‘Removed for parts?’ asked Cass studying an empty wall where a defence turret should have been placed.
‘Maybe they moved them to the outside of the ship,’ I said.
‘That’s a good theory, would make sense if they truly believed they were impregnable,’ she was quick to point out that we had crossed dozens of these empty turrets and that when the Ibanez was coming in close our shields had drained to ten percent power before we hit the hull. Pierce and Chaz were still aboard our home vessel, now separate from our party. I was just grateful that if anything happened to them they would only lose their characters and not their lives.
‘I’ll give you evens on bones,’ Cass said.
‘What?’
‘I bet half the turrets have been replaced on the outside of the ship but the other half are guarding his chamber.’
‘Like a lair?’
‘Exactly, imagine this entire ship like a dungeon, we’re on the first level, the closer we get the harder it’s going to be. The Autons, turrets, all of it is to wear us down until he can finish us off.’
‘That sounds like a sound strategy. We aren’t dealing with a normal NPC or boss. Skull-Faced Man thinks like a player would and he has the homefield advantage. How many levels down do you think we have to pass?’
‘If I had to guess, from where we butchered a hole inside his ship, three, maybe four levels down. That’s as long as we are actually moving in the right direction.’ Cass seemed unsure of herself.
‘I have a feeling we are.’ Was I trying to reassure her or myself? But it was true, I could feel the game pushing me, guiding me. That sixth sense I had become accustomed to every time I logged in. And it was on overdrive at the moment as we pushed further and further into the orbital. I felt like I was awakening.
‘Breq! Watch out!’ Cass yelled, as some kind of camouflaged creature leapt out from behind the next corner. I couldn’t see it but Cass’s eyes were more advanced than my own. She fired several dozen rounds at the near-invisible chameleon and it fell in front of me turning red and black before burning to ash and dissolving around me.
‘What was that?’
‘I’m not sure, I didn’t have enough time to scan it.’
‘Another one!’ I shouted.
This time I fired. Time slowing. I could feel the shadows move around me. My rifle powering up as I pulled the trigger.
Wraith / Hollow Hybrid
Level 31
Hostile
Poison Attack x 50
Bite x10
‘It’s a hybrid. Probably why we’ve seen so many dead bodies but so few Hollows,’ I said, sending Cass the information I had gathered.
‘How did you scan it so quick?’
‘One of my special abilities, ever since I finished the first dungeon I’ve been able to slow down time,’ I responded focusing on the walls around us.
‘That’s dangerous!’ Cass said scolding.
‘How? It’s a player ability.’
‘No wonder you are experiencing pain, you are pushing yourself past your own limit with that skill. Something like that would take years to master if anyone could master it at all. You aren’t slowing time, you are speeding up your own reflexes,’ I knew she had more to say but we didn’t have time. Another Wraith hybrid was coming towards us. Instead of pulling my rifle I unsheathed Aegis and slashed it in half. The Wraith was a lower level than the last one.
‘Does this mean we are moving away from Skully?’ Cass wondered.
‘No, it just means we haven’t learned about what is going on yet,’ I answered, motioning for Cass and Aiko to follow.
‘How are the others holding up? Have they run into anything behind us?’ I asked cautiously.
‘Report?’ Cass ordered through a comm. I could have done the same but delegated the task to Cass so I could concentrate on the room before us.
‘No signs of danger; we’re right behind you about fifty yards,’ replied Kira.
‘Over,’ said Cass nodding her head towards me.
‘At least we haven’t missed any,’ I smiled, raising my rifle up again and aiming. Another Wraith was moving in the distance. I focused on it.
‘Good shot,’ Cass said.
‘My affinity has gone up too, same with my passive sharpness.’
‘Maybe I should go back down and dive into that dungeon,’ Cass laughed.
I knew it was a joke but the thought of going back there made me feel sick. Losing seven months of memories and not knowing how I survived was not something I’d recommend to anyone.
‘I honestly have no idea what happened to me down there but I know it wasn’t good. I poured all my experience into defence and somehow developed a power to slow down time by fusing my affinity for rifles with my latent power, stealth, and focus. Every so often I can feel something inside me, like a nightmare I can’t remember trying to dig itself back out from below the surface,’ I stopped. A new Wraith ahead of us. This time it was a level 41, fast, faster than the others. Not even Aiko had time to respond.
Both Cass and I missed as the Wraith jumped on Cass knocking her back to the ground. Another grabbed Aiko and the two began sparing like wolves. I raised Aegis and attacked the Wraith on top of Cass, only to be knocked back by its tail. A barb had detached itself into my side.
Poison Resistance -10
Stun Resistance - 10
Stealth - 10
Health dropping - .01 /second (poison / bleeding)
Pro Tip
When utilizing Resistance in combat upgrade your Guard and Defence skills.
‘Kira, we need some help!’ I shouted through my comm. Shouting was a bad idea. With Cass down, several dozen more Wraith hybrids were making their way towards us at top speed. Gorge shot the one on top of Aiko, freeing my familiar. Two more attacked as Kira summoned a whip made from electricity. She wrapped it around the Wraith’s neck and pulled, breaking it apart.
Cass’s health had dropped to 89 while Aiko was still sitting at 95.
Myself, I was losing health rapidly. The longer the barb stayed in me the more damage I was taking.
‘Can you heal me?’ I asked Kira.
‘If we get the barb out,’ she yelled back. The two of us retreated behind the others and Kira ripped the sharp barb from my side. I was bleeding out and poisoned. My health had dropped to 75. By the time Kira began healing me I was down to 65, but she managed to bring me back up to 98.
‘Good enough!’ I said, taking my rifle and helping the others clear the Wraiths attacking us on all sides.
‘They are coming through the vents!’ shouted Cass.
‘Gorge can you make a path?’ I shouted.
Gorge nodded, activating his Hullbreaker ability and running towards the horde. He slammed into them, Kira right behind, followed by the rest of us. As Gorge took more and more damage, she healed him as quickly as she could, until we finally managed to cross a bulkhead door and seal it from the other side. The Wraiths beat at the door. It would be minutes before they came through. If they were intelligent enough, they might form a mass like the ones in the Spire.
Worse…a Leviathan in an area this small would be unstoppable.
‘We need an escape route,’ Kira shouted.
We all scanned the room but it was Aiko who began scratching at one of the walls.
‘Thin enough you can break through?’ I asked Gorge.
‘I’ll try,’ he raised his artificial arm and used his ability again to break a hole wide enough for all of us. The drumming against the bulkhead door stopped. The Wraiths had either gone to find a way around or had lost interest, it was impossible to know.
The next room led us into another open chamber.
‘Should I call upon the Eternal Night?’ Nel asked.
‘Not yet, let us scout the area first,’ I said.
‘Pity,’ she responded.
The chamber was eerily silent. We had already taken more damage than I would have liked, meaning a severe drain on Kira’s mana from
healing us so much. The Wraith hybrids were loathsome creatures. Designer weapons created by Skull-Faced Man or someone else?
The room we found ourselves in us had four switches. Each one of us stood beside one and on my nod, activated it.
And found ourselves face-to-face with a new enemy. Thinking of the Skull-Faced Man’s ship as a dungeon we had made our way through the first levels and now we were face to face with what I would call a sub-boss. Maybe not as strong as the Skull-Faced Man himself but we all knew the struggle that was ahead.
The Monitor
Level 93
Hostile
Abilities:
Shock Absorption
Resistance
Stun x 10
Strength x 50
Absorption x 10
Damage Booster x 2
Melee x 10
Weapons:
Artefact M7-4 Ki Rifle Prototype
Artefact Necro Sabre
Artfact Iron Armour
The Monitor looked like a knight that had walked out of the dark ages only there were small gaps between its iron-scaled armour through which I could see the hatching of wires and the crisscrossing of cybernetic mesh. The Monitor was definitely a cyborg of some kind, with two red, glowing eyes and four claws for hands. It held a heavy long sword in its hand called the Necro Sabre that put Aegis to shame. On its back was another artefact rifle.
‘Three artefacts,’ Cass yelled out a warning us.
‘I see them, sending you information now,’ I responded, updating everyone with what little information I could gather.
The Monitor turned towards Gorge, attacking him first. Our opponent leaned down on his sabre as Gorge caught it in his right hand. There was almost no time for Gorge to respond as the ground cracked below his feet and he held both hands up in the air, holding back the cyber-knight’s blade.
Aiko leapt to attack, but was blown back as the Monitor showed us it also had some kind of psionic power that could manipulate the gravity around it. It was pushing harder against Gorge now. The rest of us formed a circle and fired everything we had. Time slowed again as I watched the energy blasts from Cass and Kira’s weapons head towards the Monitor, only for its body to break apart. Flying into pieces, one arm came towards me while another stayed attached to the torso holding the sword against Gorge’s already busted arm. Another arm and leg were shooting outwards towards Cass and Kira. As one of the Monitor’s arms wrapped itself around my neck I yelled, ‘Nel, call in the Night!’
‘I called the Night thirty seconds ago,’ Nel said proudly. Another two seconds later and the blue mech broke through a wall and Nel quickly slid inside the empty cockpit as it opened up, so she could punch down on the Monitor, forcing the cyber-knight to let go of its sabre and permanently postpone the attack on Gorge. The two went head to head, with Nel quickly gaining the upper hand, having caught the Monitor off guard. The sneak attack alone had caused a massive amount of damage to the monstrosity. Nel continued to beat the Monitor until there was nothing left and the arms and legs that had detached towards us as singular weapons fell to the ground like pieces of salvage. The whole thing was over in a few seconds.
Another figure stood at the end of the room clapping.
Skull-Faced Man.
‘Well done,’ he said. At that moment, Nel’s mecha ran towards him at full speed, slamming a metal fist into his human hand. The masked man blocked the attack and was more than capable of holding his own. Skull-Faced Man clenched his hand into a fist tearing against the giant mecha’s metal skin. Almost immediately, Nel ejected as Skull-Faced Man threw the mecha through the air across the chamber, the ruined exoskeleton hitting the wall behind us.
‘I have come to rescue you from burden,’ the masked man said.
Nel powered back up and I received a message.
Nel has joined your party.
Name: Nel
Age: Unknown
Level: 100
Status: Alive
Mana: 0
Class: Artificial Intelligence
Health: 210
Stamina: 1000
Load out: Ultimate K.O. A01 Dictator Auto Assault Rifle, Invictus Dagger
‘Way to go little robot!’ I shouted watching Nel rise back up.
‘Can robots do that?’ asked Cass, unsure.
‘Does it matter?’ Gorge added, pointing, so that our focus returned to Skull-Faced Man. He had taken heavy damage from the Monitor, his health sitting at 55.
‘Little robot is with us to the end now,’ Kira said.
‘Special circumstances,’ Nel responded sounding more confident than before. Then her voice rose to a shout. ‘ULTIMATE KNOCK OUT!’
I could see the power rising around the floating robot as she practically warped from one area to another, teleporting towards Skull-Faced Man with her hand taking the form of a clawed fist. Nel was quick, but not quick enough. Just as with the Monitor, Skully could control gravity. Right before impact, Nel’s fist hit a wall made of air. With another hand, Nel summoned her rifle from the air and began firing. Each bullet fell flat, torn asunder by gravity wells created by Skull-Faced Man.
The thirty seconds it took Nel to join our party and attack the masked man was all it took to witness her destruction. Nel was gone; she lay on the ground in front of us like burnt-up rubble. I received one last message, ‘I’m sorry I lied about the cookies.’
A01 Dictator - Auto Assault Rifle added to inventory.
A01 Dictator - Auto Assault Rifle
Description: Designed by robots to kill robots and painted a pretty, bright blue.
Level: 50
Damage: 600
Weight: 7.5 Ibs
Weapon Type: Auto Assault Rifle
Rarity: Ultra-Rare
Impact: 10
Range: 10
Stability: 3
Reload Speed: 9
RPM (rounds per minute): 300 bursts
Affinity: 9
Sharpness: 8
Elemental: Aether (can be stored and summoned by user on command)
Critical Chance: 60%
Modifiers: Built-in artificial intelligence named Q-el.
‘What THE HELL!’ shouted a voice in my head.
I had summoned Nel’s rifle the moment it entered my inventory, taking a quick look at the stats, sheathing Aegis across my back and my own rifle down across my side. I was slower with so many weapons but speed wouldn’t matter. My enemy was faster than I was…more powerful in every way.
‘Nel is gone,’ I said. A moment later Q-el was rebooted, moving with its own volition in my hands, forcing me to scan the room like I was holding a camera in my hands.
‘Analyzing combat situation,’ Q-el said in a voice like that of Nel.
‘Anytime now!’ I shouted as the skull-faced man looked towards me.
‘Chances of survival are less than surviving falling into the sun.’
‘Logout!’ I heard Cass shout as Skull-Faced Man made a move towards her. She was scared and I couldn’t blame her. We might have been here to defeat Skull-Faced Man but it was a battle for life and death. Logging out at the last minute was a part of the plan. A worst-case scenario.
There was nothing. Nothing happened when Cass shouted. Skull-Faced Man moved quicker than I imagined. He held out the MEK rifle and fired a shot into Cass. The first shot cut away her connection with her controls.
She was alive but paralyzed.
He was toying with us.
Gorge tried logging out next. Shouting so we could all see and hear. Nothing happened. Kira tried and nothing happened. I tried and nothing happened. Broadcasting to the world, we were four players trapped off-grid against an enemy that was overpowered. Skull-Faced Man didn’t have to shoot us to keep us from logging out. From the moment we entered inside the carrier we couldn’t log out. The world was going to watch us die if we didn’t think of something fast. Another shot and Cass would be dead. I could hear her screaming from across the room, grabbing the part of her leg Skull-F
aced Man had shot. The pain she was feeling had to be intense. Real.
‘Let her go!’ I shouted while thinking this was no time to play the hero.
Skull-Faced Man appeared in front of me, grabbed my neck, and lifted me into the air.
‘Imminent danger!’ Q-el said as he was taken from my grasp. Skull-Faced Man stared at it for a moment and smiled. The A01 disappeared from my inventory as he shattered it with his other hand, tossing it to the side.
‘I’ve killed you before: this face, the face of the fallen, the pretender come to die,’ the masked man said, studying me. Time had slowed. Shadows surrounded both of us. Everyone else seemed to move in slow motion. Even Aiko who was running towards us. I lifted my hand trying to tell her to stay back, to stay away. To warn all of them it was too late. The shadows were interrupted only by a blinding light.
‘Breq…Breq, wake up.’
‘Damien?’ I open my eyes and I’m in the real. In my bed.
‘Yeah, bro’ it’s me, what are you doing?’ the figure standing before me looked and sounded just like Damien but...
‘You can’t be here; you can’t be alive?’
‘Living and breathing just like you. Are you okay? You’ve been asleep for hours I thought we were logging in today? You wanted to do that echo quest in Alpha Centauri right?’ his voice so familiar, just as I remember it.
‘You’re dead.’
‘Come on, cut it out, I’m right here, I’ve been right here.’ His voice begins to fade. I feel something pulling me away but I don’t want to go.
I sit up in the bed. I’m dressed just as I was the last time I saw him.
‘Skull-Faced Man, he killed you?’ I said it like it was a question.
‘Who?’ he responded.
Star Divers- Dungeons of Bane Page 31