New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 545 Bloody Game Of Tag

But Luna did not take the affront so well.

Seeing as her enemy wanted to play this the hard way, Luna opted for a more direct approach. Astaroth watched as her body ballooned in size, changing form into a large stag, her crown unravelling and becoming this enormous set of antlers, with miniature orbs of white floating above each point.

Luna reached around the same size as Teraria and Arborea, her pelt taking shades of green, brown, and white. The transformation amazed Astaroth.

She looked a lot more impressive like this than she had as a doe.

Luna finished transforming, the demon still trying to push back her mana aura, and charged at her foe.

Astaroth wanted nothing more than to battle as well, but he felt like this combat was Luna's and hers alone. So he walked back toward Phoenix and the other players.

Seeing Galtion on the ground, unconscious, but with his health bar full, he cocked his head a bit.

"What happened to him?"

Phoenix looked at him with a tinge of disappointment, not in him, but in herself.

"I had to get rid of the demon's control, and couldn't think of any delicate way to do so. He passed out from the procedure."

Astaroth thought about the vivid light of fire coming from this direction earlier and decided not to ask further.

Looking at the other members of the party, one by one, he finally landed on the last one.

"You're new. Chronos, is it? I get a feeling like I've seen you somewhere before…"

Chronos was looking at Astaroth with wide eyes. Not because of the man's words, but because of the golden string of fate connected between himself and Astaroth.

From this proximity, his time vision had activated on its own, and he was now looking at Astaroth's soul presence, with so many golden threads attached to it.

It was insane.

It was like looking at a miniature version of the web of time, something which Tyr had taught him a bit, during their training. But it made little to no sense that a man had so many threads of fate connected to him.

Astaroth looked at Chronos' surprised face, wondering if he had said something wrong.

"Hello? Earth to Chronos? You good, buddy?"

Chronos finally snapped out of his daze, realizing he had been staring at Astaroth for ten straight seconds, his mouth agape, eyes wide, and silent like a statue.

"I'm sorry, guild leader. Yes, I am Chronos. And I don't believe we have ever met. But it is a pleasure. I'm sorry I was staring. I was just realizing who you were…"

Astaroth chuckled.

"Please tell me you aren't another groupie, like this big fella…"

Astaroth pointed at SharpTusk as he said that, making the Orc player turn his head in discomfort.

"I'm not a groupie…" Tusk grumbled to the side.

"No, I assure you, sir. I am not a groupie. It's just… Your reputation precedes you, King Astaroth, the first player to attain royalty."

Astaroth frowned. It was the first time he heard someone say he had a growing reputation.

He wasn't sure whether to feel honoured or worried. Having a reputation could open some doors, but it also brought with it the risk of having it tarnished at the slightest wrong move.

Phoenix watched Astaroth's face change a few times and laughed internally.

'He's finally realizing people from all over the world look up to him. Maybe that'll make him think more before he acts. Although I doubt it…' she thought.

All the while they were talking, Luna and the red demon were having a rather violent game of tag, in the boss room, with Luna being it, and the demon fleeing.

On their first collision, the demon rapidly understood he wasn't an opponent to this gigantic stag. Her speed rivalled him, maybe even surpassing him slightly.

But the issue was something else entirely. Her strength far surpassed his.

The red demon was a demon who specialized in speed. Having that only advantage overshadowed at all was bad for him. So standing up to this monstrosity of a stag, who overpowered every aspect of him, was quite worrying.

But every time he tried looping around, to go for the mortals, trying to tether one under his control again, the giant stag cut off his path. His prospects were looking worse by the second.

But Luna was also frowning. Although she kept planting her antlers into the demon and piercing its flesh, there was no apparent damage left on it. It didn't look worse for wear, and no wounds stayed open for longer than a second.

She finally understood her master's frustration when fighting these abominations. There was no downing them unless it came in powerful successive blows or one mass destruction strike.

Luna thought about using a new skill she had gained, but looking at her master and the other Abnormals near him, she advised against it. It was too risky and could take them out if they had nothing to protect themselves.

Ramming into the demon once again, Luna continued thinking about her options to end this fight. She had tested enough and wanted to be done.

But the demon decided for her.

Backing away against one of the room's walls, the demon screeched out in anger. As he did, his form bloated, fast, and his mana signature swelled.

Astaroth felt the change and spun his head toward the demon.

"Shit!" he cursed.

He turned his head toward Luna.

"Luna! He's going to self-destruct! Forget about him. We need to defend ourselves!"

But Astaroth wasn't sure they could defend from this, or how. If they had been on the outside, running as fast as they could would have been an option.

But in this boss room, locked in like they were, there wasn't any room to do so. Things looked grim.