Abyssal Awakening

Rushing to her right, Alice carefully navigated the field of blood spikes while cleaving away any that was undodgeable using her blade. Glancing behind her briefly, she could see an array of spikes closing in on her.

'Dammit! How many spikes can she even throw?! This is way more than what Allura showed!' Alice thought to herself as she bent her body back, dodging the spikes at the last second and watching them past above her.

Quickly adjusting herself, she kicked off the ground and flipped through the air, dodging more before throwing her blade towards an incoming blood spear that was threatening to pierce her chest.

*CLANG!

Parrying the spear, Alice landed on the ground and took a deep breath.

Now that she had calmed herself down, she could observe her surroundings calmly.

'There are quite a few blood spider lilies that are dropping down from above but compared to the blood on the ground, they're quite slow. Spears are few and far between so they're not a priority, I need to focus on dodging the fast spikes.' Alice thought to herself while dodging a barrage of spikes.

'She doesn't seem to regard me as a real threat yet. Treating it as simply swatting away a fly.'

Narrowing her eyes, Alice crouched down and dashed forward in a straight line towards the Blood Widow who was surprised by her approach.

All those that had come to hunt her always took a roundabout route instead of going head on.

Aiming her palm at Alice, she clenched it into a fist as the flowers around Alice's location transformed into a giant maw, threatening to eat her in one gulp.

Seeing this, Alice trusted her instincts, transforming her blade into a large staff and vaulting herself into the air, dodging the bite before twisting her body and swinging the staff towards the Blood Widow who blocked using a wall of blood.

Feeling the feedback from the wall, Alice almost dropped her weapon but kept her grip firm. Just as she was about to reach for one of the bombs, she felt her skin prick up and her mind screaming at her.

'Danger!'

Widening her eyes, Alice tried her best and twisted her body to the side.

"GAH!"

Letting out a cry, she watched as a spear of blood had pierced her from behind. Due to her fast reaction, the damage was limited to the side of her abdominal area. She was still able to fight!

Jumping away from the Blood Widow, Alice grabbed one of her healing vials and tore off the lid before drinking the contents.

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Feeling her wound sealing up, she took a deep breath.

'I need to inflict a wound or else I'll run out of tools before the fight even ends.' Alice frowned while parrying a barrage of spikes once more.

Glancing around her, she noticed that she was now much further away than she had hoped and the attacks kept coming.

At this rate, she'll be pushed out of the Blood Widow's range.

'Let instincts take over. But don't let that be an excuse to block off my rational thinking. Lay out traps, use dirty tricks, don't let myself become limited by the intent to kill.'

Closing her left eye so that she could focus with her right Eye, Alice decided it was time to use one bomb to close the distance.

Jumping back slightly, she kicked against one of the tree's and jumped up into the branches before using them as cover from the attacks.

Transforming her bracelet into a hook, Alice used that to navigate the tree tops while circling around the Blood Widow. Her cold stare glaring at her unceasingly, waiting for the moment an opportunity arises.

Meanwhile, Allura had a smile on her face while watching this from a distance.

'That's it Alice, keep it up. You are the Hunter here, not her. Keep your killing intent under control. Temper that desire for blood and wait for the perfect chance.'

She could see the changes in Alice's mentality, how she approached the fight. Now that it was a true battle and not a training spar, Alice's growth started to shoot through the roof.

"Seems like that Alice girl is one that grows in combat rather than training." Gin muttered while keeping an eye on Ria.

"Seems so. Her improvement in training was good but honestly, it was quite futile. Seems like I'll have to force Alice to fight more beasts in the future if she wants to learn how to be a Hunter." Allura chuckled.

"Her instincts are not dissimilar to the beasts I've faced deeper in the Abyss. Granted that she's low on experience. Having her fight beasts will teach her how to fight like one. It suits her instincts more. Having her fight as like a Hunter seems rather restricting." Gin narrowed his eyes. To him, her fighting was awkward.

But once she lets her instincts take over along with her thirst for blood, she seemed more like herself and in the state of pure concentration where she could demonstrate 120% of her power.

Though for Alice, rather than concentration it's more the state of blood lust.

"That's true. We'll see how she wants to develop herself. If she wishes to fight like a beast I'll teach her the ways. If she wants to fight as a Hunter then I'll teach her the mindset required." Allura laughed.

However, her laughter was cut short as she noticed something strange with the Blood Widow.

While Alice was focused on dodging her attacks, the Blood Widow sat down on her location and blood continuously poured out from her location.

'What the hell did the Cult do to this beast… I see that she has been through a ritual, but what kind?'

"Gin we might have to intervene depending on what happens."

"Eh? I thought things were under control." Gin blinked his eyes in surprise.

"Yeah well not anymore. Just look at that Widow and tell me if it looks normal or not." Allura shook her head and pointed towards the Widow's direction.

Squinting his eyes, Gin couldn't tell the issue. But if Allura was saying he had to be ready then so be it.

"Alright. But if Alice fails this hunt then what are we supposed to do?" Gin asked while giving his neck a massage.

"We'll have the Underground bring a Blood Widow from elsewhere for her to kill. It'll be more difficult but we'll bridge the gap using tools just this once. It's not how I hoped to do it but if Alice gets stuck mid hunt because the one I picked out decided to be abnormal then it's on me, not her." Allura sighed.

When she had discovered this Blood Widow a few days ago it seemed normal. There were no marking nor were there any visible wounds on her body. However, at this moment, there were three abnormalities she had discovered in this location.

The first was the Widow. Her actions were far too strange for a three star beast.

Second, her wounds.

And third, the amount of beasts in this forest. There was quite a few beasts last time she had checked this location and she expected the same this time. But now the number of beasts in this forest could be counted on one hand.

Regardless, Allura stopped goofing around and in a rare case of seriousness, watched the fight carefully, seeing if she needs to interfere or not.

###

Doing several backflips to dodge the spikes, Alice was continuously forced to retreat without getting a change to approach the Widow.

"Tch! Do I have to use the bombs to soon?" She muttered, unable to keep her frustrations in her mind.

Parrying more spears, she noticed the density of the attacks increasing as more blood spider lilies started to fall from the sky.

[Pathetic.]

A hollow voice rang out in her mind as Alice understood it was the Eye waking up momentarily.

'What the hell do you want now? Just shut the f*ck up and go back to sleep.' Alice cursed towards it while dodging the spears before running towards the Widow.

[How can rest… When you are using my powers so much? Have you not noticed? You've been keeping the power active since the start. You don't even feel the pain do you?]

Hearing this, Alice could feel her adrenaline wearing off as a shot of pain flooded from her right eye, forcing her to close it as the world returned back to normal speed.

"!!!" Gritting her teeth, Alice tried her best to parry the spears but several grazed past her arms and legs while one managed to stab her in the thigh.

[To think you are losing to something like this… Mine owner, what makes you think you are deserving of my power with such demonstration?]

'I don't. It wasn't me who lodged you into my damn skull. But you're here now and I can't do a damn thing about it.' Alice retorted while letting out a frustrated shout of anger.

Relying on her instincts, she knocked aside the spears before grabbing a bomb and throwing it in front of her.

She had no choice now. Her Eye has been forcefully shut due to the strain and she had to push forward before she is overwhelmed!

*BANG!!!

Exploding into a red mist, all of the blood nearby exploded and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, the Widow couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion as Alice twisted her body and launched a spear towards the Widows head.

Blocking it with a wall of blood, the Widow paused in shock as there was another bomb hooked against the shaft of the spear.

*BANG!!!

Seeing her blood wall get blown apart, she was unable to react to Alice charging towards her with blinding speed.

Arriving in front of the Widow, Alice grabbed her spear and transformed it into a blade before cleaving down with all her strength. She could feel the blade edge carving through the Widow's flesh before breaking the bones and going all the way through.

A fountain of blood splashed against Alice's face but she wasn't done yet.

Using her spear hand, she grabbed two of her blood vials before crushing them with her hand as she had no time to open the lid normally.

Splashing the blood all over the Widow, Alice jumped back slightly and prepared herself for the second phase.

[Foolish… Mine owner, do you even know what you are fighting?]

'A Blood Widow why?' Alice furrowed her brows.

Without replying, a string of words appeared above the Widow's head.

[Maiden of the Blood Moon - ✦✦✦✦ (Pseudo)]

'SH*T!'