章節 14: The Only Option
{Neve}
The sun poked through the tent's open flaps and prodded at Neve's eyes, forcing her to wake up.
"Ah..."
The healer yawned, standing up and stretching her arms.
[How many hours did I sleep?] She wondered.
She had occupied the high-level players' tents last night, trying to ignore the smell coming from their bodies that forced its way inside. managing to fall asleep had been difficult, but once she succeeded in doing so, it seemed like she'd been out for a while, judging by the angle at which the sunlight was coming in.
[What time is it?]
Her HUD said that it was currently 11 in the morning. She nodded to herself and bought a cup of coffee along with a plate of eggs and bacon in the World Shop.
[Judging by the fact that I'm still in the main dungeon, I'm guessing Thomas and his goons didn't beat the Final Challenge last night. Good.]
She scoffed at that fact. Of course, she had no way of knowing how well they were doing. Maybe they had failed miserably and were currently regretting their actions. Or, maybe they were on the cusp of reaching the 10th floor and were just gathering some energy before what would be their final fight.
"Hm. Maybe I should check how many players are left?"
The answer to that question was a mere 17, which included herself, meaning Thomas's group was 16 players strong. It seemed some of his followers had died.
[Deserved. Fuck them.]
That still did not answer the overarching question of "how well were they doing overall?" And so, all she could do, judging by the fact that she was still here, was guess that they were stuck somewhere.
[... They might not be stuck for much longer, though,] she thought, feeling anger simmering under her skin. [I need to get started.]
So, as she finished her breakfast on a wooden table in that tent, she thought about what she would do next.
"I can't really do the same thing I did on the first floor in the second," she muttered. "With those zombies coming out of the ground, it would be pretty easy to end up getting myself killed. These things weren't designed to be taken down single-handedly... Well, none of these monsters were probably designed to be taken down that way, but, yeah."
Neve walked away from the camp, heading to the bench she'd bought the previous night. The one where she'd spoken to Carson. Pacing back and forth in front of it, she considered what she could do.
And, unfortunately, there weren't many options to choose from. In truth, she had two.
She could press on through the second floor, following Thomas's trail without having leveled up or gotten stronger in any way, or...
"Ah, fuck."
All of the energy she had left her body.
Just thinking about this was enough to make her feel like she'd just run ten laps.
What she had in mind was a death sentence. That much was certain. The problem was, at this moment, she could only choose between two death sentences.
And, this one seemed like it had a slightly, only slightly, higher chance of working. Both plans that she thought of carried a high probability of resulting in her death.
Knowing that caused the strangest feeling to appear within Neve's heart. It was foreign, something she hadn't felt in so long.
[... What the fuck am I feeling right now?]
It was an odd, but potent, anxiety. That feeling, the fear that she would lose her life, hadn't been there since the day the Unity Trials began. She had gotten used to lacking it and, to be honest, Neve wished it wouldn't have come back.
However, there was nothing to be done about it. This was the best idea she could think of, for one simple reason.
If, and that was a big "if", by some miracle, she managed to succeed, then the benefits would be huge.
Mainly, that she would gain access to the Final Challenge's overworld again.
Then, she could try to find low-level dungeons. Preferably, ones that held equipment she could actually use. After clearing enough of them, she could amass enough strength, somehow, someway, to get her revenge.
The other idea, following Thomas's group, simply did not hold as many benefits. Thomas's group had already likely gotten any and all loot she could find herself, alone. Anything they disregarded was probably for a reason, and she would have to do the same.
So, she was close to settling on this one, horrible choice.
Before she committed to the idea, however, she needed some confirmation. Just a quick "yeah, that's how things work" on behalf of the ones in charge.
She cleared her throat and said:
"Tamira."
"Mhm?" The snake asked, appearing before her in a slightly shrunken state.
"If I walk out of the main dungeon, I'm going to get punished, right?"
"Of course," she replied, quickly. "You do not have any Activity Points."
"Right. Now," Neve continued, "let's say I beat whatever punishment I get," Neve said, beginning to pace again from side to side, without even looking at Tamira. "After that, I can go outside the main dungeon and there are going to be other dungeons I can look at, right?"
"Yep," Tamira replied with a pop.
"And..." This was the question she'd been leading to, "some of these dungeons are going to be low-level, right?"
"There are dungeons of all levels around the main one," Tamira confirmed for her. "Did you hit your head or something while I was gone? I swear, we went over all of this."
"I know, I know, I'm just... FUCK!"
Neve cursed loudly and Tamira laughed. The snake reduced her size even further and then wrapped herself around Neve's body.
"Ah... If I'm understanding your frustration, it seems you've come to *that* conclusion."
"No shit," Neve replied. "I'm not exactly being subtle about it."
"Have you decided on this course of action?" She asked.
Neve paused.
[... I literally only have two choices. I can either do that or move forward. Take a huge amount of risk and, if I survive, be rewarded immensely, or, take a huge amount of risk with the only possible rewards being whatever scraps Thomas's group left for me. I... The choice is already made for me, isn't it?]
"Yeah," Neve replied, sighing. "I have."
"It is simply a matter of figuring out whether you have the heart to go through with it. Do you?"
"... Do I have any other choice?" Neve asked.
"The only other one is to venture forth through the second floor, as I'm sure you understand. However, you know how perilous that option is. And, even if you manage to make it through, that path will only lead you to Thomas and his group. Do you believe you can defeat them as you are now?"
"No."
"Then, unfortunately, it would seem that this is your best choice. In my opinion, anyway."
Neve let out a sigh that carried years of hopelessness and failure, packed into one exhaled breath.
"I guess that's what I should do, then. Thanks."
"Anytime."
Tamira disappeared, leaving Neve with the reality of this mess she found herself in.
[... Whatever. If I die, I die. That's the attitude that took me into this fucking place. That's the attitude I should keep throughout it all.]
With that being said, Neve turned, left, and exited the Second Floor's safe zone.
She figured this could very well be the last time she saw all of the bodies, so she gave them one last look before crossing into the First Floor. It was still so hard to believe that this had happened, but now, she would try to do something about it.
On that note, she walked through the first portal. Cutting through the battlefield, she kept going until she was standing at the next portal that she and all of the other players had come in through.
Neve stopped.
Balling up her hands into fists, she felt chills go up her spine.
She was scared. She couldn't deny it. Fear filled her heart as she stood before this portal, knowing she had to walk through it.
[Come to think of it, Tamira had said it would be a random dungeon. Not necessarily a high-level one, even though that's pretty likely... Please, don't suck too much, don't suck too much, just don't suck too much, please.]
And so, willing herself to move forward, she stepped through.
The instant she did, a message came up.
{Activity Points: 0/500}
{You have failed to meet the quota!}
{Punishment: Generating...}
{Generating...}
{Generating....}
{Punishment generated!}
Neve got just about four seconds to look at the Overworld before she was instantly teleported somewhere else.
It was a disorienting experience. She lost her balance and fell to her knees.
[Ugh, I'm going to puke... Where am I?]
She looked around and saw that she was on a stone bridge. There was a strange smell in the air like something was burning. The path led to a black castle. The air was so hot she started sweating immediately. As she looked to the left, she saw a burst of lava explode up into the air.
{You have entered: The Ruined Fortress of Roha Vala}
{Recommended Level: 50}
{Warning: You are unable to leave until the Boss has been defeated}
Neve stared at the message.
Level 50. Her eyes remained fixed on that prompt.
"... Shit."
章節 15: The Ruined Fortress of Roha Vala, Part One
Neve took slow, steady breaths as she looked around. The hot air she inhaled almost stung to breathe.
It was suffocating.
She had no clue what she was supposed to do in a situation like this. What attitude was she supposed to take? Was the right mindset to simply ignore the intimidating appearance of her surroundings or should she have moved under the assumption that even a sudden gust of wind hitting her the wrong way could be fatal?
For safety's sake, she decided to go with the latter for now.
Lava burst into the air from the left and Neve flinched.
[Couldn't have sent me someplace that looked more pleasant, huh? No, they just had to send me to the dark, haunted-looking lava castle. Nice,] she sighed.
The healer took out her staff, trying to keep her guard up in case an enemy lurked nearby.
[The system said the recommended level for this place was level 50. I... am not even close to that,] she noted. [So, yeah. If anything takes me by surprise, I might actually die in one hit.]
She shook her head, pushing that thought out of her mind.
[No, no,] she told herself, [Like the system said, I'm stuck here until I kill the boss of this place. Even if I ignore literally every single other potential fight aside from that one, that's one thing that I'm guaranteed to have to fight. So, it's best if I start trying to come up with a plan right from the start.]
Before she could do that, though, she did want to see what kind of monsters awaited her in this dungeon. As she'd found out in the past, that wasn't always a good indicator of the type of boss that she could expect to find later, but it did work well enough sometimes.
There were none so far, however, as she walked toward the castle's gates.
The structure was tall and imposing, bathed by a red sun amidst a bloody sky above. Neve wiped away a strand of her sapphire hair that had gotten stuck to her forehead due to her sweating so much. Whether she was doing so due to the heat or because she was just that nervous was impossible to tell.
The walls around her carried scars of battle. Parts had been broken down. Arrows, swords, and old corpses were spread out around her.
[Conventional equipment. I guess I won't be seeing anything too weird, no?]
After a short walk, she ended up standing at the castle's front. A pair of elegant black doors waited just a step away for her to push them open.
"... Just walk in. There's nothing else you can do, right?"
With those quiet, unconfident words thrown out in a mumbled sentence, she placed her hands on the castle's black gates.
Steadying her breathing, she entered the fortress.
Behind those great doors was nothing but captivating darkness. She could faintly make out the outlines of a few items, a long table with some silverware on it, and a couple of mannequins directly at her sides, but nothing beyond that.
Quickly, she cast {Candlelight} and got a better view of the space she'd just entered.
[Hm... Gaudy as shit.]
The first room in this dark castle showcased a table so long it stretched from the door she'd just opened to a ramp of at the back. It was crafted just like a set of stairs, with railings at the sides, but had no steps.
She found the reason for that immediately.
There were multiple paintings here depicting flamboyant people with snake-like lower bodies.
Neve narrowed her eyes at the images.
[Oh... Snake people? What the fuck are they called again, lamias? Is that what I can expect to fight here?]
Just beneath those paintings, there were faceless mannequins holding swords lined up along the walls at the sides. Interestingly, they did not have legs, but each one had a giant sphere under it.
[... The weapons they're carrying look pretty real. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that these things could come alive at any moment. I can't see levels over any of their heads, though, so they may not have been activated just yet.]
An old chandelier hung above the table, looking like it was going to fall any moment now.
[Ugh,] she grimaced, covering her nose. [It smells like an old library in here. At least it's a pretty straightforward first room, though.]
Slowly, she took a step forward.
Walking along the table, she made sure to check the corners behind her, just to be absolutely certain that she wasn't about to get jumped.
[... If you think about it, most of the attribute points I've gotten from leveling up are invested in my Arcane. So, in reality, I basically have the endurance of a level 1 or level 2 player. I'm probably going to die from the first hit I take. Fuck me.]
Suddenly, something in the room shifted.
Neve stopped, holding her staff out in front of her with widened eyes.
[What was that?]
Of course, her eyes went to the mannequins first. It did not seem like any of them had moved, though.
[Did I just imagine it?]
She nearly slapped herself for thinking that.
[No, what the fuck are you saying, Neve? Are you gonna ask whether it was just the wind next? What are you, an NPC???]
She still couldn't see any levels, though. So, despite the fact that something had certainly moved, she couldn't do anything about it.
Inhaling slowly, she swallowed and tried to make her way to the ramp at the back.
[Just take it one step at a time and keep an eye out. This is a dungeon, so there are obviously going to be enemies around here somewhere.]
She tried to walk as silently as possible, but every individual footstep she took felt like she was stomping on the ground. As she walked past a mannequin holding a spear, she swore that its head moved slightly.
Freezing in front of it, Neve stared the inanimate object down for a couple of seconds and kept going.
[... I already hate it here.]
Before long, however, she finally reached the ramp.
There were two paths she could take from here, with the ramp splitting to form two more ramps that led to the east and west.
Figuring that it didn't really matter where she went, she took the left path and continued her slow, gradual walk through the area.
[Okay, okay,] she thought, inhaling sharply. [So far, so good. I guess I was a little too paranoid. I mean, it's not like they're going to send enemies after me as soon as I walk in, right? Yeah, I should probably calm down a li-]
As she stepped onto the second floor, her right foot landed on some sort of hidden button.
[What?]
She looked down and then looked back up as she saw the wall opposite her open.
Three rifles were lined up, aiming straight at her.
She didn't even have time to blink.
All three rifles were fired. The one in the middle hit.
The impact was so strong, it sent Neve flying back through the air. She landed on the part of the staircase where it split off into two paths.
"...!"
She couldn't breathe.
Reaching down, Neve felt a gaping hole just under her chest, between her breasts.
[I'm dying.] She coughed up some blood. [I'm bleeding.]
With her hands shaking, she grabbed her staff, which had fallen a couple of feet next to her.
With it, she cast Healing Ground immediately.
At that moment, the final conversation she had with Carson came back to her mind. A healing spell this weak wouldn't save her on its own.
So, in addition, she did now what she maybe should have done back then to give Carson a better chance of making it. She cast Sacred Ground as well.
The logic behind it was that if bleeding out counted as "taking damage" then Sacred Ground would help with it. She wasn't too sure that was the case but, she was quite literally dying. She had to try.
Staring up at the ceiling, she remembered that she also had her potions.
"Eghh..." It was tough to raise her right arm, but she forced herself to do it, even if her body didn't want to listen.
[Come on, come on, come on...]
Looking through her inventory, she pulled one of her Minor Healing Potions out. The flask, containing a dimly glowing red liquid, fell beside her with a "dink".
She lifted the thing and brought it to her lips, but found the flask had a lid on it.
[You fucking...! AGH!]
Desperately, she unscrewed it and finally poured the contents into her open mouth. Choking on the liquid as she tried to swallow it in time, the effect was immediately noticeable.
[Ah,] she breathed in deeply as she felt her wound repairing itself faster. Throwing the flask away, she sprawled out her arms and lay there until she healed up. [Thank fucking God, ah.]
How long she was there for, she did not know. What she did know was that now that she wasn't dying, her senses were slowly able to focus on other things. She felt her robes soaking up the pool of blood under her body, and she picked up on the minty scent coming from her own breath after drinking the potion.
In addition, she heard the creaking to her left that had, apparently, been there this entire time, and she simply hadn't picked up on it.
[Huh?]
She turned to look at it and soon realized what kind of mess she was in.
Two of the mannequins had begun moving, rolling around the table in search of trespassers.
If she had to guess, it was only because Neve was on her back, laid out, that the enemies had not seen her.
Above their heads, she saw:
Level 51
MP: 150/150
Level 52
MP: 200/200
Neve took her eyes off them and went right back to staring up at the ceiling.
[Fuck. Me.]
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