Chapter – 4 - Crash Landing

The wide open jaws lunged at Ye Luo, wanting to swallow him alive. At the same time, he tapped on the ground and flew five meters off the ground, twisting towards the right side. A long green light shone in his right hand, gradually morphing into a three edged long sword.

The snake too twisted it's huge body and spit out a large blob of saliva at him. Ye Luo made some weird gestures with his left hand and an earth barrier formed before him, absorbing the toxic spit, before turning black and crumbling into dust. At the same time the sword in his right hand cut a downward curve.

Innumerable thin wire-like vines gushed out of the earth, entrapping the lower part of the creature body, rending half his body immovable. His left hand gestured again, and long sharp thorns grew out of these vines, embedding themselves deep inside the snake's body.

The snake hissed loudly in pain and anger, shooting out a few more blobs of spit at Ye Luo, turning the boulder on which he was about to land into a mess of black and bubbling goop. Instinctively, Ye Luo jammed the tip of his sword into the ground below, pushing himself off into the air again. The snake was distracted by the pain and was spitting at the vines, trying to set itself free.

Taking this moment, the sword in his hand moved in an arc, and several long green sword-like thorns materialized in the air, shooting off at the snake. Long, deep gashes appeared on the thrashing body, and blood gushed out. One of the thorns stabbed into an eye of the snake. The huge body thrashed around in pain as it's eyes slowly turned red in anger.

Ye Luo had just managed to land on large thick vine he created, when the snake spit out a dark greenish-black miasma towards him. Immediately he jumped off from his place, his left hand gesturing rapidly. Earth barriers were forming and dispersing rapidly, trying to absorb all the miasma around him.

Rihanna had long forgotten her predicament. Right now she was very busy, eyes wide open, lips parted, as she watched the scene taking place before her. Wow...this was like watching a Hollywood Avengers movie...or reading a Chinese Wuxia novel....or seeing a Japanese Anime....or watching a South Indian Action Flick...Aish!...The only thing missing was cheese-caramel popcorn and coke!

Ye Luo had just landed on the branch of a tree nearby, when he felt another chill hitting his back. His eyes flicked towards the large tree once more as his brows furrowed.

'Stay alert.....don't forget the hidden enemy...' he reminded himself.

Rihanna almost fell off the branch once again. That man....did he look at her just now?!...Were the people in this world born with some kind of inbuilt radar?.....How did he know someone was here.....she was so far away from them!

The snake by now had gone berserk. It thrashed his huge tail around, and many of the vines tore out of the ground. Unable to see clearly, it lunged around randomly, trying to find it's enemy.

Ye Luo made use of this situation and made another series of gestures. Innumerable sword-like thorns again materialized in the air, shooting off at the creature from all directions. Despite low vision, the snake could sense the vibrations of the coming attack and moved around wildly, trying to dodge.

Hidden behind this large scale attack, Ye Luo dashed off towards the snake at a very high speed. His sword light grew till it was almost blinding. Jumping off the ground, he stabbed the sword in an upward arc, pushing in through it's open jaws and out through the head. He immediately left the sword and flung himself back. But unfortunately he was still unable to escape the huge amount of blood spurt. As drops of blood fell on his clothes, they sizzled and melted away, and some blood got through the opening and burned his skin.

Ye Luo landed back on the ground at a safe distance and winced with pain. His ankle was badly burned. Tsk....this was the problem fighting with this kind of creature. Even a drop of blood or spit was problematic.

The large body convulsed for a long moment, then fell down heavily on the ground. After the dust settled, Rihanna could see the creature was already dead. A shudder ran through her.

Ruthless...cold blooded and ruthless...not the snake...the man!

Suddenly she was overcome by anxiety. Should she show herself or not? What if she was killed off before she could say a word? Rihanna tightened her hold further, trying to erase off her existence. Maybe if she did not move the man would think he was mistaken and would forget all about her. At least if this guy left, she would still be alive. She could perhaps try and find someone else to quench her curiosity....but what if she couldn't find anyone else?.....What if she never managed to leave this forest?!

Rihanna was lost in her own questions and answers when a huge and powerful force struck the spot she was clutching onto. The entire branch shook violently, even the nest at the end of the branch bobbed up and down, about to tip over. Shocked by this sudden hit, Rihanna lost her grip, sliding down the branch and finally falling off.

"Ahhhhh!...."

With panic and helplessness she stared as the branch grew further and further away. The wind whipped her hair around, lashing forcefully against her face. Everything suddenly turned HD picture clear quality – so vivid and detailed....and extreme slow motion!

'Ahhhh....the branch was so high above the ground!.....This is going to hurt so much...Oh! I need to protect my head!'

Her current physical conditions couldn't help her escape this sudden crash landing. But she had to stop her head from splitting like a coconut. Pursing her lips, she wrapped her hands around her head, bringing her knees as close to chest as possible as she turned to one side.

And then her body was crushed by the impact as it hit the ground.