New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 555 Dark Coliseum

Flying off to the East, Astaroth had locked his senses on a powerful mana signature. Its obsidian black colour told him that whatever this was, it wielded solely dark magic.

Reaching a few hundred meters to the East, Astaroth landed before what looked like a huge coliseum. The mana signature was inside this structure, which had the top veiled in impassable darkness, which kept him from seeing inside.

He preferred the front door, not wanting to risk a surprise attack as he entered through the veil. Morpheus stayed flying overhead, while Luna shrank back to her small humanoid form, as Genie and White flanked them both.

"Let's be cautious here. There is no way whatever is controlling all those undead doesn't know we are here. He wants to meet us if he lets us in without a fight. That makes him that much more dangerous."

Luna nodded her small head, an enormous smile on her lips, while Genie and White prowled forward, their stance a bit lowered, ready to pounce.

The main door of this building was an enormous wooden door, slightly ajar, with nothing barring them forward. Astaroth pushed it in, revealing a dark, damp interior, which reeked of undeath.

'Khalor would love it here,' Astaroth thought, trying to lighten the tension building inside his mind.

***

On the other side of the world, in a room with only candlelight keeping it from absolute darkness, Khalor sneezed.

"Achaa! Urgh… Someone is talking about me. I bet it's that stupid butterfly, again…"

***

Astaroth kept pushing forward. The stone floor soon became covered in a viscous substance, which stuck under Astaroth's boots.

He wasn't sure what it was, given the light in here was nonexistent.

Even after conjuring a minor flare of fire, which he controlled to float above himself, Astaroth could barely see a few meters in front of himself. It was like something was dimming the light, keeping it from lighting his way forward.

This only put Astaroth on edge even more. He was not afraid of darkness, but a darkness that swallowed the light had a certain effect on anyone's psyche.

After walking straight for a few minutes, his pace incredibly slow, he and his companions reached an opening in the corridor they travelled through. The opening, though, was rather ominous.

Rather than calling it an opening, Astaroth looked at it more like a frontier, which was separated by a mist of pure black mana. He couldn't see on the other side, even after sending the flare through.

As soon as it passed through the mist, he felt the mana snuff out like the fire suddenly had nothing left to burn.

"This is it, then. I know our allies can handle themselves, but I think we should hurry and deal with whatever is on the other side of this."

He was mostly talking to himself, but Luna still responded to him.

"We got this, Papa."

White and Genie simply huffed in excitement.

The pair of wolves dreaded the thought of having to bite and chew through undead, putrid flesh, but they would still fight. They would never forsake their master for the sanctity of their palate.

Astaroth braced his mind before stepping through the black mist. For a moment, he felt like he was pushing into a thick liquid.

The harder he pushed, the more resistance it gave.

But when he relaxed, the dark mist almost parted way around him, allowing him to walk through unimpeded. Once he crossed about a meter thick of this mist, he came through the other side, in a large open area, in an oval shape.

He was at one of the far ends of the oval, and on the opposite side of this open area, he could see a mound of bodies, which formed a troubling sight. A throne.

On the throne, the enemy he now had to fight to stop the unending tides of undead outside this building, assaulting his allies.

But he couldn't move forward any further. A few feet away from him, a wall of zombies, skeletons, rotting dogs, ghosts, and many other kinds of undead were staring at him.

Craning his neck, Astaroth couldn't see the end of this group, guessing it only ended at the mound of bodies at the opposite end of the coliseum.

A deep voice suddenly echoed around him.

"A living person… How long has it been since I last saw someone of your kind? What do you want, future cadaver?"

From the throne across the coliseum, Astaroth could feel a set of eyes had landed on him, eyes peering past his fleshy exterior, almost unravelling the truth of his very soul. But his soul power beat back the incursion, with no effort, like an annoying mosquito.

"A deep probe without asking for permission first? How rude of you." Astaroth said, trying to sound disappointed.

But he felt a bit unnerved, deep inside. Something about this whole setup felt weird.

The voice echoed again, this time sounding curious.

"Hmm. Enough power to push back my scanning. Curious little mortal. But your tone belies your emotions. Have you come to join my army of death? Or are you perhaps here, entertaining the thought of slaying me?"

Astaroth watched as the undead before him suddenly started quivering in excitement. He could guess they craved a fight.

"That depends on your answer to this question, creature of the dead. Are you the boss of this part of the dungeon?"

The air around Astaroth vibrated slightly, as the mana inside it, which was saturated in deathly energy, reacted to a silent command.

The voice echoed once more.

"I do not know what you mean by dungeon, mortal. But I am indeed the boss in these parts."

Astaroth grinned. This was the only answer he needed.

"Then I am here to slay you," he replied.

A slow, almost sarcastic laugh, so it was devoid of emotion, echoed in the entire dome of darkness.

"Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah. What a bold claim, coming from a shell awaiting my commands. Then come, mortal. Reach my throne, and we will see if you have the power to send me to death's embrace!"

As soon as this thing finished saying those words, another wave of vibration passed through the mana, and the undead all started howling, hungry for battle.

And chaos ensued.