by Alex Knight
Just three of us left, Kaiden thought, lifting his hammer. He was going to flank the flayers from behind and crit them to hell.
That was until a spray of black acid engulfed his vision.
Kaiden yelled and leapt back, hands clawing at his body to try and wipe the ooze away. A hissing sound rose from his armor, the acid eating through the protective metal at an alarming rate. His health bar fell, through the green and into yellow.
Before him was a more bulbous voidspawn than he’d seen before, its mouth oversized and its cheeks puffing up before his eyes. It almost looked as if the creature was gagging, then it gave a great heave. Kaiden ducked behind his shield as it vomited a spray of black bile at him.
He locked his reticle on this new foe.
Void Spitter
Level: 8
Void spitters are slow but produce a powerful corrosive acid, able to eat through even capital class ship hulls in enough quantities. Each acid spray takes 3 seconds to cast.
A cast time, huh? I can interrupt that.
The spitter was already revving up for another attack, so Kaiden dashed forward and used Shield Bash, stunning the spawn and cancelling its cast. He followed through with an easy hammer strike to the head.
Critical Hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
Void Spitter killed - 350 EXP gained!
Even after using two abilities, Kaiden had sixty out of one-ten charge left. The acid that had landed on his shield must have given him quite a lot.
Hoping there would be no more surprises, he searched again for the deadly flayer. His visor helped him sieve the chaos, drawing his eye to the nearest flayer.
Only one remained now, but it stood astride a prone power warden. The warden was Dawson of all people. The flayer raised its pincers and Kaiden threw his weapon in a Hammer Toss, already running after it. His hammer hit the mob square in the back, managing to get a crit and the double damage bonus of the ability. Yet the flayer didn’t die.
Kaiden only learned it was an elite mob once he was in range of its blades.
He dodged the first attack and ducked the second, but only just. The left pincer grazed his side and shaved his health down to forty percent. Even worse, the damage he’d taken dropped the stacks of Riposte he’d gained.
Just as he thought to try out that new ability, Blur, the flayer was smashed aside by a brutal swing from Dawson. The sergeant was back on his feet, and his hammer crackled with latent energy.
Ability: Hammer Overload
The warden can charge their hammer with energy and target a single opponent for triple damage. If opponent dies, attack does electrical AOE damage of 25% of base damage to enemies within 5 feet. Cost: 50 charge. Cooldown: 1 minute.
Wow, that’s got to pack a punch.
Dawson’s empowered hammer fell upon the flayer’s head for added punishment.
Elite Void Flayer assisted kill – 500 EXP gained!
“Good job, Ensign,” Dawson said. “Seems like you’re a hard man to kill.”
Kaiden looked around. It seemed the worst of that wave was dead, and the blast wardens were throwing some form of chain-lightning attacks into the horde, peppering them with laser blasts and even the odd Kinetic Grenade, now off cooldown.
He blinked several times, not even having the wits to check on that lightning attack. Dawson was just being flippant, but Kaiden could have ‘died’ at any point in that brief skirmish. The second acid spray might have melted him, and had Dawson not been there to help at the end he’d almost certainly have died. He’d just run straight at an elite mob without any thought. Pretty stupid of him. One slip up and he’d be back in the prison’s general population for a week.
Having to avoid Manson for seven full days…
“Kaiden?” Dawson was yelling at him.
Kaiden snapped out of his reverie, feeling dazed. He was in the middle of a proper war zone, which had felt exhilarating a moment ago, yet now he considered the consequences of dying here…
Dawson shook him. “Snap out of it, boy. Hey, I have a job for you.”
“For me, sir?”
“Yeah,” Dawson said, as though debating his decision to send Kaiden after all. “Things are easing up down here, but I need at least one of those wall-mounted turrets back online to re-secure this wall. I want you to put those speedy legs of yours to work and do it for me.”
Kaiden looked to the wall. He saw the tall, shining metallic turret rising not too far from the top of the closest spiraling ramp, its double barrels hanging limp and inactive. He also saw voidspawn all along the wall, nowhere near the numbers down here on the ground but plenty enough to take him out.
He’d never make it through them all, fast or not. He’d surely get killed.
“I can’t, sir.”
“This isn’t optional.”
“Sir, sorry, but I can’t. If I die—”
Dawson grunted. “Who cares? You get a nice week off and come back fresh afterward. Lord knows the devs have gone a bit far this past week.”
Kaiden couldn’t believe the sergeant had just broken immersion. Maybe the pressures of the invasion and the trade war had gotten to him.
“But that’s the problem,” Kaiden began. “I can’t have a week off. Someone’s trying to kill me. Some maniac. He tried to shiv me in the showers recently and—” His voice cracked. He felt like a coward before Dawson, but there was nothing for it.
He’d been wrongfully thrown in prison, forcibly placed on a mandatory work scheme, albeit a cool one, and had his life very seriously threatened. He wasn’t as strong as the armor he wore, and out in the real world he didn’t have it to protect him.
“My health’s already low, sir,” he began, but Dawson threw up a hand.
“Trying to shiv a kid in the showers.” He tutted. “Some spots will never wash out. Look, I don’t care what you did to land yourself in a cell to begin with, but while you’re in here, you’re under my care.” He popped the chamber on his left forearm and handed Kaiden a health stim.
“Sir,” Kaiden gasped. “I can’t. I—”
“That’s an order, Ensign.” Though it was hard to tell under the gore, Kaiden swore the sergeant smiled. “Now, heal your ass up and go get me that damn turret back online.”
**Update - Parameters Changed**
Quest: Defend the Warden Corps Outpost on Andros
Part 1: You have been personally tasked with re-activating the defenses on the southern wall. Stand within the turret’s perimeter and defend it from enemies until captured.
Expected difficulty increased: Veteran
Rewards increased: +5,500 EXP, +4 faction prestige
Kaiden saluted. “Yes, sir!” He placed the second stim in his cooling chamber and used one of the two, bringing his health back up to sixty-five percent. Being safely in the yellow made him feel a whole lot better. And his charge had only depleted to thirty-five units.
He looked to the turret again and activated Burst of Speed.
Blazing a trail, Kaiden zipped toward the ramp, weaving past blast wardens as he drove himself on. Emerging onto the parapets with four seconds of speed left, he made straight for the turret. A faint blue ring materialized around it - the perimeter he had to occupy to capture it. A pack of six weaker voidspawn awaited him there.
With his last second of speed, he chanced a riskier block against several flailing tentacles than he’d otherwise try. The white of his charge bar rose back up to forty.
Perfect.
Pressing his back up against the tower of the turret, Kaiden crouched behind his shield, protecting most of his body. The spawn closed in, flailing against his shield, building more charge even as he activated Flash Bang.
Flapping tentacles did incremental damage, but three seconds later, the brilliant light from the move burst from Kaiden's shield, blinding the entire pack of enemies.
Kaiden got to work. He opened with a Hammer Smash for some AOE damage, then scored headshot after headshot as he mopped up. When the
last of the spawn fell, he noticed a new bar appear in the center of his UI.
Capturing turret – 10%
Great, now I just have to hold here. That really wasn’t so bad.
New wave incoming!
Not so great. I should learn not to give Nova’s AI an excuse to taunt me.
With his shield raised, Kaiden edged himself around the side of the turret to take a look beyond the walls of the outpost, trying to spot this next wave heading for him. There weren’t many voidspawn left beyond the southern wall, in truth. He turned to check on how the shield wall was doing. The horde was much reduced now, the blasters having free rein to unleash every AOE ability they had. Over at the northern wall, things were a different story.
Kaiden saw a turret over there firing like mad, yet still spawn were massing upon the walls. They looked like pinky-grey specks from here, but there weren’t many shimmering blue shields left. The gatehouse of the northern wall groaned under the strain of some weighty attack.
Maybe that notification about a new wave wasn’t meant for me specifically.
A panicked voice rang over the general comms. “It’s a void titan. Repeat, void titan approaching.”
Those who understood what this was cried out in horror. Kaiden didn’t need to see a creature with that name to know it couldn’t be good news. All the more reason they needed this turret back online. He checked his progress.
Capturing turret – 30%
That was when he heard the screeching, far to his right along the wall. He faced the noise and groaned. Two flayers were running at him, their creepily long legs propelling them faster with each second. Kaiden scrambled to analyze them, and, of course, both were elites.
All his fear of dying boiled up again. Then something slapped into his back.
Was that a hand?
“My first day back and everything goes to hell. Typical.” Sola’s tone was as calm as it had been during the rescue mission on the Mochinki.
“Sola.” Kaiden’s relief was evident. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
“Seems you levelled up a bit. Ten already, nice. That was fast. Just three behind me now. And I approve of the spec choice.” She looked to the oncoming flayers. “Dawson said something about stopping you getting shanked. Some girl in my block made my life hell for weeks when I first arrived, so I feel you.”
“Can we take both of them?”
“We can. Guess we’ll see if we will. You got your Burst of Speed?”
“It’s on cooldown.”
“Shame,” Sola said, spinning her hammer. “Best to keep abilities on hand to stack them for when you really need them. Use Blur if you can, and don’t get hit.”
The flayers were nearly upon them, drooling putrid green bile from their thin mouths.
Capturing turret – 60%
We just have to make it through this. Let’s see what Blur can do.
Kaiden activated the ability. Blue energy sparked over his body and his hands began flickering in and out of focus. Sola must have done the same, as her entire body became distorted, harder to see, and harder to hit.
Blur activated – dodge chance +25% for 10 seconds.
Not a moment too soon, as a pincer-blade cut at his head. Kaiden slid aside with ease, gaining Riposte. He dodged again, ducking low, and aimed an attack at the creature’s pointy knees.
Critical hit!
+20% damage (Kneecapped)
+50% damage (Riposte x 2)
He’d made a dent in the flayer’s health bar, but Sola was positively melting it. Not only had she used Blur, she’d also used Burst of Speed at the same time, making the fast-moving flayers look like slugs by comparison. She dodged every pincer, targeting critical weak spots with ease now she had improved movement and attack speed.
Kaiden saw the value in this stacking idea. He dodged another two strikes from the flayer and struck at the same time as Sola did, finishing off the first mob.
That’s when Sola went into overdrive. Her whole body flashed, and she began moving faster, if that was even possible. The only way Kaiden could describe it was that she had gone supersonic. Sola was taking on the second flayer single-handed, with no need for Kaiden at all. Despite being an elite, the flayer might have been a level two basic voidpsawn the way she was decimating its health.
He had to analyze this.
Player Sola is using Blur, Burst of Speed, and is currently in Onslaught Mode.
Stacking effects: Quadruple movement speed and +100% base damage.
Kaiden stood in awe. He’d only recently unlocked Onslaught from the arena battle but hadn’t gained a critical hit streak long enough to trigger it yet. Seeing Sola finish the flayer with three head shots in quick succession, he began to understand the true power of the enhanced warden spec; with careful stacking – and a bit of luck on the crits, too – they could be veritable powerhouses.
“And that,” Sola said, “is why I pity anyone who says this spec isn’t good in combat.”
“Yeah.”
It was all Kaiden could say. He was still lost for words when his progress on capturing the turret concluded seconds later.
Capturing turret – 100%
Defenses activated. Auto-lock engaged.
At once, the tower hummed to life. Kaiden looked up to see its twin barrels spin, then the head of the turret swiveled, looking for foes.
Laser bolts punched through the air, shredding dozens of voidspawn in the turret’s range.
“Nice work, Ensign,” Dawson called over the comms. “I take it Sola is still with us?”
“Here, sir,” Sola called.
“Ha!” Dawson barked a laugh. “We might just make it through this yet.”
Kaiden stepped to the inner edge of the wall. Below, the voidspawn penned by the shield wall were all but destroyed. The shielders broke apart as wardens raised their hammers in victory, cheering with glee. Kaiden spotted Titus, covered in black gore, but very much still with them.
Quest completed: Defend the Warden Corps Outpost on Andros
Part 1: You have been personally tasked with re-activating the defenses on the southern wall. Stand within the turret’s perimeter and defend it from enemies until captured.
Rewards +5,500 EXP, +4 faction prestige
Kaiden couldn’t help but grin. It wasn’t quite enough experience to level him again, and he reckoned the amount needed would only start getting exponentially higher as he gained in power. Still, they’d done it. He’d done it. Andros had been saved.
I think Captain Thorne might have made too big a deal out of this whole thing. We did just fine in the end. She might be on her way for nothing.
“Hate to rain on your parade back there.” The panicked voice from before blared across all channels. “But we still have a god damn void titan—”
The voice cut off. Kaiden snapped his attention back to the northern gatehouse. In his joy, he’d forgotten about this new foe. A tidal wave of black bile rose from somewhere beyond the gates. It arced upward, rising and rising before breaking onto the gatehouse and walls – and the last of the defenders there.
Screaming rang over the comms and Kaiden felt sick. Mercifully, the screams cut out, but the northern turret was a sparking, broken mess, the acid eating away at it.
Kaiden locked his reticle onto the gates themselves.
Durability - 3%
“Oh no,” he said aloud.
Even as he spoke, a second wave of black acid crashed against the north wall, leaving the gates nothing more than metallic sludge. Kaiden could see something massive moving. It slammed into the gatehouse, knocking what remained of it aside. An army of small voidspawn began streaming unchecked into the base.
A hush fell over the comms.
Kaiden saw a notification.
**Update – Parameters Changed**
Quest: Defend the Warden Corps Outpost on Andros
Part 2: Defeat the Void Titan (somehow) and save the Outpost on Andros.
Expected dif
ficulty: Legendary
Rewards: +12,000 EXP, +6 faction prestige
Chapter Thirty-Three
The void titan had to be twenty feet tall, a horrifying amalgamation of all the types of spawn Kaiden had encountered. Like the flayers, it had scorpion-esque pincers at its front, with three chitinous legs on either side.
A gaping maw with endless rows of teeth let loose hoarse, trumpeting battle cries, punctuated by intermittent vomits of acid. Its massive body pulsed like a void spitter with each deluge.
Two huge kraken-like tentacles struck the ground on either side as it walked, crushing wardens or reaching to pull them into a deadly embrace.
The titan's one flaw appeared to be its movement. It lumbered forward ungracefully in short bursts as though it had a hard time figuring out where to go. Kaiden thought he understood why. Unlike its many-eyed counterparts, the titan appeared to have a single enormous eye, protected by a hardened lid. The lid periodically opened and closed like blast doors, the black orb swiveling madly behind it.
With some trepidation, Kaiden hovered his reticle to analyze the beast.
Void Titan **Elite Boss**
Level: 20
With tremendous power, the void titan suffers only from poor mobility. Its vast body is resistant to most attacks; however, its eye is sensitive. Its acidic deluge has a cast time of 6 seconds.
In the courtyard below, Dawson was waving his hammer madly, trying to rally those wardens who’d just secured the southern wall.
“Regroup! Quickly now.”
Sola appeared by Kaiden’s side upon the wall. “If we can’t get a new shield wall up, we’re done for.”
Kaiden watched as one of the titan’s tentacles fell upon a shuttle and crushed it completely. All around it an army of small voidspawn had free rein on the outpost. Many were chasing down wardens who were trying to make it to the south side to join up with Dawson.