Kaiden side-stepped around the shielder, using his high dexterity stat to its fullest. It helped that his doppelgangers mimicked him, confusing his opponent as to which one was real. Kaiden raised his hammer and attacked Alvarez.
The blaster let loose an Improved Scatter Shot but it was aimed at one of the body doubles. Kaiden kept swinging, scoring three more hits. Alvarez’s health flashed, but dropped far less than Kaiden would have liked.
Back in the midst of the fighting, Kaiden saw a burst of light as Esme fired off an ability. Thorne was flung up into the ceiling then tumbled back down to the floor with a resounding crash. Her health dropped by a good twenty percent. While she was down, Esme turned to the turen marksmen now firing on her and started swinging. They flew like bowling pins, launched this way and that, but dutifully still firing as she plunged into their ranks.
Turen Marksman Ally Slain!
Turen Marksman Ally Slain!
Turen Marksman Ally Slain!
Many more of them were going to die, Kaiden knew, but all they needed to do was buy time.
Turen Marksmen Ally Slain!
While Esme made a mess of the marksmen, Kaiden kept swinging at Alvarez. The shielder, Clarissa, tried to focus on covering him from the attacks, but the four remaining marines kept a steady stream of fire coming in and peppering them both, ticking away at their health.
Ability: Improved Barrier
The shielder popped the ability and a force field materialized around her and Alvarez, swallowing up the incoming fire. As it did, Kaiden found the full attention of both players turned toward him.
He dodged to the side as Alvarez let loose three rapid-fire shots, one at each body double and Kaiden. He moved quickly, but not quickly enough, and the attack caught on his shield, sparking as it hit. Alvarez spotted the hit and smirked, having identified which Kaiden was real.
“Titus! Zelda!” Kaiden shouted through comms, getting their attention through the hail of fire. “Hit Clarissa and Alvarez from behind!”
“On it!” Titus shouted back, then jumped into a charge. Zelda must have been forced out of Sniper Mode at some point because she followed him step for step, firing off abilities as she approached. The attacks landed on Clarissa’s Improved Barrier and it shook under the assault.
Alvarez was still firing, though, and Kaiden backpedaled, weaving back and forth to avoid the continued barrage of fire that was starting to make mincemeat of his health bar. A moment later, though, the attacks stopped as Alvarez was forced to respond to Titus and Zelda’s advance. The opposing blast warden charged up an Improved Kinetic Grenade and hurled it at them.
“Shield Link with Zelda!” Kaiden shouted and Titus smiled.
Ability: Shield Link
Your charge is redirected to flow into a nearby ally. For a duration of 15 seconds, all charge you absorb is sent to a warden ally within 50 feet.
Cost: 30 charge.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
The grenade exploded and Titus’s health dropped to seventy-two percent. Zelda took some of the splash damage as well, but she responded immediately and hit the Improved Barrier with another blast. Cracks were beginning to show in its surface now.
"It’s better to give than receive,” Zelda said.
Ability: Lock On
You direct charge into your hammer-gun. For 5 seconds, as long as the last target you damaged is within your line of sight, your attacks will not miss. You cannot attack any other target. If you take damage this effect deactivates.
Cost: 30 charge.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Ability: Improved Warden’s Bolt
You fire two bolts of lightning instead of one. Discharge bolts of lightning that jump to multiple targets within range of the impact target. Initial range 50 feet, jump range 10 feet. Deals +150% base damage, reducing by half with each successive jump.
Cost: 25 charge.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Zelda locked on to Alvarez and unleashed her Improved Warden’s Bolt at almost the same moment. Two bolts of lightning arced from the barrel of her hammer and into Clarissa’s Improved Barrier. What charge the shield warden might have had was depleted now as the damage from Zelda’s attack forced the barrier to flicker, then disappear entirely. Its second ability triggered then and formed a protective shield around Clarissa. It absorbed the damage coming in from Zelda’s Improved Warden’s Bolt, but she wasn’t the target of the attack. The bolt jumped to the only other enemy target within range: Alvarez. The blast warden cursed as the lightning electrocuted him with a savage hiss and his health dropped significantly. It’d already been around eighty-five percent from the few attacks that had connected, but now it was driven further down to sixty-nine percent.
Blast wardens are always squishy once you get damage on them, Kaiden thought, then put the second part of his plan into action. Titus and Zelda’s push, combined with the concentrated fire from the marines, had been like a flurry of jabs. Not too damaging, but quick and designed to attract attention. Now that Alvarez and Clarissa were distracted, Kaiden loaded up for the heavy left hook that, with any luck, was going to be crippling.
Ability: Lightspeed
Dangerous levels of charge are channeled into your leg implants, increasing movement speed by 200% for 10 seconds. You will take double damage if hit during Lightspeed.
Cost: 30 charge.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Double damage if I get hit, Kaiden thought, then smirked. Good thing no one’s looking at me.
He exploded forward with so much speed it was almost hard to control. He came in swinging and used his momentum to hasten his attacks on Alvarez’s back.
Critical hit!
+50% damage (Headshot)
Critical hit!
+25% damage (Shattered Elbow)
The already injured blast warden was damaged even further. His health dropped by another ten percent.
“Get ready, Titus!” Kaiden shouted.
“Ready for what?” the big man shouted back. He was able to lower his shield, since Alvarez had turned in response to Kaiden’s flanking attack.
“I had you advance so you’d be close enough,” Kaiden said, feinting in toward Alvarez. The blast warden backpedaled, trying to get outside of Kaiden’s attack range – and that was his critical mistake.
“Close enough so you could grab
