Abyssal Awakening

Waking up in the morning, their routine was the same as it had been for 2 days. Wake up, eat sludge, prepare for work. Only this time they were escorted out of the underground area.

They were led back to the elevator up as both of them gave the giant titan one last glance before focusing their mind on the task at hand.

Neither of them talked much as they were making mental preparations.

'If it really is the Twilight Hunter in the arena, we need to be careful about getting hit by any stray attacks. If either of us is harmed by it, it's safe to assume we'll be taken out of the fight. I might be fine since I have my resistance and as long as I hold on, it'll be flushed out of my system in due time. I can't say the same for Lilia though… She's already suffering from Vampire Lily.

I doubt she can survive a hit from the spider without it creating a negative reaction with the Lily.' Alice thought to herself as she wondered what kind of blood she wanted to choose.

Arriving at the top of the elevator, they could see the same armoured man that brought them here 2 days ago.

Seeing their dishevelled appearance, bloodied bandages and unkempt hair, the man smirked as this was more in line with how a slave should look. What annoyed him however was the fact that there was still life in their eyes.

If it wasn't for the VIP sponsor on these two, he would've punched the life out of their eyes since they're expendable goods anyways.

Without saying anything, he connected a chain to their collars once more as he gave them a harsh tug and dragged them away.

Almost falling over from the sudden tug, both Alice and Lilia jogged after him. Making their way through the iridescent cavern, they soon arrived at the surface and the man threw the two of them to a nearby Hunter.

"Take them to get healed them prepare them for the second round. The VIP wants them in their best condition when they fight." He instructed as the Hunter nodded his head and obeyed.

Unlike the armoured man, the Hunter didn't radiate malice as he simply gestured to where they were going without tugging harshly on the chains.

Going around the outer edges of the arena, he showed them to what seems to be an apothecary.

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Myriad of dried plants hung from the ceiling while vials, bottles and jars full of different liquids decorated the shelves. Countless drawers with harsh scribbles can be seen below the shelves as a woman would open them without looking and grab strange ingredients before placing them into a bottle.

She had long brown hair and large earrings, deep sunken eyes and dark bags under her eyes. The woman wore a large black robe that hid her body. It was adorned with mechanical trinkets that seem to assist her with potion making as half of her face was covered by a mask with several magnifying lenses.

"What do you want?" The woman asked as she noticed the Hunter with the two slaves.

"Two Vampire Lily Vials."

"Quality?"

"High since the VIP wants them at their best." The Hunter replied as the woman squinted her eyes towards Lilia.

"Alright. I don't think that girl can take any more low quality vials anyways if you want her at her best." She nodded before reaching her hand toward a drawer near her.

Opening it gently, the sound of glass vials shuffling in their stands could be heard as she pulled out two vials and offered it to the girls.

"Drink it now and give me the vials back." She ordered.

Looking at each other, both Alice and Lilia took a vial each before opening the lid and drinking the contents.

Feeling the wounds on her palms stitching together, Alice could see the faint signs of roots appearing beneath the bandages before withering away and disappearing.

As for Lilia, the colours of the flower growing from her eye seem to twitch momentarily before falling silent again.

Handing the vial back to the woman, they were guided away from the store.

In the distance, Alice could see heavily armoured boxes being placed on the belts and sent underground. The low screeches echoing from the boxes told her that the beasts were being kept inside.

Peeking through the gaps of the walls, she could see the arena already being set up with tall platforms, hanging bars and a myriad of other obstacles that will help the slaves hide from the beasts.

'From how much they're setting up, it seems like this event will be bigger than the one I was in two days ago. The one before was only a few weapons scattered around the place and a few walls, but this is a full terrain.' Alice mused to herself.

But even for someone like her, she understood that this terrain benefitted the monster the most. As a spider, the Twilight Hunter prefers setting traps rather than up front confrontations.

Arriving at a large staircase down, the Hunter turned to the two.

"You won't be in cages for this round. Pick a weapon and some blood. Once things are ready, the gate doors will open and you'll be allowed in." The Hunter explained before removing the chain from their collars.

Guiding Alice and Lilia down, they realised that they were in a waiting room of sorts with armoured hunters watching silently around the corners of the room, presumably to kill those that try to escape or rebel with the weapons.

With the new additions, the other slaves glanced towards their direction. Their gaze focused on Alice's strange hair and eye before losing interest. They just assumed her hair and eye was a result of Abyss Blood.

"Pick any weapon from the weapon rack then go to the counter. There will be a list of Blood that you can choose from."

Nodding her head, Alice walked over to the weapon rack and started to look through the options.

As previously discussed with Lilia, she chose the spear and felt the weight in her hands. Moving the spear around, Alice furrowed her brows realising that it was going to be more annoying to use this than a sword.

If the beasts get past the spear tip, it'll be hard to push them off or protect herself unlike the sword.

But since they were working together this time, Lilia will be able to help her cover this weakness. Plus, if they were trying to kill her, it meant that Lilia will be able to get a free attack against them.

With the weapon now obtained, they walked over to the counter situated near the staircase and saw a list of blood.

There was three categories to choose from, offensive, defensive and healing. Unfortunately for them, all of the blood was low quality which meant the side effects are stronger.

'The woman earlier said that Lilia shouldn't have any more low quality healing blood so she'll have to pick the offensive type. If we want the battle to end as soon as possible, it's probably better to have two offensive vials ready.'

"We should both get offensive blood. That way we can keep the fight short." Lilia suggested just as Alice thought the same. Nodding her head, she glanced through the options.

There was a total of 4 options for the offensive type and she recognised only one of the names. The other three was completely foreign to her.

The one she was familiar with was extracted from a beast called the Frozen Sloth. It's an offensive type blood that allowed you to coat your arms in ice and cold mist. The moment you touch your enemy, they will freeze from the inside out. Slowing their movements and making it easier to cause large internal damage with a single attack.

On the list, the Frozen Sloth blood was simply noted as such:

[Frozen Sloth – Slow enemies through touch.]

It wasn't incorrect but it wasn't exactly correct either. All of the listings failed to mention the side effects, so they needed to guess.

[Spore Queen – Infections make wounds worse.]

[Copper Fang – Large boost to strength, reinforces arms.]

[Blood Rabbit – Huge Boost to Speed and leg power.]

Furrowing her brows, Alice turned to the Hunter behind the counter.

"What side effect?" She asked, causing him to laugh.

"If I tell you, there's no fun in that. Just pick one and sit down. We're not forcing you to drink the blood." The Hunter shrugged.

"Hmm… I'm thinking of grabbing Frozen Sloth or Blood Rabbit. Either of these will be quite helpful though they don't give much in terms of offensive power." Lilia muttered softly.

"Alright I've made up my mind. Can I have a vial of Blood Rabbit?" Lilia asked as the Hunter nodded his head. Reaching down and out of sight, he pulled out a small vial of fluorescent blue blood.

"What are you going to pick?" Lilia turned to Alice who was still weighing her options.

In the end, she decided to choose something she was familiar with. She didn't know the side effects of the other blood and it could even expose her secret.

With the Frozen Sloth, she knows that one dose of this blood, even low quality, will only transform your hands for a short period of time. But the permanent side effect was slowly freezing your internal organs. It'll slowly decrease your temperature until you die. Since it was internal, they wouldn't know if the side effects disappeared.

Collecting the small vial of blood from the hunter, the two sat down on an empty bench and waited for the event to begin.