New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

*Woosh*

*Boom!*

Astaroth's arrow flew true, as it hit his target in the back, before igniting into a flashbang explosion. This gave away its position to the rest of the party, who immediately turned their heads that way.

But Astaroth grinned and started to fall back, his senses alerted him to danger from another direction. He leaned his head to the left as a small rock whizzed past his ear.

When he turned his head to see where it was from, he gulped. Standing on another mountain ledge were many more of the enemies he had just shot.

He got a better look at them, since they were closer.

The monsters looked like chimpanzees, but their colour was a light gray, blending in with their surroundings a bit. They also had thick wrists that looked covered in rock.

He scanned a few of them rapidly as he fell by them.

Stone Ape:

Level: 35

HP: 1'225

MP: 800

Stone Ape:

Level: 37

HP: 1'375

MP: 880

Stone Ape:

Level: 40

HP: 1'600

MP: 1'000

As he fell, a water bubble started forming under him, catching him and slowing his descent. When he landed, the apes had climbed down the mountainside, and were now chucking rocks at all of them.

Violette had been the first to react, being used to fighting alongside Astaroth more than the others. When the rocks started raining on them, she erected a water shield around the party.

The rocks hit the bubble and lost all their momentum, falling limply to the ground. On the other hand, any arrow shot from inside this barrier by Athena seemed projected, instead of slowing down.

Phoenix showed her improved mana control by starting her spells from outside the water bubble. That way, the magical water wouldn't weaken her fire spells.

It took a few minutes for the apes to realize their assault was having no effect, and they continued climbing down. This would soon turn into a brawl, with the apes having the numbers advantage.

The party's position wasn't that great either, since they were stuck between mountains on two sides and would be sandwiched by the apes.

But this was a party of quick-thinking players, and I'die soon fixed the problem for them. He turned to face where they had come from and slammed his hand on the ground.

"Entangling Wall!" he shouted, as vines sprouted from the rock.

The stone passage behind them cracked and tore as vines started sprouting and twisting together, forming a wall that covered the whole path. Any ape that touched the wall after that got caught by whipping vines and entangled in it.

"This will last only two minutes. We'll have to reduce their numbers before then," I'die said, turning back to the group.

Everyone nodded in unison, turning their back to the vine wall, and giving their all to clear as many enemies as they could. Astaroth did what he always did, and dashed into the melee, leaving a trail of bloodied and battered apes.

He couldn't kill them as fast as in the underzone, because these monkeys had extremely tough hides. It was like hitting a soft stone.

Every attack he hit would send some reverberations into his hands, making them numb rapidly. Phoenix quickly saw the difference in damage.

When she focused on everyone's damage output, she quickly found a solution.

"They seem weak to magic. Try attacking them with any magical means!" she shouted to her allies.

Astaroth quickly enhanced his weapons with mana, and the difference was like night and day. Where his weapons once almost bounced off the apes' skin, it was now sliding in like a hot knife through butter.

This enormously sped up his efforts, as the apes fell one after the other. But he wasn't the only one that could compensate their damage.

Gulnur made a small prayer while holding his hammer before his face. The hammer's texture soon changed from its normal metallic surface to a more stone-like surface.

When he hit with his hammer again after doing that, the damage number had significantly risen. He grinned at the result.

The next person to adapt was Athena. But her method was far from conventional.

Instead of using a skill or spell to make her damage magical, she nodded at I'die. The druid then waved his hand at the ground.

Small vines grew through the stone, thin and sharp, covered in thorns, and with small leaves at the bottom. Athena grabbed the vines, which were now semi-dried out, and snapped them off the ground.

She was now holding in her hands, hard arrow-shaped vines that pulsed in nature magic. She winked at I'die, who blushed and turned to keep fighting the apes.

It appeared they had already found a method to go around physical resistance when they played together. The synergy between the two amazed Violette and made the others shake their heads in silence.

Phoenix noticed the vine wall was drying out, and would soon collapse.

"The wall is drying out! Get ready to fight on two fronts!" she shouted out for the rest of the party.

"Understood!"

"I'm ready!"

"All right!"

"Aye aye!"

But before the wall collapsed, it was suddenly covered in a thick layer of water magic. The drying vines sucked in the water like a plant in the desert, going back to a vibrant green colour.

The vines grew thicker, and the wall grew a few feet higher under everyone's amazed eyes. Phoenix quickly snapped her head in Violette's direction.

"Nice thinking, Violette" she praised the girl.

Violette nodded her head shyly before turning back to the monsters and continuing her assault.

"How long till the wall collapses, I'die?" Phoenix then asked the druid.

The druid looked at his interface for a second, and his eyes went wide. He then turned his head to the vine wall and noticed something.

At the foot of the wall, water was constantly flowing, following a stream that led back to Violette's feet.

The constant feed in water had taken away the time limit on the vine wall, and it was currently showing an infinity symbol on the duration slot.

The girl's ability to hold multiple spells simultaneously thoroughly impressed I'die. Then he remembered to answer the question.

"Violette is keeping the wall up with her magic. As long as she keeps feeding it water, it won't move!" he shouted to Phoenix.

Phoenix smiled widely. This girl's resourcefulness would never stop amazing her.

"Then let's clear out these monkeys, people!" she shouted out, charging up a powerful spell.