46: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Eleven

The Hall of the Luminous, Part Eleven

With the herbs acquired, Neve completed the quest at the simple price of having Erin constantly pouting, with her arms crossed, as she sat next to Neve. 

"You're a terrible person, you know?" Erin said to her as Neve watched Ahlakan make the new potions in the kitchen. This time, the bar over her head took a little longer to fill up. "Making me do such a thing." 

"I told you, I'm going to make it up to you," Neve replied. "Just wait a little. Once you've got your potion, you're going to understand why it was worth doing that." 

"I certainly hope so. I traded quite a bit of my sanity for the sake of getting you those herbs."

"And I will appreciate it forever, honestly," Neve replied, holding back a smirk. "You're the best summon I could ever have asked for." 

When she heard that, Erin's mood only darkened further. 

"So, I am just a summon to you?"

"N-No, I just meant..." 

"It is fine," Erin replied, taking her pouting face and turning it away. "I suppose you are not wrong to think that." 

[Why am I like this?] 

"I am done with the first potion," Ahlakan said from the kitchen. Neve stood up and walked over to her, with Erin following behind.

{Potion of Medium Agility}

{Increases Speed by 10 points for 30 seconds}

"Do you wish to try it now?" 

"Yeah. Erin, here," Neve said, passing the finished product over to her. "Go ahead and try it out. It's yours." 

"What does it do?" 

"I'm not too sure, but-" Ahlakan began to respond, but Neve cut her off. 

"It'll make you faster." 

Both Ahlakan and Erin turned to give her curious looks. 

"How do you know that?" Ahlakan asked. 

"I can... just sort of tell, hehe..." 

"Um... W-Well, you should see for yourself before we draw any conclusions." 

"Right," Erin replied before bringing the flask up to her lips. 

She tilted it back, tilting her head back with it, and some of the potion's dark, blue liquid slid past Erin's fangs. Ahlakan and Neve waited, hearing an audible gulp from the woman as she drank the potion's contents. 

Once she was done, she reacted immediately. 

"I feel... strange. In a good way," Erin said, looking down at her own hands. "Could you hand me those blades again?"

"Sure."

Neve pulled them out from her inventory, ignoring Ahlakan's shocked expression. Erin took them and moved away a bit, slashing the air a few times. 

"Um, it is as you said," Erin muttered. "I can feel that I've become faster. By how much, I cannot say. I would have to put myself in a situation where I can push myself to the limit." 

It didn't take long for Neve to propose something. 

"We should go back to the Infested Hall, then. See how you perform with these potions." 

"I agree," Erin replied. 

[We only have 4 of them, since she just drank one. But, mainly, I just want to see if this boost is enough for her to overkill some of these next opponents. If it is, we could save up the last three potions for the final waves. This could be what gets me through the level 60 parts. I might need a little more, though.] 

"You will be going back to fight already?" Ahlakan asked. 

"Yep. No reason to sit around and stall. Let me change into my fighting clothes and we'll go." 

---

As Neve and Erin stood outside the Hall of the Luminous, many of the city's inhabitants were gathered to watch them go in. 

Surprisingly, the ministress was among them this time. She was standing far back, but Neve still saw her. 

[That doubt of theirs is starting to turn into faith, huh? And, now that we're getting into the middle waves, I'm starting to feel more of the pressure...] 

"Alright, so, we will take on the first challenge, defeat it, then you will resummon me and I will drink another potion, and we'll see what happens. Is that right?"

"... Yeah."

"Do you need a moment?" Erin asked, noticing how Neve spaced out. The healer shook her head. 

"No. Let's do this." 

On that note, they went back into the arena. 

{Wave 11}

Taking stock of her mana, Neve inhaled slowly as Erin slithered toward the four manifesting enemies up ahead. 

All of them were level 33. But their levels weren't what really concerned Neve right now. 

No, she was distraught by the fact that this was the first wave that was composed of enemies she'd never seen or heard of before. 

The creatures that appeared resembled strange, bulky centipedes with creepy, human-like faces. One of them, which looked more like an overgrown crab than a centipede, was bigger than the others. As soon as they appeared, they began running toward Erin, who met them at the center of the temple. 

[I don't know what these things are!] Neve thought, tensing up. [If these waves are all based around dungeon types, then... I guess it was only natural that I'd end up running into enemies I'd never seen before. It's not like I've cleared every single dungeon type in existence.]

She couldn't deny it at all. She was scared. Even though, going by level, she and Erin were still much stronger than these things, she was scared.

[I don't know what these things can do. I have to be careful.] 

Up ahead, Erin tried to swing her swords at them but the smaller creatures pulled back too quickly, avoiding her strike. 

At the same time, the crab-like creature ran up and raised its pincers. Erin only just barely managed to avoid the slam that followed. Before she could register any of this, one of the smaller enemies jumped up and bit down on her back. 

"AGH!?" 

Neve quickly cast {Healing Ground} under her.

MP: 875/900

... But the lamia moved out of the magical rune instinctively, trying to shake the monster off. 

[Wait. That's not good.] 

She realized then that this fight, right now, may have been the first real challenge she and Erin had encountered. They'd mostly just coasted off their combined stats, but against these mobile, evasive enemies, it became clear quickly that things weren't going to be that simple. 

[I'm going to have to get more involved. Not just in terms of fighting, but maybe in terms of commanding too.]  2

Thankfully, it wasn't like this was the first time Neve had faced adversity at all. She knew what the best course of action was for these situations. 

[First, calm down.] 

She took steady breaths as, up ahead, Erin managed to take the enemies on her back and slam them to the ground. The creatures screeched. They then surrounded Erin, and the lamia appeared shaken. 

[Now,] Neve thought, as her summon found herself in trouble. [What would you do in her position?]

"Erin, use Freezing Gaze!" 

This wasn't a suggestion. It was an order. 

As Tamira had said before, because that distinction was made in Neve's mind, the lamia responded instantly. 

She used her spell, momentarily freezing the three monsters in front of her. There was one opponent behind her, however, that hadn't been affected. 

"Now, use The Lamia's Hunt!" 

Again, Erin did so instantly. 

"Take out the one behind you, fast!" 

The opponent struck, but Erin moved away easily with her newfound speed. 

It hurt having Erin's mana be reduced to 0 like this so quickly, but if Neve was going to have to resummon her before the next wave came in then it didn't really matter. 

Erin swiped at the creature with her tail, throwing it into the nearby wall to her left. As the other opponents got up, she went and finished it, skewering the worm-like monster before it could even hit the ground. 

Neve cast {Sacred Ground} at the center of the temple. 

MP: 825/900

"Stand on this rune! Whatever you do, try to stay on it!" Neve instructed. The lamia ignored her opponents and went straight there. 

As soon as she stood there, the enemies moved to follow. 

[That all took around thirty seconds. We only have half a minute to deal with these three before I have to resummon Erin. If I resummon her before we've even finished off this wave, I might not have enough mana left for wave 5, since I can only summon Erin 4 times ideally at my current mana level.] 

She decided to take a gamble then. 

Getting these opponents to focus on her wasn't an appealing idea, but the chances that Erin would be able to eliminate them all without any help whatsoever was optimistic at best, given that they were so fast. 

So, she cast three spells in rapid succession at each enemy, as they collapsed on her summon. 

{Waterball} at the closest one, {Iceball} at the crab, and {Fireball} at the worm between the crab and the closest enemy. 

MP: 795/900

Not only did she want to help, but she also wanted to see if these things had any sort of elemental weakness. 

They did not react in any special way, which was unfortunate. But, they did turn and focus on her, giving Erin a moment to regain her bearings.

[Time to test out that 40 Speed!] 

Neve ran around the arena. 

The enemies chased after her but were quickly interrupted by the healer's summon. 

Erin got a sense of their speed faster than Neve thought she would. 

She stabbed one, prompting the other two enemies to turn and look at her. 

Neve shot another {Iceball} at one, making it focus on her once again and giving Erin a one-on-one opportunity.

The lamia took full advantage of it, collapsing onto the enemy and pinning it to the ground by impaling it with both blades. 

Neve ran from the enemy she'd distracted, pulling it into a chase. One that Erin stopped by stepping between them and slamming her tail into it. 

The hit was so strong that the monster's crash into the wall killed it, and wave 11 was over. 

Erin soon disappeared, and Neve was left wondering just how dangerous these 5 waves were going to be.

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