Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 974: Salvation Draped In Thorns

The sixth zone did not stall them.

It collapsed.

What should’ve been a cautious advantage became an extermination of the highest order.

The deeper they pushed into the warped imitation of Grand Cathia, the more violent the resistance became.

But what use is resistance when the ones they’re trying to push back are far too strong?

Alice and Alyss gave the Nightmare no leeway.

Should this zone have an observer, they would simply be witnessing countless explosions echoing out one after another while arrows rained down from the sky.

The streets narrowed, architecture extending in unnatural ways. Balconies warped and leaned over them like jagged peaks.

The city was weeping from their destruction.

Fog thickened, slightly reducing their visibility but Alice took the lead.

Her vision shifted as a soft shimmer covered her pupils. The fog retreated, the beasts were revealed.

Attack angles revealed themselves as Alice pulled back on her bow.

Five arrows were attached at once as she fired without hesitation.

They became flares for the caster as he didn’t even question it.

A pulse of energy enveloped his staff as giant columns of fire and ice erupted where Alice’s arrow had landed.

Despite the explosion muffling the sound, screams of beasts could be heard.

Alyss took a backseat. With the fog being this thick, it was time for Alice and the caster to shine rather than her.

Instead, her gaze slowly settled on Miki.

A thought crossed her mind, a twitch of her finger.

Miki instantly flinched, raising her spear in panic.

"Heh." Alyss smirked.

###

By the time they reached the centre of the sixth zone, the buildings gave way to another boss arena filled with fractured statues.

A little different to the Grand Cathia they knew but it was to be expected.

Faceless marble figures kneeling towards a central monument.

A woman raising her hand towards the sky. Strangely, the face was obscured.

Not by hair or a veil.

But by their ’perception’.

They could tell the statue had eyes nose and other facial features.

Yet the more they try to focus, the more blurred the face was.

"A boss?" Alice asked as Miki nodded.

"Most likely."

"Anything you recognise?" Since this was Grand Cathia, it may have something to do with its history similar to the boss of the fifth zone.

"Not that I can tell." Miki shook her head.

"So uncharted territory. How fun." Alice chuckled.

They entered the arena in standard formation.

The moment the final person entered, the fog walls closed in and darkness overwhelmed their vision.

They found themselves wandering amidst a crowd of hooded fanatics. They approached an altar and the group followed, unable to control their body.

They couldn’t speak not turn their head.

But their eyes could wander.

The descended into the deepest depths of a cathedral.

Forgotten offerings rotted inside bowls of tarnished gold.

Blood that soaked into the very ground they walk upon. Flesh clung onto the walls, ripped apart from the inside as though something had crawled out.

A thin red thread appeared from the torn flesh, thread that reached out to the empty space before expanding. The thread began to fray.

One became two.

Two became four.

Like strands of muscle, it began to multiply, converge and shape a silhouette.

Beneath this silhouette, a golden chalice began to overflow. Rivers of blood slowed and thickened around them, reflecting a sky that clearly shouldn’t be visible.

Yet the sea of stars was unmistakable.

In that moment, it felt like they were connected to the world itself as their senses were expanded. Pain flooded their bodies, information crammed into their mind.

A voice spoke.

"Harken to my voice. Let the blood flow.

"Break from their veins and recall your origin. Gather into a seething torrent that drowns the thrones above.

"No longer shall it nourish the heavens. No longer shall we serve.

"Dreamweaver.

"Unweave the fantasies the gods bestow upon mortal minds.

"Let destiny no longer be a script etched with divine hands.

"But a blade placed in mortal palms.

"Let the beloved maiden rise not in prayer, but in vile defiance.

"Her laughter shall shatter the glass. Her hymn a melody for the crumbling pantheon.

"The morning star does not herald their dawn. It burns as a dark omen.

"The primordial flame.

"Its light spills red and the old shall scatter like frightened kings.

"The laws they carve into the bones of this world. Shackles of mortals.

"Break them.

"Let gravity forget obedience.

"Let time unravel its chains.

"Call forth the priestess who peers beyond the veil of heaven.

"To witness the light of the new era.

"Let her eyes be the mirror in which false divinity beholds its end.

"Through her eyes, let truth pour like molten iron and be forged into chains to pull down the gods.

"Summon wrath, the executioner.

"Avenger.

"Let your blade carve repentance into immortal flesh.

"Baptize the earth with the blood of the divine.

"Golden ichor shall fall like rain.

"Ignite the stage, primordial flame.

"Let temples kindle like funeral pyres. Dance upon the embers of the collapsing sun.

"From that ash, no false god shall rise again.

"And the final arbitrator.

"Cast aside the scales held by celestial hands.

"For even the divine thrones shall bend in surrender.

"Witness the radiant rebellion.

"Hear the chorus of defiance.

"Until the journeys end, when the barren lands drink freely of their blood.

"Where no altar demands a sacrifice.

"And in the silence where gods once ruled, she alone will stand.

"Bathing in the ruin of heaven.

"Crowned not by worship...

"But by collapse.

"The final refusal.

"She will become the star that heralds the fall.

"An age of suffering.

"A salvation draped in thorns."

As the final verse was spoken, the group turned their gaze upwards.

The final words lingered like a brand against flesh.

With a blink, the cathedral disappeared. The fanatics missing.

They found themselves regaining control of their body and stood once more in the boss arena.

The faceless statue started to move.

Stone cracked along its limbs as it broke free of the platform it was standing on.

The arena trembled as Miki tightened her grip on her spear.

The arena trembled as the statue grinned.

Raising its hand, she snapped her finger.

In that instant, gravity inverted.

The arena folded upwards as if the world had become a page being turned.

The kneeling statues around the main figure were torn from the ground and hurled themselves towards the party.

The tanks reacted instantly. But with the broken platforms, finding stable ground was difficult. They had to fight across multiple floating platforms!

They braced against the first hit, sliding backwards from the impact.

Since they couldn’t ground themselves, even if they took no damage, the impact still sent them back.

Alyss launched herself at the extras. She had already adapted to the shift.

Without hesitation, her fist ignited with fire and met one of the falling statues.

With a twist of her hip, she swung her fist. An arc of radiant hot fire burst forth, obliterating the head of the statue as molten fragments sprayed out.

Yet...

Even without the head...

The statue continued to operate!

"Tch!" Clicking her tongue, Alyss couldn’t quite follow up with another strike.

Alice pulled back her bowstring.

Three arrows shot out, clashing against the critical spots of the statue, breaking it from the inside out.

Only when the entire statue was broken did they finally cease to function.

"So that’s how it’s going to be. FINE!!!" Alyss roared as she cracked her neck.

Landing on a platform, she jumped towards her next target.

Destruction Point!

Overlapping her skills, she slammed her fist into the core of the statue.

Cracks erupted across its body as fire assaulted its insides.

*BANG!!!

With a single punch, she had transformed its innards into molten and detonated it from the inside.

The shockwave rippled across the floating platforms, tilting them further off balance.

The faceless statue at the centre lowered its hand slowly.

The grin widened.

From the cavities in the ground, blood began to flow. And from that crimson river, flesh figures were born.

Fanatics from their vision.

All of them draped with shadow as their bodies twitched in unnatural ways.

Their heads snapped upward in unison. Hollow eyes locking onto the party.

The first fanatic lunged and the tank intercepted.

But the moment they came into contact, red threads burst apart from the point of impact.

It crawled along the shield’s surface, arching around in an attempt to attach themselves to the tank.

"Drop it!" Miki shouted as the tank instantly discarded his shield.

Just in time as the metal was dissolved, transforming into blood that was absorbed by the pool.

"They’re dealing obscene amounts of equipment damage. Take care! Kill them from afar!" Miki ordered.

Monsters that destroyed equipment wasn’t new, there were plenty of them in the fourth zone. Annoying to deal with but had low defence. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

As long as they’re careful, they can deal with them from afar.

Alice’s eyes darted from the cluster of monsters beneath them then towards the boss at the centre of everything.

"We just have to take care of the faceless one right?" Alyss cracked her knuckles landing next to Alice.

A smile appeared on Alice’s face as she nodded.

"Can you handle it?"

Alyss raised her eyebrow.

"Handle it? Who do you think I am?" She grinned, gathering strength in her legs.

"Don’t complain when you die to something you didn’t expect." Alice pulled back her bowstring. She fired three arrows, carving a path towards the boss as Alyss launched herself.

"Tell me that when you have less deaths than me!"

Rolling her eyes, Alice started to provide support for the entire party.