Someone To Protect
As she continued to hack away at the bone plating with the pickaxe, Alice soon got into a rhythm as she was able to keep up with the other slaves to a certain extent.
Naturally, with her physical powers, her work speed was much slower but she made up with technique. Thanks to the advice of the slave next to her, she was able to get more hints from observing the others.
How they prepared their body for the swing, the anticipation of each impact and the recovery. How they used the rebound from the pickaxe to prepare their next swing so that they didn't need to fight against the force.
It was a strange moment similar to what had happened during her fight against the hounds. The world seemed to slow and she understood that it was not adrenaline but rather a strange condition with her body.
The moment her focus exceeds a certain threshold, the world seemed slow down around her. Her eyesight improves drastically and her mind seemed to comprehend the actions with greater efficiency.
But the duration was brief. What felt like a minute or so was in fact only a few seconds for Alice.
'Could it be because of this eye?' Alice thought to herself as strange things keep happening to her body after the man planted this eye in her.
There was simply too many mysteries that she had no way to solve as of this moment. Her future was still uncertain with her current identity as a slave.
While her stamina could not keep up with the work, Alice's will did not falter and she continued to push on. She viewed this as a chance for her to build her stamina as it was abysmally poor at this moment.
She could barely handle a fight with a dog and had to rely on a boost of power given by its blood. If she couldn't drink any blood, she would've died within that arena.
Just this fact alone was enough motivation for her to push through the exhausting task presented to her.
'If a task like this is enough to cause me to falter, I can forget about getting revenge!'
Hours passed as sweat soaked Alice's clothes. Since she didn't change her bandages, they were still soaked in her blood. Spots of red started to bleed through to her dress but she didn't care. As long as the clothes were enough to cover her and didn't interfere with combat, she was content.
There was no benefits to dressing up cutely like she did ten years ago.
Alice had immersed herself in the acts of hacking away at the plates to the point she didn't even notice how much time had passed. Lilia needed to take regular breaks from the lack of stamina.
Yet every time she turned her gaze towards Alice, she could see Alice being 100% focused with her task to the point she practically ignored her own fatigue.
Seeing this, it was hard for Lilia to sit still as she pushed herself past her limits.
"Alright! All of you can stop! They are going to collect everything that you've harvested. Once they're done you'll go back to work!" The supervisor shouted out as everyone dropped their pickaxes and collapsed on the floor.
Hearing that she could stop, Alice felt a wave of fatigue hit her like a wall of force, knocking her against her floor.
Her lungs burned and her heart pounded. The world seemed to be spinning yet she had never felt more alive. The light within her eyes burned with vitality.
This pain, this fatigue, this satisfaction from moving her body. It was all proof that she was alive. Proof that she was no longer just waiting for the next experiment.
"Ha… I've… Never seen anyone… so happy after such… a workout." Lilia gasped as she laid on her back.
"I'm alive." Alice replied simply as her throat burned with the desire for water.
"Of course you are… You're breathing are you not?" Lilia joked.
Before Alice could reply, the sound of a metal plate being hit cut her thoughts off.
Glancing towards the source of the noise, they could see a group of slaves carrying a large barrel of water towards the centre of the area.
"Here's some water. Move out of the way so that the others can collect the materials!" The supervisor shouted as the slaves scrambled to the barrel for a desperate drink of water.
Helping Alice to her feet, Lilia grabbed both of the pickaxes and moved with the other slaves.
With the second group of workers coming from the other side of the titan, Alice could see that they were similar to the group of slaves she saw on the way here. The ones branded by the slave brand and carried flesh that burned their hands.
As Alice was observing the new group of slaves while also queuing up for a drink herself, Lilia spent the time seeing if anyone was kind enough to share some information with her. Information regarding where they are and some knowledge on what's going to happen next. Who their sponsors might be and so on.
She wanted to gather as much information as she could and share what she knows with Alice. It was strange but Lilia saw her little sister in Alice. Someone who was naïve yet curious about the world.
Someone she wanted to protect.
Unfortunately for her, there wasn't much to be gained from the slaves. After all, they were in the same situation. Most of them were rather new to this place as well as they had come a few days before Alice and Lilia. Naturally, she couldn't count on the supervisor to be kind enough to give her any information.
But despite all of this, she managed to get some decent information about where they are and how the Colosseum functioned within the Slaughter Docks.
Making her way back to Alice, the two of them got a drink and sat down on the ground while watching the other slaves carry away the bone plates.
"Now then, I managed to get some good news for us." Lilia grinned as Alice listened intently.
"There wasn't much I could gather but I can make a few educated guesses here and there. With the slaughter docks being a large trade port within the Abyss, especially when it come to slave trades, they allowed this place to be legal. Naturally the governor of the docks gain money from this too. Most of the VIP's are merchants or nobles that are just visiting."
"That's… Good news?" Alice raised an eyebrow, unsure if this could be classified as good news or not.
"No that's not the good news. The good news is regarding the next round of combat. We'll be allowed to choose two items to assist us when we fight. One being our weapon, the other being a vial of blood. It can be healing A.B or an offensive one its up to you. But apparently the selection is quiet vast." Lilia shook her head as Alice was silent.
"But wouldn't that mean our next fight will be much harder if we need the blood?"
"Honestly it's a coin flip. The beasts we fight next round will depend on who's the main attraction. If they are weak, the beasts we fight will be stronger. If the main attraction is strong, our opponents will be weaker. Its so that the fight is more entertaining for the guests. I'm hoping that the main attraction for when we fight is someone actually competent." Lilia shrugged.
Nodding her head in agreement, Alice had the same thought. However, she was more curious about what kind of blood they could choose. And more importantly, if she could sneak an empty vial for herself. If she could use it to collect the blood of the titan they were standing on, it'll be a good lifeline for her survival.
The only issue with this is that she didn't know the side effects of consuming the blood of such a behemoth.
If the side effect was something major, she might as well forget about escaping from this place.
'Maybe I could try obtain a drop of the beast's blood later in the night when everyone is sleeping. But with guards on the backs of those flying beasts, it'll be hard to go unnoticed. And there's no guarantee that she could come back to this place after her fight.
Shaking her head, Alice couldn't see a way for her to obtain any of this blood nor a way to find out its side effects. The risks were simply too big for her to take the gamble.
'With my skill level, a defensive Abyss Blood is pretty much asking to get killed. I need something that can end the fight quickly. The longer the fight drags on, the worse it becomes for me.' Alice thought to herself with a sigh.
Her fight against the Hound made it clear to her that she couldn't fight a prolonged battle. She had to aim for ending the fight as quick as possible.