The Lone Healer-Chapter 223: The Aftermath, Part Seven

Soon after they left that spot, Neve cast a spell on herself that covered her in a white aura.

Elena guessed it was some sort of healing spell, though that would not do any good against the {Poison} effect.

She was, admittedly, rather worried.

"Um, maybe we should go?" Elena asked. "I mean, low-level dungeons let you leave. We could go get that Poison taken care of..."

"It’ll be fine," Neve replied. "Just stay focused. I’m hurt, so I’m gonna have to rely on you a little more, alright?"

Instantly, Elena’s eyes widened.

"B-But..."

"I’ll still do all the fighting," Neve quickly added. "Don’t worry."

Elena was ashamed of the sigh of relief that left her body, but she sincerely did not want to have to get close to any enemies.

"Can you use that detection magic again?"

"O-On it."

Before she went to do so, however, Elena noticed something.

She’d seen the staff Neve was holding before. It was a basic, lesser apprentice staff. The type that beginner mages start out with. She’d seen it on some of the few dungeon runs she’d gone on with her brother, and here Neve was, using one of those.

[... I guess she never found a stronger staff, huh? That’s odd, though.]

With their next targets in sight, the two of them proceeded to the next battle.

A pair of enemies stood before them. One was another lobster-like creature on two legs, but the other was new. A flying insect of some sort with massive, bulging eyes and a thin, green body with a bee-like stinger at the bottom.

Poisoned as she was, it seemed Neve’s first instinct was still to run up and face them head-on.

[Couldn’t she just use more of those {Fireballs}, though?]

A different question appeared in her mind immediately after that, however.

Couldn’t she do something to help?

Just asking that made the dagger she’d been given, which she was clutching tightly, begin to tremble.

And yet, she could feel in her legs a faint desire to walk forward. To get closer to the action. To do something. Anything.

That desire wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, however, before Neve managed to kill both monsters.

Both of which she’d handled by dealing those shallow but dreadful wounds, causing them to bleed intensely.

The flying insect, however, did manage to sneak in one blow before it fell, flying behind Neve and running its stinger through her left shoulder.

Neve gritted her teeth as both corpses disappeared into the knee-high water, reaching over and pulling that stinger out of her body.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked, drawing closer.

"Yeah," Neve replied. "You didn’t get any EXP for all of that?"

"No. Was I supposed to?"

"Supporting people during fights should still give you EXP, but I guess this spell in particular doesn’t count toward that. Maybe your Technique does," she said. "Could you look around for a bit? Make sure there aren’t any more enemies while I fix this," she said, tapping the side of her fresh wound.

"R-Right!"

Elena did as her potential guildmaster asked. With her mana having returned, she cast that detection ability again.

[Oh, thank goodness. There don’t seem to be too many monsters left. At least, not around here.]

"I-"

She heard something and turned around.

It had been a magical sound like a couple of spells being cast. She’d just barely managed to catch Neve putting her staff back in her Inventory. Naturally, as she was a healer, her wound was healed away.

[... Why doesn’t she just keep her staff out? Even if this dungeon is reducing her mana, surely it couldn’t hurt to cast at least a couple of spells per fight.]

Before Elena could wonder about that any further, Neve began to puke her guts out.

Elena pulled back.

It was a disgusting sight but Elena was far more worried than grossed out. Especially as some of that vomit looked a little too... red.

"Ne-, uhm, Miss Stephens, maybe we should-"

"No," Neve shook her head, as the last of that vomit left her system. "We’re doing fine. Keep your head in the game. Besides," she continued. "This is a low-level dungeon. These tend to be pretty short, so stay focused. We’re probably going to encounter some sort of a boss soon."

Elena blinked.

"Boss?"

"Yeah," Neve nodded. "Just cause it’s not marked on the map doesn’t mean there won’t be one."

[But...]

"Okay," Neve wiped her lips. "Where do we go next?"

With that question thrown in her direction, along with a pair of steely sapphire eyes aimed at her own, Elena looked around for the closest enemies.

"Uhm... Over there," she pointed at them.

"Then..."

Neve then stumbled forward.

She nearly fell into the black water face-first.

"Neve!"

Elena caught her. The woman was practically weightless, to Elena’s surprise. Perhaps it was because Neve managed to regain her footing right before she hit the water.

"Um, I really think we should..."

"I’m fine," Neve reiterated. "Come on."

As much as she doubted those words, Neve was still in a position of authority here. So, reluctantly, she led the healer to the next set of enemies.

On the way there, however, Neve asked:

"When your brother died, what did you feel?"

Elena froze.

"What?" She asked. Surely, she must have misheard her. There was no way she would ask a question so heavy so suddenly.

"When your brother died, what did you feel?" Neve asked once more, but a tad slower.

Elena’s lips parted, but no words came out. She was stunned by the mere fact that Neve would ask that, but, also, there were simply too many feelings that came to mind for her to respond.

She remained silent for so long that Neve continued, saying:

"I lost both my parents on the first day of the Unity Trials." Elena’s brows raised high. "I felt sad for a while. I felt so fucking depressed. Now? I just feel angry. Always. Not a moment goes by where I’m not wishing I could punch someone or something. But, that anger helps," she said. "It helps me get shit done."

Elena had no idea what to say to that.

In all honesty, a small part of her felt quite sorry for Neve. But, now that she heard that, she couldn’t deny that anger was certainly among the feelings she held in her heart. Though, not nearly to the same degree.

"Come on."

Following behind her, they found another set of enemies.

And, as before, Neve engaged them on her own.

Elena stood back, watching as Neve fought the next round of abominations.

She beat them as decisively as she had the others, so much so that Elena didn’t even manage to get that good a look at them before they disappeared, sinking into the swamp.

Again, Elena received no EXP for the fight, but this was to be expected.

She looked around.

"There... there doesn’t seem to be too many more..." Upon hearing a splash behind her, though, she quickly turned around.

Neve had fallen into the water.

Immediately, Elena rushed toward her. Thankfully, Elena managed to raise her head before Neve could potentially drown.

But, the healer wasn’t responding this time.

[Oh no,] Elena thought, feeling a deep sense of dread. [I need to get her to a hospital!]

As quickly as she could, Elena took hold of Neve and threw her over her shoulder. Again, she was shocked by how light the woman felt.

She looked around for Neve’s golden sword but didn’t find it. Instead, she found the girl’s staff resting on the water’s surface, as though she’d swapped it in for her blade at the last second.

Elena picked it up and placed it in her Inventory before she began running to the dungeon’s entrance.

Running, in this case, only referred to the effort she was putting in. Although Neve wasn’t heavy, Elena was still level 1. Her Strength didn’t allow for a particularly fast pace.

Still, she pushed herself. She tried to move as quickly as she could, but she was stopped.

The water around her began to bubble and boil almost like a fiery demon had just spawned from within.

She couldn’t even see the exit yet. Elena was nowhere near salvation when something erupted from behind her.

Elena turned around and nearly lost her breath at the sight of it.

A creature as tall as a small house, the monster looked like a collection of leaves wrapped around a slimy, slug-like being. Bright red eyes on a shrouded face stared down at Elena.

Level 10

MP: 100/100

Elena’s knees buckled.

The creature roared.

It opened a gaping mouth revealing half a dozen fangs, each one the size of Elena’s arms.

Death may as well have been staring her in the face.

"N-Neve?" Elena asked, hoping the stronger and more experienced healer would respond. She didn’t have to move or fight. It would have been enough for her to just tell Elena what on earth she was supposed to do.

The healer on her back remained silent, though.

The monster attacked.

It rammed a leaf-covered fist into Elena’s body, launching her back and forcing her to drop Neve. The two of them landed atop a small mound of dirt, one that almost resembled an arena.

Elena got up, but not before coughing up a few drops of blood.

[W-What do I...?]

She was lost.

She was no fighter. She was no hero. And yet, here she was, with a monster plucked straight from her nightmares approaching.

It wasn’t approaching her, though. It was approaching Neve.

Elena’s eyes widened.

Her mind went blank.

As the monster drew closer to the healer, she felt like she was right back in that alley from a few days ago, watching a monster draw closer as Elena held onto her brother.

Right, her brother. The one she’d failed to protect. The one whom Neve’s fate was likely to mirror if Elena didn’t do something.

That was when a particular feeling began to sprout from within Elena’s heart. Regret. She wished she’d done something back then. She wished she’d been able to prevent her brother from getting injured in the first place.

But, no matter how badly she wished she’d acted differently, she couldn’t do anything about it. Elias was gone.

But, Neve was not.

That fact alone was enough to make a voice in her mind ask:

[Are you going to let her die too?]

With that question looming in the air, the feeling of regret that she carried began to outweigh her fear.

And, Elena gritted her teeth, pushing herself forward.

The monster went to slam one of its massive arms down on the healer.

Before the blow could land, however, Elena tried to tackle it.

It was a rather idiotic move for a level 1 player to try to do, but the logistics of the act hadn’t really factored into it. All she knew, all she cared about was that someone needed help.

And, unlike before, Elena wanted to do something about it.

The monster stopped, looking down at her unsuccessful attempt to push it away with tangible confusion.

"..."

Both entities stared at one another.

[Well... It was worth a shot,] Elena thought. [I guess I’ll be joining you soon, Elias.]

Then, Neve turned her body up, pulling a staff out of thin air.

It was a different one, though. Not the regular, apprentice mage’s staff that Elena had been holding.

No, this one looked regal. Brilliant, like it belonged in the hands of a legend.

Neve then cast five spells, back to back. Five {Fireballs}.

The spheres of flame flying through the air made Elena pull back. They crashed into the enemy’s body, one after the other.

And, with just those spells used, the massive creature was defeated, falling backward but not even being able to reach the dirt before it simply disintegrated.

Elena, naturally, was stunned. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Stunned and very, very confused.

"Congratulations," Neve said, getting up on her feet slowly. "you passed the test."

Elena just blinked.

[What?]

"You... You’re alright?"

"Yeah," Neve replied, before pulling a potion out from her Inventory and gulping down its contents. "I’m fine. Come on," she said, turning around like nothing had happened, "let’s get you registered."