CHAPTER 887: ADELA ATTEMPT NUMBER 2

After buying the grass and pills, farming the beasts definitely became easier. Not to mention the fact that there’s a small chance that the plant like beasts could drop the healing grass as well.

Unfortunately, the zone Alice was in seemed to still be in the first zone. None of the Embryos that she found were tier 2.

"Isn’t this place a little too big for a tutorial zone?" Alice grumbled, tilting her head to the side in order to avoid a sword stab.

Twisting her body, followed the motion and slashed up with her rapier, cutting the wrist of the beast and forcing it to drop its weapon.

With the beast now disarmed, Alice dashed up its arm, stabbing her blade into the eyes before sitting on the head.

"Don’t you agree? I swear I feel like I’m going f*cking insane here. I turn left and there’s more of you f*ckers. Turn right and there’s a bunch of plants. Go south and that’s just the way I came from." She grumbled while the beast flailed around beneath her.

"And don’t you think there are too many bosses? Ignoring the one I died to the first time I crossed over the chasm, there’s one underground, one on the main path into the city and one on the rooftops.

"Who the hell dreamed of this place? Are they a sadist? Maybe they should try fighting this many bosses first!"

Jumping off the beast with a flip, Alice landed the final strike as the beast burst into ash, leaving behind another Embryo she couldn’t use.

Picking up her loot, she made her way back to Rolo’s shop.

"Ah great, the b*tch is back." Rolo grumbled.

"Can you really blame me? There’s nothing but death traps around this zone." Alice shrugged, stocking up on more healing grass and pills.

"It is pretty weird. Most people would’ve gotten to zone two now without fighting a boss. A boss only showing up blocking the entrance to zone three. But you... Your surrounded by bosses leading to zone 2." Rolo scratched his chin.

It was weird, too weird.

While he doubted Monika could do something like this, he couldn’t exactly erase that possibility.

But that’s as far as he was willing to think about it. Getting too involved when he’s nothing but a vendor would spell trouble far above his paygrade.

He was simply here to sell wares fairly, no more no less.

"Right? I tried to go back as well. To see if there’s another path next to the chasm or something. But with the fog covering my view, I can’t exactly see anything that would need me to jump down." Leaning against Rolo’s store, Alice glanced at the butterflies leading towards each of the boss gates.

In the end, she has to challenge them after all.

"Say, Rolo."

"Not my name. But what?"

"What weapon do you think would suit me? Something that mixes magic and physical attacks." Alice asked.

Blowing out a cloud of smoke, Rolo glanced up at Alice.

"Nothing I have in stock right now. It’s no harm to tell you but... If you kill the bosses, you’ll be able to steal one of their aspects. Whether that be their weapon, armour or spell that they might’ve used. If you kill them, you can take their unique Embryo and transform it into equipment."

Hearing this, Alice scratched her chin.

If his words are correct, then if she was to kill Sister Adela, she’ll be able to steal those floating blades? Or were those blades a spell?

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice hopped off the table and gave her body a stretch.

"I guess I can’t avoid it. I’ll fight Sister Adela for now since I have information about her. If I fight the others, the chances of me randomly dying are far greater."

"Good luck." Rolo yawned lazily as Alice nodded.

Making her way through the city, she eventually arrived back at the entrance to the garden.

Once more, she saw the mound located in the centre as black fences sealed off the location.

Sister Adela who was praying in front of that mound...

Alice kept her guard up in case the Lurker was to push her in for the second time but he wasn’t around at all.

"Tch." Clicking her tongue, Alice wanted to get her revenge but it didn’t seem possible.

She checked her gear.

Some healing grass and a few bottles of pills.

If she had bought more, she wouldn’t be able to carry them properly.

She unsheathed her rapier and made sure it was doing fine.

With a weapon like this, the chances of it breaking are high if she wasn’t careful.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like she needed to worry as the blade was in pristine condition.

And once everything was checked, Alice stepped into the arena.

She wanted to test if she could hit Sister Adela outside of the garden but the range of her Pale Lance was lacking.

Sensing Alice’s approach, Sister Adela stood up and opened her mouth.

"Oh weary wanderer, you tread upon sanctified soil. I see the stains of my kindred upon thy hands, the sins that run deep in thy veins." She spoke, turning to face Alice fully.

"Come, let us pray. Let us pray and purify your sins under the hymn of righteous blood."

The same script as she had heard last time.

Alice saw the mound convulsing as the giant black casket appeared, slamming into the ground behind Adela.

From the casket, two blades appeared in the air.

This time, Monika wasn’t there to introduce the boss.

*BANG!!!

Alice dashed forward and aimed her palm.

Pale Lance!!!

Like before, Adela turned to dodge but Alice grinned.

Pulling back her hand and shifting her footwork with a slight hop, she actually cancelled the cast!

*CLANG!!!

Alice slashed up only for her slash to be blocked by one of Adela’s blades.

"Tsk!"

Stepping to the side before the second blade could slash down, Alice aimed with her palm and actually carried out the cast this time.

The spell pierced Adela’s shoulder as she stumbled back.

With a backstep, she stabbed both blades towards Alice but everything was captured in Alice’s zone.

She fainted a forward dash only to cancel it into a side step, causing the attack to miss as it tried to predict her movements.

Sensing danger, Alice jumped into the air and watched as the second blade rushed past her feet.

With both attacks dodged, she aimed once more and fired another Pale Lance!

’Don’t forget to breathe. Give time for my stamina to regenerate, don’t be caught unable to dodge.’ Alice reminded herself as she could already feel her lungs begging for air.

Rather than pressing her advantage, she jumped back and wiped the sweat away from her head.

Catching her breath, she watched as Adela recovered from her wounds.

’The third blade hasn’t spawned yet. Seems like I didn’t do enough damage... Makes sense.’

In her first attempt, when the opportunity presented itself, Alice took full advantage of it and unleashed several slashes and stabs into Adela without care of her stamina.

But all that achieved was spawning the third blade while she didn’t have the endurance to dodge properly.

With Adela now recovered, both blades swung towards Alice once more.

They were too heavy for her to parry thus she focused primarily on dodging. Unlike before, her attacks seemed to be getting faster.

’Her speech and visual cues are probably a sign of how close she is to death. The opening of the casket is probably a sign of the second half of the fight. If the third blade is another sign then... that’s probably 25% into the fight.’

Alice analysed while memorising Adela’s attack patterns.

She maintained her distance, focusing on dodging rather than attacking.

With the estimation that the third blade was 25% into the fight, Alice began to calculate roughly how much damage each of her attacks would do.

Licking her lips, a grin appeared on her face. Everything was calculated, everything she can do was accounted for. Now, it was time to put it into a plan of attack while maintaining her stamina. Reaching into her pocket, Alice placed a single leaf on her tongue and held it in her mouth.

A soothing sensation spread through her body.

While the healing grass’s primary function was to replenish her health, it also sped up stamina regeneration slightly.

Adjusting her grip on the rapier, Alice rushed forward!

*BANG!!!

Leaning to the side to avoid the first stab, she slid under the second horizontal slash before jumping up in front of Adela.

Pale Lance!

*KRK!!!

Her spell slammed into Adela’s head, forcing her against the ground as Alice landed on her body.

Stomping her feet down against Adela’s biceps, Alice prevented her from using her arms and began to slash away at Adela’s body.

Stab against the heart and throat, a slash targeting the tendons.

Point blank Pale Lance into the stomach and a final stab piercing the lower jaw and through the head.

She could see the third blade manifesting.

"Ah... poor lost lamb. You wish not for the blessing of the blood?" Adela squeezed out through her lips as Alice narrowed her eyes.

’If I stop here, regenerating my stamina for another opportunity is gonna be a pain. I’ll force her into phase 2 now!’

Without giving the blade a chance to attack, Alice fired another Pale Lance and unleashed a barrage of slashes against Adela.

Jumping back, Alice watched as Adela stood up before collapsing like a puppet without strings.

The casket began to open, mummified fingers clawed out and the familiar pair of eyes stared at her through the gaps.

Phase 2 has begun.

"I’m here for my runback m*therf*cker." Alice grinned.