The Lone Healer-Chapter 66: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Thirty-One

One more wave.

One more fight and Neve could leave this rock-covered city. She could only faintly recall what the wilderness was like. The feeling of the sun kissing her cheeks as she woke up in the mornings. It had only been two weeks or so that she’d spent here, and yet she felt like the last 24 fights she’d been through had taken at least ten years off her lifespan.

One more wave was all that stood between Neve and... well, more fighting. More fighting with the added benefit of at least some of that fighting being against people she believed deserved to die.

[... Don’t celebrate just yet,] she told herself. [You know how much life likes to shit on you anytime you’re halfway happy.]

She’d, of course, leveled up. This was her status going into this final battle.

Level 72

MP: 1200/1200 (+300)

EXP: 100/720

AP: 1690

WS Tokens: 22910

---

Endurance: 30

Speed: 40

Precision: 30

Strength: 34

Arcane: 90

With this, she’d done it. 90 Arcane. Enough to summon Erin 4 times, assuming she barely used her mana for other spells.

She wondered how much stronger her spells would be, as well. She didn’t have the greatest spells, but 90 Arcane had to account for something.

[How many people have reached this much Arcane? Hell, I heard that the highest-level player in the world before I came into the Final Challenge was something like 70 right? Heh... What a ride this has been. It doesn’t feel real.]

Up ahead, a single enemy began to materialize, as the room began to change.

Back when she fought that worm, the temple had changed to suit the enemy. It seemed like that was set to happen here as well.

The temple was swallowed by darkness. She could see her immediate vicinity, and as she looked around and saw the steps leading to the altar she could tell that she was still in the temple, but her senses had been dampened. The sound of her own breathing barely reached her ears, she couldn’t smell any of her own blood anymore, and she could scarcely taste the saliva on her tongue.

[... Better than being teleported someplace else, I guess.]

As her fate arrived ahead, Neve summoned Erin next to her.

MP: 900/1200

For once, she looked just as tense as Neve did. Her hands’ white-knuckled grip around her swords’ hilts, along with the narrow-eyed, focused stare at the figure manifesting up ahead betrayed her thoughts.

"This is it," Neve told her.

"What?" Erin asked.

"This is it," she spoke louder, "the last fight. Let’s give it everything we’ve got."

"Certainly."

Finally, the enemy was revealed.

Its eyes were the first thing Neve saw, glowing a dim crimson in the darkness as it stared back at them.

A knight wearing that same sort of glass-like black armor, only this warrior’s suit was worn-down. The armor bore scratches, claw marks, and parts that looked like they were a hit or two away from breaking. This enemy wielded a giant, black greatsword, almost bigger than Neve herself, with red runes decorating its blade. Its black, glass helm resembled a lion’s head.

Level 75

MP: 250/250

The creature roared at them, and Neve felt she could see it pulling its blade back before approaching slowly.

[Okay, this is it,] Neve thought once more. [First, see what it can do. Then, plan appropriately, and hope for the best. With our senses being tampered with like this, I’ll have to focus that much more.]

All sorts of emotions flared up briefly. Mostly revolving around different things she felt she’d miss out on if she died here today. She wouldn’t be able to enjoy Ahlakan’s company. She wouldn’t be able to reward Erin for everything she’d done so far. And, of course, she wouldn’t be able to avenge the many innocent people that the low-level players had killed.

There wasn’t much else she cared for, sadly. Not much else she could really say she was looking forward to if she survived this. But, those three things were enough to push her forward.

As Erin moved forward, the beast met her with a dash, closing the gap instantly. Neve’s eyes widened.

The knight swung its enormous weapon at her and Erin’s blades were swept away as easily as dust on an old floor, with sparks flying from the exchange, highlighting their position in the dark. She tried to parry the knight’s wild, animalistic strikes but her swords couldn’t withstand the force she had to contend with.

[It’s fast,] she quickly thought. [Faster than Erin. Stronger too. Glad I saved this thing.]

"Erin, back up for a second and drink this!"

Erin did as Neve commanded while the healer grabbed her last Potion of Bloodlust and tossed it at the summon.

She grabbed it, drank its contents, and threw it aside just in time to dodge away from another blow.

[Strategy. How do we beat this thing?] Neve thought. [First things first, I need to debuff it. With {Field of Brilliance} on top, maybe I can make things easier.]

First, she cast {Field of Brilliance} a short distance away from the altar where she planned to hover. The white rune lit the temple up somewhat.

MP: 825/1200

Then, positioning herself just to the side of Erin, at the edge of the zone she’d just made, Neve began using her offensive spells.

{Iceball} came first. She couldn’t do anything about the gap in Strength, but she could help with the gap in Speed a little.

Five quick casts shot out from her staff. Just as Erin had narrowly dodged away from a couple of dangerous horizontal swings, slithering back, the projectiles crashed into the opponent.

MP: 775/1200

It quickly turned toward her and Neve inhaled sharply as her eyes met its own dark red irises.

[Crap.]

Covered in a light-blue mist, the enemy lunged at her. As the knight arrived at her position, raising its black blade in the air, Neve felt like she was face-to-face with her own death. It wouldn’t take her just yet, though, as she jumped to the left and dodged away from the overhead slam that followed before Erin caught its attention once again.

[Okay,] she thought, taking short, frightened breaths. [Now, {Waterball}.]

Still in that zone, just a few steps behind the creature, Neve cast {Waterball} five times as well.

MP: 725/1200

She thought she’d been standing far enough away to react in time to any incoming strikes. She’d thought wrong.

The tip of the massive blade caught Neve’s abdomen as the creature instantly spun and swung at her, and that was enough to send Neve flying. She crashed into the altar, a trail of blood marking the path she’d soared starting from where she’d just been and ending at her twitching, tired legs.

"Ah..." She groaned. She felt like she had just been cleaved in half. Sure enough, as her left hand went down and touched the gash that had just been placed onto her body like a decorative sticker and came back up covered in blood, she realized she may nearly have been. Maybe the lowered senses were the only reason she wasn’t screaming her lungs out right now.

Because she was still in {Field of Brilliance}, she cast {Healing Ground} under herself along with just one cast of {Great Healing Dart}, hoping the combined usage of these spells would repair her for less mana than spamming {Great Healing Dart} would.

MP: 695/1200

With her body healed just enough for her to stand, she walked out of {Healing Ground} and took a couple of steps forward, figuring she’d put some of this pain to work through {Rorvan’s Spirit}.

MP: 645/1200 (+50% regen)

[Halfway out of mana already. And...] She looked up ahead, watching Erin trade blows with the enemy. [Erin hasn’t gotten many hits in.]

The way this was going, their chances of winning didn’t look too good.

It was a similar level of "awful" to what the fight against the dragon had presented. Except, in that case, Erin had won the fight for them through an ingenious feat that Neve doubted she’d be able to replicate here.

[... Calm down,] she then told herself. [The odds have been stacked against you in pretty much every fight you’ve been in up until this point. You’ve won mostly through strategy and luck. So, calm the fuck down, keep strategizing, hope you get lucky, and maybe you can win this!]

On that note, as the sound of the blood dripping from her half-closed wound onto the stone beneath her feet became the loudest thing in the room to her, Neve stopped to consider every tool available to her and her summon.

It was a pause that cost 5 seconds. It had now been 45 seconds since she’d summoned Erin.

The lamia had 15 more seconds to work with before Neve would need to resummon her again.

It was as she remembered this fact that Neve recalled something important.

"Erin, in five seconds, I want you to use everything you have and try to get as much damage in as possible!" She half-yelled, half-screamed.

Erin heard her and looked back briefly, acknowledging her summoner’s orders. It didn’t seem as though she was as against this idea as she had been against other orders Neve had given to her, but she still didn’t seem all that confident.

[This should work, though,] Neve thought. [I trust Erin’s judgment, but I need her to trust mine right now.]

The five seconds she mentioned passed as the enemy dipped and tried a long, arching sweep that nearly caught the lamia, though Erin raised her snake-like body and managed to avoid it.

As the five seconds passed, Neve quickly went into her settings on her HUD and changed her Combat Style to Aggressive.

Erin’s reaction was instant.

Still in {Field of Brilliance}, Erin activated {The Lamia’s Hunt} and used {Freezing Gaze} simultaneously.

The enemy was frozen, and the lamia quickly went into {Rorvan’s Flurry}, becoming a mist of blades that launched itself at the knight.

All of her attacks hit the frozen target, but Neve noticed that not many of them managed to cut through its armor, and the ones that did didn’t leave deep marks.

[Its Endurance seems pretty high... But this should still be enough to get it to like half HP right?]

Erin’s Technique came to an end then, after around 8 seconds of attacking, as her timer ran out.

The knight resumed its movements, howling in pain and moving back as it processed all of Erin’s attacks.

[I need to do this fast!]

Neve quickly resummoned Erin, then.

MP: 345/1200 (+50% regen)

The plan she’d hatched was confirmed to have worked as Neve checked Erin’s mana and found it full.

[Yes, now...]

"Erin, use-"

Before she could get the order out, Erin slithered forward. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

[No!]

She’d made one mistake. A mistake that she recognized instantly as Erin ran forward and was cut down by a single swing, disappearing in front of her.

She needed to change her summon’s Combat Style back to Balanced. Because she hadn’t, Erin ran in and got herself killed instantly, rendering the 300 mana she’d just spent to summon her as a complete waste.

[Dammit!] Neve thought, frustrated at herself. [I...]

Her thoughts were silenced, though, as the knight then put some space between it and Neve on its own. It slid back, its sword scraping against the ground before it took a low posture, like a tiger preparing to pounce.

[Huh?]

A blood-red mist slowly began to gather around its body, dancing with that of the one produced by {Iceball}.

[Wait...]

Black wings sprouted from the knight’s back. It roared powerfully, a cry that made Neve’s legs tremble as its black blade was covered in flames.

"Rrrrrrgghh..." As {Field of Brilliance} faded away, leaving Neve in darkness once more only mitigated by the flame on the enemy’s blade, it snarled a low, threatening sound that carried one simple statement to Neve’s ears.

That she was fucked.

[... Of course,] she thought, then, sighing. [It has a second phase.]