“Form your ranks, move as one, just like we planned.” Kaiden wished he could say ‘practiced’ but there hadn’t been time for that. Luckily, with Maximus guild members sprinkled throughout the force, there were plenty of experienced PVPers to guide the less experienced. For the most part, the army moved as one, tank classes in the front, melee fighters in the middle, and ranged classes in the rear. There were holes in the formations here and there, but considering the circumstances it was good enough. On his command module they formed a wave of green dots, and arrayed before them was a sea of red opposing forces. In the middle, like a tiny arrow point, was the bomb squad, ready to punch through the defenses.
His own group was among them.
Titus and the free warden Eqokkhabone were both shield wardens so they took the lead, shields up and on.
“I’ve been waiting to do this forever,” Titus said as he slid into place next to Eqokkhabone, then activated Shield Brother.
Ability: Improved Shield Brother
Locking shields with another shield warden boosts absorption capacity of both your shields by +30%.
The Maximus guild members PlayaSlaya had brought along were mainly DPS classes – Cybernetic knights and brawlers, plus one medic – so they took position just behind Titus and Eqokkhabone.
Protecting those in the back. Protecting us, Kaiden thought. And a weird thought it was. But he was important here. And so was Zelda. And Thorne. Each of them had a job to do and they needed to survive long enough to do it.
PlayaSlaya, Nando, Dawson and the other two free wardens joined up around Kaiden, Zelda, and Thorne, and then the whole unit was off. They rose from the crater that had been protecting them and into a spattering of fire from the Warden Corps defenses.
The good news was the majority of the ground defenses were designed to repel an air attack. The anti-air turrets couldn’t aim down to ground level. The majority of fire that trickled in at the combined army came from the automated turrets and the small battalion of blast wardens who’d been stationed in the bunkers and trenches in front of the gate. Hardly enough of them to do much to the approaching army.
Kaiden’s Intangible Defense passive was ready to blank the first attack that hit him. None did, though; not yet. Titus and the free shield warden, Eqokkhabone, at the head of the bomb team were enough to keep the rest of the group protected.
“That thing’s got a health pool, like anything else in Nova. We can break it,” Kaiden said, pointing to the gate as he spoke to his group.
“We’ll see how it holds up to a corps of pissed-off free wardens,” Dawson said.
“And the finest PVP guild in the game,” PlayaSlaya added, not to be outdone.
Even as they spoke, though, something ahead of them moved.
The gate, Kaiden realized. It’s opening!
Oh, he thought a moment later as he saw why it was opening. Oh, shit.
Chapter Fifty-Six
They marched in a formation so tight, so perfectly in-sync, it would have been beautiful, would have been inspiring, would have given Kaiden the faith he needed that this battle was well in hand – if only those marching were his own forces and not Warden Corps reinforcements.
Though reinforcements wasn’t the right word. This wasn’t backup; this was their main force. The defenders of Custos come to do battle.
Kaiden had expected fifteen hundred wardens, but this force in front of him now was easily two thousand on its own.
The warden army deployed and Kaiden found himself facing a symphony of destruction set to unfold in four devastating acts.
The front lines came first. Ranks of shield wardens marched shoulder to shoulder with their massive shields glowing a burning blue. Custos shook beneath the sheer weight of their armor. With Improved Shield Brother they’d be an unbreakable force, ready to take the brunt of all damage and deal it back with Reflection and Karmic Reprisal. With their Intransigence, they were an immovable line of defense.
The next ranks were the sword behind the shield. Power wardens were arrayed in fighting groups of fours and fives, hammers the size of engine blocks and arms loaded with enough strength to put them to terrifying use. Their Earth Shatters and Heroic Leaps when delivered en masse would rend even large groups of players asunder and their Gravity Sledges would wreak further havoc, sending players flying in all directions.
There were a few enhanced wardens sprinkled throughout as well, their forms lightning fast and glowing as they sped across the battlefield with ease. They would strike with pinpoint precision amongst the chaos created by the power wardens. Lightspeed. Enfeebling Strike. Onslaught. All would combine to devastating effect.
The blast wardens came last, hammer-guns at the ready. Like true DPS types they would already be soaking up charge, preparing to rain their most damaging attacks down upon their enemies in a storm of light and fire. Protected by the shielders, with opponents softened by the power wardens and information relayed by the roaming enhanced wardens, they would be the executioners. Their Improved Warden’s Bolts and Inferno Shots would be death itself as they dispensed indiscriminate ruin to all in their path.
This was what the Corps was designed for, each class working in perfect unison. The Warden Corps’ army was a machine built for war, designed that way, and ready to crush anything in its path. Kaiden now found himself and his army in that very path. It was terrifying.
“There are too many,” Thorne said, awe in her voice as the reinforced gate closed behind the last ranks of the enemy army. She shook her head in disbelief.
“It’s too late to worry about it now,” PlayaSlaya snarled. “We don’t
