Trials of a VRMMO Healer

Chapter 9 - Deep Trove

Other than its depth, the most striking thing about the Deep Trove was how populated it seemed to be. Throughout the cavern I could hear (though usually not see) players mining or fighting. We made our way down the scaffolding that clung to the edges of the chasm, with Lily leading the way. The Deep Trove was actually fairly bright. It seemed that the water that flowed from above was glowing due to a type of bioluminescent microorganism which grew just as happy to grow on the damp chasm walls.

Lily descended with ease; she had a grappling hook that she used to make her way down. I didn't have anything like that... or did I? I did, after all, have wings. It seems strange to forget a thing like that, but it's not like I noticed them. I hadn't even given a thought to how I could control them. With each hop down from one ledge to another, I practiced first moving my wings, then fluttering them. They seemed too small to achieve flight, at least according to my understanding of physics, but maybe I could make some kind of gliding work. Sure enough, with a bit of practice I got the message that I had gained a rank in [Glide]. It wasn't much, but I felt like when I jumped, I could float down a bit slower. Not by a whole lot, but it was just rank 1. In fact, since I wasn't getting physically tired by moving around in the game world, I decided I'd bunny hop around and practice my glide all the time. I managed to get to rank 3 by the time we reached the tunnel that was our destination, but it was definitely taking longer with each rank. I suspected this skill had quite a curve. This new tunnel was far bigger than the mines we had entered from but it was still far from roomy. Near the entrance two adventurers — a man and a woman — were slumped against the wall of the tunnel.

"You going after the Amaras Heliolite lode?" the man asked as we approached.

"That's right," Lily replied.

"Good luck with it. A liskand's holed up back there. Tore us up good. This is the worst possible spot for it, too."

"That just means it's the best spot for the thing to hunt. What kind of skills do you have?"

"I'm Viero, I specialize in archery and explosives. I also dabble in some jewelcraft and she's Rika, she's a swordswoman, good with katanas."

"—It's an ōdachi," Rika interjected and Viero gave a tired nod.

"I'm Liger Lily, mostly do crafting but I can swing a pick in a pinch. The hopping girl here is Meiana, she's a healer, kind of."

"What do you mean kind of? I'm a healer!" I objected, though I didn't stop bunny hopping around the tunnel. Annoying as it might be, I really wanted that [Glide] skill.

Lily gave a tired nod.

"Well, with a healer we might have a chance."

"Is a liskand really that strong?" I asked. After all, I'd defeated two named monsters so far.

"It's a pretty tough monster, but battles aren't all about stats, you know. The environment matters."

I had definitely learned that during my fight with Zzixis. When I looked around, I realized the problem. We had a front line tank with a long weapon that seemed like it was specialized in mounted combat or fighting groups. Our damage dealer relied on staying at range and using area attacks with explosives. Hell, EO might be realistic enough that Viero's bombs might cause cave-ins. Lily was good at combat in tight quarters, but she wasn't specialized in fighting. And as for me, while I did have Earthsinger, that relied on having room for swinging a large weapon in order for me to boost my healing. What we did have was time. It seemed like the liskand was an ambush predator and wouldn't go too far.

As I took my time healing Rika and Viero, we worked out a plan. We positioned ourselves with Lily outside the tunnel and Viero just inside. Further in I took my position and held Earthsinger at the ready. Rika kept going and disappeared into the darkness. A minute later I spotted her running at a full sprint and at her heels was the liskand.

"Incoming!" she shouted. Yeah, I could tell. The monster was a reptilian creature about 7 meters in length with a long, sinuous body that moved more like a weasel than a snake or lizard. As Rika approached me I glanced at Viero and he nodded and lobbed a bomb in my direction. I had always sucked at softball but I didn't need to hit a home run or anything I just needed to whack the thing deeper into the cave than Viero could throw it. We needed him outside where he could safely pelt it with arrows. The good news was that my swing connected with the bomb, sending it sailing in the liskand's direction. The bad news was that it hit the monster square in the face and exploded. The idea had been to use a bomb to distract it long enough that Rika could circle around to cut off its retreat back into the tunnel. Viero's bombs, however, were technically attacks, which meant that if the rest of us held them for even a second, they would dissolve and the maximum timer was only about three seconds... but that was only if they didn't hit an enemy.

Still, in a sense, it had done its job in distracting the liskand from Rika, but now it was fixated on me. I turned and ran. Rika cursed and took a swipe at it but the damage she was doing was nothing compared to the pain I had inflicted. I ran as fast as I could to the entrance of the tunnel and out onto the catwalk but I could still feel its feet shaking the ground behind me. With nowhere else to go I took a leap of faith and leapt out into the chasm.

[Glide has reached level 5]

Well, that was good news, at least. I managed to glide my way to a stalagmite (those are the ones that 'g' 'grow' from the 'g' ground, right?) and swung Earthsinger, lodging it it into a crack in the rock. Being a faerin was finally paying off. If I had been anything else I wouldn't have made that jump. But now I was stuck. Or so I thought. Lily's grappling hook hooked into the stalagmite above me.

"Grab it!" she shouted and I did. The hook detached and I swung down and dangled over the chasm. Above me, I could hear the sounds of battle. I climbed while Lily hauled me up and finally she reached down and dragged me onto the catwalk. As I caught my breath, I assessed the situation.

Viero was firing arrows into the cavern and I could see the tail end of the liskand poking out. Rika's ōdachi looked like it was actually coming in handy, with its wide swings able to keep the beast from escaping. I struggled to my feet and charged in. I took a swing at its back leg with the blunt end of Earthsinger and then spun it around so that I could hook its ankle with the other end. With a tug, I managed to get the liskand to stumble. It spun to face me and as I did so, I landed a solid blow on the side of its head.

"Remember me?"

Clearly it did, but as angry as it was with me, Rika wasn't wasting the opportunity to slash wide gashes into its armored skin. Between the two of us, she was clearly the greater threat. I took advantage of the confusion to heal Rika, who was looking pretty torn up. Now that I was able to get hits in, I could make use of the healing boost that Mountainsong provided. Now we were working as a proper team. Rika might not be the toughest tank, but her damage and area control were great. Viero was no slouch in the damage department and even Lily could get a few hits in. I was amazed, with Mountainsong going I was able to use [Minor Heal] and [Blessing of Sunlight] to keep Rika going, rather than [Heal], which took longer to cast. I couldn't wait to find out what Lily would be able to do with the materials we were taking so much effort to gather.

The rest of the fight was just a battle of attrition. Surrounded and with no hope of escape, the liskand had no chance against the four of us. When it finally fell, we took a well-deserved rest.

"That," Lily told me, "was a Tier 4 monster."

When she put it like that it seemed like more of an accomplishment. But games were like that. A high level rat could kick your ass, even if you'd been fighting dragons and such. Still, it generally made sense. The monsters I'd fought seemed to get smarter and more vicious as the levels went up. Splitcrag had been big, yes, but it was also slow. Zzixis was a difficult fight, but I'd won it with a lot of luck. If this was what I could expect, I wasn't sure I could rely on luck alone to win.

Of course, we didn't just have luck; we had equipment. A short walk into the tunnel and we found what we were looking for: An outcropping of Amaras Heliolite. It emitted a faint yellow glow in the darkness, one that was warm and comforting. Lily set to work harvesting what she needed and Viero did the same. We exchanged contacts with Viero and Rika and headed back to town, exhausted.