“Intransigence,” Kaiden said, looking at Titus out of the corner of his eye. “As if you weren’t already stubborn enough.”
“Heh.” The big man chuckled. “Seems the game’s encouraging me. I’m gonna take that as a sign I’m going in the right direction.”
The next new ability was Zelda’s.
Ability: In My Sights (passive)
As long as you are locked on to a target, all allies deal +25% damage to the target.
Ah, this partners up with Lock On. He pulled up a tab on the ability to re-familiarize himself with it.
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.
Nice! So, Lock On will lock her on to a target, then the new passive, In My Sights, will let each of us deal additional damage to that target for up to five seconds. A pretty convenient way to focus important targets. Pick off an opposing medic or blast warden in order to swing a battle in their favor. More combos. They’re each very powerful, but we’ll need to coordinate to make the most of them.
So, that was it for new abilities for the moment. Thorne was above them in level by a bit so she hadn’t unlocked anything new just yet.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Titus asked, looking around at the remains of their last fight. “This room’s clear, on to the next one. What is that, five down now? Six?”
“Something like that,” Kaiden said as he moved toward the door that led back out into the hallway. This was always the most dangerous part. Once they were in a room, they were fine, but switching between them always ran the hazard of being spotted.
“The guys in the next room over are still fighting,” Zelda said, pressing her ear to the wall. “Sounds like they’re in the thick of it, too.”
“Good.” Thorne nodded at that. “Let’s move while they’re busy.”
Kaiden sucked in a deep breath. This whole plan was insane, but he had to admit it’d been working. Normally, when they fought mobs, they were in limited numbers; or worse, killing enough of them would level him above the mobs. Once that happened, killing them didn’t make much sense. The EXP gained was too little. The Grinder had sidestepped that problem entirely, though.
Kaiden flipped the lock on the door and it snapped open. He peered out cautiously. No one in the hallway.
Good.
“The next several rooms are all level forty-five or six. Easy to get to, but…”
“Too low-level,” Zelda said. She joined him, peeking into the hallway as well. “There,” she nodded. “I can see a few level fifty rooms just beyond that next intersection.”
“Big level jump,” Titus said. “I dig it.”
“We’ll have to be careful, but I think it’s worth it,” Kaiden said. “The sooner we hit level fifty, the sooner we can get out of here.”
“He’s right,” Thorne said. “No reason to tempt fate.”
“Level fifty it is.” Kaiden sucked down another deep breath, checked the hallway was still clear, then stepped out of the room.
Stand up straight. Look casual. No one knows who you are unless they get close enough to read your name. Play it cool, he told himself. But there was no one else in the hallway.
He heard the others join him as he set a brisk pace down the hall. The lights above cast the space in a constant yellow glow. It reflected off minerals in the stone walls in a thousand little pinpoints. The wall was punctuated every twenty or so steps by another door. Kaiden couldn’t help but read their displays as he passed.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 0/0 Voidspawn, Level: 45
Looked like someone had already cleared that room out. Maybe it’d been them? Honestly, Kaiden couldn’t remember. All of the rooms they’d been in were blurring together.
Room status: Occupied.
Mob status: 15/15 Ramrunners **Huntsman**, Level: 30
The sounds of abilities firing off echoed out of that one, paired with the shouts and exclamations of a team of wardens coordinating their attacks. Kaiden winced and picked up the pace as he passed the door.
They’re busy in there, though. We’re fine. We’re fine.
He paused again as he reached the intersection. To either side, more doors and rooms stretched into the distance. Down the right-side route, though, Kaiden could see a change in the layout of the base. The hall ended in some sort of larger room. A barracks or something, from the looks of it.
“Don’t wanna head that way,” Thorne hissed as she stepped past him and continued toward their next room.
“Come on, Kai,” Zelda said, nudging his shoulder as she followed Thorne through the intersection.
“Right, right.” Kaiden shook off the trance that had come over him. The mental exhaustion was really messing with him now. It mixed with the constant worry of being discovered to create what he could only think of as a significant real-life debuff. His status in-game was fine, but his mind in real life was tired. He shook the feeling off – no time to be off my game – and followed the others to the far side of the intersection.
“Yo! Hold up a second!”
A voice called out from down by the barracks. Kaiden near jumped out of his armor from the shock of it. It took all the concentration he had to force his body to keep walking at a steady pace as if he hadn’t heard the shout. It was three painfully long steps before he was out of the intersection and back into the hall.
“Go, go, go!” Thorne hissed, breaking into a run toward the next room. She pulled up short at the last moment, then ducked into a different room.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob
