Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 874

Capítulo 874: Temporary Retreat

Back at the tavern, the duo quickly packed up their things. It’s not like they had a lot to begin with so it wasn’t much of a hassle.

“How do you think it’s even possible? Modifying the realm to such an extent and even weaving in new laws? My body is now stronger than what it was in the realm. Even if I died a lot, I can still remember the fighting style bestowed onto me.” Elias asked while sorting through everything.

“I assume having something stitch together the dreams of many would cause that kind of effect.” Alice shrugged.

The… composition of the realm confused her as well.

Even for places like the Void, the rules are loosely tied and copied most of the rules in the Abyss and Surface. All three worked harmoniously and they could freely travel between them.

But the Nightmare realm…

It was different. Far too different.

Alice creased her brows.

While some of it could be chalked up to the fact that several dreams were combined, it only makes the situation worse.

How do so many dreams have the same direction? How did they all synchronise with one concept?

What she expected of a dream created from the collective was something more akin to what she felt when entering.

That maelstrom of confusion and rapidly flickering scenery. Random rules that had no correlation at all.

That’s the kind of dream she expected rather than this… mimicry of the Abyss.

There was no doubt an underlying goal for this realm.

Was it the Zenia family?

Did they have the capabilities to pull this level of stunt?

‘They have the manpower and influence. But power… I doubt it.’ Alice sighed inwardly.

And if that was the case… the only one left who could possibly pull off an experiment of this scale.

[Nyer.]

‘Mnm. The… sudden collapse of the North, I think we can’t deny the fact that his actions are becoming bolder and bolder by the day. He’s making leaps and bounds in his research.’ Alice nodded with a slight frown.

When Nyer was unsure, his actions were subdued and hard to notice.

But with movements of this scale in multiple places, one could only wonder what he was doing.

‘Even if it’s Nyer, isn’t he moving a bit too fast? How is he covering this much space across the world?’ Alyss furrowed her brows.

Alice could teleport to the nodes she left behind but doing so still took time and energy.

‘I think he’s using something else other than teleporting. But I guess there’s no use in dwelling on this. It’s not like he’s here to answer our questions to begin with.’ Alice shook her head.

Checking in on the hybrid head, Alice made sure it was still holding up well enough against the Void.

And surprisingly, with the head’s durability, it was adapting well and resisting the mutations.

‘Seems like this one is a new gen after all. They’re definitely testing out ways of recreating my blood.’ Alice theorised. This level of adaptation was similar to her’s only slightly weaker.

The recent hybrids that she’s seen… They’re mimicking her powers one by one.

If they can’t do it all at once, they decided to split her power into categories.

‘Do you think they’re looking for samples that mimic your power so that they can merge them all together in the end? Similar to the new vials of blood with the new catalyst.’ Alyss suggested.

Thinking about it, Alice nodded her head.

It was a logical and possible reason to everything they’ve seen.

‘But wouldn’t that catalyst act as a parasite like it did with my blood?’

[If they can make it, I assume they have a method of adjusting it. And even if they can’t, we can’t rule out the possibility of them looking for a method of adjusting the catalyst.]

Zenia family, Nyer, both were huge headaches with their plans for the world.

Then there were also people ‘belonging’ to the Nightmare realm like Monika and Karina. Both of them had unfamiliar goals and purposes that Alice couldn’t pinpoint.

And with Karina being a member of the Underground…

‘Her access to information is pretty worrying. Especially if she’s working for this new realm.’

Making their way to the gateway towards the Abyss, Alice waited with Elias.

During this time, Alice took extra care to observe the shadows of those who walk past her. To see if its missing or if the shape has changed.

But everything seemed ‘normal’ to some degree. If she had to say one thing, it’ll be that the outline was rather blurred. If everyone’s shadow was blurred, it wouldn’t be an issue.

However, her own, Elias and a few others had clear distinct shadows meaning it wasn’t a natural phenomenon caused by the sun.

After eating the medicine given by the woman, it seemed to have ‘undone’ some of Elias’ deaths as his shadow recovered.

Alice wanted to keep some of the medicine to test what it was and why it could do this, but there was a note inside the package specifically asking for everything to be ingested.

Leaving any may cause the effects to change or not take effect at all.

“Coming and going in the span of a day. What a hassle.” Elias adjusted his sleeve while looking at the giant queue in front of them.

“Can’t be helped. There are too many questions I want to ask and we might as well look for a reporter or something in the Abyss. They probably know more about what’s happening yet we haven’t seen a single article.”

“Do you think they’re being silenced?” Elias asked curiously.

“Doubt it. Do you think they would go after that many people? How do you even verify they’re reporters in the first place? And if you kill too many of them, people will naturally notice the issue.” Alice shook her head.

The likelihood of this happening was far too low.

Once they were at the gateway, they paid the toll and stepped into the ‘shuttle’.

Stepping in, Alice could see the movement of energy, the protective layer that prepared them for transport.

But watching this, she felt slightly sick on the inside. A feeling that disappeared as quick as it had appeared.

Yet the issue was feeling this kind of sensation to begin with.

She didn’t have this issue when travelling to the country from the Abyss. So why as it happening now? Her body was fine without major modifications.

Unless…

‘Did my actions in the Nightmare realm cause this sickness?’

Alice glanced over to Elias. His face was a little pale as he too frowned at the situation. He wanted to investigate his own condition but with the shuttle about to activate, it wasn’t safe to do so.

Alice checked her mental realm. Cayla was sitting behind her desk with her head resting against her palm.

‘Do you think it’s because they died a bunch? I only died once but I’m feeling some of the effects.’ Alyss asked with a frown.

‘Possibly. I’ll do a quick examination of the soul once we get down.’

She needed to pinpoint exactly why they’re having this reaction.

*RUMBLE!!!

As the shuttle shot down, the feeling soon disappeared with Cayla letting out a sigh of relief.

Elias was the same, he hurriedly stepped out of the gateway and gave his body a stretch.

“No place like home I suppose. This feels just right.” He smiled happily.

He was no longer affected by the sickness and didn’t bother checking up on his condition.

Even Cayla seemed fine now.

Now that they were in the Abyss again, she created a small bead of blood and had it scout out the city.

Just in case… a certain Lord was still around.

She even went as far as to check out the mansion prepared for him but he wasn’t living there.

There were signs of repair but not signs of life.

An empty house.

‘Seems like he left.’ Alice sighed in relief.

She took him by surprise and even used his wife as a weakness but in an upfront fight, she’ll probably lose.

With the basic scouting down, her next job was to examine the soul.

While Elias was getting their accommodation ready, Alice created a blood mirror and observed herself.

Her soul’s outline was the same, filtering for adjustments and corruption cam back fine as well.

The only difference was now that there was a tether connecting to here soul from afar. Not big enough to affect her but the connection was undeniable.

She checked Alyss, same as before.

Checked Caya, the tether was a little thicker, barely, but no other changes.

Then she checked Elias.

The tether, even after Karina’s medicine, was about twice as thick as her connection.

She estimated that the medicine reduced his deaths by roughly half as he was now similar to Cayla.

“Hm? Is there something wrong?” Elias blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m just making a few note on things after our return.” Alice shook her head. Turning to the waiter, she ordered some mead so she could relax a little more.

“But I can’t believe we’re coming back after just a single day. Though I suppose these conditions are probably better when it comes to testing stuff out on that Hybrid head.” Elias shrugged, leaning against his chair.

Alice raised her eyebrow.

“Huh? We’re didn’t leave because of that. I can test the head wherever I want.” She corrected him.

“Wait really? Maybe it’s the guards then. Having that many eyes would be rather uncomfortable after all.” Elias frowned.

“That’s not it either.” Alice started to get a bad feeling. “We left because we needed to see if the Nightmare realm would drag us back in when we’re not in the country.”

Elias tilted his head.

A face of confusion.

“Nightmare realm? What’s that?”