New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 526 Escalating Problems

As everyone was having regular days, whether training, learning new things, or even getting piss drunk, three people were having a terrible day.

Alexander, Kary, passed out on the ground, and David, were fighting a battle of life and death. Be it theirs, or the ones of the people above them, in the streets of Montreal, lives were at stake.

The fight had been going full throttle ever since Genie joined the fray, and they seemed in a good posture to win. But both Alex and David had a bad feeling about this.

Up to now, whether inside New Eden or outside of it, not much had gone their way or according to plan. And both of them had a feeling this was about to turn into the same thing.

Genie held the rat queen at bay, sometimes getting bit at the heels by stray rats that Alexander and David dropped their attention from. But the poor rodents quickly understood that biting the heels of such a massive and powerful canine was risky business.

After getting bit a few times, Genie decided she had enough of them, and anything that got near her hind legs would get kicked into orbit. The rodents suddenly flew off, splattering into a nearby wall and whimpering on the ground until they died.

In a matter of two minutes, the two men started seeing the end of the tide of rats coming at them.

David spun his head toward Alex after batting away a rat with the butt of his bident.

"Here comes the real challenge! How much do you want to bet that this fat stinky bitch enters rage mode when we kill the last of her offspring?!"

"A grand that she suddenly gets extra abilities and becomes bigger!" Alex responded, grinning.

"A grand?! Chump change! Make it ten, and I'll add that the acid she keeps drooling will come flying at us first thing when she rages!"

Alex almost coughed blood when David said a grand was chump change. Of course, given their current wealth, he wasn't far from the truth, but it still hurt to hear, for someone who grew up in a frugal home.

"Alright, ten K! But I don't think she'll spit that acid! I think it'll coat her claws and make her attacks even more dangerous!"

David chuckled.

"Alright, deal! Let's see who can kill the most enemies until then!"

Saying this, he suddenly redoubled efforts to fell the rats coming at him and his three remaining undead fighters. Another two had turned to piles of bone since they started fighting again, and David was straining to keep even them up and standing.

Alex, on his side, was sweating buckets. Enough to wash away a part of the blood on his face, even though he kept getting splashed by more.

He could feel his mana reserves running dangerously low, but he wasn't falling yet.

He fed on Genie's mana reserves through their bond, since she was fresh as a fiddle, and this kept him going, if only temporarily. But he knew the crash after would be terrible.

Alex wondered who would bring them back to the surface after they cleared this if they didn't die. Kary was unconscious, for who knows how much longer, and he could already guess that he and David would soon join her in the arms of Morpheus.

But he couldn't think of this just yet. They had to slay the queen first.

Slashing left and right, adding kicks and punches into the mix, Alex was like a tornado of blood, as he flashed through the rats, tearing through them with ease. He might not last much longer, but his efficiency in killing them was unrivalled.

David was having a tougher time killing the rats before him since he couldn't infuse himself with much mana, given he was using a large part of it to keep his undead in fighting form. He watched from the corner of his eye as Alex acted like a combine harvester, leaving only bits of corpses and blood spatters in his wake.

'As long as he's on my side, the future looks a little less bleak. I can't afford to ostracize him further.'

David resolved himself to pick Alexander's side in any conflict in the future, even if he had to step on his pride. It was hard to find a reliable ally, one that he hoped one day would call him a friend.

He knew his hesitation earlier had cost him a great deal of respect from Alex, and he would need to work hard to fix that.

But he pushed aside the thoughts and focused on fighting. He still wanted to at least try to contend with Alex in their little slaying contest.

A few more minutes passed before the last rat fell, leaving only the queen alive.

The rat queen, seeing the last of her offspring die at the hands of this furry humanoid man, suddenly kicked backward, jumping out of Genie's reach.

As she landed, she screeched once more, this time even louder, making Genie whimper in pain as the strident noise assaulted her sensitive ears. Even Alex and David had to cover their ears, the reverberation on the concrete walls making the decibels rise.

As she screeched, her fur started shedding, falling to the ground in clumps, as her skin under it became visible. Her sickly grey skin, which was covered in green veins that outstretched from her head to her feet.

Her claws suddenly started oozing the same green acid as her mouth did, melting the ground under her paws progressively.

Her eyes went from black beads to shining green orbs, as her veins pulsed rhythmically, her body expanding. When her screech ended, David, Alex, and Genie stood in front of the rat queen, which had doubled in size, suddenly seeming almost too large for the tunnel behind her.

Her acidic saliva dripped to the floor faster than before, making little sizzling sounds as the concrete melted and fumes rose.

Different from before, though, the fumes weren't dissipating. The green fumes were instead rising to the ceiling, where they slowly accumulated.

'This is bad…' both men thought simultaneously.

They were now on a timer to end this. Who knew what those fumes would do to their lungs if they breathed it in, let alone their skin for just coming into contact with them.

The rat queen stared at them, her gaze even more vicious than before.

"Time for round two, I guess. It's just you vs us, now, you fugly squirrel," David taunted.

*SCREEEEEE!*