New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Going through his skill list, he saw very few skills that didn’t have a level next to their names. He wondered how the system determined what should have levels and what shouldn’t.

He cared little about it, though. His full attention snapped back to his surroundings as he arrived at the edge of a mountain that gave him a view of the dungeon entrance.

Looking down below him, Astaroth almost laughed. The number of players defending the dungeon entrance here was pitiful, at best.

And from the looks of it, they weren’t any stronger than the lackeys defending the entrances to the mountain range. They were probably just there as a threat or warning to others whose turf they were on.

But to Astaroth, these poor saps were merely an appetizer. His melding with White was over, and he was ready to meld with Luna.

The players down there were in their level thirties, and weren’t even qualified to be called a challenge for him. He could guess that Aces High was currently under a lot of pressure at their guild base, and that was the reason the forces here were so meagre.

That only played in his favour. He figured that by the time any of them could send a warning, he would already be inside the dungeon.

He also assumed he had enough time to flee the dungeon once he was done with his business. As he smiled to himself, Astaroth took a step in front of him, walking off the side of the mountain.

The zone in front of the dungeon was a safe zone, where he couldn’t kill any player. But that wouldn’t stop him from knocking them around a bit.

Astaroth had read online that people had tried fighting in safe zones that weren’t cities. Apparently. The damage they received was always zero.

But another interesting fact also emerged from their tests. You could knock an enemy out if you hit them over the head hard enough.

The damage done would remain zero, but the impact still registered. And he intended to do something of the sort here.

As he fell, Astaroth melded with Luna, transforming into his usual form, before using Sky Steps, to burst forward at the runts in his sight.

His aerial lunge brought him directly into the face of one player guarding the dungeon, and a knee to the face was all that player ever had time to see, before everything went black.

Sending him flying like a cannonball, Astaroth rapidly used Sky Step again, not letting himself touch the ground, and darting right at another player, whose mind was still processing what was happening.

Before his mind could connect the dots, a swift kick to the temple snuffed his lights out. Out of the five players defending the zone, only three remained conscious.

Astaroth quickly spun around, locking his sights on the next victim to be. His predatory eyes scared the player witless, and he almost passed out on his own.

Lunging forward, Astaroth punched the poor man in the stomach, blowing out every ounce of air in his lungs, letting him pass out from oxygen deprivation.

The two other players were quicker on the intake than their peers, and one of them was already lunging at Astaroth, trying to scare him away. But he grossly underestimated his intimidation factor.

Astaroth stepped forward so fast, the man saw him practically teleport into his face, as Astaroth gave him a strong headbutt to the forehead. His lights went out instantly.

‘Use your head, my parents used to say. Is that what you meant, pops?’

The last player was busy sending a message to the guild officers, and could barely send it out before a chop to his nape sent him into the arms of Morpheus.

With these five whelps out of the way, nothing could stop him from entering the dungeon. And he did, losing no time. .𝒐𝙧𝒈

Traversing the portal entrance, Astaroth reappeared on a different mountainside. In front of him, a large cave entrance, with an eerie, unnatural lighting to it.

Behind him was a drop that was easily as high as a hundred-and-fifty-story building. The ground was so far down, Astaroth almost had a bout of vertigo.

He imagined the dungeon was the cave in front of him, but something told him that wasn’t where he wanted to go.

Looking upward, the mountain kept going up for quite a while. He could guess that no one had tried to climb that way, yet, since the climbing gear in New Eden wasn’t as advanced as the gear in their world.

But he had a way around this, and he was curious about what could be up there. Using his new Sky Step skill, Astaroth started his ascent to the mountaintop.

He would have waited for Morpheus’ cooldown to end, but he was impatient. And his very high mana pool, when melded with Luna, counteracted whatever mana cost he would use to jump up.

The strength of his jumps, and the power behind the wind burst were also higher in this form, so his travel upward was going swiftly.

But before he could even make it to the top, another cavern entrance greeted him. Curiosity took hold of him, and he landed on the stone plateau before it.

He could feel an outrageous amount of mana coming from the grotto, and wondered what could exude such a high concentration of energy. It could either be an artifact, or, in the worst case, a very powerful enemy.

Astaroth took the cautious way in, tiptoeing his way in, lighting a small ball of fire over his hand with Flame Beacon, and making it hover over his head.

It took him very little concentration to keep it there, after having used it many times already. This allowed his hands to be free, in case he needed them to move something, or fight.

Astaroth secretly hoped this was the place for the hidden dungeon quest. This was what he came here for, after all.

‘Pissing off Azamus, here I come.’