Waking up in after a few hours, Alice and Lilia was forced back to work as they had to work on another part of the titan. It was the same work but different location.
Unfortunately for Alice, the wounds on her palms have not healed up yet as the bandages stuck to her flesh. Each swing she took with the axe would reopen the wounds causing fresh blood to soak the bandages.
By the end of the second day, Alice's bandages were now completely red with her cleaning her wounds using some of the drinking water left over when needed. Food was the same disgusting sludge they had the other day with the only change being the liquid being much thicker due to the heat. It stuck on the walls of her throat on its way down, causing her to feel more of its texture with each swallow.
Thankfully their time within this underground prison was temporary as their next fight was scheduled for the next day.
During this time, Lilia managed to get a bit more information that could be useful for the two of them. It was regarding a new import of Abyss Beasts that was recently acquired by the coliseum and she shared the news once they got back to their cell.
"Some of the guards were talking about it when they were doing patrols. I didn't hear their full conversation, but I got a gist of their description. They said it was apparently a beast that walked on all fours and had two tail looking things on their back.
A bunch of bone spikes all over their body too." Lilia explained as Alice tried to match that description with any of the beasts she had heard of before.
There was a few that came to mind but she needed to hear more before she could make an educated guess.
"Do you know more? Maybe what the head looks like?" Alice asked as she had a few candidates in mind.
"What the head looks like? Hmm no they didn't mention anything like that. What they did mention though was what the main attraction looked like. They sounded pretty excited when talking about it too." Lilia shook her head.
"Apparently the beast was donated by one of the VIP's because they wanted to test one of the combat slaves they had their eyes on. So they specifically acquired this beast from the wilds and donated it to the coliseum. They said it was an overgrown spider with blades on each of its legs.
The main body is covered from head to toe with something similar to metal." Lilia explained as Alice furrowed her brows.
"Did they see pattern on back? If they did, bad news." Alice frowned as she hoped it wasn't what she thought it was.
"A pattern? They said there was a red pattern on the back. Something like a crescent moon with a dot." Lilia replied while recalling what she overheard.
"Not good. That spider blood makes person hallucinate. They should have strong illusion power, very dangerous."
"Eh? You know about this spider?" Lilia blinked her eyes in surprise. From what Alice had told her, she should've been in a prison for 10 years. The fact that she even knew about this Abyss Beast was very surprising.
"Yes. Blood called Twilight Reflection. While spider called Twilight Hunter. Lots of illusion powers and strong paralysis poison. Blood worked as hallucinogenic drug and very addictive. One dose makes you happy but two doses give nightmare.
Second dose can even make you rip own body apart." Alice explained seriously.
From her own experiences, the first dosage was like heaven. It gave you the most pleasant feeling you could ever feel, one that freed you from all the worries in the world. But once you start coming down from the high of the first dose, an insatiable thirst for a second dose would overwhelm you.
The first dose also granted the body super human strength in order to claim the second dose from whoever you set your eyes on.
It was a drug she never wanted to experience ever again since she could clearly remember her maniacal screams for the blood. The way she tore away at herself, feeling stinging sensations from not drinking more.
The blood itself was a trap as once you take the first sip, it was very hard to escape the cycle before you died. Each subsequent sip would only amplify your desire for more, making it harder and harder to stop yourself.
Once the substance ran out, the victim wouldn't even notice themselves peeling their own skin and flesh from the side effects before dying a painful death with a smile on their face.
'It took a few days to flush the blood out of my systems even with my resistances. They had to strap me to a chair and constantly give me healing blood.' Alice shivered at the memory of this incident.
"That's all from its blood right? Urg… I can't imagine what the spider can do. And we have to fight in the same arena too???" Lilia complained while leaning against the wall.
"I don't know a lot about beast abilities. I only know need to be careful of legs. Legs inject the venom so getting hit by it is dangerous." Alice shook her head.
She wished the head scientist told her more about what each monster did. But he only focused on the effects of blood and rarely talked about the abilities belonging to the beast they harvested the blood from.
"Hmm, then maybe we should get a shield when they let us pick the weapons. If the spider is dangerous like you said, we want to kill our enemies as quick as possible then probably hide until the fight is over." Lilia shrugged as Alice agreed with her thoughts.
"For blood, probably find healing one. Or something that can detoxify. Just in case things go wrong. Safety first."
"Yep, safety first. If the two of us group quickly, we can kill one of the beasts before focusing on another." Lilia grinned as their plan for tomorrow has been set.
"Speaking of which, what weapon do you prefer?"
Thinking about this for a moment, Alice shrugged.
"Used sword last time. Felt weird."
"Maybe you're just not used to it since a sword is the most basic. Personally, I got more experience with daggers. Lets me get close and personal while controlling what I want to do." Lilia replied, mimicking the hand movements of using a dagger.
"What kind of weapon do you want to master? I hate to say it but with the world we're in, a person needs to learn how to defend themselves one way or another." Lilia shrugged.
"Hmm…"
Placing her hand on her chin, Alice thought about how she wanted to fight.
Naturally, she wanted to use her physique to her advantage but she needed a weapon for moments where she couldn't drink blood. She could use a bow but she didn't know if she had the strength needed.
After all, for an arrow to pierce the armour of an Abyss Beast the tension in the bowstring couldn't be pulled back by just anyone.
Heavy weapons such as a hammer, axe, greatsword and so on were off limits for her.
'Ideally I should use finesse weapons. Something that doesn't require strength…' Alice thought to herself.
She still wasn't sure but daggers are probably a good start for her.
"Daggers maybe. Something that don't need strength."
"Good choice. Though I thought you were pretty strength based no? Considering you bit the Hound on its neck and even dislocated its head." Lilia laughed as she remembers the talks of both guards and slaves that saw her in action.
She truly couldn't believe a frail looking girl like Alice could fight in such a vicious matter. Who in their right mind would bite back at a beast and even drink blood directly at the source? Yet Alice did just that.
"That was… Special. Blood gave me boost to strength. Otherwise cannot fight with strength." Alice shook her head.
She knew that an amateur like herself couldn't contest with the beasts, not without taking them by surprise. Had the Hound been prepared, the fight wouldn't have ended in her favour.
"If two of us surprise one beast, we can kill quick. Then it'll be easier to fight against the last one. If you go with dagger, maybe I use weapon to hold beast still." Alice suggested.
If she was to restrain the beast momentarily, it'll allow Lilia to land the killing blow without issues.
"That sounds good. We'll need to try group up quickly since there's no guarantee that we'll be placed next to each other. I think a spear or a shield will probably be good for you if you want to restrain the beasts so I can kill it."
Thinking about it, Alice would much rather having a spear than a shield. At least with the spear she has the option to try killing something herself.
"I go spear then."
"Sounds like a plan. Rest up for tonight and let's give it our all tomorrow." Lilia grinned while raising her fist towards Alice.
Tilting her head in confusion, Alice wasn't sure what Lilia was wanting to do.
"Bump fists with me. Hmm I suppose you can say it's like an act of agreement and an action between friends." Lilia explained.
Furrowing her brows, Alice nodded her head and bumped fists with Lilia awkwardly.
"Eh, good enough."
Shrugging her shoulders, Lilia laid down and went to sleep while Alice was thinking about what she had just said.
'Friends…'
It was a word she hadn't heard in a long time as all of her connections had been cut off after she was locked away. She could feel a warm feeling spreading through her heart as she laid down and gave Lilia once more glance before going to sleep herself.