck necessary nutrients out of those bodies. Once everything is sucked up, only the outer shells of those bugs will be left in the cave."

Rihanna cringed inwardly. But immediately a more important thought flashed inside her mind.

"So....how am I supposed to bring out the eggs if I can't touch it?"

Uncle Yaoi stared at her in surprise, then immediately looked sheepish as he realized he had left out a very important instruction!

"Ummm....you don't touch. You shift it directly to your storage pouch. Oh...wait. does your storage pouch allow live beings?"

Rihanna stared at Uncle Yaoi speechlessly before shaking her head. How could he forget such a vital matter?! Uncle Yaoi definitely felt the disdain in her blank look and scratched his head awkwardly, before handing her a red bracelet.

"This one can store live creatures. And it is not bound to anyone at the moment. Just bind it to yourself with a drop of blood and a bit of your spirit power. Then transfer the eggs into it."

"You need to pick up your speed. The beast might return at any moment."

Uncle Ranaba's low voice came down as Rihanna started bonding with the red bracelet. The bracelet glowed with a golden sheen as her blood and spirit energy penetrated it's inscriptions, and the bracelet quickly shrunk in size, fitting perfectly over her left wrist. Rihanna took a deep breath and stepped inside the large cave.

Well, it was not actually that large. The three eggs had taken up a lot of space, and the worms and bugs covered almost the rest of it. She had to step carefully, trying to make sure not to drag her feet through the rotting corpses. As she reached the eggs, she placed a hand just above the first egg, and released a thin stream of energy. Using her spiritual connection with the bracelet, she quickly transferred the egg into the bracelet storage. Moving swiftly, she transferred the other two eggs as well.

Coming out of the cave, she exhaled a deep breath. The stench of the cave made it difficult for her to breathe. Though she had covered her nose with a layer of energy barrier, it still felt good to return to the fresh air of the outside.

The three quickly started climbing upwards, returning to the narrow ledge on the mountain wall. They still had a long climb ahead. And the beast was still somewhere around them.

Even after climbing up almost to the top of the cliff, none of them could sense the beast anywhere in their vicinity. Probably due to this they let go of their alertness and became slightly careless. They still had to gather the various herbs and plants mentioned in the Mission List. Thus when they came across a Flat-Foot Grass, they let Artreya scale up the wall to gather the plant.

It was a dark bluish-green leafed plant, where the leaf looked exactly like the foot-print of a flat-footed person, even with five little toes. But its roots ran very deep, and Artreya was having difficulty trying to uproot it without tearing the roots. With the root they could preserve the plant inside Uncle He's Medicinal Pouch, which had a special ability of preserving plants and herbs in their fresh form for a long time. Otherwise, the plant would wither even inside the pouch.

Uncle He too climbed up to help Artreya, both busy in digging around the crevasse to take out the plant with its roots intact.

Uncle Ranaba had been on the lookout, but others were all busy watching the two who had almost managed to break through the stone wall surrounding the plant, and had just started pulling out the plant with its long, tuberous roots.

A thunderous shriek almost shattered their ears, turning them dizzy and deaf for a moment. Uncle He barely managed to shift the plant into his Medicinal Pouch, when Artreya lost his grip on the rope and started toppling over. It was Uncle Yaoi at the bottom who reacted quickly and caught the falling boy. Artreya felt dizzy as the world kept shifting before his eyes, and he struggled to find his balance as Uncle Yaoi placed him back on the narrow ledge.

By then Uncle He too had scrambled back, and he gripped Artreya's arms from the other side till he felt stable enough to stand straight.

"Incoming! Hang on to the wall. Don't let go. Find something to hold on to the wall!"

Rihanna was slightly confused, but seeing Uncle He piercing the wall with his Earth Blade, Ye Luo piercing the rocks with his sword and Uncle Ranaba using shattering the stones around his hand, to create a stone wedge, which he then gripped firmly, she snapped back to her senses.

Releasing a giant icicle, she pierced it inside the rock, then clung to the hole, simultaneously making more holes around herself and the others. The icicle was hooked, and made claw-like holes, suitable for grabbing onto the hole with ones arm.

However, she had barely started on the third hole, when a loud blast of very hot, almost fiery breath hit them on their backs. Simultaneously, hot air exploded all around them. The ledge crumbled, and the six people were left hanging onto the mountain wall only with their hands, their feet dangling high above in the air.

The blades of fiery wind pierced the rocky mountain, creating cracks on the surface all around them. The stones at the surface started chipping away, making their hold more and more precarious and unstable.

"I am going to move upwards. Stay connected to the rope and climb up after me. Do not let go of the rope!"

Uncle He had already started scrambling upwards as fast as he could. The stones were still chipping away, and large chunks kept falling around them.

Uncle Yaoi pushed Artreya forward, and they too started moving upwards following Uncle He. Ye Luo turned to glance at Rihanna then quickly moved upwards following the deep holes Uncle He was making in the mountain wall as he went upwards. Rihanna too started making her way upwards, followed by Uncle Ranaba bringing up the rear.

From the corners of their eyes, they caught a glimpse of something moving at them at a very high speed. It was large, and the wingspan itself covered the entire breath of the chasm below, touching the two mountains on both sides.

Perhaps because of this, the beast was having difficulty in flying low, and flying at quite a distance above them, where the gap between the two mountains was wider.

Still, the fiery wind blades it kept throwing at them was scorching hot, and Rihanna could feel layers of her skin turning burnt and black. She could even see the hair on her arms burning away, and the strange scent of burnt hair made her choke.

They weren't sure if the beast had already discovered that its eggs were gone or it was simply attacking on instinct. The beast had come from another side, and its attacks, though fierce, were not crazy.....as it probably would be if it found out they had already stolen his eggs?!

Uncle He had already reached the top of the cliff, and he turned to pierce the flat top with a few earth spikes, before winding the rope around them. Then he turned around to help up the rest. Artreya had already climbed up, and Uncle Yaoi was trying to clamor up fast to give way to Ye Luo, when the beast struck again.

But this time, instead of throwing hot air at them, it decided to climb down to their level.

That's when Rihanna noticed the blazing black fire around it's claws.

Toxic-Fire! Remembering the smooth caves where the eggs had been kept, she now understood. The beast had clamped its claws through the rock of the mountain, then burned away the insides with its toxic fire. And that was why the inside of the cave was so smooth.

However, now was not the time to think about the cave. Because the large, bat-like beast was climbing down the mountain wall, clawing through the rocks and clinging on to it. It was coming at them at an astonishing speed, and since it's large leathery wings were now folded close to its body, there were no obstacles to its movement.

Rihanna glanced at the large, Pterodactyl-like beast. However, she couldn't see a single bit of flesh anywhere on that massive beast. It looked like a thick, rubbery skin was covering a body of bones. The head and wings were much larger than the small, bony body. And the beak was especially long.

When it opened its beak wide to give out ear-piercing shrieks, she could see three rows of very small and extremely sharp teeth within. The tongue was a small stub, flapping within its beak.

Another blast of fiery wind hit Ye Luo right on the face, and he lost his grip trying to protect himself from the burning air. Climbing just behind him, Rihanna too was hit by the blast of hot air, but it was not as bad as Ye Luo's state.

Ye Luo felt himself falling, But the burn in his hands had turned his arms numb, and he struggled to grasp the rope. However, before he could feel the rope, he felt someone grabbing onto him, and a strong arm wound around his waist from behind him. Groggily he turned to stare at Uncle Ranaba's grim face which was still looking at the fast approaching beast.

When Rihanna finally turned back her attention, she noticed that a large gap had appeared between the three who had already reached the top.....and them, who were still struggling up the cliff!