CHAPTER 785: RETURN TO THE ABYSS

"Holy sh*tttttt!!!!!!" Alice screamed, falling down the gateway towards the Abyss.

The air beneath her cracked like glass beneath a hammer, the shattering of countless barriers. Stands of energy whipping around them, the unravelling of space itself.

Pulsing, warping, undulating pulses of the walls of this gateway.

A feeling that the Abyss was alive and thus swallowing them whole.

This wasn’t a welcoming gateway, it wasn’t a gentle stroll down the stairs. It was a consumption. Darkness rushed past them, invisible forces tossing them around, the wholes of unknown voices overlapping one another.

’I DO NOT remember it being this sh*tty to go into the Abyss!’ She screamed in her mind.

[That’s because it was Kaden who tossed you. But I will admit, THIS is far more turbulence than usual!] Cayla frowned.

While they already knew that the Will was doing something to the Abyss, seeing it react so... violently was something different entirely.

A passageway, while rough, shouldn’t cause such turbulence.

Alice tried to create some balance using ice but the support was shattered immediately.

"Do you have any ideas!?" Alice turned to Gwen who was sitting with her legs crossed.

She seemed nonchalant at the current situation.

"Oh me? Oh no, we’re f*cked." Gwen admitted truthfully.

Alice felt the sudden urge to strangle this girl in front of her.

[That’s how it feels!]

Ignoring Cayla’s celebration, Alice gritted her teeth.

"Hold onto me!" Alice shouted, creating a bow beneath her.

Several ice arrows started to form one after and she shot at the passage!

With their surroundings constantly dismantling whatever they create, Alice decided to use that to their advantage.

To create several large chunks of ice that when subjected to the unique properties of the passage, would become thin sheets that’ll slow their descent.

*CRACK SHATTER!!!

The sound of ice breaking echoed out as the duo continued to crash through the layers.

Just as Alice was about to create another layer of ice, she noticed a sudden decrease in resistance.

A point of weakness within the passage and the two of them were being forced out!

*RUMBLE!!!

An invisible force pushed them to the side.

Up became down, left became right.

Tumbling through the air, even someone like Alice felt like throwing up.

As they were expelled from the passage, Alice sensed the familiar pressure of the Abyss. A sense of relaxation like making it back home after a long and busy day.

She could feel her entire body being revitalised. Yet before she could even relax, she came face to face with a pair of eyes.

Falling into a giant cloud of purple haze, a storm of smoke and shadows, the duo saw a pair of jaws breaking through the obscuring layer.

A body concealed yet two pairs of violet beady eyes pierced through the disguise. A long, drooping tongue flanked on the sides by serrated fangs dripping with purple saliva.

[Shadow Haze Tyrant – ✦✦✦✦✦✦]

A six star beast!

Usually, Alice wouldn’t care if it was just a single six star beast. She could kill them with ease any day of the week.

But this wasn’t just a single one.

It wasn’t just two either.

No, there was a whole pack of them!

Within the cloud, Alice could see countless names flickering through the area.

They were surrounded.

[Careful! They’re usually called Shadow Haze Spectres, a four star beast that hunts in large packs. One is weak but a whole pack can take down a six star beast with some sacrifice due to their poison!] Cayla warned, immediately putting her knowledge to use.

’Four??? I’m pretty sure I see six f*cking stars above their head!’

[Yeah no sh*t! Why do you think I said usually? These aren’t Shadow Haze Spectres, they’ve all been enhanced!]

Gritting her teeth, Alice clenched her fist and projected a massive cloud of cold mist, freezing the haze that the beasts were emitting.

"They’re not your average beast! Stronger than normal, very potent poison!" Alice shouted over to Gwen who was already wrapping herself in an emerald fire.

"Yeah I figured. My body was already starting to paralyse, you don’t feel it?" Gwen raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Not at all! Must be slow acting since I have some resistance, I’ll probably feel it later!" Alice quickly made up an excuse before pointing her bow at the pack nose diving towards them.

"Enchant, Flame Renewal, Radiant Spirit!" Gwen activated her blessings one after the other.

Without chanting, they were weaker than what they could be. But it’s not as though they have the luxury of time right now.

Even with her purification, Gwen felt sluggish. Her muscles were tightening up and each breath she took was becoming more difficult.

*RUMBLE!!!

Activating the Fragment of the Sun, Gwen felt a reservoir of power surge from within. Golden markings spread across her body and divinity filled her veins.

The poison was immediately purged, as expected of an artifact that’s super effective against Abyssal Energy.

"We got two options, do you want to try kill them all or run?" Gwen asked curiously.

Since she was here as a duo rather than solo, she wanted to make sure she got Kaia’s input as well.

"Does it look like they’ll let us run? Look at the way they’re staring at us." Alice rolled her eyes.

Frankly, their stares freak her out a little. Single minded beasts that only want to kill whatever’s in front of them right now.

There seemed to be no thoughts behind those eyes.

"Us? Seems to me they’re more focused on you than me." Gwen laughed, shifting herself to the side yet the beast’s gaze didn’t follow Gwen.

Instead, they were securely fastened to Alice’s figure.

"F*ck!"

"Seems like they’re in love with you Kaia~ Why don’t you give them an autograph?" Gwen grinned.

"The only autograph they want is my flesh!"

Creating three ice arrows, Alice narrowed her eyes and fired them at the closest targets.

Right before the arrows were about to collide, they split into countless fragments, embedding themselves into the beast’s body.

*KRK!!!!

In an instant, a layer of ice formed around the beast, ceasing the production of smoke but it wasn’t dead yet.

Even in the ice, its eyes were focused on Alice.

’Freaky b*stards!’

With the ground rapidly approaching, Alice snapped her finger, creating a ramp of ice beneath her to slow down her descent.

In the meantime, Gwen got to work.

Fighting them in close quarters was annoying. Even with the Fragment of the Sun, inhaling too much of their poison and her body will lock up.

There’s no telling if they’ll suddenly turn their attention to Gwen despite being focused on Alice right now.

Summoning her spear, Gwen twirled the weapon around her body as the blade of the spear began to lit up with radiant flames.

With a twist, she slashed the spear up, unleashing a blazing arc that tore through several beasts, splitting the poison cloud in half!

Alice could see her targets better now.

Creating four ice arrows, she aimed precisely for their open jaws and fired!

The arrowhead pierced the back of their mouth before detonating!

Bursting out from the back of their heads were countless crimson spikes of ice!

"Remind me to reject you if you ever wanted to shoot an apple above my head." Gwen winced, seeing the limp corpses crash against the ground with a nasty splat.

"So you don’t want me to shoot an apple above your head, but what if you held it in your mouth?" Alice slid down the ice ramp, coming to a stop before firing more arrows.

In her sight, she could count around 10 that were in close proximity and not suitable for her arrows.

Clicking her tongue, she dismissed her bow, opting for a sword inside.

Bending back to dodge the bite of the first beast, she stabbed up, piercing the underside of the jaw.

A second beast piled on, its purple saliva searing the ground beneath her with a single touch.

Using the first as a shield, Alice pressed her palm against its chest, firing a giant formation of ice that killed both.

Three more tried to pile on top but Gwen was there to cover Alice.

With a horizontal swing of her spear, the beasts were bisected horizontally with their wounds being charred almost instantly.

Taking the vanguard position, Gwen stepped towards the horde.

Her Vision expanded and a golden glow flickered through her eyes.

*BANG!!!

Her spear slammed into the side of a beast’s head, breaking the skull and crushing the brain before knocking the corpse aside.

Bending down, she used the momentum to punch a hole through the next using the spearhead, destroying its heart and shattering the spine.

Kicking away the corpse, Gwen swiped up, creating a torrent of flames that burned the third to a crisp while three frozen arrows flew past her head, killing the fourth lunging from below.

Yet despite killing so many, the pack wasn’t letting up at all. Each one held the mentality of trying its best to land at least one attack, no matter the sacrifice.

"They’re bat sh*t f*cking insane!" Alice cursed.

She had never seen such bloodthirsty beasts that didn’t even care for their own survival.

Even after killing so many, a normal pack should’ve dispersed by now!

Gwen’s eye twitched for a moment, her body locked up briefly and her spear was slow.

From above, one of the Shadow Haze Tyrants pried open its mouth, unleashing a waterfall of poison smoke towards Gwen.

Alice stepped in, detonating a blast of cold mist into the air and freezing the poison before it could reach them.

Just as the frozen poison shattered apart, her pupils constricted at the sight she saw.

In the distance, more purple clouds were rushing towards them!

Reinforcements!