82: The Land of the Dead, Part Nine

The Land of the Dead, Part Nine

RPG (Class Req: None) - Unique - VAL: 2000 WST - Ammo: 3

Neve looked at the weapon as she walked back to the safe zone. It was hard to believe something like this was just sitting in her inventory. 

[Class requirement, none! Holy shit, I can use this thing myself! Is it because it's a special weapon or something? A "story" item?] 

Pre-Unity Trial weapons, like guns and rocket launchers, had become about as useful as slingshots with pebbles when the Unity Trials began. Inexplicably, monsters' bodies were able to resist damage from anything that hadn't also been brought in alongside the Unity Trials. 

Holding a weapon like this, a version that could actually damage an opponent, made Neve feel like she'd just cheated the System. 

[Don't get too confident, though,] Neve told herself. [If they're giving you this thing, it's for a reason. That boss fight is probably going to suck.] 

With that reminder echoing in her skull, Neve made her way over to her tent. 

Ahlakan was curled up on Neve's bed, asleep. As the night arrived, Neve walked over to a lamp she'd bought earlier and turned it on, barely illuminating the space, which was what she wanted so as to not wake the other girl up. Seeing her enjoying such brazen relaxation made all of the tension and stress of Neve's ongoing situation hit her like a ton of bricks, falling from above. 

Sitting on its edge with her back to the nulin alchemist, Neve put her staff in her Inventory, planted her hands beside her, and closed her eyes. 

[... I'll fight the canvar tomorrow,] she decided then. [The stuff Tamira talked about, with the increased drop rate on priestess-class items, kicks in on the Third Floor. Plus, the enemies are going to be the same level there as they are here, so no point in delaying anything.] 

Reaching up and touching her own face, she realized it carried a thin layer of sand. 

[Hair's dirty, I can feel sand in a bunch of places where it has no business being, and I swear, the smell of those corpses got stuck to my clothes or something. Gross. I need a shower. Ugh.] 

Her clothes disappeared as she threw them into her inventory right next to her staff. Pulling up the World Shop, she went to look for a new shower to buy. 

[I'm gonna get one of those really high-powered ones, fuck it. It's not like I have much reason to save up tokens anyway.] 

"Long day, I take it?" 

Ahlakan's voice made Neve's head snap toward her, before she turned back around, continuing to look through her options for showers to buy. 

"Yeah," Neve replied. "Kinda." 

As tired as she was, this was all the social energy she could muster. 

Ahlakan alleviated the situation just a little by sitting up and embracing her from behind. 

"... You're gonna get sand on you," Neve muttered. "Let me wash up." 

"I do not mind it too much," Ahlakan replied. "The 'sand' here feels a little different to the sand on the shore of the Blessed Lake, where we first met." 

"It does?" 

"A little," Ahlakan replied, her hands scrubbing a small amount of it off her, "it's rougher. Harder. I haven't gotten to walk over much of it, but it isn't bad so far." 

Guilt. Instant, piercing guilt found its way into Neve's heart. Tamira's words earlier didn't help.

[... I really am just keeping her here like a trophy, aren't I?] 

She shook her head. Ahlakan let go as Neve stood up. 

[I'll do more with her once Thomas is dead. Promise. Till then, I need to stay focused. Killing him and his group is all that matters.] 

---

The following morning, Neve searched through a smaller, still-unexplored portion of the map, southeast. This time, she had Erin by her side. 

Sure, part of her wanted to go ahead, fight the canvar, and get it over with. But, the loot goblin in her was too worried they'd be giving up something valuable in the process. 

A question popped up in Neve's mind. 

[Tamira.] 

"Yes?" 

[You said that Ahlakan could go from one safe zone to another but, how?] She asked. [Am I supposed to drag her around the second floor?] 

"As fun as that could be to watch, no." Tamira's voice sounded too mischievous for Neve's taste. It felt like she'd just given her some sort of idea. "Whenever you discover a safe zone, you will be given the option to teleport her to your position. You can do so at any time." 

[Ah, okay. Got it.] 

"... I expect some compensation for the torture you put me through last time," Erin told her. 

"Hm?" 

"Those plant things," she clarified as she shuddered. "What a horrible feeling. Easily, one of the worst ways I've died since becoming a summon. You owe me." 

"I know, I know. I hoped this place would have somewhere nice that we could just walk around on for a while." 

"Fuck that, can you procure some alcohol?" Erin asked. "After that last fun little torture session, I am beginning to believe that sobriety and I need some time apart." 

"Yeah, I can get some." 

"Good. Please do." 

Glancing at Erin, the healer found her summon scanning the area around them. Her eyes, alert and focused, passed over every inch of nearby sand. She remembered the conversation she just had with Alexander and said:

"So, uh, you know what that guy told me?" Neve opened. "The guy you knocked out." 

"What?" 

"He said that this place was put through those Unity Trials I told you about. Monsters from other worlds suddenly started appearing. That his people were wiped out trying to fight them." Her eyes lingered on the side of the lamia's face, trying to gauge her reaction. "Does any of this sound familiar?" 

"As I said before," Erin responded quickly, without looking back at her. "It does, but it does not at the same time. I cannot explain this feeling." 

"Hm. Okay then." 

The exploration of the southeast portion of the Second Floor proved to be entirely uneventful. Enemies could be seen here and there that Neve had no intention of facing off against, and the sand and heat made every second of roaming the two of them did feel awful. Eventually, Neve gave up. 

"Let's just head up to the boss," she muttered. 

"The what?" 

"Uh, an enemy that I need to kill in order to progress," Neve explained. "Once that thing dies, the path to the next zone opens up and we can leave this desert." 

"Ah... Is that how things work for you?" Erin asked in turn. 

"Yeah." 

"... So, then, did the place where you found me feature one of these 'bosses'?" 

"Yep. It's how we left the fortress. I didn't walk out of there. As soon as I killed the boss and freed you, I was, uh, taken away." 

The genuine curiosity on Erin's face made it clear how much she'd been aching to hear these answers. For the curious circumstances around Neve to be made understandable for her. 

The healer was reminded of their conversation.  "I want you to make me feel real", Neve could remember her saying. 

[I'll try.] 

"Where will we go once the boss is dead?"  1

"I don't know," Neve shrugged. "It'll be as much a surprise for me as it is for you." 

A while later, the two of them had cut through the map and made their way to the boss marker. The sand had given way to a path of dirt, carved into the ground resembling a cobblestone road, leading to a space that was somehow even more barren than the rest of the floor. A place where the ground was completely level, and there was nothing but complete silence in the air. 

"Erin," Neve said, "remember that worm we fought before?" 

"The electric one?"

"Yeah."

"Of course, it was quite the shocking experience." 

"Well- wait, was that a pun?" Neve did a double-take at her. 

"Indeed, I am happy to see my wit did not go unnoticed. You were saying?" 

"Uh, yeah, we'll be fighting another worm like that here. The thing is, I have a weapon that should help us deal with it." 

"Ah, I see," Erin said before holding both her blades with one hand and putting the free one forward. 

Neve looked down at her hand and then back up at her crimson eyes. 

"... What are you doing?" 

"I assume it will be I who wields this new weapon, no?" Erin asked. 

"Um, no," Neve replied and Erin raised a brow high. "It's a modern weapon. One from my world. You wouldn't understand how it works. It's probably best if I use it." 

[Honestly, I don't know how it works either, but... Somehow, I just sort of understand it.]

For some reason, Erin looked greatly disappointed. 

[... Did I mess up somehow?] 

She slithered away a little without an explanation, pouting as she said:

"Fine. So, where is this thing?" 

"Uh..." Neve shook her head, setting that aside. "It'll probably come out to say 'hi' in a bit. Let's just walk up." 

"Certainly." 

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