Titus growled, then spun just in time to catch the attack on his shield and activate an ability of his own.
Ability: Reflection
Reflects 20% of damage absorbed by the warden’s shield back against the attacker for 10 seconds.
Cost: 20 charge.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Good thinking. Kaiden glanced over his shoulder to watch as the Improved Burst Arrow that’d been targeting Titus exploded against his shield. Twenty percent of its damage reflected back at Werner. It rebounded as half-formed, smaller, and seemingly unstable versions of the original Burst Arrow. Didn’t look too impressive, really, but twenty percent of the damage from a level fifty-three player’s attack was nothing to scoff at.
Werner might as well have scoffed at it, though. He didn’t even try to dodge it; just put his head down and pushed right through the blast. His health bar dropped to eighty-two percent, but he was closer to them now.
“Titus, keep moving! We have to reach the starport!” Kaiden shouted, but the big man had already returned to his sprint. The crowd parted as he moved through it with impressive speed. No doubt none of them were looking to get in the way of that much directed momentum.
There was another ding in Kaiden’s ear.
Targeted by ranged attack.
Werner really needs to learn the concept of focusing his fire. Switching between Titus and me is hardly the most effective strategy. Which is a good thing for us, actually.
Improved Enhanced Senses ran out and shut off, but Kaiden’s visor flashed text across his vision and he was just able read it before an attack slammed into him.
Ability: Improved Paralyzing Shot
Oh. Oh no.
His health bar dropped down to eleven percent, but the wasn’t the worst of it. Energy crackled all over his body. His sprint slowed to a jog, then a stumbling walk. He was tilted forward, urging himself to move, but every movement felt slow, like he was drunk, or worse, catching some lag. But he wasn’t. The ‘paralyzing’ part of Improved Paralyzing Shot was kicking in, reducing his speed by... some amount. He’d only seen Zelda’s Paralyzing Shot – the unimproved version – but even that slowed targets by fifty percent for ten seconds.
Running from this fight just got a whole lot more difficult.
And with his health so low, one more attack was likely to finish him off.
Okay, okay. So I just can’t get hit. That’s priority number one. Kaiden used the charge he had remaining to keep himself alive.
Ability: Improved Blur
His charge began to deplete – five units for every second the ability was active – and his body began to vibrate and fall out of focus. In moments, he was vibrating side to side, jittering, almost. And then a body double stepped out from him. And another. Two in total, and both of them vibrating and shaking and jerking around just the same as he was. Three targets, each as hard to hit as the next, and only one of them real.
Several ‘Oohs’ and ‘Ahhs’ trickled out from the crowd at the sight.
If he can’t hit me, he can’t kill me.
Ability: Lock On
Werner10 has locked on to you.
Uh-oh. Zelda had the ability, he knew, but he couldn’t recall its full description. He tried to use his visor to pull up specifics on the ability, but as usual, it would only give a vague description of enemy abilities.
Locks on to a target so attacks will not miss. Deactivates if target is out of sight or when damage is taken.
Okay. This is officially a problem. A very big problem.
“Keep going, Titus. Get to the Borrelly and get out of here!”
“What?” the big man shouted back, but Kaiden wasn’t listening. An idea had just occurred to him.
Lock On can’t hit me if Werner can’t see me, right?
It was worth a shot. Kaiden looked to both sides and quickly dismissed that as an option. He was a good three or four paces from any sort of cover, and with the paralysis still slowing him, he’d have no chance.
“Tough luck, kid,” Werner10 said, then began charging what was sure to be a lethal shot. Looked like an Improved Kinetic Grenade.
Except... Kaiden felt his eyes go wide. Damage! Lock On ‘deactivates if target is out of sight or when damage is taken.’
Kaiden canceled his Improved Blur and stopped vibrating. His body doubles disappeared, leaving him exposed, but his charge bar also stopped draining.
Twenty-three charge left. Just enough.
Ability: Hammer Toss
Kaiden lunged forward and threw his hammer with everything in him. Not that it helped any – the game determined how hard his throw was based on his stats – but still, he willed it forward.
The hammer flew through the air and caught Werner10 before he’d finished charging his attack. It did negligible damage, but achieved the intended effect.
Werner10’s lock has been broken.
“Ha! Yes!” Kaiden pumped a fist in celebration. A few of the crowd cheered with him. Then Kaiden realized something.
Ah. Crap.
Werner10 wasn’t locked on anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t shoot. And he’d had to turn off Improved Blur to have enough charge for Hammer Toss. He’d been so focused on breaking Lock On that he’d forgotten the rest of the fight was still happening.
Werner smiled, raised his hammer-gun, and fired.
Kaiden closed his eyes and sighed.
The Improved Kinetic Grenade exploded with a deafening boom and Kaiden waited for the message telling him he’d been defeated.
But it didn’t come.
“C’mon, Kai. You didn’t think I’d leave you here?”
Kaiden opened his eyes to find Titus in front of him, his shield raised and flickering.
“No! You should have kept going. At least one of us would have survived.”
Werner10 fired a follow-up Improved Burst Arrow. The attack overloaded Titus’ shield. The thin, transparent barrier of energy that’d been protecting them flickered once more, then disappeared.
“Nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide,” Werner10 said.
He’s level fifty-three. Even if we closed the gap on him, our attacks just flat out aren’t strong enough to bring him down. We can’t make up for a level gap this big.
Werner advanced, his hammer-gun lowered.
Preparing to Shackle
