Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 40: Desperate Measures

Granted, the choice of wounding herself was rather extreme but it was the only way she could think of getting out of this situation.

Through her trials, she estimated that the ability of the beast was the same as her own blood. One that messed with the senses. Otherwise it wouldn't explain how the pebbles she threw never came back.

Since it was an ability that messed with the senses, she'll use the same strategy to defeat it.

Walking around the area where she's been imprisoned, she made sure to sprinkle a little of her blood in every corner, spacing them out evenly so the fumes could reach as far as possible.

The only issue with this strategy was how much blood she could afford to lose before she started to get dizzy and had to stop.

It was also a way for her to prepare for future battles. If she could mentally calculate how much blood she is allowed to lose, she could make plans around that value.

As she was walking around, she started to notice some changes in her scenery. Previous markings not matching up properly, bushes where they shouldn't be and so on. Her blood was having an effect and the beast was clearly struggling to maintain the illusion.

'Judging by how it's trying its best to keep the illusion, maybe it's a beast that hunts through making its prey waste their energy trying to get out. Otherwise, it should've tried to kill me already.' Alice thought to herself with a frown. Despite being in this situation, she was in relatively low danger since it hadn't made a move to attack her in this illusion.

It was unlike how her Sigil worked where she could still attack them if they fall victim to the poison effects.

'Perhaps it's a weaker version of the Twilight Hunter.'

Shaking her head, she continued to spread blood through the area.

Sweat started to accumulate on her skin as she felt the tips of her limbs turning cold. She knew that she was approaching the limit of how much blood she could afford to lose. But she couldn't stop now, not when she was this close to breaking out of the illusion.

Clutching her head, Alice ignored her headache while continuing to spread blood.

Trying her best to regulate her breaths, she watched as her vision started to flicker. The trees warped while the ground seemed to spin.

Alice didn't know if this was the result of blood loss or the beast losing its ability to maintain the illusion but whatever it was, she had to stop her own bleeding soon.

She didn't have any bandages on hand so the best she could do was to cover the wound with her jacket to reduce the blood loss.

Stumbling over her own feet, Alice kneeled down as sweat dripped against the grass. She could barely muster the energy to walk anymore as her nausea was getting worse.

Biting her lip, she wanted to continue when a strange leaf appeared in front of her.

It was iridescent purple in colour and basked the grass in a purple glow. Widening her eyes, she raised her head and saw the source of the leaf.

Surrounding her were tall willow trees with purple leaves that pulsed with life. A large waterfall could be seen across the small lake that reflected the purple glow while small flowers could be seen across the ground.

Looking up, she could no longer see the sky as a blanket of green leaves could be seen hiding this view from above while the underside reflected the pink and purple lights, making this area seem as though it belonged to the faeries.

Around her, Alice could see her blood being sprinkled in a circle and understood that she had been walking in the same spot.

Not only that, she could also see strange trees with a skull like head made from bark. Purple leaves coated their body as they were struggling to stand up properly.

Understanding that it was these creatures that had trapped her in the illusion, Alice forced herself to stand up as she had to deal with them before they recovered from her Sigil's ability.

Gritting her teeth, she took off her cloak and tied it over her wound, stopping the blood loss momentarily.

Looking around for a weapon, she picked up a spare rock and jumped towards the closest tree. There were about four of these creatures surrounding her so she had to make it fast.

Bashing the rock against its skull, Alice grabbed the loose bark and tore it off without any mercy.

Despite being created from wood, it was somehow able to scream yet Alice ignored that.

'There are still three others I need to kill once I deal with this one.' She thought with a frown since her own energy was dropping rapidly due to her blood loss.

Raising her hand, she repeatedly smashed the rock against the tree that was unable to retaliate. Bark, leaves and sap flew everywhere with each hit, some even getting on Alice's body, staining her skin with a deep yellow.

Once the head was completely crushed, Alice forced herself to stand up and make sure the tree was dead before turning her attention to the other creatures. Two seemed to be on the verge of recovering since the potency of her blood was low. The only reason it was able to affect them was due to how much blood she had spilled.

Clearing all thoughts in her mind, she only needed to kill these three and take their leaves as proof. As soon as she completes this, she'll be allowed to leave and properly rest.

Rushing towards the creature that seemed closest to breaking out of her ability, she activated her Sigil momentarily to gain a boost of strength so that she could finish off the beast quickly.

*CRACK!!!

Plunging her fist through the torso of the beast, she gritted her teeth and plunged her other hand into the chest as well. Ignoring the pain in her hand, she let out a cry as she tore the tree in half.

Shaking her head to dismiss the headaches, she glared at the third tree. It seemed to have broken out of the effects as Alice's surroundings started to shift.

'Not good!'

Activating her eye to slow time down, she kept her Sigil activated while rushing towards the tree before she could lose sight of it.

Jumping up, she slammed her knee into its face and forced it against the ground.

Stopping the illusion from being re-established, Alice jammed her foot against its throat before twisting her ankle, crushing the throat and separating the head from the body.

Taking several deep breaths, Alice turned off her Sigil before she caused herself to die from blood loss.

Glaring at the last beast, she could see that it had already broken out of the illusion and was now staring at her with fear. Alice could feel its panic, the urge to turn around and run away.

With her being in no shape to kill it quickly without reactivating her Sigil, Alice didn't want to push herself more than needed.

"Do you want to join them? I can make that happen." Alice threatened as she grabbed the head of the creature and crushed it with her hands.

Understanding that Alice was giving it a chance to run away, the beast immediately turned around and scurried off.

Sighing in relief, Alice leaned down and picked up a handful of purple leaves before stuffing them into her pocket.

'Now, how to get out of here…' Alice thought to herself as she didn't know when she was trapped by the creature's illusions.

Wanting to walk away, Alice could feel the energy draining from her limbs and understood that she was in no condition to make her way out of the forest.

Gritting her teeth, looked for a tree to rest her body for now.

Just as she was about to climb up, a harrowing cry reverberated through the zone as turned her head towards the source. She could see a distant shadow approaching closer from the forest as the trees were being pushed aside.

*BANG!!!

Breaking through the wall of tree's, a large creature ten times as tall as Alice could be seen. Giant roots twisted and threated together to form its torso awhile giant trunks acted as its limbs. A flow of green energy enveloped its body from within as a set of emerald glows acted as its eyes.

It was also covered by an amour of silver thorns around its shoulders and torso. On its shoulder, was the creature that Alice had spared just a moment ago.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Alice muttered as she understood she should never leave any survivors in case things like this happened.

Resisting the urge to facepalm, she needed to run away from this area as soon as possible.

She instinctively knew that she couldn't compete against this creature no matter how much she tried. It was not something she could kill in her peak state much less her current condition where she is already on the verge of death.

Just as she turned around to run, she could feel its eyes lock onto her back as the small tree creature let out an enraged roar while pointing towards her direction.

'M*therf*cker!' Cursing out in her mind, Alice did not hesitate and immediately started to dash away while the behemoth of a creature charged from behind, destroying everything it came across.

She so dearly wished she could curse Allura right now for sending her towards a place like this.

'A few Abyss Beasts she said, nothing serious she claimed. B*llshit!!!'