Abyssal Awakening

Sitting on her knees, Alice was forced to repent after breaking one of the prized carriages and the damage was paid by the three of them.

She was banned from using the skill until they reached their destination in fear of breaking more carriages.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't realise the carriage was that delicate." Alice pouted.

Hearing this, the owner of the carriage felt the urge to smack this girl on the head.

"Girlie, this carriage is sturdy enough to block an attack or two from strong beasts!" He scolded while folding his arms.

The force of which Alice slammed into the carriage had left a human sized dent on the side, making it unusable since the seats were blocked by folded metal.

The most they could do with this carriage now was simply to let it store some goods while the people who were meant to sit there sat with the other supplies.

Since Alice was the one to break the carriage, they lost their comfy seat privileges and sat on rock-hard boards.

Crossing her legs, Selen glared at both Egil and Alice with annoyance as the two didn't dare to look her in the eye.

Just seeing the vein bulge on her temple was enough to tell them how annoyed with was to be forced to sit on these seats for the rest of the journey.

Not only that but how much money they had to pay because Alice broke the carriage.

That money could've gone into new equipment, food, lodging and so on. Yet it was spent to pay for a stupid carriage.

###

After the incident on the first day, Alice spent the time focusing on hand to hand combat instead as it'll avoid the possibility of destroying more things.

Rather than with brute force, she wanted to practice the more delicate part of hand to hand. Parrying, countering and striking.

Dashing into Egil's range, Alice tried a jab to the neck but he dodged with ease. A counter strike towards her chest that she then slapped away to the side.

Using her spare hand, she grabbed his wrist and went in for a neck chop but Egil could see it coming from a mile away.

Ducking down, he punched up in an attempt to break Alice's guard.

However, her flexibility was far greater than what Egil had expected as she stomped down against his fist, using it to propel herself back.

Right before she could land, Egil rushed in with a punch aimed at Alice's stomach.

*BANG!!!

Parrying the fist by pushing it to the side, Alice winched as she could feel her palms stinging from the force behind the punch but they weren't done yet.

This spar wasn't one focused on power and Egil was holding back as much as he could. This spar was on focused on technique.

'Time to go on the offence!' Alice rushed in.

Rather than slaps and parries, Alice twisted her body for a devastating jab towards Egil's head that was blocked by his arm.

Right jab, left jab, a hook towards the head.

Egil's footwork was surprisingly light as he weaved through the jabs easily.

Noticing this, Alice adjusted her fighting style once more.

Kicking up with her foot to break his guard, she twisted her body and released a downward heel kick towards his shoulder.

*BANG!!!

Missing her target, Alice wasn't fazed as she pivoted on her heel and slammed a spinning kick to his chest which was blocked by his arms.

Sliding back a little, Egil was surprised by how quickly Alice could adapt. From a parrying style of mostly slaps and chops to a boxing style of jabs and hooks and finally, a kicking style.

While he wasn't sure of the source, all he knew was that Alice made 'bridges' in her mind and linked the styles together into one singular form.

However, right now, it felt a little incomplete.

'Let's push it a little.' Egil thought to himself, rushing in for a jab towards her head.

Blocking with an open palm, Alice diverted his punch down before going in for a jab of her own.

But with a counter attack already closing in on her head, she changed this jab to a palm strike, pushing the second punch away.

Using her spare hand, she aimed for an uppercut but Egil leaned back and dodged.

He grabbed Alice by the shoulder and went in for a headbutt, surprising Alice as she found it hard to move her body.

But it wasn't as though she was out of options. Dropping her body down, she loosened the grip by a little before sliding her arms out, pushing up the grip so that her arms were free. Using his arms as a bar, she swung herself down, avoiding the headbutt and transitioning into a kick against Egil's jaw, forcing him to stumble back.

Recovering from his stumble, Egil opened his eyes and saw Alice face to face with him.

Out of instinct, he launched a jab forward but Alice slid back and grabbed his wrist.

Pulling him towards her guard, she parried his second punch with another open palm. With both of his fists out, she brushed it to the side then slammed her palm against his sternum.

Unfortunately for Alice, Egil's physicality was higher than expected as this time, he didn't even stumble. With her guard now open, he slammed his arm against her head.

Alice was late in the block and was forced away from the hit.

Shaking her hand from the pain of the late block, Alice narrowed her gaze.

Despite his large size and muscles, Egil was shockingly fast. She knew this when they fought the first time but his speed wasn't limited to just one direction. He was nimble even in close quarters.

Truly, if her stats weren't completely skewed towards using Abyss abilities, Egil would probably be an insurmountable wall for her. A wall that was not only fast but could also defend against abilities thrown at him.

The perfect frontline.

Rushing in for round three, Alice sought to end this spar.

Compared to Egil, her body stature was far smaller than one would expect. Thus, she was going to take advantage of it!

Keeping her arms close to her chest, Alice weaved into his guard as she unleashed a double palm strike against his chest.

A punch came flying down from above but she was prepared. Two kicks, one to the side of the knee and one to the stomach. The first broke his stance and the second caused his punch to miss completely, bringing the giant down on one knee.

Just as she went in for a jab against the neck, Egil curled his lips into a smile and ducked out of the way. Forcing her to go for this jab was his plan all along!

From below, a devastating uppercut came rushing towards Alice's head as she aimed for a palm block once more.

Stopping his punch, Egil grabbed her arm. Twisting his body, he threw her over his head, aiming to slam her against the ground.

Unable to correct her posture without dislocating her shoulder, Alice gritted her teeth and tried to twist her arm. However, Egil's grip was secure and immovable.

*BANG!!!

Slamming against the ground, Alice felt the air being forced out of her lungs as she waved her hand in defeat.

"Urg… You got me." She groaned.

She thought she was doing pretty well and victory was in sight. But at the end, Egil was about to turn the tide and win.

"I noticed that you lock yourself into a single style if you're not given enough time to react. I'm pretty sure others will notice too if you prolong your hand to hand combat. In that kind of situation, all they need to do is to bait out a parry from you and they'll be able to catch you off guard.

"Of course, there are things you can do but in a pure hand to hand combat situation, you don't have enough experience." Egil explained while helping her up.

"Where did you even learn your style from? There's a lot that's mixed together." He asked curiously.

"Observation. I just look at how people fight and see which movements feel alright. I got a few more in my brain but they don't suit me. I'm a caster after all." Alice shrugged.

"I've never seen a caster this proficient in hand to hand aside from you and Selen." Egil chuckled.

Most casters would keep range and would constantly fire skills. For opponents like this, all Egil needed to do was to rush towards them and break their guard.

But for Alice and Selen, these two have devastating hand to hand combat on top of ranged skills.

Especially Alice.

If skills were allowed and he was an enemy, during that last moment, there's no doubt she would've broken her arm just for a point blank Void Flux.

She had her regeneration backing her up after all, making it hard to properly capitalize on the mistakes that she makes.

Which is why these spars are all the more important.

To thoroughly reinforce her foundations so that bad habits wont cause any rudimentary mistakes that could cost Alice her life.

Most people would have this sorted out early but it was different for Alice.

While Alice and Egil were discussing how they could hammer out her bad habits and reinforce her foundation, Selen was practicing her new skill.

She wanted to see if she could use it to influence others aside from herself.

Example being if someone was fighting Egil and Alice, she wanted to see if her skill could be set on people other than herself.

If she could do that, she'll bring far more benefit to the battle than being half focused on attack.