Free Web NovelChapter 10: Chapter 10: Devils of The Desert
Riven’s first instinct was to run straight ahead as fast as his legs allowed while his subjects followed him but then his gaze landed on Ayala
"She can’t run fast enough."
He needed her to help him navigate through the desert. So he slipped one arm beneath Ayala’s knees and the other behind her back before lifting her effortlessly into his arms.
She blushed and replied.
"Mister, put me down! I can run on my own."
Riven shook her head and added.
"You will slow us down. Tell me where to escape."
"But mis..."
Riven snapped and roared.
"Enough! Hurry up, tell me wher..."
The ground beneath him began to tremble with a force that he had never experienced before. The scraping sounds became louder.
Hearing this, Ayala’s complaints ceased to exist. She pointed towards a path full of the remains of a dead living being and mumbled. Her voice was very quiet, just loud enough for him to hear.
"Go there."
Riven didn’t waste his breath. Instead, he charged forward as fast as his legs allowed while carrying Ayala. His subjects followed and remained close to him.
As he ran, the vibration and the scraping sound didn’t disappear; instead, they grew even stronger. He continued running but it kept getting stronger.
Riven gritted his teeth. This wasn’t working. Whatever the danger was, it was getting closer to him.
As he continued to run, he felt the ground beneath him crack. Then the sound of rock breaking echoed through his ears.
He turned around and froze. Dust filled the air and fragments of rocks were thrown into the sky which slammed onto the ground like meteorites falling from the sky.
Riven dodged every single rock but his gaze remained fixated on the cloud of dust. There was something black... moving in the dust. He wasn’t sure what that was.
However, when the cloud cleared, dozens of thin black spikes with a pointy end and a few cm thick revealed themselves and...
They were charging towards him.
Even worse, a horrifying pressure exploded from beneath the ground and spread around him. Cold sweat dripped down from his back.
This wasn’t a normal danger... whatever horror was beneath him was certainly powerful enough to kill him and he had no way to fight back.
Riven stared at his arms. He was carrying Ayala, he couldn’t fight... At least not with him carrying her.
Thankfully he didn’t have to do anything. His subject took care of him.
They went into full combat mode. Whenever one of those black spikes came near them, they severed them in half or deflected them to another direction.
As they destroyed or deflected them. Ayala’s voice echoed in his ears.
"Go right!"
"Go Left!"
"Turn 100 degrees to your right."
Riven did everything Ayala asked him to do and he managed to outrun the spikes. They were no longer in his view.
However, the vibration or the scraping sound didn’t decrease. At most, it remained the same but more likely than not it increased.
He didn’t know what the source of danger was.
So he finally snapped. He stared at Ayala, whom he was carrying, and asked. His voice was icy cold.
"Damn it... Tell me what this is all about or I will drop you."
Ayala didn’t reply immediately. She stared, closing her eyes as if feeling the vibration of the ground. There was a brief silence before she spoke.
"We are being hunted by the devil of the desert."
Riven frowned. He hadn’t heard about such a term in his life. So he asked.
"What’s that?
Ayala replied.
"It’s a type of monster that lives underground and these monster are the strongest is this desert."
Riven’s expression hardened. It meant they were being hunted by such a powerful creature. He asked.
"Why is it after us? Do you know its level or its power?"
Ayala shook her head and said.
"I don’t know much. All I know is that it knows that they are prey above based on the vibration that we made while waking."
Riven felt silent, he remembered the random movement and said.
"So that was the reason huh?"
Ayala nodded as he kept running. Riven felt silent not knowing what to do. Since her plan wasn’t really producing any results. He had to do something else.
He looked around him and his gaze lingered on his subject. An idea came to his mind.
"What if I tell my subject to charge in a random path?"
That would make a vibration in various directions. If that happened then the monster may get confused and go after one of his subjects.
He might lose one or two subjects but what could he do? He had to survive right... If he died then what was the use of his subjects?
So he mentally issued a new command to his subject except for the level 10 one.
"Spread out. Run in a random direction. Make loud sounds."
They didn’t question him; instead, they spread out and ran in a random direction. Their footsteps echoed throughout the entire place.
Now only the level 10 subject kept following him. This was intentional, he didn’t want to lose his strongest combat asset that he had.
Riven kept running — the vibration and the scraping were decreasing. His eyes widened in relief.
"It’s working."
Riven continued running until the vibration and scraping sound completely disappeared. As he ran, he stared at his subjects, they were disappearing from his view.
He probably won’t see them again. At least one of them would die, he was sure of it. It hurt to send his subjects to die when he didn’t have much to begin with.
Riven continued running.
A few minutes later, the vibration and scraping sound disappeared.
He halted his steps and threw Ayala to the ground neither harshly nor gently. He was very exhausted from running at his full speed. Now he was very thirsty but he didn’t have any water.
He glanced at Ayala and asked.
"Do you have water?"
She shook her head. A silent curse escaped his mouth.
"Damn it."
The thirst was almost unbearable for him. He needed water... he hadn’t drunk a single drop of water since entering Astrionis.
But they had no access to water. So whining was of no use to him.
So instead Riven inhaled and exhaled deeply. He took a look around him — only bones and the remains of the living beings remained.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps getting louder with each passing second. His body tensed up as his head snapped in the direction of the sound.
There was no one.
He carefully scanned the surroundings but found no one again.
"Maybe I am wrong."
But the sound returned once again. This time, he saw a shadow walking towards Ayala.
He saw a small creature full of white fur that bore a resemblance to a cat and a rabbit sitting on Ayala’s lap.
"Where did that come from?"
