The Spider Queen

Sophie's heart skipped a beat as her enhanced vision that could penetrate a few feet into the ground saw thick vine-like roots slowly making their way upwards.

Lily was trapped in the middle of a death trap!

There was no time to waste.

Sophie gritted her teeth and pumped the last threads of qi from her dantian to her legs in order to activate the 'Cloud Treading Dragon' technique.

She could feel a sharp burst of pain spreading through her meridians as the negative side effects of qi exhaustion started to kick in.

White spots blinked in and out of existence along the corners of Sophie's vision and an intense feeling of exhaustion began to spread throughout her body.

"No… I…can't faint now…" the hybrid girl whispered darkly as she bent her knees.

Lily was huddled in the shape of a tiny ball with a faint translucent barrier surrounding her body.

The little girl knew that something was wrong as soon as she saw the first flower pop out of the soil.

The problem was that any step she took that would lead her away from the center of the flower field would cause deadly wooden tendrils to erupt from the soil and launch an attack on her body.

There were ten barrier generating devices that lay broken on the ground as the organism behind the attacks steadily chipped away at her defenses with quick, sharp attacks before retreating back underground.

Lily was internally panicking but she tried her best to stay calm and wait for her big sister to find her.

Sophie took a few deep breaths and gently exhaled. There was enough qi flowing into her leg meridians to use the movement technique three times.

Just barely enough to grab Lily and get the hell out of there before the abomination lurking beneath the sands noticed what had even happened.

Sophie wasn't even going to bother to fight the creature since the lack of qi in her dantian meant that she would need to rely entirely on her enhanced physiology.

The pale blue moon hanging high above in the night sky illuminated the empty desert but a nearby sand dune cast a dark shadow over Sophie's face.

"I… I am not going to lose control… I am not going to lose control," Sophie chanted silently as she activated her technique.

Sophie's figure blurred and then vanished from the spot as the hybrid girl travelled a vast distance within a fraction of a second.

Lily was still clutching her barrier device in her right palm when a bloody figure suddenly appeared in front of her.

She opened her mouth to scream but a soft, feminine hand instantly shattered the translucent protective membrane and picked her up.

"Let's get you out of here," Sophie softly whispered in a calm but gentle tone.

She knew fully well that her appearance must be the stuff of nightmares.

What child would want to see their big sister covered in blood, guts, and bits of chunky flesh?

It was only a small mercy that Lily had not seen Sophie rip apart the alien corpses with both her bare hands and bladed appendages before eating the meat.

Who knows what she might think?

"Big… sister…" Lily choked up as she stared at Sophie with a worried expression.

"I'll explain what happened when we get back to the starship," Sophie reassured her.

The hybrid girl did not relax her vigilance even while casually chatting with Lily and had observed several of the flowers begin to tremble violently.

Her golden eyes darkened as Sophie tilted her head downwards to see what the underground situation was.

There were multiple vine-like roots slithering towards their location with several just seconds away from reaching the surface.

Sophie tightened her grip on Lily's fragile body and pressed the last protective device on the child's bodysuit.

She didn't have enough qi to create a barrier made from her own aura to protect Lily while travelling at high speeds.

Cloud Treading Dragon!

Sophie and Lily's figures vanished just moments before an enormous root broke free from the ground and launched several black spike-like projectiles at their previous location.

The surrounding desert blurred slightly as Sophie just focused on getting back to the starship before she passed out.

Sophie almost stumbled several times as she felt faint, needle-like stabs of pain coming from different areas of her body.

Was this from qi depletion or was it something else?

Sophie wasn't sure because while there were no more strands of qi to be found in her dantian, she could sense that a strange warm energy was circulating through her body.

It was hard to describe this contradictory feeling of both pain and pleasure, but Sophie's instincts did not send her any alarms or warnings.

She just had to uneasily accept that there was nothing she could do to examine her current health at least for now.

Lily was held tightly in her arms and fortunately this barrier had served its purpose well when faced against the high force created due to Sophie's extreme acceleration.

Raurgh!!!!!!

A loud shriek of rage echoed through the empty desert as Sophie moved further away from the field of flowers.

The creature controlling the tendrils had clearly realised that its delicious meal had vanished mysteriously!

Still… in an unknown environment, one must never relax their vigilance and remain constantly on guard.

Sophie continued to briefly glance at the surrounding desert as she ran straight towards the metalloid bridge.

Luck was on the pair's sides tonight as there were no more eventful encounters before reaching the familiar but oddly welcoming sight of the bridge.

Sophie stopped activating the movement technique and immediately crashed to the ground with a dull thump.

At least she had enough strength to shift her body upwards so that the full impact of awkwardly slamming into the desert sand was experienced by her alone.

Even knowing that Lily had a barrier device activated, Sophie's first instinct was to prevent the child in her arms from coming to any harm.

"Big sister are you alright?" Lily hurriedly scrambled out of Sophie's arms and patted her shoulder twice in panic.

"Yeah, I'm good," Sophie cracked a small grin that barely reached the corners of her lips.

"I just… need a long nap."