We Can Be Heroes ...?

41

Along the way, more passive ghosts were found, filling the Scourge of the Dead, little-by-little. They had little time to rest. Little time to search houses and other buildings for crafting stations. More and more enemies, 'mobs', appeared and Shion grew tired of the constant slaughter, but the others appeared to find great glee in despatching monster after monster, still following the same pattern as they had from the beginning.

They all levelled-up again. Shion's 'Field of Succour' becoming 'Field of Replenishment', refilling all their 'statistics', as the others called them. Their health, stamina and magic. That helped enormously, allowing them to fight longer, not having to refill their pools. Yet, still, it never became much easier. The higher they grew in levels, the monsters also appeared to grow stronger, more powerful, more varied in abilities and, crucially, in numbers.

After one battle, Mila's Trevor having grown into an even greater killing machine due to reaching the new level, Shion could do nothing but stop. While the others wished to move on, she had lost the heart for it. She leaned against a closed, warped door and slid down, covering her face with her hands. There were no tears, but she wanted to cry. She no longer had any sense of how much time they had spent here. It could be hours, or days, she wasn't even certain that it wasn't weeks since they had entered the enormous cavern and sprawling, rubble-strewn city.

"Get up. The Well of Forever is only a couple of streets away." Mila. Her booted feet appearing before Shion, seen under her hands. "It's almost over. Get up."

"I am resting!" She crossed her arms, resting them on her knees and buried her head in them. "I've had enough. I want to sleep, but I can't sleep. I want to eat, but I can't eat. All it seems I'm allowed to do anymore is kill and heal and walk and I've had enough of it!"

"You don't need to rest. Just like you don't need to eat or sleep. None of us need it." There was no comfort in Mila's voice, though Shion doubted Mila would even try to comfort her. "And when we get out of here, you'll notice that no-one does. No-one eats. No-one sleeps. It's not part of the game."

In the darkness she had created for herself with her clutched knees and arms, Shion tried to remember doing those things. Meals with her Papa. Sleeping in her bed upon her straw-packed mattress. Taking the time to sit after working the farm, but she couldn't. She knew she had done all those things, she had to have, but she couldn't remember any specific time that she had performed any of those actions. They were both true and not true and that did nothing to placate her.

"We have to keep moving. Those mobs will respawn soon and then we'll have to fight them again." From a distance, Jova's voice drifted toward Shion and Mila. "Not that I'm that bothered. Lot's of juicy plunder, going up in levels like they're going out of fashion. Can't beat it."

In front of Shion, she could still see Mila's boots pointing toward her. They shuffled a little, turning as though Mila looked back to the others, then back again. One boot began to tap, the toe lifting and falling. Slow at first, then faster and faster until it stopped with a little stomp. Then Shion heard a tapping sound. Mila's hand making a rapid tap-tap-tap against her leg.

"She's right." The ruffle of materials told Shion that Mila had crouched, her voice closer. "We need you and you need us to get out of here and I promise you, one way or another, it's almost finished. It's the way these things go, getting progressively harder. Admittedly, I had expected an S-tier dungeon to be much worse, but I'm not complaining. You just need to push on a little longer."

Shion lifted her head and caught Mila's eyes with her own. She didn't care anymore. Sitting here hadn't helped at all. She didn't feel rested. She didn't feel refreshed or ready to push on. It felt no different. Not sitting down, not fighting, not walking. Everything felt the same. A continuous trail of no feelings.