21: The Ruined Fortress of Roha Vala, Part Six

The Ruined Fortress of Roha Vala, Part Six

{Neve}

As Neve had decided before, she wanted to search the other two buildings to see what exactly she'd find within them. With that black key in hand, Neve went back to the floating platforms.

There were two paths she could take, besides the path forward that would bring her back to where she came from. The closest was to the right, where Neve could see a bunker-type place that looked like it belonged in the 1960s, equipped with a dome-like ceiling and a shorter bridge than the one Neve had just come from.

To the left was a slightly longer path that seemed to lead inside a different building.

She hadn't noticed it before but, looking at it now, this could actually be the largest building out of the three. Not the most impressive, but it did stretch quite high into the air.

Neve could hear what sounded like gears grinding coming from that direction.

She hopped onto the first platform, trying to get a better look at both options. She was beginning to get used to these things, even if her landings were still shaky.

That small seed of confidence in her mind went out the window, however, as she saw what kind of path would lead to the building on the right.

In order to reach the bunker, she needed to jump *up*, as that bunker was high up in the air, and these platforms were ascending toward it.

[Nope.]

However, as she turned to the left, she found that this path of floating blocks also carried its own increased risk. The gaps between the blocks seemed to be wider.

[Ah... that's not good either,] she thought as she stood on the first platform before them.

Looking at both paths, she considered the issue and then gave in to the desire to at least check whether this key opened that door she'd encountered before.

So, ignoring both paths, for now, she went back to the middle building.

She managed to make her way back quickly enough, cutting back through the dusty library and walking into the original room with the two staircases. Remembering that trap from before, she avoided it and made her way to the eastern side of this mansion, where she walked up to the door and...

{Key Required}

"Of course."

And that failure brought her all the way back to the middle of the floating platforms, where Neve now stood.

Because she was looking at it from the other side now, the paths were inverted. To the right was that giant building where she could hear gears and loud, screeching metal. To the left was the bunker. To the right were the blocks with bigger gaps between, and to the left were the blocks she'd have to pull herself up to climb.

Looking to the left, she sighed.

[I mean, what if someone who happened to be really short ended up here instead of me, and this was the way forward? They'd probably just be screwed, no? So, that can't be the way to the boss... Then again, would I put it past them to just not care about short people's problems?]

Scratching her head, Neve decided to look at it from a different angle.

[... Thinking about it like a game, the bunker looks more like it leads to hidden treasures than any boss battle. This building, though, is massive. If I had to guess, I'd say that all of this so far has just been introductory and that this side leads to the real dungeon, given how small the castle ended up being.]

Her eyes gravitated to the right.

[The gaps are... not great, but I can probably make these jumps. I have to be careful, of course. If I overshoot I'll trip forward and roll off these things, but I feel like I can do this.]

The more she thought about it, the more appealing the right side seemed.

Just a few seconds later, she made her decision.

"... Screw it, I'm trying this."

Neve prepared herself to take the leap.

The hot air coming from the lava below stung to breathe as Neve inhaled slowly. Pulling back, she decided it would be best to give herself a running start.

"Don't give yourself time to back out. Just go on three," she muttered. "One... Two... Three!"

The healer ran forward and jumped.

Her robes flapped as she soared through the air, as majestically as a middle school basketball player going for a dunk.

"Oof!" Neve rolled forward as she hit the block.

She overshot.

Her momentum pushed her past the block's edge and the only reason she did not fall into the lava, ending her journey prematurely, was because, at the last second, she held onto the platform's edge.

Her arm's muscles screamed as she kept herself from falling.

All those years of skipping P.E. came back to haunt her then, as Neve had to carry out the one individual pull-up of her life.

To make matters worse, her boobs hit the platform's edge.

Neve nearly let go out of surprise, undoing all of her progress in pulling herself up.

Because of her chest, she had to move up at a slight angle, but, because she had no other choice, she forced herself to do it.

"AH!"

Relieved, she rolled onto her back, staring up at the red sky, and the orange moon that laughed at her at its center.

[... Is breast reduction surgery still a thing? I would rip them off right now if I could! Ahhh, that was so scary.]

Some time passed. Neve remained like that, with her arms and legs sprawled out, for a while, as {Healing Ground} helped fix the soreness in her arms. Once she decided she was good to go, she got up and looked at the next platform.

[Okay... A little less this time.]

And so, pulling back a few steps, she moved toward the next block.

Her second attempt wasn't quite as bad, with her just falling onto her knees this time as she landed. One block after another, Neve made her way through until she reached the next section of the dungeon.

And, looking at it up close, this was either the correct way forward or the extremely elaborate opening of a DLC area.

She walked on a metal floor, taking a few steps forward until she could see the entirety of her new surroundings.

[What the fuck?]

There were so many different things to take in that Neve couldn't tell where to start.

This section of the dungeon separated itself into multiple floors, all of which were built around a pool of lava.

Looking into that pool, she found the source of those strange, metallic sounds.

There were cages moving down slowly into the lava from high above. Neve could see inhuman skeletons inside of them, with not a single speck of meat left on their bones. Operating these cages in the distance, were half-pig, half-man creatures with grey skin and hairy, meaty bodies, pulling and pushing levers. Even though the subjects within the cages were dead, they just kept doing it, as though they were in a trance. Roaming the open halls were more of these creatures holding axes and swords in their hands, moving back and forth slowly.

Naturally, all of them were level 50 or higher.

[No more mannequins, huh?] She noticed, scoffing.

[Okay... Seems like I made the right move. This place definitely screams "correct way to go" to me.] She glanced at the enemies here. [If I had to guess, I'd say these guys won't be as slow as the mannequins were. If I am planning on fighting anything, I'm going to have to get creative, won't I?]

Pulling her staff out of her inventory, Neve took some cautious steps toward the hall to the right.

[No. Who am I kidding? Fighting anything that's not as slow as those mannequins were isn't an option.]

Taking steady breaths in an attempt at keeping herself calm, Neve again tried to think about how she'd go about this if it wasn't real life.0

[Okay! Imagine you're 1 HP moving through an endgame area in an RPG... Well, if I'm being honest, I'd just jump off a cliff and respawn, but that's not an option. What would you do?] She asked herself. [In that case-]

Her foot nearly caught on something. The instant Neve saw it, she froze and looked down.

A tripwire.

[... Shit.]

Pulling her foot back carefully, the healer paused.

[Right... More traps. Keep that in mind. Oh, wait! This is good! Traps in this place deal a percentage of maximum HP as damage. I can use this against these pig guys! But... This is a tripwire, not a button. This seems like it's a one-time use kind of deal. If I get into trouble, though, I'll definitely use this.]

Walking over it, she continued.

[Okay, where was I? Right, if this was some RPG and I was doing a no-hit run or whatever, I'd probably have to sneak by most enemies. Or run past them. The problem is, when you do that sort of thing, you usually know where you're going. I have no clue, though.]

The hall led her to a place with a set of stairs at the back and one single lever overlooking the lava pool to the left.

There were two of these pig enemies here, overlooking it.

[So, here, for example, I don't have to fight these guys. They have their backs turned to me. Even if my sneaking skill isn't good, I should...]

Before she could finish that thought, she saw what they were looking at.

There was a cage right in front of them.

And, in that cage was what looked like a woman.

Though her torso looked human, the lower half of her body appeared to be that of a snake, and her skin was a deep crimson that matched her hair, which fell over her elegant body like flowing streams of blood.

Neve didn't care much about what she looked like, though. What stood out to her was that she was an actual living being that seemingly hadn't yet tasted the lava below.

And here she sat, trapped in a cage, with two dopey-looking half-pig, half-human creatures gawking at her.

The moment almost seemed scripted.

As soon as Neve's eyes found the woman, the pigs moved to push the lever.

She'd already seen what doing so would accomplish. What was in store for her.

Maybe the thought of it was why she reacted the way that she did.

Neve was fine with the idea of dying on her own. But, letting others die wasn't something she could do easily. It wasn't something she was used to.

The support-class player inside of Neve sprang out of her and, off pure instinct, she found herself yelling:

"H-Hey!"

Instantly, both parties, the pigs and the trapped lady, looked over at her.

[Ah, crap.]

"Errrgh..." One of the pigs groaned, raising an ax in her direction.

And the two level 50 pigs quickly started jogging at her.

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