210: The Healer's Light, Part Seventeen

The Healer's Light, Part Seventeen

Neve watched Aphria fly away in a hurry, as those dead bodies that had just spoken to her finally turned into actual dead bodies again. 

Whether that had been an illusion of some sort, or Tamira trying to ruin Neve's chances of completing the Floor Quest, didn't matter. What mattered was that Aphria's reaction was both very telling and left even more questions in Neve's mind. 

[Seriously, what happened here? She even mentioned this illusory wall was made in case monsters ever got this far, but that they didn't. So, how did these people fail their Unity Trials?] 

The audience that Neve had momentarily forgotten was viewing all of this, thanks to the camera on her chest, seemed equally confused, as a significant portion of the stream's chat was nothing but question marks. 

"Neve," Erin said, slithering up to her. "We can check in on her later. For now, I believe it is more important to focus on that last part of what she said." 

"Right..." 

[We're nearing the end,] Neve thought, looking at the path the angel had revealed to them. [I wonder how much more is left. I guess we'll find out in a bit.] 

"Yeah, let's keep going." 

Erin nodded and the trio resumed moving forward, through the space Aphria had opened. 

The massive building finally began to shrink a little, its walls getting more and more narrow, as though funneling them the deeper they went. The statues, which had been lining the walls the entire time, finally began growing scarcer and scarcer until there weren't any of them to be seen anymore. 

The light shining in from the windows above, like liquid gold spilling into the hall, created a makeshift path leading up to one massive set of bronze-colored gates. 

But, that path was not clear. Four enemies stood between Neve's trio and those doors. A mage, two archers, and a man with a spear and a shield. 

Level 76

MP: 900/900

Level 76

MP: 450/450

Level 76

MP: 450/450

Level 76

MP: 300/300

Neve glanced at her map. It confirmed for her what Neve had been guessing the instant she saw those doors. 

[The boss is behind that room,] Neve thought, the finality of that assessment weighing on her heavily. [We win here, I go back and try to convince Aphria to follow us into that place, and... Then what will happen?] 

Neve had no idea. 

But, although Neve didn't know what would happen when she brought Aphria to that room, Neve what her next steps were. 

"Let me take that shield dude on," Neve muttered, remembering what happened the last time Erin fought one of these types of enemies. "It's a waste to put you against him." 

[All this guy wants to do is waste the time and energy of whoever he's against. I'd rather have that be me than Erin.] 

"Understood." 

With that being said, Neve cast {Field of Brilliance} followed by {Encourage} and {Bolstering Presence}. 

MP: 1175/1300

Without another word, Erin launched herself at the mage. 

Selene took to the air, firing at the archers. 

Neve stood before the shield user, her staff aimed lazily in his direction. The angel's blank eyes locked with hers. 

[Okay, I can take it a little bit easy here. I just need to make sure I react to any {Silence} runes in time but, aside from that, this guy is probably just going to- HUH!?] 

The shield user did something the one Erin had fought hadn't done. 

He ran straight at Neve, firing off rapid, deadly thrusts in her direction like she'd murdered his entire family and this was his one chance at revenge. 

[The strategy changed!? Was the other shield guy only fighting so defensively because it was Erin going up against him?] 

Silencing her own mind for a moment, Neve backed up, casting {Flash Shielding} with every step. 

MP: 1150/1300

MP: 1125/1300

MP: 1100/1300

The spear bounced off Neve's shield as she tried to create distance between them. Eventually, however, she realized that at the pace this opponent was striking at, she'd likely mess up at some point, allowing him to find a brief window that would result in that spear being driven through her body. 

So, Neve decided maybe it would be better to allow that to happen purposefully instead. 

She marked herself and then marked him. 

[Fine. Come on, then!] 

Casting {Sacred Ground} under herself, just in case the blow ended up doing too much damage, Neve stopped casting her shields. 

MP: 1050/1300

Immediately, the spear found its way into Neve's stomach. 

The healer spat out blood, falling back as the angel tried to pin her to the ground. 

He succeeded in doing so but did not remain in this position for too long, as Neve then activated {Equivalent Exchange}. 

For a brief moment, Neve wondered if the spell did not activate properly, as the man's face did not change at all, but as a couple of seconds passed with Equivalent Exchange transferring the wound from her body to his, he finally fell over, a gaping hole in his torso. 

MP: 975/1300

An idea came to Neve, at that moment. 

[Huh... I wonder...] 

Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the present moment and slipped the tip of her sword across the angel's shoulder. 

The instant she did that, she backed away. 

[Severe Bleeding applied,] Neve thought. [He should die on his own in a little bit. So, now, how's the rest of the fight going?] 

A quick look at the rest of the battle showcased exactly what Neve guessed would be the case. 

Neve turned to look at Erin's side of the fight and realized why the mage hadn't been casting anything at her. It was because he had his hands full. 

Not for long, though, as the instant Neve looked at that ongoing skirmish, Erin drove a hand straight through his stomach. 

Two EXP messages popped up over Neve's head. One from the mage and the other from the shield user who'd finished bleeding out. 

[Good, but someone else here might be in a worse spot...] 

"Erin!" Neve called out. 

The lamia quickly went and dashed to Neve's right, where Selene was simply doing her best to stay alive with two archers firing at her. 

Her best meant that she was only just barely able to avoid dying altogether, as her body had six arrows sticking out of it. 

Erin helped as she arrived and pulled one archer's attention to her as she jumped up and tried to swipe at her with her claws. 

Neve took that opportunity and launched one {Fireball} after another, with three of them crashing into the enemy's body. 

The angel was shot down from the sky, falling to the ground, but she was still alive. 

Erin finished her off and both she and Neve's eyes fell on the last archer, who was still locked in a dogfight with Selene. 

Unlike the last archer, this one noticed Neve's magic coming in and moved away from it, but unknowingly ended up getting closer to Erin, who'd jumped up from behind her. 

The lamia snatched the angel right out of the air and brought her down to the floor. From there, one well-placed strike was all Erin needed to end the fight. 

EXP Gained: 900

EXP: 1240/750

Level Up!

WST Gained: 3000

WST: 105050

Neve breathed a sigh of relief. 

The fight was over sooner than she thought it would be. 

[I guess that's it, then.] She thought, glancing at the bronze doors. [Now, all that's left is to convince Aphria to come here.] 

Erin disappeared. Selene, with double the amount of wounds as she had before, stood by. 

Neve allocated her 3 Attribute Points and turned away, walking toward the entrance. 

[It's time.] 

---

Level 76

MP: 1300/1300 (+300)

EXP: 490/760

AP: 3690

IP: 90

WST: 105050

---

Endurance: 60

Speed: 55

Precision: 50

Strength: 10

Arcane: 100

Neve took a long look at her stats as she was about to walk back out the door leading into the Hall of Miracles. 

[So, these are going to be my stats heading into the last boss. I'd say I'm pretty strong, but... I guess we'll see if this is enough.] 

As she went out and found Aphria standing by the door, Neve swapped out her Angel Set for her Bloodstained Rags once again. 

Aphria did not even raise her eyes to meet Neve's as the healer approached. 

"... Hey," Neve called out softly. 

The liquid tracks running down Aphria's face made it beyond clear what she'd been doing during that last fight. 

It took a while, but, eventually, Aphria said: 

"I don't know..." Her voice was as fragile as a glass cup standing at the edge of a rooftop on a windy day. "I don't know what else I could have done." 

Neve remained silent. 

"I won every fight, you know?" Aphria continued. "I never lost. Not once. And yet..." 

She stood up. 

"I guess my world was just meant to fall. Whatever," she waved a hand in the air. "You're not done, are you?" 

Neve shook her head. 

"There's one more door... I need you to walk in with me. That's all." 

"Then let's go and be done with it," Aphria muttered. "Then... I don't know. Maybe I'll throw myself into the clouds or something." 

It genuinely hurt Neve's heart to hear someone else echoing the same sentiments she'd experienced for so long. 

She needed this, however, so she didn't say anything, so as to not risk having Aphria change her mind. 

The two of them walked back into the building. 

Neve changed her outfit back. Aphria kept her head low the entire time, keeping her eyes on the carpeted ground. 

Eventually, they reached the bronze doors.  Selene stood aside quietly. For the first time, her eyes were not on Neve, but on Aphria instead, as the angel went to open them. 

[... This is it,] Neve thought, inhaling sharply. [The last fight.] 

Aphria opened the doors, walking in and stopping after a few steps. 

Quest Completed!

IP Gained: 10

IP: 100

Neve disregarded that message, though, and went in as well. 

Finding...1

[What?] 

As she came across the sight that had made Aphria stop in her tracks like that, Neve too froze where she stood. 

The boss, the final enemy holding up the spot the marker was pointing to, was one more angel. 

An angel that looked quite a bit like Aphria. 

pqdm.com