New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

A battle quickly broke out all around them as Alex dashed left and right, slashing the swords at anything that ran at it that wasn’t human. Kary was being careful with her shots, making the firebolts she was slinging smaller and faster, so she wouldn’t miss her targets.

But doing so also slowed down her attacks, as she needed to aim carefully, and manipulate her mana much more. She still wasn’t as adept as in New Eden yet.

David was controlling his undead with more minutia than in the game. He had quickly realized the undead on this side had a particularity that wasn’t as present in New Eden.

The souls he dredged out and tied to himself were a lot weaker and therefore were not as conscious as in New Eden. This meant he had to consciously control their actions.

This didn’t allow him to fight as freely as he would in New Eden, but it was good practice. He had already noticed after some practice out here that his control in New Eden was getting better, too.

But having to control six undead was a bigger challenge than he expected, disappointing himself a bit.

‘I still need to get stronger. Six undead will never be enough to protect anyone later on.’

Guo stayed close to Jack, making sure his boss wasn’t struck from behind, while he gunned down any enemy coming at them from his direction. Jack was quite the marksman, taking out Goblins left and right, not wasting a single bullet.

Although their enemies numbered four times their group, the battle was over in less than a minute. The sight was quite gory, and contrary to New Eden, the bodies were not disappearing.

Taking a moment to wind down from that high-pitched minute of the battle, the stench finally caught up to them. Kary’s stomach turned, almost making her keel over and throw up.

Alex was a little better off, only gaging a bit, but the odour still repulsed him.

“Why the heck does it smell so bad?” he asked, covering his mouth and nose with his arm.

Guo and Jack seemed unfazed by the smell, and David wasn’t even paying attention to it already. His eyes were set to the west, already thinking about why so many Goblins would stray out of their colony during the day.

“It’s not normal for them to be out here with these numbers during the day. Something is wrong. We should hurry to their colony.”

Kary seemed more than happy to move away, ignoring the fact that they would have to do the same further to the West. Anything that got them away from this smell.

Alexander was ticked off that his question wasn’t answered, but before they left, something caught his eye. In the grass near Jack’s feet, something glinted in the sunlight.

Seeing his eyes squint near his feet, Jack shifted his gaze, following Alex’s. When he saw the glinting object, he crouched to brush away the leaves and branches covering it.

“Hmm? This is a hunting rifle. What is it doing out here? It hasn’t been abandoned here too long ago, either.”

David heard the talking behind him and turned around to say they were losing time. But as he reached the ledge next to him, turning his body, something grabbed his foot and yanked on it.

In a swift movement, he dropped to the ground, below the little ledge, his lungs emptying of air as he hit the ground, and someone was crouching over him with a knife drawn, panic apparent in their eyes.

David reflexively lifted his bident, the prongs poking the man in the chest just enough to stop his movements.

“Who the fuck are you, and why are you attacking me?!” David shouted, his eyes filled with wariness.

He was ready to run his bident through this guy’s chest, if he ever so much as moved the knife toward him.

“I can ask you the same! I’ve never seen you around!”

In a matter of seconds, skeletons surrounded the young man, two human ones, and four animals he had hunted in the past, all staring at him with their empty eye sockets.

His mind went into shock. For a moment, he was sure he was hallucinating, prompting him to rub his eyes.

As soon as he brought his hand to his face, David overturned the situation. With a swift turn, he whacked the shaft of his weapon on the man’s arm, making him drop his knife, and shoved him off himself.

Rolling over him, David brought his bident on the man’s throat, his eyes merciless.

The young man’s eyes widened.

“Give me one good reason not to kill you right now for assaulting me.”

David’s tone contained no trace of hesitation, and it was easy to guess he was willing to go through with his threat.

“Listen, man, I thought you were one of the green monsters when I attacked you. I’m sorry! Please let me go!” .

At the time this happened, Alex, Kary, Guo, and Jack were now standing around them, between the skeletons controlled by David. Seeing he was surrounded, the young man understood he wasn’t in a good position.

But someone talked for him.

“Come on David. Let him go. He’s human, not a Goblin. And it’s not like he hurt you or anything. He must have been hiding from the Goblins and was scared out of his mind.”

Looking at the man that spoke, the young man saw him holding two swords, still dripping with green blood. Although the man looked like some sort of warrior of old, with his blades wet in his enemies’ blood, he was still sort of attractive.

“My name is Godrick. Listen, I just came here to look for my missing sister. Me and my friends found their camp almost a mile off to the west, but we weren’t expecting these things.”

David looked at the man in the eye.

“Is that gun we found yours? Were you expecting to shoot something when you found your sister? Your story doesn’t make much sense.”

“I swear I’m telling the truth! These parts are filled with bears and cougars, man. The gun was for my protection. Please, let me go. I just want to find my sister.”

David was still having a hard time believing his story.

“You said you came with friends. Where are they? Cuz I see only you here.”

Godrick swallowed with difficulty, his eyes flashing back to his three friends, choking on their own blood, their throat slit next to him.

“They’re… they’re dead. The little green monsters killed them. I was running away from them after I killed a bigger one, and that’s why I hid.”

David’s face paled.

“You did WHAT?!”