99: Blood in the Water, Part Fourteen

Blood in the Water, Part Fourteen

{Neve}

Pushing that matter about the unknown "Charlotte" individual out of her mind, Neve proceeded to train for another week. 

To her surprise, she managed to get a lot done. 

Seven days of nonstop training that carried Neve all the way up to the 40 Blade she needed. 

In that span of time, she and Erin had gone over so many different intricacies of battle that it had been enough to make Neve's head hurt. Especially since, thanks to the System, she was learning all of this information flawlessly. 

It was honestly overwhelming. Even though she healed away all of the headaches that came with this sudden flood of information she internalized, her head still felt a little heavy. 

Now, with Neve having reached this last skill point available to her, she was having her last training session with Erin before she'd resume her journey through the Third Floor. 

Neve dashed forward, as she went to trade blows with Erin in the center of the safe zone. Ahlakan watched on from a nearby bench, her hands clasped together and her jaw placed firmly on the ground. 

Still, even though she'd gained double the amount of fighting knowledge as she had when she fought that fish warrior a week ago, she didn't feel like she'd gotten that much better. 

Maybe Erin disagreed, though, as she watched on with a proud grin while Neve went to slash at her. 

The healer struck with fluid, clean motions, trying to switch up her angles and alter the speed of her attacks in hopes of catching Erin off-guard. Obviously, she was unsuccessful, but every time their blades collided, sending clanging sounds ringing across the makeshift arena, she seemed happy. 

As Neve went for a spinning slash and Erin parried the blow, she hopped back, putting some space between them. 

Neve took deep breaths. Sweat rolled down her cheeks and her neck. Erin, who didn't have a single hair out of place, tilted her head. 

"Well," she said, "I do believe I now understand why training is a profession some choose to enter. I am stunned." 

As those words reached Neve's ears, she let go of her fighting stance and wiped away the sweat while Ahlakan clapped from the bench. 

"Goodness!" Ahlakan exclaimed, still looking awed. "That was like watching a dance!" 

"Fighting can look like that sometimes," Erin nodded. "Most of the time it is far less appealing, though. And smells horrible after. So, Neve," she slithered toward her summoner. "This incredible progress of yours... Is it the result of that System you mentioned?" 

"Uh, mostly, yeah." 

"Hm. While that does take away from the achievement just a little, it is still quite incredible to see how far you've come." She circled around Neve, her eyes running over her body like she was analyzing a statue. It didn't feel like she was taking in any fighting prowess she'd gained. 

No, Neve felt far more like a piece of meat about to be devoured. Erin even stuck her tongue out the corner of her lips as well. 

"Impressive," she finally said. 

"Thanks," Neve squeezed past a dry throat. "Do you think I'm ready for another actual fight?" 

"Unfortunately, no," Erin replied, shaking her head. "Again, I want to stress that your progress has been shocking, but our enemies are quite proficient with those odd weapons of theirs. If you engage one of them in a fair fight, I still expect you to lose." 

"Hm... I guess I should just make sure not to fight them fairly, then," Neve murmured. "We're going to be heading back out now, so I'm just gonna have to make this amount of skill work." 

"Really?" Erin asked, raising a brow. "But, with your ability to learn, you could end up matching me in skill in just another week. Are you sure you don't want to keep practicing?" 

"Um, it's complicated, but this 'accelerated learning' of mine won't actually work past this point. This is as far as it goes." 

"Is that so?"

Indeed, she was only able to get this far so quickly because Erin's own Blade skill was 40.

Now, even though Erin was a trainer, any further training would see Neve's skill increase at a regular rate. 

Which, if she remembered Warrior-class players' complaints on the forums well enough, was horribly inefficient. 

[Yeah,] Neve thought, putting away her sword and buying a pair of water bottles from the World Shop, passing one to Erin. [It's time. I need to keep moving.] 

---

Walking up to that set of stairs, behind the invisible wall, Neve felt quite tense. 

[The top floor gave us a little bit of trouble, but... How bad will the rest of this place be?] 

She wondered if, perhaps, she should just ignore all of the floors between this one and the last, but the fact that she'd just found a legendary sword in a random chest here made that an unjustifiable decision in her heart. 

If she found something like that, what else could be waiting for her? 

Of course, that question wasn't just valid to ask in terms of the loot she could find, but... what other monsters would be around to protect it? 

"Screw it. Let's just go," she muttered. Erin, of course, posed no objection to that idea. 

Descending through the stairs, they made their way to the next floor. 

None of the light from above reached this place. The smell of stagnant water and dried blood reached Neve's nostrils. Thanks to the glowing emerald lines carving all throughout the white stone, though, Neve did not need to cast {Candlelight}. 

[... Creepy as hell down here, though.] 

Just as Neve was about to move forward from the stairs, Erin held an arm out, signaling for her to step back. Nodding, Neve did as she asked. 

The lamia patiently slithered to the center of the room. There were two halls they could investigate up ahead, but Erin did not move any closer to them. 

Both she and Neve waited to see if any enemies jumped out. For a while, none did. 

Neve's heartbeat, thudding steadily in her ears, calmed down a little. 

Until a loud screech threatened to pierce her eardrums. 

"AGH!" Neve nearly fell to her knees. The sound was unbearable. 

Erin's only reaction was a quick flinch, but once that passed, she turned toward the source. She and Neve saw it at the same time, as it flew, yes,  flew,  into the room. 

A silver-black eel of some sort appeared before them, its body flowing through the air as though it was swimming. Electricity coursed all throughout it as it stopped just a meter or two above Erin, looking down at the two of them. 

"AAAERGH!" The creature shrieked before Erin raised herself up to meet it in the air, standing on the tip of her tail. 

Trying her hardest to ignore the pain in her ears, Neve first cast {Sacred Ground} under Erin and then used {Fireball} 4 times, hoping the enemy would share the weakness to this element that its allies on the previous floor had. 

MP: 1010/1100

Three of Neve's spells missed, as the eel spun and flew in circles around Erin. One of them landed. 

Unfortunately, though, it did not have a weakness to fire. If anything, the fire only seemed to make it a little angrier. 

The eel abandoned its fight against Erin and flew straight for Neve. 

She didn't react in time. The enemy moved too fast. 

Like one of those javelins the fish warriors had thrown earlier, the eel cut through the air and attached itself to Neve's chest, biting into it. 

"AG-" 

Before Neve could even let out a proper scream, she was shocked and paralyzed. 

Neve fell on her back, with the eel still attached to her, until Erin appeared behind it and stuck both her swords through the distracted enemy's body. 

It finally let go, but it wasn't allowed to retaliate as Erin simply stabbed it a third time, killing the enemy.0

EXP Gained: 50

EXP: 470/500

WST Gained: 100

WST: 81256

Everything had happened so fast that Neve hadn't even checked the enemy's level in this fight. 

Blood slid out from where its teeth had been digging as Neve remained in her position, unable to move. 

It hurt. 

It hurt a lot, actually. 

Once again, investing in her Endurance had paid off, as Neve was fairly certain, thanks to the soul-crushing pain coursing through her ribcage, her boobs, her collarbone, and just about most of her torso, that she probably would have died here had she not done that. 

"Neve? Are you alright, my dear?" Erin asked, after she first looked around to make sure no other enemy was around. 

"..." Neve could not respond. 

"Hm. You know, this growing bond between us, as a result of our flourishing summoner-summon relationship, is compelling me to take your silence as a 'yes'. Very well." 

"..." 

"Oh, the expression on your face is rather curious. Tell me, is paralyzation play a thing among your species? Should I perhaps consider looking into that for any potentially intimate moments in the future?" 

"..." 

"Ah, well if I am to take silence as affirmation then this does say rather interesting things about humans. Oh well, we can explore such depravities later, I suppose."

"..."

The lamia leaned down with a grin.

"Come on, don't look at me like that. I jest, I jest! Seriously, though, please do take care of yourself in these fights. Remember, if you ever go down, your faithful warrior-servant-summon-whatever will die with you." 

Erin disappeared then and, almost immediately, the paralyzing effect passed. 

"Aaaaagh... Fuck." Neve quickly reached for her staff and cast {Great Healing Dart} on herself repeatedly, until the pain she was feeling had fully vanished. "Ah..." She shivered. "My nipples are vibrating." 

Once that uncomfortable sensation had almost faded, Neve got up and went to see what the monster dropped. 

Eel Slime

{Uncommon}

{Alchemy Material} 

{Val: 50 WST} 

Priestess Buckler

{Uncommon} 

{Shield}

{Req: Priestess}

{Effect: 5% easier to parry attacks}

{Val: 50 WST}

As much as it felt like the loot she'd found was mostly there to mock her, it did serve to remind Neve:

[Right. Even if I find something I can use, it might not actually be *good*. So... Should I really go through every single floor here?] 

Looking around, her eyes were drawn to the two halls up ahead. 

Time, risk, reward, and multiple different factors all went through her mind before she finally sighed and nodded to herself. 

[I should. Especially if Thomas is talking to Tamira too or whatever. I need as much power as I can get- FUCK, can this feeling go away already!? UGH!]

Thus, Neve resummoned Erin and walked toward the doors in the distance. 

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