Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 182: Blood Coil Amphiptere

"What did that woman give you? She seems to be working with the Underground." Thane asked curiously after seeing Alice sit down and place the now opened scroll on the table.

"Just some rumours and potential hints for beasts that I can hunt. If I were to go for beasts that have already been identified, there's a good chance that others will step in ahead of me and take the kill." Alice explained while looking through the notes.

As expected, there were indeed a handful of rumours pertaining beasts with connection to blood. However, a lot of these could just be victims that have been left out to dry.

She wanted to find some evidence that had close relations to the beast she wanted to hunt.

"Oh? Now you've got my attention brat. What kind of Sigl are you going for?" Thane sat up in mild amusement as he wanted to see what kind of Hunter Alice wanted to become.

"Another blood type. I want something that can heal me in battle and help me keep fighting. I don't really have an attack that can end a fight easily. Well… I do have one but it's hard to use if they're on guard." Alice sighed.

Raising an eyebrow, Thane couldn't help but wonder what kind of attack she was talking about.

"If I remember correctly, your first Sigil is hallucination plus strength augmentation. Your second Sigil is blood control and violet flames right? Where's this finishing attack coming from?"

Before Alice could answer, Ria cut in.

"It's the skill that Allura showed us before. She called it Nova core or something and gathered a bunch of flames into a single dot that destroys everything around it. Though Alice's is more like a giant cannon rather than what Allura did."

"!?!?!" Widening his eyes, Thane was stunned in disbelief before looking back and forth from Alice to Ria.

"You. Learned Nova Core from Allura?" He asked, pointing at Alice.

"Well she didn't teach me. It just kind of happened." Alice shrugged but didn't deny it.

"There's no way… Prove it to me right now. I'll protect this room, I just want you to fire the skill." Thane furrowed his brows.

Flicking his finger, a darkness coated the room as once again Alice was surrounded by a familiar feeling but she couldn't quite pin down where it was coming from.

But seeing that he wasn't going to take no for an answer, Alice nodded her head while Ria took cover.

Taking a deep breath, she activated her Sigils as violet flames started to flicker around her body. Little by little, they engulfed the area Alice was standing in as Thane noticed another strange aspect about Alice.

'Are her flames… trying to eat my shadows?' He thought to himself as he couldn't bring himself to believe it yet the evidence was there. His shadows were being threatened by some two Sigil possessing brat whom he picked up from the Zenia prison.

But that wasn't the only surprise.

Converging towards Alice's finger, the flames started to condense into a bright flaming orb above her finger.

Seeing this, Thane understood that they weren't bluffing but at the same time, it wasn't the same skill that Allura was known for.

Her skill, Nova Core, was one that could destroy everything through raw power. It was a skill that condensed her flame to the maximum limit before releasing it in a controlled manner.

As for Alice, it's more like she's focusing on the direction of her flames rather than condensing and controlling. It lacked the delicate control and implication that Allura would demonstrate with her skill.

'But I suppose… It does look like the Nova Core skill. The method is similar but modified to suit her own body and powers.'

Watching the web of flames condense into one, Thane aimed his palm towards Alice.

"Shoot the skill towards me."

Nodding her head, Alice didn't hesitate to release the orb of fire.

Within this realm of darkness, a torrent of flames and light exploded forth with more intensity than the attack she had fired off against the strange man.

This time, she was allowed to focus her mind and attack without distraction!

As the light reached its brightest and the wave of heat exploded out, Thane closed his hand into a fist.

*BANG!!!!

Shadows immediately collapsed around the attack and extinguished the flame without even giving it a chance to fight back.

Stumbling over out of exhaustion, Alice couldn't believe her strongest attack was extinguished with a single movement from Thane.

"Hmm… I'd give it a 3 out of 10 for a decent Hunter by my standards. A 1 out of 10 if you truly want to compare it against Allura's Nova Core skill. But it's as you said, it takes too long for you to focus to achieve decent results with this skill. Seems like you should be a more prolonged fighter since your tenacity and will to fight is strong." Thane nodded while shaking off the heat from his hand.

"So any targets in mind?" He smiled, curious as to who her ideal target was. Depending on what she wanted, he could do her a favour and bring it here. But if he was to do that, it would be no fun and she wouldn't get the full experience in hunting.

"Ideally I want the Scarlet Winged Monarch. But I haven't found any information on it yet." Alice shrugged while reading over the scroll once more to see if there was anything she missed.

"Scarlet Winged Monarch? You want… a five star beast as your third Sigil? Even if you were Allura that's rather, reckless." Thane frowned. As much as he would like to see the fight happen, Alice was not ready for a challenge of this magnitude.

Not only was it a five star beast, but it was also one of the strongest beasts within the difficulty and could even kill those in the six star category.

There was another nickname for the beast to those who live near it and have seen it in action.

The immortal berserker. A beast so ferocious and deadly that it felt nigh impossible to kill. If a Hunter dares to face him head on, it becomes a battle of who gives up first and in that scenario, the beast ALWAYS wins.

"Then do you have any suggestions?" Alice asked curiously.

Knowing that Thane is an old friend of Allura along with his power, there was a high chance that his knowledge of Abyss Beasts was extensive.

"Well that depends. But we're basically in the middle of nowhere right now. None of the good beasts are available to hunt. Show me that scroll, let me see if any of them are actually worth checking out." Thane suggested as Alice nodded her head.

Reading through the contents, Thane closed one of his eyes and didn't say a word. Neither Alice nor Ria wanted to disturb him as Alice understood he must've sent a familiar to verify these rumours.

With a rare moment of silence dawning on them, Alice observed Thane while the familiar feeling kept nagging away at her mind.

'Have I seen him before? He does use the power of shadows and can teleport people around with ease… But I've also seen others use similar powers before with the exception of teleporting. Hmm… But if he is Kaden, why would he hide his identity?' Alice wondered to herself.

In her brief contact with Kaden, someone who didn't hesitate to break into Zenia's strongest prison because a lot of guards were there and it seemed like it had something valuable, hiding his identity didn't seem possible.

'Unless there's a big reason why he doesn't want to be known. And even if he is Kaden… What then?'

If Thane turned out to be Kaden, Alice didn't know what she would say. The person that saved her from her torment, gave her a second chance at life and even implanted an eye into her, leading to her meeting a mother and mentor like figure in Allura.

Not only that, due to his actions, she was able to find a friend and enjoy exploring the world with. He had practically given her everything she had wished for during her time in the prison.

A swirl of emotions appeared in Alice's mind but she couldn't say anything just yet. She wasn't sure if this person was indeed Kaden or someone different entirely.

She could only keep these guesses to herself for now.

"There's one that seems pretty… interesting I would say. It's no Scarlet Winged Monarch but~ I think it would be perfect for you in terms of wanting something to prolong your fights." Thane smiled but paused noticing that Alice was staring at him as though trying to see behind his face.

"Now. I'm not against getting stared at but I'd rather it be from a woman than a brat. So do me a favour and stop staring at me so hard, it's gross." Thane rolled his eyes and flicked Alice on the forehead.

Despite her tolerance, a bolt of pain shot through her body as Alice jolted backwards and held her forehead in confusion.

"This rumour seems to hold some validity to it. Couldn't find the beast's main body but there were traces and I do have a candidate in mind. If it is what I'm thinking of then you might be in for a treat."

Hearing this, Alice looked over to the rumour that he pointed to.

[South of Ironforge, strange remains have been discovered. Beasts have been found, drained of blood with shards of metal burrowing into their flesh. The carcass has been left relatively untouched with other beasts scavenging it for food but the blood has been completely sucked away.]

"If my guess is correct, those wounds should be caused by a Blood Coil Amphiptere, a dragon-like beast of metal and blood. It shouldn't be that strong but it's been a while since I've last seen one so don't take my word on it. But if you were to kill it…" Thane trailed off with a smirk.

"You should be able to get an ability called Lifeblood Link."