119: Knives in the Dark, Part Eight

Knives in the Dark, Part Eight

Neve made a simple choice. 

On the way to Lia's boss room, the center of this dark town, she would look for items, loot, hidden rooms, and anything else she could find. 

If she found it, then good. If not, then it was fine. 

The simple truth was that she needed to make progress. Here she was, crawling around the 4th Floor, sifting through rotting bodies and old bones, while Thomas and his group had, if Tamira's implication was to be believed, already made it to the 8th. 

She had made half of their progress.

That, on its own, wasn't terribly disheartening. What really pushed Neve to act faster was the fact that after so much time spent in the Final Challenge, time that Neve had spent training and looking for items, they'd only made it that far. 

As a group, no less. 

[What does that say about how challenging the upcoming floors are?] She couldn't help but ask. [Do I even stand a chance at beating these floors on my own?] 

"Enemies," Erin suddenly called out. "Up ahead." 

Thankful for the opportunity to take her mind off of this briefly, Neve focused on the creatures up ahead. 

One was a thin, bony humanoid with a pair of long fangs protruding from its mouth.

[Is that supposed to be a vampire? Or, some sort of offshoot?] 

Beside it was an odd, massive, writhing slug covered in eyeballs, and in front of them both was another werewolf. 

All of them were level 59. 

Erin slithered up ahead and engaged the werewolf, while the fanged humanoid next to it focused entirely on Neve. The slug remained behind them all, signaling to Neve that it was probably a mage. 

Up ahead, Erin used {Dragon's Divine Breath} in hopes of ending her fight quickly, but the werewolf she faced off with sidestepped the incoming spray of flames. It went and swiped at the lamia at a speed that nearly caught the warrior princess off-guard. She ducked under its attacks, though, and wrapped her body around the enemy. 

The werewolf flailed twice frantically, desperately trying to claw at the woman's torso as she moved around the opponent. It was only able to get two swipes in, though before the lamia squeezed. The werewolf was restrained. Erin stuck two claws in its head and yanked back, ripping it off. 

At the same time, Neve was backing up while the vampire tried to sink those two dagger-like fangs into whatever spot on her it could and the slug launched massive blocks of ice at her. She cast her own ice-based spell on the vampire a few times, slowing the monster down while she simultaneously avoided the incoming projectiles. 

Her ability to do so ceased, however, as she ran onto a mystical, red rune that she hadn't seen. 

[A trap!?] 

Her legs stopped moving. 

Erin saw it happen and immediately made a beeline for her position, but Neve doubted she'd make it in time. 

The vampire caught up. The blocks of ice were on a collision course with her, as were the vampire's fangs. 

Things felt like they slowed down at that moment. Neve only took a couple of seconds before deciding on what to do. In this position, she felt it was the only thing she could do. 

[Ahhhh... This is gonna hurt. But, for what it's worth, I've been through worse. A lot worse.] 

Neve cast {Sacred Ground} under herself, and then marked herself first and the vampire second.

[Timing. Timing,  timing,  timing, timing.] 

Finally, raising her staff over her head, she waited until the block of ice reached her. 

It hurt a lot more than she thought it would. 

"AGH!" 

The world went white and Neve hit the floor. Her vision was blurry. Her hand squeezed so hard on her staff that it hurt. 

The vampire mounted her, putting its hands on her shoulders and moving its head down. 

But, she'd managed to trigger {Equivalent Exchange} in time. 

"Aaaaeerrrggh!" 

The vampire screeched as its head took damage from an unseen source. At the same time, Neve's was healed. 

And just before her minute ran out, Erin showed up to do the rest. 

Neve didn't see it happen but she heard fire crackling and both monsters squealing. The vampire, specifically, died before {Equivalent Exchange} could fully heal her, so Neve cast {Great Healing Dart} a few times. 

[... I hate it when I have to do something like that. Fuck.] 

She wasn't able to congratulate her summon on her solid performance this time, as Erin disappeared soon after she disposed of their opponents. 

As she noticed the EXP messages she'd gotten from each of the kills, a sweet, sultry voice reached her ears. 

"That was more interesting than your last fight. This battle of ours might be fun for me yet." 

Groaning, Neve stood up and found Lia standing there, just a few steps away, her hands held behind her back and her lips curling up slightly at the corners. 

"..." Neve remained silent, choosing to get up quietly and walk away. 

"Ah~ That cold shoulder of yours just makes me want to tear it out even more..." 

"We're going to be fighting pretty soon, you know? You can just wait for me there." 

[In other words, please, go away.] 

"I know," she giggled, "hence why I wanted to take this last chance to speak with you." She cut Neve off, standing before her. Lia raised a bloodstained hand as Neve stopped, and caressed the healer's cheek. "Your stride is quick and purposeful, and there's murder in your eyes. I can see it. Looking into your pupils feels like looking into a mirror right now. I'm too curious, did something change since we last spoke?" 

At that, Neve looked away. 

"Aha... Something did." She put her hands behind her back, taking up an innocent, teasing pose. "You know, in order to end the lives of others as well as I have over the years, I needed to be good at setting up traps like I did with you. To do that, I had to learn how to read people. To understand what they wanted and how to entice them with it. Going all the way back to when I was growing up," she said, walking around Neve as though she was on a field of flowers and not on a filthy, rotten street, "I learned. Money, my body, power, respect, an object, or, whatever else. I learned to identify what it was that people desired. And..." 

Standing behind Neve, the woman wrapped her arms around her. Neve felt hot with anger bubbling up in her heart. Whispering into her right ear, Lia said: 

"With you, I can see that you want to find something. Something you feel might slip away from your hands anytime now, judging by the pace at which you move. Something you dislike quite intensely, no?" 

The entire time, Neve just stayed quiet. She wasn't going to entertain her, she wasn't going to play along. 

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the lady cared much about whether she did or not. 

"Hehehe, I wish you could see the world from my point of view. The beauty my eyes have found is stunning. Honestly, I'd keep you as a pet if the thought of stabbing you through the heart wasn't so alluring." 

... But at that point, Neve couldn't stay quiet anymore. 

"Are you really so sure that's how things are going to go?" Neve asked, with venom lacing her words. "You don't think there's even a chance that you'll lose?" 

"Oh?" Lia tilted her head, her arms still wrapped around Neve's shoulders as she stood before her now. They were so close that if one was watching them and couldn't hear their words, they might have thought they were lovers. "Perhaps I am misjudging you, but I am not particularly frightened by anything you've shown me thus far. Besides..." 

Her hold of the mage became even tighter. 

"... If you did win, that would be a victory for me as well." 

"Dying would be a victory for you?" Neve asked, raising a brow. 

"Indeed," Lia replied. "The one thing I have yet to experience is someone else taking my life. Not for lack of trying, of course. Hammers have been swung my way, blades have been aimed at my neck, and arrows have flown through the air searching for my body. And yet, not once have I tasted someone else's steel. I can't help but wonder what that experience might be like."  0

"I'll do my best to help you learn."

"Ha!" Lia burst out laughing, a grin fully displayed on her lips while Neve's face remained just as cold. "See? There it is! The bloodlust I smell. Ah, heavenly mother, it makes me want to take you into the alley and fuck your brains out! But... I'll wait until *after* you're dead before I have any of that kind of fun," she stated. "A pair of cold, lifeless eyes looking back at me just adds that special bit of flavor to it all, you know?"

And chills went up Neve's spine. 

"Well, now, you've gotten me excited," Lia took a couple of steps back and in one leap jumped all the way up to the roof of the building beside her. Looking down at Neve, she said: "I will halt your progress no longer. By all means, hurry up as best as you can. I'll be waiting~" 

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