78: The Land of the Dead, Part Five

The Land of the Dead, Part Five

Hi. 

My name is Neve Stephens. I am a Healer-class player and I took part in the 10th attempt at clearing the Final Challenge. 

Well, I'm writing in the past tense here because I assume I'm going to be dying soon, but, I'm not dead right now (obviously). 

Anyway, a lot went wrong for us. The Final Challenge is structured in such a way that it is designed to cause friction and distrust to fester between players. I can't speak to any of the previous attempts, but as for ours, well... We all kind of killed each other. 

As I write this, there are just 7 players left. Due to the aforementioned large-scale murdering that took place, we split up. 

I don't know how they're doing and, frankly, I don't care. On my end, I ended up getting kinda strong, so I decided to write something so that anyone who might take this challenge on in the future might do better than we did. 

I don't know how the fuck I can get this to anyone, but... Whatever. Just in case, somehow, some way, I manage to do it, I want to write this out. 

This guide will focus on enemy types, how to deal with the different situations that may pop up, and what the most efficient strategy to progress through the Final Challenge is. 

I hope this makes a difference to someone.

---

"Hm... Simple enough," Neve muttered, tapping her pen against her chin as she watched Erin up ahead. 

Encircled by a few zombie corpses almost acting as a makeshift arena, Erin allowed a zombie to attack her over, and over, and over again. 

Neve was almost at half mana right now, as they'd been at this for a couple of minutes. 

MP: 700/1290

[This was absolutely worth it, though,] Neve thought. [I've learned a little!] 

Initially, it appeared as though the zombie would merely attempt to swipe at Erin with its arms, clumsily, the entire time. However, as time went on, the zombie used a couple of moves that Neve hadn't seen before. 

At one point, its eyes glowed red and it went into a frenzy for 3 seconds. At another, it spit out some green slime that burned on the sand after Erin dodged it. 

Upon seeing this, Neve came to the following conclusions.

[Regular enemies can probably only use a small number of attacks. They all have a "regular attack", like sword swings, flailing arms, punching, clawing, etc. But, if that doesn't work, and the enemy isn't killed before it decides to change tactics, it'll start using rarer, stronger abilities. I saw this a little back at the Hall of the Luminous, too. I'll need to see it more, but, it looks like the way it works specifically is that they have one type of attack they use 75% of the time, one attack they use 20% of the time, and one attack they use 5% of the time. Or something like that, anyway.] 

Erin glanced over at Neve as the healer jotted this stuff down, almost like she was trying to make sure Neve was paying attention. 

[For these zombies, it goes like this: flailing, as their main attack, that frenzy mode, and that acid spit as a last resort. 3 attacks, but I'm sure that level of simplicity is owed to the fact that this is just the second floor. With each floor, the enemies' options may increase.] 

Looking at this zombie's mana, Neve noticed something.

[Their mana also seems to regenerate at about half the rate of mine. Do these things have access to Techniques? I'm sure humanoid-type enemies, like those knights we fought before, probably do. Though, I don't think they used any.] 

As this minute ran out and Erin disappeared, Neve decided she was done testing the offensive capabilities of this enemy and began investigating its defenses. 

MP: 400/1290

[Do they have any weaknesses? And... How strong is {Equivalent Exchange}?]

That last part was something she'd been curious about ever since she gained the lifesteal spell. Depending on how it worked exactly, this could be one of the most broken spells in existence. 

Now that she was operating in a somewhat controlled environment, Neve could do a little bit of testing. 

Feeling genuinely a little excited, she first cast each of her beginner-level abilities once at the zombie, while Erin distracted it. 

MP: 370/1290

[No elemental resistances... But what about this?] 

The next step was to try {Holy Beckons}, the reward she'd gotten from the catacombs. 

Holy Beckons - 50MP

{Creates a field that damages all Impure-type enemies that pass over it. Lasts for 10 seconds.}

MP: 320/1290

"AAAAAAUUURGH!?" The zombie gave a shrill screech as a white rune appeared beneath it and its body was covered in white, holy flames. 

[It works! So, these zombies count as "Impure". If the boss of this floor ends up being some sort of a zombie, then I actually have some good offense against it.] 

With that out of the way, there was just one spell left to test. 

She didn't get to test it now, though. Neve had been about to ask Erin to stab her so that she could then see how much damage Equivalent Exchange did, but before she could get any words out, the zombie outright died. 

Both of them gawked at the monster as it fell over, while the white flames around it began to dissipate. 

[... Okay. {Holy Beckons} is strong.] 

"What's next?" Erin asked. Wanting to give her answer before Erin disappeared, Neve spoke quickly. 

"There's a spell I want to use. I need a little more mana before I can summon you and use it, though. So, I'm going to wait here for a bit before I summon you again." 

"Alright. There don't seem to be any enemies around here. You should be safe." 

"What did you think about the monster? Did you notice anything interesting?" 

"This enemy felt rather mindless," Erin told her. "Despite that, it did seem to grow more desperate as the 'fight' dragged on." 

"It might be safe to assume that all unintelligent enemies will function like that." 

"Hm... I'll think about this and get back to you later, then. We may be able to come up with some fairly effective strategies."

"Sounds good." 

On that note, the two of them waited until Erin disappeared. Then, Neve dropped down to the dirt, pulling her knees up, and began to wait for her mana to reach 400, just so she could summon Erin again, cast that lifesteal spell, and have a little more mana to spare in case anything went wrong. 

Strangely, as she sat there, she began to feel something. 

Something odd, something that she probably had no business feeling in a place like this, in the situation she was in. 

She was... having fun. 

Looking at her notes, she jotted down the stuff she'd just thought of and found a smile appearing naturally on her face. Upon catching it, Neve let go of her staff and reached up, holding her cheeks. 

[... Why do I feel like this?] Shaking her head, she decided the answer didn't matter. [... Cut it out,] she told herself. [This isn't a game, this is real life. Focus.] 

Despite those words, her mind ended up wandering. She recalled some of those cold, comfortable nights before the Unity Trials started, where she'd spend a lot of her time researching different strategies and approaches to the games she played. 

She felt at home when she did that.

All of her concerns and worries could be set aside for a few hours spent browsing forums and interacting with communities full of people with similar interests. And, she was a respected member of them. Which, of course, she could hardly say outside of those forums. 

[It was all just a waste of time, though. I should have spent more time thinking about jobs and shit. If the Unity Trials hadn't started, I would have been fucked, wouldn't I?] 

Scoffing, she looked at her mana and found that it was at 410. 

[... Not that I'm a fan of the Unity Trials or anything. The Forces That Be can get fucked for all they've done.]  2

With that bitter thought, she picked up her staff and was about to summon Erin. 

Until she found something walking toward her. 

A figure had appeared from a roaming cloud of sand. Neve flinched upon seeing it, but, as she went to check the figure's level, she found that it had none. 

[What?] 

As the figure became clearer, Neve scanned its features. 

As Tamira had mentioned before, the zombies that occupied this second floor were not human. Neve could recognize that, but it had still been difficult to see what they were like on account of, first, that they were all covered in sand, and second, that their bodies were rotted.

This figure, however, was very much alive. 

[An NPC? In the Main Dungeon?]

"Hm..." A deep, rough voice came out of a pair of emerald, thin, pursed-looking lips. The man, dressed in tattered rags and ripped pants, raised a bulky arm in Neve's direction, holding a gun of some sort in one hand, and pushing long dreadlocks away from his eyes with another. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait!" Neve called out, raising her hands. 

Hearing her speak made the man pause. He tilted his head, staring Neve down. 

After a short moment of contemplation, he finally asked:

"What the hell are you?" 

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