Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 633: Ith’Zir

Shuffling through the strange plains of this realm, Alyss soon reached the bottom of the islands. Hidden in the shadow, she glanced at the giant chains leading up.

Despite looking ordinary, there were a faint layer of energy coating the surface. A thin, murky layer that was reminiscent of Eldrich energy.

’. . .’

[I can probably analyse and figure out a way-]

’I’m going to touch it.’

[???]

’I’m going to touch it.’

[Have you not been listening to a word I’ve been saying? Did you forget how the Eldrich energy works?] Cayla blinked her eyes in disbelief.

’I know how it works. I just think it’s worth a quick experiment.’ Alyss shrugged.

The idea she had in mind was to use her blackened limbs. The more she thought about the relation of her… ’birth’ and Alice’s the more she’s confused by the composition of their bodies.

She was the ’original’ yet her power can negate Abyssal powers.

Alice was a fabricated soul yet she now has divinity and void powers. So where did the Eldrich energy come from?

She could only come to one conclusion.

Herself.

These blackened limbs, the way her powers took on a form resembling that of Eldrich energy…

And the final nail on the coffin, her flames losing to Eldrich energy in a contest of power.

Therefore, the only answer she could come up with was Nyer injecting her body with a mixture of Eldrich and whatever concoction he created to counter the Abyss.

Everything after was obtained through Alice’s own experience after all.

[Stubborn! Have you at least thought of the risks?] Cayla folded her arms in annoyance seeing the determination in Alyss’s eye.

’Yep. I know that if I come into direct contact with the energy, I establish a link to the Outer God right?’ Alyss smiled.

However, this only caused Cayla to smack her on the back of the head.

[If you know then why are you still doing it?!]

’Ouch! If you let me finish, I wasn’t going to touch it directly. I was going to use my energy to touch it. When we came into contact with this energy before, it had to touch Alice’s wrist directly. But using our energy caused it to have a contest of power.’ Alyss reminded as Cayla paused before nodding her head.

’So I’m thinking what if I can increase the output of my energy. That way, I can interact with it without worry.’ Alyss suggested.

Contemplating the idea, Cayla furrowed her brows before nodding.

It was worth a shot.

Taking a step back, Alyss conjured her blackened limbs as her shadow began to stretch.

As the hands came into contact with the chains, a jolt and a chill spread throughout Alyss’s body.

But after a brief moment, nothing else happened.

’Seems like this is fine.’ Alyss smiled before using the limbs as footholds to run up the chains.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like any of the sentries were worried about people climbing up the chains so none of them were looking towards her direction.

###

Alice didn’t know how long she’s been walking for.

This endless expanse that continued to stretch on, the voices haunting her mind.

She paid them no heed.

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She didn’t answer, didn’t talk, didn’t stare, didn’t stop.

There was only one goal and that was to keep walking.

But doubts began to fill her mind. What if the Cayla she heard was part of the trick? What if this was all to keep her in this place longer?

Does this place classify as a realm?

Should she try to get out?

"Go on, try. Isn’t that what you’re best at? Experimenting and figuring a way out?" The voice called out behind her as Alice almost faltered for a moment but kept her focus forward.

"Why are you afraid? Why are you denying what you’re good at? Go on, give it a try. It’s not going to hurt."

It felt as though the voice had managed to see the weakness in her mind, latching onto it and trying to make her slip up.

As she continued to walk, Alice didn’t notice the darkness that was slowly manifesting on her finger tips.

###

Poking her head up, Alyss scanned the surface of the floating island and frowned.

Located in the centre of the island, there was a giant statue of sorts of a woman’s upper half. Half of her torso was embedded into the ground at an angle with flowers blooming around the chest. A pair of emotionless eyes glanced down with briar thorns and a jagged crown of sorts piercing out of her body.

Around the edges, small writhing masses of darkness seemed to be constructing more parts of the statue.

But that wasn’t what caused Alyss to frown.

What caused her to frown was the slight resemblance it was beginning to show.

Beneath the ’design’ and appearance of the statue, a blank state could be observed. But as the black mass began to reconstruct the statue, parts of it were now starting to resemble Alice.

’I don’t suppose you know what’s going on with that. Because I have a bad feeling about letting that thing complete Alice’s statue.’ Alyss pulled herself up as she spotted a cloaked figure praying beneath the statue.

[I… Don’t know. There are too many unknown variables at play.] Cayla was beginning to panic.

She didn’t know if the advice she gave Alice was good anymore.

The introduction of Eldrich power has modified this ritual beyond recognition and even if she wasn’t sealed, she doubted she could get the information she needed.

"Weary traveller, might you come and pray with me?" The figure suddenly spoke without turning around.

Furrowing her brows, Alyss walked up carefully as blood converged into a single blade by her side.

"What’s the deal with this statue?" Alyss asked, pointing her sword at the woman.

*CRACK!!!

To her shock, the woman’s head snapped a complete 180, staring at her with an ear to ear smile. Her eyes were a strange swirl of countless eyeballs, drawing Alyss’s gaze.

[Get out of her sight!] Cayla shouted.

Without hesitation, Alyss slammed her hand down as blood and metal erupted in front of her, turning into a wall that blocked the woman’s gaze.

’What’s going on?!’

Before Cayla could even answer, a mass of twisted flesh slammed into the wall, breaking it in the process.

Quickly rolling to the side, Alyss created more walls around the place to act as cover for herself.

[Ith’Zir. The Hungering Gaze. That’s the Outer God that woman worships. There are many Outer Gods that hold the power over eyes but that pattern, it’s no doubt that of the Hungering Gaze.] Cayla quickly manifested a document.

[There were only three instances were Ith’Zir was ever observed. Not much is known since they’re not a very active Outer God but just know that you should avoid her eyes at all cost.]

’Sh*t! Then what the hell am I supposed to do against it???’ Alyss questioned, noticing eyes beginning to manifest on the mass of corrupted flesh.

Without hesitation, she gathered her energy into the blade and released a vertical slash.

*BANG!!!

Before the slash could even reach, it was blocked by an invisible wall created by one of the eyes.

[Kill the host, break the connection.] Cayla frowned.

She didn’t know how Ith’Zir was able to manifest here. However, there was no doubt that it was Ith’Zir’s power.

Gritting her teeth, Alyss rushed forward with Mirage Steps while creating cover for herself.

Yet despite this, the woman’s head continuously snapped to her location, even behind the walls.

While Alyss was busy trying to find a way to avoid Ith’Zir’s gaze and kill the woman, Cayla was analysing the energy around them.

Clearly, the barrier hadn’t broken yet. If it did, Ith’Zir would’ve summoned one of its ’main eyes’ causing madness to descend upon this location. The fact that they could still think was evident that Ith’Zir was not fully here yet.

Which then only askes the question, how was this host able to use Ith’Zir’s power?

What did War do?

###

"Oh? Seems like someone has some backbone to them after all. They even managed to get out of the labyrinth." Kazira raised an eyebrow, noticing the commotion on one of the islands.

But seeing who it was on the island, she couldn’t help but tilt her head.

The anomaly.

How was she there?

Kazira was sure she took some extra precautions with her since there was a chance that she couldn’t been sent by the Goddess.

Even if the Goddess loved chaos, Kazira couldn’t be sure that she would just let her make connections to the Outer Gods after all.

Yet she was now fighting against the Icon of Ith’Zir.

Scratching her chin, Kazira wondered if she should send the other Icons to her location. But doing so might cause gaps to appear in her ritual instead.

Even if the anomaly was to kill one Icon, it was still acceptable.

In fact, sending the other Icons and exposing the gaps in her ritual would be equivalent to an Apostle acting personally to kill a civilian. Complete overkill and a foolish choice when the Icons should be protecting the ritual sites.

Making her decision, Kazira turned around and glanced towards Jin who was now in floating within an ’egg’.

She couldn’t continue immediately since she was still acting as the anchor for the Outer God. But once the Icons finish their job, she’ll be able to act with some degree of freedom.

Snapping her finger, she injected some dark energy into the egg and watched as Jin’s body begin to show signs of corruption.