Warden (Nova Online #1) — A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

  “You would be the ensign who uncovered her plot to infiltrate a government institution. You would be greatly rewarded – be put on the warden fast-track, and shave years off your sentence. All you have to do is name that person right now, and the Party will take care of the rest. I can’t change what’s been done, but I can try to make things better for you if you do the right thing, right now. I won't make this offer again.”

  The story she was selling sounded good – a chance to go back to his normal life. Even if Zelda's plan worked, Kaiden would be on the run. A prison escapee always looking over his shoulder.

  But he would never betray Zelda like that. Even if he wasn’t sure the rebels could be trusted, he trusted her. And after everything the Party had done, giving in to them would only ensure it happened to others. He might save himself, but how many others would suffer down the road? No, there was no joining Thorne.

  “If you truly felt bad about what you’ve done, you’d give us the file you took from Bernstein. That would be the right thing to do.”

  His words must have struck a nerve as Thorne's expression finally bent toward anger, regret now replaced with the stirrings of a scowl.

  “You think you know right and wrong, boy,” she said, anger simmering in her voice. “But you’ve never seen true chaos. You weren’t there when the bombs fell. You didn’t watch your world burn in front of your eyes.” She breathed heavily for several moments as if fighting to calm herself down. “If you want the file, you’re welcome to try to take it from me.”

  “Give us the file, Thorne,” Titus said, stepping forward with his shield hand open. “You’ve lost your way. You can’t see things clearly.”

  “Says the man who beats people to death with his bare fists. You might make a good warden, but you’re no moral compass, Titus. You’ve no right to judge my actions.”

  “If you knew more about him than what his criminal record says, you’d know that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Zelda said, shouting from across the room.

  She was in position.

  Thorne turned to look at her.

  “What are you doing all the way over...oh. I see.”

  Zelda reached out and pulled down on the hangar’s emergency depressurization lever. Sirens flared, red lights flashed, and in the span of a heartbeat, the entrances and exits to the hangar snapped shut, massive metal doors descending from the ceiling to seal them off.

  “You know,” Zelda said, looking around at the transformed room. “I’ve been wanting to pull that lever since that recruit almost did it on our first day.”

  “Clever,” Thorne said. “Now we’re all trapped in here until the techs can manually open it. That’ll take, what, an hour?”

  “We don’t need that much time,” Titus said, flicking his shield on and raising his hammer.

  “It really is a shame, you know? You three are good wardens. You could have done great things here. Could have easily been promoted to Command, earned your early release, maybe even been offered real jobs in the corps. Instead, you’ve chosen to throw your lot in with rebels and dissidents.”

  She raised her own hammer, the sleek but massive weapon’s reflective surface turned an angry red by the flashing emergency lights.

  “If you won’t name the rebel, then I’ll have to secure the confession myself, along with her two accomplices. We have an hour, but this won’t take a minute.”

  “It’s three against one,” Kaiden said, activating his shield. “I’ll take those odds.”

  “Give me a moment,” Thorne said. “I’ll even them out.”

  On Kaiden's minimap an angry red dot appeared, indicating Thorne. The game knew they were hostile to each other now. And then there was no going back.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Thorne went for Kaiden first, a calm confidence in her features as she charged, hammer raised.

  “Remember, keep your distance,” Kaiden said to Titus through the comms. “We don’t want to let her build charge by hitting you.”

  And then her hammer was streaking toward him. Kaiden dodged to the side, thankful his class excelled in dexterity as her blow fell just off target. Her heavy hammer shook the ground as it struck, but her attack was slow. Or, relatively so compared to the dexterity of an enhanced warden.

  She reared back for a second blow and Kaiden backed away a pace, declining to block with his shield. He didn’t want to find out exactly what would happen should one of her attacks connect.

  “Show some courage, traitor.”

  Thorne swung in with a two-handed blow this time. Kaiden leapt backward, just outside the range of the attack. The hammer swooshed by, coming dangerously close to his head. It missed, but the attack had been too close for his liking. A headshot would likely have ended him in a single blow.

  He needed to focus. One or two mistakes was all it would take for Thorne to pound him into a pulp. But at least he had gained a Riposte buff on his next hit.

  She went to strike again, but a shower of sparks exploded on her back. A Burst Arrow. Zelda had joined the fight now, a good fifty feet away and unleashing a barrage of basic laser blasts interspersed with larger Burst Arrows. Even with all the attacks combined, her health had dropped by a whopping three percent.

  Jeez. She’s just eating those ranged attacks and taking virtually no damage at all. Unfortunately, Zelda deals the least base damage of the three of us – she’s put all her points into perception to keep her accuracy up.

  Another laser struck. Thorne growled, then spun to face her attacker. She raised her shield – tiny buckler that it was – and Zelda stopped shooting.

  It won’t be long until Thorne figures out we’re trying to charge-starve her. I need to keep her distracted and attacking me as long as I can.

  With her back turned, Thorne was oblivious to Kaiden’s swinging hammer.

  Critical Hit!

  +30% damage (Spinal Fracture)

  +25% damage (Riposte x 1)

  Her health dropped to ninety-six percent. Kaiden wasted no time, however, attacking twice more before she could react. The next hit was also a crit, but the third missed its mark, dealing only normal damage.

  Torn between the two targets, Thorne swept back around and tried to catch Kaiden with a flurry of attacks, her hammer thrumming the air with each swing. Kaiden dodged and ducked, dipped and dived, then dodged again, always a step ahead of her attacks, if only just. Whenever the moment was right, he Riposted, dealing more damage. And all the while, he did his best to keep Thorne’s back to Zelda, affording his squadmate constant clear shots.

  Zelda kept firing, hitting nearly every time with impressive accuracy. Every so often a laser would catch Thorne in a critical spot, dealing extra damage and drawing her attention. It was in these moments that Kaiden lashed out. Nothing more than basic hammer attacks – he’d no charge of his own, either – but every bit of damage counted. Before long, the captain’s health had dropped to seventy-eight percent. Something Kaiden would have been happy about, had they not already poured enough damage into Thorne to kill pretty much any other foe they’d faced so far, void titan aside.

  “You’re slippery,” Thorne said, lowering her hammer for a moment. “Consider me mildly annoyed.” She fiddled with the buttons on the stimulant chamber on her arm for a moment.

  Applying a health stimpack? Already?

  They’d been doing damage, Kaiden knew, but he’d expected her to drop lower before using one of her precious two stims.

  The chamber on Thorne’s arm hissed with the distinctive sound of an injection. Her health, however, didn’t budge an inch.

  Her hammer did.

  It came in so fast Kaiden had no time at all to dodge. He raised his shield on instinct, felt the power of the blow reverberate through his whole body. His charge bar filled to sixty out of one hundred and ten.

  More than half!

  He shouldn’t have been so shocked. Thorne was more than ten levels above them, not to mention she was a power warden with amazing
gear to boot. One more hit and his shield would overload.

  She lunged again. Kaiden tried to dodge but her attack connected easily. Too easily. His charge bar filled and then his shield flickered and died.

  “Some stimpacks are good for more than just regaining health, you know. Shame to waste my hit chance stim so soon, but I’m tiring of your ballet feet. Oh, and now I finally have some damn charge. Allow me to show you the shortcomings of your class.”

  Her hammer began to glow. He recognized her Hammer Overload ability all too well and hastily started backpedaling, trying to put some distance between them. If her next hit landed, he’d take three times the damage and would definitely die.

  His only chance would be to dodge, but her increased hit chance from the stim had thus far made that a hopeless prospect.

  Except I have charge now, too.

  Without wasting a moment, Kaiden activated Blur.

  Blur activated – dodge chance +25% for 10 seconds

  Hopefully, that would negate Thorne’s hit stim. It wouldn’t do anything about AOE attacks, though

  Thorne came at him like a freight train. Kaiden spun aside at the last moment and her attack slammed into the floor just behind him, buckling the metal.

  There’s a one-minute cooldown on that ability, so I’m fine for a little while, Kaiden thought in relief.

  “No!” Thorne screamed, face burning an angry red. She rushed him, hammer swinging quick and sloppy. With Blur active, neither of her attacks came close. Kaiden danced past them without difficulty, consciously easing Thorne back into a position where Zelda had clear shots on her.

  “Got anymore increased hit stims? Looks like you’ll be needing them,” he laughed. He probably didn’t need to taunt her – he had her full attention after making her waste one of her strongest attacks – but the anger seemed to be making her sloppy. And in this fight, he needed every advantage he could get.

  Zelda kept firing, still using Burst Arrow whenever it was off cooldown. Kaiden did a quick check of Thorne’s health to find her down to seventy percent.

  We’re making progress. Slowly, but surely. The strategy is working. He looked to the corner of his screen, then felt himself frown. Blur only had three seconds left. Once it ended, he’d be in real trouble.

  I’ll still have twenty seconds until my shield is back online.

  Thorne then did what he'd feared she might. She used Jump Smash and leapt into the air. That move had an AOE effect, and she only had to hit the ground near him to catch him. Blur wouldn’t help him.

  Kaiden tried to run —

  Thorne crashed into the ground —

  The AOE damage hit like a tidal wave. The force of it knocked him tumbling, and he slid several feet away. His health bar flashed, then plummeted from green all the way into yellow, stopping just before entering the red.

  I’m almost at critical health already. From one base damage attack. One more and I’m done. Come on, shield, I need you!

  And then Thorne was looming over him. She appeared as tall as a titan from where he lay, looking up at her.

  “Shortcoming number one of the enhanced warden class: you can’t take many hits. One or two is all it really takes.” She raised her hammer, lining up a killing blow.

  Blur’s on cooldown. My shield is still gone. Burst of Speed won’t help me as I’m not on my feet. Kaiden mentally went through anything he could do to save himself and came up empty. Thorne had him. He’d put up a good fight, but it was over.

  Her hammer fell.

  And slammed into a blue, shimmering shield just above his face. Kaiden blinked once, then shouted.

  “Titus!”

  The big man had saved him.

  “Get moving,” Titus grunted, then squared up to Thorne and used Shield Bash. The attack caught her full in the chest, stunning her for two seconds and buying Kaiden time to roll to his feet and back away.

  “Thank you,” Kaiden said. “I thought she had me.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Titus said, sneaking in an attack, then ducking behind his shield as another of Thorne’s blows came streaking down, driving him backward. “I’m about to give her a ton of charge.”

  “Titus, get back,” Zelda shouted.

  “I’m too slow,” Titus said. “Besides, I want to give this a try.”

  A surge of energy swirled around him, then solidified into a force field, hugging his body. As Kaiden watched, it crackled and hissed with electricity, tiny arcs of lightning lashing out as if itching to shock Thorne.

  This is new.

  Ability: Volt Field

  Send a current across your armor causing 30% of base damage as electrical damage to all melee attackers. Cost: 30% of total shield capacity. This ability is passive when activated and is toggled on and off.

  Thorne either wasn’t aware of the ability’s effects, or – more likely – didn’t care. Despite Volt Field being active, she brought her hammer down on Titus with full force. He stumbled to the side in the wake of the blow, and Thorne’s health bar inched further down. Not that she seemed to mind.

  “I was going to take out the pesky enhanced first, but if you’d like to offer yourself up, I’m happy to pass that honor to you, Titus.”

  We need a plan, we need a plan. Kaiden’s thoughts were racing.

  While Titus and Thorne exchanged blows, and Zelda blasted away, he took a deep breath.

  Step one: use a stimpack.

  He activated the item and his health rose back to the upper end of yellow. Almost into the green, but not quite.

  Thorne’s own health was down to sixty-four percent. More progress, but not fast enough. Now that Titus was tanking, he and Zelda would have to take her out fast. With her back to him, it would be easy enough to get crits. For now, he’d save Burst of Speed for when he really needed it.

  He swung his hammer up then rushed in behind Thorne, speaking into his comm. “Zelda, keep firing. I’ll stay low so you can still hit her torso easily.”

  “Can do,” Zelda said. Another Burst Arrow flashed past Kaiden’s shoulder to explode on Thorne’s back. He followed it with his own attacks, alternating between the backs of her knees and her lower back, praying for critical hits to build to Onslaught.

  He landed one, then another. Paused a moment to aim, then struck out to land a third.

  Thorne pivoted to face him. “Didn’t your mother teach you it’s rude to interrupt?” She activated an ability. It caught Kaiden unprepared.

  Hammer Sweep damages you for 35% of player Thorne’s base damage.

  Moves with some form of AOE were truly the bane of Kaiden's class. His health dropped right down to forty-eight percent.

  Thorne wasn’t faring much better, however. From Zelda’s continued blasts, Kaiden’s well-aimed crits, and the electrical damage from Titus’ Volt Field, she was down to fifty-one percent.

  “Half health, huh?” Thorne growled. “I haven’t been that low in ages. Once again, you three continue to impress.” It was the angriest compliment Kaiden had ever received, and as he watched, Thorne followed it up with an ability. Her eyes lit up an electric blue as she spun to attack Titus. Kaiden remembered it well: one of the moves she’d used to finish off the void titan.

  Ability: Berserker

  The warden does double base damage but also takes +50% damage for 20 seconds. Speed is halved for 1 minute following the ability. Cost: 50 charge. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

  “My shield can’t handle this,” Titus said. “I’m just going to blow some abilities to keep it from overloading.”

  He led with Shield Charge, locking onto Thorne and surging forward. They connected with a crash, but the power warden pushed back. Together, they cancelled out each other’s momentum. Thorne caught his shield with a rising blow then, mid-strike, whipped around and followed with a smash.

  Titus’ shield flickered and died.

  “What’s a shielder without his shield?” Thorne raised her hammer, preparing to deal double damage with her next attack.


  She swung. Titus didn't even try to avoid it. Kaiden was ready to watch his health drop into the red, and probably right down to zero – but the blow dealt no damage.

  Then Kaiden saw a green force field buzzing around Titus.

  The Turen Personal Defense Force Field!

  “Looks like this shielder has another shield,” Titus said, all too smug.

  Thorne positively howled.

  Berserker lasts for twenty seconds, Kaiden thought to himself. Titus just burned five of it with that force field.

  “Where did you even get tech this good?” she screamed, giving Titus no chance to answer as she brought her hammer down on him again and again.

  Zelda kept firing while Thorne attacked, her Burst Arrows doing more damage thanks to Berserker’s debuff, but it was hardly game changing. And, all too quickly, Titus’ backup shield was done.

  It had hardly flicked off for a second before Thorne’s hammer slammed into his side and spun him around. Titus had stacked endurance, so he had impressive hit points, but it wasn’t enough. She hit him again and he collapsed, his health bar plummeting into the red.

  “Titus!” Kaiden cried, not knowing what could be done.

  Thorne didn’t strike a killing blow, however. She simply tapped her hammer to the big man and smiled.

  “Shackle,” she said, softly, sweetly, almost a whisper. Chains materialized around Titus, snaking around his arms and legs, then in the blink of an eye, snapped tight. Titus was left on the ground, arms trapped at his sides, with his health in the critical.

  “Stay here. I’ll have questions for you later,” the captain laughed.

  Thorne’s eyes were still glowing blue. She had ten seconds left on Berserker.

  Her eyes fixated on Zelda. “Your turn, now.”

  To Kaiden’s dismay, Thorne used Stampede. This gave her three seconds of double speed in which to close the gap with Zelda.

  Luckily, the distance was great enough that Thorne’s Stampede wore off just before she reached Zelda. It gave Zelda precious time to get her shield up. Thorne’s blow fell – empowered by Berserker – and promptly overloaded Zelda’s shield. Thorne’s next attack sent Zelda crashing to the ground.