Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 126: Infiltrating The Fleet

As Gin was steering the boat, he narrowed his eyes before gesturing towards Allura.

In the distance, they could see dark storm clouds with occasional flashes of lightning. They had already steered past several wreckages on their way here with monsters floating around the debris, those of which they assumed to be the survivors that unfortunately fell into the waters.

"Alright! Ria, Alice! Get ready. We'll be approaching them soon and I doubt they'll be happy to see us there." Allura called out as Alice and Ria made their way out of the sleeping quarters. Since the journey was going to take a while, after their training they took the time to rest up so they could be at peak condition.

Ria had already equipped the gauntlets and boots while holding the bow and a quiver on her back.

As for Alice, she was holding onto the shard in her pouch, waiting for the time she needed to use it. Her role for the main part would be to steer the ship and make sure Ria has ground that she could step on.

"Remember, if the ship takes damage and is going to sink don't hesitate to try to take another ship. We won't interfere at all until I deem you dead, okay?" Allura reminded since this was going to be a good lesson for them. If they find it easier than expected then they can continue to 'steal' kills in the future.

"Alright. I suppose I have to shoot them at max range?" Ria asked but Allura shook her head.

"If you think you can hit then go for it. If not then don't waste your arrows. We only have a limited stock and they're what can help you rack up contribution points quickly. When you start the fight, expect heavy resistance. I doubt they'll speed up their rate of killing the beast since they need to make sure the second son gets the Sigil.

Use that to your advantage." Allura smiled as she nodded to Gin and the two of them disappeared, leaving them to deal it with on their own now.

Taking a deep breath, Alice sighed out before running over to the helm.

"So, what do you think our plan should be? We're not sure how close the beast is to dying so making ourselves known too early might be bad." Ria sighed as Alice was silent before opening her mouth.

"Allura said that they won't speed up their rate of killing and that we should use that to our advantage. What do you think she has in mind?"

"No clue. But going by how she usually does things, she probably wants us to find a way to contribute overtime and stall right? The only way I can think of doing this is infiltrate but we'll need to convince them we're reinforcement." Ria sighed.

"What if you use the Law of Agreement? Make them think we got into an accident but because of the Law of Agreement, we have no choice but to keep going even though it's just the two of us. I'm not sure how far reaching the Law is so not sure if it'll wear off after death." Alice shrugged.

Thinking about it for a moment, Ria understood that it was probably their best choice.

"Alright, I'll think of something on my end. Plus, I doubt they expect a three star and two star Hunter to try steal the kill from under their nose." Ria smirked as Alice nodded her head.

"But if it goes wrong we'll have to fight straight away." Alice reminded since this plan had its own risks.

If they decide to interfere later, it'll be difficult to rack up enough contributions and leave it up for a gamble. But if they go with this method and they don't buy the lies, they'll be wiped out immediately.

"True… Even though grandfather and Allura have us covered, they won't be around when we go on our own after this. We need to start properly accounting for the risks we take." Ria sighed as she leaned against the railings.

After contemplating for a moment, she decided to stay with this plan as it was their best hope of avoiding conflict while racking up contributions safely. They'll only need to act out once the beast is almost dead and push the contributions in their favour.

"Let me get some normal arrows as well. Thankfully the Thunder Caller Arrows don't look too different and if they're in a pickle, I doubt they'll look too closely." Ria shrugged as Alice nodded her head and started to steer the boat closer to the storm that was brewing in the distance.

###

"Young Master, we have a slight problem…"

"Hm? What is it?" Haerun asked with a frown.

"We have a ship steering towards us. We assume it's more reinforcements but…" The attendant hesitated since he wasn't sure on the origins of this ship.

"But what? Spit it out. If it's reinforcements then good, we've lost enough men as it is with one of the ships even breaking apart the moment it arrived." Haerun scoffed as his patience was running thin. The fact that this hunt had taken this long was a disgrace, especially with a beast that was at its weakest.

Even now, he was still firing off his abilities whenever he had the chance to keep his contributions high. If he didn't then he wouldn't be able to get this Sigil.

"That's the issue Young Master… There are only two people on that ship and they look relatively young." The attendant scratched his cheek in confusion as this was rather absurd. Even if they were running low on Hunters, this kind of reinforcement was almost laughable.

"Ha??? Two? Have one of our Captains ask them what happened. If they're curious people send them away. If they're reinforcements have them help out. The faster we finish this hunt the better.

I cannot stand it out here any longer." Haerun ordered as the attendant nodded his head and relayed the order to one of their Captains who is overlooking the situation.

###

With Alice and Ria approaching the storm, they could see the beast from a distance and Ria had a forced smile on her face. Even though she knew the risks, she didn't expect this beast to be much larger than normal and not only that, but an army of boats was also circling the beast while constantly firing long ranged abilities at it.

"Allura wanted us to fight that thing with just us two and some tools…" Ria muttered, feeling grateful that someone else had decided to invest in this hunt.

Noticing someone approaching them from the fleet on a lifeboat, Ria gestured to Alice and nodded her head.

Whether or not they could infiltrate this hunt now depended on Ria. If she fails to convince them then it'll be a difficult battle.

Taking a deep breath, Ria prepared herself.

'I need to mix lies with the truth if I want the best chance at convincing them. I know that the Captain sought reinforcements from the Slaughter Docks and had them sign Law of Agreements but it was shoddy.

He probably set the conditions for fulfilment wrong otherwise Galagar and the others would be forced to fulfil their end of the bargin.' Ria thought to herself as Law of Agreements, when done properly, can extend past death of the original contractor.

If the Captain set the rules properly and fulfilled his end of the bargin, Galagar would've been forced to help out.

'Since the Law of Agreement was broken and Galagar could leave, I'll use it to my advantage. The boat could be attacked by a swarm of Sirens, an uncommon beast but not impossible. There are some damages to the boat but not much…' Ria thought to herself as she watched a man jump over the railings and land on the deck.

He was a muscular man that was almost as tall as Allura, large tattoos were sprawled across his body in the shape of a dragon. A pair of crimson eyes with white and blue hair. He didn't wear anything on his upper half except for a pair of gauntlets.

"Name and business." He grumbled as his eyes scanned over Ria's equipment before looking at Alice who gave a small wave.

"Ria, we're here as reinforcement for the hunt. Unfortunately, we ran into some trouble on the way here and only me and Alice remain. But... because of the Law of Agreement, we can't turn back so we're here to help." Ria reported seriously as she stood straight like a soldier.

Narrowing his eyes, he grumbled but nodded his head.

"What were you attacked by? There's not much damage on this ship so it's probably a beast that does mental damage."

"A swarm of Sirens sir, a kind we haven't seen before. Me and Alice are lucky since we were off shift at the time. We only have some of the basic equipment left over in the storage to try and help." Ria replied, not wanting to give too much information or else it'll expose the lies. She had to play into his own thoughts and conclusions that he ended up at to increase the chances of their success.

"Alright, that lass doesn't seem too familiar with handling the helm so I'll take over this ship. I'll have some recruits join us to man the ship while you help with the hunt. How many Sigils do you two have?" He asked as Ria manifested her Sigils, revealing that she had three while gesturing for Alice to do the same.

"Three and two huh? No wonder you got lucky when you're off shift. If Carlos got taken by the Sirens then you two would've been taken too if you were above deck. Count you blessings, this hunt is almost over so it's relatively safe if you have someone capable at the helm." He smirked before walking over to Alice.

Taking a step back, Alice allowed him to take control of the ship before jogging down to Ria.

Smiling at each other, they knew that they had succeeded and all that was left now was to join this hunt and rack up her contribution points.