143: The Descent, Part Six

The Descent, Part Six

Lamrosh followed a few steps behind Neve. The healer would have suggested that she do that anyway, just in case they ran into anything dangerous, but the girl maintained that distance on her own. 

Regardless of whether she was actually saving her from something or not, which the Floor Quest had told Neve she was, the girl didn't trust her just yet. 

  Neve was fine with that, though she did wish the girl would follow just a step or two closer. The sounds entering her ears right now suggested that there could be enemies all around them. 

Within the natural hallway they walked through, there were little holes in the walls. Assuming these were made by the "kerosh" the girl had talked about, things could take a turn for the unpleasant rather quickly. 

"So," Neve said, "you know anything about the Unity Trials?" 

"Huh?" She looked up at the healer with confused eyes. 

[Hm. Maybe, in this world, they kept information about the Unity Trials away from the kids.] 

"Not quite," Tamira suddenly interjected. "See, this world is... a little primitive. Certainly among the more primitive civilizations we've brought the Unity Trials to. And, well, upon being invaded by otherworldly monsters, the people of this world viewed them no differently than the usual monsters they fought. So, things just went on normally here. Even with the rapidly decreasing number of locals."

[Is that right?]

"Yep!" Tamira replied. "I doubt Lamrosh will tell you this, so I figured I may as well step in and let you know. Anyway, good luck dealing with the ravenous horrors up ahead!" 

[...] 

Neve let that comment slide off her heart with a sigh. 

[She's just trying to scare me. I mean, yeah, there's probably nothing pleasant in this cave, but she's just trying to scare me. It's fine.] 

As more rapid clicking, odd chirping, and eerie snarling echoed all around her, though, it became more difficult to believe that. 

[Hm... Looking for a way out of this place is probably pointless, given that, like she said, this hole was literally a death sentence. If anything, it might mean that the boss is something that can be found somewhere nearby, right?] 

A quick glance at her map seemed to allude to that. 

[According to the minimap, I'm literally right on top of it. Damn, it must be even lower, then.] 

The clicking became louder. 

So much so that it couldn't quite be described as just a creepy atmosphere anymore. No, it likely meant one of those horrors Tamira mentioned was getting closer. 

"Lam, stay back." 

"W-What?" 

"I think something's coming!"

That was all she needed to hear. 

Lamrosh ran back, stopping once she was absolutely certain that she wouldn't be in any danger. 

As soon as she did, a few of the sources of those sounds appeared before Neve, hurrying to her position from around the corner, like they knew she'd been there the whole time. 

The creature she encountered at this moment was similar to a spider, but not quite the same. It was also not the same creature Neve had seen earlier, as she ran over here. No, that was actually a spider. This, the monster that saw her and gave a lion-like roar, was just similar to one. 

But a lot worse, naturally. 

It walked on six thin, white legs and had a giant, bulky head with two brown mandibles and a thick shell covering it that almost looked like a helmet made of bone. Four violet eyes, in two vertical rows, peered back at Neve. By its side, two much smaller versions of itself followed closely. 

Level 55

MP: 200/200

Level 20

MP: 10/10

Level 20

MP: 10/10

Neve's brows furrowed upon seeing those levels. 

[... Ah, because this thing comes with two helpers, they scaled the main enemy up, and its underlings down? Okay. Maybe I can work with that. The question is, do I take out the strongest one first or last?] 

As the creature's mandibles pulled away from its mouth, allowing it to let out a deep roar, Neve went with the first option that presented itself and focused her attention on the smaller kerosh that ran toward her. 

[This is probably a good time to use at least one or two of those potions.] 

As quickly as she could, Neve pulled a Potion of Fervor from her Inventory. 

Potion of Fervor

{Potion}

{Rare}

{Effect: Landing hits on enemies increases physical damage by 2%. Stacks up to 4 times.} 

{Duration: 2 minutes} 

{Val: 200 WST}

After gulping one down, she threw the flask at one of the smaller kerosh and backed up. 

[Let them come to me. There's not a whole lot of space in this place, but I need to use as much of it as I can.] 

Both of the smaller kerosh got close enough to use some sort of ability. They raised their heads and aimed their mouths at Neve. 

Thanks to the warning Lamrosh had given to her, Neve was ready for this. 

She ran to the right, crashing into the side of the cave in her efforts to avoid the white sludge that shot out from their mouths. 

The sludge landed just a short distance behind where Neve had been standing. 

[That's their range. Got it. The big one's range might be different, though.] 

Bouncing off the wall, Neve ran up and tried to stab them in their heads. 

She figured that the big one wouldn't be able to do anything from so far away. 

She quickly found out, however, what the bigger kerosh's range actually was. 

[FUCK!] 

Narrowly, she avoided a bullet-like glob of white sludge that cut through the air from the kerosh's position to hers nearly instantly. 

"HUH!?" Lamrosh yelped as the glob went past her as well. Realizing she wasn't far enough, she ran back further. 

The smaller kerosh closed what was left of the gap and went to bite down on Neve's legs. 

Thus, the desperate slashing began. 

The four hits needed to fully stack her potion's effect came quickly, as Neve slashed at the keroshs' legs with her shortsword.  0

"Agh!" At the same time, the kerosh bit down on Neve's legs, digging all the way to the bone in a flash. 

Neve fell back, unintentionally avoiding the next glob fired by the bigger kerosh. 

From the ground, Neve kept swinging at their legs. The first swings struggled to cut through them, but as she reached the 8% damage buff, their legs fell easily to the next set of swings that arrived. 

Their bodies collapsed. They weren't dead, but they couldn't do anything. 

[Weak points.] That reminder echoed in the walls of Neve's mind, as she laid on the ground and turned her attention to the bigger one. [Weak points.] 

The bigger kerosh began charging at her, seeing her down and ready to be killed. 

Drinking a Minor Healing Potion quickly allowed her to stand up before it could reach her. 

One of its thin, white legs raised up and went to crash down on Neve's body. 

She sidestepped the attack and tried to cut this creature's legs off as well, only for her sword to bounce off. 

[What?] 

This made Neve pause. 

It wasn't that her swing did *little* damage. It did no damage at all. 

[... Guess that's not one of them, for the bigger ones.]

Neve looked up at the kerosh. Its eyes looked back at hers, briefly. 

[Oh well. The more you know.] 

The pat on the back she received for learning that information came in the form of the kerosh opening its mouth and clamping it down on her head. 

"AAAAGH!" Neve screamed her lungs out as her face began to burn. 

In her panic at the sudden threat of having her head melted, Neve tried to stab it. She couldn't exactly tell what she was stabbing, only that she was stabbing *something*. 

Importantly, her sword was actually making it past its body. 

So much so that the kerosh's hold on her head softened a little, as it felt some damage. 

Neve's 50 Endurance allowed her to hold out just long enough for the kerosh to let go, staggering back and forming a trail of green leading from Neve's body to its own. 

Neve couldn't see anything, but she could feel something sliding down her face from where her eyes had been. 

She had to have gotten quite close to dying, actually, as {The Undying Coward} kicked in. With its help, she simultaneously ran toward her enemy as she gulped down another healing potion. 

Her eyesight was restored. Her eyes locked onto the kerosh ahead. 

And Neve stabbed the hell out of it. 

1, 2, 5 times. Upon that fifth stabbing, the kerosh died and Neve's trait went away. 

She fell to her knees as an EXP message appeared, but she was too busy breathing heavily to focus on it at all. 

[... Shit.] 

The odd chirping she heard to her right reminded her that the smaller kerosh were still alive. So, she went and put them out of their misery as well. 

More EXP that she ignored for the moment. 

Lamrosh walked up once she saw that the coast was clear. 

"Um... A-Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Neve replied quietly, as she tried to push the feeling of her face literally melting out of her mind. "I'm good. Are you alright, though? Nothing happened while I had my back turned?" 

"... No." 

"Great." 

Suddenly, the girl extended her hands and offered Neve a napkin of some sort. 

"Ehm... Clean yourself?" 

"Sure," Neve replied. "T-" 

She stopped. 

Looking down at the girl, she was reminded that Lamrosh had no pockets. No purse, either. Nothing she could have pulled this thing out from. 

"Where did you get this?" 

"Hm?" Lamrosh tilted her head. "I made it." 

Neve blinked. 

"What?" 

To illustrate what she was talking about, Lamrosh put her empty hands together. 

There was a brief flash of purple and, as she pulled them away from each other, a white napkin appeared. 

"I made it," she said, once again. 

"You made it," Neve noted. "Damn." 

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