The Lone Healer-Chapter 189: Reach for the Stars, Part Fifteen

Level 68

MP: 1300/1300 (+300)

EXP: 190/680

AP: 3690

IP: 80

WST: 12300

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Endurance: 50

Speed: 41

Precision: 40

Strength: 10

Arcane: 100

"Are you enjoying this as much as I am?" Erin asked, with Neve still on her back.

"Just keep fucking going, please."

"Hehehe, sorry. It does feel quite nice to have you at my mercy, I must admit."

As much as Neve hated the feeling of slashing through the map on Erin’s back like this, she couldn’t deny the efficiency of it. So, she allowed Erin to keep taking her on this ride, going from one part of this place to another in search of items and clues about what they needed to do.

[No Floor Quest yet... 75% Oxygen left. How far are we into this Floor? What are we supposed to be looking for?]

Before she could receive any type of answer to that, Erin started dashing from corner to corner again and Neve buried her face in the lamia’s hair once more, waiting for it to end.

She stopped a little too quickly, though.

[Huh?]

"Neve," Erin said, sounding completely serious. "Look up."

The healer did just that.

She found a scientist of some sort hovering over her.

However, unlike the first one she and Erin had come across, this person hadn’t died as a result of any monsters. No, this person was hanging from a railing, a rope tied around their neck.

"What do you want to do?" Erin asked.

"Cut the guy down," Neve said. "He might have something useful."

"Understood."

Erin put Neve down and stretched her body up with her tail. Then, as she was a couple of meters below the target, she jumped and ran a claw across the rope, causing the body to fall.

The corpse fell in front of Neve with a thud. The healer crouched, trying to steady her spinning mind long enough to look through this thing’s Inventory. She found two objects. Another letter and another keycard.

Keycard (II)

[Nice. Still need to find the third one for the Legendary item back at the beginning. I’m guessing I’ll find it as we go along.]

A subtle burning reached her ears. It had been in the atmosphere for a while, but from this position, it was somehow slightly amplified. Neve looked up, past where the body had been hanging, and found that star from before, a flaming sphere of raw energy, still suspended between two massive pincers.

[... The boss marker points toward that thing. The path we’ve been taking too leads to it. That should be our destination.]

"What do you want to do now?" Erin asked.

"I think we should head up to that thing," Neve stated, pointing at the restrained star. "But, give me a second first."

Neve opened the letter.

She expected to find some information. Some context, something to illuminate what had happened in this world and, perhaps, hint at the Floor Quest.

She found no such thing. Just a message that read:

[Help.] Neve read.

"Seriously?" Neve turned the paper around. "That’s all?" She threw the letter back into her Inventory dismissively.

[Hold on.]

Remembering the other letter she’d found, she plucked that one out of her Inventory as well and opened it.

This one simply read:

[Purge.] Neve shook her head. [Well, that didn’t tell me much. At least, on its own. I guess I’ll find out what that’s talking about soon.]

Something about this Floor, however, struck here then.

[Actually though, now that I think about it, the other floors all communicated what their worlds were about pretty early on. I found Alexander on the Second Floor pretty quickly, I ran into that couple on the Third Floor quickly too, Lia on the Fourth almost immediately, the ghosts on the Fifth, Lam early on into the Sixth, the books on the Seventh, and I noticed Andromeda’s building pretty early on into the Eight Floor. All of the floors, with the exception of the First since that one has no Floor Quest, at least hinted at the Floor Quest super early on. I feel like I’m already halfway through this Floor, maybe even close to the end if I just run straight to the star, and I haven’t seen anything that could suggest what the Floor Quest will be about.]

Remembering that her Oxygen was slowly ticking down, Neve shook her head.

[Ah, I don’t want to waste time thinking about it right now. Let’s just keep going. Maybe heading to where the star is will give me a clue or something.]

"Okay, let’s- AGH!"

Leaving a trail of laughter, Erin blazed a path through the plaza, cutting through a staircase and appearing very much like a shooting star herself as she made her way up.

There were no enemies to welcome them. Nothing to keep the duo from progressing. The ground inclined little by little, becoming a steep ramp hugged by massive grey pillars, like a runway leading to the star.

Erin slowed down. Neve quickly got off her back and saw why she’d done so.

[Oh... Shit.]

Countless bodies, all just like that of the scientists Neve had seen previously, were laid out on the ground.

Their corpses were all oriented toward the star, as though reaching for salvation before death arrived.

"What a pleasant scene," Erin remarked sarcastically as she went to inspect one of the bodies. "Claw marks, torn flesh, guts spilling out. I’d wager those first beasts we found did this."

"Odd that we haven’t run into them again."

"Agreed. I do feel as though we are being watched, though. I cannot tell from where. If I had to bet, that feeling is probably owed to our invisible friend."

[And yet, no horde. Huh.]

The ramp led all the way to an alcove beneath the star.

A tower of energy spiraled down from the sphere to a platform below. A place where the energy was contained by a machine that absorbed it, likely powering the place in its entirety.

One lone figure stood before it.

At first, Neve’s hands wrapped tightly around her weapons, suspecting this to be the boss. Upon further analysis though, she saw that the figure had no level.

[NPC, I’m guessing.]

Raising a hand to let Erin know it was probably okay, Neve walked forward. Erin followed behind her.

The figure did not turn around, though Neve guessed it heard them coming.

Arms held behind its back, the figure finally said:

"Ambition is but a door. Whether it leads to paradise or to hell is up to the one opening it."

The man did not look back. Instead, he reached into his pockets and pulled out another keycard.

"Please, erase this place from the astral plains, before our sins spread across the galaxy."

"Um, what are you-"

Before Neve could ask anything, the man threw the keycard back and walked forward.

Calmly, he stepped into that spiral of energy.

His body was disintegrated instantly, his ashes rising to be absorbed by the star.

Confused, Neve checked her map.

The boss marker was still pointing at this place.

[What is going on here?]

Naturally, Neve picked up that keycard.

Keycard (III)

[Oh, oh shit. It’s the one!]

"Change of plans," Neve quickly stated, "we’re going to-"

Turning around, she saw what Erin had already noticed.

"Ah... Fuck," she muttered.

A barrier was separating them from the rest of the map.

They were trapped.

[Okay, fine. But, where’s the boss? And how come the...]

Tamira suddenly appeared in front of Neve.

The healer flinched before the resentment she felt toward the snake took hold of her.

"Goood morning! I-"

"Just say what you need to say and go," Neve told her spitefully.

"How rude! After all I’ve done for you, this is how you’re going to treat me?" Neve kept her face neutral, knowing Tamira was looking for a reaction. "You’re getting better at that~" Tamira told her. "Fine, fine. I’ll get straight to the point."

[Thank God.]

"You wanted your Floor Quest, right?" Tamira asked with a grin. "Here you go~"

{Quest Gained!}

{Overcharge the Artificial Star}

{Reward: 10 IP}

"No other reward for this one... Well, aside from being able to go back and get that Legendary Chest. This is all you’re going to get."

[... I’m guessing the fact that she’s here, explaining this to me, means this Floor Quest is a little bit different?]

"In a way, you could say it’s more straightforward than any other you’ve had so far," Tamira answered her thoughts. "But, I figured I should make this clear. So, allow me. Ahem."

Reducing her size, Tamira flew in front of Neve’s face.

"You are currently in a boss arena. You cannot leave. However, like the 6th Floor, this world has two boss fights. Which one you choose is up to you. You can either take on a generic, big, bad, boss fight. Same as usual. Or, you can try to beat the Floor Quest. If you choose the latter... Well..."

Tamira grinned. Neve could tell she wasn’t going to like this.

"This will turn into a Survival Trial."

The instant she heard that, Neve understood.

All of the pieces fell into place.

The barren corridors, the deserted atmosphere, the lack of real fighting so far, and the monsters they’d seen.

She got it. The hint she’d wondered about had been there all along.

[It wasn’t just an environmental hazard,] Neve thought. [It was a preview.]

The horde.

"The longest Survival Trial yet," Tamira made sure to say. "Every enemy you kill will be absorbed by the star. You will not get EXP per kill, by the way. Instead, upon completing the trial, you will gain a flat amount of EXP, similar to having defeated one overpowered enemy."

"Why? Don’t you want me to be over-leveled?" Neve couldn’t help but ask.

"If you did gain EXP normally, per kill, then you would hesitate to kill your opponents and, unfortunately for you, you can’t afford to do that. So, in the name of fairness, I’m letting you know ahead of time."

[Oh, she’s saying I can’t afford to just run away, like I did before. Why?]

"Because," Tamira answered her thoughts, "the challenge ends when one of two things happens. One, you kill enough monsters to sate the star, or..."

Oxygen: 70%

[Ah... Shit.]

"... When you run out of oxygen," Tamira said. "Like I said, if you go the Survival route, you’re going to be fighting for *a while*, Neve. A long while."

Given that it had taken around 10 minutes or so to reach 90% back when Neve had first started the floor, Neve understood this would be a long and arduous undertaking.

[I’m glad I got my damage upgrades then. Erin’s not going to be around for all of this.]

"Is there an unlimited number of enemies?" Neve asked.

"Nope. They will come in waves. There is, however, an unlimited number of waves. They will keep coming until the trial ends."

[Okay.]

"Should you choose to accept this, I will give you one hour, with the Oxygen timer paused, to prepare yourself. Eat, strategize, stretch, do what you will. Once that hour is up, the oxygen timer will unpause, and your enemies will arrive. So, what will it be?"

[Do you need to ask? You know what I’m going to say.]

"Hehehe," Tamira cackled quietly, "indeed. Very well then. Prepare yourself."

She disappeared then, leaving Neve with only her task in front of her.