New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

In front of him, Morticia was shaking him by his collar.

"Get up! We need you!"

Astaroth looked around himself, confused, everything blurry. He knew he was most likely concussed.

"What\'s happening? Why are you yelling?"

Astaroth could hear some faint fighting noises in the background, but his ears were ringing intensely. As his sight slowly settled, he noticed he was inside a ruined building of sorts, with the opposite wall to him completely blown in.

Morticia slapped him across the face.

*Slap*

"Get a grip! If you don\'t join the fight, we are all going to die!"

"What? What are you talking about?"

He looked to the party window and saw that almost every party member was currently teetering on the red, aside from him. Silent Light\'s mana bar was practically empty, and so was I\'die\'s.

A sense of urgency took hold of him. He stood to his feet, still wobbling wearily.

"What is happening?"

"I\'ll explain later! For now, you need to get back into combat. You are the only one in fit condition."

Astaroth could guess what had transpired. Since Silent was out of mana, and he was the only one almost full of health, he assumed Silent had prioritized him when he was out in hopes he would wake up.

That would have led to the situation becoming extremely dire for the rest of the party when he didn\'t rise.

Astaroth walked to the building\'s gaping wall. What he saw outside was utter chaos.

Leon\'s body seemed to be still strewn on the ground, far away, while monsters surrounded him and his allies from every side. And they split apart everyone, to cover the most ground they could.

The party had banked everything on Astaroth waking up, and now they were deeply in trouble. His brain finally pushed through the blur and nausea.

When his eyes steeled, Morticia breathed a sigh of relief. Fatigue took hold of her as she crashed to the ground.

Astaroth briefly checked in his skill window, checking how long he had until he could meld with Luna again. To his surprise, the timer was already back to zero.

\'I\'ve been out for over ten minutes. That explains the direness.\'

He immediately melded with Luna and cast Moonlit Sanctuary inside the building.

"Everyone inside the building! I\'die! As soon as everyone is in, close up the entrance and fortify the walls!"

After shouting this, Astaroth shot out spells to the enemies close by, practically one-shotting everything he hit.

His allies almost jumped in surprise when they suddenly heard his voice. Most of them started moving immediately, but Phoenix and Gulnur were being more stubborn.

"I can still help!" Phoenix shouted.

She was backing up slowly, covering her allies to the building, but not going in herself. Gulnur was doing the same, but he didn\'t talk.

"I know you can, but you also need to rest. Get inside."

Phoenix kept shooting fireballs and flame bolts at the enemies, ignoring his demand. She refused to let him fight alone.

Even if the horde of monsters had diminished in the last minutes, leaving him to fight alone would be reckless at best, and suicidal at worst.

"Gulnur, you too."

"No! I have to defend everyone, as the party\'s tank. I\'m staying, even if it\'s the death of me."

Astaroth sighed while killing enemies left and right. He took a rapid step toward Gulnur, grabbing the back of his plated armour.

"I\'m sorry, but you\'ve done enough. Go rest."

"What the—"

Astaroth\'s grip on his armour made the metal wince a bit as he flung him inside the stone building. He then turned to Phoenix, and with a wave of his hand, mana engulfed her.

She turned her head toward him, fury in her eyes.

"Don\'t you dare! Let me help!"

"After you\'ve rested."

"No! I refuse to leave you fighting alone!"

"See you soon."

eαglesnᴏνel With another wave, the globe of condensed mana carried Phoenix inside the building. I\'die watched as Phoenix came flying in and nodded to Astaroth.

Astaroth nodded back, as stone started covering the hole, and the walls thickened. In a matter of seconds, the building looked like a dome of grey stone.

Some monsters attempted to dig through, unsuccessfully, before turning their angry eyes to Astaroth. It was now him against the horde.

By his estimate, there were still around a thousand monsters of varied races remaining. It wouldn\'t be a walk in the park.

He dashed into the fray, taking upon himself the burden of protecting his allies as they had protected him.

"Come at me, all of you! Let me show you why I took down your king!"

Meanwhile, inside the dome-covered building, Phoenix was slamming her hands against the rock.

*Thud‌* *Thud* *Thud*

She spun on her heels, looking at the druid.

"I\'die! Let me out! Right now!"

"No. If I open up the stone, I won\'t have enough mana to close it up again. We would all be left exposed."

"Then we keep fighting! Aren\'t we all talented and powerful players?! What are you scared of?"

"Be reasonable, Phoenix." Athena chimed in.

Everyone around was exhausted and battered. Silent Light was already sprawled across the floor, gasping for air.

They all understood Phoenix\'s frustration. Being protected by one player meant they were failing to carry their own burden.

It was an affront to any gamer that respected himself. But right now, Astaroth had asked them to rest.

They could always join after they had recuperated. Astaroth could take care of himself in the meantime.

But Phoenix did not want to take no for an answer.

"Then I\'ll just blast a hole into this wall and get myself out!"

As she said that, fire already formed in her hands. But just before she could launch the fireball at the stone, a wave of deep purple mana washed over her.

Her mind became numb, and it cancelled her spell. Phoenix dropped to her knees before falling to her side, asleep.

Morticia looked at her with a soft smile.

"Do as your lover asked you to do. Rest."

She turned her head to the rest of the party.

"Anyone who wants to follow in her footsteps, you are more than welcome to try. The same fate awaits you."

The party kept quiet.

"Good. Now let\'s all rest, so we can go back and help him as fast as possible. Astaroth might be strong, but he isn\'t omnipotent."

Morticia sat down in the rubble, followed by all the others. Silence permeated the room.