Chapter 787: Fighting In Terminus

“!!!” Ria’s eyes shot open, she quickly sat up in a panic and felt the area around her stomach.

Empty.

There was no wound yet her outfit was torn all the same.

No beast would be kind enough to let her go after that kind of ordeal so…

“Did you save me?” Ria asked, turning her gaze towards the figure sitting on a withered tree not far from her.

“Save is a rather broad term. I may have stopped you from dying but you’re still trapped in Terminus girlie.” Astrelya grinned in amusement. “I didn’t kill these two either so they’ll keep chasing you until you kill them.”

Snapping her finger, a cage of starlight manifested, displaying the two beasts that she caught earlier.

Ria frowned.

“So here’s what we’re going to do. If you’re too weak, dear Alice won’t give me the time of day for our duel. So you need to improve. The best way would be the bundle of potential inside you but since you’re firm on the matter, I won’t push for it.” Astrelya hopped off the branch and walked over to Ria.

“While we’re here in the Abyss, you are going to die. Every time you die, I’ll bring you back. Over and over until your mind crumbles or your body gives up. Alternatively, you can get stronger and kill them instead.” She held up Ria’s chin, making eye contact.

“But even if you do, you’ll face something stronger until I don’t need to bring you back anymore. I will emphasise this. Even if there is a portal leading out, I will break that passage in half and keep you locked in here.” Astrelya narrowed her eyes.

“And you think we should do this in Terminus?” Ria’s smile twitched.

There was something strange about Astrelya. But that strangeness could stem from her desire to die the way she wants to.

“Why not Terminus? Is this not the best place? So either you harness that talent inside of you or choose something else. In the first place, I don’t see why you’re so against the Eclipse.” Astrelya sighed, letting go of Ria.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Ria frowned.

Who wouldn’t deny the Eclipse after knowing everything they do?

“Not at all. If anything, I don’t think they’re too bad. Sure the rituals and blood goes a little far but in our world, when is there not blood? Wars and famine happen all the time, oppression, chaos, tyranny. You name it, humans have done it.” Astrelya yawned, floating on a bed of stars.

“I’ve seen people mask their greed with goodwill, rulers that exploit their citizens the moment something goes wrong. Honestly, I’ve grown so tired of this farce…”

Ria wanted to reply but with what?

Astrelya wasn’t wrong.

“So just because the Eclipse put that at the forefront, are they really so bad? Of course, all the blood rituals and killings are bad don’t get me wrong, but it’s all a matter of perspective don’t you think?” Astrelya asked with a smirk.

“. . . Perspective huh.” Ria sighed.

Perspective was a funny thing. What can kill can also save.

Just look at Abyss Blood.

A potion that can save you in times of need yet take too much and you become mutated beyond recognition. A fate worse than death.

But that was the price you needed to pay.

So what about the Eclipse? Was there something that could be redeemed from this cult?

Ria couldn’t see it.

War, famine, rituals.

Just the thought of it disgusted her to her core.

“If you dislike them so much, why don’t you change the application of power?”

Ria looked up in surprise, it felt as though Astrelya was reading her mind.

“What do you mean?”

“I wonder~ That’s for you to figure out.” Astrelya stuck out her tongue before closing her eyes, not wanting to respond.

Snapping her finger, the cages around the beasts came undone.

Quickly jumping back, Ria unsheathed her sword but it was already too late.

A limb pierced her stomach once more.

“You motherf*cker… At least warn me if you’re going to let them out…”

###

Gwen had to change her outfit several times on the journey as Alice had ingested far more poison than they expected.

Every so often, a little would just dribble from her mouth without knowing. It was only when it began to sizzle and burn Gwen’s outfit did they realise.

“I’m starting to think you want me to run out of outfits.” Gwen’s smile twitched.

It wasn’t as though her jackets were simple clothing either. Each one had been reinforced with skills and so on. A meticulous weave of fabric soaked in a specific type of blood.

Yet all of them, without fail, sizzled and broke under the effects of the poison.

Which only confuses Gwen more as the question remained.

“How the hell can you have this much poison in your body?!?!?” Gwen shouted, pointing at her last change of clothes.

“Urg… I told you not to blame me if I throw up on you.” Alice groaned.

It had exceeded even her own expectations as this felt similar to the time she was in the Zenia prison. Days when they would over experiment, causing her body to collapse under the side effects. It took a whole day before she would be back to normal.

[The Shadow Haze poison shouldn’t be this potent. It must’ve been the enhancements that’s been happening.] Cayla frowned.

With how much poison was inside Alice’s body, it would’ve been enough to kill a person 10 times over. Which was to be expected considering how many of these beasts they actually killed.

Not to mention the fact that nothing was protecting Alice from the fumes.

‘Yeah… Even if I can resist the effects, I should still avoid them when I can…’ Alice nodded weakly.

She’s been over reliant on her physique for too long.

Now that it’s reached this stage, she could only blame herself.

After throwing up so much poison, Alice estimated that around 35% was still left inside her body. Not enough to stop her from fighting but definitely distracting.

Looking at Alice who was sprawled out on the ground with poison seeping from her lips, Gwen let out a deep sigh.

Indeed, people have different ways to deal with poison. What worked for her was clearly struggling to keep up this time.

“Forget it. I’ll carry you with something else. If you ruin this shirt as well I’m actually going to hit you.” Gwen shook her head.

Walking over to a sturdy looking tree, she cut it down using her spear and turned parts of it into flat planks.

Tying everything together, she turned it into a makeshift board for Alice to lay on so that she could carry her along without worrying about her outfit.

“Urg… Thanks…” Alice slowly climbed up onto the board.

“Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you’re feeling better before we fight Sy-”

*COUGH!!!

*Sizzle…

“Ah…” Alice wanted to cry. She felt a stinging sensation in the back of her throat and along with it came an uncontrollable cough. She didn’t think the moment she coughed, the poison would splatter on Gwen’s shirt.

“That was your-”

“That was my last shirt yes.” Gwen interrupted, a vein bulging on the side of her forehead.

Feeling guilty, Alice quickly rummaged through her pouch looking for a spare change of clothing but everything she found was too small for Gwen!

When she disguised herself, she created the clothes alongside her disguise to she didn’t need to buy anything bigger!

Not to mention the fact that these were all normal pieces of clothing rather than something reinforced like the ones that Gwen was wearing.

There was one other option though…

She could perhaps repurpose some of Velouria’s work-

[Don’t you f*cking dare.] Cayla glared with bloodthirst.

‘Yeah I didn’t think so.’ Even if Cayla didn’t say anything, Alice felt like the moment she repurposed the outfits, Velouria would probably scream from her grave.

“Turn around.” Gwen spoke coldly.

Since it was her fault, Alice could only do as she was told when Gwen smacked her on the butt with her hand enhanced with blessings.

“HYAH!” Alice let out a cry as tears formed around her eyes.

She was already feeling unwell from the poison and now there was a stinging sensation on her ass, threatening to purify her.

“Just lay down and stop throwing up on me.” Gwen huffed, tossing away her shirt into her bag.

Unfortunately, once the overall structure of the shirt was broken, the protective warding pretty much fell apart.

They were turned into normal everyday outfits with no other use.

Changing into something normal, Gwen could only hope that she could get away with this much. They had other preparations for Syrion.

###

The chase for Syrion lasted longer than Gwen would’ve hoped. Thankfully, Alice recovered on the second day, allowing them to pick up the pace of their travel.

Meanwhile, Alice was still feeling guilty over ruining Gwen’s outfits so she took charge in killing most of the beasts on the way there, making sure to avoid attacks whenever she could.

No matter how resistant her body was, she could still be taken out of commission.

Even more so now that they’ve all been enhanced through strange means.

“Seems like we found our target.” Alice frowned.

After travelling for a while, the compass started to shift more often whenever they took a slight turn.

A sign that they were close.

And as expected, they saw an intimidating figure sitting next to a tree. Hanging on one of the branches was an empty swing that he was pushing with his hands.

Not far from the swing was a house, strangely well kept yet abandoned. A family home.

It was time for Gwen to claim her final bounty.