“Even if we managed to get it closed, they’d just unlock it. That won’t do us any good,” she grunted between swings of her massive hammer.
“Not why I was asking,” Kaiden said as a plan came together in his mind. A stupid plan, maybe. And one that was as like to get them killed as it was their enemies. But there wasn’t time for doubt now.
Ability: Flash Bang
The attack burst outward, searing the assembled wardens’ eyes.
“Hold the door as long as you can,” Kaiden shouted, then lowered his shield.
“What are you doing?” Zelda shouted back.
“Something stupid, probably.” Kaiden eyed one of the few spots in the hallway not already filled with wardens.
Ability: Matter Shift
Kaiden rematerialized outside the room and behind the crowd of wardens. Between his Flash Bang and their focus on Titus and Thorne, no one noticed him – a perfect chance to score some critical hits from behind. But why think so small? No; he had bigger plans.
Ability: Lightspeed
Kaiden dumped just about half of his remaining charge into the ability, then burst into motion toward his target: not a warden, but a door.
Last one in, be sure to lock the door behind you. We don’t want any of these buggers getting out to roam the halls, he remembered Thorne warning when they’d first arrived at the facility. He slid to a stop in front of the door he’d picked out.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 20/20 Voidspawn **Huntsman**, Level: 40
Creatures with Huntsman status attack the highest-level enemies in the vicinity first, he thought, smiling. I never thought being lower level than our enemies would be a good thing.
He tapped his hand to the door and it unlocked.
Kaiden paused in front of the open door so the horde of voidspawn inside noticed him. They hissed and chirped, then rushed forward in a surge of flesh and slime and fangs.
“Dinner time, boys!” he shouted. The voidspawn burst into the hallway in a tumble of fury and hunger. Kaiden shot away at the last moment, Lightspeed carrying him at a blistering speed toward the next door. The voidspawn paused a moment, then turned toward their highest-level opponents in the vicinity: the crowd of wardens. A great echoing hiss tore through the hallway as they charged the unsuspecting players.
But Kaiden wasn’t done there. He continued on. The next room had mobs with no particular status. The one after that was full of elites. Then, finally, he found what he was looking for.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Grachnids **Huntsman**, Level: 35
“What’s a party without some grachnids?” He unlocked that door too and continued on.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 20/20 Cryo-mummies **Huntsman**, Level: 45
“You’ll do.” Another door unlocked, then on to the next; a room full of gobbers, but Kaiden wasn’t discriminating when it came to the chaos he was sowing. He let them get close enough that they were in aggro range of the wardens.
“Plenty of things to smash and bite that way!” he said, pointing toward them, then sprinted out of the gobbers’ range, leaving them to attack the unsuspecting wardens.
“Just need a few more rooms,” he muttered as Lightspeed ticked down its final seconds. He rushed forward, unlocking every door in reach.
He released a pack of hominoids, then a second batch of grachnids after that. He followed those with a pride of Baboulian Manhunters and then even a swarm of weirdlings, all with the Huntsman status.
Screams and shouts echoed through the hall as Lightspeed wore off and Kaiden jogged to a stop. He couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face as he turned to find what had once been a crowd of wardens now reduced to a savage melee.
It was utter chaos. Abilities fired off in all directions. Improved Kinetic Grenades exploded against the walls and ceiling. Gravity Sledges sent voidspawn flying like pieces of slime-covered debris. But for every five or six mobs that died, Kaiden saw another warden go down. They’d been unprepared and attacked from behind. More wardens were pouring in from the other side of the fight – lower levels than the other wardens, but still high enough that the mobs would ignore Kaiden and the others, or so it looked like. The monsters welcomed the new combatants with glee as they bit and tore and slashed at anything within reach.
“You there! Stop!”
Shit. Another group of wardens approaching. His visor read out their details and he cursed again. There were five of them, and each was level fifty-five or above. Almost max level.
The high-level wardens Thorne was worried about. They’re finally here. Were there enough mobs to take down five almost max-level players? No way to know, but facing them on his own wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Kaiden began to backpedal, retreating toward the melee, when he spotted an unopened door.
Room status: Unoccupied.
Mob status: 30/30 Ramrunners **Huntsman**, Level: 45
One last addition to the fun, then.
Kaiden gave the approaching wardens a little wave.
“Welcome to the party,” he said, then unlocked the door.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“You’re crazy! And brilliant!” Zelda shouted through comms as Kaiden rejoined the melee.
“A lot of the former, less of the latter,” he said as he ducked under a whipping tentacle from a nearby voidspawn. It was beating down a warden, but its wayward blows threatened to strike anyone in the vicinity. The rest of the melee looked pretty much the same – a chaos of flailing voidspawn tentacles, slashing grachnid legs, slobbering gobbers, and more that Kaiden didn’t even have time to process.
He made his way through it, ducking and dodging and trying not to draw too much attention as he made for the door where he could still see Titus’ shield glowing bright. A beacon of light amid the insanity. Thankfully, he was still one of the lowest level wardens in the room, which meant none of the mobs were targeting him. All the same, Kaiden had Improved Blur active.
“Get back here,” Titus called through comms. “Most
