Chapter – 73 - Finally Sensed Phantasm's Aura!

Her entire mood turned somber - this was much more serious than what she had anticipated. The rest of the people she had come across in the different rooms of the separate passages were all strangers, and thus she felt no obligation towards them.

But this was Ye Luo. The first human she had met after transmigrating to this world. A person who had helped without any expectations. And also the first person who had made her realize that even in this treacherously dangerous and strange world, the people were not all bad.

So she couldn't just leave him here. Rihanna knelt down beside, checking his pulse and breathing. The pulse was very faint, as was his breathing. His eyes looked listless and vague under the eyelids, and there was a heavy gasping sound at the end of each breath.

'Little Purple.....can you check his condition? Why is he like this....could he be drugged or poisoned?'

Little Purple grudgingly sent out a bit of his aura into the man's body. This girl really thought the amount of energy he had inserted inside her spirit self was endless! But still....he did have a favorable impression of this young man, and he was indeed in a sad state.

'Hmmm....drugged. looks like some heavy drug. In fact I can feel the essence of the same drug from all of these other bodies here as well.'

'So many people drugged and bound and thrown inside a small cramped room, locked from outside....are they planning on selling these people? Alongside kidnapping contracted beasts, they are also human traffickers?....but I heard from Uncle Yaoi that many of the slaves sold in the underground auctions profit a large amount of spirit stones. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Dorminions seem to be more prosperous than what they show outside!'

'No matter what.....we cannot take him with us unless we can find the antidote for this drug. Also.....after seeing the beasts in the other room.....'

'Hmmm.....I too thought of it. Phantasm must be drugged with some similar drug. How long do you think the teams organized by the Mayor of Mountain City will take in finding this location?'

'I would say around 2-3 days more. Are you planning on waiting for the conflict between the two, and then taking them out?'

'Well.....I was thinking I should take some more time and probe through these passages and rooms more thoroughly. The antidotes must be somewhere. We might also find some other things or information. We need to be clear about the strength of this group, especially that woman leader, before making a plan.'

Little Purple saw nothing wrong with this suggestion. Rihanna looked at Ye Luo for some time, wondering what had happened to him since the time they had gotten separated at Poison Swamp. She checked around the entire room, but apart from the tied up bundles of people, there was nothing else. Taking a deep breath, she decided to exit and return to check out the sixth passage.

The sixth passage was winding, with stairs and slopes alternating as it went directly downward. After a long while, Little Purple buzzed in her ears.

'There is a strong aura up ahead.....must be at least a high level beast.'

'Huh?! Then there must be something worthwhile being hidden down here!.....Wait....I can also sense Phantasm's aura!'

With mixed feelings, Rihanna stepped closer to the large open chamber at the very end of the tunnel. Technically, Phantasm was her beast now, but due to being drugged she could no longer connect with her. In her current state of mind, would Phantasm even recognize her?

Sticking close to the wall, she circled around the chamber, checking where the aura of the high grade beast was the lowest. Finally reaching a dark corner, she gritted her teeth, then slowly merged her spirit body into the wall, moving through the dense particles of stone, and gently peeked out of the wall surface to take a look inside the room.

The inside was completely unlike the outside!

There was a small pool of water in the center, shimmering in the reflected light of the surrounding. The surrounding walls were raw, rugged mountain walls, with stones and boulders jutting out everywhere. She could even see the tiny spring at the other end of the room. The ground of the room surrounding the pool was covered in large and thick stone tiles, but through the passage of time, there were large cracks on these tiles.

At a glance she could feel the ancient and dilapidated aura submerging the temperature of the space. Large and thick pillars stood around the pool, now broken, cracked and crumbling apart to add to the thick layers of dust covering the already crushed tiles.

Thick stone beams which had once supported the weight of the roof, had long since fallen apart, half broken, half hanging from the ridges of the walls they had gotten stuck in.

And all through this crumbling, slowly vanishing shadow of the old, grass had sprouted, life and change of time taking root in the bosom of the rubble. Large Mushrooms, as big as couches, flared their blazing heads, covering the rocky walls like a display of fire and light. Through the deep fissures of the ground, tall and stout stems had shot through till they were almost double the height of Rihanna. Golden-Purple Light Flowers swayed at the top of these lone stalks, lighting up the room in an ethereal brightness.

Rihanna once more felt bedazzled at the fantastical combination of the crumbling ruins being stabbed through by the sword of voluptuous and vigorous life!

She shook her head to dispel the adjectives running through her mind, and focused at all corners of the room once again.

Oh! .....There seemed to be a small ball of blue light floating at the center of the pool, a little above the water. The water beneath, from the center of the pool, was sending out ripples, which slowly moved outwards, till finally dispersing into the stillness of the edges.

'Is the high grade demonic beasts under that water?'

'Looks like. Check out at the left most corner of the wall, just behind the space where the glowing purple flower is crossing over the jutting rocks.'

Rihanna squinted hard. She couldn't send out her perception in case the high level beast sensed her out. So she had to squint really hard. The light from the purple flower, and the fire from the blazing mushrooms were kind of colliding with each other, and her vision was becoming blurred the more she stared.

But in the end she managed to make it out. There was a big and deep cavity high up, almost in the middle of the wall, and was nearly hidden by the shadows of the rocks surrounding it. Rihanna could make out metal bars at the front of the cavity....Hmmm....didn't that look like a cage or prison?.....Was Phantasm being kept locked up in the cage?!

Rihanna had already tried going around the chamber, and knew that that part of the wall was a direct part of the surrounding rocky terrain, and there was no passage around it. Which meant that she would have to enter this room and go all around the pool to reach that cage.

Rihanna tried to be as cautious as possible, as she moved to the edges of the room, weaving her way through the broken pillars and floor, avoiding the fiery mushrooms, squeezing through the purple flower plants. Even then, when she was almost past the pool, sounds of ripples startled her. The ripples were growing larger and louder. Small and big air bubbles floated up to the surface of the water, making crystallized foam on the shimmering water top before bursting and disappearing.

Noticing the increasing disturbance in the pool, Rihanna scrambled to hide behind a group of protruding rocks, midway between the floor and the ceiling, and half merged her spirit body into the mountain wall before going completely still.

She had completely retracted all her senses. Only Little Purple's faint energy covered her in a thin layer, enhancing her aura hiding powers. Silently, she gently turned her head to peak through the gaps in the overlapping boulders.

The bubbles became bigger and floated up faster and faster, till the pool looked like a boiling cauldron. Then all at once every movement in the water came to a halt, making everything prior seem like an illusion. For a long while there was no movement. Rihanna squinted, unsure if she should make a move or not.

'Don't move. The beast is trying to ascertain your position. It is waiting for you to believe you are safe and make a move. This is a high level beasts. It has probably sensed something different in the vibration of the air around here, but doesn't know what or where it is. Keep waiting till I tell it is safe.'

Rihanna frowned, at once becoming more cautious. High level beasts had the intelligence of teenagers to young adults. Which also meant they were more scheming.

Both sides kept complete silence, trying to lure each other out. Ultimately, the creature beneath the water wore out it's patience. The water rippled again, and a large bulge slowly broke through the surface of the water.

First came the crown of the head, then the eyes, then the mouth, then the entire head, with water dripping and flowing from all over its skin, slowly rose out of the water, looking around in all directions as if to check the surroundings.

It looked somewhat like a fat eel, but had the head of a chameleon, with a large ruffled collar like protrusion all around its neck. Four amber eyes, two above and two below, set deep in the sides of its snout, flickered all around rapidly. Four tiny horns adorned the crown of its head, sticking out jest before the ruffled collar. At the sides, just below the horns, were thin slits, which probably acted as gills underneath the water.

Its body was longish, with four limbs and tiny hard ridges running down on both sides and over the back of its body. Interestingly, it also had wings, like bats, attached to the sides and the front limbs. Rihanna couldn't decipher how a creature with wings could also swim under water.

But what was most surprising was the size of this creature. It was very small and adorable, almost the length of Rihanna's arms, from her finger tips to elbow!

'Don't be fooled by its size. It is extremely potent in both attack and defense. This is an eighth level Elemental Phantom Lizard. It can use both fire and ice, and also has dark attributes. It can fly in air, walk on ground and swim in water, and it's biggest asset is its ability to become invisible for very short periods of time, high speed and its immunity to most poisons. Tsk! This will be very tough!'

The frown on her forehead deepened. It was extremely sensitive even to her spiritual consciousness. How was she ever going to enter this place in her own body?!Moreover....this was a high level beast!