by Alex Knight
Kaiden rematerialized outside the room and behind the crowd of wardens. Between his Flash Bang and their focus on Titus and Thorne, no one noticed him – a perfect chance to score some critical hits from behind. But why think so small? No; he had bigger plans.
Ability: Lightspeed
Kaiden dumped just about half of his remaining charge into the ability, then burst into motion toward his target: not a warden, but a door.
Last one in, be sure to lock the door behind you. We don’t want any of these buggers getting out to roam the halls, he remembered Thorne warning when they’d first arrived at the facility. He slid to a stop in front of the door he’d picked out.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 20/20 Voidspawn **Huntsman**, Level: 40
Creatures with Huntsman status attack the highest-level enemies in the vicinity first, he thought, smiling. I never thought being lower level than our enemies would be a good thing.
He tapped his hand to the door and it unlocked.
Kaiden paused in front of the open door so the horde of voidspawn inside noticed him. They hissed and chirped, then rushed forward in a surge of flesh and slime and fangs.
“Dinner time, boys!” he shouted. The voidspawn burst into the hallway in a tumble of fury and hunger. Kaiden shot away at the last moment, Lightspeed carrying him at a blistering speed toward the next door. The voidspawn paused a moment, then turned toward their highest-level opponents in the vicinity: the crowd of wardens. A great echoing hiss tore through the hallway as they charged the unsuspecting players.
But Kaiden wasn’t done there. He continued on. The next room had mobs with no particular status. The one after that was full of elites. Then, finally, he found what he was looking for.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Grachnids **Huntsman**, Level: 35
“What’s a party without some grachnids?” He unlocked that door too and continued on.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 20/20 Cryo-mummies **Huntsman**, Level: 45
“You’ll do.” Another door unlocked, then on to the next; a room full of gobbers, but Kaiden wasn’t discriminating when it came to the chaos he was sowing. He let them get close enough that they were in aggro range of the wardens.
“Plenty of things to smash and bite that way!” he said, pointing toward them, then sprinted out of the gobbers’ range, leaving them to attack the unsuspecting wardens.
“Just need a few more rooms,” he muttered as Lightspeed ticked down its final seconds. He rushed forward, unlocking every door in reach.
He released a pack of hominoids, then a second batch of grachnids after that. He followed those with a pride of Baboulian Manhunters and then even a swarm of weirdlings, all with the Huntsman status.
Screams and shouts echoed through the hall as Lightspeed wore off and Kaiden jogged to a stop. He couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face as he turned to find what had once been a crowd of wardens now reduced to a savage melee.
It was utter chaos. Abilities fired off in all directions. Improved Kinetic Grenades exploded against the walls and ceiling. Gravity Sledges sent voidspawn flying like pieces of slime-covered debris. But for every five or six mobs that died, Kaiden saw another warden go down. They’d been unprepared and attacked from behind. More wardens were pouring in from the other side of the fight – lower levels than the other wardens, but still high enough that the mobs would ignore Kaiden and the others, or so it looked like. The monsters welcomed the new combatants with glee as they bit and tore and slashed at anything within reach.
“You there! Stop!”
Shit. Another group of wardens approaching. His visor read out their details and he cursed again. There were five of them, and each was level fifty-five or above. Almost max level.
The high-level wardens Thorne was worried about. They’re finally here. Were there enough mobs to take down five almost max-level players? No way to know, but facing them on his own wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Kaiden began to backpedal, retreating toward the melee, when he spotted an unopened door.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Ramrunners **Huntsman**, Level: 45
One last addition to the fun, then.
Kaiden gave the approaching wardens a little wave.
“Welcome to the party,” he said, then unlocked the door.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“You’re crazy! And brilliant!” Zelda shouted through comms as Kaiden rejoined the melee.
“A lot of the former, less of the latter,” he said as he ducked under a whipping tentacle from a nearby voidspawn. It was beating down a warden, but its wayward blows threatened to strike anyone in the vicinity. The rest of the melee looked pretty much the same – a chaos of flailing voidspawn tentacles, slashing grachnid legs, slobbering gobbers, and more that Kaiden didn’t even have time to process.
He made his way through it, ducking and dodging and trying not to draw too much attention as he made for the door where he could still see Titus’ shield glowing bright. A beacon of light amid the insanity. Thankfully, he was still one of the lowest level wardens in the room, which meant none of the mobs were targeting him. All the same, Kaiden had Improved Blur active.
“Get back here,” Titus called through comms. “Most of the heat’s off us now, thanks to you.”
“With pleasure,” Kaiden said, whipping his shield up just in time to block the crackling electricity of an Improved Warden’s Bolt lashing out at everything around it. It tore at his health anyway, dropping him to fifty-two percent. In the chaos of the melee there was just too much damage flying around to avoid being hit, even with Improved Blur active. Matter Shift was still on cooldown, but there was another option. Kaiden pulled out the Matter Insubstantiator he’d looted from the Dark Turen forever ago and activated it.
Warden Matter Insubstantiator
Rarity: Rare
Durability: 100%
+2% movement speed
+2% dodge chance
*Special ability: Once per day, you may activate this item to become insubstantial for 2 seconds. During this time, no attack can hit you and damage cannot be dealt.
He broke into a sprint as his character became semi-transparent. A group of wardens had gathered into some semblance of a formation and stood between him and Titus.
No matter, he thought, chuckling at the pun as he ran straight through them like a ghost through a wall.
The two seconds expired and Improved Blur timed out as well. Kaiden was still a few paces from Titus. The big man was waving him in as Kaiden sprinted as hard as he could. Something hit him in the back, dropping his health to forty-seven percent. A glob of acid missed a nearby warden and splashed on to Kaiden’s hip, and his armor sizzled as his health dropped another five percent.
Almost there.
The last obstacle was a blast warden, leveling his hammer-gun at Kaiden. He raised his shield and the attack exploded against it, making its surface waver. Kaiden rushed forward before the blaster could attack again. He landed a hammer strike on the warden’s head then slipped past him. Titus lowered his shield for a moment and Kaiden darted into the room.
Safe! Little health left, but safe! At least for the moment. He’d brought stimpacks with him, as had the others, and they’d managed to keep him alive so far. They were all used up now, but they’d done their job. Had been enough of an advantage over the wardens who didn’t have any; most would have come thinking they could rely on the medbays.
Kaiden let out a heavy breath as Titus and Thorne stepped back up to the door. His relief was cut short a moment later, however, as he realized how low on health they were. Thorne was down to ten percent, and Titus fifteen. They’d taken a beating while he’d been gone. No doubt they had used all of their stimpacks, too.
“We might still die here,” Thorne said, swinging her hammer at any mob or warden that dared get close to the doorway. “But at least we’re taking all of these bas
tards with us, yeah?”
“We have to stay here,” Kaiden said. “Use the room as cover. The Huntsman mobs are going after the highest-level targets in the area. Thankfully, that’s not us. If we can avoid taking much more damage until the fighting dies down, maybe there’s a chance we can fight our way out past the survivors.”
“That’s a long shot,” Thorne said. “I don’t think—” Her eyes went wide, and a split second later, Kaiden saw why. Her health bar was replenishing. It filled all the way back up to one hundred percent.
“I… I leveled up,” she said, shock in her eyes. “Why did I get assisted kill credit for…”
Even as she spoke, Kaiden noticed a message had appeared in his vision. It’d been there a moment but he hadn’t paid attention to it until now.
Blast Warden QuertyBoy01 assisted kill - 5,000 EXP gained!
Kaiden stared at the notification a moment. He’d done damage to a blast warden on the way in, sure, but he hadn’t killed him. Kaiden peered through Titus’ shield and saw QuertyBoy01 face down on the ground. A group of hominoids was attacking his corpse.
“I dealt damage to him…” Kaiden said as the realization hit him. “And then the mobs finished him off! But I still get assist credit on the kill!”
“We get assisted kill credit,” Thorne said, excitement filling her voice. “And experience!”
Power Warden Tomson assisted kill - 4,700 EXP gained!
“Tomson…” Kaiden said.
“Was the power warden we fought in the doorway,” Titus said. “He must’ve just died.”
The full impact of what was happening began to settle on Kaiden. He felt his eyes go wide, felt the breath catch in his throat.
“Guys…” he said. “This is our way out.”
“Hit every warden you can!” Zelda shouted. “Get damage on them all, and when they die, we get assist credit.” Even before she finished speaking she began firing into the hallway; an Improved Scatter Shot that winged several wardens, then an Improved Warden’s Bolt that zapped even more.
Shield Warden Manzer assisted kill – 4,700 EXP gained!
Titus’ health blossomed back to full as he leveled up from the experience. At the same time, a notification appeared in Kaiden’s vision.
Level 43 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
“Level up!” Zelda shouted, also back to full health.
“This… this is good.” Thorne turned toward the melee beyond Titus’ shield. “It’s open season, everyone. Hit every warden you can, just once, then move to the next.”
“One second,” Kaiden said. “I have a gift before we leave.”
Ability: Distortion Field
A field of energy surrounds you and nearby allies. You and all allies within fifteen feet get a 25% increase to dodge chance. Does not affect chances of area of effects to hit you or your allies.
“Oh hell yeah,” Thorne said, then raised her hammer and plunged into the chaos.
Titus followed her, bellowing a battle cry.
Kaiden adjusted his grip on his hammer, then gave Zelda a nod.
“Full health, abilities coming off of cooldown, and a horde of mobs that might as well not know we’re here.” He smiled. “Let’s go make some trouble.”
The chaos of the melee was dying down. Most of the mobs had been killed and even more of the wardens. It’d been a fight, even with the chaos giving them an advantage, but they’d all made it through. Kaiden had taken several hard hits as blast wardens had managed to steal a moment to fire at him, and there’d been one particularly rough bit where an exceptionally persistent power warden had managed to stay right on him, but the constant leveling from the EXP they were gaining meant his health had restored fully every few minutes. Altogether, they’d each leveled four more times, meaning he was up to forty-seven. Every time a new level was achieved his health had topped off back at one hundred percent – a fact he was sure his opponents would have found annoying, were they not too busy being swarmed by Huntsman mobs.
The assisted kill notifications had been coming in at such a steady pace Kaiden hadn’t been able to keep up.
Shield Warden HaroldMay assisted kill – 4,700 EXP gained!
Power Warden Panzerpants assisted kill – 4,700 EXP gained!
Enhanced Warden Frankie04 assisted kill – 4,700 EXP gained!
Blast Warden Werner06 assisted kill – 4,400 EXP gained!
Shield Warden Tomatillo assisted kill – 4,400 EXP gained!
Power Warden HammerRammer assisted kill – 4,400 EXP gained!
So many names; it was just about all Kaiden could do to see the battleground in front of him. The sides of his vision were flooded with notifications. Assisted kills. Level ups. New abilities. On and on.
As more enemies died, Kaiden leveled up more, closing the level gap between him and the other wardens. It risked drawing the attention of the Huntsman mobs, he knew, but the good thing about having his enemies fighting his other enemies – the wardens fighting the mobs – was that they were killing each other off. Still, how many more were there throughout the base? He didn’t really care to find out.
The fight immediately in front of them had boiled down to just a few scattered remnants now.
“Well, if I were a betting man, I’d say the mobs just about have this one in the bag,” Titus said, pointing to the last group of wardens: four in total and surrounded on all sides by Huntsman mobs. A few steps away, Zelda was in Sniper Mode. She lobbed an Improved Kinetic Grenade into the remains of the fight to make sure she and the rest of the group would get assisted credit when the wardens finally died.
“Moran’s gonna have an aneurysm when he learns about this,” Thorne said, then laughed. “Kaiden, thank you for this.” She spread her arms out wide. “For all of this.” There was an edge to her voice. Excitement, it sounded like. But also something more. Vengeance, maybe? Kaiden couldn’t blame her. He was feeling it himself. The Party was power-leveling accounts with this place, grinding out an army as quickly as possible, but in one fell stroke, he’d put an end to that. For a week, at least.
“Seriously, though. This was insane, Kai.” Titus slapped him on the shoulder so hard he wouldn’t have been surprised if a point of health had ticked away.
“Things, uh…” Kaiden smirked. “Turned out better than expected.”
“You can say that again.”
“Let’s not let our guards down just yet,” Zelda warned, cautious as always. “We’re almost in the clear. It’s time we got out of here before something goes wrong.”
“She’s right,” Thorne agreed. “The surviving wardens will have called for help. Probably some time ago, really. Reinforcements will be on their way to the planet. We should get back to the shuttle. Get scarce.”
“For sure,” Kaiden said, but he didn’t move. He found himself morbidly interested in who was going to come out victorious.
The last of the hominoids died with a screech, but it took one of the wardens with it.
Shield Warden HammyTheManny assisted kill – 4,400 EXP gained!
“Three wardens left,” Kaiden said.
“We should leave, Kai.” Zelda was still in Sniper Mode. She raised her hammer-gun toward the final few combatants.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But we gotta loot this place first. Look at all this!” He spread his arms wide, taking in countless weapons and suits of armor scattered across the battlefield. “There’s a fortune lying around for the taking, not to mention higher level gear. Couldn’t hurt to bring some of that to the tournament.”
“Still a few levels before we can join the tournament,” Titus grunted. “Forty-seven isn’t fifty.”
“It’s close enough,” Thorne said. “No reason to push our luck here. After all—”
A burst of light filled the hallway and Kaiden recoiled as Zelda blasted an Inferno Shot at what was left of the remaining wardens and mobs. Combined with the damage buff from Sniper Mode it hit w
ith enough power to obliterate everything in front of it.
Three more player assisted kill notifications came in along with eight mobs, and then finally, for a moment at least, there was silence.
A notification flashed into Kaiden’s vision.
Achievement Unlocked!
You Have Become Death - 20,000 EXP!
You broke the record for kills or assisted kills in a single battle! Congratulations, you murder-happy psychopath.
Unique Title Awarded: Destroyer of Worlds
Level 48 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Ability unlocked: Lethal Precision
“A world first, eh?” Titus nodded, his face bent into an expression that seemed to say ‘not bad, not bad.’
Kaiden found himself stunned into silence. He read the achievement again, then once more for good measure. Slowly, a smile bloomed on his face. So much of what they’d done with their time in Nova had been because they had to do it, and technically, this wasn’t any different. But for the first time in a while, Kaiden felt the joy of taking pride in what he’d done. Were circumstances not what they were, he would’ve been dying to achieve something as noteworthy as a world first. Compared to the grand scheme of what they were trying to do – to take down the Party – it wasn’t much. But for the moment, it made him happy.
“All right, all right. Enough celebration,” Thorne said. “Let’s loot and get out of here. We’re on the clock. One hundred and two Party employees just logged out, no doubt pissed off and looking for vengeance. This place is going to be swarmed very soon.”