Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 18: Facing Dusk Hunters

With three of the beasts now eyeing them down, Alice narrowed her eyes as she slowly backed up with Lilia.

Even with the benefit of the blood they chose, fighting against three was still a difficult task.

'I kept the vial of blood under my bandage. Thankfully it wasn't shattered by the first attack or else I'll be in trouble.' Alice thought to herself in relief.

Since she didn't have pockets, she could only keep the vial under the bandage around her chest.

"On the count of three, we should run and find a better place to fight." Lilia asked as Alice nodded her head.

She had an idea but it will require the help from the other group of slaves.

'I should try get the spear back if I can. I'd rather not fight without a weapon.'

As Lilia slowly counted to three, both of them turned around and broke into a sprint at once as the sounds of enraged hissing could be heard from behind.

Turning the corner, they then the sense of death from behind as Alice quickly grabbed Lilia and tugged her down harshly.

*BANG!!!!

Looking above Lilia, they could see a crystal embedded into the walls as one of the Dusk Hunters had catapulted a crystal from its tail.

"They can do that???" Lilia exclaimed in shock as Alice continued to drag her forward.

She could feel their gazes on her back as it was like prickles on the surface of her skin. The closer danger was, the stronger the reaction.

Alice didn't know what the cause of this was, but she focused on this feeling to keep them alive.

"Other slaves, where? Need their help." Alice asked as she panted heavily from running at full speed. Her lungs burned as her muscles screamed out for a moment of rest, but Alice knew she couldn't slow down.

If she did, she'll have to fight at a disadvantage against these beasts.

"Follow me." Lilia replied as she started to run ahead.

As they were running through the maze, they could see the shadows of two Dusk Hunters flickering form above, they were chasing them along the top of these walls all while waiting for the moment they run out of stamina.

Feeling a sharp prickle on her skin, Alice immediately reacted and pushed the two of them apart.

*BANG!

Another crystal was shot towards them but they managed to dodge it once more. However, this pause in their momentum caused Alice's to stumble from the exhaustion.

Seeing that Alice was in no state to run, Lilia gritted her teeth and prepared to fight with her dagger in hand.

Narrowing her eyes, Alice could see one of the hunters embedding its claws deep into the walls as it slowly crawled down while another waited at the top.

The third one that they had injured first couldn't be seen just yet so it was a two verses two.

'There are still holes in their tails and crystals are slowly regenerating. Maybe they can't fire the crystals just yet. Lilia has a weapon so we could get a chance to kill one of these and make it easier to fight the other one.'

Formulating a plan in her mind, Alice gestured for Lilia's attention.

"Keep running in a moment. Then I'll drink blood and turn around. We focus on killing one of them since I can't run too much anymore." Alice sighed as Lilia furrowed her brows before nodding.

"Do you need my vial as well? For that extra boost?"

Shaking her head, Alice didn't want to use up all their resources immediately.

"One is good enough." Plus, each vial was akin to a adrenaline booster so she'll recover parts of her stamina once she consumes this vial.

"Alright, I'll trust you on this."

Nodding her head, Alice turned around and started to jog while grabbing her vial of Frozen Sloth blood.

Sensing a decrease in the prey's speed, the closest Dusk Hunter reared its head back and let out a strange gurling sound mixed with some hisses towards the other Dusk Hunter waiting above.

Getting a response, it crouched low before dashing towards the two at full speed. The strength of its claws and legs dug deep holes along the walls as it closed the distance between them.

'Not yet…' Alice thought to herself as she watched the distance close between them. Waiting till it was roughly a few meters away, she opened the vial and drank all of its contents in one go.

Feeling the ice cold fluid travel down her throat, Alice threw the vial aside as a layer of ice started to form from her elbow to the tip of the fingers.

With the ice now reinforcing her arms, Alice knew that they were tough enough to help her parry a few attacks. The only issue lie in how long the duration was going to last with each vial being low quality.

Once the blood had completely taken effect, Alice stomped down and swung her momentum backwards towards the beast.

Her eyes focused on its movements, the way it had jumped out towards them with both its claws reached out. She understood that she could get through the gap in the middle and counter the beast.

'I just need to focus…' She muttered to herself. During her time mining on the back of the titan underground, she understood that she needed to fully focus on whatever she was targeting for her vision to improve.

A moment of focus where the world will seemingly slow down.

'Now!'

Rushing forward, she dodged the two claws as she came face to face with the beast. The motion of its tongue and the saliva dripping from its teeth.

Ducking down, Alice wrapped her arms around the beast's neck while flipping her body onto its side to avoid getting crushed.

*BANG!!!

Colliding harshly against the ground, missing its initial target, the Dusk Hunter hissed in annoyance feeling a flow of coldness invading its body.

Ice seemed to form on its joints, causing it to stumble as it tried to bite towards Alice to no avail. Twisting its body along the ground, it tried to get Alice off through crushing her with its weight, but Alice was already prepared.

Adjusting her grip, she swung her body around to the other side and avoided the first attack.

With enough ice now forming on its limbs, Alice could see the range of motion decreasing while the Dusk Hunter above noticed the anomaly and dashed towards them.

They only had a few moments to try kill this beast before the other arrived.

"Lilia!" Alice shouted out as she pulled back as hard as she could, exposing the beast's neck towards her companion.

Seeing the opening that Alice gave her, Lilia gritted her teeth and plunged her dagger into the neck of the beast. After her failed first attack, she knew that it wasn't going to be enough so she didn't stop.

Grabbing the dagger with both her hands, she tore apart the soft part of its skin, revealing the rib cages along with the organs it was protecting.

Without turning back to see how close the other beast was, she shredded holes into its lungs and shoved her hand up the ribcage towards the heart.

During this time, the beast was failing its limbs, trying its best to kill Lilia but the ice on its joints allowed Lilia to dodge its attacks with relative ease.

Cutting the heart in two, she pulled her hand out and jumped to the side as blood coated her body.

Even without Alice warning her, she knew the other beast was close and had to dodge.

Seeing that Lilia succeeded in giving what she assumes to be lethal wounds, Alice jumped back and avoided the second beast.

Hearing its angry hiss while standing over the corpse of its fallen ally, Alice knew that the second beast was going to be wary of them, making the fight harder.

Wiping some of the blood from her face, Lilia slowly walked next to Alice while making sure the beast was on guard and didn't attack. Her entire front side was coated with the Dusk Hunter's blood and she could tell the second beast's attention was focused on her.

"How long do you think you got left for the blood? Is it going to last another battle or should we run to the other group?" Lilia asked while trying to catch her breath.

"Not sure. But probably not long left. Ideally we should run to other group. We also don't know where first beast is. One I stabbed with spear." Alice sighed.

"Think it died from the wounds?"

"If we're lucky yes. If we're not lucky no." Alice shrugged.

She could feel her fatigue setting in once more but the ice from her arms weren't fading, meaning she might be able to fit another fight within the duration she has left.

Just as she was about to rush forward, Alice noticed a growing shadow aiming for their general direction and jumped towards Lilia.

Grabbing her by the waist, Alice took cover with Lilia as a cloud of dust was kicked up by the sudden attack of a foreign object.

Standing back up, Alice glanced towards the source of the attack and paled seeing that it was the body of the first Dusk Hunter they fought, one that had the spear pierced in its mouth. Neither of them dared to breath as a looming figure slowly revealed itself in the distance. Without the Assassin keeping it busy, the Twilight Hunter was allowed to observe the fight and move at will.

Following its initial attraction towards Alice's aura, it eventually decided to target her first. Since the Assassin wasn't going to reveal himself just yet, it was going to start culling the people within this arena.

With the Twilight Hunter now on the move, the remaining Dusk Hunter of the trio seemed panicked as it immediatley scuttled away, not daring to share the area with the spider.

Quickly grabbing Lilia by the wrist, Alice started to run without looking back. It could feel the spider's gaze locked onto her back as it slowly pushed aside the walls that had been put in place.

This was not the time for her to stand still. She had to move or die!