Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 900

Capítulo 900: Ria’s Progression

“Let’s see…” Rosalyn mumbled while looking at the compass.

After her brother left, she followed this compass to find where Luke and Isolde had gone. Ria’s location was currently ‘unknown’ but according to him, she was safe for the time being.

An annoying situation but one that she couldn’t do much about.

Behind her, Luke and Isolde were resting. She had administered some emergency first aid on Isolde for now but they need an actual healer.

‘Cael mentioned that to the east should be there the people from the north have camped. A weak signal belonging to their queen.’

Furrowing her brows, she wondered if this dagger would be enough to drag everyone out.

He mentioned it wouldn’t leave a permanent gateway…

But if there were a lot of people to transport, it might not be enough.

Regardless, it was best to do what they can.

Her brother was a man of many mysteries, lots of his advice may not seem like it at first but he’s always thinking ahead.

So the fact that he mentioned the camp along with the dagger meant that there’s a connection between the two. Something he wanted her to find or do when the time comes.

Looking back at the group that was still resting, Rosalyn decided to let them recover first before making the final trip to the east.

Once they’re at the camp, they’ll leave Terminus.

As for Ria… She’ll have to trust his word that she’s safe for now.

###

“Hng…” Ria groaned as she clutched her head.

The last thing she could remember was sparing against Astrelya.

She was still lacking in terms of control when it comes to her new power. Not only that, but she needed a method to make her body more durable.

Moving at those speeds, stopping then starting again, was too much for her to handle. Even after reinforcing everything with her energy.

Those speeds are above the limit that her body could comfortably handle. Once or twice was fine.

But trying to last a full fight with that was tough.

Then there was the attack she used to remove Astrelya’s arm.

There were still some modifications needed to be done. Even now, she was still following Kaden’s advice or slowly turning herself into a ranged fighter with a close ranged option.

Using her powers to create sniper fire from afar while constantly repositioning herself.

In a chaotic battlefield, her job might become the easiest if she could push the speed of this attack even further.

At that point, she didn’t need to worry about hitting friendlies. She simply needed to aim and fire.

Even if they try to look for her, she would’ve repositioned herself long ago.

Though…

Ria picked up a rock from the ground next to her and reinforced it with Abyssal energy.

Once it was reinforced, she compressed and charged it with electricity.

Sparks began to jump from her fingers to the rock as it was held in place.

Taking aim at a random boulder not far from her, Ria flicked her finger.

*BANG!!!

Firing the rock at the boulder, she frowned after seeing it disintegrate before even hitting her target.

Just firing her electricity as an attack wasn’t enough. She needed something with mass in order to deal the most amount of damage possible.

Otherwise, the attack will slowly dissipate the further away she is.

And to make matters worse, the mass needs to be durable enough to withstand the power of her attack as well.

“Someone’s excited. Already testing out new things after waking up?” Astrelya’s voice echoed out from above as Ria glanced up.

She was currently resting on a cloud and floated down lazily.

“What do you want?” Ria sighed.

“And here I thought I made my desires clear. Do you want me to repeat my desires?” Astrelya laughed, causing Ria to face palm.

“No thanks. Spare me the lecture. What monstrosity are you going to bring here now? And haven’t we been stuck here long enough? Can’t you just let me find a way out already?” Ria sighed.

“Nope~ As for what beast… I don’t think anything beneath the level of Lord will pose you any issues now. So instead, we’re going to hunt down some Old Lords.” Astrelya clapped her hands together.

“. . . Huh?” Ria blinked her eyes.

“The f*ck did I just hear?”

Surely she heard it wrong. Surely she didn’t just hear Astrelya suggest she hunt down some-

“Old Lords. Relics of the past that were sealed and forced to suffer till the end of time. Tiamat, one of the Old Lords managed to undo a lot of her bindings and started to free her brethren. Though her progress has practically slowed down to a halt.

“Maybe she got bored or something or maybe she’s occupied. Whatever the case, our focus is on taking down the Lords she has already freed.”

Ria had to stop her quickly.

“Not all beasts are the same. What makes you think I can kill Lords just because I’m struggling less against six star beasts? I basically died against Nyzel if she didn’t hold back at the end?” Ria creased her brow.

“The fact that you destroyed a portion of my arm is enough.” Astrelya reassured with a smile.

For Ria to grow more, she needed exposure on how Lords fight and their techniques. That way, she can steal their ideas and make it her own.

Of course, having a fight with a side of possibly death will make one grow to unimaginable heights.

Ria wanted to say something but stopped herself.

“Tch, fine. But can I at least get a break so I learn how to use this power a bit more? Yesterday was the first demonstration after all. A simple proof of concept.” She asked.

If she can just get one day to learn her powers, it might not become a one sided slaughter.

Astrelya rubbed her chin.

Thinking about it for a moment, she nodded her head.

“We have a bit of distance to travel anyways. Take that time to familiarise yourself with the power.”

Sighing in relief, Ria was about to stand up when she felt a hand grab her from behind and toss her onto the cloud.

“Uwahh!!!”

“B*tch please, you can travel and super speed but you’re surprised at me throwing you onto the cloud.” Astrelya yawned.

The cloud was a rather… strange object. It was both soft yet solid. Ria felt like she floating in the air, unable to position herself properly but she wasn’t falling onto the ground.

“Just relax. Thinking of it as a really fluffy bed.” Astrelya opened one eye.

Nodding her head, Ria slowly got used to the feeling of the cloud. After a while, she began to practice with her powers, occasionally firing projectiles into the air to test the speed and reach of her attacks.

The beasts that tried to jump after them would be dealt with by Astrelya with a lazy wave of her fingers.

She glanced back at Ria.

The focus in her eyes, the slight glimmer whenever she noticed her ideas working.

“. . .”

That feeling of progression and overcoming a wall.

She has long forgotten that feeling.

When she was born, Astrelya was already stronger than most. She moved faster, hit stronger.

What others took years to grasp only took her mere moments to master.

The movement of energy, the conjuring of spells.

At first, she too felt the joy of progression. That feeling when she saw something new and couldn’t wait to do it herself.

Then she would show the others. Show them her progression.

Their expression of joy and disbelief, their praise.

Their attention.

But the more she showed, the more their smile faded.

People love praising a genius. Especially teachers who think the genius is a product of their efforts.

But that love disappears once they realise the truth.

That they were simply there at the right time, in the right place.

Their years of effort simply amounted to a drop in the bucket.

“Why do you keep arguing with everything I say!”

They would shout, throwing books onto the ground.

They stopped teaching the genius, they simply let her do her own thing.

“…” Astrelya’s eyelashes trembled for a moment.

And when the genius decided to gift the teacher a gift, all she got was scorn and hatred.

“Who told you to do this!”

In her naivety, she had disproven everything he spent his life working on. She had corrected every single answer, every single technique, everything without exception.

She gave him the ‘correct’ answers to the questions haunting him in just a single week.

She thought it would’ve made him happy, that it would’ve given him new ideas like it did with her.

But that never happened.

She saw human nature that day. The jealousy that burns in the heart whenever they see talent.

Such an ugly emotion.

But…

Even such emotions can be burned away in the fires of war.

Famine may drag things to the surface but war will make them blossom in purity.

In war, they will put everything on the line for the sake of survival.

No technique was off limits, no line too low to be crossed.

All will return to simplicity.

All will lust after the desire to survive.

That was beauty.

However…

She was not given that beauty. Battle after battle she survived. No one could light up the spark in her heart.

“There are more things out there than just battle you know? Hm~ I won’t blame you for war and famine. That’s just your nature isn’t it?”

Astrelya closed her eyes.

‘My nature huh?’

To others, that was an insult. A declaration that she brought nothing but disorder. But to her, it was an acknowledgement.

And in her greed for the feeling of satisfaction…

She lost everything.