Chapter – 69 - Fleet Steps and Hayute.....

'Are you sure those spiders live in this area?'

'Be patient....just keep walking slowly. They will never let go of such an easy meal.'

Rihanna had bid farewell to her Uncle's in the early afternoon, and left for the location of the Dormions. The desert was vast, and even with her enhanced speed, she would need at least a week or more to reach the place where the pocket was supposed to be.

And Little Purple suggested that this was the best time for her to try out her spiritual powers and learn how to use them and how to control their intensity and flow.......and apparently the best way was by fighting with some of the demonic beasts of this Ice Fire Desert!

Rihanna felt peevish at the idea of having to kill anything...not that she hadn't killed bugs and mosquitoes and ants and even worms in her past life.....but that was not the same as killing a large healthy animal and see blood squirting all around on the ground! She hadn't even killed any animals in Poison Swamp either!

Unlike other transmigration protagonists, she was neither a special officer of the army nor an assassin in her last life, so how could she bear killing a living-kicking healthy creature?! In her previous life, she had been a frequent visitor to the vet, often carrying in wounded or unconscious stray cats, dogs and even pigeons!

Little Purple was feeling the oncoming headache. However he tried to stay calm as he suggested that she could take this as practice session. Even if she didn't want to kill, she could just beat them up to unconsciousness, and let them be. Indeed, there were chances that some of these badly beaten creatures would return for vengeance....but how could he explain all the nitty-gritty's to this simple minded woman who still lived with her head in human rights and animal rights and equality for all! Wasn't there a saying - Some people do not understand words...they need to be kicked in their bums for the advice to go through to their brains!!

So currently they were hunting for Blazing Web Spiders. These spiders were very tiny, and fell in the third level of Low-Grade Demonic Beasts. But despite their low level, not many humans or beasts dared to belittle them as they lived in huge groups. Almost 10,000 spiders would live together, staying under the fiery sands, digging upwards only when they found a suitable prey. Generally targeting lone or double preys of low cultivation, they would wait patiently till the prey was already in the middle of their group, before charging to the surface to surround the creature.

Relying on their insanely high speed of movement, they would attack with burning webs from all sides. The fire of the web would burn whatever it touched, wounding and distracting the pry. They web itself was made of a highly sticky saliva, and as soon the fire burned off, the sticky saliva would stick to the creatures body like glue.

As more and more web attached itself to the body of the prey, it's movements would be hindered, till it couldn't move at all. Then they would spit more and more sticky saliva to completely bind the prey in a cocoon, and then roll away their 'meal' once again under the sandy layers.

Little Purple was not sure about what level Rihanna was at currently. Moreover her control over the elements was very bad, so starting with a Level Three Demonic Beasts was the best way to test out her power. It would give both of them an idea of what to focus on and what to improve.

Rihanna had also been busy reading the books she had been gifted by the 'Emperor'. Currently she was going through book on footsteps to enhance speed and agility. There were around 25 different foot-works and elemental control recorded in the book, of which she found 2 to be best suited for her current situation. Many of them were good, but required very good control of elements.

So she picked up Fleet Steps, and Hayute.

Fleet Steps was a combination of short but intricate set of steps, which used the speed of a person and doubled it. The faster the speed, the more the increase. In her past life she had dabbled in all types of martial arts, and also different types of dances. So a set of intricate foot-work was tailor made for her!

Hayute literally meant force of momentum. This used the agility and flexibility of a person, and allowed the user to take the force from whatever they stepped on, and use the force to propel themselves further for the next step. Different elements gave different momentum force, but understanding the momentum of the different elements, keeping a sharp observation all around while running and also using the body flexibility and agility to use the best available elements and avoiding the slowing elements in the surrounding enhanced the speed of the user. This was a bit more complicated and would require Rihanna to make some focused effort in order to use it properly.

So she decided to concentrate on Fleet Steps for the time being.

Currently she was using fleet steps. Being used to dancing, she had soon memorized the foot-work patterns, and the more she used it, the more her body would be able to recognize and utilize it to its optimum level. As she ran, she kept spreading her perceptions in all directions. Still, it was almost dark by the time she sensed the light movements under the sand some distance ahead of her. Rihanna stopped, putting her hands on her bent knees and panting hard, unsure if she should continue moving forward.

'Hide first. There is some other beast in front. I can also sense the aura of a few humans. There seems to be some sort of tangle up front. You shouldn't make any move till you have ascertained the situation.'

Rihanna suppressed her pants, trying to control her breath as she looked around. This place was like a barren desert, with no sign of any vegetation as far as her eye-sight could go. Instead she noticed some huge, rock-like structures a little far to the left. Not sensing any life-form near that area, she bent low, staying close to the sand and started crawling towards the rocks.

As she neared, she noticed the stones were weirdly shaped. There were tall and broad pillars, with stone tops resting on top of these pillars, a long way off the ground. Moreover there seemed to be horn shaped structures at intervals, and some of the stone pillars were curved inwards, almost making a circle. And there were large and small holes all over these rocks.

'They are not rocks...they are bones of some supreme level Demonic beast...seems to be two beasts. Most likely fought and perished here a long time ago. There bones have already half turned to dust. The holes are made by the fiery wind of the hot desert.'

Rihanna's perception of the rock-structure changed instantaneously, and she couldn't help feeling a bit squeamish at the thought of climbing and hiding inside some creatures bones! She swallowed down her discomfort before lugging a leg over the large hole near the base of one of the bone-pillar. Desperate Situations....Desperate Measures.....or something like that! Climbing up high, she nudged her body inside a comparatively larger hole, and squatted down before turning her senses to check the situation nearby.

Indeed, there was group of three humans, a large group of spiders and another level five demonic beast. This beast looked like a large sabre toothed tiger, but she had read about it in one of the books she had purchased earlier, that this was called a Pincer Tailed Double Fanged Tiger.

It looked like a sabre toothed, but was much larger in size, with huge muscular legs and body. There was a strange pattern etched on one side of its body.....like a tattoo. The two fangs were long, sharp and thick. But the most eye catching was the giant metal pincer-claw attached to the end of its thick and muscular tail, giving it a scorpion like feel. The tail itself had a thick layer of metal scales, which ran all the way to half its body, before fading away.

After watching for a while, Rihanna had understood the situation somewhat. Apparently the three cultivators had come in a group, and were unlucky enough to be caught inside the spider trap. Thankfully they had some preventive potions, and had managed to drag out their escape till here.

Unfortunately this was the Pincer Tailed Double Fanged Tiger's territory. Unlike low grade beasts, mid grade beasts lived in small groups or pairs. Thankfully, this Tiger was alone. But with one person injured, and already having to fight against a swarming team of spiders, the other two were already at a disadvantage, and their defenses against the tiger were already falling through.

In the midst of the chaos, the tiger had managed to attack the injured member, and dragged him away. However, the spiders were not ready to let go of all their hard work. So now it was a three sided battle, with everyone facing-off everyone!

Rihanna quite enjoyed adding fuel to fire, and was wondering if she should go and add to the chaos when Little Purple admonished her from the side.

'You can't risk going into the battle and getting all your secrets out in the open. But this is a good opportunity. There are plenty of elements you can control out here. You only need to focus on the spiders and taking them out. Surely you can kill spiders....they do come under pest category, you know?!'

Rihanna making a face...This fellow was really born the wrong way....never-ending sarcasm!!

'But the cultivators will surely notice the spiritual flow!'

'You can use the Tran-mutating Jade. Their cultivation is low, they'll not be able to sense out your location as long as you don't go too close to them. But be careful of the tiger. It might be able to sense your location with your spiritual attacks. It's best not to provoke it. Let the two of them deal with it. I'll also keep a look out for any other beasts in the vicinity.'

Rihanna looked around, wondering what all things she could use. Well....there was plenty of wind...but since it was already growing dark, she couldn't use pull much fire power from the surrounding. Nor could she use ice or water - this area of the desert was too dry. There was a lot of sand.....perhaps she could use it with the wind?.....

But before going any further.....she first needed to successively use the elemental energy inside her body to connect with the elements on the outside. Only when she had a stable and strong connection could she actually use the elements for an attack!