New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 989: Marching Into Danger

 n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Liu Yan's frown deepened at her statement.

"We are all at risk here. How can you say that we don't trust each other, and then split us in small ass parties," Liu Yan snapped.

"Because she's getting us used to each other, numbskull," David chimed in.

Liu Yan glared at him but kept his mouth shut.

"For a pro player, you sure are slow on the intake, Mister Stormbringer," David mocked.

"Hey, watch it, you undead freak," Liu Yan growled at him.

"Enough," Alex barked.

"This is exactly why she separated us into pairs, Yan. Most of us barely know each other here. And regardless of that fact, we are elbow-deep inside a dungeon, with our lives on the line. Don't you realize trust is all that's separating us from losing someone? Knowing this, wouldn't you want to trust the guy having your back?" Alex said, standing before him.

Liu Yan looked at him, his brows furrowing.

"I would prefer it, yes. But I still don't understand why we got split up so much if she wants to build trust. Shouldn't we be working together as a full group to build that trust?" he asked, calming down a bit.

"Working as small pairs makes the trust bond grow faster between people. It's why she did it. Now that we have established the beginning of that trust bond, she growing the groups so we can all get to trust each other faster.

"She's doing this for everyone here. To keep us alive. So, instead of arguing about it, why don't you just trust the process?" Alex said, eyeing him expectantly.

Liu Yan wanted to refute his claim, but he couldn't deny that a certain trust had already grown between him and Alexander. In the fight they had already gone through, Alex had proven himself a reliable ally and a trustworthy frontline.

He had protected him from diving harpies enough times for Liu Yan barely to react to an enemy coming at him from behind him. If this was what Kary was trying to cultivate, it already had shown a modicum of success.

With a loud sigh, Liu Yan turned to Kary, lowering his head a bit.

"I apologize for interrupting. Please continue," he said, giving an apologetic bow.

Kary smiled at him, her cold facade vanishing.

"It's okay. Like I said, growing trust. We'll get there. For now, just trust that I have your lives at heart. I'll make sure no one finishes their days in here. Follow your orders and help your paired partners. The rest will come on its own."

Liu Yan backed down, letting her resume her explanation, and they were soon ready to go forward.

He and Alexander had been grouped with the boy, Jonathan, and his friend Rì-Chu, and this calmed him a bit.

The other two groups were Kary and Cory, who teamed up with Violette and Winston, making their party core, and David and Aapo with Killian and Jin-Sil.

Alex frowned a bit when Kary announced she was grouping herself with Violette and Winston, half expecting her to party up with Killian and Jin-Sil. But he said nothing about it yet.

He trusted her enough to believe she knew what she was doing by already forming a core group.

Once they were all mentally set, the three groups started advancing into the tunnel once more, slowly making their way toward the next harpies' nest. The nervousness amongst them had grown a notch, as they realized the difficulty level or the fighting would soon grow.

But the three light party leaders showed faces of absolute confidence, keeping the nervousness levels from growing out of hand.

Ri-Chu bent toward Jonathan, whispering to him.

"How are those three so confident? I know they are powerful in the game, and have shown some decent combat ability up to now. But they look like they couldn't believe harm could be done to us," he whispered, almost uncomfortable with their confidence.

Jonathan smiled back at him, leaning in to reply.

"That's because they are still holding back quite a lot. I'm sure they are stressed about keeping everyone alive here. But if there is something they don't doubt, it's their own strength. If things keep growing tougher, you'll understand why soon enough."

Ri-Chū wasn't certain what to make of that answer, since it didn't explain much, but he already trusted Jonathan with his life. They had played enough New Eden together and known each other long enough to make their trust bond solid in no time.

So he chose to take Jonathan's word at face value and stopped questioning their fearless leaders' confidence. He would simply wait and see why in due time.

The three groups reached the entrance to the next cavern, and the three party leaders looked at each other, giving nods.

Kary silently motioned Alex to go left, and David to go right before she started walking into the room with confidence, her three party members trailing behind her with nervous strides.

The strategy was to get Winston in the room as far as they could, before the two other parties charged, to taunt the enemies on the ground, before the two other parties dealt with the harpies.

As they finally garnered the attention of the flying monsters, who were perched on the stony edges of the cavern, a quick screech echoed before the kobolds stopped gnawing at their feast of bones and their heads snapped toward the party of four.

"You're up, Winston," Kary said, pushing him forward.

The kid looked up, seeing a dozen harpies glaring at them, before staring at the now twenty kobolds, who were growling and drooling while looking at him.

He gulped a bit before nervously clearing his throat.

"Wow, twenty of you. I wonder if your numbers are to compensate for your inferior brain size,

you ugly lizard creeps, ha ha ha," he said, trying to sound taunting.

But his quivering voice made his taunt hard to take seriously, David almost slapping his mouth shut as he felt the laughter rise inside him.

Fortunately for him, Winston's presence alone was already stoking the kobolds' blood lust, and his comment ignited the kobolds' fury like a lighter to a gas canister.

*SHAAA!!!!*