What did she care? She wasn't the one putting the world in danger.
*You have been given this power so wield it for the greater good*
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm the hero here but do you really have to tell me that while I'm hella busy?" She asked, folding her arms.
*But you're done already* It announced and she rolled her eyes once more.
Just as the voice said, she was done cleaning up the monsters there.
Alice was standing on top of the pile of monsters that she had killed in what felt like an entire day. Yeah, it was that long.
These monsters would've probably taken other S-class awakeneds with their raid team for about a month or so. But she took them all out in a day.
"I'm hungry." She muttered.
Alice had to go up the floors gradually, killing monsters of different species, different herds, and in different climate conditions too.
The next floor she went to was like a jungle where she fought against giant ape-like monsters. They were vastly different from the apes on earth but they did have one thing in common, other than their appearance.
They liked bananas.
And that jungle was filled with a bunch of banana trees.
Alice helped herself to some bananas since her craving for food became quite unbearable.
It was like the more powers she used, the more powerful she got, the hungrier she got as well.
The power, she was using depleted the food in her system right away.
"I don't know," Alice said, staring at her palms. "It doesn't feel like I'll die if I don't eat. I'm strong and rather filled with energy but I just can't do without it. What's wrong with me?"
*...*
"You don't want to talk?" She asked.
*Alice, I can not say much...*
"Hm, I think you've been saying quite a lot of things lately." She said but it didn't mean that. "Anyway, I'll keep moving up. I hope there'll be food on the next floor."
She got to the next floor but was disappointed to discover it was filled with rocky grounds and lava sea. She had to fight against giant lava eels that sprung out of the lava sea without warning. They were also capable of spitting out lava at her so she had to be extra careful if she didn't want to melt.
How in the world was she supposed to fight that?
After hours of careful deliberation with the voice inside her head, they concluded that they had to kill all the eels at once to stand a chance of leaving that floor to the next.
"I guess I'll be fighting fire with fire."
She pounded her fist on her palm.
And thanks to facing such a monster, Alice was able to unlock another hidden feature of her hammer.
Turned out, the blue lightning hadn't been just for show. She was able to summon lightning and strike down that disgusting lava eel.
Though they were mostly fire components on their bodies and should be resistant to lightning, they weren't resistant to this type of lightning and were burnt to a crisp.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Alice sang, trying to put out the fire that had caught on her pants.
She had to rip it off, reducing her pants to shorts that exposed her thighs.
"Well, I'm actually surprised they stayed intact all along." She mumbled.
Even after getting them drenched in the Hydra's blood, her pants were still good to wear but now they had been reduced to what they were.
The boots, which Mark had provided, were also holding up quite well.
And she hoped it would hold out till she was done in the dungeon.
She didn't want to be reduced to a caveman going around in bare feet before she was done there.
Alice got to another floor that was filled with nothing but water. There was no ground to walk on except for the little floor underneath the door she had walked out from. If she wanted to progress, she would have to fly and that was impossible since she didn't know how to fly.
She stared at the massive sea bed, trying to find a way through to the door but there was none.
"Now what?" She asked.
*You wait*
"Wait? What am I waiting for?" She asked and then the water started splitting into two. And from its split, emerged a thin path.
It was almost like the top of a fence, given its structure.
"Is that the path?" She asked but before she could get an answer, a huge sea monster emerged from the water, creaking in loud cries.
Alice's eyes followed the monster as it emerged from the water. She was baffled.
"What the... Kraken?"
So, to get over to the other side, she had to walk over that thin fence, but that wasn't going to be easy as the giant sea monster called the Kraken was guarding the exit.
The Kraken looked like a giant octopus with super long tentacles reaching 17 to 20 meters long. There were more than eight tentacles. 20, perhaps.
The Kraken, though having a round head like an octopus, looked very menacing, and not just in size but in appearance as well.
It had long sharp and uneven teeth that looked to be too much for its mouth to handle, and each time it cried out, in an attempt to send out fear into its opponent, it would spill out acidic saliva from its mouth.
But though deadly, it was not undefeatable.
That is, for those who knew how to handle it.
Alice, facing this huge monster, almost drowned and ended the novel as it was.
*What are you doing? Kill it!* The voice in her head ordered and she, trying to find a footstool on the slippery body of the kraken gave out a mocking laugh.
"Yes, yes. I'm playing because my life is definitely not on the line here." She said, sarcastically.
How was she going to kill a monster that was a hundred times her size? And not only that, she couldn't land on anything. Its body was far too slippery and its tentacles were always on the move.
She cut them off each time they got to her but they only ended up regenerating. Like... She was just cutting its tentacles and getting it mad with no results.
Its regeneration ability was just too great.
"Oh my, I'd really love to have a skill like that, keh!" Alice said even while the tentacles were throwing her up and down and using her as a tennis ball.
She had given up for a moment and just decided to be toyed with.
*At this point, you should be wishing to have a skill that renders you indestructible and one that lets you breathe underwater* the voice screamed in her ear and she shut her eyes, tiredly.
"I'm hungry." She muttered.
*Then you should get this over with so you can hurry back and eat all you want* The voice reminded her.
She opened her eyes and clenched her hammer.
She cut off the next tentacle that was to hit her and dove into the water.
Luckily, she could swim but how long could she stay underwater?
It wasn't just the Kraken's saliva that was acidic and poisonous, it had poisonous ink flowing out of its pores as well.
"Hey, do you have a plan?"
*So, now you want to listen to me?*
Alice rolled her eyes and got on top of one of the tentacles she had cut off, which was floating on the water.