Abyssal Awakening

Watching the bombardment of timed explosions hit the enemy barrier, Alice folded her arms.

They had expected the enemy to prevent them from retreating but that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore.

If anything, they'll be lucky if they could extinguish the flames.

However, despite all of this, Alice couldn't settle down the bad feeling in her chest.

Even though there was no visible danger, it felt as though she was walking into a trap. All her senses were warning her, telling her to run. A bad gut feeling that she couldn't get rid of. Yet no matter where she looked, she couldn't find the source.

'Are they in the Void?' Alice theorised as she created a small opening and sent a blood eye through the gap.

Observing the ever changing scenery of the Void, Alice couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary so she doubted it was the first hybrid that ambushed them. That one was able to transport their beast army from the Void and send them out the same way.

She tried the same thing herself when she helped everyone get to the frontlines quickly but after one try, she knew how taxing it was.

And to transport an entire army? It was impossible for Alice. During the travel, there will be many who get accidently detached from the group and be doomed to float through the Void unless another opening appears.

Since she was unable to get rid of this bad feeling, Alice decided to set up some precautions.

She needed a passive defence that would warn her if anything was to approach, even in stealth. There was no guarantee but it was better to have something than to sit out in the open.

A grid system similar to what she did when she was predicting how Bo would move.

But unlike before, she now had access to her Sigils meaning the range could be expanded a lot more than what is limited by her shards.

This grid was going to stretch in a 50 meter radius around the caravan and move along with them.

Each grid is going to be filled with tiny metal shards and blood so if anything in stealth was to walk past, it'll latch onto them and reveal their silhouette.

She was tempted to add some blood threads but if she were to do that, it'll make the grid too obvious. Right now, you couldn't see the grid unless you focused on it.

It was good enough of a warning system but next was actual defences.

Once again, Alice ran into the issue of energy consumption and speed of her defence.

'What if… you use slightly enhanced Void Fluxes so a singularity forms and sucks in the attack to be destroyed?' Alyss offered as Alice shook her head.

'Consumes too much energy if I want the singularity to stay and eat the whole attack. If I do it that way, even if the size is small, I can only throw out like ten of them at most.' Alice sighed.

That was her limit right now with her current body.

The more she added to her attacks, the faster she'll exhaust herself. It's why she was holding back on her Resonance. The moment she activates her Resonance her stamina will begin to drain like a bucket with a hole in it. She'll be out of commission after one fight and that was not what she wanted right now.

Unless absolutely needed, she was going to deal with all of her issues without using Resonance.

[Perhaps you don't need to cancel out the attacks Master. What if you focused on diverting it so it misses the caravan instead?] Cayla asked curiously.

'That'll depend on our surroundings. Diverting it could cause the road to become unstable or even collapse on itself. Though it wouldn't hurt to try.' Alice tapped her chin.

In order to divert the attacks, she'll need something to shift the course of the attack.

Before, that would be her shards.

But for a large scaled attack, would it even be enough?

Controlling the Shard of Kara to float above her palm, Alice expanded it into the shield form so that the iridescent blue barrier could be seen.

Expanding it further, the barrier began to weaken before breaking apart.

Similar to the barrier that the Extalia kingdom employed, these shards acted as nodes and anchor points for the barrier. Too far apart and it'll begin to weaken before shattering.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice created metal shards in a similar shape and placed it in the middle of two shards.

She wanted to see if the metal shards could reinforce this barrier by acting as a bridge for the barrier to latch onto.

But even though she successfully increased the range of the barrier, allowing it to hold on without any issues, the barrier itself has become much weaker. Unlike the other Shards of Kara, the metal piece had nothing it could resonate with.

All it accomplished was plugging itself into the weakest spot. It still hasn't solved the issue that the barrier became weaker the further it was from the original shard.

As they continued to travel, the bad feeling continued to plague Alice's chest as she couldn't drop her guard for even a second.

On the other hand, it seemed like the Extalias had given up on stopping their retreat, causing many of the warriors to cheer out in happiness.

Even Torgeir had a smile on his face as he relaxed himself. If the Extalias had given up, it meant that his brothers and sisters in arms could now return to their families in one piece.

Soon, the atmosphere of the caravan became a joyful one but Alice couldn't allow herself to even crack a smile.

The happier her surroundings became, the worse this feeling in her chest became.

There was now no more doubt.

Someone was hunting them down and observing their every move.

But who?

"Why the long face? Shouldn't you be drinking some mead and passing out by now?" Egil asked curiously. Even the mages responsible for taking care of the enemy attack have started to relax their guard and joke around with their friends.

"I wish. But someone has to keep guard while people are enjoying themselves. Plus, I need to make sure I don't break my body or else a certain someone would be annoyed at me." Alice chuckled, glancing down at Selen who was snoring a little due to the fatigue she felt in the med bay.

This was the first time she had to use her time slow abilities so many times in a row so it was only natural that she was exhausted.

Seeing that Alice wasn't willing to relax, Egil could only shrug his shoulders. It wasn't like he had anyone he could relax around like Alice and Selen, so he simply stayed near them and kept them guarded in case something did happen.

Time passed and soon they began to settle down for food.

But Alice's expression was still as dire as the moment they set off on this journey.

Warnings plagued her mind, signalling at the danger to come. The unknown enemy was waiting in the darkness with their mouth curled up in a beastly grin, waiting for the moment everyone dropped their guard.

*Yawn~

Sitting up slowly and giving her body a stretch, Selen scratched her hair while looking around in confusion.

"Good morning sleepy head, we're stopping for camp right now." Alice glanced back with a smile while still keeping her attention on the grid around them.

"Oh we're camping? Let me sleep some more then. I'm not hungry." Selen yawned a second time before preparing to lie down.

However, before she could, someone rushed over to their carriage and grabbed her by the shoulders.

A chill shot down Selen's spine as she slowly turned around and saw Alfva with a pair of bloodshot eyes.

She had been treating patients nonstop for the last few hours without Selen helping her. In order to get through the rest of the injured that needed help, time slow was a must.

"You, me, heal, time slow, NOW!" Alfva ordered.

Without giving Selen a chance to reject, she dragged her away with surprising strength as all Alice and Egil could do was watch with pity.

"I'm glad I don't have time slow abilities." Alice couldn't help but mutter.

If she did, she would be in Selen's position right now.

"Agreed." Egil nodded his head as the food was soon distributed to everyone.

Their meal consisted of meat soup, bread, and some other snacks that you get to choose from.

Compared to the food you get in a tavern, this was a little lacking. But for the warriors who've been eating nothing but rations, this was a heavenly meal.

Finishing her food quickly, Alice began circling the camp and placing nodes properly without having to maintain all of them consciously.

That way, it'll lighten the burden as she planned on keeping this up until they returned home. She couldn't rest easy knowing something was potentially hunting them down.

There were still a few days left of their journey. To maintain concentration throughout, she needed to have slight breaks every so often while keeping the grid up. It was going to be difficult but for their survival and safety, she had to hold on.

###

Observing everything in silence, Keira felt joy. Even though Alice's senses were abnormally strong, it was only a matter of time before she fully exhausted herself from keeping this up.

All she had to do was wait while observing everything. And soon, one attack will end it all.