Titus ignored it all, though, instead slapping at the flames still nipping at his armor.
“Uh, a little help here?” he called, looking around. “Fight’s over, right? Someone have a bucket of water or something?”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Titus, dude! That was awesome!” Kaiden said, sprinting forward. The big man was sitting in the shelter of one of the arena’s entrance tunnels, having been ushered out of the arena as the next fighters had been led in. The next fight was already underway, cheers and blasts of light evident in the background.
Titus looked up as Kaiden approached. There was an intensity in his eyes, fierce and single-minded. Like he was still in the fight, and was measuring Kaiden up and figuring out how to take him down.
“You okay, big guy?”
Titus blinked and the look was gone.
“Kai,” he said with a nod and a small smile. “Got her pretty good, didn’t I?”
“You totally baited her in, then used her own attacks – not to mention the environment – against her,” Kaiden agreed, replaying every moment of the fight.
“Had to get creative,” Titus said with a shrug. “Shielders don’t deal that much damage.”
“Well, you dealt enough to advance. I’d say that’s plenty.”
“You’re back on after this fight,” a voice said. A medic, Kaiden saw as the man approached. He looked to be in a hurry and wasn’t paying full attention to either of them.
“Here, heal up. Then when they call for you, don’t waste any time.”
He popped an ability and the air around Titus began to glow green. Particles formed and rushed toward him. They globbed onto his armor like some sort of plasma, and everywhere they touched, damage began to repair itself.
“That’s the stuff,” Titus said, leaning back and sighing. A moment later he looked at Kaiden. “Dude, we need a healer in the group.”
“Don’t I know it. We have the medbay on the Verit–” He stopped, hesitating to use the ship’s real name in public. “On the Andronicus, but that doesn’t really help us in combat.”
“Next time we get arrested and sent to jail, remind me to find a friend to play healer before we decide to break out, yeah?”
Kaiden chuckled at that.
“Yeah, sounds good.”
A particularly loud explosion from the ongoing fight caught Kaiden’s attention and he looked toward the arena for a moment, then pulled himself back to Titus.
“They wouldn’t let us all come down and see you, so Zelda and Thorne sent me ahead. Gave me some advice to pass along for the next fight.”
“Is it ‘don’t die?’”
“Well, we’d have hoped that part was obvious.” Kaiden punched him in the shoulder. “No, but seriously. Your last opponent didn’t seem familiar with the shield warden class. That’s why you were able to bait her in like that. We don’t think you’re going to get so lucky next time. Zelda says if your opponent wasn’t watching, their friends definitely were.” Kaiden looked back to the entrance to the tunnel where Thorne and Zelda were waiting, just on the other side of two security guards.
“I know, I know,” he said with a nod. “It’s like boxing. You can’t always go in with the same strategy. People catch on.”
“Keep things fresh. Exactly. And Thorne said, well…” Kaiden paused. “Thorne just said to beat the crap out of whoever it is you face next.”
Titus laughed at that. A good, long belly laugh, and Kaiden couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t found Thorne’s advice particularly helpful, but maybe now it made sense. Titus wasn’t new to Nova, and even outside the game he knew how to fight. He didn’t need everyone clogging his mind with their worries and plans before the next round. What he needed was to be relaxed and focused. Probably Thorne understood that. Probably this had been her way of conveying it.
Another explosion from the arena and the announcer shouted excitedly. Apparently, the fight was drawing to a close.
“Beat the crap out of my opponent?” Titus said, still chuckling as he turned his attention to his now-repaired armor and replenished health.
“Okay, enough chit chat. Mind on the next fight,” Kaiden said, looking over to Titus’ next opponent. “What the heck is a ‘gravity slinger?’” he asked as his visor gave him info on the challenger.
Supermassive
Class: Gravity Slinger
Faction: Unaffiliated
Level: 52
Quick Facts: Gravity slingers specialize in the manipulation of gravity to create powerful ranged attacks. But don’t let that fool you; their melee attacks, though few, can be used to devastating ends.
The man was dressed in a suit of power armor made of… well, it looked to be rocks. Except, he wasn’t exactly wearing them, and they weren’t formed into any cohesive suit. The rocks, all different shapes and sizes, floated in the air, inches away from his body but close enough that they’d likely block incoming attacks. There weren’t enough to cover all of him, only his chest really. But they seemed to slip around him, bobbing ever so slightly as they rotated around in a slow circle as if flowing in some sort of invisible current.
He’s manipulating gravity to keep the rocks there, I guess? Must be an ability. So how does he fight? My visor seemed to suggest ranged attacks, but there was some mention of melee attacks as well?
“I don’t know much about this class,” Kaiden confessed as he relayed the info from his visor.
“Sounds like I want to stay away from his melee attacks. Fight him like he’s a ranged class, I guess?”
“That’d be my guess, but that armor of his is strange. It looks heavier than I’d expect from any ranged class. I don’t know what to tell you here. This might take some feeling out.”
“And that’s the fight, folks!” the announcer’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
The officials gestured and Supermassive moved toward the arena.
“I’ll figure it out,” Titus said, then followed his opponent.
“What’s this guy gonna do? Throw rocks at Titus?” Thorne asked. The idea seemed laughable right up until the fight began.
“And we’re off!” the announcer shouted.
Supermassive charged forward with a sound
