Abyssal Awakening

There was one problem when it came to killing the Blood Raven. And that was its ability to turn itself into a pool of blood and escape.

If she were to choose one as her next bounty, she needs to make sure she can kill it in one go.

'I can probably stock up on some Abyss Blood through hunts. I'll need to buy an extractor and find an excuse for Allura since I doubt Hunters would drink this much blood just for a hunt. Though that's because their previous benefits are mostly permanent.' Alice sighed inwardly.

Hunters would build up their base strength through consuming Abyss Blood, but such a method didn't work for her. With all of the benefits being temporary, she could only drink a large quantity of blood before each hunt to prepare herself if the battle was going to be tough.

Meaning she'll need to explain to Allura sooner or later.

'I shouldn't tell anyone about my body. Perhaps I can just explain that all of the blood I extract are high purity but that's going to be tough.' Shaking her head, Alice cleared her mind and focused back to the task at hand.

She had managed to find signs of their previous path and already started to make their way out of the forest.

Most of the beasts that the singing beast had controlled already ran away while the few that remained was taken care of by Ria.

Seeing her lightning powers, Alice couldn't help but wonder what kind of beast she obtained the Sigils from and what was their exact power.

'Sigil one seems to be one that coats her body with lightning while focusing them around her limbs… Sigil two seems to allow her to fire the lightning in a ranged attack while the third sounds like it would take everything she gathered and release it in one go.' Alice thought to herself as she wanted to practice guessing Sigil abilities.

She knew that in the future, when she fights other Sigil bearers, the faster she figures out their abilities the quicker she can turn fights in her favour.

"So judging by your outfit, you must be pretty rich right? The quality of your armour is high and not something new hunters wear." Ria asked since all she was doing was following and killing any stray beasts they run across.

"No. Someone else paid for this. Got lucky." Alice shook her head. What Ria said reminded her of her continued debt towards Allura for everything she's done so far.

"Oh damn, if someone else paid for it then you must've done them a big favour no?"

"None. They saved me from slavery and bought this. Said I can't walk around wearing only dress." Alice replied, causing Ria to paused mid step.

'Wait… If she got something this expensive after someone saved her from slavery then… Sugar mom or sugar dad???' Ria thought to herself while observing Alice.

'I mean… I can see it happening. Her hair is a tad weird and same with her eye, but it's nothing too major compared to other side effects of Abyss Blood… She has a pretty good figure and face too hmm… Aint no way someone bought something that expensive for a fling right? Right? Plus if they got her for a fling why is she out here hunting instead of being in their bedroom?'

Feeling Ria's conflicted gaze on her back, Alice couldn't help but be confused by her reaction.

'Did I say something wrong?'

"Say… What's your name?" Ria asked.

"It's Alice."

"Right then, Alice, this person… They saved you from slavery right? Did they ask for anything from you while buying you stuff?"

"?" Confused by her question, Alice thought to herself for a moment before opening her mouth.

"They didn't really ask for anything. They're looking after me now and buys me a bunch of stuff." Alice replied, tilting her head while trying to remember what else Allura asked of her. But that was essentially everything since all Allura needed was for her to fulfil a task that she doesn't know just yet.

Hearing this, Ria reaffirmed the thoughts in her mind.

'Bought a bunch of stuff without asking for anything? They're definitely planning to take advantage of her! But that still doesn't explain why she's in this forest. She said she was here because of a task… Hmm…'

"Alice, can you tell me a little about how you met with this saviour of yours?"

"Huh? I mean I guess so. Was going to die, then they save me. I wake up on bed and they take me shopping then left city with me." Alice replied, feeling more and more confused by the questions Ria was asking.

"What were you wearing when you woke up?"

"Err… Only white dress and bandages. Why such questions?" Alice asked, hoping to get some answers of her own since she doesn't know if these are questions people usually asked one another.

For all she knows, this could be completely normal and it was her that was being weird.

Holding Alice's shoulders, Ria looked at her with pity and sighed.

"Which city are you going to?" Ria asked.

"Going to Zadash."

"Perfect. If things don't work out, look for Ria Sarza at the Hunters guild okay? I should be around Zadash for a while and if your saviour treats you bad just tell me. I can guarantee your safety if you need to run." Ria promised as Alice was even more confused than ever.

She had no idea what Ria was talking about and why she thought she was in any danger or why Allura would treat her badly.

Considering they were both going under her care, it was a very confusing statement to make.

'Ah right, she doesn't know where going to be acquainted with one another. Well… she seems eager so I guess I'll stay silent for now.' Alice thought to herself in realisation.

"Okay, I'll remember." Alice nodded.

Hearing this, Ria smiled happily.

"Great! Now then, let's get out of this forest. Zadash is still pretty far away all things considered. I should be able to find the one who helped you so I'll see how they are before I leave. If they're as bad as I think they are, I'll deal with it first." Ria grinned while cracking her knuckles.

Raising her eyebrow, Alice couldn't help but shake her head with a shrug. If circumstances were bad, this kind of thought process may make things much much worse.

'She makes it sound like Allura is bad to me with how I described her. If Allura was truly bad, I don't think Ria will be able to fight her much less make life better I guess.'

But that was something Ria had to deal with herself since it's not Alice's place to lecture her about how she should live her life. After all, Alice herself had barely lived her own.

As they approached the area where there should be several Spectral Maidens going on patrol, Alice noticed tracks of them making their way to another part of the forest.

Whether that was due to the fighting or something else, Alice couldn't say for sure. But something felt off and she couldn't quite put a finger on the source of that feeling.

Thankfully, it wasn't just her as Ria was also frowning at this discovery.

"Sudden influx of beasts… Appearance of beasts that shouldn't be in this region along with Maiden's grouping up even though they shouldn't… Hmm… Too strange. I'll need to report this to the guild once I get to Zadash and have them look at this since this is too unnatural." Ria muttered.

Following her path back, the two soon reached the edge of the forest and saw the carriage that Alice arrived in. Sitting on the roof looking relaxed as Allura who was currently smoking a cigarette.

"I'm back. Here are the purple leaves. Forest too strange, too many dangerous things." Alice sighed while reaching into her pocket and pulling out the leaves that she had collected.

Receiving them, Allura nodded before pointing inside the carriage.

"There's some healing blood inside if you want to take that for your blood loss. Spend the next few days resting and tell me about how you want to fight from now on. This trip should've taught you a little about how you want to survive in the Abyss. We'll use that knowledge to decide your next Sigils." Allura smiled as Alice nodded her head.

Climbing into the carriage, she saw the vial of healing blood and drank a sip. Just a single sip already started her healing process as Alice was surprised by how effective the blood was. Understanding that Allura had bought something high quality, Alice drank enough to keep herself alive before keeping the rest in her pouch.

She didn't want to use up everything, especially when it was something of this quality.

While Alice was resting, Ria was speechless. She didn't think that the person who saved Alice was Allura. Thinking back, her words seemed rather funny especially with her imagining Allura as Alice's sugar mom.

Facepalming inwardly, Ria cleared her throat and ran over to Allura's side.

"Weren't you supposed to meet us tomorrow? How come you're here today? If I didn't get Alice to go collect the leaves you wouldn't been missing." Allura raised an eyebrow while Ria coughed awkwardly.

"Got lost… Again."

Staring at Ria silently with eye's of disbelief, Allura couldn't believe that this girl was still getting lost. Even when she would take quests that should only take a few hours of travel, she would get lost for a whole day. If it wasn't for the fact that she could handle herself, Allura would never let her go solo and neither would her grandfather.

". . . I need to strap a tracking collar on you or something."