by Rick Scott
Nanonite Plate x 5 Memory Unit x 1
Rank A: 500000XP £100000
Nanonite Plate x 10 Memory Unit x 5
Aerial Laser Cannon Mk I
Range: 1500 Accuracy: AOE
Damage: 15000
Rank S: 1000000XP £500000 CEOIOU x 1
Nanonite Plate x 20 Memory Unit x 10 Backup Core Voucher x 1
Aerial Laser Cannon Mk II
Range: 5000 Accuracy: AOE
Damage: 30000
Rembrandt releases a sigh. “Bloody heck, is she still after this thing?”
“Blame yourself,” Lance says with a smug grin. “You’re the one who talked up your crew so much.”
“What thing?” Gilly asks. “You mean the weapon?”
“Best in the game,” Lexi says with a whistle. “You own that, you own the whole bloody city.”
“And is that what Angela wants to do?” Val Helena asks, sounding accusatory.
Lance folds his arms across his chest. “Above my pay grade. I’m just following orders. Now let’s get to it. We’ll start with rank C. If you can’t handle that then there’s no hope for any of you.”
“What’s with Rank S?” Aiko says. “It’s all grayed out.”
I look again and see all the various ranks are available save for the last one.
“Don’t worry about that,” Lance says. “Rank A is good enough to get what the Queen needs.”
Aiko lowers her tech shades and gives Lance a glare. “You didn’t answer my question, soldier boy.”
A brutal pause lingers between them before Lexi quickly jumps in.
“Rank S is basically like killing it for real,” she explains. “Allows you to battle it again if you killed the Gun Queen in the real world.”
“What she said,” Lance says gruffly. “Now enough chat. We’re going.”
The bioroid queues for us to enter and the world fades.
We drop out of the sky a split-second later, landing onto hard concrete. Immediately my senses sharpen and I feel much different than before, like I’m back in the Shards again. Twisted carnival music assaults my ears as a backdrop fades into view. A partially collapsed Ferris Wheel looms against a night sky with a blood-red moon. Mock storefronts from the 1800s grow from the ground up, lining a narrow street we’re now on. An old saloon emerges, complete with swing doors, a general store, but most of the buildings are riddled with bullet holes and some are even on fire. Twisted bodies appear on the ground and for a moment I think of them as real.
Just a simulator, I tell myself.
The ground trembles with a rapid pounding, like an out-of-control bass drum. A shrill cry rips through the air, a woman’s voice augmented through some kind of machine. A huge metal figure then tears through one of the buildings at the far end of the street, sending timber flying. The Gun Queen appears, spinning like a top as she emerges from the demolished building and rapidly comes to a complete stop. She stands over two stories tall, its chrome upper body shimmering with heat. Her head swivels and her mannequin-like face, complete with glowing red eyes and an unmoving chrome bob, topped with a crown, turn in our direction. She then screams again, her lips unmoving, and begins accelerating towards us with incredible speed.
Holy Geez!
My heart is in my throat, my mind unable to comprehend how something so big can move so fast. Her legs, hidden beneath the ten-foot-high hoop skirt, pound the ground like a pair of jackhammers as the LM closes in on us like a race car.
I brace myself as she reaches halfway, barely managing to draw my kunai before the Gun Queen raises her Gatling gun forearms and sets the night on fire.
Chapter 18: Gun Queen
I throw myself in front of Gilly just as air erupts with the thunder of twin machine gun bursts, the sound so violent it seems more like chainsaws revving than guns firing. Yard-long flames flash from the spinning barrels and I feel the bite of bullets moving far too fast to see.
You Rescue Gilly!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
I wince with the powerful force of the hits, but to my shock there is no real pain. I do however lose my balance and nearly fall over. A cry comes from Lexi as I right myself and I glance in her direction just in time to see her get mowed down by a hail of bullets.
Lexi takes 247 piercing damage!
Lexi takes 247 piercing damage!
Lexi takes 247 piercing damage!
Lexi takes 247 piercing damage!
Lexi takes 247 piercing damage!
Her HP bar depletes in large chunks before she flatlines and phases out of existence in a burst of pixels. Lance, standing a few feet from her, abruptly phases out as well, but not from getting hit.
“Good luck,” his voice comes through the chat as his name becomes grayed-out on the party list.
“Man, what a prick!” Maxis shouts, bracing his forearms in an ‘X’ as he blocks the oncoming rounds. “Wouldn’t even stay to help!”
“Regroup!” Val Helena shouts, jumping forward, charging at the robot woman still speeding towards us. The giantess comes to a halt, sword and shield materializing in her hands. They look slightly out of place against her Chinese dress, but she wields them with just as much prowess as if she were still in her bulky Paladin armor. Brilliant golden light bursts from about her body and the Gun Queen abruptly focuses all attention on her, concentrating fire on the giantess with both guns.
Val Helena uses Invincible!
Val Helena takes 0 damage!
Val Helena takes 0 damage!
Val Helena takes 0 damage!
Sparks explode off her body as she whacks the Gun Queen with a Shield Bash, doing little to her HP bar, but momentarily halting her attack with a Stun.
“Get organized!” she screams, slashing into the LM with her glowing longsword. “This won’t last for long!”
I do so quickly, casting Shadow Tendrils and Shadow Haste.
You cast Shadow Tendrils!
You gain the effect of Shadow Tendrils!
You cast Shadow Haste.
You fail to cast the spell!
What?
My heart races with panic as I try the spell again.
Nothing.
“Guys, my magic won’t work!” I shout.
“I can’t get Major Favor to cast either!” Gilly says, vainly raising her spellbow to the sky.
I’m not sure if it’s random failure or spell-specific, so I keep trying to cast Shadow Haste and finally the spell goes off after the third try. I start casting Shadow Copy next but it keeps failing as well.
Maxis and Aiko rush to the Gun Queen’s flank, laying into her bell-shaped hoop dress with loud metal clangs. Bolts of electricity arc across her body as Rembrandt engages with his twin pistols, using some kind of debuffing shot.
Rembrandt uses Taser Shot
Gun Queen is Paralyzed!
“All in now!” Maxis shouts, unleashing a Power Attack. “Keep her in melee range. If she gets away from us we’re done for.”
The Gun Queen’s HP bar starts to move just as I manage to get Shadow Copy to land.
Finally!
I charge in with my friends, slashing at the huge dress. The android then reanimates and resumes her assault on Val Helena. The sound is deafening up close as the twin Gatling guns roar to life.
The Half-Giant hides behind her shield as the Gun Queen lets loose, sparks flying. The force of the twin cannons push Val Helena back, her heels sliding across the concrete inch by inch. I check the combat log and the DPS is astounding. Even with Val Helena’s huge damage mitigation, the speed of the attacks keep pushing through, depleting her Health steadily.
Val Helena’s HP bar drops to 90%, then 80%…70%.
Both Gilly and Becky struggle to cast Healing spells on her, failing all but one or two. Suddenly it stops firing and a sound like a turbine spinning up goes off.
Gun Queen re
adies Flame Barrage.
“Look out!” Val Helena cries. “An AOE!”
She dashes to the side, away from the rest of us just as the attack goes off, covering her in flames.
Gun Queen uses Flame Barrage!
Val Helena takes 1314(2342) Fire damage.
She drops down to 40% and before she can even recover, the Gun Queen resumes her relentless bullet assault on her again.
“This isn’t going to work!” Val Helena shouts through gritted teeth as she braces behind her shield. “Reece, try to take it!”
“He can’t!” Aiko yells. “Those guns will shred him! And so will that AOE.”
“I’ve got it!” Maxis says and stomps the ground with a CC.
The Gun Queen pauses in her attack and Maxis changes stance.
Maxis uses Fists of Iron!
Attack speed and damage decreased but block and counter increased.
Maxis uses Healing Blow!
Your attacks now recover HP for 50% damage done.
I feel more than useless as Maxis takes over tanking, maintaining hate by pure damage alone. Aiko uses her Misdirection Ability to transfer even more hate to him as she jabs the Gun Queen with a Sneak Attack from behind. Maxis’ HP bar dips incredibly low as he blocks and retaliates with blinding speed, his arms becoming a blur in the face of the blazing cannons.
The LM drops to 90% health and releases another flesh-crawling scream.
The ground trembles as the giant robot disengages and retreats back down the street.
Maxis tries to trip it with a Leg Sweep but comes up short. “Dang it! It’s moving back out of range.”
But with guns, she’s still well within range of us.
Oh crap…
The Gun Queen puts in a good amount of distance between us in just a few seconds. Rembrandt continues to pepper it from afar but the android takes the hits seemingly unconcerned, not even trying to fire back. She instead raises both her gun arms towards the sky.
Gun Queen readies Aerial Barrage.
“I’ve got it!” Rembrandt cries and lets loose with a flaming red shot.
Rembrandt uses Stunning Shot.
Gun Queen resists the Stun!
“Bollocks!”
Thin beams of brilliant blue light stream from the twin cannons and disappear into the night sky. A half-second later multiple beams pour back down, each one finding us as a target. The ground erupts beneath my feet in a torrent of heat and bright light.
Gun Queen uses Aerial Barrage!
Gilly takes 15000 plasma damage!
Aiko takes 15000 plasma damage!
Maxis takes 15000 plasma damage!
Rembrandt takes 15000 plasma damage!
Val Helena takes 15000 plasma damage!
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
My comrades disappear from the arena in bursts of pixels, leaving me alone with the LM.
I try to recast Shadow Copy, but fail three times in a row.
Ah screw it…
The Gun Queen opens fire and I do my best to dodge but the rounds hit me like I’m standing still.
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You take 257 piercing damage!
You are defeated!
Your party is defeated!
Challenge Failed!
The world goes black for a second and then I’m back outside the kiosk again, standing next to my friends. We share a sigh of defeat as the outcome of our battle scrolls onto our HUDs.
==Team Results==
Battle: Gun Queen
Rank: C
Duration: 3:48
Progress: 88%
Score: F
Lance scoffs out a laugh while shaking his head. “Not even five minutes. If that’s not a cluster bomb screw-up, I don’t know what is. Guess that’s that, folks.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Gilly says, squaring up to him. “That fight wasn’t fair. We couldn’t use our magic properly in there.”
“And you think that’s going to change somehow?” Lance stares back down at her as he points to the kiosk. “This is a sim of the real world. The rules are the same.”
“No, they’re not,” Gilly says. “When we died we just went poof! If it was in the real world, I could have raised them. We could have recovered.”
“That’s exactly why the sim won’t allow that,” the bioroid says. “Otherwise you could take an Auto-Doc in there and cheese it to death.”
“I still don’t understand it,” Val Helena says, glancing down at her longsword. “Our magic worked fine just a while ago. Is it wearing off or something?”
“Maybe it was just the simulator,” Gilly says and raises her spellbow in the air.
Gilly casts Great Heal!
Gilly fails to cast the spell.
Gilly casts Great Heal!
Gilly fails to cast the spell.
Gilly casts Great Heal!
You gain 0 HP!
Lexi gains 0 HP!
Maxis gains 0 HP!
Val Helena gains 0 HP!
Aiko gains 0 HP!
Becky gains 0 HP!
She looks down at her bow and shakes her head. “This is not good. How are we supposed to fight if we can’t count on our spells working?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lance says. “The results are clear. You guys are a waste.”
“Wait!” Aiko says. “You didn’t give us a chance to prepare either. You stacked this deck against us, man. I want a re-try.”
The bioroid laughs. “For what? I don’t need to see an epic fail twice. I need to go send my report to the queen. Lexi, let’s go.”
“We won’t fail!” Aiko says, blocking him as he tries to leave. Her body begins to shimmer with nano-dust as she changes class, her sexy cyber-chic outfit slowly replaced by my dumpy level 60 Ninja gear. “I can slot in Bullet Weave and Dodge Tank. We won’t need as many heals then. We can do this.”
A cavern opens up in the pit of my stomach as I’m once again reminded of my ineptitude in this new world. I should be able to Dodge Tank too, but if Aiko is going to end up doing it, then she really needs every advantage possible. I feel more than useless as I prepare to remove my legendary gear and hand it back over to her.
I open my inventory to make the trade when a huge Ka-BOOM! goes off right next to me. My ears ring as I’m thrown to the side, the wall behind me exploding in a massive burst of shattering of glass. I shield myself from the flying chunks of black obsidian, as something the size of a car barrels through the outer wall, aiming straight for Rembrandt!
The cyberpunker reacts with a celerity I’ve never seen him do before, back flipping out of the way just as the thing shoots past him and careens into a bank of kiosk machines across the room. Sparks and metal fly as it blasts the kiosks apart, cracking the thick glass of the transparent flooring in the process.
Alarms sounds and patrons begin to scream as all-out chaos ensues. Hundreds of people run in all directions, pushing past us as they try to get away from the violence, while others simply stand still, dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what’s going on.
I look for what flew through the window and see a massive figure rising from out of the debris of the kiosk machines. A man nearly twelve feet tall stands with his massive back to us, his body made completely of dully polished metal and formed into the physique of a bodybuilder. Huge vents emerge from beneath his shoulder blades, ejecting heat with a billow of steam.
He turns about slowly, revealing a head much smaller than I would expect for a body so large. In contrast to his body, his face looks to be made of pale human skin, his wide jaw framed by a metal cowl that connects with the rest of his body. His face is hardened and chiseled with scars, like a battle-worn veteran of wars too numerous to count. Beneath his shock of platinum hair which spills to one side, I spot one eye covered with a patch of b
lack metal that looks grafted right to his skin.
Huge neck muscles, made of fibrous metal, like bunched-up piano wire, flex as he causally rocks his head from side to side, as if working out a kink. The man then grins at us from across the room, his metal teeth dark like lead against his black stained lips.
“Close one, mate,” he says in a deep booming voice as a ten-foot-long katana blade materializes in one hand and a black futuristic-looking pistol in the other. “You still have the moves…”
The ground shakes as he slowly steps towards us, his stats and gear spilling onto my HUD.
Name: Kurgan
Sex: Male
Race: Android
Class: Gun Blade
Level: 85
Guild: New London
Zanbatō: +180 STR +180 DEX +30% Critical Damage
Particle Beam Emitter: +70 Dex +40 Aim +25% Crit Chance
“Time to pay for your sins, Lord Rembrandt.” The android twirls his massive katana into a ready stance as another blast of heat rises from off his back. “One True Ronin to another.”
Chapter 19: Lord Kurgan
My knees go weak with fear as the massive android stalks closer. I reflexively cast Shadow Copy and to my amazement the spell goes off. A couple of patrons scramble to get out of his way. One of them, a short blonde girl in a sailor’s outfit, stops to look at him, perhaps out of shock or awe. She opens her mouth to say something to him, but before a word gets out, the blade of his massive katana slices the air with a sharp vip!
The HP bar above the girl’s head instantly flatlines.
Kurgan uses QuickBlade!
Critical Hit!
Kurgan hits CelestG for 2412(1245) damage.
CelestG is defeated!
The girl stands on her feet for a second, a look of fright and shock frozen on her face as the top of her head falls to the ground. The rest of her body soon follows and hits the glass floor with a sickly thud.