by Alex Knight
“Um, thanks?” he said, then shook himself. “I mean, thank you. We’ll be down in a moment.” He cut the broadcast to the surface and faced the others. “That went better than expected.”
“They recognized the name Veritas II,” Thorne said, then furrowed her brow. “Does that mean—”
“They know the ship,” Zelda said with a nod. “Or they knew Bernstein. Either way, it’s our ticket down there.”
“Turrets are offline,” Acton reported. “Looks like we’re clear to head in. Captains?”
Kaiden gave a nod and the pilot eased them forward and down.
NC451, as it turned out, wasn’t covered in ocean. As they approached the surface Kaiden could see more clearly. The uniform green color was the product of a moon-spanning jungle whose canopy was so thick the Veritas II’s scanners couldn’t penetrate it. Thankfully, a landing zone had been cleared and marked with beacons designed to guide them in.
Mist rose from the trees on all sides, swirling in the air and clinging to the ship’s windows as thick droplets of water. And every mile or so, volcanic vents spewed a thick, heavy smoke up through the trees. The pilot guided them around one such vent as he brought them in to the landing pad.
The Veritas II touched down a few moments later. Kaiden gave Acton a nod before opening the side door and making his way down the ramp.
Location discovered: NC451, player-owned moon
Faction Alignment: None
Resident Guild(s): None
The message flashed the moment Kaiden’s boot touched the landing pad. The rest of the group was just behind him, clanking down the ramp.
“So, uh, where are we supposed to go?” Titus asked, looking at the dense jungle surrounding the landing pad on all sides.
“That’s a good question,” Kaiden said.
The Veritas II’s lights clicked on and flooded the space in front of the ship with a blinding light. It reflected off of the billowing mist and Kaiden’s visor auto-darkened to compensate for the glare.
“Our host says to follow the trail,” Acton said from inside the ship.
Kaiden followed the path of the ship’s lights and found a beaten dirt track beginning at the end of the landing pad.
“What? Was I supposed to bring my hiking boots for this?” Thorne asked, frowning at the path. “Why is the pad so far from Odditor’s base?”
“You can ask him when we get there,” Kaiden said, bounding toward the edge of the landing pad. “Come on, keep up.”
The dirt squished underfoot as he stepped down into it. It was dense, and wet from the mist hanging in the air. All around the edges of the path jungle ferns leaned in close as if reaching out to grab ahold of him. Kaiden made it all of three steps before a howl burst from the foliage and a beast charged him.
Ramrunner
Level: 38
Quick facts: Ramrunners are known for their poor sight and propensity for ambushing anything that surprises the—
Kaiden’s visor displayed information on the beast, but he was only halfway through reading it when the charging monster’s head slammed into his stomach and launched him backward. His health bar flashed and dropped as he flew, then again as he slammed onto the landing pad and took fall damage.
“Ow.” Kaiden pulled himself into a sitting position and took in the beast that had attacked him. It looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a crocodile, with four legs, thick, scaly skin, and a long snout that ended with three upraised horns all in a line. The ramrunner stomped one massive foot on the ground, snorted, then turned toward the next nearest target.
“Come on, then, big boy,” Titus growled and flicked his shield on. “Let’s see what you got!”
A streak of light burst over Kaiden’s shoulder as the Veritas II fired and the ramrunner exploded in a burst of flame and soil.
Ramrunner assisted kill – 2,000 EXP gained!
Uh, sure. ‘Assisted.’ That’s what I did.
Kaiden looked back to see the Veritas II’s front guns trained on the remains of the ramrunner. Through the windshield he could see Acton ready to fire again if necessary.
“Rather a rude way to greet guests,” the first officer said, moving the guns side to side as he searched for more threats. As he did, Kaiden noticed something moving in the jungle.
“There!” he said, pointing at it with his hammer. It wasn’t an animal, though, he realized as he looked closer.
“Is that... a camera?”
Thorne paced up to the trunk of the tree it was perched in.
“Sure is. Looks like it’s on, too.”
“Odditor,” Zelda said. “He’s watching us.” She turned toward the path into the jungle. “How much do you want to bet there’ll be more surprises waiting for us in there?”
“More surprises, and more cameras to record us fighting them. He could be streaming this,” Kaiden said.
Watching his streams is one thing, but I didn’t expect to be in one anytime soon.
“We’re on one of his streams?” Titus asked. “That’s awesome!” He banged his hammer against his shield and cheered. “Let’s do it, then! We’ll give you a show!”
“No, let’s not give them a show,” Zelda scolded. “If Odditor is streaming us then he’s advertising our position to everyone watching. How long until the Warden Corps shows up?”
“Not long,” Thorne said with a shake of her head.
“I’ve been informed that while the cameras are on, they are not streaming,” Acton said from inside the ship. “Though I’ve also been informed that Odditor is looking forward to…” He paused. “‘The show to come.’ Apparently, there are more creatures awaiting you ahead. And in there, you’re on your own.”
Chapter Twenty-One
A frantic ripple of waves exploded out across the surface of Titus’ Improved Barrier as another ramrunner slammed headlong into it.
Titus grunted and shook his head as if in pain.
“Shield is overloading. Can’t take much more of this,” he said.
Thorne darted forward from inside the barrier then swung a glowing hammer into the side of the ramrunner’s head.
Ability: Gravity Sledge
The blow wasn’t enough to launch such a large beast into the air, but it did spin it around and send it crashing to the ground.
Kaiden didn’t waste any time, leaping from the protection of Titus’ Improved Barrier to attack the downed beast.
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
Considering the size of the beast’s head and the fact that it was off its feet, it was pretty difficult to miss. He landed a third headshot, then a fourth before the ramrunner got its feet back under it. It shook its head side to side in a flailing attack and Kaiden dodged backward, then as soon as the danger was clear, lashed forward with another hammer strike.
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
Critical hit streak (x5)
The ramrunner, its health in the yellow now, lunged toward Kaiden with a stomp attack, but he was already charging Matter Shift.
Been wanting to try this out.
Ability: Matter Shift
You glow with infused charge for one second, then teleport from your current location to another within 20 feet.
Cast time: 1 second.
Cost: 40 charge.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
The ramrunner’s leg, thick as a tree trunk, came stomping down right through Kaiden’s insubstantial body. A moment later his vision flickered and then he reappeared at the spot he’d targeted behind his opponent.
Yeah, this is awesome. I’m going to put this to very good use in future fights.
The ramrunner seemed confused as to where he’d gone. It raised its foot and peered down to inspect the spot of ground it’d stomped.
Kaiden used the advantage of surprise to land a hammer strike on the back of his opponent’s head.
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
Onslaug
ht Mode activated.
Current movement speed and damage are doubled for 5 seconds.
“Now we’re talking!” Kaiden shouted. In addition to activating Onslaught Mode, each of his critical strikes had been regaining him charge thanks to the passive ability Slayer. He glanced down to confirm he’d enough to unleash a brutal combo.
Ability: Enfeebling Strike
Kaiden slammed his hammer into the ramrunner’s rib cage. The thick hide hardly budged, but charge from the ability flowed into the monster and it growled in pain. Now, combined with the damage buff from Enfeebling Strike and Onslaught, each of his attacks would deal 250% damage. He laid into the beast.
The others were busy with their own fights. Titus’ Improved Barrier was down and he was being beaten back beneath a barrage of ranged attacks from creatures called hominoids. Standing on far too-human legs, the hominoids looked to be some foul cross between man and ape. They jeered and howled from the tree tops and hurled down handfuls of some sort of seed that detonated in puffs of toxic powder on impact. Zelda had already chased off several groups of them as they’d fought their way down the trail. This bunch didn’t seem likely to run, however. In the face of her attacks they stood firm, howling and tossing more and more toxic seed pods.
Titus Energy Gripped one down from a branch and lit into it with hammer strikes. Meanwhile, Zelda tossed an Improved Kinetic Grenade up into the canopy. It exploded in a plume of fire that left the treetops burning.
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
“Ha! Take that!” she shouted as several corpses plummeted to the ground.
“Get out of there!” Thorne shouted, and as she did Kaiden realized the problem. The fire from the grenade had ignited the powder from the seed pods and the whole area was going up in a toxic inferno.
Zelda and Titus’ health bars flashed rapidly as stacks of area-of-effect damage assaulted them.
I’ll help them in a minute. Gotta finish this up first. Kaiden turned his full attention back to the ramrunner. It thrashed and stomped, swinging its massive head and the horns attached to it, but Kaiden was too fast with Onslaught Mode active. He danced and ducked around the beast’s now slow-motion attacks, all the while lashing back with hammer strikes that each dished out large chunks of damage.
The ramrunner’s health dropped into the red in the face of the barrage. The big beast cried out, then spun to retreat.
Ability: Hammer Toss
Kaiden’s attack caught it in the back and drained what remained of its health.
Ramrunner assisted kill - 2,000 EXP gained!
The beast’s feet went out from under it and it slammed to the ground, shaking the earth and nearby trees.
“Nice one,” Thorne said, slapping him on the shoulder. “I hit level forty off that. Check this ability when you get a chance.” She sent a screenshot to him but Kaiden didn’t have time look at it.
“We should probably do something about that,” he said, nodding toward the still-burning toxic cloud with Titus and Zelda trapped inside it. The hominoids had dropped out of the trees and surrounded it. Wherever Zelda and Titus moved to escape the inferno the hominoids cut them off, stacking up en masse and hurling more seed pods in to stoke the flames.
One of the bolder hominoids jumped right through the flames to attack Titus. The big man rammed into it, leading with his shield. His opponent was on fire, its fur aflame, but the shield kept it from burning Titus – up until the hominoid wrapped its arms around the edges of the shield and grabbed Titus in a sort of bear hug. The flames on its fur licked at his armor and Kaiden saw the big man’s health tick down at an increased pace.
“My shield’s building charge from the fire damage in front of me, but it’s not blocking the damage coming in from the sides,” Titus said through comms, sounding lost in thought for a moment, perhaps considering if the tradeoff was worthwhile.
“Forget about charge! Worry about your health,” Zelda shouted, then blasted the hominoid off of Titus with an Improved Burst Arrow. She fired an Improved Scatter Shot next that caught several of the other hominoids, but only one died. The rest stood firm, daring her to try and push toward them.
Time wasn’t on her side, though. Her health was down to fifty-three percent and dropping by the second. Titus was beside her at fifty-eight percent himself.
“We have to get them out of there!” Kaiden shouted.
“Ooh, actually, this is perfect,” Thorne said and strode toward the chaos.
“How is this perfect?” Kaiden shook his head. “Never mind. Just focus on the hominoids. If we can make a hole in their formation Zelda and Titus will be able to get out of the fire.”
“I’ve got this,” Thorne said.
Ability: Earth Shatter
She leapt into the air…
… straight into the cloud of flame. Kaiden felt his brow furrow as he watched. She landed with an explosive boom and a shockwave that swept out and stunned several of the nearby hominoids.
“Great, now there’s three of us trapped in here,” Zelda said.
Thorne smirked.
“On the contrary…”
Ability: Improved Instigated Fury
The fervor of battle sweeps over you. For the next 8 seconds, each time you take damage, your base attack increases by 15%.
Cost: 20 charge.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Kaiden’s visor showed him the specifics as she activated her ability.
Inside the toxic, flaming cloud, Thorne was taking constant damage. Enough to kill her if she stayed long enough, but from the looks of things, she wasn’t going to be there very long. With every second she took area-of-effect damage from the cloud, her base attack power increased by fifteen percent.
She charged the nearest hominoid. Its companions rushed to its side, but that only seemed to embolden Thorne. She brought her hammer down on it and drained a good third of its health.
The flaming cloud continued to chip away at her health bar as the hominoids attacked, howling as they flung themselves at her and struck with arms thick as Kaiden’s thighs.
Thorne’s health bar flashed constantly, but all of that damage converted right back into increased attack power. She swung her hammer relentlessly, giving as good as she got.
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
And then giving better than she got.
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
Hominoid assisted kill – 1,500 EXP gained!
And finally, giving so much the hominoids started to panic. Every swing of her hammer dropped her target to half health or less. And that was just with basic attacks. When Thorne used Hammer Sweep, a simple area-of-effect ability that damaged all targets in front of her within five feet, three hominoids dropped dead. Experience poured in from all of the assisted kills and Kaiden smiled as another notification joined the rush.
Level 38 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Those that remained of the hominoids shrieked, then panicked. With arms flailing and eyes wide, they turned and ran. Thorne used Heroic Leap and landed on one of the fleeing enemies. It died instantly.
Her health was down to thirty-five percent, but it hardly mattered. The fight was over. The few surviving hominoids disappeared into the jungle and Zelda and Titus hurried from the inferno.
“Holy crap,” Kaiden said, unable to stop himself from laughing at what he’d just seen. “That’s... an inventive way to use that ability. But I can’t knock it. Talk about stacking damage!”
“That. Was. Awesome!” Titus slapped Thorne so hard on the back that she stumbled forward. When she turned, he already had both hands in the air for a double high five. “I mean, we totally had things under control, but still. That was sick!”
She smirked as she gave him a firm high five, then flicked her bu
ckler-like shield off. Even Zelda was forced to give a shrug and a nod.
“It was clever.”
“Saw the opportunity and went for it, I guess,” Thorne said.
“So, the lesson we learned is that the next time we need to deal a bunch of damage quickly we just have to set Thorne on fire,” Kaiden said, smirking at her still-smoking armor as he pulled up his character sheet to give it a quick once-over and assign his stat points.
Character
Name:
Kaiden
Race:
Human
Level:
38
Class:
Enhanced Warden
Attributes
Strength:
53 (+2)
Intelligence:
47
Endurance:
53
Perception:
47
Dexterity:
136 (+2)
Unassigned:
0
Abilities
Kickback
Shield Bash
Hammer Toss
Lightspeed
Improved Enhanced Senses
Riposte
Flash Bang
Improved Blur
Onslaught
Enfeebling Strike
Slayer (passive)
Hamstring
Matter Shift
Perks
Turen Tinkering
“Well, now. That was certainly a spectacle,” said a voice Kaiden didn’t recognize. Except he did recognize it, he realized as he closed his character sheet. It was the voice he’d heard in the cockpit of the Veritas II. The voice that had claimed to speak for Odditor.