Abyssal Awakening

"Did you pass out the moment you stepped through the door?" Selen asked with a frown.

"Hng… Perhaps…" Alice whimpered, wanting to throw up.

"How much did you even drink???"

"A lot…" Flipping her body around, Alice crawled onto her feet as she stunk of alcohol.

Grabbing some water, she began to gulp it down while Selen could only shake her head helplessly.

"Will you even be alright for today? You\'re a complete mess."

"I\'ll manage… HNG!!!" Grabbing a bowl by the side, Alice began to throw up as Selen covered her eyes while letting out an exasperated sigh. How much did Alice drink to make her throw up!?

Helping Alice after she threw up, the two made their way to the training grounds.

The moment they stepped into the vicinity, they felt a chill down their spine as a pair of eyes snapped towards their direction.

Seeing the source of the glare was Bo, Alice coughed awkwardly before turning around.

"Maybe I\'m not alright. Maybe I need an extra long break to get rid of the hangover." Alice forced a smile while trying to escape.

However, Bo was a step ahead of her. Literally.

*BANG!!!

Dashing from the other side of the training ground, he placed his hand on Alice\'s shoulder.

Veins bulged across his body as he looked like he was about to explode at any moment.

Taking the hint, Selen took a step back.

"Ahaha~ Captain, seems like you\'re pretty energetic today."

"It does seem that way, doesn\'t it? Say, you won\'t mind telling me how much you drank yesterday right? I\'m sure a sensible person like you didn\'t drink that much." Bo narrowed his eyes.

"Erm… teehee?" Alice stuck out her tongue.

*PUCHI!!!!

Holding back the urge to smack Alice on the head, Bo took several deep breaths to calm his anger.

"First of all, please tell me how a person can drink enough mead that the tavern charges me a WHOLE MONTH\'S WORTH OF WAGES!!!" Bo shouted, unable to hold back when he thought about the bill he received this morning.

To see all of that hard earned money disappear into her stomach was a stab to his heart!

In the end, Alice was punished by kneeling on the ground while wearing a sign saying:

[I\'m an alcoholic and I drank a month\'s worth of a captain\'s wages in one night.]

Naturally, with such a sign around her neck, eyes were turned towards her. They wondered if it was true or not but the moment they saw Bo\'s expression, they understood it was indeed true.

Which then only begs the question.

HOW?!?!?!

Blushing from embarrassment, Alice tried her best to ignore the stares but they were getting too much.

Waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, they noticed Alice\'s… strange predicament and couldn\'t help but chuckle.

Once Bo made sure everyone had arrived, he cleared his throat and gestured for people to take a seat on a bench while Alice remained on the floor repenting for her sins.

"New orders have come in. Half of the groups will be remaining at the outpost to keep it safe since the beast\'s movements are weird. The other half will be making their way towards the frontline to act as reinforcement. Guess which group we\'re in." Bo smiled.

"Are we the reinforcements?" Brynja asked curiously as Bo nodded his head.

"Yep. It\'s a little earlier than I would like but honestly, your performance is within the upper half of the groups. We\'ll be going as reinforcement for the frontline to help retake a strategic stronghold. That way, more supply lines should open up for us and reduce the burden of Kvia.

"Valkoria Bay, a port stronghold, unlike Kvia which is next to a lake. If we can retake the port, we\'ll be able to directly ship supplies from the capital and push back the dogs of Extalia. So far, it\'s being secured by a Grandmaster ranked Warrior of Extalia which is why we\'ll be working with other groups.

"All of you lot will be responsible for keeping the small fries from interfering or if they have any nasty rituals being cast. All of the captains will be responsible for taking out the Grandmaster." Bo explained as he pulled out a map and showed them where the port was.

Kvia was to the far south of the Northern Territory while the port was to the southwest. In terms of distance, it wasn\'t something that could be covered in a day meaning the outpost will lose half of its power for an extended period.

"We\'ll be going with standard formation. Get some proper weapons from the armoury that fit your fighting style. Yes, that includes you Alice. When we get close to the port, there will be a commanding officer coming to collect you since he\'ll be responsible for everyone that\'s not fighting the Grandmaster."

Letting them know when they\'ll be gathering by the gates, Bo allowed them to get their weapons.

Making her way to the armoury with Selen, Alice could see several groups looking nervous as this would be the first time they were properly standing on a battlefield.

If they weren\'t careful, they could die before they even saw what hit them. A blink and their life extinguished.

However, this didn\'t really bother Alice since she\'s been in situations far worse. Honestly, she would prefer to be on a battlefield like this than to fight against Lords and Gods as she has done before.

One wrong step and her journey would\'ve ended prematurely in the depths of the Inverted World.

Shaking her head, she ignored these nervous warriors and made her way to the section that dealt with bows.

Alice wanted to look for a crossbow rather than a bladed weapon or a standard bow. With her current physique, if she wanted to defend herself, a crossbow was the best option.

On top of the crossbow, she also wanted to grab some poisons for the bolts and a poison-coated dagger. That was the only way for Alice to be able to kill those stronger than her at this moment without being a burden.

\'Isn\'t our blood just the most potent poison right now anyway? One drop and their side effects go haywire. Though I\'m not sure how effective it is with your body in this state.\' Alyss asked as Alice scratched her chin.

\'We can probably test it on the battlefield then. But if we are going with this method, we should kill them in one go. Even if they\'re enemies, I\'d rather not them suffer while being turned into mutated beasts.\' Alice sighed as it was a method that Allura hated.

Nodding her head in agreement, Alyss watched as Alice browsed the different assortments of crossbows.

In the end, she chose a standard looking metal crossbow that was light in weight. It could hold two bolts at the same time and she could choose to fire it separately or at the same time.

Naturally, Alice received some weird looks since a crossbow wasn\'t something that was picked often. After all, a warrior could bring out more power through a bladed weapon or more range through a bow. While the crossbow was in the middle, not especially good at anything.

Ignoring these glances, Alice grabbed the weapon and strapped it to her waist while grabbing some bolts. She took a detour to see if she could buy any poisons but the supplies in the outpost consisted mostly of healing vials, berserk vials and buffing vials.

With no other choice, she waited till no one was looking at her and made three vials of her own blood. With three vials of Dreadhorn Ravager and three vials of her own blood, Alice was as ready as can be for this battle.

Reconvening with the rest of the group, Alice noticed that Selen had chosen a spear of all weapons.

Thinking back to what she did to the poor Necrothrax, Alice couldn\'t help but shiver and clench her butt instinctively.

Bjorn chose a short bow to keep by his side. Einar picked some armour options and Brynja chose a new shield.

With all of their equipment now checked, Bo nodded his head and brought them to the gate where all of the other teams could be spotted as well.

Alice even spotted Egil, which wasn\'t hard considering his stature, amongst the crowd of Warriors ready to depart the city.

Once everyone arrived, they did a final head out and began their journey to the port city.

###

Watching the large group of warriors leave Kvia, the silver haired man narrowed his gaze.

Based on the direction they were going, there were three potential targets.

Snapping his fingers, a scout landed next to him.

"Notify Valkoria, Ravenfjord and Stormhaven to tighten up their defences for a bit. It\'s very likely that Kvia is sending strong captains over to retake the land to reinforce the frontlines. Also let the others know to get ready.

Once you notify the three strongholds, we\'ll set out sights on Kvia and begin the plan." He curled his lips into a menacing grin as the scout nodded his head and disappeared.

The best way cut off the supply line is not to take over Kvia. No, the best way to cut off the supply line was to make it completely uninhabitable through a Abyss Break.

To lure a constant stampede of beasts to the surface. Once that happens, Verona would be pushed back. They either choose to focus more manpower on Kvia and force the frontline to retreat or they focus on the frontline and doom Kvia.

The choice was now theirs.