New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

***Back to the surface***

“You!” Azamus said, looking at the recent addition on the playing field.

Standing before him, was a tall, well-built man. His hair was a dark shade of brown and reached his shoulders.

He was dressed in full leather armor, with a quiver on his back, and two scimitars at his belt. The short-bow in his hands seemed made of a mix between wood and metal.

“I’m surprised you made it in the top one thousand, Killi.” Azamus spat out, with acid in his tone.

“Don’t discard me so fast, you angry garden dwarf.” Killi said, mockingly

The man, Killi, was another Esports player that was well known throughout the community. He and Azamus had a long-standing rivalry, as one was the best player in the American community, and the other in the British community.

“What did you call me?! You old has-been!” Azamus answered, almost frothing at the mouth, as he pointed his pistols at Killi.

Killi had also been the number one player in the game before ‘Tower of Babel’, a game Azamus had been too young to play professionally for. Killi was an older Esports player, his age closer to thirty years old.

“You can call me a has-been, and old all you want. But that does not detract from the fact of your height and predisposition to rage.” Killi responded, laughing lightly.

Both men then had to jump back, as kamas struck where they had been standing a few moments prior.

“You boys are awfully confident, to be disregarding my presence here.” Blue Peacock seethed, as she retracted her weapons.

“I would never dare, my lady.” Killi responded with a slight bow.

“I don’t need my full attention on you.” Azamus replied, scowling at her.

“You dare say that after Killi just saved your skin? You arrogant midget!” Blue fumed, as she gripped her kamas harder.

“Stop referencing my height! This is just the race I picked!” Azamus howled.

Both Killi and Blue started laughing at his outburst, mocking him mostly. Azamus was having none of it, as he pulled out two grenades, throwing them toward the two.

*Boom* *Boom*

The explosions kicked up clouds of dust, making the visibility go down. Azamus knew he hadn’t hit them, but at least now, they would have to focus on something else than his height.

An arrow and a kama came flying at him, from opposite directions. He back flipped away from them, as they hit the ground where he stood.

“Fine. No more chit-chat.” Killi said as the dust cloud cleared away, revealing his serious face.

“Time to claim your head.” Blue said from the other side, swooshing the dust away with her spinning kama.

All three of them were standing in a triangle, in a Mexican stand-off style, waiting for one another to make the first move. Azamus, with his short fuse, was the first one to flinch.

He turned to Blue, intent on finishing their earlier fight, hoping that it would split her focus on both him and Killi. The problem was that he also had to do that, as the latter seemed intent on sabotaging him.

Killi shot an arrow at Azamus, forcing him to look his way, but was kept from charging as a kama on a chain flew at his face. He blocked the blow with the metal part of his short-bow, before shooting an arrow back at Blue.

The three of them were keeping each other in check, both defending and attacking each other in quick succession. The fight was for now at a standstill.

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Some were a little less knowledgeable, unfortunately for them, as they tried using blind spots to reap in some kills. The sad thing about that was that they almost always landed a hit.

But as if the three monstrous players had reached a tacit agreement, they always covered each other’s back. It wasn’t a silent agreement though.

The trio only wanted to keep anyone else from stealing their kill. Especially some random player that had no prestige.

Every time a random player tried swooping in for a kill, they ended up getting barraged by attacks from all three monstrous Esports athletes. After a few unfortunate souls died in this process, the rest learned their lesson.

The fight went back to just them, as the spot of combat kept moving in a parabolic trajectory around the pyramid. Seeing the battleground moving, some of the waiting players went back to trying to get the potion.

The brawling restarted in the middle zone, following the path of the pro players’ fight, as more and more people joined in. Killi and Azamus shot those who got too close, or they had their throats slit by flying kamas.

The trio would not let people reach the top of the pyramid as they actively monitored it. But splitting their focus on so many things took it toll quickly.

Azamus was the first one to drop the ball since his stamina was lesser than the other two. As he was back-stepping from a clash with Blue, he tripped on an insignificant obstacle that he failed to notice.

Killi did not hesitate to pounce on the occasion, as he fired four arrows in quick succession, all aimed at Azamus’ side. Azamus did not miss those, as he forced his body to turn, putting his back to the arrows.

His armor had better coverage on the back than sides, so the damage was lessened, but he still fell into critical territory. He knew his fighting was over for now, so as he rolled on the ground, he used Recoil Escape on Blue again, pushing himself away.

When he landed after his skill, he quickly darted away, dodging arrows as he did. When Killi and Blue tried giving chase to him, they ended up on a trajectory into each other.

Blue attacked Killi, forcing him to stop and retaliate. The two of them gave up on the gnome since they would never catch him if they had to fight each other off too.

The fight quickly went from a fierce three-way battle, into a direct one-on-one, as Killi switched his bow out for his simitars.

Blue was expecting an easier fight in melee than in range, but Killi proved her wrong. His mastery of the dual scimitars was on par with his bow skills, as he fought her on equal footing.

Killi’s class was not the normal Archer class. It was a special one, called Ranger.

As a Ranger, he gained the ability to use both melee and ranged weapons without penalty. If a normal Archer player tried that, they would have a ten percent penalty to their damage done.

Since Killi was originally a melee fighter in most games he played, he was already proficient in swords and sabers. The archery part, he learned from being a posh British noble.

His family often took hunting trips in the forests of England, so his skills with a bow were not negligible. He had started the game as an Archer class, to vary from his usual style.

But when he found out about the Ranger class, Killi was overjoyed. He could do both melee and ranged with that class, and that meant being very flexible.

This was a choice that suited him very much, and he had not hesitated to make the change. Of course, since the class was a kind of multiclass, the skills he gained from it were much less powerful than the straightforward ones from Archer or Warrior.

But that was only the beginning, and he couldn’t wait to reach a higher level.

The fight between him and Blue was in full swing when the both of them noticed something odd. They no longer heard the clashing of other weapons.

As they split from a clash, the both of them quickly glanced around. There was no one following them anymore.

Then something caught Blue’s eye. At the top of the tower, a man was standing.

He had an open case before him, with a red potion in his hand. Blue and Killi did not recognize the man, but they knew reaching the top of that pyramid, with all the fighting going on, was no small feat.

Then Killi noticed something in the distance. His face dropped before he turned to look at Blue.

“This man… He killed all the players fighting for the potion.” He said, with a grave tone.

“How can you be sure of that?” She asked, not seeing what he had seen.

“Backtrack a bit, you’ll see what I mean.” Killi said as he kept his eyes on the man on the pyramid.

The man on the pyramid had just uncorked the glass container and drank its content. Blue saw that and made an awkward face.

She went around Killi, making sure not to get too close to him, in case this was a trick. But when she got around him and saw further around the pyramid, she broke out in a sweat.

Standing there, before the pyramid, were dozens of undead monsters, but not a single player in sight. Blue then gazed at the man on the pyramid.

He was smiling coldly.

That man was a Necromancer.