83: The Land of the Dead, Part Ten

The Land of the Dead, Part Ten

Slowly, and cautiously, Neve and Erin walked into what could only be described as an obvious boss arena. 

Erin, still mad for some reason, was ahead a few steps. Neve, holding a rocket launcher that was almost bigger than she was, waited behind her. 

[... If I know anything about boss design, as soon as we reach the middle of the arena, the ground will start shaking and-] 

As soon as Erin reached the middle of the arena, the ground began shaking. 

"What is happening!?" Erin asked. "Stay back," she told Neve. "Perhaps- why do you look so unsurprised?" 

[Sorry, this is just a little too cliche for me to be shocked at all.] 

Erin narrowed her eyes a little at Neve before something bursting out from the ground ahead pulled her attention away. 

There it was. The boss of the Second Floor. A long, thick, and stiff pink worm came out from the ground, stretched up into the air, and gave a mighty, shrill screech. 

This enemy, unlike the others around it, wasn't level 75. No, it was level 85. 

Level 85

MP: 300/300

[Wait, shit,] Neve thought, recalling the boss she'd seen John Dulan and the other players defeat on the first floor. [I forgot. The way the boss level on a floor in the Main Dungeon is calculated is by taking the highest player level on the floor and adding 10 to it,] she recalled. [Hm... That's... not very good.]

She didn't regret running straight here, though. All that any further leveling would have done was make this boss level 86, 87, 88, and so on. If anything, this fact made it clear that going straight to the boss was the right move. 

[I just hope I don't gain too much EXP from this. I'm too high-level, at this point. At least, until I gain more spells I can use.] 

Erin, Neve's level 50 summon, slithered forward will all the confidence that could be expected of a being that could not see the System and thought she was facing a weaker foe. Neve made sure to correct that mindset. 

"Erin!" This is the strongest thing we've fought so far. Don't take it easy!" 

The summon was clearly surprised to hear that, but she nodded and turned her attention back to the worm, a little less arrogantly. 

Checking her mana, Neve decided to put away the rocket launcher for now and brought out her staff. 

[It's not worth it to use this thing at the start of the fight. No, I need the worm to be weakened first. Slower. Distracted. Maybe then, I can land all three missiles.]

Her first move was to cast {Field of Brilliance} under herself, while Erin grabbed the creature's attention up ahead. 

MP: 1215/1290

[I'll need to get as much value as I can out of all my spells. Plus, once Erin dies, because she's 35 levels behind this enemy so, let's be real, she probably will, I can resummon her with just a little bit more power.] 

The worm launched itself at Erin. Its mouth, covered with hundreds of tiny teeth, crashed into the sand where Erin had just been in. The summon looked stunned at the sight of its speed. 

Taking advantage of its position, Neve cast several rounds of {Iceball}. 

MP: 1205/1290

MP: 1195/1290

MP: 1185/1290

MP: 1175/1290

The blue projectiles fell harmlessly on the worm's pink flesh. 

A message appeared. 

{Slow Resisted!} 

[What!?] 

Just as fast as it had before, the worm lunged at Neve. Her eyes widened and Neve jumped to the right, just before the worm could make it to her position. In doing so, it did not stop, but, rather, it sunk into the ground where Neve had been standing, swallowed by the sand like a rock sinking into a lake. 

Breathing heavily, Neve ran toward Erin. 

She'd played enough games to know how the battle would start. She'd also played enough games to know what the worm's next move would be. 

As soon as she reached the lamia, the ground trembled. 

[Am I gonna make it?] 

Neve jumped forward just in case. 

Where she'd been standing, just in front of her summon, the worm erupted out of the sand. 

Quickly, Erin slashed at it, dealing a minimal amount of damage and gaining its attention. 

Which was nice, as Neve needed to recalculate. 

[Okay, so the main strategy I've been using all this time won't work against it. Nice. How about {Waterball}, then? I could use it to lower this thing's Precision, get it to miss a few attacks, and then, maybe, land at least some of my missiles. It's worth a shot.] 

As the summon battled the worm, though one could argue that running around and trying desperately not to get eaten while returning minimal damage could hardly be called "battling", Neve ran all the way back to where {Field of Brilliance} still glowed. 

Up ahead, the worm surrounded Erin. Moving in circles around her, it then raised its head up, similarly to how the worm they'd fought before had just before shooting lightning. 

Only, this one instead breathed fire. 

With nowhere to run, Erin bathed in flames as Neve cast {Waterball} at the monster. She disappeared almost instantly. 

MP: 1165/1290

MP: 1155/1290

MP: 1145/1290

MP: 1135/1290

[Hm?] Neve noticed something before the worm finished its attack and then began charging back at her. 

She didn't have time to contemplate what she'd just seen, but she made a mental note of it as she ran back to the center of the arena. 

The worm followed, rising in the air. Neve jumped out of the way and, again, the worm sunk into the sand. 

[This could work,] Neve thought. [Probably won't do much damage, but I don't need much. I just need enough for it to be weakened.] 

Summoning Erin back, the worm shot up from the sand, right in front of them. 

MP: 835/1290

At the same time that Erin began attacking once again, Neve strafed to the right, casting {Waterball} three more times. 

MP: 805/1290

[No message about anything being resisted. Its Precision must be going down. Good.] 

There were mainly two ways in which Neve could see them winning this fight. Both of them ended with the use of the RPG, but Neve had to pave the way to that moment. 

"Erin!" She called out as the worm raised its head and then proceeded to slam its body down where Erin was. Or, rather, had been, as the lamia avoided the attack. "The next time it goes for that fire, don't bother trying to dodge it!"  1

It was rather clear from the look on Erin's face that she wasn't exactly thrilled with this plan. However, Neve felt it could work. 

[I'll have to be quick with my Inventory... And, I need to be precise with my spells. This will take a lot of mana. At the most, I might have 2 tries at this. At the most. Well, assuming the damn thing even goes for that move again.] 

All she could do was wait. 

The worm pounded against the sand multiple times. It was all Erin could do to keep herself from being crushed. 

All the while, Neve tried to make that easier for her with {Waterball}. The worm would then begin targeting her, but Erin would grab its attention back shortly after. 

Until, finally, the worm began to form a circle around Erin. 

[Now!] 

Neve got ready. 

[... Guess I'm testing out my hands today. With everything that happened in the Hall of the Luminous, though, I'm not that worried. I just hope this works.] 

First, she cast Field of Brilliance under herself. 

MP: 700/1290

Then, she cast both {Healing Ground} and {Sacred Ground} under Erin, holding her staff over the worm's body. 

MP: 625/1290

This plan wouldn't work if Erin just died immediately. 

[I wonder if Field of Brilliance increases in power with my Arcane... Or, does it make no difference to cast this ability at 100 Arcane or 1? Is the boost in effectiveness the same? Oh well.] 

As the worm raised its head, Neve prepared herself. 

[Timing. I can't just start the spell now, since it consumes 25MP per second. I'd waste like 50 mana for no reason.]

She could, however, select her targets. So, she pointed her staff at Erin and then at the worm, marking them. 

"AAAAERRGGGHH!" 

Shrieking, the worm sprayed fire from its maw. Erin, listening to Neve's instructions, knew what was coming but did not react at all. 

Just as the flames engulfed her, Neve began casting {Equivalent Exchange}. 

The worm screamed as part of the damage was reflected back onto it. Evidently, it could dish out flames, but couldn't take them. Neve nearly fell to the ground as she felt mana being siphoned out of her, making her legs weak. 

MP: 600/1290

MP: 575/1290

MP: 550/1290

[Aaaaagh... Come on, come on!] 

With her grip on her staff getting looser, and her hands shaking, she remained in that position. 

{Equivalent Exchange} was set to stop when the total damage transferred reached 100%, but because the worm simply kept shooting its flames, that moment didn't arrive just yet. 

The worm kept going, defiantly. Evidently, it was confused as to what was hurting it and decided that somehow, Erin was doing this. Therefore, of course, it believed the answer was to throw more fire at her, not knowing that this was exactly the cause of its pain. 

Eventually, it finally gave up. 

The worm fell. It wasn't dead, but that had taken a lot out of it. 

As soon as it did, Neve cut off her spell. Erin hit the ground as well, a large part of her body still burning. 

Quickly, while the worm struggled to pick itself back up, Neve swapped out her staff for the RPG. 

Backing off a few steps, she loaded the weapon. 

[... Strange. It almost feels like I already know how to use this thing, even though I've never even seen one of these in real life before.] 

Crouching, she took aim. 

Conventional videogame knowledge told her to be patient. Striking the worm's body was likely to yield far less damage than hitting its head. And, well, this was her ace in the hole, so she had to get the most out of every missile. 

It did, and Neve fired. 

BOOM! The missile crashed into the worm and the creature screeched. Neve could feel the pain in its cry. 

Calmly, she went and loaded up another one. 

The worm saw her, though, and went to attack. 

[Crap!] 

Neve shot out the next missile out of panic. It flew straight past the worm, and Neve only just barely managed to jump out of the way. 

Suddenly it started breathing fire at her, without even bothering to set up its trap first. 

Running off to the side, Neve avoided the flames, trying to prepare the next missile at the same time. 

[That was bad. I've got one more. Hopefully, this will finish the fight! Maybe... Agh, this is going to hurt but, whatever. If I don't die, it doesn't matter.]

Sliding into a crouching position, she took aim once more. This move allowed the fire to reach her just as she launched the rocket directly at the worm's head. 

"AAAGH!" 

Dropping the rocket launcher, Neve hit the ground, covered in fire, at the same time that the missile landed. 

Pain. A pain as awful as any other she'd endured so far. 

The worm's head exploded, showering Neve in blood that failed to put the fires out. 

Instinctively, she went into her Inventory and pulled out her staff, casting {Great Healing Dart} over her head repeatedly. 

She didn't stop until the burning did. By then, she had just 300 mana left. 

Curled up, Neve took quick, panicked breaths. 

[... I actually almost died there,] she realized. [If I had shot that missile a second later, I would have been fucked. Holy shit.] 

That did not happen, however. Instead, Neve was currently laying in blood-covered sand, with an EXP message over her head, as the Second Floor was cleared. 

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