New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After glancing at the sky, Astaroth returned to watching the match. Even though he was happy for Gulnur's team winning, he was far from surprised by the outcome.

After fighting with the dwarf for hours in the underzone, he had seen many of his tricks and skills, and knew the calibre of his tanking abilities.

So when he flipped the combat in a one-eighty, by wiping the floor with a player, Astaroth merely shrugged and laughed.

As soon as the fight finished, Astaroth rose to his feet, looking around to see where Gulnur's team was teleported. Luckily for him, they were not all the way across from him.

He walked in their direction, avoiding the clusters of players forming the other teams as much as possible, making his way over to his dwarvish friend.

It didn't take long for him to reach them, as they were pretty nearby. He stopped a few steps away from them, as four players eyed him warily.

When Gulnur noticed his teammates had become silent, he spun around to see what they were looking at.

"Ahh! Astaroth! Come to congratulate me?" Gulnur said with a slight smirk.

He was mostly cocky with his teammates because they originally had the same reaction as Astaroth's teammates. But now they were all over him, asking how he became that strong and many other questions.

Astaroth's arrival pulled their attention from him, even if only temporarily. Gulnur knew they would have even more questions, now that they knew that he and Astaroth were acquainted.

"Actually, I haven't." Astaroth replied, a smirk on his lips.

"I came here to say that was slow. I'm sure you could have ended that quicker." Astaroth taunted.

"Hey, man. I can't show off in the first round like you just did." Gulnur said, raising his hands.

"I wouldn't want to show all my hand so early." He added.

"Oh? But did I show my entire hand?" Astaroth questioned with a grin.

"I guess that's up to the others to see." Gulnur replied, grinning too.

He had caught on to what Astaroth was trying to do, so he chimed in. Astaroth was speaking rather loudly, for someone who was just coming to tease.

He immediately understood it was a scare tactic.

Astaroth was happy that his dwarven friend understood the hidden strategy here, as it made his work easier.

If all the surrounding players heard their conversation, then they would all fight cautiously against the others from their party. But it would also put them on edge for the next fight against them again.

The next fight was already ongoing, in the meantime, and the next player from their earlier party was Phoenix. The team against hers was already weary since she was a top player.

The fact she was part of that mystery five-player group only added to their fears. And their fears were not unwarranted.

As soon as their fight started, Phoenix cast a firewall around her prey. Once that was set in place, the five enemy players did not know if they should pass through or not.

Phoenix wouldn't let them think on it too long though, as she started spinning her hands in a circular motion. Astaroth, who was side-eying the show, was not unfamiliar with that move.

He stopped talking to Gulnur and turned to look at the arena. He watched in awe, as his mana sense showed him the way Phoenix weaved the mana into this spell.

He could see her using her mana, spinning it around the fire-wall, some of it going into the flames, feeding them, and the rest pushing the fire into a spinning motion.

Astaroth could see signs of exhaustion creeping up on her features already, proving how taxing this was on her mana lobe, but she pushed on.

It took only ten seconds for her fire wall to become a flaming tornado. As soon as the tornado reached the arena's barrier ceiling, Phoenix started pushing the tornado walls inwards.

Soon after, screams and wails of pain came from inside the blazing inferno, and it took mere seconds for the enemy team to be wiped out.

And just like that, Phoenix wiped out a team on her own, just like Astaroth. The crowd became silent at the show of force they noticed.

With that fight, the pattern they all thought was forming confirmed itself. The five players in the last tier were all monsters.

Phoenix was drenched in sweat on the stage, as she glanced at the bleachers, finding Astaroth with her eyes. She grinned at him, almost as if saying 'You're not the only one who can solo a team.'.

Astaroth grinned back, accepting her silent challenge. This tournament was decidedly more interesting than all the previous ones he had ever taken part in.

The next two fights cemented every player's fears, as Athena and I'die also crushed their opposition, each in their own way.

Athena ran around the entire arena, making arrows rain on her enemies non-stop, as her allies tried to help take down the enemy. They only ended up holding the tank in place, while Athena wiped out the entire team.

As for I'die, he didn't want to deal damage himself, so he instead invoked thick vines from the ground, ensnaring all five players on the opposing team. His allies then wantonly massacred them.

The fights that came after were much lacklustre, even when a top player like Azamus was part of it. It was like the first five combats had set the bar too high.

Azamus was fuming in anger when the crowd reacted so poorly to his own prowess like it was child's play. He locked his eyes on the player that started this horrible trend, Astaroth.

He had hatred in his eyes, as he recognized the noob that had flung him away like a vulgar football. He silently vowed to make him pay, after making the Necromancer pay, too, for playing with him.

That Necromancer was currently wiping the floor with his opposition too, as he summoned endless waves of undead. Even if their individual levels and strength were subpar, there was a quality in quantity.

Soon after, the first round of combat of the second phase ended. Only fifty teams were left already, out of the twenty that would go to the next phase.