Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 660

Chapter 660: Honored Guests

“Alice.”

“Jin.”

“Do you see what I see.”

“Of course I do. I may have just one eye but I’m not blind.”

“What should we do with it?”

“It’s obvious isn’t it?”

“I see. . . It is indeed obvious.”

“Yep, obvious indeed.”

Looking at one another, they nodded their heads.

“We ignore it.”

“We deal with it.”

“”Huh?”” Both of them paused.

In front of them was what seemed to be a smuggling tunnel leading deep into the bowls of the Earth. While taking a break from the caravan, they came across it through coincidence and saw signs of recent use.

“What do you mean we should deal with it? I thought you were in a rush to get to the south?” Jin blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Well as the upstanding citizen and someone with lots of time on her hands, obviously I should check out something like this right? Who knows, maybe signs of the cult are in there.” Alice coughed, standing up straight.

“Seems like a normal smuggling operation to me, there’s no markings belonging to the cult.” Jin furrowed his brows.

However, while observing the tunnel, he noticed a little something by the side and his mouth twitched.

“You’re after the alcohol!”

“Psh nonsense.” Alice waved her hand and glanced away.

Though. . . If this alcohol was being smuggled in from somewhere, surely it was going to be good right?

“I can see your drool. . .” Jin was speechless.

“A quick look wouldn’t hurt. Plus the caravan said there stopping here for a bit anyways no?” Alice coughed awkwardly, realising that her desires were too obvious.

“Look, in and out. We’ll be quick about it. Plus, I can’t exactly fight properly right now, we’re not gonna pull some crazy crap alright?” Alice grinned as Jin let out a groan.

“Fine, you’re the boss. It’s not like I can talk you out of it anyways.”

“Hehe~ Follow me.” Sliding down the hill, Alice scanned her surroundings before swiping the left over bottles of alcohol.

She gave them a light shake to make sure there were still stuff inside.

“What a waste. These seem untouched too.” Alice muttered, observing the seal on the bottles.

All of them were in great condition and seemed to be rare alcohol.

Which only made it stranger that smugglers would’ve abandoned them like this.

“Untouched alcohol in a smuggling tunnel, definitely not sketchy at all.” Jin rolled his eyes, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a stick.

Twisting it, the stick began to emit a light, illuminating the tunnel.

“Let’s see. . . Weapons, illegal shipments, contraband. . . Yep something definitely happened.” Alice narrowed her eye.

Her senses were tingling and she knew there were goodies to be gotten within this tunnel.

The further they went into the tunnel, the more messy it became.

There were blood but no bodies. Signs of battle yet no one was around.

Thought that wasn’t Alice’s focus. She was looting all of the shipments they left behind. Some were crates of money and weapons and of course, she wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

“I feel like we should be more concerned about the fact that there’s no corpses or blood around here.” Jin rubbed his temples, watching Alice savaging everything she could get her hands on.

“Don’t be like that. This is going to go to waste anyways if I don’t pick it up so might as well.” Alice waved her hand with a chuckle, picking up a rather fancy looking dagger with a jewel embedded into the guard.

Lifting it up to get a better look, Alice noticed an unfamiliar family crest shining through the jewel.

“Welp I’m definitely taking this. Who knows if I can get a reward out of it if I find the owners.” Alice stored it away in her pouch.

Leaving no stone unturned and no crate unbroken, Alice continued through the tunnel while causing a loud racket.

The reward from. . . taking her reward from these shipments were quite substantial. Making Alice consider perhaps robbing every smuggling operation she comes across in the future.

It was smuggled anyways, so what if she took it.

Turning the corner, Alice was going to continue when she paused an a slight frown appeared on her face.

A broken building embedded into the tunnel. Signs of recent battle like the other places only this time, there were blood and corpses.

Through the gaps of the wall, Alice could see an operating table of sorts with innards strewn out everywhere.

Both of them became quiet as Alice grabbed a sword from her pouch and slowly made her way to the building.

Peaking her head over the side, she furrowed her brows seeing that no one else was there.

But surprisingly, the person on the table was still alive!

His eyes darted around with blood and tears blending around the edges. Each breath he took would cause a bubble to form on his open throat. The pulse of his heart, the contraction of his lungs.

He had been completely dissected while being kept alive but it wasn’t going to last.

His breathing was already weak and soon, his heart stopped with his eyes rolling back.

“Dead.” Alice muttered.

This. . . dissection.

It was fast and precise.

If it had been shoddy, Alice would assume the killer was still nearby.

But despite the victim being alive a moment ago, she could tell that the culprit had been gone for a while now. By their standards anyways. Which only makes her question how long the victim had been alive for in that state.

“Welp, let’s keep going.” Alice smiled, causing Jin to blink his eyes.

“I feel like seeing a corpse being opened like this should be a sign for us to leave no?”

“Normally yes. But our host has already found us so it’ll be pretty rude of us not to go. Going back now would only lead it back to the caravan.” Alice shrugged.

That last moment when the victim looked towards her.

There was a strand of energy that trembled, sending information deeper into the cave.

Whoever did this knew that they were here. Though at this point, even if they didn’t see her, Alice still wanted to track them down.

Seeing ‘scientists’ that operated on the human like this brought back bad memories from the past, memories that she’d rather not remember.

‘There doesn’t seem to be a strong energy source nearby. Whoever did this shouldn’t be hard to deal with.’

Continuing down the tunnel, they came across more victims that were hung up like ‘art’.

People hanging by their arms with their back flayed open to look like a butterfly while their lungs hung out.

A rather ominous sight that even sent chills down Jin’s spine.

After all, all of these ‘art’ pieces were still alive up until Alice saw them.

And soon, they arrived at a ‘nest’ of sorts woven with fleshy strands and tendons.

Covered by a veil of flesh, a silhouette could be seen working rapidly to dissect another corpse before hanging it up as a piece of art.

It had multiple arms that slowly retracted into its body as it brushed aside the veil of flesh, welcoming the two with a soft smile.

She was in the form of a nun with long white hair tied into a braid. She had blue and red iris’ that reflected Alice and Jin’s appearance.

A tattoo of a black cross could be seen beneath her right eye as she wiped away the blood on her face.

[That’s a human.] Cayla frowned as Alice nodded her head.

“May I help the two of you?” She asked with a soft smile, flicking away the blood on her hands.

“Just a pair of curious folks wondering why must you torture these fellows before killing them? Clearly you aren’t planning on save them since you ended them the moment we laid eyes on this. . . Art of yours.” Alice asked, gesturing to the pieces around her that were no longer alive.

“Ah~ So you recognise that this is art as well? Delightful~ Is there nothing more beautiful than the visage of a sinner the moment they’re about to meet the Lord above? The final moment of clarity before sweet release.” The woman smiled, offering a prayer while holding the cross around her neck.

“And what exactly does it mean to be a sinner anyways? Because seems like you’re just targeting anyone you come across.” Alice narrowed her eye as she could see the strands of energy slowly extending from the woman.

Even though she wasn’t moving, her eyes were clearly set on the two of them.

“A sinner? Well. . . A sinner is to partake in my Lord’s blood yet do not dedicate to him your faith. These poor lost sinners needed enlightenment at life’s end, to ensure that they reach the Lord’s warm embrace.” The woman replied as Alice grabbed her sword and swung at the air around them, surprising Jin.

“Then I don’t suppose we count?” Alice chuckled, having parried strands of energy that lashed out towards them.

Tilting her head for a moment, the woman stopped smiling.

The silence was drawn out as Alice slowly frowned. The strands of energy around the woman were trembling, contemplating what must be done.

But soon, a wide creepy smile returned to her face.

“Of course not o’ honored guests. I had been blind not to see your status therefore please forgive me. If you wish, I will pluck out these very eyes and offer them as apologies in hopes for your forgiveness.” The woman bowed slightly, holding the edge of her skirt.

Hearing this, Alice furrowed her brows in displeasure.

Honored guests? Who’s?