174: Empty

Empty

Note: Minor TW for the end of this chapter. Neve's mind is not in the best of places.

---

Neve walked through the portal leading to the ninth floor and, in truth, the main thing she was looking forward to was getting some sun on her skin and drying herself off. 

As she entered the next space, she quickly realized that might not happen. 

[What... the... fuck?] 

The abyss-like darkness of space stared back at Neve as she looked up. 

It was as though she'd been teleported onto the moon. A quick look at the area around her let her know that wasn't the case, though.

White, metal buildings stuck out from a moon-like surface, so tall they put anything Neve had seen up until now to shame. A ramp stretched out from this Safe Zone's exit, dragging Neve's eyes with it so that she noticed the object hovering between those skyscrapers. 

A giant sphere of energy, held in place by two grey poles, burning like a miniature star. 

Neve was too surprised to move for a bit. 

[... Fuck, it's cold here.] 

Eventually, she regained her composure and continued to inspect the Safe Zone. This was the first one to have been completely untouched before her arrival. That meant that there was absolutely nothing here. 

"Would you like-" 

[Yes,] Neve cut Tamira off. 

"STILL haven't forgiven me!? Come ooon, Neve~" 

The healer did not say another word to her. 

"Fine, fine." 

She brought Neve's camp to this place in the blink of an eye. As soon as she saw that, Neve began walking up the ramp.

She had no intention of taking this floor on before getting at least a little bit of rest, but she was morbidly curious about what exactly this floor would be like. 

As she reached the camp's exit, a barrier that had been placed around the Safe Zone became noticeable. 

[Hm?] 

The instant Neve took one step outside, this appeared: 

Oxygen: 100%

Neve immediately took a step back, retreating into the Safe Zone. 

[Ah, so that's this floor's gimmick?] 

It wasn't hard to guess what would happen if the Oxygen hit 0, but Neve's immediate assessment about how to manage that counter was that there were two possibilities. 

1. Every time Neve walked out, the Oxygen counter would reset to 100%. Essentially, this would mean that every trip Neve took outside of the Safe Zone was on a timer. 

Or, and this was the more troubling option: 

2. The oxygen counter would continuously go down from 100, not resetting at all, and if it reached 0 Neve was just fucked. 

Thankfully, there was one easy way to test these theories. 

Neve walked back up the ramp again. 

Standing before the barrier, Neve inhaled sharply, taking in some of that oxygen that was apparently a limited resource on this floor, and walked forward. 

She put a foot outside the safe zone and watched as {Oxygen: 100%} appeared once more. 

This time, she kept a foot out until the counter went down. 

It took five minutes for that to happen. 

As soon as the counter dropped to 99%, she pulled her foot back into the Safe Zone. Then, after taking a moment to wait, she pushed that foot out again. 

Oxygen: 99%

Neve's head lowered and she felt like a sack full of sand had just been dropped on top of her. 

[Shit.] 

With the precious nature of the Oxygen resource being made clear, now, Neve just had to figure out a plan of attack for this Floor. 

[Well, no, hold on,] she thought. [Actually, the Oxygen could still reset when the monsters respawn. That said, I don't think I should act as though that's necessarily true. The safest thing to do is to assume that any Oxygen I lose is permanently gone. Which obviously sucks, but whatever.] 

With these factors in mind, Neve began to pace around the camp, trying to figure out a course of action. 

[Hm... The boss marker is on the opposite end of the map from here, as per usual. With a mechanic like this in play, it's pretty unlikely that the boss room will just open up easily once I reach it. Or, maybe it will. Maybe the Oxygen counter is there to put pressure on anyone who's trying to do the Floor Quest, not the boss. Maybe, but I need to find out what the Floor Quest is to confirm that.] 

One idea quickly came to her mind that could help her learn more about this floor before venturing out herself. 

Neve summoned Erin next to her. 

The lamia appeared and Neve saw what her own face likely resembled as her friend took in the atmosphere around them. 

"Where...?" 

"Yeah, this is what the next floor's like. But, there's a bit of an issue," Neve said. "The air here is limited." 

"Truly?" Erin replied, looking back at her with surprise. "Do you have any estimate on how much of it we have?" 

"Mhm. There's something in, ehm, my eyes that tells me. I wanted to test something out, though. Can you help?" 

"Certainly." 

"Alright. Come." 

Neve took the lamia to the edge of the Safe Zone, both of them standing atop the ramp leading out. 

"Can you go outside for a moment?" 

Erin did just that. 

No pop-up message appeared. Neve nodded to herself and proceeded to wait for five minutes, which was how long it had taken for the Oyxgen counter to go down by 1% earlier. 

Once those 5 minutes passed, Neve stepped out as well. 

Oxygen: 99%

[Okay, that's good,] Neve thought, stepping back into the Safe Zone. [Erin doesn't actually consume any oxygen herself while she's out here. That means I can do what I was thinking of.] 

Quickly, Neve went into the World Shop and bought three things. A piece of paper, a pencil, and a compass. 

"Alright, Erin, I need you to do something for me. So, here's what's going on. The air in this place is limited, but not for you, apparently. That means you can stay out there for as long as you want, but I can't. I would appreciate it if you went out and drew a map of this place," Neve instructed. "And keep an eye out for anything interesting."  0

"I will not be able to pick anything up, though." 

"You don't need to," Neve replied. "Just mark where you found it so that I can pick it up when we leave this zone together. Understand?" 

"Ah, yes," Erin responded. "I believe I do." 

Of course, it was the part about the important-looking objects that mattered the most here. Neve already had a map of this place, but she needed to know where to go if she was to waste as little time as possible. 

"While you're doing that, I'm going to be over here doing stuff to make us stronger," Neve told her. 

"How, exactly?" 

"I picked something up from the last Floor. Trust me." 

"... Alright, fine," Erin replied with a shrug, as she took the items Neve had purchased. "I suppose I should avoid fighting, just so I don't accidentally start my timer." 

"Yep, I think so too." 

"Very well... I will be back at some point soon, then." 

A small part of Neve was concerned about how much distance Erin could actually put between herself and her summoner before she'd just disappear, but Neve recalled how, back at Ahlakan's home, Neve had gone to see the old mage while Erin remained with the guards of that city, training. So, at the very least, she could be a few streets away from Neve without her spell being canceled. 

Reminding herself of Ahlakan had the usual effect. Neve's body felt heavier and even just taking steps toward her tent made Neve feel like the world was weighing down on her, but the emptiness of her soul made it slightly more bearable. 

It was somewhat frightening, honestly. She couldn't find it in herself to care about anything. Even just now, all of this analysis she'd done for the purposes of clearing this floor had been automatic. Thoughtless. 

She wasn't invested in the outcome, she was just doing it all because... 

What else would she do? 

[... I mean,] Neve thought, [I guess I could just cut my fucking wrists open. Jump off some nearby building. Fuck it, let someone else come around and figure these last two floors out, right?] 

Upon thinking of that, Messia's words rang in Neve's mind. 

And all they did was make her grit her teeth with anger. 

[Find a new purpose... Like it's just that fucking easy. I...] 

Neve's anger faded away, though, replaced with nothing but apathy. 

[It's hard to do that when I can't really say I care about anything.] 

She went and sat down at her desk, letting her head drop against it. 

Slowly, she tried to build up the energy to start moving again. 

[... Whatever,] she finally thought. [Let's just get back to work. Maybe some monster will be kind enough to end me on this floor. Hopefully.] 

pqdm.com