The Spider Queen

"Now remember that no matter what happens, you need to stay as quiet as possible," Sophie whispered softly as she opened the front door.

"If you have to tell me something then tap on my shoulder twice to let me know."

Lily nodded with a serious expression on her face that Sophie thought was absolutely adorable.

It was time for the final stage of her escape plan.

Sophie had already explained most of the details to Lily about what was going to happen but that did little to stop nervousness bubbling up in her chest.

They would need to leave the camp site without being detected and then walk several miles on foot.

The reason for this was that the plasma engines inside the hoverbikes made a loud noise when initially activated.

Sophie wasn't going to take the chance of someone overhearing the sound and going out to investigate.

The majority of the Hyperion knights were in the qi body and spirit stage, but Sophie was sure that there must be a few hiding their true cultivation capabilities.

Sophie took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves and walked out of the captain's tent.

The cool night breeze brushed against her face and the pale blue moon illuminated the quiet camp site.

The camp site's entrance was located only a few hundred feet away from the sinkhole, so Sophie planned on leaving through the back.

She held Lily tightly in her arms and began to slowly creep through the maze of floating spherical tents.

The shadows created from the light of the moon stretched out behind the tents and provided the perfect cover for Sophie to move from one spot to the next.

Luck seemed to be on her side as Sophie saw that none of the lights were on in any of the tents she passed by.

Time slowed down to a crawl as Sophie could only hear the sounds of Lily's heart beating steadily in her chest.

Thump! Thump!

Sophie closed her eyes briefly and sent a message to her mirror clone currently still chatting with the young guard.

It was time for the alibi.

Sophie saw through the eyes of her clone that the young knight was eager to escort her back to the captain's tent.

If Sophie didn't know that all of the knights had been chemically castrated to remove their desires, she would have thought that the overenthusiastic knight was a suitor.

Seeing that the plan had succeeded, Sophie reopened her eyes and continued to trek forward with determination in her gaze.

Failure was not an option.

The sands crunched softly beneath Sophie's feet as she moved through the desert.

Lily had turned her cute face around, so she was staring at the surroundings with curiosity in her gaze.

Unlike the captain who had a tent to himself, the other knights would share a temporary housing unit with the other members of their squad.

What this meant was that there were only twenty to thirty tents scattered around the campsite and most were located towards the front.

Sophie could already see the wide-open plains of endless sand dunes only a few tents away.

A thin smile flashed across her face as she saw freedom beckoning and the end of the escape plan in sight.

Still the hybrid girl did not relax her caution and if anything, she became even more vigilant as the duo reached the final stretch.

Five tents to go…

Four tents….

Three tents…

Sophie lowered her body to the ground and used her bladed appendages to scuttle across the sand with her movements resembling that of a crab.

It was not the most graceful of movements but frankly Sophie couldn't give less of a damn.

To reach the gathering point safely, she would even be willing to crawl through the ground like a worm.

The last tent came into view, but Sophie had to pause her movements as she saw a bright light shining through the upper window.

She immediately moved behind the shadow of the closest tent and watched in silence as a humanoid figure paced up and down.

The upper window was a thin layer of glass that spanned the entire length of the floor and provided a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view.

Sophie's golden eyes glowed faintly as she used her enhanced vision to make out more details about the mysterious man.

The person near the window was wearing a thin sleeveless shirt with a small logo of the sun printed in the front.

He stood at around five feet in height and had features that were aquatic in nature from blue skin to tiny gills and scales.

This was actually the first time Sophie had seen a knight other than the captain take off their metalloid helmet.

But it made sense since the knights probably couldn't sleep laying down on the bed wearing full protective armour.

Sophie shook those distracting thoughts out of her head and focused on the situation at hand.

In ordinary times, it wouldn't matter that someone was a night owl among the knights, but the problem was that the man by the window kept pacing back and forth while taking glances outside.

There was a short distance between Sophie's current location and a large sand dune that would block the field of view of the knight.

An option was to use her movement speed technique to teleport herself and Lily across to the other side.

But the risk was that someone might notice the qi fluctuations.

She had only been able to use this movement technique near the knights guarding the hoverbikes because at the time they were both distracted by her clone.

Should she wait?

Sophie glanced up at the sky and saw that the pale blue moon was slowly sinking towards the horizon.

Day- night cycles on this unknown planet were around two times faster than on planet Gaia so there was only about three hours left until dawn broke.

"We're going to wait for a bit. Here's a nutrient vial in case you get hungry," Sophie whispered quietly into Lily's ear.

She slipped the little girl a tiny vial filled with a clear liquid that bubbled slightly.

There were still enough nutrient vials to last for a few more months but Sophie's supply was not endless.

Especially considering her high metabolism rate and energy needs.

Lily kept silent and nervously gripped the tiny vial with hands that trembled slightly. The clever little girl could sense the tension filling the air.

Sophie kept her body in a constant state of readiness by circulating qi continuously through her meridians.

This heightened state of anticipation had some unintended side effects as Sophie could feel bloodlust slowly beginning to build up.

The edges of her golden eyes were beginning to turn a scarlet colour as a crimson hue insidiously crept closer to the center of her eyes.

Sophie clenched her left fist tightly and allowed her fingernails to pierce deeply into her flesh.

Small droplets of blood dripped steadily to the ground as Sophie used to the pain to cling to her last threads of sanity.

Sophie's mouth twisted painfully as her urge to kill continued to rise.

The memory of the coppery metallic taste of Lily's blood was causing her to salivate.

Sophie mentally chanted a mantra over and over again until the words seemed to be embedded in her mind.

Do not lose control….

Do not lose control…

Do not lose control…

The faces of her family and friends flashed across Sophie's mind as well as Lily's trusting appearance when she told the little girl about her plan.

She needed to remain strong.

Sophie was just about to stop circulating her qi when she noticed that the knight had just walked away from the window and to the center of the room.

Now was her chance!

Sophie tightened her grip on Lily's body and dashed frantically across the distance using only her enhanced physique.

The knight inside the tent only saw what appeared to be a blurry shadow but when he stepped forward to get a closer look…

No one was there.