Abyssal Awakening

As the two scrambled through the paths while trying their best to avoid the spider, Alice knew that it was just toying with them.

She could sense its beady eyes focused on her back while slowly throwing parts of the walls towards their general area, forcing them to run at their top speed as their life depended on it.

It wasn't aiming towards Lilia at all, but she was just unfortunate enough to be within Alice's area.

"What did you do to piss it off?!" Lilia shouted as she dodged some incoming debris.

"Don't! Know!" Alice shouted back through gritted teeth.

Grabbing Lilia's wrist, Alice swung Lilia around the next corner while Lilia did the same, cutting the time needed for both of them to run.

As bad as it was, they had to group up with the other slaves so its attention could be divided amongst everyone.

While they may not be the weakest of this batch, they are certainly not the strongest!

Seeing the shredded corpses of the slaves with crystals embedded into their chests, Alice knew that they had struggled against the Dusk Hunters. However, with the Twilight Hunter on the move, everyone was running away, friend or foe.

Picking up a left over spear from one of the slaves, Alice furrowed her brows in annoyance seeing a hand still holding onto the shaft.

Flicking the hand away, she glanced back and saw a thread shooting towards her face. Widening her eyes, she instinctively threw the spear back and ducked to the side.

*TSSSSSS!!!

Melting the spear, Alice understood that there was acid spread on those threads.

'Tsk! I just got that spear!' She complained in her mind before conjuring a new plan in her mind.

'My stamina is limited. Even with the boost I got from the sloth blood, it's running out and I can feel it. The slaves are also running so it'll be hard for us to catch up with them. The Assassin is waiting for the perfect chance. Meaning he won't make a move until the spider lets down its guard.' Alice thought to herself.

She knew the spider still had its guard up since the biggest danger was the Assassin while the Assassin was probably waiting for one of them to die before making the move.

Scratching her neck out of annoyance, Alice gritted her teeth since her options were fading. She cursed the fact that the main attraction was an Assassin of all things and not someone that could face it head on.

Picking up a dagger on the floor, she turned the next corner and hugged the walls.

Seeing that Alice wasn't running, Lilia panicked.

"Keep running!" Alice shouted, not wanting Lilia to waste her time.

Lilia wanted to complain but seeing the frustration and annoyance in Alice's eyes, she knew that Alice wouldn't suggest this if she wasn't prepared.

Gritting her teeth, she dashed around the next corner.

Sighing in relief, Alice took a moment to catch her breath while keeping an ear out for the spider's movements.

Alice's plan was simple, stall out the fight! She wanted to stall the fight until the Assassin has no choice but to move. If the spectators get bored, the hosts of this event will force the Assassin to intervene in order to not lose public interest.

Her idea was to take advantage of her eye in order to run circles under the spider and keep it in the same place.

It was a fool's plan, but it was the best she could think of. There was still some Abyss Blood left in her body so she can make use of its slowly attributes.

Taking deep breaths to prepare herself, Alice tightened her grip on the dagger as the ice on her arms started to coat the dagger as well.

*BANG!!!

Crashing against the wall, Alice could see the giant spider from below. Each segment of its legs was just as tall as her while the main body towered over her in size.

Alice didn't make her move just yet. The longer she waited, the more beneficial it is for her. Just as she expected, the spider didn't chase after Lilia, it was locked onto Alice's aura and slowly turned its body to see where Alice had been hiding.

However, Alice was not there as she was now sneaking behind the spider. She was using the advantage of her new perceptive abilities in short bursts to control where she was within the spider's eyesight.

A low hiss could be heard from the spider as it slowly approached the spot on the wall. It could still sense Alice's aura nearby, but the small human was no where to be seen. Understanding that Alice should be in the same area, the spider turned its body around and came face to face with Alice.

Even though Alice could see it coming, her body was simply too slow to react to the sudden movement.

With no other choice, she held her breath and lunged forward with her dagger, stabbing the spider in the eye and dragging the blade across its face as much as possible before letting go and rolling back to avoid the flailing of its claws.

Lifting her head, she widened her eyes as she was greeted with one of the spider's legs almost piercing her head.

Quickly tilting her head to the side, the leg shaved off part of her hair. A faint green liquid could be seen on the tip as Alice knew that it was the venom the Twilight Hunter would inject into its prey. The same venom that's present within its blood and causes people to hallucinate.

'One wound from that and I'm done for!' Alice shouted in her mind as she jumped back to create some distance.

Seeing that the spider was enraged from Alice injuring its eyes, Alice knew it was going to stop playing around with its food and aim for the kill.

Focusing her mind, she wanted to take advantage of the perceptive abilities she had received her in trying to do so, she felt a pain in her right eye, forcing her to close it momentarily.

'Did I strain it too much already? I used it against the first Dusk Hunter, then I used it against the second. I used it in short bursts against the spider when I was hiding from it… Sh*t!' Alice cursed in her mind as she had overused it from how much danger she had been in. It was no wonder her eye would be strained.

Clutching her eye, Alice slowly backed away from the spider as she wanted to find a chance to run but the spider was not allowing such a thing to happen.

Rearing its head back, it spat a ball of webs that erupted into a web wall, blocking Alice's path of retreat.

'You've got to be kidding me…'

Standing up with fatigue, Alice looked up at the sky and sighed. Shaking her head, she glared at the spider. If it was thinking she'll give up and allow herself to get killed, it's in for a rude awakening. She wasn't going to go down without a fight!

Before she could charge towards the spider, she noticed a spear being thrown towards the spider's head.

Quickly turning around, the spider blocked the spear with one of its legs and noticed Lilia above the wall with a myriad of weapons next to her.

"Alice!" Lilia shouted out as she grabbed another spear and threw it. This time it was aimed towards Alice so that she had a weapon to defend herself.

Once she was sure that Alice received the weapon, Lilia opened her vial of Abyss Blood and drank the contents in one go.

Gritting her teeth, she grabbed two daggers and jumped down from the wall before kicking off the surface and charging towards the spider.

Letting out a loud hiss, it tried to stab Lilia in mid air but she managed to twist her body and dodge to the side. Getting within the range of the spider, Lilia swung her daggers up at the joints, causing orange blood to spill before ducking out the way since she remembered what Alice said about its blood.

One dose of that and she could forget about surviving this fight.

"Just stall! Don't risk yourself trying to kill. If it gets too boring, Assassin has to fight!" Alice shouted back as Lilia glanced back and nodded her head.

If her only task was to stall, it'll be a lot easier. Ducking through the legs, she left a myriad of cuts across its abdominal area before throwing a spare dagger towards the face, blinding another eye.

"How do you want to stall it? Keep running circles around it while wounding it or threaten the kill? If a bunch of no named slaves like us take the kill without the main attraction doing anything, don't you think he'll be in trouble?" Lilia grinned as she was annoyed by the actions of that Assassin.

"Let's threaten kill." Alice nodded in seriousness.

"Then let's go before the blood runs out!" Crouching down, Lilia charged towards the spider while Alice forced her eye open and readied her spear.

Seeing the actions play out in slow motion, she intercepted the spider's attack with her spear, allowing Lilia to get closer and landing more cuts across its body as well as a few stabs into the joints of its legs, causing them to fall limp.

Feeling a sharp pain in her eye, Alice was forced to close it once more as Lilia was about to stab the base of the spider's neck when a sudden force threw her backwards.

Furrowing her brow, she saw that it was the Assassin who grabbed her by the back of her dress and threw her aside.

"Know your damn place." He grumbled in annoyance as he heard their plan of going for the kill.

"About f*cking time you showed up, lazy b*stard. We practically delivered the kill to you." Lilia laughed as she landed next to Alice.

The show was now out of their hands, it was time for the main attraction to earn his pay.