Abyssal Awakening

The fight between Alice and Jin lasted longer than usual. With both of them only focusing on the physical elements, it allowed them to get a rough understanding of where they were in terms of raw physical power.

In this regard, Alice understood that her new 'body' offered her far more agility than before but the power was roughly the same.

Meanwhile, Jin was durability and power. He also had speed but compared to Alice who was completely skewed towards speed, he was still lacking.

Alice had wanted to continue but their duel was cut short when a Void Hawk tore through the realm, landing on Alice's shoulder.

Seeing a letter attached to its ankle, Alice realised it must've been Darrow.

Giving Jin the break he needed, Alice sat down and read the message.

[Alice, how are you? In the short time we've parted, it seems like you haven't held back your troublemaking habits at all. Even when I'm not trying to track you down, my informants still had information about you.

[But demoness? That's a new high I didn't expect to see. A bounty placed on you by the Sovereign sects, impressive as always. But as you expected, I've sent this message because I've gotten some new information that might be useful for you.

[Attached to this letter is a map of where the strange merchant guild with the three eyes in the flame has been seen. They mostly operate in the north of Sikha, away from the battlefield in the south. However, there has been ships going between the two sides. Presumably transporting the shipments they need before sending it out to the rest of the world.

[I'm already having parts of my fleet track down the remaining shipments with some help of our dear Cardinal who assigned some people to us. With his authority, he provided us with experienced guards that can help us deal with their strange regeneration.

[Aside from the movements of the Merchants, there have also been rumours spreading in the south. Demonic rituals, missing people and even strange anomalies where dark blood would appear in parts of the desert and so on. I can only assume that these two are connected after considering what we know about Eldritch energy. On the map, I've marked down where these rumours originated from so you might want to take a look if you wish.

[Darrow.]

Placing the letter on the table, there was a sombre expression on Alice's face as she glanced at the map.

As Darrow had stated, he had marked down every movement that he's tracked so far with a key on the side, telling her what the marks mean.

To put it bluntly, an obscene amount of shipments have left the ports. If all of them were the same level as what she had to face when she was with Darrow and Tristan, then there's a chance that there would be trouble in the North.

'Selen and Egil. . . They can probably hold their own. As for killing the Outer God's minions, that'll have to rely on Caera and the other Lords there.' Alice frowned.

Even though they can deal with it, unfortunately they were only few against the many. They'll struggle to cover all of the potential attack locations unless they were to have the cities retreat back.

But if they do, Extalia would no doubt take this chance to attack.

Alice knew that Nyer had some hand in this. After all, inside her body was the very same energy that flowed through these Outer Gods.

There's no telling whether or not the Zenia family is involved in this.

If they were, when combined with the Hybrids, a new twisted army would be formed.

Contemplating in silence, Alice concluded that it's better to deal with the source than it was to focus on the symptoms. If she cuts off the source of this. . . production, she'll stop the spread.

Tapping her finger against the table, she began to write down the information that she discovered.

The movement of the Outer Gods, understanding of their powers, hosts of these gods and so on. She didn't hold back at all and wrote down everything she knew and what Cayla had told her.

Thinking about it for a moment, Alice also decided to let Darrow know of her plans going forward.

She wanted to investigate the South on the Cult's movements since there's no doubt they're tied up with the Outer Gods.

The only issue is where does she want to start.

'I suppose meeting Suyin shouldn't be put off any longer. It seems like her inventions are handy for travelling.' Alice concluded.

Finishing her letter, Alice tied it onto the Void Hawk's ankle and watched it flicker through the realm.

"What was that? Letter from a secret admirer?" Jin asked curiously as he sat down opposite her. However, Alice simply flicked him on the head, causing him to recoil back.

"Nope. Just contacting a person that I know. He's given me some more information on the movement of the Merchants and the Cult." Alice pushed the map towards Jin, allowing him to see the information that Darrow had gathered.

Seeing all of this, Jin's expression turned dark as the scale was beyond what he initially predicted.

He knew that after the coup, there's no doubt that they'd make full use of the Cult's resources. But on this scale? It was practically a life or death gamble with everything on the line.

They didn't think about the future at all. If this fails, the cult's done for.

"All the nodes around the coast are being handled by my friend. Our job is to investigate these rumours in the South. But before that, I need to meet Suyin so her inventions will stop blowing up the moment I touch them." Alice explained as Jin nodded his head.

In order for them to meet Suyin, they needed to go to the region of Fusha. The third and closest region to the southern battlefront. They were responsible for keeping the beasts away as well as the Cult out of the North.

Granted, it wasn't perfect since the Cult can still infiltrate but they keep the main army at bay.

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight. I'll also need to talk to Sect Leader Jian since I need some of his blood. Or maybe Old Man Mo might be better." Alice mused.

With Sect Leader Jian taking some damage thanks to the ritual, she wasn't sure if she'd get the full use out of his blood. Old Man Mo on the other hand, seemed unphased.

Though trying to get him to give his blood willingly was…

Packing up her stuff, Alice had Jin follow her as she made her way to the Sect Leader's tent.

"Yahoo~" Alice greeted, pushing open the tent as Sect Leader Jian glanced over in surprise.

"Back so soon?"

"Yep. I'll be going on a little trip down to the south now so just coming here to say goodbye. I'm also going to share some information that I just got from a friend of mine." Alice grinned.

However, Sect Leader Jian couldn't help but shiver seeing this grin.

This feeling… It felt as though he was talking to a merchant that was about to rob him blind.

Pulling out the map, Alice told them everything Darrow told her and Old Man Mo listened silently by the side.

The more she said, the deeper his frown became.

"It's as you say, this is no time to be sitting around." Old Man Mo concluded.

"If the Cult is involved with these merchants, then we need to create a more rigorous checkpoint by the southern border immediately."

"Old friend, you're in no condition to fight. Why not send a message instead?" Sect Leader Jian suggested, knowing that his old friend has been pushing himself in order to keep him alive.

"Do you really think those disciples of mine can deal with something on this scale?" Old Man Mo frowned.

Sect Leader Jian wanted to refute but stopped since it was the truth.

A movement on the scale of this size wasn't something the Disciples could handle easily.

"While you arrange that, why don't we talk about helping each other?" Alice smiled, causing Old Man Mo to furrow his brows.

"What do you want?" Sect Leader Jian interrupted before Old Man Mo could argue.

"Oh nothing much. Just some of his blood." Alice pointed to Old Man Mo.

A vein bulged on his forehead as his aura began to climb.

"Over my dead bo-"

"Why do you need the blood? I noticed that you extracted some of mine along with his during our fight?" Sect Leader Jian asked curiously.

"It just helps me fight against stronger opponents. Lord blood is the best I can ask for. Can't tell you the details though." Alice shrugged.

Observing Alice for a moment, Sect Leader Jian nodded his head.

"Old fr-"

"F*ck off! I'm not giving her my blood." Old Man Mo crossed his arms in annoyance.

Letting her go without a fight was already generous from him. Yet she's now wanting his blood?! Who knows what the hell she was going to do with it. What if she wanted to use it as part of a ritual?

"There is nothing in this world that can convince me to give her my blo-"

"Do you happen to have some good alcohol on you? He's a sucker for them." Sect Leader Jian looked over to Alice who already reached into her pouch.

"You better compensate me for this." Alice clicked her tongue.

She wanted to get his blood for free but clearly that wasn't going to be possible.

"Who do you think I am? Do you really think I'll give you my blood over mere alcohol-"

Opening the bottle, Alice allowed the fragrance to fill the room.

Rare Ayrian Mead that couldn't be made anymore.

"No more than a vial."

Alice couldn't even react before the bottle left her hand and Old Man Mo already had his arm out.

Her smile twitched furiously as this man was saying one thing but doing another.

However, since he was offering, she wasn't going to hold back.

One vial? Alright.

But he never said the size.