New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 1004: Something Odd



His shouting snapped everyone's attention off the tunnel, and they realized it wasn't over. A battle was still imminent.

Kary turned away from the tunnel, getting ready to take command of them, and felt a slight dizzy spell hit her, almost losing footing for a second. But Alex was quick on his reaction, grabbing her shoulder and holding her up.

"You used too much mana in one spell. Try not to do that too often. That can be deadly in battle," he admonished her.

"I'm fine. I'll be more careful from now on. But I wanted to test out that mana lobe a bit. I'm satisfied with the results," she replied softly.

Saying her piece, Alex let go of her shoulder, and she gazed at the rest of their allies amassing close to her.

"Same line as earlier. Winston is up front, this time with Alexander and David's undead. The mages in the center and the physical ranged on overwatch. Rì-Chu, can you make them some platforms?"

The young man nodded, slapping his hands to the ground as he focused on his new mana lobe, pulling out more power than before and quickly erecting three pillars four feet off the ground for Aapo, Jin-Sil, and Killian.

"Done!" he called out as the stone stopped rumbling.

"This won't be a battle of attrition. Anything that comes around that bend needs to die. We can advance once the tide of kobold stops," Kary said, getting ready.

"What about me?" Cory asked, unsure if he should head closer to the frontline since they wouldn't take as many wounds in the back this time.

"Stick close to the center, but I want you to focus on Alex and Winston. If we get hurt in the back lines, I'll call for you," Kary replied.

With clear instructions, everyone got ready for the enemies they could hear roaring up ahead. The battle cries got louder and louder at the tunnel's mouth until the rumbling of stone shook the ground under the humans' feet, and the first enemy turned the bend.

The stone tunnel had already cooled off, and the stone had turned to a glassy surface, much like obsidian, but with a greenish hue.

Arrows flew above the party's head, hitting kobolds in the neck and chest, taking them out as Killian and Jin-Sil popped into action. Then, a loud gunshot resounded, and three kobolds hit the ground simultaneously, their heads sporting a small hole around the eye and a massive exit wound.

"Good shot," Alex complimented, still bracing for the first kobolds to reach him.

Aapo didn't reply, pulling the bolt action on his rifle as the empty casing flew out the side of the gun. He was already locked in on his next target.

As the enemies grew closer, spells started flying over Alex and Winston's heads, exploding in a rainbow of blue crackling lightning, red blistering flames, and white flashes of ice.

From under the kobolds, sudden overgrowths of vines trapped their legs, restraining their movement in some places as the ground turned to mud in other spots, Ri-Chū refusing to let himself get outdone by the others.

Since his attacking spells were quite limited in this cramped environment, he fell back on his latent potential to restrain swathes of enemies with ease. And it was working more than well.

Before long, thirty seconds passed, turning into a minute, without a single kobold reaching the frontline in place. At some point, David even sent the undead under his control forward, tired of watching everything happen without helping.

Even though Alex watched the front with a predatorial gaze, silently hoping an enemy would slip past the barrage of attacks flying over him, he monitored the mana expenditures of the people behind him and mentally nodded to himself.

'Much better,' he thought, noticing that all the ones who'd received help with mana lobes were performing vastly better than before.

The last three that needed to undergo this metamorphosis were currently using physical weapons, and it didn't affect them as much, so it wasn't as pressing. Of course, he would prefer they also gain their mana lobes, since it would make them stronger, but it wasn't a critical matter for now.

A minute turned into two, then five, and kobolds were still pushing across the bend in the tunnel ahead, and Alex started worrying.

'Is there going to be an end to them?'

Ever since the combat had started, Alex had been feeling a weird change in the ambient mana, and he worried something was up. At first, he attributed it to all the spells being fired in the narrow tunnel, along with the residual mana from the dragon fire.

But he could tell there was something more to it now that time had passed.

It was almost like the kobolds were never-ending...

Turning his head to the back, Alex noticed Kary was also frowning. Not far behind her, even David had a strange look on his face.

"This isn't normal, right?" Alex asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

Kary shook her head while David opened his mouth to reply.

"I doubt a dungeon like this one would have this many enemies inside it. There is also this strange mana in the air," David replied, looking around them.

Alex could see some strange particles of mana all along the tunnel, dancing around abnormally. They looked no different from normal mana if it wasn't for how they were moving.

It was almost like they were following a soft tune and dancing to it, but he couldn't hear or see anything affecting the mana particles.

"I think we should start advancing in the tunnel," Alex said, looking at Kary for her consent. She hesitated momentarily, slinging another fireball into the kobolds before nodding. "Frontline advance ten steps. Once they stop moving, casters forward. Archers, stay on your perches for now until we can make new ones further ahead. Advance!" she ordered, her voice carrying over the explosions and thunderclaps.

Alex grinned, locking step with the already advancing Winston, who was already thinking about getting some action of his own.

As they moved ahead, they finally got to smack some kobolds around as the casters stopped firing this close to them, and Alex immediately frowned, as did Winston, stopping ten steps

forward.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"You feel it too, right?" Winston asked.

"Yeah... These enemies... They aren't real."