New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth stood at the top of the now-formed ramp and watched as the first monsters started running up. Gulnur had quickly joined him there, happy he could finally contribute.

He stood near Astaroth, nodding at him and readying his shield. The latter seeing him stand there, switched up tactics.

"Can you hold the frontline against two of them if my summoned wolf helps you?" Astaroth asked Gulnur.

The dwarf smiled a wide, toothy grin in response. That was all the answer Astaroth needed as he motioned to Gulnur to walk forth a bit, as he drew out his bow.

He thought this was as good a chance as any to sharpen his aim. He pulled the bowstring and started taking aim.

When the first monster, a jaguar, climbed half of the ramp and was in a comfortable range for him, he loosed his arrow. The arrow flew straight to the monster, but only hit it in the shoulder.

Astaroth heard a chuckle from behind him, as another arrow whizzed past his ear and lodged itself into the jaguar's eye.

"Nice shot, man!" Gulnur said.

"That wasn't mine." Astaroth replied with a gloomy expression.

He turned to look at Athena, but she wasn't even looking in his direction. Astaroth could see a smirk on her face though.

He turned back to the ramp, determined to get better. He would not take that small humiliation lying down.

He pulled his bowstring back again, aiming at the now much closer monsters. But before he loosed, he heard Athena from behind him.

"Straighten up your back, dude. You look like wet spaghetti. And lift that elbow higher. It should be perpendicular to the ground." She told him.

Astaroth turned his head, but Athena was not even looking at him. She was barely side-eyeing him, from the corner of her eye.

He grumbled as he tried to fix his posture.

'Wet spaghetti yourself.' He mumbled, as he straightened his back and lifted his elbow.

He focused back on the monsters that were now fighting Gulnur. The thought of hitting him scared him, so he waited for a moment to shoot.

It came faster than he expected, as another feline monster jumped over its peers to get to Gulnur. Astaroth aimed at its neck and let go.

The arrow flew straight, but hit the feline in the chest, a little lower than where he had aimed.

'Tch!' He clicked his tongue.

Hitting moving targets was proving more difficult than he had thought. The cougar-looking feline was now about to land behind Gulnur, as Astaroth heard Athena from behind him again.

"Combo skill; Double Shot + Impact Shot!" She shouted as an arrow left her bow.

The arrowhead changed mid-flight, becoming a weird steel ball. Astaroth was looking at it and noticed another detail.

The arrow had a mirage of a second one, heeling it behind. Both arrows whistled past him, as they both hit the feline squarely in the chest.

The hits threw the cougar back from the double impact, and bounced off the wall, before falling back off the ramp. Astaroth watched the scene, stupefied at the strength the arrows had carried.

Those two arrows had worked in succession, the first one stopping the forward momentum of the feline, and the second one knocking it back strongly. She impressed him with her quick thinking and calculations.

These were some pro-level gaming skills. Was she some sort of low-key Esports player?

"Your stance was better, so your arrow carried more power. But your aim is still god awful." Athena dropped, aiming her words at Astaroth.

"I'm doing the best I can!" Astaroth rebuked.

He was not an archer by any measure, so it didn't come naturally to him.

"I can see that, but you are doing it wrong." She replied.

"Fine then! What is it I am doing wrong? Teach me, oh great goddess of the bow!" Astaroth barked, losing his temper a bit at being belittled.

Athena clicked her tongue at him.

"You are aiming with just your eyes. Aim with your gut. Stop calculating your arrow trajectory. Feel it!" She replied, helping him regardless of his temper.

"What?" Astaroth asked, looking at her like she was stupid.

He turned around, deciding to ignore her. She might be a better archer than him, but what she was saying made no sense.

Feel the arrow? How was he supposed to feel something inanimate?

It made no sense! He aimed another arrow at the monsters, going back to helping Gulnur.

The little dwarf was doing fine holding back the monsters before him. Of course, White Death let nothing slip past him, which was why he was still holding on.

The wolf had been attacking anything that came around the dwarf, making sure he wasn't surrounded. But he would soon disappear, as his summon timer was nearing its end.

Astaroth was waiting on that moment to meld back, and go perform some carnage in the monster horde. Only thirty seconds left.

He aimed another arrow at a monster, a monkey this time, as it was jumping off the wall and over Gulnur. The arrow was loose, but missed its target, as the monkey pushed off the wall at a slight angle away from it.

The result displeased Astaroth, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He stowed the bow away, pulling out his longsword instead.

He wielded it with two hands, maximizing his damage numbers and enhancing his control over it too. Astaroth dashed at the monkey, deciding to help White Death take care of it before his spirit disappeared.

They made quick work of the primate and finished it just before White faded away. Astaroth then smirked.

It was time to change the pace.

He spirit melded, before running past Gulnur.

"I'm going down! Hold the line here! There should be fewer monsters coming your way soon!" He yelled as he jumped over him.

"Wait! How am I going to deal with the circling ones!?" Gulnur asked, a slight look of panic washing on his face.

"I'll deal with them!" Athena shouted, turning her bow to the ramp.

"Thanks!" Astaroth answered, before diving into the mob.

He hacked and slashed his way through to the bottom of the ramp, practically transforming into a bladed tornado. Damage numbers kept flashing in his eyes, as each hit connected to their intended targets.

He then jumped off what little remained of the ramp, landing straight into the mob of monsters down below. He grinned savagely as he began cutting again.

The ranged players up on the platform looked at him in dread and horror. The man was going up against the hundreds down there, without a care in the world.

It was both amazing that he survived for the first few minutes, and scary that he slew monsters left and right with such ease.

Astaroth's teammates could see the damage numbers he was dealing and it scared them. Could one man have so many skills and deal so much damage nonstop?

But Astaroth was not using any skills, other than Enchant Weapon. This damage was simply because of his high stats.

He fought his way through the horde, monitoring his melding timer, making sure he didn't stray too far from the ramp. He didn't want to get stranded down there after all.

He killed and slayed all that came at him until there were only 2 minutes left to his meld. That was when he climbed back up.

He mowed his way through the crowd of monsters again, this time up the ramp. When he reached the top, he jumped over the rest and kicked off the wall to land behind Gulnur.

His melding ended a few seconds after he landed. Astaroth was heaving and gasping for air. Now that his adrenaline levels went down, and his stats went back to normal, fatigue caught up to him.

"Can you keep covering for me for a few seconds, please?" Astaroth asked Athena, between big gulps of air.

She simply nodded in response. Her snarky attitude from before was now gone.

She understood the difference in their skill sets already but had not thought the gap to be this big. Athena would never risk going against so many creatures, without running away.

She knew her limits. This display of sheer power Astaroth had just pulled was not only astounding, it was inhuman.

She knew of no one who could dive into a group of monsters of their own level, and walk out mostly unscathed. The man had not even needed healing!

The entire group had watched as Astaroth fought through the horde, his health going up and down, never going to a dangerous level. And now that he had transformed back, his health was back to full!

'What kind of monstrous spell is that?!' Athena thought to herself.

"Oh, and by the way." Astaroth said, turning his head to Athena.

"Hmm?" She hummed, still firing arrows.

"I think I just understood what you meant by feeling the arrow." Astaroth affirmed, smiling widely.

During the fight, Astaroth had mainly relied on his instincts to swing his sword, making sure he never tunnel-visioned on one enemy. That was the reason his fight went so fluidly.

And that made him think about what Athena had told him. Was he not doing exactly what she told him right now?

He was feeling his sword's trajectory, instead of consciously maneuvering it. That had made him understand what she had meant.

He had to aim, yes, but he should trust his instincts on the shot too. He was ready to try it, now.

"It's time for round two!" He grinned, as he pulled out his bow again.