Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 610: Call Of The Eclipse

The two of them took a few steps back to avoid the Lake as Ria summoned the lightning blade once more.

Getting Luke to buff her, she narrowed her eyes and aimed her sword at a diagonal angle.

Raikiri!

*BANG!!!

Creating a path down, she made horizontal slashes to create steps to make it easier to escape later.

IF they were to come across any victims like them who are still alive down there.

"Any plans? Or are we just going to destroy everything we see down there?" Luke asked, wanting to evaluate Ria’s mental state right now.

The more they interact with the Eclipse, especially during a ritual like this, the more dangerous it gets for.

"We’ll deal with the ritual. If there are any survivors down there, we’ll deal with them as we see fit. Whether that means to take them out of here or kill them." Ria replied, making more steps.

As they continued down into the bowls of the desert, light began to disappear with Ria having to illuminate their surroundings with her lightning.

The stench of rotting flesh and the smell of iron lingered in the air, causing her expression to twist before composing herself.

Once they were close to the bottom, they could hear the pained groans and screams echoing through the walls, the clashing of chains and the sounds of flesh and bone being torn apart.

However, neither of them rushed into the ritual site rashly.

Crouching near the exit of the tunnel that Ria created, she had Luke grab her ankles before leaning down to scan their surroundings.

"It’s clear."

Jumping down, Ria dismissed her sword for now since having electricity crackling in her hands doesn’t exactly do well for stealth.

Around them, they could see empty cages and dried blood plastered on the floors and walls.

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Whatever was being kept here had been moved elsewhere and the screams echoing in the distance weren’t exactly a good sign of their fate.

Closing her eyes once more, Ria wanted to see where the voices led her, where the heart of the ritual was within this maze.

Sensing the call of the Eclipse, she began to make her way right while Luke followed, keeping an eye on their surroundings while making a note of the path they took.

If things go south, they needed a way to escape.

Just as he was walking forward, he suddenly bumped into Ria.

Before he could say anything, he saw the sights she saw and paused.

People hanging upside down from chains over fire. Fanatics gutting and eating.

Families tied down by chains, moving towards metal constructs that scooped everything out before tearing them in two.

But despite all of this, the victims had smiles on their faces.

Even if they scream from the pain, they smile with insanity in their eyes.

But…

Was it a scream or was it a laughter?

The more they listened and the more they watched, the more the two realised it was laughter and not screaming.

Without any hesitation, Ria created a bolt of lightning and threw it towards the fanatics. Before it could hit, she traded places and cut off the man’s head in an instant.

Right when they were about to call for intruders, Ria summoned her sword.

Raikiri!

*RUMBLE BANG!!!

Lightning whipped out, striking and slashing every fanatic with deadly precision.

However, as she retrieved her blade, a frown appeared on her face.

These weren’t the fanatics she was used to dealing with.

No… All of these fanatics were normal people.

They didn’t even notice that they were being attacked before dying.

Looking at the fresh blood leaking out of their charred bodies and onto the floor, Ria’s pupil trembled.

Why? Why would they choose this path?

Do they not see what they’re doing? The heretical actions? Why?

Why must they choose the Eclipse Cult? Out of all three gods, why this one?

Why are they content with performing these rituals?

Clutching her head, Ria gritted her teeth.

’The same reason why you did everything you did all~ those years ago. Maybe you started for survival…’ Ria’s own voice trailed off before echoing in her ear.

’But you started to enjoy it didn’t you?’

*BANG!!!

Slashing back out of instinct, Ria panted while Luke managed to grab her arm with the buffs present on his body. Stay connected through novelbuddy

Widening her eyes, Ria realised what had almost happened.

"I’m-"

"It’s alright." Luke shook his head before she could apologise.

Reaching forward, he covered her eyes with his palm.

"Focus."

There wasn’t anything else he needed to say. She simply needed to focus on her current self.

To not let the past drag her down.

Biting her lip, Ria took this moment to calm down.

"Better?" Luke smiled, removing his hand.

"Mnm, better." Ria nodded with a smile as they began to dismantle the machines one by one.

While dismantling the machines, Luke could feel that Ria was feeling awkward about what happened earlier.

He had to admit, he was surprised as well.

If he didn’t react fast enough to buff himself, he might’ve lost an arm.

However, he didn’t blame her.

Even though he wasn’t affected as badly as Ria was, he too was beginning to hear the call of the Eclipse. He could only imagine what Ria might be hearing.

Once the machines were dismantled, Ria wanted to go help the people still tied to it yet they didn’t say anything.

One by one, their smiles began to fade as tears streamed down their faces.

Before Ria could even try to comfort them, they lashed out, trying to bite and claw away at Ria.

"I was almost there! I was almost there! You took it from me!" They screamed as Ria jumped back, not wanting to hurt them.

However, the insanity in their eyes told her that they were long gone.

Anger rose in Ria’s heart.

Not towards these victims but to the Eclipse.

’That’s right, you gotta kill them don’t you? You’re granting them mercy and taking them out aren’t you?’ Her voice whispered in her ear as Ria’s hand hesitated.

But before she could make a move, an armour figure appeared next to her, slashing down with its greatsword and disposing of the victims that tried to lunge at Ria.

"Luke…" Ria muttered, glancing back and seeing Luke with his book open and several chess pieces floating above it.

"Take a break. I’ll handle things for a bit, alright?" He gave her a comforting smile as Ria sighed and nodded.

As it stood, she was in no state to deal with this. If she wasn’t careful, she might attack Luke without even knowing. Just like how she did earlier…

###

Looking at the stumbling body of the masked figure, Alyss was a little disappointed.

She thought that she would be able to refine more of her martial arts with this opportunity but the durability couldn’t keep up.

So far, she was only able to complete the footwork and two martial attacks. An attack to break the defences by crushing their point of stability while the second was a combination of different principles to send a strike through the defence rather than breaking it.

Both had their own uses in different scenarios but perfecting these two led to the severe drop in durability for the masked figure.

It couldn’t even execute the footwork with the countless cracks across its body.

"Tsk, I got excited for nothing." Alyss spat out in annoyance as she cracked her neck and entered an offensive stance.

Pulling her arm back, she rushed forward with Phantom Shift and slammed her fist against the figure’s chest.

Before it could even be thrown back, cracks appeared across its body as a hole was blown open in its chest.

Collapsing on the ground, the masked figure began to sizzle and smoke, revealing the puppet beneath the clothing.

’Don’t be so sour. At least you managed to finish the footwork and two punching methods.’ Alice cheered.

’Yeah but how long is the rest going to take?’ Alyss was annoyed.

She wanted to finish this as soon as possible.

That way, if danger was to come their way, Alice could deal with the casting part while she dealt with the physical.

That was her way of protecting the two of them.

She didn’t want to keep waiting.

’There’s still the main tournament. And honestly, if things do get a little out of hand, we could always mess around with the Church of the Sun. They were the ones who taught us about the zone in the first place no?’ Alice reassured.

Out of everyone, the Apostles belonging to Solaris had some of the strongest Martial prowess Alice had ever seen and that was hundreds of years ago.

Who knows what they could do now?

Thinking about it for a moment, Alyss let out a sigh and reluctantly nodded her head.

Handing over control to Alice, she left to familiarise herself with the new techniques.

Leaving the chamber, Alice waited for Jin to finish.

With all three tests now complete, it was now onto the main tournament. There were a few surprises in the records but none that really kept her attention. She couldn’t get a full understanding from just numbers and words.

She needed to see it herself to understand.

Example being, someone struggling to achieve 1 minute survival and someone giving up at 1 minute because they were bored are very different.

Yet they both say 1 minute.

There was also another thing that Alice was concerned about. The unknown person that controlled the arrows and spears during the first test.

She had a sinking feeling that it was probably the sect master of this place. Otherwise who else would be able to perfectly pinpoint the gaps in their Absolute Zone?

It’s not a case of simply being faster either. It was accurate and with clear intension.

If their enemy was indeed the sect leader of a Sovereign sect with the state of Unity then it won’t be an easy fight.

But just because it’s not an easy fight doesn’t mean Alice was willing to back down. If anything, it gave her more motivation.

It all depends on the stance that they want to take.