Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 959: Nightmare Summoning

Alyss had a frown on her face while looking at the boss in front of her.

It didn’t advance.

It didn’t need to.

The thing filled a majority of this arena simply by existing. A writhing mass of eyes and gnashing maws layered atop one another.

Each eye rolled independently, swivelling in its socket before focusing on Alyss.

Within this mass, there stood a single boy wearing black from head to toe.

A mourning suit.

There was a hollow look in his eyes. Despite mumbling to himself, the words couldn’t be heard.

Alyss exhaled slowly.

*RUMBLE!!!

Flames burst out of her arms as all of the eyes locked onto her.

No matter how she punched and kicked the mass of eyes and maws, the boss didn’t seem to take damage.

There was only one target left...

The boy.

Alyss flexed her fingers once, twice. Sparks dancing with each movement.

Adjusting her stance, Alyss narrowed her eyes.

*BANG!!!

Her figure shot forward like a bullet as shadows twitched and lunged after her.

Pivoting on her heels, Alyss slammed her fist into a mass of darkness, punching a hole through it.

Even though she couldn’t ’harm’ the shadow, the shadow was struggling to keep up with her as well.

Her eyes darted.

Teeth appeared on the ground around her.

Stomping down with her foot, the floor fractured as she slammed her fist against the shadows, dispersing them before they can gather.

"Tch! What a pain!" Alyss complained.

At this rate, she’ll get tired before she can kill this thing.

Narrowing her eyes, Alyss did a slight hop before closing the gap as much as she could.

However, the eyes were firmly locked onto her movements.

It would be no exaggeration to say that this boss had everything in its sights!

Alyss was about to prepare a counter attack when she noticed a few of the eyes turning away from her.

This opportunity...

Something or rather, someone has entered this arena!

A grin appeared on her face.

*RUMBLE!!!

Flames erupted from her fists before being condensed. The world around her started to lose colour as she spotted a single trace of red within this monochrome world.

The boy’s heart!

Tightening her fist, Alyss lunged forward.

Destruction Point!

Pale Lance!

From above, two weapons crafted from energy shot down, piercing the darkness and creating an open path for Alyss.

Without any obstacles, without any interruption, Alyss blitzed forward.

The boy stumbled back in shock but before any of its tendrils could land against Alyss, a figure intercepted with a rapier, pushing it aside.

*BANG!!!

With a single punch, Alyss’s fist ripped through the boss’s torso as its figure faded to ash.

Without even looking at the rewards, Alyss held up her hand.

"Hehe~ Seems like I saved you from racking up another death." Alice grinned, spinning around and high fiving Alyss.

"Maybe. But I still have less deaths than you even though I’m in the third zone. Aren’t you kinda falling behind?" Alyss smirked.

It was a different feeling, seeing Alice despite being the one in control of her own body.

It was one thing to see each other in the mental realm but the Nightmare realm was like a second reality.

"Wha! You can’t blame me for that. Have you see the kind of monsters I have to deal with? Plus, how do they even calculate your base stats? Mine was f*cking terrible!" Alice grumbled.

"Yeah yeah, just blame it on the realm. As if you weren’t careless enough and racked up the deaths on your own." Alyss dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Picking up the loot the boss dropped, she quickly synchronised herself with the branch while Alice did the same.

Closing her eyes, Alice tried to feel for the distance between her zone and Alyss’s.

"Jeez you are FARRRR. There was no chance of us even bumping into each other if not for this." Alice mumbled.

"Welp good news is that I can come here whenever I want now." She opened her eyes.

"And the bad news?" Alyss raised an eyebrow.

"Bad news is that I have no clue how to drag you along with me. I only know that I can teleport, not sure if it applies to you or not." Alice let out a sigh.

"Maybe we can use the summoning signs then. There are some in the shop not far from here. I’m not sure how it links up properly though." Alyss suggested.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice had an idea but needed to see the signs to be sure.

Following Alyss, they made their way to the Nightmare store just outside the boss arena.

"Why the hell are there two of you." The cat responsible for the shop blinked his eyes, rubbing it to make sure he wasn’t seeing double.

"Don’t worry about it. I’m here to buy stuff anyways. If there is an issue, the guide will step in, right?" Alyss tapped the counter.

The cat stared at Alyss before looking at Alice who gave him a slight wave.

"Meh. Alright, what do you want to buy?" He yawned.

This was none of his business. His only job is to sell wares, nothing more nothing less.

Going above what he’s paid to do simply wasn’t his style.

In fact... was he even paid at all?

The cat furrowed his brows before shrugging. That was for future him to figure out.

Displaying his wares, he watched as Alyss picked out some chalk.

"This is the summoning sign thing right? How does it work?" Alyss asked curiously.

"You eat it." The cat responded.

Both Alice and Alyss froze.

You eat... the chalk?

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes." The cat nodded, brushing his fur.

"You don’t have to eat it all at once. Break it into small chunks. It’s got a bit of a dusty texture but once you smack your lips a few times it’s pretty alright. Not my go to snack though."

Alyss’s smile twitched.

"I’m f*cking with you. Just write your name on the ground. Once done, the chalk will disappear from your hand. Once you do that, someone else will be able to call for you once they find your writing." He yawned while Alyss held back the urge to smack this cat on the head.

"What if I want to summon others?" Alyss asked.

"You eat the chalk."

"Now now, let’s be serious for a second please." Alice forced a chuckle while pulling Alyss back, stopping her from hitting the cat.

"I’m not f*cking with you this time. To summon others, you draw a circle then eat a bit of the chalk. It’ll give you the widest range of detection for the people you want to summon. Of course, you can also just write your own name in the circle but the detection range is much smaller." The cat replied nonchalantly.

"I see... Okay, thank you." Alice smiled.

She figured it was probably to connect her to the ’network’ housing these summoning signs.

Bidding farewell to cat, they bought a few chalk pieces and stepped away.

"You should’ve just let me hit him." Alyss huffed.

"It’s fine~ He told us how to increase the range after all. Shall we give it a try?" Alice chuckled, drawing a circle on the ground.

Breaking off two small pieces of the chalk, she offered one to Alyss who grimaced.

"I’d rather you give me a spicy skewer than a literal piece of chalk. But what do I know?"

"Bottoms up." Alice grinned, tossing the piece into her mouth.

She was immediately hit with the dusty taste as her mouth dried up in an instant.

Yet before she could even voice her complaints, she felt a connection being formed between her and the circle.

"Pui pui! F*ck he wasn’t lying!" Alyss coughed, wiping some of the dust from her tongue in disgust.

Immediately, they noticed a few names around them. The question now is whether or not Alyss’s name will show up when she tries to summon her in the next zone.

Thinking for a moment, she started to experiment.

She had Alyss write down her own name while Alice quickly teleported back to her own zone using the branch.

Even though they weren’t in the same zone, as long as she had the general idea of the coordinates, it should work.

Kneeling by a circle she drew next to the snow covered branch, she tossed another piece into her mouth and closed her eyes.

There were no summon signs around her. Why would there be? This was the second zone after all. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

However...

Within this weave, she looked for the coordinates around Alyss and found a single name waiting to be tapped into.

Without hesitation, Alice formed a connection and fog began to roll in.

Branching off from the circle, Alyss’s silhouette appeared as she looked around her in confusion.

"A little weird but not too bad I guess. Real question is how much chalk you have to eat if you want to summon multiple of us." Alyss folded her arms.

"Hmm... I think I can use this a few more times without eating more. I wouldn’t want to make a habit out of this after all." Alice stuck out her tongue with a bitter smile.

Chalk paste was stuck on the surface as she wiped it off.

"Once I find Cayla, I’ll give her some of the chalk so I can summon her later. We’ll meet up in the Grand Cathia zone okay?"

Alyss smiled.

"Don’t keep me waiting for too long."

Dismissing the connection, Alice watched as Alyss’s silhouette faded away.

Now that summoning was confirmed, it’s time for them to sort out Grand Cathia’s Nightmare.