The Warden Corps shielders were occupied – either focusing on maintaining their barriers, which meant not building charge, or desperately warding off attacks from their backs – and Kaiden could see them giving ground. They were driven backward, step by step. Kaiden was so far back among his own forces that few attacks made it to him and the rest of the bomb team, but already he could see the result of the warden lines giving. Those directly around the bomb team were surging forward, pushing into the bulge the front lines had created. With the center of the warden force distracted by the Maximus members among them, the shielders were left to hold the front on their own.
“We’re pushing their line to the brink,” Kaiden said. “We just have to break through.”
“My boys are softening up their core,” PlayaSlaya said. “If we can punch in there we’ll cut right through that mess.” Even as he spoke, though, Kaiden could see the fight just beyond the Warden Corps’ front lines getting desperate – but not in the way he wanted. The enemy blast wardens in the rear had turned their attention to the chaos. Improved Burst Arrows and Improved Scatter Shots plunged toward the Maximus elite. Improved Kinetic Grenades detonated in blasts of lasers and flames.
Worse, the power wardens had charge now, and they were putting it to use. Kaiden’s visor flashed abilities at him in a frenzy as it spotted them. Amid the chaos of it all he recognized a pattern.
Ability: See Red
For the next 20 seconds your base damage is increased by 20% for each opponent slain.
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.
Ability: Improved Chained Fury
Your combat prowess allows you to chain attacks together. For the next 5 seconds, each attack deals an additional 20% damage for every successful attack before it.
The blast wardens were softening up the Maximus elite and the power wardens were mopping them up with a three-ability combo. Cybernetic knights and brawlers began to die with increasing frequency as the power wardens’ See Red did its work.
Even as Kaiden watched, more and more of the Maximus elite fell. The warden army had taken the full brunt of the attack and was on the verge of recovering. In a minute or two they’d be able to pivot onto the offensive.
If Kaiden’s forces could just break the shielders in front they’d have a way into the warden ranks. The army could surge in and force the fight into the disorganized scrum Kaiden was aiming for.
With the fighting in so close it was likely most of his forces would have trouble recognizing they’d been given new orders, so Kaiden focused on the most reliable of them: the free wardens.
“Shielders, keep pushing forward. Power wardens, vault past their front line, then attack it from behind. Earth Shatter on landing, then follow up with Improved Shield Break as needed. Break the line!”
He’d hardly finished giving the order before the free wardens were in motion. Free power wardens launched into the air, less of them than Kaiden would have liked, but he’d only had a hundred free wardens total. An even smaller number of them were power wardens. Nonetheless, they came down like a meteor shower, exploding into the soil with a rain of shockwaves that crashed into the back of the opposing shield wardens’ barriers.
If they can break the shielders, the rest of our force can push in and reinforce the Maximus elite. Turn that fight in the middle ranks into a proper scrum. Just the kind of chaos we need to punch through to the gate.
Several Improved Barriers cracked, then shattered entirely. The shielders were left with glowing auras around them – the personal force fields that persisted after Improved Barrier went down – but they didn’t last long as the free power wardens struck with Improved Shield Break.
The combination of attacks left the very center of the warden line in shambles. Most of the barriers there were broken, and with Improved Shield Break hitting the wardens themselves, the front line was just about gone.
And still it wasn’t going to be enough. The power wardens and blast wardens had all but eradicated the Maximus elite. The scrum Kaiden wanted in the middle ranks was almost gone and the Warden Corps forces were regaining their composure.
Suddenly, the Warden Corps middle ranks moved as one. They all split to the side to reveal a group of Sniper Moded blast wardens with abilities charging on the end of their hammer-rifles. Abilities Kaiden recognized all too well.
Ability: Inferno Shot
You fire an explosive, superheated blast that ignores 50% of the target’s armor. Deals 3x base damage to all targets in range (allies included). Takes 7 seconds to charge (must be stationary).
“Oh hell,” Kaiden said and then a half-dozen Inferno Shots tore through the Maximus elite and free warden core.
More players than Kaiden could keep up with were cut down as a scorching swath was burned through his army. His command module went mad trying to account for the losses. Commanders shouted through comms, trying to organize and compensate for having a hole blown straight through the entire force.
Kaiden heard them all, but for a moment, he was stunned.
As he watched, the rest of the Warden Corps blast wardens began to move. With the immediate threat gone from the army’s middle ranks, they were forming up; had moved closer to the front line and were raising their hammer-rifles for some sort of mass attack. Kaiden cringed as his visor read out exactly what.
Inferno Shot.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Beside her, Thorne saw Kaiden flinch, then followed his gaze until she realized what he’d seen. The Warden
