Warden (Nova Online #1) — A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

  Now, all that was left to do was wait.

  Kaiden focused on the iron double doors, willing Jax to enter and end the suspense.

  Then came sound of a rifle shot. Then another, and a moment later, a third. Kaiden tore his eyes from the main doors. Three red dots had appeared on his minimap, but they were on the opposite side of the building.

  Jax must have bypassed their security or found another way in. He’d surprised them – and he wasn’t alone.

  “Behind us!” Kaiden shouted, turning toward the sound of rifle fire. Somehow, despite their efforts, Jax had managed to slip in and flank them. Now he was set up on the far side of the warehouse, firing from atop a stack of crates. Near the ground, a crate had been shifted slightly to reveal an open grate in the concrete floor.

  “He brought company,” Zelda yelled, ducking behind her shield as a bullet whipped across the room. It slammed into the wall just in front of her in a rain of sparks.

  Kaiden’s visor identified Jax, kneeling and slinging rounds at them, but it also picked up other assassins doing the same. Two of them, each at level twelve.

  Was he expecting us? Has he sensed a trap? Kaiden wasn’t sure, but there wasn’t time to brood on it. The assassins were set up in the perfect position, nothing but clear ground between them and their targets.

  “Group up!” Kaiden shouted, then jumped from the rafters. His health dropped by two percent from fall damage, then Zelda landed beside him and they rose together, stepping up next to Titus, shields at the ready.

  Another barrage of rifle fire came at them, bullets slamming into their shields so hard they sent ripples through their surfaces.

  “We can’t hold up against this fire forever,” Titus said, grunting against the strain of stopping the precisely aimed rounds. He slammed his shield into the ground and a broad Barrier materialized in front of them.

  “Have a taste of your own medicine!” Zelda shouted, angling herself around the edge of the barrier and returning a volley of fire at the assassins. She led with her new ability.

  Ability: Warden’s Bolt

  Discharge a bolt of lightning that jumps to multiple targets within range of the impact target. Initial range 50 feet, jump range 10 feet. Deals +150% base damage, reducing by half with each successive jump. Cost: 25 charge. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

  A peal of thunder reverberated through the warehouse as a bolt of lightning arced from her hammer, hitting the leftmost of the lower-level assassins. The man let out a startled cry as the lightning crackled through his body, then jumped at those next to him.

  The crackling electricity splintered the concrete as Jax rolled away, missing him by inches. The other assassin was not so lucky, the bolt striking him square in the chest and tumbling him twitching to the ground.

  Zelda wasn’t done. A volley of blasts followed her initial shot, sending the assassins scrambling for cover – not that there was much to be had in the warehouse. Crates were blown into splinters and pixels under her barrage as they darted from cover to cover.

  Kaiden didn’t wait to see what would happen next. His charge bar was also brimming from all the rounds he’d blocked.

  Time to put that to use.

  He used Burst of Speed, the world blurring around him as he darted from the safety of Titus’ Barrier and rushed the assassins, who had finally found more robust cover.

  They were attacking Titus’ barrier, now using explosive rounds from an attachment on their rifles. Each one sent a shockwave through the energy field as they detonated.

  “Barrier’s going down,” Titus called.

  “I’m on it.”

  Kaiden took a long route around the assassins, flanking in from their side and, he hoped, out of their line of sight. As he rushed them, he channeled energy into his shield, preparing to use Flash Bang in the hopes of blinding them. His shield began to glow.

  Jax spotted him at the last moment and spun away to cover his face.

  The other assassins were not so quick to react.

  Kaiden slid to a stop right in front of them and the glowing energy in his shield discharged in a blinding flash of light.

  The closest assassin shrieked, stumbling backward with a hand raised over his eyes as he desperately sliced the air with a wrist blade. Kaiden easily stepped around the first blow, and then the next, stacking Riposte. Then he slipped inside the assassin’s guard, swinging upward to strike his enemy’s chin.

  Critical Hit!

  +50% damage (Headshot)

  +50% damage dealt (Riposte x 2)

  It took the assassin all the way down to the red. Kaiden followed up with two quick strikes to the chest and knee, which didn’t crit but managed to finish the job.

  Assassin assisted kill - 750 EXP gained!

  Kaiden took a moment to bask in his new-found power. Extra levels, fresh abilities, a new hammer amplifying his crit damage, not to mention better stat distribution, had just allowed him to pummel a level twelve opponent. He’d come a long way.

  Returning to the fight at hand, he saw Jax aiming at the Barrier. The assassin fired an explosive round, shattering the forcefield and leaving Titus and Zelda exposed. The big man wasted no time, using Shield of Fury. It struck the remaining level twelve before rebounding toward Jax, forcing his next shot to go wide. Titus was already charging the level twelve as his shield boomeranged back, while Zelda lay down covering fire.

  That left Jax to Kaiden.

  Sounds good to me.

  Burst of Speed was out, but Kaiden took advantage of Jax being staggered from Titus’ shield hitting him to rush in and try for a critical hit. But even as he reached him, Jax recovered quickly, slashing an energy dagger at him faster than Kaiden had thought possible. Kaiden was forced to roll, catching the dagger’s strike on his shield, then leapt to his feet.

  He swung again, but Jax fired an explosive round into the ground between them, turning Kaiden's vision white as a burst of fire and concrete exploded, spraying them both with shrapnel.

  Kaiden staggered back, off balance, his health bar flashing, then barely avoided a second shot that screamed over his shoulder. His health bar had dropped to eighty-seven percent.

  Jax lunged in with the dagger again, the blade blurring with the dexterity of a powerful assassin. Forced backward, Kaiden managed to block it on his shield, then was tripped up as Jax spun into a sweeping kick that swept his feet from under him.

  As soon as Kaiden hit the ground, Jax was taking aim, his rifle shouldered in half a second. Kaiden pulled his shield up just in time, the round exploding against his already near-full shield. It flickered, then disappeared.

  A smile stretched across Jax’s face. He cocked his rifle.

  Assassin assisted kill - 750 EXP gained!

  Kaiden saw the notification blink. Jax’s second goon had gone down.

  Perhaps Jax saw it too, as he hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then a Burst Arrow slammed into his shoulder. He staggered back, then spun to find Titus in the middle of a full-on Shield Charge in his direction.

  With no time to take aim at the charging shield warden, Jax jumped, aimed his rifle directly to the ground and fired an explosive round. The shockwave threw him into the air as Titus rushed beneath him. Jax landed and aimed at Titus’ retreating back in one smooth movement.

  Kaiden scrambled up and used Hammer Toss. It caught Jax in the side before he could pull the trigger. So far they had gotten Jax’s health bar to sixty-five percent. It was yellow, but it would have to drop to red before they could use Shackle on him.

  “Just die will you,” Jax said, retreating to keep both Titus and Kaiden away from him.

  Kaiden almost sprang after him, then stopped as an idea struck him. Jax was a better fighter than any one of them. Swift and slippery, with attacks that dealt massive amounts of damage. But they didn’t need to fight him one on one.

  “Zelda!” Kaiden shouted in comms. “Circle and fire!”

  “Consider it done,” she replied.

  “Be car
eful though,” Kaiden reminded her. “We need him Shackled not killed. Titus, get in front of his gun. Don’t attack, just keep your shield in front of him. Block as many shots as you can.”

  “On it.”

  Three versus one has its advantages, Kaiden had to admit as he rushed forward to attack Jax from the side opposite Zelda.

  With his shield still down, Kaiden couldn’t absorb more charge. And he only had enough charge left for one last ability. But what to use?

  Before he could make a decision, Jax pulled grenade from his belt and rolled it toward Titus. A suffocating plume of pitch-black smoke burst forth, spreading at speed across the room.

  Just before Kaiden lost sight of Jax in the smoke, he saw him activate his cloaking ability. In less than a second the assassin faded, then disappeared entirely.

  Stuck somewhere in the choking smoke, Titus was unable to cover Zelda. She raised her shield and backed up a pace, eyes watching the smoke for any sign of the assassin.

  “We won’t be able to see him until he decloaks,” Kaiden started to say, then stopped. But that wasn’t quite true, was it?

  He channeled the last of his charge into Enhanced Senses.

  The warehouse around him faded into the background as three heat signatures filled his vision, burning bright as day.

  The first was Titus, turning wildly in the smoke. The second was Zelda, spinning this way and that, desperate to block whatever attack was inevitably coming.

  The third was Jax, standing tall atop a pile of crates beside Zelda. He raised his dagger, preparing for an assassination.

  Kaiden was already running, wishing Burst of Speed wasn’t still on cooldown.

  “Above you!” he screamed.

  Jax descended, his stealth flickering off as he reentered combat. Zelda spun, but she was too late. Luckily for her, Kaiden wasn’t. He near threw himself across the last few steps, catching Jax’s attack on his shield.

  “Run, Zelda!”

  Roaring with rage, Jax lunged again. Kaiden’s dexterity had greatly increased since their last encounter but it was still not enough for him to dodge Jax effortlessly. This time, the blade sliced into his calf, carving a chunk out of his health bar and dropping it to red. The damage from one hit was insane and that wasn’t all.

  You have been Hamstrung – movement speed is halved for 15 seconds.

  “Weapon mods,” Jax said grinning, ready to go in for the kill.

  Being slowed, Kaiden would have a hell of a time dodging Jax’s rapid attacks. Good thing he’d gotten more charge. He activated Blur. A soft glow surrounded him, creating an afterimage as his dodge chance increased by twenty-five percent.

  Whatever the disparity there was between their stats, it tipped the balance. Although slowed, Kaiden ducked and side-stepped Jax’s flurry of stabs. A Burst Arrow impacted on the back of Jax’s head, scoring a crit for Zelda and bringing his health within sight of the red.

  Kaiden hesitated in attacking, worried that a double stack of Riposte as well as a crit would kill him outright by accident. He was also painfully aware of Blur’s timer counting down, which would leave him slowed and exposed for five seconds afterwards.

  Then he stopped overthinking things. He didn’t have to go for the crit if he didn’t want to. Shield Bash was still available to him, but he needed charge. So he blocked the dagger next, losing his Riposte, but gaining the charge he needed. He used Shield Bash, praying it connected. It did.

  Player Jax stunned for 2 seconds.

  Free to aim, Kaiden thrust the head of his hammer into Jax’s belly. Not an area likely to crit, and that was exactly the point. Jax’s health crossed into the red and Kaiden - taking his lead from what Sola did on Mochinki Station - pressed his hammer into Jax.

  “Shackle.”

  Ephemeral chains materialized around the assassin, wrapping around his legs, then up his torso, pinning his hands to his sides. In less than a moment he was bound head to toe.

  His momentum carried him forward another step, then he face-planted onto the warehouse floor. Kaiden fell to his knees and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, his heart pounding from the tension of it all.

  Notifications began popping up in the corner of his vision.

  Quest Completed: Capture the assassin Jax

  Part 4: Capture the assassin

  Rewards received: +8,000 EXP, +10 faction prestige

  Level 14 achieved!

  Max health and stamina increased

  +3 stat points

  Kaiden looked down at Jax and smiled.

  “Gotcha.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Alright, you’re going to talk and you’re going to do it right now,” Zelda said, stomping up to Jax. He ignored her, struggling futilely against the chains binding him. Zelda planted a boot on his chest and forced him still.

  “A couple of weeks ago, you were hired to kill a character by the name of Bernstein_14. You remember that contract?”

  Jax ignored her, eyes distant. Trying to log out, probably.

  “Come on, Jax. You know better than that. You’re Shackled. There’s only one way out of it, and that’s when I decide to let you go,” Kaiden said.

  “Damn you,” Jax spat, struggling against the chains again.

  Titus brought his hammer down on the concrete next to Jax’s head, shattering it. That got the assassin's attention.

  “A little more to the left next time. You just missed me,” he said.

  “Oh, no one’s finishing you off today,” Titus said with a deep chuckle. “Not until you answer our questions, at least.”

  “I can’t reveal information about my clients. If I did, no one would hire me again.”

  “Well, I’d feel really bad if that were to happen,” Zelda said, not holding back on the sarcasm.

  “Look, Jax.” Kaiden leaned over him. “Let’s be sensible about this. The Warden Corps wants us to bring you in. Sparking off a trade war like you did? That’s a big no-no. They’re pretty unhappy about that.”

  “If we bring you in,” Zelda said, “they’re going to scan your character, find your address in real life, and, well, after that, who’s to say? A nice perma-ban from the game, or slapped with a fine big enough to cover losses suffered from the trade war?”

  “I can’t go to prison,” Jax said, panic creeping into his voice. “And I can’t lose this account. I live off the money I make from it. I support my sick mother with it!”

  “Well, it’s awful nice to hear you say that, Jax.” Kaiden crossed his arms and leaned in close. “Because we don’t particularly care to take you to the Warden Corps.” Kaiden shrugged. “As long as you answer our questions, that is.”

  Jax swallowed hard, then nodded.

  “What choice do I have? Ask away.”

  “The Bernstein_14 contract. You remember it?” Zelda asked, crouching down next to him.

  “Of course I remember it. It paid ridiculously well.”

  “You looted an item from his body. What was it?”

  “Just some encrypted file. I was instructed not to mess with it, so I didn’t. Just handed it over, like they said.”

  “Like who said?”

  “You really don’t know?”

  “Would we be asking if we did?”

  “No, I get that. It’s just...” He paused a moment, frowning. “I just assumed you’d know. That’s why you were coming after me, right? They wanted to keep me quiet about the whole thing? Figured I’d become a loose end? I knew that contract was too good to be true.”

  “Who hired you?” Kaiden demanded, tired of half answers.

  Jax met his gaze, eyes wide.

  “Captain Thorne, of course.”

  Silence. Complete silence for at least five seconds.

  What?

  The thought hit Kaiden like an assassin’s bullet.

  No, he’s lying. That can’t be true. He’s trying to mislead us so he can...so he can…

  “Don’t lie to us,” Kaiden said. “You’re wasting time I d
on’t have.”

  “It’s no lie. She posted the hit, signed the contract, and paid me herself.”

  Kaiden wasn’t ready to believe it. The implication was too far-fetched, too terrible a thought. But as he considered it, he realized Jax would be making things much worse for himself if he was lying to them.

  “If that’s true, then that means…”

  “Holy crap.” Zelda looked as shocked as Kaiden felt.

  “No,” Kaiden said. “That can’t be true. Can it?”

  He looked to Zelda. She mumbled for a moment, eyes distant as if she were thinking deeply.

  “It was a double bluff,” she said finally.

  “What?” Kaiden and Titus said at the same time.

  “Bernstein’s murder, your arrest, all of it.” Zelda’s eyes went wide. “Oh, jeez. That’s a ballsy move. A brilliant move. And it almost worked.” She shook her head in disbelief before speaking again.

  “I’d been thinking criminals killed Bernstein to auction his information back to the Party. That seemed the only logical explanation as to why the Party was making such a big deal out of your arrest, Kai. No one would expect them to draw so much attention to a murder they committed. They drew media attention to their own crime, the last thing any of us expected them to do. And it worked. It completely threw us off the scent.”

  “That’s twisted,” Titus said. “Even the Southside Boys wouldn’t do something that messed up. Jeez.”

  This is nonsense, Kaiden wanted to say. More of Zelda’s rebel conspiracy theories. But even as he opened his mouth to say so, he knew she was right. It all made sense. He had been framed. But not by criminals; by the Party themselves. Bernstein had information that could hurt them. They couldn’t risk it getting into the wrong hands. Couldn’t risk it being released, either. So, they’d taken it back. And made Kaiden take the fall for it.

  The revelation dawned on him along with a growing horror. He’d been played from the beginning. A moment later, a second realization hit, this one even more horrific than the first.