Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 127: Joining The Hunt

With the ship now sailing towards the fleet, Alice and Ria began to feel nervous as they were now deep into enemy territory.

Expose themselves too soon and 'death' was guaranteed.

They could see that out of the original fleet, only 8 of the ships survived not including their own. Countless wounded Hunters could be seen leaning against the walls while they took turns to fire their abilities at the beast.

'Most of them are four star Hunters. Even if they're injured, they have access to Resonance that me and Ria don't have. Though the main issue was still the five star Hunters that surround us…' Alice though to herself as she observed their surroundings.

Shaking her head, Alice sighed as it was still too early to be thinking about fighting these Hunters and Harvesters. The key they needed to do here was to rack up contribution points against the beast that is the Storm Leviathan.

Compared to its proud deposition that she saw in her mind, this beast was bruised and battered to the verge of death.

Large cavities could be seen across its body with blood and Abyss Water mixing with one another. Its organs pulsed with every breath while lightning flickered faintly across its innards.

Countless spikes were broken across its body and it was left with just one arm out of the original four that it had. As for its eyes, it had been almost blinded with only 1 eye left and swung wildly around it.

Despite all of the damage it took, the power it commanded was still a force to be reckoned as even a single swing was enough to kill a Hunter with three Sigils. Had it not been for the fact that it lost access to most of its lightning in an attempt to evolve, it wouldn't be placed in this precarious state.

As they approached the fleet, the Hunter had Alice steer the helm once more as he explained the situation and gathered some resting Hunters to help man the ship so that they could attack.

Most of the other ships were armoured to the core while heavy ballistas and cannons were mounted within the ship. Despite the fact that standard weaponry was less effective against a beast of this magnitude, a little was still better than none.

Glancing at one another, Alice and Ria nodded their head as Alice borrowed some weaponry from another ship, mainly a bow and some arrows so that she could help out without using the shard.

The bow was of a lesser quality when compared to Ria's bow and the same went with the arrows. However, they were sufficient to keep up the act.

"All hands on deck! Prepare to join the fight! Man the balistas or the cannons below deck! If you have weapons of your own use them! This fight is almost over!!! Rest is just around the corner!

Keep pushing!" The man who greeted Alice and Ria shouted out.

His name was Fulton and he was one of the few five star Hunters responsible for overlooking this whole operation.

With him taking charge, a few of the Hunters seemed relieved but the fact that so many ships had already been sunk proved that even a ship commanded by a five star hunter could disappear at a moment's notice.

"Remember, learn its pattern and movement before firing at its weak spots. Seems like you might be able to sneak an arrow into its body through the cavity if you're precise enough." Alice reminded as Ria still missed shots but her accuracy had been improved drastically.

"Don't worry, I know. I have to be careful with these arrows right? I just have to overcharge them with lightning when I fire and it'll sort itself out." Ria reassured with a smile.

She liked to play around but even she knew this was a time to be serious.

Walking over to the edge, Ria narrowed her eyes and pulled out a normal arrow.

It was best to mislead their expectations first, once they 'think' that she was limited by what she could accomplish with her Sigils, that's when she'll unleash her true power with them being taken off guard.

Activating her Sigils, lightning flickered from her body as she fired the arrow without hesitation.

*BANG!!!

Rushing through the air with a trail of lightning flickering behind it, the arrow stabbed deep into the flesh of the beast before erupting with a pulse of electricity that burned the Leviathan's flesh.

'I'll fool them with these attacks for now while placing the Thunder Caller Arrows within the beast's body. I can have remote nodes placed on the arrow tip and detonate them when I need.' Ria thought to herself as she fired off a few more normal arrows before placing a Thunder Caller Arrow on her bow.

Since they required a large stimuli of lightning to activate, it was potentially possible to have them lay as traps since she had control over her nodes. All that was left was to make sure she could sneak it past their detection.

Charging the arrow with lightning as she had done several times, Ria let go of the string and watched as the arrow shoot through the sky.

Taking a step back and taking a deep breath, Ria 'took a break' as she couldn't keep firing off high powered shots overwise they would wonder if she was truly an average Hunter or Harvester.

With her initial display, she had already attracted a bit of attention towards their ship.

"Grab tight! The beast's focus is on us!" Fulton shouted out as he took a hard right with the helm and barely dodged a tentacle that rose up and tried to slam down on the ship.

Surprised by how easy it was for the ship to turn, Fulton couldn't help but wonder where they found such a ship as well as a Hunter like Ria.

'I didn't think the Slaughter Docks had a Hunter and a ship of this quality… It's a shame most of the crew got dragged off but seems like we're blessed to get her help. This Hunt should be going slightly faster than before.' Fulton thought with a grin as he conjured a wall of crimson energy that protected them from the Leviathan's attack.

Since he and the other five star Hunters couldn't assist much, defending and helping out with the ship was still doable as it didn't raise the contribution points by much.

Glancing up at this wall of force, Alice narrowed her eyes as she took over Ria's job for now, firing several arrows but didn't infuse them with her purple flames.

After all, if she were to do that, there was a high chance that the fire would just spread across the inside of the beast and kill it from the inside out. That was something she wasn't willing to risk as she didn't have total control over her flames.

Instead, she focused on shooting her arrows where it hurt. Between the dips, deep in the intestines or lodging it above the stomach. She made sure her arrows struck the already exposed weaknesses.

'Even if I don't use my Sigils, I shouldn't get many questions my way since I'm doing quite a bit of damage.' Alice thought to herself as she noticed a wave of lightning crashing towards them.

"Everyone duck!" Fulton shouted as loud as he could, steering the ship away from the impact yet it still struck the ship.

After the wave of lightning, spikes shot out from the beast's body as Alice threw her dagger towards the mast and used it to pull herself from safety.

Attaching herself to the sail, she narrowed her eyes at the beast and fired several arrows in retaliation. A few of the unfortunate Hunters were struck by the spikes and were instantly shredded in half as the force of the spikes was not something they should underestimate.

Rejoining the fight, Ria gathered her lightning into a normal arrow and detonated it on the side of the beast, forcing it to crash down towards the right side, giving them some room to breathe as some of the Hunters tended to those who were still alive.

"Damn… Just one attack and a bunch of them died just like that." Ria muttered with a frown as she climbed up next to Alice.

"Yeah, it's starting to retaliate harder. The fact that it's turned its attention to us means your attacks have clearly annoyed it. Not sure how that translates into contribution b- wait…" Alice shrugged as she noticed something dark swimming below the surface of the Abyss Waters.

It was hard to notice had it not been for Cayla but she knew she saw several shadows moving in the water.

Widening her eyes, Alice understood what the Leviathan was planning as she watched as it reared its entire body back, dwarfing the fleet with its large size and let out an ear rupturing howl.

Tens of giant tentacles broke through the surface of the water and loomed over the ships like a guillotine, ready to strike down as Alice opened her mouth.

"IT'S GOING TO BREAK THE SHIPS I HALF!" Alice shouted out as Ria didn't hesitate to point her next arrow to the tentacle that was about to slam down upon them.

Gathering more lightning than before, she fired the arrow only to watch it get slapped aside by the tentacle with barely a mark!

"Alice!" Ria shouted out as she reached out to grabbed Alice's arm before jumping out of the way of the slam.

*BANG!!!

Before the tentacle could break the ship in half, Fulton had managed to create a barrier that pushed the tentacle off to the side but was unable to stop the Abyss Water from washing the deck.

With the cursed liquid coming into contact with several Hunters, their bodies immediately started to react as they began to mutate into beasts of the Abyss.

Only 3 of the other ships managed to divert the tentacle in time as one of them belonged to the Young Master who had a face of anger towards the beast. With it taking out 5 ships at once, the finish line seemed to drift further and further away from his grasp.

Landing on the unsteady deck, Alice and Ria could see Fulton calling for them to deal with the Hunters that had turned into Abyss beasts first. Only after they were dealt with should they focus on the Leviathan.

However, with it abandoning its path to the next stage, the storm raged overhead as it intended to sink everyone with it before it died! The last desperate act of a beast on the verge of death.