Abyssal Awakening

Making her way downstairs, Alice couldn't see Ria anywhere and understood she must've been taken away to provide more information regarding the strange movements in the forest.

'There were some articles mentioning strange beasts… Though I'm not sure if they're talking about the forest or not. Either way, the guild must be taking this rather seriously with the news even reporting about it.' Alice mused to herself while making her way to the mission boards.

On the first floor, there were 3 mission boards.

1 star missions, 2 star missions and 3 star missions. Each board had a small crowd of Hunters surrounding them with guild employees occasionally adding new missions to the board.

Unfortunately for Alice, her height didn't allow her to see most of the missions on the board with how tall the Hunters were. They all stood head and shoulders above her, forcing her to push through and make her way to the front.

At first, the Hunters were annoyed by someone pushing through but seeing her height, they understood she couldn't see anything so allowed her to the front.

'Lets see…'

Scanning her eyes through the different missions available, Alice noticed that most of the one star missions were rather mundane from finding lost items to clearing up small rodents. There were a few Hunting quests but all the ones that she saw were snatched up quickly by the other Hunters.

Scratching her hair in frustration, Alice wondered what she should get.

'I'm not really fit for finding lost item quests since I don't have any tracking abilities… I suppose I could take the clear out rodent quest. Though I wouldn't be able to know if I killed all of them if they hide themselves.' Alice furrowed her brows.

Her plan for the rodent quest was to simply attract all of their attention then drug them with her blood. That way, it'll be easier to kill them all in one fell swoop.

After browsing the board for a while, Alice decided not to take anything for now. She'll ask Allura and Ria's opinions regarding it later.

For now, she had to find Ria.

###

Walking through the city, Allura had a strangely serious expression for once as she was no longer smiling.

Turning into the alleyway, she leaned against the wall and knocked against the wall.

"Dark mother's blessings." Allura spoke while finishing her cigarette.

After speaking the code, a portion of the wall opened up as she leaned down and stepped through the gap. Behind her, the door closed once more.

There was a single dimly lit path down as Allura sighed.

"They need to raise the ceiling of this damn place." She complained. With her height, she had to constantly lean down to not hit the roof.

Making her way down, the dimly lit passage slowly opened up to reveal a strange temple at the bottom of this city. Tall pillars with red banners supported the ceiling of this cavern while broken chains dangled from the roof.

In the ages of old, something colossal had been imprisoned here. But once it broke free, the residents rebuilt the city and repurposed this place into something different.

As she descended into the temple, she could see masked puppets dancing on balconies that were out of reach.

A myriad of people talked in private stalls, but Allura ignored all of that. There was only one place she needed to go here, one place for her to get the answers she needed.

Approaching the temple, a myriad of floating towers could be observed as they were connected with an invisible string of energy. Stepping through the large open gates of the temple, Allura watched as the world changed around her.

In front of her, an altar with a strange tree in the shape of a person could be seen. The head of this person was missing as it was transformed into a myriad of branches.

Kneeling in front of this statue, was a single person adorned with a lavish black gold and red jacket, a white shirt and black pants. He had medium length black hair with red highlights and a pair of crimson eyes.

"If it isn't Allura, the esteemed patron of the Underground. How may I help you today?" The man smiled as he stood up and turned around.

"I need information. Movement of the cult, what happened in Slaughter Docks and the situation in the war zone."

"Ah but of course. Is there a time limit for this information?" He asked while flicking his fingers.

The floor opened up as two chairs and a table appeared.

"Just tell me what you know for now and deliver the rest later." Allura sat down and pulled out a cigarette.

"Very well. For the movement of the cult, most of their attention is focused on the war zone with the two apostles being tempted to make a move but the other churches are keeping them in check. Tensions are high but all three seems to be waiting for something to appear within the desert.

"For the Slaughter Docks, I assume you are interested in the strange movement of people on the outskirts and the casualties of the churches. Sadly, even we're in the dark about this. The only link we have is that what we assume to be blood rituals are being performed everywhere.

We're still investigating this but incidents like this are popping up more frequently." The man frowned, surprising Allura momentarily as the Underground were the best in obtaining information.

"Situation in the war zone is closely linked to the movement of the cult. The war between the nations seems to be a diversion created by the Apostle of War, but the other Apostles have already seen through this, resulting in the situation at the desert. This is all that we know thus far.

As a branch of the underground, the information we have may be limited so you might find out more in the future if you visit the main temple. Naturally, if we get any updates regarding your questions we'll deliver it to your inn."

Nodding her head, Allura stood up.

"As always, we are pleased to have you use our services. May I assume that young lady Ria and young lady Alice will be joining you in due time?"

"Perhaps." Allura replied without turning around.

Making her way out of the temple, she took a deep breath and sighed out.

'The Apostles are making bigger movements… It's going to be hard to stay out of it. Movement in the desert hmm… It might not be what I'm thinking about so only time will tell.' Allura thought to herself.

With how much they're focusing on the Abyss, Allura wonders if it was because Kaden had implanted the Eye into Alice. If not for this, they should be focusing on the tasks on the surface.

"Tch! Annoying bastard leaving everything to me as usual. He'd better take care of the sh*t on the surface if he's leaving this much to me." Allura cursed in annoyance before speeding up slightly.

Now that she had gotten what she wanted from the Underground as well as renting some rooms for Alice and Ria, it was time to meet up with them again and plan her next 'lesson' for Alice.

###

Finding a seat on the first floor, it didn't take too long for Alice to spot Ria coming down from upper floors as she too spotted Alice.

With her unique hair, it was rather easy to see her.

"Alice!" Ria called out with a smile.

"Did you get your license?"

"Mnm did. One star hunter." Alice nodded her head.

"Now we can do some missions together. Since I haven't done too many three star missions just yet, I can't take you to them. The most I can do I take you to the two star ones but they give a decent amount of money. Have you seen Allura? Or is she not here yet?" Ria asked curiously.

"Not here yet." Alice shook her head.

However, before Ria could say anything, the two of them paused noticing a shadow in their peripherals.

"Who's not here yet?" Allura grinned while sitting at the same table.

"Arg! When the hell did you get here?!" Ria cried out in surprise.

"Just now. But sounds like you two have finished getting Alice her ID." Allura laughed.

"Gods, please don't just appear like that. But yes, we did get Alice her ID. We're just thinking of taking some two star Hunting quests for now so that Alice can get some experience and earn a bit of coin." Ria nodded her head.

"That's perfect then. I was going to say you should take Alice to some two star hunt quests since one star doesn't usually deal with hunt targets. Let Alice deal with the beast solo and see how she fairs, don't interfere and let her figure out things herself."

Hearing this, Ria furrowed her brows.

"But aren't they meant to be taken on by two Sigil bearers? I know that you want us to fight harder opponents but wouldn't it be better for Alice to get used to them first?" Ria asked but Allura shook her head.

"Even within Sigils, there are a difference in quality. The Spectral Hunter Sigil belongs to a higher quality than usual with most taking this Sigil later down the line. The normal one star Hunters and beasts cannot compare to Alice so might as well get her used to taking out two star hunts." Allura reasoned as Alice agreed with her thought process.

'Two star hunts shouldn't be that bad right?'