140: The Descent, Part Three

The Descent, Part Three

Neve learned a lot from that first fight. 

[My Endurance is actually enough to not die in one hit, even though these are all high-level, Strength-build enemies,] she noted as she went to loot the orcs' bodies. [Plus, as long as I'm going after their weak points, I can actually kill things... It's still not easy,] Neve added. [I might not die in one hit, but if I'm not careful, I'll end up getting taken down and shanked to death or something. And, I can do damage, but even then, that damage isn't high at all. 5, 6 hits in a fight to the death is, in reality, a fuck ton.] 

The orcs held alchemical ingredients. Neve pulled them out and threw them into her Inventory just as she'd noticed that one of them dropped something else. 

Scroll: Healing Beacon

{Note: Reading a Scroll will teach the player the spell contained inside it}

{Rare}

{Class Req: Priest/Priestess}

{Attaches a healing mark on an ally. Ally will be healed continuously, so long as they do not walk too far away from the caster.} 

{MP Cost: 50}

{Val: 1500}

As she read what the spell did, she quickly understood why it was worth so many tokens. 

[Passive healing!] Neve thought, putting the Scroll in her inventory. [Obviously, I need to see how long it lasts, and how strong the healing is, but assuming it's equal to {Healing Ground} at the very least, this spell is absolutely OP! I can just put this on Erin and not have to worry about healing her ever. Or on myself too, if you can have multiple marks. It could, keyword being *could*, be super broken.] 

She'd have to find out once she was out of the dungeon, though, since no spells could be cast here. 

[Okay, finding this was huge. Now, where do I go?] 

Centering herself, focusing once again on the matter at hand, Neve went to the opposite side from the entrance. Here, the cave produced a steep decline leading into... well, more darkness, illuminated only by a single faraway torch. 

Neve walked forward carefully, moving cautiously with every step. 

[... I have to assume there could be an enemy anywhere. An archer hiding behind a platform, some insects flying above me, traps. Anything could happen.] 

At the bottom, Neve saw that the path led to a heavily illuminated opening, back at the part of the Floor that spiraled to the boss marker. 

[Yeah,] Neve thought, standing a few steps away. [Some archers will probably try to shoot me down as soon as I step out.] 

Recognizing this, she looked around, hoping there would be another path to take. This pit she'd entered was so dark, it was hard to judge how much space she actually had around her, but one spot nearby showed that, maybe, Neve could avoid walking into that potential meat grinder behind her. 

A random bookshelf with some barrels in front of it stood by a wall, blocking something. As Neve walked over and pushed everything out of the way, she found a crawlspace lazily covered up by a couple of wooden boards. 

[Hey, neat.] 

She began to use her sword to cut through the boards but, honestly, the wood was so old she felt she may have been able to pull them out with her bare hands, so she did just that. 

Sheathing her sword, she got on her knees and went in. 

The tight path took a few turns but came to a stop fairly quickly, as Neve found an exit that was also covered up by some wooden boards. She broke these down as well and peeked out, discovering a small army that would have greeted her had she walked out the way she'd originally intended. 

Five orcs. 2 of them were archers standing on the other side of the chasm, unable to be damaged, and 3 of them were melee fighters standing at the sides of the exit, waiting like statues for any unlucky, silenced, healers to walk by. 

[... That would have sucked.] 

It was, however, a solid reminder that, if she could help it, she needed to avoid fights. 

[A straight shot to the boss fight would be ideal, but I wonder if this one might have some sort of requirement before I can access it. I guess I'll find out later.]

From here, Neve could faintly tell that there was a path to follow. The torches, dispersed unevenly throughout the area, left some spots in the dark. Places where Neve could sneak through. 

[Ahhh, but my Sneak is so low...] She sighed. [Fuck it. It's better than fighting all five of those guys.] 

Neve dropped clumsily from the crawlspace to the winding path, keeping her eyes fixed on the path the shadows outlined. 

She took one, singular step forward.

And one of the three melee orcs went:

"Murgh?" 

Neve hit the ground and froze. 

The orc began looking around. 

The healer remained perfectly still. 

If this world wasn't functioning on the System's logic, she would have been seen already given that she was laying on the ground, in plain sight. 

However, because she wasn't moving, the orc was having a hard time seeing her. 

[Please, please, please, please, please, please...]

Eventually, the orc shrugged and adjusted its grip around the club in its hands before putting its eyes back on the first room's exit. 

Neve let out a relieved breath. 

[Thank God.] 

She then crawled one inch forward. 

"Meurgh!?" 

The same orc turned, taking an aggressive position. 

[No, no, no!] 

Neve stopped. 

The orc sniffed the air. 

"... Euuurrggh..." 

Then, it shrugged and went back to statue mode. 

[Ah... I'm gonna have a heart attack.] 

She crawled forward again. 

"MEURGH!?" 

---

Neve had no clue how long it took her to get past this section, but by the time she had, her Angel Set felt like it had been worn by a practicing runner for three days straight, unwashed, from how sweaty it was. 

Eventually, though, she managed to make it down that winding path and reached the next part of the floor. 

Another opening took her to a different section of the cave where Neve could hear metalworks, gears grinding, and hammers crashing on metal. it was a wide, well-lit area where multiple orcs could be seen walking from one place to another while Neve hid in the darkness. 

[Hm... They all have levels over their heads, so these aren't NPCs. That means they should all have routes that they're following instead of just going from one place to another randomly, right?] 

Neve stopped there, to consider this fact.  0

[Honestly, it feels like this Floor is more biased toward assassins than warriors. At least, so far.]

While her eyes scanned for a way to the next part of the cave, they fell on one orc that seemed out of place. 

One orc that did not have a level over their head. 

At the back, pressed against the cavern's wall, was one little orc girl. The kid wore shorts and a weird hat that almost made her look like some sort of courier. Neve couldn't see her too well, given that she was so far away, but the way she reached up and wiped something off her eyes signaled to Neve that she was crying. 

[... I'm gonna guess-] 

Quest Gained!

{Rescue Lamrosh} 

{Reward: 10 Influence Points}

{Reward: Temporary Vendor} 

Neve squinted at that word. 

[Vendor?] She paused. [In the Main Dungeon?] 

She'd only run into those at Rorvan, which had basically been an NPC hub area situated right next to a battle arena. This, however, was a proper dungeon. To see such a person here felt odd. 

[Hm. It's strange but, if that kid's a vendor, I have to rescue her. She might sell some stuff specifically designed to beat this floor.] 

All of a sudden, this room's challenge became clear. 

A player with the fighting capabilities to do so could just mow down each and every orc around them to reach the kid. Neve, however, could not do that. So, in order to complete this quest, she'd have to sneak past several enemies. 

[Oh, this is gonna be torture.] 

Her heart was committed to this from the moment she saw that reward, though. It was a matter of figuring out how she was going to do it. 

Taking that into consideration, she did have one solid idea. 

[Maybe there's something in the Hidden Shop that could help? When I went through it before, I was only thinking about buying things that might help me *kill* shit. I wasn't thinking about buying anything that could help me sneak through this place.] 

With that intention, she opened up the Hidden Shop again. 

And found a few interesting items. 

[Yeah... I think I could use that. That too. And... Yeah. There's more here than I thought there would be. Though, I guess the concept of "stealth" is pretty general. Assassins might be better at it than everyone else, but it doesn't make sense for the System to restrict other kinds of players from being able to go that route. At least, not *heavily*. All the really good shit is obviously closed-off behind a class requirement.]

Purchasing a few things, Neve mentally prepared herself. 

[... Fuck it,] Neve thought, looking at these objects. [I'm turning this into a stealth mission.] 

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