You and Lisbeth were now wading through the swamp, looking for any kind of cavern to explore. Now that you had officially formed a party, you were able to see her status and HP. The potions seemed to be working like a charm. From what you saw, the potion resistance would last for 30 minutes, and Lisbeth's HP would last for 45. Conditions haven't changed since you first found Lisbeth, there was just simply another player to factor in when sneaking around. Or attempting to, anyway. She was definitely more of a fighter, so she often goaded you to fight enemy groups that got in your way. It usually worked, since with her around, you weren't as hesitant to fight as before. She wasn't kidding when she said she could hold her own.
For the most part, you had only been speaking to give directions. Lisbeth had likely gotten bored of the silence, though, so she gave you a quick jab in the back to get your attention.
"Hey, don't you have anything to talk about during trips like this?" Her voice was muffled from her makeshift facemask.
You turned back around toward her. "Oh… sorry. I guess I didn't think I'd need to talk." Now you had to think of a conversation topic, which took a while. That wasn't from a lack of them, but rather not knowing what she wanted to hear.
"You know, I've heard of a way to purify this swamp. Wanna hear it?" That sounded safe enough to you.
"Really?" She had perked up. "What are you waiting for? Tell me!"
"Since I come here pretty often, I went around the town on this floor asking NPCs if they knew anything about this place. Most people didn't, but I came across one person that seemed to know the source." Now you were getting more comfortable with talking. "They told me about a pair of dragons that lie somewhere deep within this swamp. Luun and Hazak, the Decaying Drakes." You now pulled up the menu and navigated to your quests. "See right here?" The quest titled Purification of the Rotten Land was highlighted. "I'm certain it has a pretty good reward, but no one wants to come to this place. Good luck gathering multiple parties willing to fight it."
"Oh…" She seemed more disappointed than earlier now, which worried you. Did you somehow screw that interaction up? And why did that thought suddenly pop up into your head? It nearly distracted you from the solution Lisbeth was offering. "What if I brought up the quest to more people? Naturally, I get some pretty strong customers, so they might be interested in something like this."
"You'd do that for me? You sounded genuinely surprised.
"Of course! I'm always happy to help out other players with this kind of thing."
That kept both of you satisfied until you reach the opening of a cavern. Until then, the land was pretty barren. No monsters had been in sight, which was a nice change of pace. In front of this cave, though, there were three Moss Walkers guarding the entrance. They were humanoid creatures covered in moss, acting as natural camouflage. Their long claws and glowing red eyes were the only features you could discern. You and Lisbeth observed them from a distance for a bit.
"They aren't leaving."
"Yeah, I noticed. Let's just ambush them and get in." Lisbeth unsheathed her weapons.
"There aren't enough hiding spots to get close for an ambush. If you've got my back covered, though, I'll run in as a distraction. Just stay here for now and keep watch." She nodded.
You unsheathed your katars and prepared to attack. If the right moment would just come already, when the enemies' backs were turned. It felt like forever before they looked away. It was almost like they already knew you were there. So instead of waiting any longer, you just charged in. The Moss Walkers adopted a defensive stance and prepared to receive your attack.
You were running at full speed, covering your chin with your arms like a boxer. When you got close, one of the creatures raised its right claw, preparing to swipe at you. As you got in its face, it swung, but you weaved to the side and countered with an uppercut. That took off a fair chunk of its HP.
You stepped back and began carefully observing the Moss Walkers' movements, trying to keep both in front of you at all times. Their low growls kept you on edge, and their eyes stood out strongly against the swamp's darkness. The damaged one lurched forward and got ready to lunge while you prepared to counter accordingly. After a moment, it leaped at you, claws aimed at your head. You timed a quick swipe to parry the blow and used the momentum to turn with the Moss Walker. With its back turned, you activated a sword skill to punch right through its heart. It shattered into several fragments as you heard the roars of the others behind you. Lisbeth had snuck up behind them and killed them both with a single wide blow.
"You better not have told me to stay back just so you could hog all the glory there."
"What glory? It's not like I'm trying to impress anybody. I just thought that plan would work out differently." You said while putting away your weapons.
"Are you sure? You're definitely jealous of how many kills I was getting earlier." She was right, but you didn't want to admit that. Especially not with the devilish smirk on her face.
"You have some weird ideas about me. Let's just go inside." A small blush formed on your cheeks as you said that.
The inside of the cave was exactly how you expected it to be. Muddy, wet, plenty of rotten overgrowth, and several creature nests. The gas still permeated these areas, and it was even darker in here than it was outside. Clicking sounds and growling noises were constant, and it kept you on edge. You lit up a torch, which helped a little bit.
A few more paces and monster battles in, you stopped hearing Lisbeth's footsteps behind you. The walls of this cave bounced sound pretty well, so you called out to her, hoping it would go far enough to reach her ears.
"Lisbeth, you there?"
No response.
"Lisbeth? Hello?"
Still nothing. Now you were getting worried. You hadn't even been here for 5 minutes and the two of you had already gotten separated. Your best bet was probably to backtrack and keep calling out for her, but that would attract monsters. This was not a time to get into fights, and this was especially not a time to panic. Surely, she would notice the light and-
"GROOOOOAR!" The threatening howl came from behind you.
You twisted around extremely quickly, lost your balance, and fell onto your back while drawing your katars. Mud splashed all over your armor, as well as what was in front of you: a chuckling girl. She was laughing too hard to say anything, and she even had tears in her eyes.
"Dear god, Lisbeth. Don't do that to me." Your heart was still pounding from shock.
She finally calmed down a little, just enough to form words. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Then more laughter. "I couldn't help myself, I just wanted to see you stop being so serious for a moment." She reached out her hand and helped you up.
Your face was really red now. In fact, your whole body felt hot. Some really cute girl that you just met was messing with you like this and you…
You just thought she was cute. Another weird feeling while you were around her. First you lose focus easier, now you're physically attracted to her. Did you have a crush on Lisbeth? That would be the easiest explanation, but love wasn't exactly on your mind for the past 64 floors. Why now? You gave it about 30 seconds of reflection, then realized that really shouldn't be your top priority right now.
"So anyway, did you notice anything while we were walking?" You quickly changed the topic.
Lisbeth was getting her final giggles out. "Yeah, I did. It looks like something is glowing really far in that direction." She pointed to your left. "I might be seeing things, but it's not like we have any other leads."
She was right. There was a faint grey glow off in the distance, separated by a seemingly infinite void. You could hear skittering in the same direction as well.
"How's your HP holding up?"
"It's still yellow. The potion resistances might not be around much longer, though."
"Oh, let me just whip up another-" You were opening up your menu, but Lisbeth interrupted you.
"Don't worry about it. I think those might be the Entropy Crystals down there, so I can just get them and teleport out. You shouldn't use any more of your resources on me." This really wasn't the time to be considering you, you thought. Especially not when she knew firsthand what the atmosphere here could do.
"Wait… you've had Teleport Crystals this whole time?"
"If you're about to get mad at me for not leaving when I could, I already told you. I am getting these crystals even if this swamp beats me to an inch of my life before I do." Wow. That was a bold statement.
"Okay, okay." Clearly, this was a very stubborn girl. Arguing with her was probably a bad idea. "Please, just be careful. I heard something down there. Something walking."
"Maybe it's a boss. You think we can handle it together?"
You took a moment to think about it. "I doubt it's anything that tough, if it's just guarding resources."
"Then take this." She tossed you a healing crystal and used one herself. "Don't get yourself killed, okay?"
"You should really be listening to that yourself." You caught the crystal and put it in your inventory.
The two of you walked to the glowing area, and the skittering got louder. You looked down and saw multiple small spiders moving through the mud. Then you heard some on the walls. And on the ceiling. They were all heading towards the glow as well. Now only one thought was going through your head. The next 5 minutes were gonna suck.
Once you reached the source of the glow, you found that it was coming from a large vein of Entropy Crystals in the middle of an open room. The light was just bright enough to see the ground and walls, but just dim enough to need to strain your eyes to make out any details. You could tell that there were mushrooms growing underneath the giant crystal vein. Those could be useful for potions or poisons, but first things first. Lisbeth needed to collect from the crystal.
Normally, collecting crystals is an easy task. It worked the same as any other collection point, just swing a pickaxe at it until it stops giving you resources. Something untouched like this would give a lot of resources before running dry, so it was a gold mine for Lisbeth. But there was a giant spider above both of you.
Lisbeth pulled out her pickaxe, but you stopped her with a hand on her shoulder before she went any further.
"Above us. The boss." You gave her a quick tug backwards.
She gave you a quick nod and swapped to her hammer. You unsheathed your katars. With a hiss that echoed throughout the room, you saw a massive spider fall from the ceiling and land beside the Entropy Crystal vein. While it was hard to make out any details in the dim light, you could tell that it was massive with its face level with Lisbeth's. Something—likely venom—was dripping from its fangs, and its eight red eyes glared menacingly towards the two of you. Its name flashed before your eyes momentarily.
Queen Arachnid
You winced a little. Lisbeth stood in front of you, ready to defend herself.
"Stay behind me until I give a signal." She sounded like she already had a battle plan.
So, you followed her command. Lisbeth dodged the spider's claw swipes, countering with various Sword Skills to knock it off balance. Once she created a long enough opening, she activated another Sword Skill to knock it upwards, exposing the spider's underside.
"Now!" She yelled out to you.
While Lisbeth was still in her cooldown stance, you ran past her towards the boss. Once you were in range with your katars, you activated a Sword Skill of your own, unleashing a strong multi-hit combo on the exposed weak spot. With her screeches ringing in your ears, the Queen's HP drained to half of the 4 bars.
Responding to its weakened state, it retreated momentarily and let out a loud hiss that resonated throughout the cavern. Then there was silence. Just a few seconds later, you heard the collective cries of multiple minions. The boss had called in backup, and they were going to be flanking you and Lisbeth shortly.
"Lizzie! Spiders coming from the rear!"
"Screw the old plan then, I'll take care of them!" She ducked under another of the boss's swipes, then switched positions with you. You actually found that odd. Usually she'd ask you to take care of the groups of mooks, despite your protests.
With Lisbeth covering your back, which felt really nice for a change, you could focus your full attention on the boss. It was charging forward towards the two of you, getting ready to pounce. You readied a Sword Skill, waiting to parry the first blow. From behind, you could hear Lisbeth begin attacking the minions. Hopefully she could hold their Hate for a while. The Queen spider slashed at your chest, which you promptly countered. You deflected most of the damage, but the sheer weight behind the Queen's attack knocked you off balance. Dodging was more definitely more important here.
The Queen continued her offense, slashing, biting, and leaping towards you. Most attacks you could dodge, with the Queen getting in a lucky shot here or there. Whenever your HP got low, you could just use a healing crystal, so your survivability wasn't an issue. The problem was that she wasn't showing any openings for damage, and you didn't have the pure power to make one. Your only option was to find a way to interrupt her attack. Once the Queen readied a double swipe with her talons, you dashed forward to get in her face. Right in range of her jaws, even. The area in front of her face was safe from claw swipes, so you had a small moment to strike her before she bit you. As she whiffed her swing, you activated a Sword Skill and jammed your katar right into one of the Queen's eyes.
Your attack staggered the Queen, allowing you to get in and begin a ruthless offense. The momentum of the fight was yours. While Lisbeth finished off the last of the Queen's minions, you were assaulting the giant spider with a flurry of slashes, stabs, and kicks. It desperately tried to block and counter you, but as it deflected one strike, you were already launching another. The Queen couldn't keep up. Very soon, she had fallen.
All of the corpses burst into fragments at about the same time, leaving just you and Lisbeth in the cavern. The two of you were starting to get pretty tired, but it was all over. Lisbeth, seeming groggier than before, took out her pickaxe and began swinging at the Entropy Crystals without saying a word to you. Moments later, she promptly collapsed. One quick look at her status showed that the potions had worn off not too long ago. So much for being a quick collection.
You used another healing crystal to bring her back up to a safe HP level. Since you had come all this way, it'd be a waste to go back relatively empty-handed. Her pickaxe was still on the ground, so you finished her job of gathering crystals, as well as picked some mushrooms for yourself. Now you just needed to leave before this job could get any weirder. Lisbeth had said she had some teleport crystals in her inventory, but she was a little… unconscious right now. You thought about it for a second, since opening the menu was just a hand gesture. Could someone open someone else's inventory by manipulating their arm? Even so, she might be ticked off if she knew you had tried that. The whole act might look weird from an outsider's perspective as well. But what better option did you have?
Your theory was quickly proven correct, as you managed to open her inventory just by holding her arm and copying the standard gestures with it. In fact, every option within the menu was accessible this way, including her skill menu and content filters. While you were curious, you thought it'd be best to leave those alone. Like she had said, Lisbeth was carrying several Teleport Crystals in her inventory. She would most likely want to go to her blacksmith shop, but you didn't know where that was. Instead, you just decided to teleport to this floor's town. The two of you could figure out the details later, mainly how she would pay you back for all this. More importantly…
…Did you just give her a nickname during that fight?