49: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Fourteen

The Hall of the Luminous, Part Fourteen

The 15th wave began as Neve breathed heavily, holding her staff with a tight, white-knuckle grip. 

Her hands were shaking, as was her body with every breath she took. 

Her mana had almost regenerated to the point where she'd be able to summon Erin, but she wasn't quite there yet. 

MP: 250/900

[Almost,] she thought. [At this rate... What, 30 seconds? All I need to do is last around 30 seconds.]

Whether she would be able to do that depended on what enemy she was about to encounter. 

She hoped it would be a fight against multiple enemies. By now, she'd noticed that the fewer enemies there were, the more evenly distributed their Attribute Points were. Whereas, the more enemies there were, the more weaknesses each individual creature had. Likely to make up for their numbers advantage. 

The anger that had fueled her victory in the last wave was slipping away with the short break between battles and all that remained was a deep sense of exhaustion, but Neve tried to reel it back in. 

She needed it. Rage alone was heightening her senses and pushing her muscles to work beyond their limits. She could not let that anger go just yet. 

She had leveled up maybe once or twice, but it didn't matter. Neve didn't even bother checking how much EXP she'd gained, as she understood that one or two extra points into her Endurance or Speed were unlikely to change the outcome of this next battle. 

All she could do was hope that it would be a group. One she could have chase her around. 

Unfortunately, her hopes had been crushed as she heard a creature materializing and looked over to see what the next wave was composed of. 

One singular enemy began manifesting. 

[... Fuck.] 

Neve took some steps back, getting closer to the altar behind her as the creature spawned by the doors resting under the windows, where the light that promised salvation for the nulin people shone through. 

The final enemy did not appear by itself, though. It brought with it thick, grey water that covered the ground, falling from its materializing self and covering the floor. 

[What?] 

The liquid reached Neve's feet. She tried to walk back further but found that the ground was instantly harder to move through. The water was slimy as hell. It smelled awful. Musky, and rotten. 

The monster that appeared then certainly looked like the kind of thing that would call such waters its home. 

"Aaaaaeee!" A giant eel of some kind screeched, announcing its arrival. 

It possessed a long, smooth, brown-black body. Its head carried a strangely human face. Frightened and terrified, as though it had stolen the visage of its previous victim and now wore it as a trophy. Electricity crackled around it while Neve took in its form. 

Level 45

MP: 100/100

The healer was, understandably, very close to panicking. But, she tried to silence the thoughts going through her mind and whispered one simple fact to her own ears.

[30 seconds,] Neve reminded herself. [That's all you need.]

On that slightly fearful note, the battle began. 

The worm dipped into the water, disappearing from Neve's view. 

It shouldn't have been possible. The water was only high enough to reach just below Neve's knees, and that enemy was massive. And yet, it had disappeared all the same. 

Her eyes darted from one spot on the water to another, trying to locate the worm-like eel, though the monster had the courtesy of revealing itself shortly. 

"AAAEEEE!" 

It came out from the water next to her, a few paces to the left. The creature rose, screeching loudly as it then moved to crush her with its head. 

Neve leaped forward, avoiding the attack and rolling along the disgusting floor. She came to a halt just in time to avoid a follow-up attack, as the eel lunged at her, continuing its frenzy. 

Neve had to hold herself back from using any spells. She wished she could throw out an {Iceball} to slow this rampaging creature down or use a {Waterball} in hopes of making it miss an attack that would otherwise kill her, but she couldn't. 

20 seconds remained as Neve's mana currently found itself at 270 out of the 300 she needed.

The eel momentarily abandoned its strategy and instead, reared back. 

The human mouth on its face opened wide and electricity began gathering around it. Neve's eyes widened as she recalled what happened in the room that had led to her finding this underground city. The interaction between electric spells and pools of water like this one.

[If that paralyzes me, I'm dead.] 

She sprinted in the opposite direction as a bolt of lightning shot out from the monster's mouth. 

It didn't reach Neve but that wasn't what she worried about. No, what concerned her was how the water around the spot where the bolt landed became electrified. 

Narrowly, she managed to avoid being caught in that zone.

There was just one issue, though, that prevented Neve from celebrating this. 

The eel was still rearing back, still aiming its mouth at her.

Level 45

MP: 75/100

It tried again. 

Another bolt of lightning cut through the air, trying to find Neve, but it too found nothing but murky waters. Neve ended up under the light pouring in from the windows above. She was so tired at this point that her legs were threatening to fail her with every step she took, but she tried to keep moving. 

Her mana was at 285. 

Approximately 10 seconds were left. 

[Just hold out a little while longer. Come on!] 

Sending out one last bolt of lightning, this time, the eel shot ahead of Neve, in the direction she was going. 

The healer tried to stop but instead, fell forward, her face splashing in the filthy water. 

She pulled her head out as quickly as she could and scurried back like a cockroach running from a falling boot. 

Knowing that the electricity was already spreading in the water, Neve didn't even bother to wipe the water off her eyes. Eyes closed, Neve chose to keep moving back, further, and further.

Until the crackling ahead let her know she wasn't in its range.

But the screeching that drew closer also let her know that another attack was on its way. 

Without even turning to look, she jumped to the right, once again falling into the water. Whatever attack the eel had been attempting missed.

And Neve's mana finally reached 300. 

As soon as she came up, she did it. 

[ERIN!] 

Aiming her staff to the side, she cast Erin's summoning spell and the lamia appeared in the middle of the water, holding the blades Neve had given to her. 

"Agh..." The pain of being at 0 mana went all throughout Neve's body, but she forced herself to squeeze out a few words, as she reached into her inventory and tossed her last Potion of Medium Agility at Erin. Erin caught the flask and drank its contents as Neve yelled, "you have one minute! KILL THAT THING!"1

Erin did not respond verbally. 

As Neve crawled to the doors beneath the windows, through the water, Erin tossed the empty flask away and dashed toward her enemy. 

The eel's screeching face aimed its eerie eyes at the summon, signaling that it had accepted the change in targets. 

Neve brushed that filthy, slimy water away from her eyes and went through Erin's settings with a trembling hand that shook so badly she nearly pressed the wrong options a couple of times. As quickly as she could, she changed her Combat Style to Offensive. 

The instant that she did, the effect was noticeable. 

Erin used {Freezing Gaze}, paralyzing the eel. Immediately, she then used {The Lamia's Hunt}, boosting her Speed. 

With this combination of effects, she charged at the enemy. 

What Neve saw next was like a scene ripped from an old myth, playing out before her eyes. 

Bathed in the light coming in from the windows the healer currently sat under, the lamia wrapped her own snake-like body around the eel. The electricity radiating from it, visible all the way from Neve's position, didn't seem like it affected Erin at all. If she was in any pain from touching the eel directly, she wasn't showing it. 

Instead, as she circled around her enemy, she began climbing it, surrounding the creature while it remained frozen.

The lamia then hovered in front of its head, face-to-face with the horrid visage of her opponent. Her response was first to give a light grimace, the first and only sign she gave that she was pushing through some pain in order to accomplish this, and then to plunge her swords into its head. 

The instant that she did, the creature's ceased to be paralyzed and screamed. It sounded oddly human, and Neve wondered if that was the sound the person who that face belonged to made before they died. 

It thrashed, electricity bursting out of it even more powerfully. Now, Neve understood that Erin was certainly pushing herself to remain where she was, as she gritted her teeth and let out a brief, choked grunt.

However, she raised her swords in the air and plunged them into the eel's head a second time. 

"AAAAAaaaagh..."

It fell to the ground, bringing Erin with it, but the lamia quickly stood back up. 

The enemy, however, did not.

Its body disappeared. 

Neve's head hit the stone behind her, and her entire body let go of the tension that had allowed her to get to this moment. 

[... We made it.] 

Looking up with a smile, as Erin slithered to her position, Neve then saw just how much EXP she'd gained from all of this. 

EXP Gained: 1900

EXP: 1900/440

Level Up!

WS Tokens Gained: 800

WS Tokens: 8210

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