194: The Healer's Light, Part One

The Healer's Light, Part One

Neve was stunned. 

The image of Aphria that she'd built up in her head over the course of this brief exchange had been broken in one short outburst. The angelic woman quickly regained her composure, however, looking away. 

"Unfortunately, I do not have the energy to engage my world's monsters any longer. If I was to try to assist you in fighting them, I fear I would only slow you down." 

[I've got a hard time believing that,] Neve thought as she looked at the lady's arms. [But, whatever.] 

Neve couldn't just drop the matter entirely, since the Floor Quest made it clear that she needed to convince Aphria somehow, but she could let it go for now. 

Now that she'd arrived at this Floor, there were preparations she needed to make. 

[I could spend some more time using {Reconstruction} before I keep going. With this being the last Floor, the monsters are probably going to be the most dangerous ones I've fought so far. I'll need to be ready.] 

Tamira, however, had other ideas. 

"Nope!" She said within Neve's mind. "You stalled for way too long on the last Floor. If you don't make at least a little bit of progress daily, I'll throw you out of the Safe Zone permanently. Which, of course, would also lock you out of completing the Floor Quest." 

[I hate you.] 

"Hehe." 

Tamira exited her mind as Neve sighed, putting a tired hand on her forehead. 

"Okay, well, uh, how about this," she followed up, "I'll walk out, take a look around, and come back whenever I need some advice. How's that?" 

"Sounds good." 

Leaving Aphria there, Neve walked over to her tent. 

Before she did anything else, she wanted to take a shower.  The grime and blood from all the previous fighting had practically formed a hard coat over Neve's body. All the while, as she took off the Angel Set and stepped into her extremely expensive shower, she thought about the woman she'd just spoken to. 

[The fact that this is a quest to begin with means that there is going to be a way to convince her to take me to the boss. I wonder what it could be. Maybe it'll be the same thing as the 8th Floor and she'll end up being related to it or something. If that's the case, I would have to make my way there first and then come back. We'll see.] 

---

Neve tucked away the Legendary item she'd gotten from the chest on the last Floor. As she'd expected, she could not use it. 

[Should I sell it? Or, maybe I could save it for some future {Reconstruction}. If I don't do anything with it, and somehow I finish the Final Challenge, would I be able to take it with me back to Starlight City? Too many questions.] 

"Ah, so, that lady back there is the key to this Floor?" Erin asked. 

"Yep. We need to figure out some sort of way to motivate her to walk out of the Safe Zone with us. I can't think of anything right now, but, maybe we'll see a hint or something around here." 

"i see." 

The bridge of light took them to a courtyard where a statue of a figure loomed over them. Tall and proud, the statue was that of a woman, much like Aphria, carrying a spear and a shield. Though, this lady's hair was tied up into a neat braid, unlike how Aphria's fell wildly over her shoulders. 

[Hm. Maybe Aphria is actually going to be the boss's sister or something.] 

Walking past the statue, one difference between this floor and the last quickly became apparent. Unlike most of the others, there were no branching paths. Although the city was clearly massive, there was just one grand corridor leading to a pair of golden doors at the other end of the hall. 

"This is probably leading to the first fight of the Floor, so be ready." 

"I always have my guard up, don't worry." 

Hearing that, Neve gestured for Erin to go and push the doors open, staying behind her. 

As the lamia did so, the two of them found themselves in a miniature arena. One far smaller than the one they'd just exited on the 9th Floor. 

Here, four enemies appeared, blinking into existence. 

[Hm... Demons?] 

They all had dark, grey skin like they'd been dipped in a giant pile of ashes. Their eyes carried no pupils, glowing a bright, lifeless white. The black wings on their backs stretched farther than Aphria's did. Instead of having halos over their heads, they had black horns. But, like the statue Neve had seen just a moment ago, two of them were carrying spears. The other two were using bows, floating in the air above their allies. 

Level 71

MP: 450/450

Level 70

MP: 440/440

Level 70

MP: 500/500

Level 71

MP: 390/390

Knowing that this was the last floor, Neve didn't want to take any chances. 

She began to go through her usual setup, casting {Encourage} and {Bolstering Presence} on Erin, who quickly dashed forward to engage the two spearmen. However, as she was doing so, multiple arrows flew right at her. 

[Crap.] 

Neve just barely managed to strafe to the right and avoid them. 

[If the last floor's monsters knew to go after me and not Erin, these guys would do that too for sure. Still,] Neve thought, [with Erin's stats, this shouldn't be much of a problem.] 

She expected the two spearmen to be dead any second now. Thanks to her new {Relentless} trait, she did not have to worry about getting tired at all, and she had the focus necessary to remain calm. 

However, Erin took a lot longer than Neve thought she would. 

The archers used some sort of a technique that caught Neve off guard. 

Their arrows began to change trajectories mid-air, like homing missiles locked onto her. Neve was forced to use {Flash Shielding} to avoid getting hit. 

[That's annoying.] 

Then, one of the archers shot an arrow aimed at Neve's feet. She backed away just before the spot the arrow had fallen in exploded with electricity. 

Looking over at Erin, Neve wondered what was taking so long, only to find Erin just now managing to finish off the second spear user. 

[Finally. But, what happened? With her stats, that skirmish should have been over a while ago.] 

Erin then stretched her body up toward one of the archers and used {Dragon's Divine Breath} to produce a stream of flames that the enemy attempted to fly away from. 

Sensing an opportunity, Neve cast {Fireball} ahead of the archer. 

Its ally, however, shot an arrow toward its friend. 

Instead of embedding itself in the other archer, the arrow created a barrier, just like the one Neve had just made for herself. 

[Huh!? Mage archers!?] 

Over half a minute had passed already and these two opponents had yet to fall. 

Neve actually began to get a little bit concerned before Erin said:  0

"Neve, resummon me!" 

She hesitated for only a moment before doing so. 

The instant Erin was back out onto the field, she activated {The Lamia's Hunt} and raised herself up. 

Hovering in front of the archers, they tried to attack her but Neve used {Flash Shielding}, allowing Erin to execute her plan. 

She used {Freezing Gaze}, paralyzing both opponents. From there, all she had to do was put her claws through their necks and their heads fell to the ground, along with their lifeless corpses. 

EXP Gained: 320

EXP: 940/700

Level Up!

WST Gained: 1000

WST: 63100

Neve breathed a subtle sigh of relief, not paying much attention to her stats, as Erin moved away from the bodies. 

"What happened with the first two?" Neve asked. 

"They were good," Erin answered simply. "Damn good. Better fighters than I am, certainly," she muttered. Neve could tell that was a hard thing to admit for her. "I ended up using all of my tools to overpower them. But, well, you better hope we do not have to face these things in a challenge like the one in the last world because that would be impossible." 

[Shit,] Neve looked away, her eyes falling on their enemies' bodies. [Yeah, with this being the last floor, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys have their skills maxed out.] 

"Unfortunately, we can't take the time to train," Neve informed Erin. "The, uh, System told me we can't." 

"Hm. Well, that's highly unfortunate then," Erin replied. "We can still beat these enemies, of course, but it will be quite difficult. Regardless of how strong I am. Also, if this place has what you called a {Silence} mechanic..." 

"Then I'm just fucked," Neve finished for her. "Shit." 

"Indeed." 

At that moment, Neve's phone began to ring. 

[Charlotte?] 

"Yeah?" Neve answered, putting her sword away to pick up the call. 

"Hello," the woman calmly said on the other end. "Am I interrupting anything?" 

Neve's brows pulled together as she heard chaos unfolding in the background. People yelling, someone crying, explosions in the distance. 

"Uh, no," Neve replied. "What's up?" 

"Ah, well, ma chérie, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you've made it to the final Floor, have you not?" 

"I did. Why? What's going on?" 

There was a brief pause before Charlotte announced to her: 

"Starlight City is being overrun." 

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