New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 991: True Sentience



Screeches of pain erupted in the cavern as the fireball coming from the kobold caster suddenly veered off its path and slammed into a group of kobolds sneaking up to the party's right.

*Shaaa!*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The lizard caster looked at the group, Kary stepping forward toward him with a wide grin. "Did you think you were the only one who could control flames in here? Did you not notice how many of your kin are burned beyond recognition?" she mocked.

Her voice seemed so weak in the background of the charging kobolds in the room, growling and hissing, with the sudden clash of steel swords against what melee weapons the group had. But to one creature, it was like a thunderous roar.

The kobold caster hissed at her with rage, angry that she had used his power against his brothers and sisters.

"You insignificant human," he growled.

"If you think you know what flames are, you are kidding yourself. We'll see how you deal when we meet in the antechamber of our lord," the kobold seethed before a flaming portal opened behind him and he stepped through.

Kary's grin vanished, annoyed that he had fled.

"Whatever. I'll deal with him then," she mumbled, looking around the room.

"Kary! Behind you!" Alex's voice shouted out to her.

She felt a ping of mana suddenly appear behind her, coming in way too fast for her to react. Panic rushed into her mind as she jumped forward, trying to buy herself even a single second to react, but she heard a grinding voice behind her snickering.

"Shishi shishi! Too little too late, human!"

The gleam of a dagger rushed toward her back, Kary gritting her teeth in preparation for the pain, but all that came was the *Clang* of steel against something hard.

The kobold with the daggers jumped back, feeling a shiver down his spine, and a gash appeared in the stone under where he had just been, a blade of wind slashing four inches into the stone like it was butter.

"You aren't the only one who can move fast, you gecko-looking bastard!" Jonathan shouted from above, lunging down at him.

The boy's wind blades clashed against the lizard's daggers, sparks flying as if the wind were solid, and the kobold looked at him with anger.

"You interfering little insect!" it seethed.

With a powerful push, their blades split apart, the kobold launching backward as he slunk into the shadows again, disappearing from view.

His leather armour was so darkly tinted that as soon as he got out of the immediate range of the light sources in the room, it blended in with the stone. And the rising edges of the room didn't help with visibility, either.

Jonathan had to focus just to keep track of the direction the kobold was moving, unable to pin him properly. But that didn't keep him from acting, though.

Following the trajectory he could sense, he kept launching wind cutter spells toward where he thought the enemy was, in the hope of clipping him and slowing him down.

It wasn't bearing fruit yet, but he kept a confident smile on his face.

Alex mentally thanked the boy for his quick reaction speed, seeing as Kary had remained unharmed. He could have jumped forward, but he was almost certain that Kary would have gotten nicked before he reached her.

'The speed of wind spells is perfect for that,' he mused, as he returned his attention to the other enemies.

Close to thirty kobolds had appeared out of the shadows from which he could perceive them, if only barely. And their gear was nothing like the ones they had killed earlier.

Wearing actual armour, all marked with the same symbol across their chest, and wielding actual weapons, in lieu of bone clubs and sharpened bone daggers, their threat level toward the group was much higher.

And that only reinforced itself when they started attacking in tightly knit groups, using formations that could only be called militaristic, for lack of a better word.

"Kary! These kobolds are fighting with tactics! We need hands-on commanding!" Alex shouted, dashing at a group that was about to overrun Winston from the back.

He quickly kicked, slashed, and punched the group back, only killing two out of the six instantly, the others flying back with heavy wounds, but still standing back up.

"On it!" Kary shouted back, rising above the ground with flames under her feet.

A shadow moved toward her at incredible speeds as she did, only for Jonathan to fly between her and the shadow, another grinding of steel against hardened wind grating everyone's ears. "Your opponent is me, you arrogant lizard!" Jonathan growled, kicking the lizard in the chest. The daggers in the kobold's hands slashed down at Jonathan's leg, trying to trade blows, on to grind against a burst of wind, pushing him back toward the wall, where his feet and one hand stuck, leaving him stationed there, hissing at the boy.

"Fine, insect! I will deal with you first!" it hissed in anger.

"I got him," Jonathan said to Kary, without looking back.

"Thanks, Jonathan. I'll make sure no one gets in your way," Kary replied, smiling at his back.

Even though Jonathan's small figure was far from impressive, the confidence he exuded right now would make anyone at his back feel like his back was the safe place to be. She could tell he wasn't going to let the kobold near her.

Her eyes focused back on the enemies on the ground, and from her new vantage point, she could see every minute movement and change in formations. Already, her mind started working like a chess master, and she started barking orders.

"No more sub-groups! Casters and ranged attackers to the center of the room! Alex! David! Winston! Triangular defence, counterclockwise rotation!" she shouted, making sure everyone could hear her.

"Aye aye, boss!" David called, jumping back toward the casters.

He instantly turned his head toward the pile of dead kobolds behind them, a grin stretching

on his lips.

"I guess if they want to go with numbers, two can play this game," he grinned devilishly.

His hand rose toward the cluster, and his lips parted, a wave of mana bursting out of his hand.

"Awaken."