New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 984: Choosing Their Strategy

"You know you\'ll have to use as much of your power as you can if you want to keep casualties from happening, right?" David asked.

Alex served him with a knowing look.

"I\'m aware. I would have preferred not to, but I don\'t really have a choice. Too much is at stake for me to keep hiding my full power from them. I guess I\'ll just have to cross my fingers and hope they are trustworthy..."

David chortled, before passing through the dungeon entrance wordlessly.

Alex stared at it for a moment, his mind imagining scenarios where the people present betrayed him, and his mind went back to the dream he had months ago. He shivered, imagining all his friends lying dead in a pool of blood at his feet, and shook the image away from his mind.

"No. This is not going to happen. Even if they betray me, I\'ll deal with it without violence," he admonished himself.

Steeling his resolve, Alex finally pushed through the shimmering wall, feeling the familiar warp of teleportation twisting his guts before he reappeared in a dark tunnel.

Looking behind him, there was no more tunnel exit or light from the outside. Only a stretch of eternal darkness, disappearing from view.

"Great. A dungeon with only one way to exit..." he complained, before turning to his group, who were exploring just a little ways forward.

He quickly caught up to them, heading to the head of the pack with Winston, who was on high alert.

Passing near Kary, who had her hand raised with a fireball hovering over it, acting as a living torch, he smiled wearily at her.

She returned his smile, hers a bit more confident, and returned to watching their surroundings.

They were currently in a dark tunnel, with no light aside from what she was projecting and the little light Cory was emitting from his mace, after focusing a bit of his mana into it.

The tunnel stretched before them further than their light could reach, and David instantly knew that his efforts to map the tunnels\' pathing had been in vain.

"This dungeon will most likely be in a single phase, given it has no exit aside from the end of it," he started explaining, trying to come up with a plan of action.

"Wait," Killian interrupted him.

David looked at him with a deathly glare. But Killian hardly cared.

The Englishman quickly pulled out a small drone from his trekking backpack and shot it into the air.

The little gadget was connected to his neurophone, and he could set it to follow him, or manually control its movements with his mind. He activated the recording function, which directly saved all the video files into his phone, which he noticed was currently showing no signal.

"I wanted to make sure we have everything on video. I didn\'t record the harpy fight earlier because we were rushed into it, but I think it\'s a good time now to start," Killian said, smiling at David.

David glared at him before repeating himself.

"As I was saying, this dungeon will most likely only have a single stage, since there is only one exit point. We will have to trudge our way to the end and kill the boss before we can think of leaving.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea how long of a trek it will be, since I can already tell the mapping I had of the tunnels is now useless. This dungeon could span miles underground, for all we know. So I advise that we advance cautiously, and rest as often as we can, to conserve energy."

Kary let him finish his bit before taking over.

"As David said, we will be advancing with caution. For this reason, I will be making predetermined pairs for combat. Consider your pair partner to be your life and make sure both of you stay safe when fighting. I don\'t want to have to carry a body home. Understood?" she ordered, more than asked.

Everyone nodded, accepting her instructions, and waited for her to make pairs.

"Now. We have a bit of an unbalance in terms of ranged to melee people, so I\'ll have some of you who can do both in pair with pure ranged," Kary said, looking at everyone.

There were no complaints about her solution, so she nodded and proceeded.

"Winston, since you are pure melee physical, you\'ll pair up with Violette. I know you are our frontline, and watching the backline might be an issue, so I\'ll have Alex act as frontline for this one," she declared.

Alex nodded, but Winston frowned.

"Are you sure? He\'s not really equipped to tank..." he said, voicing his uncertainty.

Alex grinned at him, raising a thumb.

"Don\'t worry about it, kiddo. If anything, I\'m the one least at risk of dying here, as I\'ve already died once, and it only made me stronger," Alex said with a chuckle.

Winston\'s frown deepened, but he didn\'t complain any further.

"Alright. Next, Cory. I know you have a few attacks that can deal some ranged damage inside New Eden, but I\'ll need you to focus on melee today. You\'ll be paired with me, but I want you to keep an eye on the entire battlefield for injuries.

"We\'ll be a bit further in the back, so I can monitor the fighting as well," she explained, getting only a nod in response from the young man.

"Jin-Sil. I know you would prefer to be paired with Rì-Chu, but I can\'t have two ranged attackers paired. You\'ll be paired with Killian, who will focus on keeping enemies away from

you as much as possible."

Jin-Sil pouted a bit, but didn\'t voice any complaints.

"Rì-Chū, you\'ll be paired with Jonathan. Jonathan, I know I\'m asking a lot of you to be an/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

frontline, but I need you to act as a quick response unit with Rì-Chu. Both of you are versatile, and having you as a unit makes the most sense."

Jonathan smiled at her, replying, "I\'m okay with it. I just have to fight safer than usual and

stay close to him, right?"

Kary nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Good. Next up, Aapo and David. Aapo, your gun will attract a lot of attention, and I think having David covering you with his undead is the safest option. Plus, you both don\'t talk much, so no one will feel awkward," Kary chuckled.

Aapo grimaced slightly, feeling she was mocking him, but David slapped him on the shoulder.

"Don\'t worry about her words. We\'ll make a magnificent pair. I have your six covered," David

said with a wide grin.

"And lastly, Alex will be paired with Liu Yan. I don\'t know your fighting abilities at all, Liu Yan, so I\'m putting you with our strongest fighter. You\'ll stick around the other ranged attackers as much as possible, but if we have to split up, hug Alex like your life depends on it,

because it will."

She looked over at everyone, making sure they understood their assignments, and seeing no one was speaking up, she nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright then. Remember. No deaths. That is our priority. Keep each other safe," she repeated. Resolve flashed in everyone\'s gaze, and they began their march.