The Lone Healer-Chapter 67: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Thirty-Two

Things seemed to slow down as Neve stared at what could be her own death, snarling just a few steps away. It wasn’t moving just yet, settling for just standing in a menacing way for now, which Neve was happy to see.

It meant she had a couple of seconds to strategize and then watch her life flash in front of her life before she died.

[Only enough mana for one more cast for Erin. Not enough to make use of {Field of Brilliance} at all, though.]

A sudden sting from her open wound reminded her that she was, in fact, still injured.

[{Rorvan’s Spirit} can bring back a bit of my mana after I get Erin back in here, but what- AGH!]

The knight’s patience ran out, and it did not seem to want to let Neve strategize further.

It dashed forward. Its now-flaming blade, as massive as half of Neve’s body, was raised above her. Neve’s eyes widened. Like a falling sun, the fire-shrouded blade moved to slam down on her. Neve dodged to the right, stumbling and falling as the wound in her gut flared up.

"Ahh," she hissed.

MP: 380/1200 (+50% regen)

[I can’t heal it away just yet... I need more mana!]

Once again, it seemed as though despite her notable increase in power, things circled back to the same point they always did.

That was, Neve having to scurry away and run until she had enough mana. Specifically, until she had enough to not just summon Erin but assist her properly as well.

Neve kept her eyes on the enemy as she ran, rather than looking forward. A wise move as the knight caught up to her with very little effort if any.

She slid to a halt, gasping as the knight moved to attack the instant that it was close enough. One, two, three swings came in rapid succession, all of which Neve avoided by shuffling backward. Even then, they came so close to hitting her that she felt the fire on the black blade graze her skin, one slash after another.

One sweeping strike forced Neve to raise her right foot to avoid it, but she lost her balance. Falling back and landing on her butt, the knight moved to stab her from above. Neve rolled to the side, but the enemy didn’t let up. The floor shook. A fiery web of cracks spread on the ground, with every hit from the blade adding to it.

Suddenly, the knight jumped back, flipping away from Neve.

[What?]

It wasn’t an act of kindness though. Upon landing a few feet away from the altar, the knight swung its blade at Neve, and arcs of flame began flying at her.

Neve dodged them to the best of her ability, but the last arc in this string of projectile attacks caught her.

"AGH!" She cried out as she was launched back, crashing into the closed doors leading out of the temple. The flame hitting her chest felt like she’d just gotten sent back by a hammer.

It was hard to move. It was a miracle she managed to hold on to her staff.

The knight dashed forward again.

Level 75

MP: 200/250

Neve checked her own mana, then.

MP: 430/1200 (65% regen)

[I can’t wait any longer. I’m just gonna have to make this work!]

Just before the knight reached her, Neve summoned Erin between them. The enemy stopped as she appeared, changing targets the instant that it saw her. It leaped up into the air, spiraling down toward the lamia.

[Have to change her Combat Style too, fuck!]

Maybe it was due to what happened previously, but the lamia slithered away from the incoming attack, giving Neve just enough time to quickly go to her HUD and change her summon’s settings.

MP: 130/1200 (+70% regen)

Low on mana, injured, and with just a minute to go before Erin, her only real chance of winning, would disappear, Neve had to figure out what the best way to use her abilities would be.

[The chance that we kill this thing in this one minute is pretty low. Ending this fight right now, in this one minute, seems unlikely.]

Almost as though to remind her of what had just happened, pain flared up from the burn on her chest.

[... I don’t know if I’ll be able to dodge its attacks again,] Neve thought, as Erin and the enemy performed a deadly dance up ahead.

Even Neve could tell that the knight was presenting very few openings that she could punish. She attempted to create one through the same strategy as before, using {Freezing Gaze} to transition into {Rorvan’s Flurry}.

However, the opponent looked away and the ability didn’t land. Erin used {Rorvan’s Flurry} anyway, managing to land four attacks on it before the opponent scurried back and the lamia missed, canceling the ability.

All while Neve continued going over what she could do.

[Should I use {Field of Brilliance}? Maybe, I could get just a few, slightly more powerful, attacks off. Leave it with more damage before I start running again. What if it ends up going into a third phase, though? Should I ignore {Field of Brilliance} and just throw as many spells as I can at it right now, until I fully stack {Iceball’s} passive on it, and hope for the best?]

It was hard to tell which of these choices presented her with the highest chance of success.

Among the present options, though, one stuck out.

One that would depend entirely on her own skill level and a little bit of luck. One that, if it worked, would likely result in victory.

The question was, did Neve believe in herself enough to try it?

[... I’m at 70% mana regen. If I just sit back for one minute, let Erin get as much damage in as she can, and then start running around, dodging attacks again, I think we might be able to kill it if I get to summon Erin a second time. That plan revolves around me being able to avoid dying before I can do that, though.]

It felt risky, but, with Erin as under-leveled for this fight as she was, and with Neve being, unfortunately, incapable of dealing much damage, it became clearer as she thought about it that she was, certainly, going to have to summon Erin again in order to win here.

[... Can I do it, though?] She asked herself. [Can I stay alive until I get 300 mana again?]

As the seconds on Erin’s timer ticked down, Neve felt she had no choice but to try.

[I can make it a little easier for myself, though. Just a little.]

On that note, she stood up.

Blood continued to drip onto the stone from that wound she kept open which, although half-healed, was still hurt like crazy. Using her staff to push herself up to her feet, Neve took deep breaths.

[Maybe there’s a better way, but this is all I can think of right now. So, commit to it. Give it everything you’ve got.]

10 seconds were left on Erin’s timer.

All of the battles leading up to this point flashed in front of Neve’s eyes. All of the pain she’d endured, all of the enemies she and her summon killed.

All she had to do was perform to the best of her abilities. Even then, it might have not been enough. But, she had to try.

MP: 200/1200 (+70% regen)

[3 times should be enough.]

Neve cast {Iceball} 3 times at the knight.

The flying blocks of ice crashed into the opponent’s body. It threatened to attack Neve then and there, but Erin managed to pull its attention back onto herself with a few quick slashes.

MP: 170/1200 (+70% regen)

Just as she was about to disappear on her own, the knight cleaved Erin’s body in half with one spinning swing. It was a sneak peek at what Neve could expect to happen to her if she made a single misstep.

At that moment, Erin saw something. Her eyes widened, following the knight as her body faded. Unfortunately, if she’d seen something important, she couldn’t say anything about it, as she disappeared too soon to speak.

[Okay... Now, run your ass off and hope for the best.]

The enemy lunged at her. In one, agile hop, it closed the gap.

Neve ran toward it. With her open wound screaming, she pushed her legs to move, hearing the knight roar behind her. It followed, closing the gap by jumping at her once again. If it wasn’t going to change tactics, Neve figured she didn’t need to either, and she dodged into its attack once more, the black blade soaring over her head as she went behind it again.

It snapped its sword back so quickly that it nearly caught Neve’s leg, but the healer stepped away just soon enough for it to miss.

As she fell to the ground, she caught sight of her mana.

MP: 200/1200 (+70% regen)

The knight’s body suddenly covered the System’s message, though, as the enemy stood over her.

With no time to roll out from this position, Neve simply dragged her head to the right and the creature’s blade stabbed into the ground where it had just been. Fiery pieces of stone fell on Neve’s cheeks as the knight raised its blade and tried again. Neve moved her head to where it had been initially, ignoring the way her hair burned as she placed it over the hot, cracked floor.

As it went to stab at her a third time, Neve saw that it raised its body just a little too far up, and she slipped out from under it.

MP: 220/1200 (+75% regen)

"Ahhh," Neve hissed as she felt her wound widen.

The knight moved away from Neve and slashed the air, sending more of those projectiles from before at her. Neve ran to the right, avoiding them, until she hit the wall and she slid to a halt, running to the left.

Howling, the fire on the knight’s blade seemed to burn brighter as it went to chase her again.

Keeping a hand on her wound, Neve didn’t even bother trying to dodge the attacks and settled instead for running in circles around the temple. She nearly tripped and fell a few times, but the light from the blade glowed strongly enough to let her know where she was going.

MP: 240/1200 (+75% regen)

The enemy caught up with little effort, but its attacks made it so that every time she did, Neve could simply run away again.

Until the enemy cut her off, and Neve ended up cornering herself.

With no space to run, Neve turned toward the knight and did the first thing that came to her mind.

She bashed its body with her staff.

It bounced off the enemy’s glass armor harmlessly, doing little to no damage at all, but the mere act of attacking it like this made it flinch. That was the opening Neve needed to force her way past the opponent so that she could get back to running.

MP: 270/1200 (+75% regen)

[Come on, come on, come on!]

She was so close. If she could just summon Erin again, maybe the lamia would be able to dispatch it.

But, as though it sensed this outcome, or perhaps feeling insulted by the fact that Neve had the audacity to attack it directly, it ran at her even faster than it had been up to this point.

One, two, three swings came out so quickly, all aimed at Neve’s head. Ducking and leaning so much had Neve dizzy, but, at the same time, she was so focused, that it almost felt like the swings were coming out slower than they were.

The last attack in the combo, however, caused an explosion as the knight stabbed its blade into the ground. Neve was hit and was pushed back a short distance, rolling along the ground.

She couldn’t move again. She wanted to. She begged her legs to keep running, but they weren’t listening.

With desperate, wild eyes, she looked up at her mana as she lay on the ground.

MP: 300/1200 (+90% regen)

From the floor, she took her staff and summoned Erin. The pain of spending all of her mana at once, as wounded as she was, was enough to make Neve cry.

Erin, however, didn’t immediately move to protect Neve.

[What? What is she doing?]

It all happened so slowly. Neve watched as Erin slithered to the side, allowing the knight to chase the healer down.

The knight reached her. It was allowed to reach her.

The healer felt so betrayed that she kept her eyes on the lamia even as the knight loomed over her, about to end her life.

[Erin?]

The lamia clutched her blades so tightly, that Neve could tell she was fighting against the System-made instinct to protect her.

[But...]

Finally, as the knight lowered its blade, Erin raised one of her blades and threw it at the knight.

It stabbed into it. Black blood from the knight fell onto Neve’s face.

[Huh?] Neve thought. [What just happened?]

The knight let out a shriek of pain, staggered. Erin ran forward, her eyes briefly meeting Neve’s as she made her way to the opponent.

Then, she cast {Freezing Gaze} just as the enemy saw her coming.

The ability landed. The knight was frozen.

Erin followed up with {Rorvan’s Flurry} and as she turned into that cloud of blades once more, Neve saw that all of her attacks were focused on one spot. The place where Erin had thrown her sword.

Neve hadn’t seen it, but there was a gap on the side of the knight’s body. A single spot where the knight’s glass-like armor had broken, perhaps during this battle, exposing a weak point. And, this was where all of Erin’s attacks went.

One after another, so fast that Neve couldn’t register each swing, she struck that singular part of the knight’s body.

Eventually, the knight unfroze. It swung its sword at Erin, sending her flying back, but she slid forward again as soon as she hit the ground.

With the same desperation that Neve had been feeling on Erin’s face right now, the lamia pounded away at that spot with her swords, stabbing it over and over again.

Until one more slash from the knight cut through Erin’s midsection.

A cut that split the lamia in half.

"AAAGH!" She cried out, falling back. The knight didn’t follow up, however. Hurt, it instead tried to put distance between itself and Erin, made cautious by the damage she’d dealt.

Erin’s torso fell to the ground right in front of Neve.

Breathing heavily, a couple of seconds passed. The two of them looked back at each other, both beaten and broken.

Despite what had just happened, Erin smirked at her.

"Scared you, did I?" She whispered so quietly that Neve could hardly hear her, but the mage read her lips.

Neve tried to chuckle, but all she could do was cough up some blood.

"Well... Aren’t you a healer?" She asked. "Heal yourself and finish this," she spoke before fading away.

MP: 60/1200 (+100% regen)

Seeing that amount of mana, and the fact that she was dying, judging by her 100% regen, Neve cast 4 spells.

{Healing Ground} once, and then {Great Healing Dart} 3 times up above her own body.

MP: 5/1200 (+100% regen)

Slowly, her body repaired itself.

The knight roared, as though confused as to where the enemy that had inflicted that damage onto it had gone.

Neve slowly stood up.

[... Thanks, Erin. But, in the end, I guess I have to finish this on my own, don’t I? Fine. I’ll end this myself.]

The wounded knight used those flaming arcs again, but Neve was able to dodge them, running to the right. Its movements were slow and weary. The knight was hurt.

Neve would still need to be careful, though. One mistake and all of this would be for nothing.

As she ran off to the side, Neve closed in on the knight until it was close enough to take a proper swing at her.

Predicting a horizontal swipe, Neve ducked under it, feeling a wave of flames go over her head. If her prediction had been wrong, she would have died right there. Then, she rose again.

Raising her staff up high, she brought it down on the creature’s open wound, that Erin had been targeting.

"RAAGH!?" The knight shrieked, backing away. It was staggered. Neve followed after it, wielding her staff like a mace.

One, two, three swings wouldn’t be enough. She knew that.

It slashed at her again and this time, Neve stepped back before running in again. BAM! She slammed her staff down on its body.

The knight was backed up into a corner. Neve kept going.

[Just. Fucking. Die already!]

Four, six, eight times, Neve crashed her staff down on it. That wasn’t enough, though, so she turned that into ten, twelve, fourteen times.

The knight did not have the strength to lift its sword anymore but refused to die.

Black blood spurted from the wound and fell on Neve’s cheeks. The meaty area of the knight’s body that she was hitting had turned dark and purple.

She kept going.

On, and on, and on.

Until, soon, a few messages over Neve’s head signaled the end.

Her hands stopped in the air, just as she had been about to bring her staff down again.

{Dungeon Cleared!}

Activity Points Gained: 2000

AP: 3690

Neve blinked.

Letting go of her staff, her knees gave out and Neve hit the ground.

Neve’s head hit the ground, her hair soaking up some of the blood from the knight beneath her. It began fading away, as Neve took slow, deep breaths.

So much anger and adrenaline had been flowing through her veins, only to be replaced by a deep sense of amazement. The shadows and darkness around her cleared up.

[... I did it.]

It was over.

She had won.