Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 930: A Life Lesson

Travelling across Extalia, the group came across a few travelling caravans but they didn’t seem to be the talkative type.

If anything, they were on guard against them.

On guard against a small group of two people and two puppet like figures.

Even with the guards following the caravan, they seemed ready to draw their weapon if Alice or Elias was to do anything suspicious.

"Do you think they were transporting illegal goods or something? They were a bit too tense." Elias wondered curiously.

This kind of cautiousness was rarely seen without good reason.

Either they want to protect something or...

They were afraid.

"They weren’t transporting anything dangerous. I scanned it earlier. It was just provisions and standard wares. If anything, they were scared of what we might do to them." Alice shook her head.

She was already beginning to see the effects of the Nightmare realm on the civilians.

She was strong already, so was Elias. The ’rewards’ they felt from the realm was limited.

But civilians who were weak before? The power will most likely get to their head and they become dangerous individuals with power.

And such acts would naturally put the others in a state of cautiousness.

"When everyone is scared and cautious, it essentially becomes a pile of gunpowder. One misunderstanding, one wrong move and it’ll ignite the whole batch. I don’t know if it’s their intention but the Nightmare is certainly doing a good job of implanting fear into their hearts." Cayla spoke up.

"And with such fear, if a God like figure was to appear, their faith will also be heightened."

"So it’s all foundational work for his goal then." Alice guessed while looking up at where the crimson moon had been earlier.

"Possibly."

Continuing down the path towards Grand Cathia, for the first time...

Alice was being robbed.

". . ."

Even Elias paused from his experiments as this was a new one for him.

He could comprehend the mutation of blood yet this... absurdity was beyond him.

Four men and a woman blocked the road ahead. Mask hiding their appearance under a hood as they glared at the duo with killing intent.

Alice could see the Sigils above their heads. All of them were averaging around one or two Sigils. But if they have the guts to do this... they must’ve been rather powerful in the Nightmare. Enough where they think this was an acceptable risk.

Immediately projecting the true scale of her Zone, everything within the area was captured by her senses and she noticed one more hiding far away.

’So six in total.’

’Gonna take them out?’ Alyss asked curiously.

’Depends on the harm they’ve done. If they’ve killed before then the answer is obvious. If you’re going to kill, be prepared to be killed. But if they’re simply drunk off their power and have yet to cross that line, a harsh lesson wouldn’t be bad either.’ Alice shrugged.

She was cold and didn’t care about killing. But that didn’t mean she was a monster that’ll kill wantonly.

They have to be either going after her life or have killed others.

Elias was about to speak when Alice leaned against the carriage with a confident smile.

"Are you sure you want to do this, brat? I know you’re thinking things are different now thanks to the Nightmare, but doing all of... this? It’s a little stupid when you can’t gauge the power of your opponents." Alice rested her chin on her palm.

"I’m not playing around with you. Drop your sh*t now!" The leader warned, aiming his spear at Alice’s face.

"I wouldn’t do that lad. Don’t aim a weapon at a woman’s face. Especially when the woman is the girl in front of you." Elias spoke nonchalantly while resuming his experiment.

To them, this was simply amusement.

But to the people trying rob Alice and Elias, they were beginning to lose their patience.

"Let me ask you one thing." Alice flicked her finger, knocking the spear away from her face for now.

"Have any of you taken a life before? Killed a person under your mercy. Soak your hands in their blood."

Narrowing her eyes, Alice let a bit of her blood thirst leak out as the leader was clearly shaken.

Seeing this, Alice couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. They were still babies who had their first taste of power. If left alone, they’ll either fester into a cancer that cares not for killing or become a victim of their own actions.

Standing up, Alice hopped off the carriage.

"I’ll take that silence as a no. Let’s see..." Alice mumbled.

Flicking her finger, a portal was opened next to her as she reached in.

"ARGH!!! Let go of me!"

Dragging out the person who was hiding from afar, Alice tossed them towards the group who quickly caught the girl.

"That’s all of you. Now come on, do you still want to fight or are you going to behave like good children?" Alice smirked.

She flicked her finger, asking whether or not they wanted to fight.

"Children? I’m pretty sure they’re older than you." Suyin spoke up while Alice shrugged.

"They’re pretty much children to me, don’t you agree? Harmless children that can’t hurt me at all." Alice chuckled.

Now that she had gathered them all, it was now time for the ’lesson’. A lesson that’ll stop them from repeating this kind of thing.

Taking a step towards the group, blood erupted from Alice’s feet as it turned into a cage that prevented them from running.

Allowing her killing intent to seep out, she made sure it wasn’t enough to make them pass out.

If they passed out, her lesson would go to waste after all.

The group paled.

This kind of pressure, they recalled their first night in the Nightmare.

When everything seemed impossibly strong.

Cracking her fingers, Alice disappeared from her spot. Reappearing behind the group, she grabbed one of the men from behind and punched him in the gut.

*BANG!!!

Crashing into the ceiling of the blood cage, his body was suspended by blood chains as his intestines started to hang out.

The group was soaked in his blood and fear invaded their mind.

With bloodshot eyes, the leader lunged at Alice who pinched the spear tip and snapped it in half.

Disappearing from his view, she grabbed two others and slammed their heads together, crushing it into paste before tossing their bodies aside.

With three dead and three left, Alice licked her lips.

The leader should be left last.

As for the girls...

"H-help me!"

"I don’t want to die!"

Clapping her hands together, Alice summoned two blood maws that slammed shut around the girls.

One of them reached out towards the leader as her arm was severed.

The limb slapped against the leader’s chest as his knees buckled.

In a few short moments, he watched his friends die one after the other.

"And now it’s just you." Alice crouched in front of the guy.

Curving her lips into a smile, she placed her hand in front of his head...

And flicked.

*BANG!!!

"ARGH!!!" Crying out in a panic, he touched his head several times as cold sweat covered his back.

For a moment, he could’ve sworn he felt his head explode from the flick.

Instead, he only felt a little sore on the forehead.

"Huh?" Looking around him, he saw the others clutching their bodies in pain while squirming on the floor.

The guy who had his guts ripped out was fine.

The two that had their heads destroyed? They only had small red marks.

Even the girls who were eaten by the blood maw simply had the air pushed out of their lungs from the impact. None of them died.

"What the..."

"That was a lesson, brat. This is the kind of people you could run into." Alice was still crouching in front of him with her cheeks resting on her palm.

"Lucky for you, I can make you ’feel’ like you experienced death and not actually suffer it. Ah but don’t let my illusions fool you. If I wanted to, I can make all those images a reality." Alice chuckled, snapping her finger as a surge of energy erupted from her body.

Above them, a singularity spun to life, threatening to consume everything in the area.

Waving her hand, Alice dismissed the singularity.

"So behave yourselves from now on okay? Either don’t use that power at all or use it to defend yourself when you’re in danger."

Giving his head two light pats, Alice stood up and wandered over back to the carriage.

With her blood mist, Alice made sure they felt the full fear of death, knowing that random people they try to rob could kill them within the blink of an eye.

Sure it may be traumatising but far better than actually dying. At least it’ll stop them from making stupid decisions in the future.

But even so...

Scratching her cheek, Alice’s smile twitched.

"Do you think I went a bit overboard? Maybe I could’ve gone with gentler deaths you know?" She glanced back.

Having them experience their guts pouring out might not be the best choice.

"It’s all the same to me. They would’ve felt their fair share of deaths in the Nightmare. The real question is whether or not that numbness to death returned. And considering one of them cried about how they don’t want to die, it should be fine." Elias shrugged.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice shrugged.

Regardless, they were beginning to see a slight hint of Grand Cathia in the distance.