The Lone Healer-Chapter 65: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Thirty

Wave 24 started just before Neve’s mana could finish regenerating, as the knight bled out.

Neve, once again, leveled up a couple of times.

Level 68

MP: 1010/1110 (810+300)

EXP: 490/680

AP: 1690

WS Tokens: 20710

---

Endurance: 30

Speed: 40

Precision: 30

Strength: 31

Arcane: 81

[I’m down a little bit of mana but it should be fine. Just two more waves to go.]

The progress she’d made felt as though all this time, she’d been trapped in the center of a vast sea, desperately swimming to safety. But, now that she could see the shore, the exhaustion of the journey finally began to hit her. Her legs and arms felt like they could give out at any moment now.

Summoning Erin next to her did console her a little.

Maybe Erin would be able to pick her up and carry her to safety when her body inevitably failed her.

MP: 710/1110

She considered giving Erin that last Potion of Bloodlust, but if the next enemy was set to be one individual boss fight against a level 75 opponent, she figured Erin would need it in order to do any real damage to their opponent.

Spotting their next enemies, three figures that manifested on the other side of the filthy, blood, and filth-covered floor, Neve worried that wouldn’t be the case.

All three enemies were level 72.

One, positioned behind them, was an archer with a massive bow that looked like it couldn’t possibly be drawn by a human. The other two were knights, both using spears, and both wearing dark, odd armor. It didn’t quite look like regular iron that covered their bodies. Rather, it was like they were wearing black glass. Additionally, both had blue-feathered helms.

"That armor is quite strange, but their weak points are still the same," Erin muttered. "Their eyeslits. The gaps between pieces of their armor."

The archer drew a giant arrow that looked more like it belonged on a ballista than a bow, and shot at them. Neve dodged to the right while Erin dodged to the left, and the arrow broke the ground where Erin had been standing. Neve felt the impact in her feet as the ground shook.

As the archer nocked another one of those massive bolts, the spear knights waited patiently for Erin to engage them.

"I’ll do my best to make some space for you," Neve quickly promised. "Take advantage of it."

"I’ll try," Erin replied.

[No point in saving any mana here. We’re pretty underpowered. I’ll just have to trust that Erin will leave one of them alive for me to regenerate. If she doesn’t, then... it is what it is.]

Neve opened her side of the battle by casting {Sacred Ground} just ahead of the spear knights and then casting {Waterball} ten different times, four times at the archer and then three times at the knights.

The archer was so focused on nocking its next arrow, as were the knights on watching Erin approach them, that they barely made any efforts to dodge Neve’s abilities. Only two of her spells missed, as the spear knights both dodged one hit each.

MP: 560/1110

Neve then ran forward and tried to get one of the knights’ attention.

Only for the archer to change targets, aiming its bow at her.

[Shit!]

She jumped to the left as the next arrow flew through the air. Once again, there was a minor explosion as the blow hit the ground where Neve had stood.

From her position, laying on the ground, she watched as Erin tried to trade strikes with the spear knights. Their rapid thrusts were just barely parried, after which Erin tried to mount her own offense only to have the spear knights push her away with their combined pressure.

As Neve saw the archer taking aim at her once more, nocking another arrow, Neve ran forward, trying to draw some of the pressure off Erin.

Seeing this, the archer let go of its bow and instead quickly pulled a knife out from somewhere, Neve couldn’t quite tell where, and threw it at her, embedding it in her left thigh.

"AGH!" She cried out, falling forward. The archer then pulled out another knife and threw it at Neve, forcing the girl to scurry back.

As she put some distance between herself and the two knights, the archer went back to using its bow. Pulling the knife in her left thigh out and healing herself with four quick casts of {Great Healing Dart}, Neve began to understand the situation.

[The archer’s plan is to keep me from distracting the knights so that they can take down Erin together and then move on to me. One way or another, I need to get them off her.]

MP: 520/1110

She felt that {Iceball} could be the answer here, along with another tool she’d recently gained.

[I haven’t used {Field of Brilliance} yet... I’ve been hesitating to because its cost is so high, but, without it, this might not work.]

{Field of Brilliance} was an ability that improved the effectiveness and damage of Spells and Techniques by 10% while standing in its zone. However, it cost 75MP to use.

Although it was definitely a lot, Neve felt she needed pretty much every advantage she could get right now. She’d have to use every single tool she had to secure victory.

So, as Erin’s time was about to expire, she called Erin back.

"Erin, come over here and stab me!"

"N-!?" Erin had been about to question that decision, understandably given that all three enemies were still alive, but Neve needed this.

So, as she dodged another arrow from the archer, Erin arrived and stabbed Neve in the same spot she usually did.

"Hssst..." Hissing, Neve cast {Field of Brilliance} under herself first, followed up by {Rorvan’s Spirit}.

MP: 435/1110 (+83% regen)

Then, as Erin disappeared, she summoned Erin back.

MP: 135/1110

The summon was conjured within the zone of {Field of Brilliance}. The space it enveloped covered far more ground than that of Neve’s other zone-based spells, allowing Neve and Erin to dodge arrows while still being inside of it.

"Try to stay in this zone," Neve told her. "Everything you do will be stronger here."

"Understood."

The same could be said for Neve, of course, which she planned to make use of. Holding her wound, she aimed her staff at the enemies and cast {Iceball} repeatedly.

To her surprise, as the blocks of ice she launched at the enemies soared through the air and crashed into their bodies, her targets were recoiling from the blows.

[Huh?] She thought, looking down at herself. [Wow. I mean, I figured that increasing my Arcane would make these spells do a little more damage but, I guess with {Field of Brilliance} added on top of them, they actually hurt a little. Not a lot, probably, but at least a little. It’s probably increasing the slow too, right?]

MP: 80/1110 (+83% regen)

Because these spells were actually dealing some small amount of damage now, the spear knights declined to just sit there and tank them.

Both knights, slowed down walked up, holding their weapons out.

The archer prepared another arrow.

Neve hit the ranged target with {Waterball} a couple of times, lowering its Precision further just as Erin re-engaged her opponents.

MP: 65/1110 (+83% regen)

[Okay,] Neve thought, taking a step back. [Now, time to let my mana regenerate. I’ve done pretty much most of what I can. It’s up to you now,] she spoke to her summon internally.

She’d mentioned that Erin’s performance would be better thanks to {Field of Brilliance}, but she was additionally moving just a little faster than before.

[Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me because of {Iceball’s} effects, but it looks like she’s less pressured than before,] Neve thought as Erin’s swords blocked blows from both warriors with significantly less trouble.

She decided to check and found this:

Level 55

MP: 100/100

EXP: N/A

Activity Points: N/A

WS Tokens: N/A

---

Endurance: 40

Speed: 45

Precision: 60

Strength: 35

Arcane: 10

---

Alchemy: 11

Archery: 44

Blade: 44

Blunt: 39

Blacksmithing: 66

Blocking: 39

Dual Wielding: 66

Unarmed: 66

Healing Magic: 5

Combat Magic: 5

Utility Magic: 5

Lance: 39

Summoning: 5

Sneaking: 5

Speech: 28

Scouting: 44

"Wait, that’s so much value!" Neve muttered.

These stats likely weren’t enough to mean that Erin could kill all three enemies without help, but with Neve there to lower the opponents’ stats, she was able to do so much more.

"Erin, look to use your Spells and {Rorvan’s Flurry} whenever you can!"

Immediately, Erin responded by activating {The Lamia’s Hunt}, bringing her Speed up to 55.

The debuffed enemies were beginning to be pushed back. As the archer took aim for Erin this time, Neve cast {Waterball} at it two more times, both pulling its attention back to her and briefly interrupting it.

It shot an arrow at her and Neve felt like it was easier to dodge.

Erin used {Freezing Gaze}. One of the knights avoided the spell, looking away, but its partner wasn’t so lucky.

The lamia used {Rorvan’s Flurry} then.

The knight who hadn’t been paralyzed backed off and wasn’t in range for the ability, leaving only its frozen partner to take every hit.

Neve watched then as the improved {Rorvan’s Flurry} slashed the opponent relentlessly, covering the enemy in little cuts and scratches, until Erin targeted its weak points.

With blood dripping down its glass-like armor, the knight fell over, dead.

[Yes!]

One enemy went down. This all happened in the span of 30 seconds as well, meaning Erin had a little more time left.

As Neve continued distracting the archer, Erin was allowed to have a 1-versus-1 against the last spear knight.

At least, it was a one-on-one until Neve peppered the enemy with more spells.

[We’re doing it!] Neve thought as the excitement of victory coursed through her veins. She could almost taste it. The end of this wave, and the entire Hall of the Luminous dungeon, was within reach.

Thanks to their sudden combined pressure, it wasn’t long before Erin’s blades found the second spear knight’s head, stabbing through its eyes.

But just as Neve watched that happen, the archer finally caught Neve with one of those massive arrows.

The result was... ugly.

Not as ugly as it could have been, though. If it had hit Neve’s head, her skull would have exploded. If it had hit Neve’s chest, it would have probably torn her body apart.

Instead, the arrow hit Neve’s waistline.

And her body was split in half.

She was thrown back several meters. It was so painful that she couldn’t even scream. Her body was simply overwhelmed by the feeling in general. It was a miracle that she managed to hold on to her staff.

As she saw her legs laying a short distance away, along with many bits and pieces of her own body, {The Undying Coward} kicked in.

No thoughts passed through her mind.

She quickly began crawling toward her lost limbs, as Erin engaged the archer. In the process, she drank every single Minor Healing Potion she had to keep herself from passing out.

Reaching her legs, she attached them to her bloody stumps and then raised her staff up. {Field of Brilliance} was still active and her ruined self was lying in its center.

Casting {Great Healing Dart} 10 times on herself, her body was repaired.

Finally, her voice returned to her own head.

And she screamed as all the pain that The Undying Coward pushed away hit her, all at once.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH....!" The cry was cut off as she gritted her teeth.

Erin, having remembered Neve’s mana struggles, didn’t kill the archer, but instead cut its arms off before she disappeared.

Neve laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling.

Amongst all the horrible sensations that had just flickered past her body, her mind said just one thing to her.

[One more wave.]

Slowly, her mana regenerated. Flashes of pain spread all throughout her, as she kept staring up.

[Just one more wave.]