111: The Hidden Blade Guild & The Fourth Floor

The Hidden Blade Guild & The Fourth Floor

As Charlotte went home, she checked what exactly people online were talking about. 

Her recent development with Neve was one of the biggest topics, of course, but aside from that, she saw something else. 

[The Hidden Blade Guild?] Charlotte squinted down at her screen, taking a sip out of the latte in her hands. [Not the catchiest name in the world. What are they about, though?]

A few clicks led her down a trail of unsettling discussions. 

There were talks of a player-killing guild. Nothing official, obviously, but apparently there was a gang of some sort that was going out of their way to murder people. The reason for this, or for the guild's supposed creation, was unknown. 

[Hell of a time for these people to sprout up, though. Just when it looks like we might have some peace... Depending on how things go for those remaining 6 players.] 

Although she couldn't deny that her purpose for contacting Neve was mostly selfish, with so much chaos happening these days, even she couldn't help but wonder if things could actually change as a result of this. 

Maybe knowing that there were still players in the Final Challenge, fighting on humanity's behalf, would inspire some sort of worldwide patriotism. 

Maybe knowing Neve's personal story could inspire some people to do better themselves. 

[... No, no. Stop it,] Charlotte told herself. [You grew out of this naive bullshit years ago, don't go back to it now. People can't change. Society can't change. Just try to have some fun and enjoy it while it lasts.] 

---

{Neve}

The wave of random donations that came in all of a sudden brought Neve a lot of money. 

It also made it impossible to identify Charlotte's donations, though, as they got lost in a sea of 2500s, 69s, 420s, and 1s. 

Neve wasn't about to give up free World Shop Tokens entirely, but she did want to be able to interact with the journalist who'd sought her out. So, she decided that she'd go through intervals in which she'd block donations from anyone aside from Charlotte, and then unblock them whenever she needed a token or two. 

The next messages that Charlotte sent to her read: 

"Progress?" Neve read out, as Erin and Ahlakan inspected the safe zone on their own, combing through the bookshelves and poking at the skeleton on the couch. "They want to know how close we are to finishing the Final Challenge? Well... I'm almost halfway done, so..." 

She sent back a message to Charlotte saying, "halfway" which cost 76 tokens. 

Thanks to all of those random donations, her current total was 15076

Knowing that it might take a while before Charlotte replied, Neve decided that now would be a good time to go ahead and walk out of the safe zone, to look around. 

"Erin, let's head out," Neve said. 

The lamia set aside a book she'd been looking at and slithered over. 

"Any idea of sort of enemies we might find?" 

"Your guess is as good as mine." 

Off to the right, Ahlakan was inspecting the lab equipment, looking at these objects with such great interest that she didn't even notice that Neve and Erin were about to walk out. Getting closer to her, Neve only managed to catch her attention as she stood right in front of the girl. She smiled up at her, holding the tools up.

"These things look quite similar to my alchemy equipment!" She exclaimed gleefully. "Might there be anything I could use around here?"

"I'll keep an eye out," Neve told her. "If I see anything, I'll let you know." 

After that, the healer and her summon ventured out opened that brown door, and came out to a land that looked a lot more like Earth than any of the other three floors but was still eerily different. 

A narrow cobblestone street extended to the left and the right, barricaded by tall, brick-built buildings that looked like they were made with no sense of symmetry in mind. The sky was a deep shade of black and blue, pierced by a giant red moon. Torches in the streets burned brightly as Neve looked around. 

"Hm... Kinda looks like 19th-century England," Neve muttered. "But, like it's been through a war or something." 

Some of the buildings had been reduced to rubble, though Neve saw no artillery or equipment that could have made that happen. There were streaks of purple liquid that Neve could only assume were blood painting the road, especially with how foul the air smelled. 

Right next to the door they'd come out from was a brown chest. Neve walked over to it, looking around first to make sure nothing was around, crouched in front of the container, opened it, and found: 

Quick Antidote

{Consumable}

{Common}

{Val: 25 WST}

{Effect: Cures one of any diseases acquired in the past 3 minutes}

[Mmm... I don't like that the Forces That Be saw fit to give me this right at the start of the floor. This place might be pretty annoying.]

Putting the object in her inventory, Neve stood up straight.

"Alright, same as before," she told Erin. "Let's just look around first and see-" 

A howl to the right interrupted her words. 

Both she and the lamia turned toward the sound and found something rather unnerving. 

In a blind spot between two torches where the light from neither one quite reached it, they saw a pair of beady, glowing red eyes staring back at them. 

The source of the sound slowly moved forward. Neve backed up and Erin stepped forward, naturally. 

The creature that made that sound revealed itself, stepping into the light and showing off a tall, strong body covered in dark fur. It didn't take too long to know what this was. 

[A werewolf. Didn't we fight some of these in the Hall of the Luminous? Anyway, I guess that's the type of enemy we'll find here. Maybe we'll find some vampires too.] 

Level 55

MP: 50/50

"Looks like this is the only one. Probably some sort of introductory fight," Neve muttered. 

"I'm not too sure about that," Erin responded. 

"Hm?"

"It feels like we're being watched. I've had that feeling since we opened the door and walked out. Can't tell where it's coming from, but it certainly does feel like there's something else here." 

"Is that so?" Neve replied quietly. "Hm. Keep your guard up, then." 

"Will do." 

Erin engaged the sole enemy out here.

Immediately, the contrast that Neve could expect between this and the last floor made itself known in how the fight went down. 

Previously, Erin had been engaging somewhat intelligent, skilled enemies. This time, as she clashed with this werewolf, they just started trying to claw each other's hearts out with no thought for skill or technique. 

And though the wolf was of a higher level, the abilities  Erin had picked up previously still ensured that she could overpower this opponent. 

Dodging out of the way of a feral flurry, Erin used {Divine Dragon's Swipe} to cleave a fiery line down the werewolf's body, throwing it to the ground with a flaming wound at its center. It squealed but did not get to do so for long before Erin swiftly put it out of its misery. 

Red blood spilled out onto the cobblestone and an EXP message appeared over Neve's head. 

EXP Gained: 402

EXP: 360/560

WST Gained: 80

WST: 15156

"Good job," Neve told Erin, walking up to her. 

"I-"

A scream cut through the air. 

It came from a nearby alley. Both women snapped their heads toward the sound. Erin glanced over at Neve, as though waiting for instructions. Nodding toward it, Neve let her know she wanted to check it out and the two ran over to the sound's source. 

In that alley, they found a woman backed up against a wall, with two werewolves this time slowly moving toward her. 

Level 54

MP: 60/60

Level 56

MP: 80/80

[Hm? Isn't this the same setup as the last Floor Quest? Come on, Forces That Be. You shouldn't be that shameless.] 

"P-Please, help!" The woman said, from behind the werewolves. Neve couldn't quite get a good look at her. "PLEASE!" She cried out and Erin quickly engaged both werewolves. 

Neve helped out this time, of course, launching out {Fireballs} at them from afar. Her spells crashed into their bodies, not doing a terribly high amount of damage but distracting them long enough for Erin to get a good hit in on the one to the right, but didn't manage to kill it. 

Now that Erin had closed the gap like this, in this narrow, cramped alley, it was hard for Neve to get a good angle on her opponents. As she did so, however, she caught a brief glimpse of the lady who they'd come here to save. 

And, in that glimpse, she swore their eyes met. 

Erin ducked under a quick pair of swings from the uninjured werewolf and then ran her claws across its stomach before then lifting them to its head and tearing its eyes out. Its injured partner, who hadn't quite given up just yet, tried to lunge at Erin only to be interrupted by four separate {Fireballs} hitting it from the side. 

As it looked toward the person who cast the spell, Erin moved in and decapitated the opponent.

Once that enemy was dead, Erin quickly disposed of its blinded ally, and the second battle on this floor came to a quick end. 

"Well then," Erin said. "If there are no more enemies to be found, perhaps now I will be allowed to finish my damn sen-"

Erin disappeared.

"Heh." 

[That was... All a little too easy, wasn't it? I don't know. Maybe it's just the ambiance,  but everything about this place so far has just felt sort of... wrong.] 

EXP Gained: 80

EXP: 440/560

WST Gained: 160

WST: 15316

As Neve took stock of what she'd gained, one of the sweetest voices Neve had ever heard reached her ears. 

And, it came from the woman they'd just saved. 

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