Warden (Nova Online #1) — A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

  Kaiden gulped. “I’m not sure a shield wall would even help much.”

  “Better get down there,” Sola said. “Remember what I showed you.”

  “Stack my abilities if I can,” Kaiden said. “I got it. And thanks for the help.”

  Sola took off, but Kaiden remained where he was, checking his minimap for signs of Zelda and Titus. He zoomed in a bit to exclude the useless land around the base, making it easier to pick out two green dots not far from him.

  He opened their party comms channel. “Where exactly are you guys?”

  “I’m still on the ramp,” Zelda said. “Titus is blocking the entrance for me.”

  “Stay there,” Kaiden said. He sprinted off, back across the wall, and back down the ramp. Sure enough, Zelda was there, firing everything she had at the distant voidspawn. He saw one of her Burst Arrows take a basic spawn in the head for a one-hit kill.

  Kaiden breathed a sigh of relief to see them both relatively unhurt, their health bars still in the green.

  “What are we supposed to do against that thing?” Zelda said.

  “It’s a boss creature,” Kaiden said. “All bosses in games require a specific strategy to kill them.” He spoke more for Titus’ benefit.

  “Right,” Titus said wearily. “So what’s the lowdown on this one?”

  “My visor says its eye is sensitive, probably a weak point.”

  “Oh, piece of cake, then,” Titus said. “I’ll just scramble up there and hit it, shall I? What use is that, Kai?”

  “Hey,” Kaiden snapped. “I’m trying, alright? You know I don’t want to end up dead in here. Just let me think.”

  “Yeah, I know you got good reasons,” Titus said. “Sorry, by the way. About the other day.”

  “That wasn’t your fault,” Kaiden said. “You’re assigned a different shower unit.”

  “But still,” Titus said deeply. “I feel like I let you down.”

  “Not sure that’s possible, big guy,” Kaiden said.

  “Erm, guys,” Zelda interrupted. “Not to spoil your moment, but I think we should move. Like, now.”

  Kaiden looked to the titan and completely agreed with her. Its body was spasming, indicating an acid spray was coming. And it was aiming south-west, almost right where they were standing.

  “Come on.” He and Zelda jumped from the ramp, and then all three of them got to running. Most wardens nearby were scrambling to get out of the firing line, but some were not so lucky.

  Kaiden saw the dark tide crest and land upon the stragglers, obliterating half a dozen wardens at once.

  “Damn it,” Dawson called over comms. “Where is that illustrious leader of ours? Damn it all. All survivors rally to me – now!”

  A flashing yellow ping went out on the minimap for everyone to see his location, but most wardens still alive were already near the sergeant as far as Kaiden could tell. The titan and the swarm had boxed them into a small quadrant of the inner base.

  “We’ve gone from victory to defeat in about thirty seconds flat,” Zelda said.

  The titan turned awkwardly, smashing a tentacle into the outpost barracks. Its great eye opened to look upon them, remained exposed for about three seconds, then retreated behind its defenses.

  Kaiden made a note of that. The window of opportunity to hit the eye was brief, so anything to make hitting easier would be welcome.

  The smaller voidspawn began to line up more effectively, as though the titan were assembling them for a final charge.

  “Reform the line,” Dawson called, resolve in his voice.

  Titus ran to join the new shield wall, but there were only twenty-eight of them left now. Kaiden noticed the power wardens were much depleted, too, though the blasters had mostly survived. Ranged attacks might help, but it’s a three-second window to hit the eye. Barely enough time to aim and shoot, plus it’s not an easy target. They'll probably miss more often than they hit, if they hit at all.

  Dawson was still yelling. “We do not surrender. We do not let monsters run our system.”

  Kaiden tried to ignore the comms for a moment. He’d just noticed something interesting about the voidspawn boss. He’d almost missed it; a flash across his vision. But when he focused in on one of the legs, he noticed it had a health bar. All six supporting legs of the titan had health bars of their own.

  That’s it!

  “Sergeant,” Zelda’s voice blared over the comms. “How do we take the boss down?”

  “Afraid to say I ain’t so sure,” Dawson said. “It’s the captain who’s good for this sort of stuff. Ain’t seen one of these freaky things before.”

  “Sir,” Kaiden began, “I think I—”

  The titan bellowed a cry, drowning out all other sound. As it faded, the army of voidspawn began to charge.

  “Aw, to hell with it,” Dawson called, pounding his hammer into the ground. “Forward, wardens! And to those about to go on vacation, I salute you. For the corps!”

  “For the corps!”

  The wardens charged, a chorus of screams of fear, battle lust and excitement driving them on. Kaiden didn’t hang back, rushing forward with the rest, shield and hammer at the ready.

  He was pretty sure he knew how to take the boss out. He just needed to relay it to Dawson. Maybe once they took down some of this army and things eased up he’d get a chance.

  The two forces hurtled toward each other, the gap ever closing, the ground reverberating from the stampede and the lumbering of the titan. Kinetic Grenades arced high, while lightning blasts sizzled into the first of the voidspawn.

  A boom sounded above – a shuttle’s engine.

  Over general comms came a welcome voice. “Holy crap, I’m glad I didn’t sleep through this.”

  “Lieutenant Ellenton!” Zelda called. “Have you brought reinforcements?”

  “I brought all the reinforcement you’ll need,” Ellenton said.

  A crisp, commanding voice took over the channel. “This is Captain Ava Thorne. Status report?”

  “A whole lot of hell is about to hit,” Dawson said. “See you down here, Captain.”

  “Descending now.”

  Still running, Kaiden looked up to see a shuttle pass low over the center of the battlefield, and nearly stumbled in shock as he saw a figure leap from its rear doors. Thorne hit the ground, rose, and swung at the voidspawn just as the two armies collided.

  If it had been a cinematic cutscene, it still wouldn’t have been more perfectly timed.

  Kaiden entered the brawl, striking left and right with his hammer, trying as best he could not to be caught in the crush.

  “Level twenty?” Thorne growled. “That’s double the level of half my corps. NextGen are really pushing my patience. I’ve fought real battles that were easier than this mess.”

  Kaiden activated Burst of Speed, ducking and weaving his way toward her. He jumped over the body of a fallen warden, his increased speed making it feel like doing an Olympic long jump. Once close enough, he caught sight of the captain clobbering voidspawn back with her swings. These weren’t even abilities. Her attacks were just that strong.

  “Do we have an enhanced?” Thorne yelled. “I want a read-out on this thing.”

  Sola didn’t answer. Kaiden wondered whether she’d died from the acid or the charge, but thought it best he answer the captain.

  “Its eye is the weak point.”

  “Figured that,” Thorne said. She used Hammer Sweep and five spawn fell before her. “Any idea how we get to it?”

  “Focus on its legs,” Kaiden said. “When it’s on its belly, it’ll be easier to reach the eye – which opens for three seconds at a time, by the way. Oh, and there’s an acid spray that has a large cone of attack, but its movements give away the direction of fire.”

  “A succinct summary, Ensign Kaiden,” Thorne said. “Listen up! All powereds are to make for those legs. Follow my lead and focus on one at a time – do not spread your damage. Blasters maintain range and hit the eye when you can, take
out the spawn when you can’t.”

  A particularly fat, elite spitter mob approached her. Thorne activated Hammer Overload and killed the spitter with one clean shot to its face. The electrical AOE effect from killing an opponent with that move sparked outward, severely damaging the small spawn around it.

  “Shielders,” Thorne went on, as though there had been no interruption. “Defend the blasters. Rotate using Barrier to negate acid spray if necessary. Use your class channels to help coordinate. Understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  “Then move out. Powereds, with me.”

  Kaiden watched Thorne activate her Jump Smash ability, soaring eight feet over the battle, heading for the closest of the titan’s legs. All power wardens followed suit, leaping in a deadly hopscotch through the voidspawn ranks.

  Swinging pincers from a flayer forced Kaiden to look away. He ducked, but slipped on some slimy discharge underfoot. Luckily for him, the flayer's knees were right there, so he took a shot.

  Critical Hit!

  +20% (Kneecapped)

  +25% (Riposte x 1)

  The flayer’s health fell halfway. It shrieked, raised its pincers and then took two Burst Arrows to the torso. An assist kill notice flashed and Kaiden struggled back to his feet.

  He wondered again why the enhanced wardens had not been given a specific task. Maybe they were mostly needed for understanding how encounters worked, and then one-off missions as required, like bringing the turret back online.

  Yet even if that were all, it seemed like the corps ought to ensure they had enough enhanced wardens to analyze powerful foes. Kaiden supposed he should just keep fighting voidspawn. It wasn't as if he could do any more damage to those legs than a dozen power wardens and Thorne combined, nor was he able to hit the eye any easier.

  An idea came to him and he opened the enhanced warden specific comms channel.

  “Hey, Sola, you there?”

  No answer.

  “Is anybody there? Come in?”

  Nothing.

  So, Kaiden was the only enhanced warden left in the battle. Sola must have been taken out. All her abilities would have been on cooldown, so maybe she’d been caught out. Ultimately, it was a balancing act. Become overpowered for a few seconds and weaker for the rest, or have a steady boost to your character’s strength. He’d have to start making more active decisions like that.

  “That’s two legs down,” Thorne called over general comms.

  The titan groaned and became unsteady on one side, buckling. In the middle of casting an acid spray, this lurch changed the direction of the attack, taking several blast wardens unawares.

  “Powereds, switch to the other side,” Thorne called, perhaps not realizing she was still in the general channel. “Let’s not have that happen again.”

  Kaiden was finishing off several smaller spawn when the power wardens rushed past him. A shadow fell over him and he looked up, seeing one of the huge tentacles overhead. Kaiden ran out from under the shadow to safety, conking voidspawn in the head as he went.

  Critical hit streak (x 4)

  Two more and Onslaught will trigger.

  Perhaps the pressure got to him. His next swing met only air, the speedy flayer managing to dodge him for a change. The crit streak faded.

  Damn it. Triggering Onslaught would make me far more useful.

  A barrage of laser shots ended the flayer before Kaiden could do anything more.

  From behind, a great thud signaled that the tentacle had hit the ground. Kaiden turned to look on in horror as the curling tip of it snatched at a lagging power warden. It squeezed, and the warden’s health plummeted to zero. Only, he kept swinging his hammer. He should have been dead.

  Kaiden locked on with his reticle.

  Ability: Last Rites

  When the warden reaches 0 health, Last Rites is triggered, allowing the warden 10 seconds to kill all opponents in a 50-foot radius of the point of death. Should they succeed, they will be given 1HP back. If not, they will die. Kills made during this time earn no EXP. No abilities can be used during Last Rites. Cooldown: 6 hours.

  So power wardens have a kind of ‘last stand’ ability? Pretty sweet in a tight spot.

  For the warden trapped in the tentacle’s grip, it made no difference. His hammer attacks were doing no damage at all to the boss, proving they had to go for the eye to deal any damage to the titan’s main body.

  The boss brought the warden toward its great mouth, as though to swallow him whole. The carapace over its eye opened as the power warden neared it. He struck the boss twice, right on the iris.

  The titan wailed, reeling back, flailing its tentacles wildly. The heroic power warden dropped dead to the ground, Last Rites having faded, but his death had not been in vain. The titan’s health had dropped to ninety-four percent.

  “Two more legs gone,” Thorne called.

  Already staggering, the titan swayed further, crashing against the western wall of the base.

  “Powers, split up and each group hit the remaining legs with Hammer Overload on my mark. Blasters, get ready for your shots.”

  Kaiden saw the green arrows of Zelda and Titus on his minimap moving, the yellow arrows beside them showing they were converging on his position. Zelda reached him first.

  “Get back,” Kaiden told her. “You’re way too close.”

  “It’s too hard to hit it further back,” Zelda said. “I’d rather we got this over with.”

  “Take out those legs,” Thorne cried.

  The power wardens attacked in unison, and the titan collapsed onto its hulking underbelly, now unable to move. It roared and opened its eye.

  “Come on!” Zelda screamed as she sent a Burst Arrow, followed by a flurry of basic blasts. Hundreds of attacks converged upon the titan, many missing entirely, more hitting around the eye, but a half-dozen connected. The eye flashed an angry red, bulging, then retracted.

  The titan’s health fell to seventy percent.

  “Stay vigilant,” Thorne called. “This thing may have a phase two.”

  “What does she mean?” Titus asked.

  “Sometimes, bosses have escalating phases of difficulty,” Kaiden said. “The overall goal can remain the same, but the fight gets harder.”

  “Harder?” Titus said. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Kaiden scanned the battlefield. The voidspawn army was greatly diminished, but the wardens had paid a high price for it. The titan itself was acting differently. Its body seemed to be convulsing all the time and it opened its maw wide, as though locking whatever counted for its jaws in place. Then compact balls of acid began rocketing up from its gullet, flying high in the air before landing at seemingly random locations.

  Out of instinct, Kaiden's eyes moved to hover over the boss.

  You have greatly angered the titan. Without the ability to turn, it has resorted to more rapid attacks. Its acidic deluge now has a cast time of 1 second.

  Black, smoking bile was falling in a wide area in front of its maw. The titan was firing them off like mortar shots.

  A faint red ring appeared around Kaiden and Zelda’s feet. He assumed that was the game giving an indication of an impact radius. He grabbed Zelda’s hand, trying to pull her with him, but the gob of acid was falling too quickly. Kaiden closed his eyes, not wanting to watch as they melted into pixels.

  But they didn’t melt. They were still standing.

  Titus’ green dot had made it to their side.

  “Good thing I kept this ability back,” Titus said. Kaiden opened his eyes and saw a wall of energy flashing above their heads. It looked like Titus’ shield, only five times the size, covering himself and Zelda like some sparking umbrella. The acid washed over it, sloughing off to either side.

  Ability: Barrier

  You stand still and become the epicentre of a larger barrier to defend your allies, increasing in size depending on how much charge you use. During this time your shield does not absorb additional charge. Unable to use if
your shield is already overcharged. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

  “I think I’m getting the hang of this gaming thing,” Titus said. “Though I shoved a ton of charge into that bad boy.”

  “There’ll be plenty of opportunity for more,” Kaiden said.

  “Thank you, Titus,” Zelda said, her voice full of relief. “You're living up to the role of defender well.”

  “Keep moving,” Thorne ordered. “Stopping risks death. And protect the blasters at all costs. We need that eye taken down.”

  Almost on cue, the eye showed itself again, allowing Zelda to fire a Burst Arrow with surprising accuracy. Her singular attack ticked its health down by two percent.

  “We’re not going to win by attrition,” Kaiden said. “Too many of us are going down. We need to pack a punch with some hits or we’ll all be paste.”

  If there was ever a time to try stacking, this was it. A shame his Burst of Speed was still on cooldown. Still, he wasn’t going to just run around avoiding acid for the rest of the fight.

  “Titus, you got enough left for a Shield Charge?”

  The big man nodded.

  “We’re going in closer. I want a shot at that thing. Clear us a path?”

  “With pleasure,” Titus said.

  A flash from Titus’ shield told of the ability activating. A moment later he burst past, then slammed through the scattered voidspawn ahead of them with all the fury of a one-man avalanche. Kaiden followed, pumping his fist.

  “Utter carnage, big guy.”

  Kaiden smacked some spawn on the head as he followed in Titus’ wake, finishing them off.

  Critical hit streak (x 2)

  Titus ended his Shield Charge near an elite spitter. His large shield easily caught the spray from it and then he used his Shield Bash to interrupt the mob’s next attack.

  “Nice one,” Kaiden said, aiming easy swings at the stunned spitter’s head.