Abyssal Awakening

As they walked, the two spent the entire time talking, with Ellie recounting some of their battles.

Unlike Alice and Ria, who relied on themselves to survive situations, Ellie's group often relied on strategies involving their entire party. It allowed them to take a safer approach and take down beasts that should theoretically, be much stronger than them.

'Ria went for absolute speed for survivability while I'm going for self-healing for survivability. It's a necessary part of our Sigil, as without it, we won't be able to hunt stronger beasts later. But for these people, they don't have the desire to go past high Sigils, so the risks they take are much lower,' Alice thought to herself, reaffirming Allura's lesson on the Hunter's mentality.

Only the truly dedicated and insane Hunters could reach the upper limit of human power.

'Since I already have 2 Anti-Hunter type Sigils, my next one should also be Anti-Hunter type to get my resonance. I know that Allura mentioned that there is a third stage of resonance. I need to be careful not to pick any Anti-Beast synergies.'

"By the way, I noticed that our route seems to diverge into a forest? If we go through the main path, shouldn't it be faster?" Alice asked, pulling out her map. Since she was talking to Ellie, she might as well see if they knew anything about this.

"Hm? Oh yeah, we're not just hired to safeguard the caravan. Cedric wanted to acquire some merchandise from that forest. Apparently, there's a special type of water that could be found in that forest, and it sells for quite a bit of money.

"The beasts in the surrounding area are rather weak, and they like to group up. With how many people we've got on our side, it shouldn't be an issue to collect some of the water. Naturally, once we get there, Cedric will ask if anyone else wants to help collect the water, as he'll purchase them off us when we collect them," Ellie clarified as she rummaged through her bag.

After a short moment, she pulled out what seemed to be the commission she received from the Hunter's Guild—a request for Sylvan Essence along with guarding the caravan to the next city.

"The pay is quite good too," Alice remarked, as the reward was 1 platina for the whole party.

'1 platina is around 100 gold for the average person, meaning that's 10 weeks' worth of earnings for one trip.'

"Yep. It's why Finn chose to take this quest," Ellie smiled while putting the commission sheet back in her bag. Finn was the leader of the Raven's watch, and their party was as follows:

Finn – Leader and strategist of the party.

Ellie – Archer.

Griffin – Frontline.

Kaida – Frontline support with the rapier.

Isabella – Assassin with the chakrams.

They all had secondary roles within the party, and Ellie played the part of healer.

She would handle the first aid and healing blood, while Isabella was the herbalist and alchemist.

She would give Ellie the needed materials if they were out in the wilds while procuring Abyss Blood for Hunts. Isabella made her own vials of blood for use rather than purchasing them from the stores, as it was far more expensive than doing it herself.

However, for rarer bloods or dangerous hunts, they would fork up the money for safety.

Hearing that Isabella dealt with Abyss Blood, Alice couldn't help but be a little wary due to her history.

"Ah, will you be okay with getting dinner once we set up camp? I know the meals here are way more expensive than the ones in the city. Of course, the quality doesn't match the price, sadly." Ellie asked in consideration.

"We'll be fine. We're actually planning on hunting some wild beasts for some food when we set up camp. It's what we've been doing when we got lost for two weeks. You just need to be careful with draining the blood cleanly, then cooking the meat thoroughly," Alice reassured.

Widening her eyes in disbelief, Ellie was speechless.

There was still a risk in eating wild beasts due to the Abyss Blood that was flowing through their veins. No matter how careful one was, it couldn't eliminate the inherent risk!

To eat wild beasts for two whole weeks was almost unthinkable for her.

"Well… I guess if you're lost for two weeks, you can't exactly help it, can you?" Ellie sighed, pitying them as she glanced at Alice's right eye and split hair.

Noticing this gaze, Alice simply smiled and stayed silent. It was better to let Ellie convince herself that these abnormalities on her body were a direct result of Abyss Blood side effects.

"You know… You don't have to hunt wild beasts tonight if you want. I can pay for your meal," she offered, but Alice shook her head.

"Don't worry. Plus, hunting wild beasts keeps the senses sharp. Let us stay on guard and ready for battle, even though we're just passengers," Alice chuckled.

'It'll give me a chance to test out the Bloodflame blade.' Alice thought to herself, caressing the grip of her katana.

The caravan's journey continued, and soon it was time for them to rest as Cedric announced for them to stop and set up the first camp for the night. With this being the first day of their journey, they wanted everyone to get comfortable first.

*Yawn~

Stretching her body, Ria scratched her hair as she still felt rather groggy from her nap while noticing that Alice was talking to Ellie.

"Alice~" Ria called out as Alice glanced back.

"Should we go hunting now? We'll need time to drain the blood if we want to eat early," she reminded while trying her best to wake up properly.

"Alright, I'll be right there," Alice nodded before turning to Ellie.

"I'll talk to you later. It's been a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine. Remember if you can't find anything, let me know; I'll be more than happy to pay for your meals," Ellie nodded while giving Alice a small wave.

Saying goodbye to Ellie for now, Alice made her way back to Ria.

"The other Hunters seemed to be preparing to Hunt for some food too, while the merchants and travellers are simply paying the price for a meal. We should set off now if we want to catch some easy prey, or do you want to go a little wild and find something bigger?" Ria asked curiously as Alice thought to herself for a moment before a grin crept up on her face.

"Let's go a little bigger. Plus, that means the others can have something to eat too if we're fast enough."

"So it's a time challenge then. Same as when we were lost?" Ria chuckled.

When they were lost, they had a competition they would host with one another to keep their senses sharp. They would see who could hunt a designated beast the fastest.

Naturally, Ria would hold herself back, as it would be unfair for Alice. She would limit herself to purely physical enhancement, while Alice was allowed to fight however she wanted.

Of course, she wouldn't use Abyss Blood to enhance herself, as this was just a fun competition between them.

"Whoever can bring something back first is the winner. We'll compete in the size of the kill and how clean the final blow is," Alice nodded as she laid out the ground rules.

They needed a clean kill so that the meat is actually edible. During one of their first hunts while being lost, Ria had used too much power, evaporating the meat in its entirety.

"Do you want a head start?"

"Don't mind if I do," Alice chuckled and turned around.

Without hesitation, she dashed towards the forest and activated her first Sigil.

*BANG!!!

Stomping down as hard as she could, she disappeared into the forest, surprising the Hunters who didn't think Alice would rush out so quickly.

Closing her eyes, Alice immersed herself in the feeling of the Hunt and smiled.

Back when she was training with Allura, she would flip a switch inside her mind and designate something or someone as the target for a Hunt.

It allowed her to ignore the fact that they were human and cut them down with brutal efficiency. A simple change in mindset when approaching the subject.

However, something had awakened inside her when she was tracking down the culprit during the battle in Blackrock City.

In this hunting state, her senses would reach an all-time high, and her reaction improved drastically. It was a sense of flow that she had never tapped into before.

While she couldn't reproduce the full effects of her state, the sensation was now open to her. She was still able to replicate a portion of the ability she had demonstrated.

Curling her lips into a wide grin, Alice let out a laugh as she used the tree trunks as a springboard to launch herself further into the forest.

Each jump would cause the wood to crumble inward from the force as she picked up some multitude of tracks within the forest.

There were several beasts roaming around, and considering the side of these tracks, they were only slightly bigger than her at best.

'Since Ria is giving me a head start, I'll aim for the biggest set of tracks.' Alice thought to herself as these tracks seemed different compared to the others. There was a distinct glow within the centre.

As she dashed through the forest, her ear twitched for a moment as she heard the sound of rapid movements to her right and understood that her quarry was trying to escape the range of her detection.

'Found you.'

Adjusting her direction, she jumped up to the branch and caught sight of her target.

The creature was covered in tough black skin with no traces of fur. Strange blue energy flared from each of its claws, leaving behind ghostly claw prints in the ground.

Seeing that it had been discovered, it slowly reared its head towards Alice as it took an aggressive stance, radiating with hostility.

The absence of fur revealed the contours of its body with powerful muscles wrapping around the bones. Its long tail whipped at the ground, cracking the air with a loud snap as it tried to ward Alice off.

"Lots of meat and muscles, you'll make for a nice dinner." Alice grinned, pulling her sword from the sheath as red and black flames danced on the blade's edge.