New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live-Chapter 1086: Snap, Crackle, Pop

Outside the squirming shadow, the fight had already escalated to the point where a few of the disciples were gravely injured.

Burns, cut wounds, and broken limbs covered them as they realized that one of their elders was gone.

Elder Bai was being forced on a back foot by a monstrous-looking Alexander, and with no one to call their retreat, the disciples were getting nervous about whether they would die on the flank of this mountain.

Kary had already ordered her friends to hold back, as she preferred keeping to zero casualties. Still, she couldn’t guarantee this was a viable option if the disciples kept returning for more, even when they were wounded beyond reason.

She could tell from their gazes that their fervor was dwindling, but they kept getting back up for some reason.

’Are they willing to die for a man who they can’t even find anymore? What kind of fanaticism is this?’ she wondered.

From the corner of her eye, she could tell that Alex had no intention of relenting on Elder Bai, at least until he gave up the fight, and she was worried he might end up killing him in the process.

"Alex, I think they are willing to surrender," she called out to him.

Alexander heard her and stopped his attack an inch away from Elder Bai’s flickering barrier.

He had broken it many times already, and cuts could be seen on the palms of Bai Feng. But even then, the old man kept reforming the barrier, and holding steadfastly.

But from a single glance at the battlefield, he could tell it wasn’t the same for his disciples.

Looking at Elder Bai with a mocking grin, he asked, "Are you ready to give up?"

Elder Bai looked at him, panting and sweating bullets.

"I never wanted to fight. I tried reasoning with you, to begin with..."

Alexander scoffed.

"You should have been firmer with your peer, then."

But the disciples looked at the intruders with fire in their eyes. They couldn’t tolerate their elder getting mocked.

One of them subtly pulled out a pair of needles from his belt and, in a swift motion, shot them toward the woman with the bow.

Winston and Killian were slow to react, thinking the fight had finally ended and couldn’t block the incoming projectiles this time.

Jin-Sil could barely react, either, as she dipped to the left, dodging one needle, the other planting into her neck.

She collapsed to the ground, her breath suddenly cut short from the pain, and grunted.

"No!" Rì-Chū shouted, turning his gaze to the one who had thrown the needles.

The teenager’s smug grin triggered something within him that he didn’t know was even there. With a swing of his hand, a vine shot from the ground at his feet, lunging for the disciple’s throat.

The latter’s eyes widened, but he wasn’t fast enough to move, as he already had a sprained ankle and was out of breath.

The vine instantly wrapped around him, cutting his airways, and lifted him off the ground. Squirming and pulling at the vine with all his might, he was late to realize this wasn’t all of it.

More and more vines sprung from the ground, wrapping around his limbs, forming one thick trunk of ever-moving plants.

Already, the disciple’s eyes were becoming bloodshot, and his face was turning red, shades of blue starting to show at the cheeks.

Kary lunged at Rì-Chū, grabbing him by the shoulders.

She knew what the look in his eyes was. She had seen it before.

If nothing were done to calm the boy, her plan of ending this without casualties would fall short.

"Rì-Chū! Calm down!" she barked, forcing him to look at her.

Behind her, popping and cracking sounds started coming from within the writhing plant monolith, one after another.

"Jin-Sil is fine! Cory is already closing her wound! Let him go!" she shouted in his face, holding him firmly.

But he couldn’t hear her, rage making his blood pump so hard, all he could hear was his own heartbeat. Even though his eyes were on Kary, his gaze was behind her, watching the life slowly leave the man’s eyes.

’He tried killing her. He deserves to die.’

Those were the only words crossing his mind. Everything else had gone blank.

Elder Bai looked at this in horror. He wanted to lunge forward and help his disciple, but Alexander still stood between them.

But Alex wasn’t insensitive to what was happening.

Even if he had warned the team that they might have to bloody their hands, he felt like this wasn’t a situation where they were forced to do so.

"Fuck," he muttered.

His head snapped toward the elder.

"Help your disciple. I’ll deal with my man," he said before lunging toward Rì-Chū.

Elder Bai hurriedly lunged forward, pushing away the disciples in his way.

As he grabbed the vines, trying to pull on them, he shouted to his other disciples.

"If another one of you so much as raises a hand toward them, I will punish you myself! Enough of this pointless bloodshed!"

But even with this warning, his disciples were still in a fighting mindset, as their friend was being crushed before them. They couldn’t let this slide.

Alexander quickly darted next to Rì-Chū, chopping him on the nape, knocking him unconscious instantly. But the spell didn’t stop.

"God dammit! His mana was affected by his rage. Cory! Heal the disciple! If he dies, we lose the moral high ground!" he barked.

Cory, who had just finished removing the needle from Jin-Sil’s throat and closing the wound, was already pale from using so much mana so fast.

But he obeyed, running to the squirming mass of green. They could barely see the man inside it, anymore, as the vines had started covering his face.

Closing his eyes, he focused, and honed in on the flame of life within the vines, pouring his mana into it.

’Come on. Stay alive,’ he mused, his mana quickly draining.

Elder Bai tried in vain to break away the vines, but they were too sturdy for him to do anything.

But more cracking and popping could still be heard from within. Blood had even started to leak through the vines, tainting them red.

Suddenly, a loud crack echoed on the mountainside, as if thunder had just split the sky asunder.

"Enough!"