91: Blood in the Water, Part Six

Blood in the Water, Part Six

As soon as they heard those words, recognition dawned on them. By now, most of the caution they'd shown earlier had slipped but hearing about the Unity Trials brought it back. 

"... Should I take that as a 'yes'?" 

As the question took them out of their quiet contemplation, the woman, Norn, asked: 

"Are you with the Organizers?" 

That one question she received in return alone gave Neve some insight into this world's views. 

[Organizers? Alexander had called the Forces That Be "gods". Maybe this place is a little more... practical?] 

"No," Neve replied, taking a step back and giving them some space, just in case they still weren't too trusting of her. "But, I was sent here by them. There's an enemy I have to take down and then they'll send me someplace else." 

"Is that so?" Torma asked. "Then, I suppose you're not exactly here to save us, are you?" 

Neve opened her mouth to affirm that she wasn't, but she stopped herself. 

"Uh..." She shrugged. "If it's within my capability to do, I'll try." 

She couldn't promise any more than that, but, naturally, she wondered:

[Is "saving" them even a possibility? Isn't this world lost? Or, is this world not dead yet?] 

Considering that their circumstances could be different, Neve decided to play along, for now. 

In addition to gaining a little more information, of course. 

"So, what can you tell me about this place? Anything important I should know?" 

That question, thankfully, pulled the matter away from the Unity Trials for a moment. Neve wanted them to take a few seconds to internalize that Neve was there thanks to it before continuing to ask about that. 

Spacing the conversation out like this, hopefully, would prevent them from growing too distrustful of her. Maybe if Neve hadn't just dropped everything on Erin at once, their relationship wouldn't have gotten off to such a rocky start. 

"Eh," the man, Torma, began to respond, "given where you were sent... I'd guess the enemy that you're looking for is probably in the city's heart." 

"What do you mean?" 

His tone softened a little as he elaborated. 

"This place we're in right now is the top of the city. This is where you appeared, is it not?" Neve nodded. "Our city, I do not know what your home's architecture is like, but ours is focused on verticality. You are currently standing on our city's top floor. The only one above the water." 

Hearing that, Neve quickly looked over at the map of this Floor. 

[Oh... I hadn't noticed.] 

The map showed a perfect circle. One that Neve was currently standing at the center of. The boss marker was just a short distance ahead, but if Neve was understanding this correctly...

"... The boss isn't ahead of me. It's below me." 

"Boss?" The woman asked. "What do you mean?" 

"Uhm, you don't remember anything like that?" Neve asked. "Enemies that are stronger than the others around them?"

"Ah, it's been years since the Organizers appeared in our world," Torma replied. "Many of the details have become, eh... blurred to me, over time." 

"Hm. Well, alright," Neve nodded slowly. "So, how many 'floors' does this city have?" 

"It used to have hundreds," Norn stated. The tentacles on her face, slightly longer and thinner than Torma's, writhed with every word. "But, with the battles that took place, against the monsters like those," she pointed at the fish-like creatures, "that the Organizers brought to us, the walls ended up being broken and the water has claimed many of them. You may only find a handful to be traversable." 

[Hm. Not too big a level, but I'm guessing the deeper I go the more dangerous things will get. I should go around and look through as much of this floor as I can before I go looking for any stairs or elevators or whatever that will take me lower.] 

"I see," Neve replied. "Can you remember any other kinds of monsters? Things that might be a little more dangerous than these things?" 

"Not at the moment," Torma replied. Shaking her head, Norn echoed that sentiment. "Everything, uh, suddenly became a little hazier as soon as I saw you." 

"It is the same for me," Norn stated, her hand shifting a little over her belly. 

[Meh. That stuff about the map being vertical is more than enough information. I should just be content with that, I guess.] 

"Well, thank you for telling me what you could," Neve said. "So, uh, what happened here? Where did you two come from?  How did you end up in this position?" 

"The next floor," Torma told her. "We'd been trying to make our way up for some time. Ever since we learned that my wife would bear a child. Neither of us is a particularly effective fighter, though. Throughout these years, we'd been surviving through stealth, sneaking from one place to another. Resources have grown scarce, though, and that forced us to make an effort to reach the top of the city." 

"Hm? Well, congrats. You made it," Neve told them. 

"Indeed, but..." A clicking sound escaped the man's throat. "As you can see, this place is not truly all too safe." 

"U-Uh, excuse me," Norn said, catching Neve's attention.

"Yeah?" 

"How much of this place have you been through?" She asked. "Have you eliminated many of the monsters?" 

"Not really," Neve replied. "Why do you ask?" 

They shared a look, then. Norn proceeded to say: 

"We... We were thinking of breaking into the president's chambers." 

The way in which they said that spoke to the gravity of their decision. 

Neve, however, just said:

"Okay. Why?" 

"Ehm, well," Norn awkwardly continued, saying, "we heard that when the Unity Trials first began, the president and his workers began stockpiling resources. Food, water, weapons, and even air. When the lower floors lost contact with the higher floors, we assumed that something had happened up here, but most things seem to be intact. If the president's chambers are still intact as well, then, maybe..." 

"I get you," Neve replied. "So, where is this place supposed to be?" 

"Uh, the south of the floor. That way," Norn stated, pointing in the direction of the boss marker. 

"Alright. Stay here, then," Neve told them. "I'll check it out and let you know." 

"You will?" Torma asked, shocked. 

"I was planning on looking around anyway. Don't mention it. I'll be right back." 

---

Having resummoned Erin and left the two of them behind, Neve walked toward that designated area, passing through some more emerald doors and coming upon another small set of fish warriors roaming the halls almost robotically.

As Erin ran toward them, Neve continued to use the simple strategy of spamming her one and only fire-based spell until either they died as a result of her attacks or Erin killed them while they were distracted. 

The enemies' weakness to fire made these fights pretty easy. Neve wondered, however, if things would stay that way as they went deeper through the Third Floor's... well, floors. 

Two opponents were set ablaze, leaving Erin to take on one of them on her own. Trading slashes, Erin leaned out of the way of one thrust, closed the distance, and plunged both her swords through the enemy's chest. The other two, squirming endlessly under the infernal assault caused by the repeated use of the deadly, terrifying, beginner-level magic known as {Fireball}, quickly gave into their fates and met their ends as well. 

[Elemental weaknesses sure do come in handy.] 

EXP Gained: 1202

EXP: 360/500

WST Gained: 240

WST: 75865

Selling off everything the enemies dropped, because none of it was particularly useful, brought her WST to a further 75995. 

Once Erin disappeared, Neve quickly summoned her again, just in case there were more opponents lurking in the dimly lit halls around them. 

"The way in which these things fight is rather odd," Erin noted, as Neve walked toward the next set of doors. "They seem to enjoy using very agile movements to close the gap, but once they are up close and personal their attacks become rather tight." 

"I'm guessing you're having fun? Learning about these new enemies, I mean." 

"Are you not?" Erin countered. "I could have sworn this was one of our few similarities." 

"Huh?" 

"I saw you," Erin told her, "back in the desert, as we figured out what each enemy could do. You were enjoying yourself quite a bit. It was some of the most focus I've seen you show up until now. I'd like to think you were enjoying yourself so much because you like the process of learning about your enemies as much as I do, and not because you were often watching me die in terrible ways." 

That made Neve pause for a moment.

[I mean, it is kinda fun... I guess.] 

Soon, they reached the place Torma and Norn had been talking about. 

A section of this strangely-made building that outshined anything else they'd come across so far, with sapphire-lined doors and marks, illustrating complex, almost Nordic, patterns all across the space ahead. 

Here, there was one massive door. And, naturally, it was locked. 

{Quest Gained!} 

{Find the key to the president's chambers} 

{Reward: 10 IP}

[There it is,] Neve thought, sighing. [This floor's quest. Well, alright then. I wanted to look through this whole place anyway so, fine, Forces That Be. Fine. I'll play your game.] 

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