177: Reach for the Stars, Part Three

Reach for the Stars, Part Three

Stepping out into the 9th Floor, Neve kept the Oxygen counter out. 

Oxygen: 99%

[5 minutes equals 1%. Maybe, anyway. There could be some hidden mechanic that makes the oxygen run out faster if I do something stupid. I should be as careful as possible. The instant I reach any roadblocks, I should just turn back. No point in taking time to think about stuff out here.] 

"Lead me to those chests you saw," Neve told Erin. 

Without a word, the lamia slithered forward. 

Glass doors automatically opened with a hum as Erin took Neve into a nearby building. This space station, or whatever it was, seemed completely empty so far, with no enemies having stopped them from reaching this spot and no enemies barring them from progressing. 

[It's a little too silent out here... Though, we are in space. The fact that there's been any sound at all so far makes no sense, right? But whatever.] 

Hands adjusting around her weapons, Neve checked every corner around her for unseen opponents. The black crates stacked on top of each other, the generators outside, past the windows, the door they'd just come in from. She checked it all but found nothing. 

[Hm... At first, I thought the Forces That Be were waiting for me to walk out here before spawning stuff. Doesn't seem like it, though. Then again, this floor does seem to be massive. There's still plenty of time to throw shit at us.] 

"This was the first part of the floor that I could not move past," Erin told Neve, pulling her attention forward. 

When Erin had told Neve before that she couldn't access some parts of the Floor, the assumption had been that it was because she wasn't a Player. 

As Neve saw what she was talking about now, though, she realized that may not have been the case for every blocked path, as it certainly wasn't the case with this one. 

Standing before her was a white metal door with a slit near the top. Through that slit, Neve could see a golden chest glowing dimly in a dark room. But, to the right of the door, was a scanner of some sort emitting a red light. 

Looking at the scanner made a message appear. 

{Keycard (III) Required}

Immediately, Neve nodded and said: 

"Okay, take me to the next one." 

"Hm? You cannot open this?" 

"No, we're missing something." 

"Ah... Well, alright then." 

As they walked, Neve thought about what this might mean. 

[A golden chest placed right next to the entrance, behind a locked door. Knowing that the Forces That Be like to follow conventional game design traditions, it's probably safe to bet that the keycard I need for this is somewhere near the end of the Floor. Not just that, but it said it was the... the third one? Or, maybe a Tier-3 Keycard. In any case, there's probably going to be multiple of them.]

They went back out into the open field, where that energy sphere taunted them in the distance. Moving into the building to the right, this time, there was someone to greet them. 

A body lay sprawled on the ground, wearing an astronaut-esque red suit, with a cracked dome-like black helmet. 

Erin was about to slither right by it, but just as she and Neve reached the body, it suddenly came to life. 

"HEEELP!" The local cried out. 

Neve flinched. 

"It's alive? Erin!?" 

"It did not react at all when I came through here!"

The two of them took up a fighting stance, but as their panic faded, they realized this person was in no condition to take a battle right now. No, this person was in no condition to do much of anything at all, other than slowly crawl toward Neve. 

"Please..." A raspy voice came out from the cracked helmet. "You... You must..." 

[Hm? Is this how the Floor Quest is going to start? This early?] 

"What do you want me to do?" Neve asked, kneeling beside him. 

"Shut down... the..."

And, he died. 

[Of course.] 

"I... take it that was not an entirely helpful set of instructions?" Erin asked. 

"Nope. Not at all," Neve replied before she checked him for loot. 

Surprisingly, she found something that was likely rather important. 

Keycard (I)

{Unique}

{Misc. Item}

{Val: 0 WST}

"Eh, at least we know that there's stuff here that requires me to be present in order to activate. Sucks, but, maybe-" 

There was a loud banging sound from somewhere down the hall. 

Neve's brows pulled together. Erin quickly moved in front of her, claws bared and ready for whatever could be coming. 

The ominous sound continued, drawing closer even though Neve couldn't see any monster approaching. A quick look above let her know what was more likely to be the case than a frontal attack. 

"Erin, from there," Neve said, pointing at the vents above them. 

Just as she said that, a monster fell through them, landing in front of the pair. Neve took in its form, regarding it with cautious eyes. 

Level 68

MP: 200/200

A sleek, smooth, onyx body with long humanoid limbs that ended with three claws. Its head was small, smaller than even a human's, but its body suggested that maybe what was on top of its torso wasn't its head at all. 

Its chest parted, showcasing a set of sharp teeth. This same mouth hissed as Neve cast {Field of Brilliance} under herself, already preparing for the fight. 

MP: 1225/1300

[It doesn't have eyes. Is that "head" some sort of an antenna?] 

That antenna bent itself toward Erin and glowed. The monster let out a roar. 

Neve saw something pop up over Erin. 

{Status Effect Gained!} 

{Flinch} 

{Unable to move for 5 seconds} 

[Crap.]  0

Neve aimed her staff forward, ready to shield her summon, and protect her, but the monster didn't go for Erin. It went for her. 

Neve's eyes widened. She backed up, switching tactics briefly and casting {Fireball} at the enemy. It collided with the monster's body, instantly shrouding it in flames. 

Neve got two more casts off, both of which landed, before the monster reached her. 

MP: 1195/1300

Through {Flash Shielding}, Neve stopped the creature's claws from tearing through her body. 

Before the creature could attack her again, Erin managed to reach it. 

The monster's antenna turned toward her again, but this time the monster simply leaped up into the air to avoid the tail slam Erin tried to hit it with. 

It clutched the vents, moving backward slightly, before trying to drop on top of Erin. 

Neve shielded Erin, and then cast an enhanced version of {Bolstering Presence}, thanks to {Field of Brilliance}. At the same time, she cast {Encourage} as well. 

Bolstering Presence - 25 MP

{Spell}

{Common}

{Class Req: Priestess} 

{Boost one ally's Speed and Precision by 3 for 1 minute} 

Encourage - 25 MP

{Spell}

{Common}

{Class Req: Priestess} 

{Increase the damage of allies recently affected by healing or shielding by 5%}

MP: 1120/1300

Ultimately, although this creature clearly had some tricks up its sleeves, Neve wasn't too afraid of it. 

In two-on-one battles like this, against an enemy with no serious level advantage, Neve and Erin were virtually unbeatable. 

Still, it was obvious the point of this fight wasn't to beat them here and now. It was an introductory fight, and Neve wasn't too fond of what she was seeing. 

The monster landed behind Erin. 

The lamia swiped at it. The monster dodged the clawed swing by arching its body and then tried to bite down on Erin's arm. 

Neve stepped to the side and helped out a little more through further use of her new {Fireball} spell. 

Letting out a shriek, the monster's antenna aimed itself at Neve. 

The fight ended a moment later as, using her new stats and taking advantage of the shield she'd gotten, Erin reached into the monster's mouth with her claws. 

Its antenna flailed, almost like all of its panicking was packed up into that tiny portion of its body.

Erin took hold of its tongue. The enemy tried to bite down on her, naturally, but Neve stopped it from doing so with {Flash Shielding}. 

Finally, Erin pulled back with all of her strength. 

The monster's tongue stretched. It kept trying to bite her, but Neve kept denying it. There was a ripping sound and Neve waited for its tongue to be torn out. 

And, it was. Only, it took a lot more with it. 

Clumps of flesh and muscle accompanied the monster's tongue, as it looked like Erin had just pulled out several organs along with it. 

As soon as Erin finished the extraction, the monster fell down, dead. 

EXP Gained: 200

EXP: 250/670

WST Gained: 500

WST: 102990

Neve looked at her tokens. 

[Oh? More donations.] 

Turning toward the monster, she re-summoned Erin just to get it over with now rather than wait till she disappeared. 

The monster's body twitched once. Its antenna glowed a little again but then stopped. Neve didn't like that at all. 

[... When the fight started, the monster knew to go after me right away, instead of Erin,] Neve noted. [So, these monsters are going to be smarter. That could be pretty bad.] 

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