Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 216: Grimwater Wyrm

Sitting on a tree branch, Alice couldn't help but sigh as she looked at her surroundings.

She was currently in the heart of a murky swamp. The air was filled with the scent of decay and rotting corpses. Around her, countless broken trees reached for the sky with their withered fingers while parts of the trunk sank into the swamp.

Despite the moonlight that was ever present in the Abyss, the swamp was filled with a sickly green fog that threatened to corrode the skin and flesh.

Located in the midst of the withered trees was a solitary broken-down hut with broken planks and a bridge branching out to different parts of the swamp.

However, she wasn't here to admire this scenery. Her target lies in the murky waters that surround this hut.

Its massive form was barely visible through the dark, churning waters. Yet the ripples caused by its movement betrayed its location and its size. Circling around the house, its glowing eyes would pierce through the darkness and survey its surroundings before diving back down, waiting for any signs of its next meal.

The Grimwater Wyrm, the target of her hunt.

*Sigh…

"I should've found out more about this beast if I knew it was in a swamp." Alice groaned in annoyance.

After they had finished their meal, the two of them decided to split up and complete some commissions to earn some money. For her, she chose a three star hunt while Ria chose a four star hunt.

The closest target that was only a day's journey away was the Grimwater Wyrm and the reward for this hunt was 120 Gold pieces. A little less than what she had hoped but considering it was close to the city, Alice couldn't exactly complain.

Standing up, Alice massaged her neck before taking a deep breath.

Her target had two main features that she had to watch out for. First was its skin which has a high tolerance against weapons and Sigil powers.

Second was its Frenzied form where it gives up all of its defensive abilities for offensive power.

'I've done my research, made my preparations. If all things are accounted for, this hunt should be over before it can enter the Frenzied form. And even then, dealing with it in the second form should be easy since I've already prepared for it.' Alice thought to herself.

A Hunter's job was to prepare and ambush their prey, aiming to kill it as fast as possible before it could retaliate.

There were several ways Alice could approach this fight with one of them being pure brute force and destruction with Void Flux. But she didn't want people to redraw the map constantly.

Swinging herself from the branch, Alice created a single thread of blood that connected between two trees and balanced herself on it.

Wrapping her foot around the thread, she dangled herself down and created more threads as well as traps using a mix of her third Sigil and blood beads.

Her plan was simple.

Using her blood beads and third Sigil, she'll lure the Wyrm into her optimal striking range before suspending it using her traps and killing it in one go before it can even retaliate!

Narrowing her eyes, Alice finished her preparation and sat up on the thread.

With a single snap of her finger, she detonated one of the blood beads.

*THRASH!!!

The instant she detonated her blood bead, the beast shot forth and snapped its head at the location, causing a wave of swamp water to splash outwards as Alice smiled at the response.

'Seems like this beast has fallen prey to its instincts, lashing out at anything that moved. No wonder beasts around here avoided this area.' She mused to herself as she snapped her finger once more, detonating another blood bead.

Watching the beast thrash around the swamp, Alice watched on calmly while sitting on her thread.

Crossing her legs, she noticed that the beast had realized something was amiss.

Snapping its head towards her direction, the beast let out a deep growl as it prepared to attack.

"Ohya? I've been spotted. But don't you think it's a little too late now beasty?" Alice chuckled before snapping her finger.

From the swamp, countless blood threads burst forth, wrapping around the beast and forcefully dragging it out of the water. While it was busy thrashing around to catch her blood beads, she was busy laying out the trap for it.

Seeing the beast suspended above the swamp, Alice was able to see its body in its entirety.

Its serpentine body was covered with tattered fins and jagged spikes that protruded from its back. Layers upon layers of scales flowed down its body. Upon its head, it had two pairs of eyes that glared at her in anger.

Letting out another growl, Alice could see a row of sharp teeth lining its maw.

The Grimwater Wyrm was a deep green while the edges of its fins and underbelly were illuminated by a bioluminescent turquoise with a strange hypnotic pattern printed across the surface. The inside of its jaw was a bright turquoise stained with crimson due to her blood beads.

Just as she was able to act, Alice noticed a strange flow of energy gathering towards its body.

She could see the energy that permeated through the Abyss coalescing towards the beast, seeping into its body.

'Is this the Frenzied form?' Alice thought to herself.

It was easy to end its life here and now, but her curiosity burned bright. She wanted to see how the energy flowed through its body and transform its innate nature of having high defence.

Curling her lips into a smile, Alice flicked her finger and released its bindings.

"Go on, entertain me." Alice taunted.

Understanding that it was being underestimated, the beast reared its head back and let out an ear shattering cry. Energy from within its body entwined with the energy flowing in from the Abyss and a burst of energy exploded forth from within.

The horns upon the head of the beast grew longer and more jagged while its flesh split apart, revealing the pulsing green flesh beneath. Spectral green energy wrapped around the Wyrm's body, creating a strange veil that trailed behind it as though it was floating underwater.

Observing the transformation of energy within its body, Alice's eyes lit up with intrigue.

'The way it mixes its own energy with the Abyss is similar to Resonance…' Alice thought to herself while the beast lunged forward in the blink of an eye.

Leaning back and falling from the thread, Alice laughed as the beast missed its target before creating another thread to catch her mid fall.

"Not bad beasty. You showed me something pretty interesting." Alice grinned as she slashed down with her finger.

From above, the metal converged into a greatsword before cleaving down at the Wyrm.

Cracking open a second jaw, a pulse of light trailed up from the tail and flowed up its body before stopping at the neck.

*KSHHH!!!

A stream of violet acid roared out, melting the sword in an instant. Turning its neck towards Alice's direction, the torrent of acid whipped towards Alice who created a net of blood before detonating it into a wall of violet flames that burned away the acid before it could reach her.

Balancing herself on the thread, Alice decided to test something out.

'When activating a Resonance, we directly connect ourselves to the Abyss using our Sigils as a link. The Abyss then provides us the power to change our bodies to a certain extent in order to bring out the best of our abilities and the culmination of our first three Sigils.

'But with the method the beast has shown, it seems like there's an alternative method in this connection. One that wouldn't burn through all of my power at once to activate my Resonance.'

When the beast had activated its Frenzied form, the flow of energy was slow and methodical, slowly changing its body to bring out the power rather than a sudden violent burst which is what the Resonance Hunters can activate.

Narrowing her eyes, Alice observed the flow of energy around her and started to gather it towards her own body.

She didn't need to open her full Resonance.

If the Resonance is created through the reaction of all three Sigils connecting to the Abyss, what would only having one Sigil create? What about two?

It was similar to the partial Resonance activation that Allura demonstrated yet very different. The partial Resonance was still done with all three while this was aiming for a partial activation with just one Sigil.

Closing her eyes, Alice jumped back and deactivated the rest of her Sigils except her first.

The Sigil belonging to the Spectral Hunter!

From her chest, she could feel the crown within her body stirring as a connection was formed. The Sigil that was glowing on her forearm started to move and squirm. Little by little, it started to spread through her body as Alice felt a new reservoir of strength within her.

Flipping her body in mid air, she landed on the roof of the broken hut as broken fragments started manifesting themselves before hovering above her head in the shape of a crown. The Sigil pattern representing her first Sigil could now be seen across her body with parts of it visible on her neck.

Narrowing her eyes, Alice dashed to the side and realized the physical boost granted by her Sigil had been enhanced!

'It's a lot more exhausting than normal but not quite at the level of using my Resonance. Though using this would probably reduce the time I have in my Resonance form.' Alice thought to herself.

If Resonance took power from all three Sigils to activate briefly, this method allowed her to space out how she wanted to use her strength. Handy for situations where her Resonance would be overkill.

"As thanks, let me finish you off quickly and painlessly." Alice called out to the beast as she drew her blade.

Flaring with black and red flames, Alice's figure shot towards the beast who tried to retaliate but its vision blurred.

With the blood bead being consumed by it, Alice activated her illusion to create a gap in its defense! Now the first Sigil was enhanced, even a beast of this caliber was helpless against her.

Unable to defend itself, the beast didn't even know when the blade cleaved through its neck, separating its head from its body.

Landing on a tree branch, Alice deactivated her partial Resonance and panted heavily while satisfaction filled her heart.

"Now… How the f*ck do I carry this back with me?"