86: Blood in the Water, Part One

Blood in the Water, Part One

As Neve stood in the middle of that sunlit, white, stone bridge, she scanned the area around her. 

[Hm... Either, this place is a lot smaller than the last floor, or this is some Atlantean-type civilization, then? Am I going underwater?] 

The map showed only a tight circle, one that Neve was currently at the edge of. The ocean surrounding this stone platform was such a deep, rich blue color that it made Neve wonder how long it would take to find something else if she was to go swimming in one particular direction. Were there other cities like this in this world? And, if so, what had been their fate? 

If this floor's civilization was anything like the second's, though, Neve could guess what had happened to them. 

[No point in thinking about that, though. I'm here for one reason, and one reason only. To kill the boss and move on.] 

"... And to find loot, right?" Tamira asked, intruding on her thoughts. "Don't forget, from this point on, drops and loot will now all have a 50% chance of being usable for you, in some way or another. OH! And, it will all, mostly, be of very high quality, due to your level! It sure would suck if you just ran past everything!" 

[Oh, don't tempt me. The mere thought that it would annoy you and your superiors is enough to make me want to do it.] 

"You're so mean! After all I've done for you, you're still not going to treat your charming assistant any better?" 

[Fuck you.] 

"Oh well. Good luck!" 

Tamira, thankfully, exited Neve's mind then and she placed her focus back on the matter at hand.

Getting through this floor. 

"Okay," she clapped her hands, standing in front of Erin, "let's get started." 

The lamia glanced over at Ahlakan with a raised brow. The nulin woman was currently leaning over a stone railing, looking into the water, marveling at it. 

"I do hope she doesn't end up throwing herself into the water by accident... or out of boredom," the lamia muttered. 

"Eh, she probably won't. Come on, I want to make progress as fast as possible." 

"Do you still have no clue where the people you're looking for are?" 

"Nope. Just that they're somewhere past this point," Neve responded. "Doesn't matter where they are, though. I'll get to them eventually." 

[Well, as long as they don't actually end up beating the Final Challenge. That would kind of suck, but I can't imagine them doing that. Although... The Forces That Be have been a little too quick to agree with me on stuff lately. And, I've been leveling up and fighting for a while. Could that mean that Thomas is actually close to finishing the Final Challenge, and they're just trying to get me to his position as fast as possible? Maybe, but I have no way of knowing for sure. All I can do is move as fast as I can and hope I catch up.] 

"And, you want to get started now? Seriously?" Erin asked. 

Neve blinked. 

"Uh... yeah," the healer replied, looking back at her. "Obviously." 

"Neve, my dear, we just fought a gigantic desert worm, and trekked through miles of sand without rest before that, and you want to go off fighting again?" Erin asked. "I enjoy battle as much as anyone, but, *surely*," she tilted her head in Ahlakan's direction, "we could take a moment to rest? Take a moment to do, well, literally anything else?" 

"..." Taking a deep breath, Neve looked away. "I can't. If I slack off for one second too long, I might miss my chance to catch those people I'm looking for. So... No. Sorry." 

Erin's disappointment was not too difficult to see, even for a recluse like Neve. Still, Neve didn't relent. She couldn't afford to just stop like that. Not when her targets were potentially close to being out of reach.

The lamia, however, just sighed and said:

"Very well, then." 

Followed by her summon, Neve ventured out from the Third Floor's safe zone. The space around her, as she entered the dome through an oval-shaped entrance made of glass, was clean and gaudy, with white stone and emerald lines cutting through the area around her. Those emerald lines were on the walls, on the door up ahead, on the floor, everywhere. 

They passed by a statue of a man holding up a trident. He wore clothes that resembled Ahlakan's, like sagging Greek robes, but his head was completely inhuman. He had big, bulging eyes, dozens of little tentacles acting as a beard, and a pair of small horns on his head. 

[It's a pretty safe guess that this place is real, or was real, somewhere else. It's a replica, like Erin's home, Ahlakan's, and Alexander's. Though, actually, Tamira never said that Alexander's world was a replica... Was I actually *in* Alexander's world? How many other civilizations are there?] 

As they continued to move deeper into the massive building, they went past the first emerald door. 

Here, there was a narrow space and one door on the opposite end of this first room, along with two enemies who quickly spotted them. 

These creatures were nothing like the statue Neve had seen just a moment ago. Instead, as she'd guessed, they looked like half-human and half-fish. They had bulky, green-orange bodies, gills, fish-like eyes, bald heads, fins, and lizard-like hands and feet. Both, however, like the statue, were carrying tridents as their weapons. 

Level 77

MP: 100/100

Level 76

MP: 110/110

[Ugh,] Neve thought, quickly moving behind Erin. [If we just run past them, we'll probably end up having to fight something else, trapped between two sets of enemies all of a sudden. I don't like it, but it seems like we'll have to engage these pricks.] 

Both parties closed the distance, with Erin slithering toward them while Neve watched on. 

One of the fish-like enemies, however, jumped right over the lamia. 

[What!?] 

It did a front flip, landing right in front of Neve before attempting to stab her. Erin wanted to go back her up, but the other enemy took her attention, getting in her way by placing itself between them. 

Instinctively, Neve used {Fireball} three times, backing up.

MP: 1270/1300 

As the flames crashed into the warrior's skin, Neve saw the fire wrap itself around it and the enemy pulled back a couple of steps. 

[They're weak to fire!] 

Using this opening, Neve ran past this guy, and as Erin kept the other fighter occupied, she repositioned herself behind Erin. 

The lamia was barely keeping up. It seemed like the level gap was just too much for her summon at this point. 

Erin blocked a flurry of blows but, suddenly, the fighter pushed her blades up simultaneously and stabbed her in the gut. 

"AGH!" 

Neve was almost more shocked than Erin was. Although the warrior was undoubtedly stronger and faster than her, that didn't look like she'd been overpowered. It looked like it had simply gotten the better of her. 

[Crap.] 

Seeing this, first, Neve cast {Healing Ground} behind Erin. 

MP: 1245/1300

Then, immediately, Neve cast {Fireball} a few more times, pushing both fish warriors back and giving Erin space to move backward, into the healing spell. 

MP: 1215/1300

"As much as I hate to admit it," Erin said, holding her stab wound while her body slowly repaired itself, "it seems like I've just about reached my limit. At least, in terms of offense," she told Neve. "You will have to do most of the damage yourself. Unless you can give me an opening to use {Rorvan's Flurry}." 

"I'll try." 

As both enemies recovered, they ran straight at them. Neve shot out {Fireball} a few more times, but they dodged the incoming projectiles, knowing how dangerous they were. 

Again, one went to keep Erin busy while the other focused on Neve. 

The warrior Neve fought thrust its trident at her four times, so quickly that all Neve could do to avoid the attacks was step back, trying to create space between them.  1

[Shit! These things are no joke.] 

Eventually, the warrior pulled back to go for one hard stab. Neve tried to strategize, thinking of a way to come out on top against this enemy, and her thought process led her to allow the fish to land its blow. 

"Aaaauugh..." Neve cried out, instantly spitting out some blood as the trident went through her abdomen. 

Being in this position, however, allowed her to hold the opponent in place while she set up its demise. 

Trying to ignore the pain, knowing also that Erin's minute was probably about to run out and that would mean that this would become a 2-versus-1 in just a few seconds, Neve quickly used {Equivalent Exchange}, marking both herself and the opponent stabbing her, in that order. 

The warrior tried to shake Neve off but couldn't on account of the trident being inside of her body. 

Just after Neve had managed to mark it, she was thrown off its trident, sliding as a trail of blood formed between her and her enemy. 

And here, she activated the spell. 

"Argh!?" The warrior instantly flinched, looking down at itself as it felt the wound it had inflicted upon Neve being created on it. 

[Yeah, getting stabbed doesn't feel too good, does it?] 

Four seconds passed and 100% of the damage was transferred at the cost of 100 mana. 

MP: 1115/1300

The fish fell back, a gaping stab wound on its round, yellow belly having appeared from out of nowhere. 

Just as that happened, Neve watched as Erin disappeared, and the other fighter was left without an opponent. 

She saw it connecting the dots of what had happened in real time. It looked at Neve, then looked over at its ally laid out in a pool of its own blood, then looked back at Neve again. 

"AAAARGH!" It roared out, running toward her. 

Getting up from her own pool of blood, Neve aimed her staff at it. 

She cast {Iceball} once, and, somewhat predictably, the fish jumped up into the air, pulling off a front flip that most action movie stars could only drool in envy of in hopes of both dodging the spell and closing the gap with Neve. 

It didn't stick the landing, however, as Neve shot {Fireball} ahead of its body, and the enemy's momentum took it straight to the incoming projectile. 

Falling on its face, the opponent tried to put the fire out. Neve had no intention of allowing that to happen. 

With the other enemy unable to do anything from its position, Neve unleashed fifteen straight rounds of {Fireball} at point-blank range. Her attacks, as weak as they were, did enough damage to leave nothing but a burnt corpse where the monster had been. 

Its friend soon followed it into the afterlife, and as Neve looked up at the EXP message, she sighed. 

[... I can't go any deeper. The only reason I beat this room was because it was, literally, just two enemies. I need to head back to the safe zone and figure something out. Fuck!] 

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