The Lone Healer-Chapter 166: Heartless Enterprises, Part Two

Level 65

MP: 1300/1300 (+300)

EXP: 550/650

AP: 3690

IP: 70

WST: 80650

---

Endurance: 50

Speed: 40

Precision: 32

Strength: 15

Arcane: 100

Erin didn’t say anything regarding Neve’s little outburst a moment ago. The healer appreciated that.

Given that she had no clue what had just come out of her, she wouldn’t have many answers for her regardless. She had thought that the rage had subsided, that with Thomas’s death, so too had her drive. The fury that had kept her moving for so long, now.

But, apparently, some embers from it still burned quietly within her. Remnants of that anger were still lurking just beneath her skin, just waiting for any potential targets to direct themselves at.

Neve herself found that thought quite scary.

"Well, I guess this is what the current voice in your- or, I guess, our heads, was talking about."

As Erin said that, Neve looked up to find a strange scene in front of her.

Close to one kiosk that had been heavily fortified, almost like someone was setting up a bunker for their last stand, was a barrel helpfully labeled "Nutritional Liquids".

And, at that foot of that kiosk, were several androids, burned to a crisp, all of which looked like they’d died trying to get to that barrel.

Neve simply stepped over the bodies without a care, on her way to the item she needed.

Placing the item in her inventory, Neve turned around and looted the bodies.

She found some spare parts marked as "miscellaneous", which she took as meaning that their only purpose was to be sold, thus bringing her WST to 92130, thanks in large part to more donations.

[... Haven’t seen any healer-specific stuff in a while. Did Tamira just decide to go back on the deal we made? Or, did I already find everything healer-related? No, no. That can’t be it.]

Regardless, now that she had the item she needed, there was no more reason to stay here.

"Okay, we got what we wanted. Let’s head back."

---

Doing just that, the two of them went back to the street where the voice had spoken to them, with the Galactech building looming in the distance. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The instant they stood in the same spots, the voice asked:

"Do you have it?"

Neve pulled the object out from her inventory and raised it up, slightly surprised that she could even lift the massive barrel.

"Hm..." The android considered the sight for a few seconds before saying, "head to the base of the Galactech building."

Curtly, it ceased communications, just like that.

The two of them did as they were told, cutting through the abandoned streets, on their way to the lit-up tower.

Rows of cars and corpses, all of them robotic, welcomed the pair, leading the way to glass double doors.

[Hm... The monsters here respawned since it’s been weeks since I fought Thomas. So, all of these corpses were here originally.]

Erin pushed them open and was greeted with the barrel of a sniper rifle nearly kissing her forehead.

"One sudden move and I blow both your fucking brains out. You hear me?"

That question was asked by a robotic creature with black wires on its head, acting as its hair, two white eyes with no pupils, and a line that stretched from one side of its face to the other, lighting up with every word she spoke.

Also, the robot had tits.

Boobs, a tad smaller than Neve’s, and wide hips on a black-silver, metal body, wearing a black jumpsuit of some sort.

Its voice, while still robotic, was also noticeably feminine now that the android wasn’t talking through a weird microphone, while still being a bit deep.

"We understand," Neve said from behind Erin. "Here."

She then showed off the barrel.

The robot’s eyes flickered, going from Erin to the barrel and then back at Erin.

"... Alright." The robot lowered her weapon. "Thank you. My name is Andromeda. Who are you and, if you aren’t here to kill me, why are you here, then?"

Erin slithered away from the woman, standing beside Neve, who walked forward.

"I’m Neve and this is Erin. We’re just passing by," Neve answered with very little emotion. "But, I was told, uh, by my superiors to help anyone who needed help before I leave. So, you," she said, putting her staff and her sword away and crossing her arms. "What do you need?"

"... It is quite difficult for me to believe your words. You’ve seen them, haven’t you?" Andromeda asked, pacing from side to side slowly. "The bodies of others like me, killed by ’travelers’ like yourself. Even now, I fear that the moment I turn my back you’ll try to kill me."

"Well, we won’t," Neve shrugged. "Again, what do you need?"

Those white bulbs aimed in Neve’s direction narrowed. They flickered twice and then, the android nodded toward a door to the back.

"Follow me. Remember, any sudden moves-"

"Bullets, brains, blown out. I get it."

"... What the hell is a bullet?" Andromeda asked. "Anyway, you get the idea. Come."

The halls they passed through were a mix of chrome and glass, leading to what looked like an elevator shaft at the far end.

Lights on the ground traced the path that the group took, lighting up with each step. Compared to all of the stagnation Neve had witnessed on her way here, this building felt like an oasis. Well-maintained, clean, and functional.

And, relatively corpse-free.

Only relatively, though, as there were fallen bots here and there.

[Like the monsters, these things should have respawned... I wonder what’s up with that.]

They reached the elevator, a white capsule with a holographic menu that Andromeda tapped her metal fingers against.

Loudly, the capsule began to whir as it presumably rose through the tower quickly.

A warm, calloused hand wrapped around Neve’s left wrist.

Neve looked down at it, finding Erin holding onto her.

"... I was unsteady," Erin explained.

"Heh."

Andromeda’s eyes flickered between them as the door opened.

She walked out first, into an incredibly dark room, that seemed endless.

As Andromeda turned the lights on with a wave of her hand though, Neve realized that wasn’t the case.

[What the fuck?]

"This is what you could help me with," Andromeda told her, as Neve took this sight in.

Hundreds upon hundreds of alien creatures were resting within massive containers. Rings of them, stacked on top of each other, reached all the way up to the ceiling.

Neve wasn’t too sure what to make of this.

[Um... Am I meant to help the bad guy on this Floor?]

Andromeda quickly began to explain.

"These are my creators’ cryogenic pods," she said. "When Operation: Unity Trials first began in this city, these pods were quickly created as a last resort, in case my makers lost. Which, they did."

She walked through the room, highlighting different machines supplying the pods with strange liquids.

This is not actually a regular building. It is a rocket," she said. "And, in the event that the world was lost, this rocket would be shot into space, where it would travel to the nearest hospitable planet. However-"

An automated alert cut her off.

"Warning. Items are scarce. Necessities, fuel, and oxygen are needed."

"... That," Andromeda said. "That is the issue. See, although I have a mind of my own, my design does have restrictions placed upon it. One of these is that, unfortunately, I cannot leave this tower. Even though I am the only one left of my kind. I..." She looked down. Even though her face did not change at all, to Neve’s eyes, she looked sad. "I cannot do anything for my creators."

Neve nodded slowly.

[I guess the "plot" of this Floor is pretty easy to understand.]

"Fuel, ’necessities’, and oxygen. Where do I find these things?" Neve went straight to the point.

"You... You will help?"

"Like I said," Neve replied. "It’s what I’m here to do."

Andromeda said nothing for a few seconds.

"... I am thankful. I cannot do much to assist you directly, but-" Andromeda’s eyes turned off.

Then, Andromeda fell to the floor with a loud clank.

Erin and Neve looked at each other, and then back at Andromeda.

There was a "ding" sound and Andromeda slowly stood back up.

"... I apologize," she said, sounding embarrassed. "As I was saying, I cannot do much to assist you directly, but I will do what I can to help. Besides pointing you in the right direction, of course."

"Excuse me," Erin said, "what just happened to you?"

"That..." Andromeda responded to the lamia, sounding meek. "I... I should explain this now, I suppose, in case it gets worse."

She sighed, even though she probably didn’t have any lungs.

"I am an older model than my counterparts. The ones you’ve seen out in the city. They have a far more advanced form of battery power than I do. My... My battery is dying."

[Oh,] Neve’s brows went up. [Shit.]

"It does not matter, though," Andromeda quickly added. "I am but a machine. All that matters is that we get my creators to safety. That is all."