Abyssal Awakening

With the Ravager activating its Berserk Regeneration and immobilizing everyone for a moment, the abilities restraining its movement began to falter.

In addition to the weakening of the restrictions, its own power had multiplied and soon…

*SHATTER!!!

Breaking off the chains and the barrier slowing it down, it lunged towards Einar who was slow in recovering.

Just as he was about to get hit, Alice's shards gathered beneath his feet and launched him backwards, narrowly dodging the strike! Cold sweat ran down Einar's back as if it wasn't for Alice, he might have just died then and there!

With its first target escaping, the beast focused on the second.

The woman who had forced it into using Berserk Regeneration in the first place.

*BANG!!!

Jumping from the ground, the Ravager lunged towards Selen who activated acceleration on herself and tried to get out of the way. But now that the beast was in a berserk state and without restrictions, it could easily keep up!

Twisting its body, the beast swiped towards Selen with its tail.

"Damn!" Gritting her teeth, Selen turned her body upside down and launched herself down using Alice's shards and dodged the tail swipe.

However, she wasn't going to dodge without fighting back. Even though the beast had used Berserk Regeneration which should've healed all of its wounds, there were still scars left on its body.

Selen wasn't sure if it was a weak point or not but she released three slashes towards the scars. Unfortunately, these slashes hit empty air as the beast jumped into its shadow.

"BJORN!" Einar shouted while running towards Selen's direction.

"I'm already on it!" Bjorn shouted back, firing a light arrow once more and forcefully dragging the beast out of hiding.

A set of platforms appeared in front of Einar, allowing him to run up and slam the beast on the side of the head!

"!!!" Widening his eyes, Einar was shocked to see the beast not even budge despite him using his full force along with enhancement buffs from Brynja. But he couldn't let his surprise stop his movement.

Taking a deep breath, he let out a loud shout as chains erupted from the ground once more.

Seeing these chains, the beast jumped out of the way and grabbed hold of the cliff face, suspending himself above the ground.

These strange movements and shields that were blocking its attacks. There was only one source!

"Oh sh*t." Alice shivered feeling the beast's wrathful eyes lock onto her.

Jumping down into its shadow, the beast rushed towards Alice while Bjorn fired another light arrow.

Forcing the beast out of hiding, they could see it mid lunge with its claws swiping towards Alice.

Forcing herself to remain calm, Alice created a shield next to her and tried to divert the strike while rolling out of the way. But the beast was ready. No matter what, he had to kill the girl to stop the annoyances!

*CRACK!!!

Slamming its claw against the shield, it dug its nails into the barrier and used it as a platform to launch itself towards Alice.

Dispelling the shield and forcing the beast to lose its footing, Alice managed to buy herself just enough time for Selen to catch up.

Flicking her wrist, she summoned her staff and created a new barrier around the beast.

*URAHHH!!!

Letting out another roar, the beast threw Selen back as the barrier dispelled before it could fully form.

"Over here!" Einar shouted, slamming his blade into the beast's heel. Just as a tail was about to slam into him, Brynja got in the way and tanked the strike.

With Einar and Brynja disrupting the beast, Alice was allowed to escape while Bjorn fired an arrow into the beast's eye.

Fester!

Blood gushed out from the wound as Selen increased the severity of the damage while taking a deep breath. Entering an offensive stance, she aimed her blade towards the beast and charged.

Turning into a blur, cuts appeared across the beast's body while Alice provided Selen platforms to dash around the air.

No matter how the beast thrashed and clawed, it was unable to take anyone out. Selen was kept safe in the air by Alice, Einar was covered by Brynja while Bjorn took the opportunity to strike whenever a weak point showed itself.

They didn't have any large attacks that could fell the beast in one go but this consistent stream of attacks forced the beast back. It was unable to fight back even with its Berserk state and soon, the patterns around its body began to fade as its form started to shrink.

Knowing that its end was near, it let out one last desperate attempt. Focusing all of its power on speed, it became far more aggressive than before! Not caring about the attacks it took so long as it could take out the people trying to hunt it.

Jumping into the shadows, it baited Bjorn into firing another light arrow before jumping out and lunging towards him.

Chains shot out of the ground, wrapping around the beast's ankles in an attempt to drag it back while Selen locked it in a barrier of slowed time.

Even its last desperate lung was neutralised as despair filled the beast's eyes.

Once its Berserk state ran out, it slammed against the ground devoid of strength.

*BANG!!!

Without hesitation, Selen slammed down with her blade and severed the head, bringing the fight to an end.

As its blood seeped into the snow, the group slumped onto the ground while Bjorn jumped into the trees to keep an eye out for any more threats.

Panting heavily while lying down on the snow, Alice swiped the sweat from her brow.

Even with her shield, she was beginning to see how vulnerable she truly was. If Einar and Selen didn't cover for her, she would be a red splatter on the ground.

'F*ck it I'm fixing my body tonight or tomorrow.' Alice thought to herself. She was going to ask Torgeir for a sample of his blood and see if she could forcefully spur the regeneration.

Alternatively, there was also the Ravager.

Narrowing her eyes, Alice forced herself to stand up as she grabbed several vials from her pouch.

Climbing onto the corpse, she harvested the heart blood even though the purity had dropped. Naturally, this didn't bother her since purity never mattered with her physique.

The key was to get the Berserk Regeneration so she could heal her body even if its just for a moment.

Storing three vials of Dreadhorn Ravager blood into her pouch, Alice noticed them staring at her weirdly.

"What? I don't wanna waste the blood." Alice shrugged.

"But isn't that… impure? Wouldn't it be better to get someone to filter some vials back home rather than doing it yourself?" Einar asked as Alice froze up.

'Right…' To others, she was acting abnormal. It's like seeing someone drink pure poison because it had a 1% benefit to the body while the rest killed you.

Even if the purity decreases, by having specialists filter the blood, they could reduce the impact of the side effects.

Scratching her hair, Alice coughed.

"I'm grabbing the heart blood. If I don't seal it now, it'll lose purity. I'll have someone bottle it up properly when we get back." She explained as the others nodded their head, accepting this reason.

If one wanted to get the most out of the heart blood, it was best to seal it early since the purity would drop faster the longer it's exposed to the air.

"What do we do about the corpse?" Selen asked as it was a bit of a waste to leave it out here. Not only was the blood precious but the materials on its body could be used in weapons. Especially the plate and the fangs.

"We're dragging it with us on the back of the carriage. It'll take a little longer to get back but the money you'll get is worth is." Bo smiled, landing near the group.

Looking at the state of the group, he nodded his head in satisfaction.

"See? That wasn't a hard fight now was it? If only you did this on the first day then we wouldn't have needed to talk last night. But good job, I'm satisfied with everything you showed today. When we get back, drinks and food will be on me as a reward." Bo grinned as Einar pumped his fist into the air despite his exhaustion.

"I'll make you regret saying that captain." He laughed while Brynja followed suit.

Once they had a rest, they tied the corpse to the back of their carriage and made their way back.

During this, Alice noticed that Bo was constantly keeping an eye on the surroundings while also examining the wounds on the beast.

"Something bothering you?" Alice asked curiously as he nodded his head.

"Two things though it's probably just me overthinking." Bo shrugged as he leaned back.

Tilting her head, Alice wondered what was bothering him when Selen spoke up.

"It's the wounds right? It's got wounds that was dealt a while ago and wasn't healed by Berserk Regeneration." Selen spoke up as Bo nodded his head.

"It had a fight before fighting you. That's probably why it was approaching the outpost from the border. However, what's bothering me the most is the fact that it's still a juvenile. Regardless, it's not something that you should be worrying about. I'll report it to Torgeir when we get back and he'll make the arrangements." Bo reassured with a smile.

Yet despite these words, the bad feeling in his heart continued to grow without stop and soon, they returned to the outpost.