Abyssal Awakening

"What are we dealing with here?" Ria asked as she could clearly feel the bloodlust from the forest.

"Three stars and four stars. All of them extremely pissed off."

"Alright. I'll take the fours you take the threes." Ria chuckled as the first beast launched from the shadows in an attempt to claw Ria's head off.

But before it could reach Ria, a vertical slash cleaved the beast in half as violet flames burned on its wound.

"Alright. We don't need to kill them all, just enough so they can reach the caravan and help with the evacuations." Alice nodded while adjusting her grip.

"Need my blood or you good?"

"I'll be fine." Alice shook her head as she rushed towards the left side of the forest while Ria dealt with the right.

'Most of the ones charging at us are cannon fodder. Or at least what the 'leaders' consider them to be.' Alice thought to herself as she glanced into the crowd of beasts and noticed one beast in particular, not doing anything and merely observing the situation.

Knowing what the aura of Terminus could do to a beast, it seems as though it has taken advantage of the situation and assumed a leadership role.

'If we want to disperse the swarm, we need to kill it so the beasts lose their commander. But doing so means we'll be in the middle of the swarm. Just killing him doesn't mean they stop being blood thirsty.'

Pausing in her step, Alice bent her body back as a scythe like arm swiped above her in an attempt to separate her upper torso. In one swift motion, she twisted her body and slashed the arm while the violet flames roared out, spreading across the body of the beast.

Unlike the beasts she had thought when she was in the howling depths, the flames weren't hindered from spreading and Alice allowed them to do whatever they wanted. With this in mind, the flames spread freely from the beast, consuming everything and jumping to the next target.

'Letting these flames do things by themselves saves me some stamina. I can probably threaten the main beast with a long range attack and force it to back off.'

Narrowing her eyes, Alice snapped her finger and jumped onto of a tree branch.

Taking a deep breath, the violet flames started to converge towards the tip of her finger as Alice aimed towards the beast in the back.

She didn't want to unleash a full power Nova Core as doing so would exhaust her to the point she could no longer fight. What she needed was a warning shot.

Something that holds great power but didn't take her out of commission.

Fiery strands of violet flames swirled towards her as she took care not to absorb too much.

'I just need enough to form a stable orb.' Alice thought to herself as she noticed some of the beasts attempting to stop her attack.

Jumping down, she fended them off with the Bloodflame Blade. Each attack was slow and predictable as they were naught but bloodthirsty beasts devoid of intelligence.

In this aspect, Alice was grateful for the effects of the aura.

Adjusting the grip on her blade, she parried the punch of a three star beast that launched her into the air due to the force. But this is exactly what she wanted as she aimed her finger towards the leader.

The air around her crackled with energy as she fired the orb, allowing it to unleash the dormant power from within.

*BANG!!!

The orb tore through the first beast of the swarm, shredding a hole through its torso while setting the remains ablaze with violet flames. Beast after beast succumbed to the power as they launched themselves at the attack in a futile attempt to stop it.

But with each beast that died to its radiance, its power only seemed to grow as it opened a path through the swarm.

The leader of the swarm, shocked at the display of power, wanted to dodge out of the way but it was too late. The flaming sphere of destruction was rapidly approaching its location as the beast roared out in defiance. Its blood shot eyes glared at the orb as black and red crystals formed a halo around its mouth.

At that moment, the beast released its own attack to fend against the Nova Core as crackles of crimson energy erupted from the gaps of each scale to form a breath of energy.

Jumping back, Alice sheathed her blade and started to run towards Ria as they should start making their way back to the caravan.

Her violet flames will stall the horde as it was allowed to spread freely amongst them, sustaining itself from the flesh of the beasts.

Upon arriving at where Ria was fighting, Alice couldn't help but notice the corpses of four star beasts strewn out around the forest as each had holes pierced through their heart and head with a bolt of lightning.

The echoes of thunder raged forth while Alice looked around for Ria and spotted her manifesting orbs before turning them into bolts of lightning to kill the surrounding beasts.

"Ria!" Alice called out, getting her attention.

"We're falling back. My fire is stalling the leader and the others. No need to tire ourselves out too much."

Hearing this, Ria nodded her head as the two started to run back.

Turning off her resonance, Ria panted heavily as keeping it on was exhausting. However, if she didn't use her resonance, killing four star beasts in the dozen would be far more difficult than what she would be capable of handling.

"How was your side?"

"I'm letting the fire do its thing. It still takes some power from me but as long as the weak beasts are dying to it, it'll keep burning." Alice replied while glancing towards where she had just come from. She could see the flickering purple lights signifying the movement of her flames.

"But if the leader is smart, they'll probably isolate those affected by the fire. It was able to counter a small scale Nova Core that I had fired off earlier." She sighed while Ria was shocked.

Even if it was a small scale attack, it was still shocking to hear that a beast was able to block it.

Before Ria could reply, she felt a surge of blood lust behind them as she immediately turned around and reactivated her Resonance.

*BANG!!!!

From the darkness, a beast of awe-inspiring grandeur rushed out. Its massive form moved with unmatched ferocity as its black fur shimmered in the moonlight.

The beast's mane, a cascade of midnight black flickered like fames around its neck. Black horns and scales could be seen around its head and body as it seamlessly blended with the rest of its fur.

With a single swipe of its claw, it was able to send Ria tumbling back as the armour around her arms cracked apart while blood poured through the gaps.

"Ria!" Alice cried out in shock as she could see the name above the beast.

[Stygian Shadow Drake - ✦✦✦✦✦]

"It's got five stars!" She shouted out while unsheathing the Bloodflame Blade.

Before she could even attack the beast, she watched as the tail appeared in front of her face. Widening her eyes, Alice knew that if she was to allow the attack to connect, the damage done to her would be unthinkable.

Tilting her head to the side, she was barely able to dodge the tail swipe as the Drake clawed towards her in an attempt to crush her under its weight.

Gritting her teeth, Alice relaxed her body before sliding out of the way.

*BANG!!!

The weight of the beast caused the ground to sink down as it pulled its claw back, ready for another attack.

"B*stard! Over here!" Ria shouted out from above as she gathered all of her lightning into a spear and threw it down only for the beast to disperse the lightning through its fur and redirect it with its tail, throwing the lightning back at Ria.

"!!!"

Twisting her body to the side, Ria was barely able to dodge the lightning as she understood this beast was not something she and Alice could deal with right now!

Taking a deep breath, she gave up on the offensive and threw a small bolt of lightning next to Alice and activated her fourth Sigil, teleporting next to her.

Even without saying anything, they both knew the dangers and had to leave fast!

"Go on ahead, make sure the caravan is ready to leave. I can stall it with my lightning. Once everything is ready shoot some fire into the air so I know." Ria smiled as she was the best one out of the two of them to stall this beast.

Furrowing her brows, Alice wanted to say something but decided not to. The resolve in Ria's eyes meant that she was not taking no for an answer.

"Use this powder. It should negate its power for a little bit. Be careful not to inhale it yourself." Alice nodded as she handed Ria a vial of powdered blood that she was experimenting with.

Giving the beast one last glance, she rushed towards the direction of the caravan while sounds of lightning could be heard from behind.

She needed to hurry them up as fast as possible so that they could leave without the beast catching up.

However, upon arriving at the caravan site, Alice paused in shock. All of the merchants were still packing their crap without a care while Isabella was arguing with them.

"We have to leave! Now! They're going to catch up at any moment!" She cried out, hoping that they would just leave.

"Not yet! I'm sure we can wait a little longer! Do you have any idea how expensive this is? We have to make sure everything is in order!" One of the merchants shouted back.

Griffin and Kaida were too injured and fatigued to act against them as the Hunters were employed by the merchants to keep them at bay.

Seeing all of this, Alice could only feel her anger increasing as these people cared more for their merchandise than danger. They weren't the ones holding back the swarm nor did they know the true extend of the danger.

Gritting her teeth, killing intent exploded out of Alice's body as she unsheathed her blade.

"Either leave now or I will burn everything to the f*cking ground!"