Titus raised his hammer to strike, then seemed to think better of it. He retreated, but Supermassive was far faster. Titus was forced to duck behind his shield as the attack came in.
So much for avoiding his melee attack, Kaiden thought, wincing as his visor read out the gravity slinger’s opening attack.
Ability: Mass x Acceleration
A high-damage melee attack that deals damage based on the user’s level and dexterity.
Supermassive punched forward with a fist, but as Kaiden saw, it wasn’t just his fist. The previously invisible currents around the gravity slinger briefly became visible as faintly glowing lines spinning around him. Spinning, or orbiting? Kaiden thought. Then, all at once, the lines changed direction, swarming toward Supermassive’s reared fist. The rocks followed and in the blink of an eye his fist was coated in them – the hand of a stone giant punching forward at Titus.
The blow slammed into his shield and a shockwave exploded outward from the impact. Dust and dirt and even several loose stones were blasted away, flying through the air. Gale-force winds swept over Titus, and were it not for Intransigence, Kaiden had no doubt the big man would have been launched directly into the electrified wall behind him. He held firm, though. Unfortunately, his shield didn’t. It flickered once and went out.
“Overloaded? From a single blow?” Zelda asked, shock plastered across her face.
“That’s not good…” Thorne added unhelpfully. “This guy’s gotta be a glass cannon if he can hit like that.”
Titus was still standing, though. Given, his health had taken a beating; even through the shield it’d dropped to seventy-two percent.
“That attack dealt twenty-eight percent damage through his shield!” Kaiden shouted, not believing what he was seeing. “That’s insane! That would one-hit kill if unblocked.”
“He’d better not get hit by it again, then,” Thorne said. “It has to be a once-per-combat ability, or at least have a ridiculously long cooldown, right?”
Improved Volt Field had dealt damage to Supermassive because he’d attacked with a melee attack, and as Kaiden looked, he realized it’d dealt far more damage than it normally did. That, or gravity slingers had far less health than most classes. He was already down to ninety percent.
Titus can whoop this guy if he can land a few hits.
“Whoa, look at that,” Zelda said, pointing toward Supermassive. The arm he’d punched with was hanging limp at his side in what appeared to be some sort of visual cooldown cue. Titus must have spotted it as well. He lunged forward and pressed the attack.
The upside to an overloaded shield – if there ever was one – was a full charge bar. All of Titus’ abilities were theoretically open to him. The problem was, any that required a shield couldn’t be used, which, for a shield warden, happened to be most of them. Nonetheless, the charge was enough to start dealing some damage back. Titus used Rallying Cry then lashed out with several hammer strikes. The first of the strikes connected and tore a whopping twenty-six percent of Supermassive’s health away.
The gravity slinger retreated, and fast. As he did, the rocks that had been around his fist returned to their original orbit around his torso.
Titus tried to keep pace with Supermassive, swinging wildly. A blow connected solidly with his opponent’s shoulder. The orbiting rock armor absorbed the hit, but as Kaiden looked closer, he could see the spot that had been hit was damaged. The rock there had a spiderweb of cracks running through it. Titus swung again and Supermassive sidestepped so the blow landed on a different piece of armor. That one cracked as well.
“Hit the same spot!” Kaiden shouted, but his voice was lost among the crowd as others jeered at Titus’ seeming success. The big man was quick on the uptake, though. He’d noticed the damage to his opponent’s armor and his next attack landed in the same spot as the first.
This time, the rock there shattered completely, falling away in a rain of pebbles, and Supermassive’s health bar flashed and dropped to sixty-four percent.
“Gah!” he cried, then scowled.
Ability: Conservation of Mass (passive)
Broken armor lashes out at the attacker, then begins reforming.
Like Volt Field, Kaiden thought as the ability activated. A rain of shards of shattered rock armor flew up from the ground and at Titus’ face. They clinked off his helmet, dealing only one percent damage but clearly obscuring his vision for a moment. He grunted and swatted at them. The pebbles were flung away, then turned and rushed back toward Supermassive. They returned to the place they’d originally been above his shoulder, but instead of forming into a solid rock again, they remained as dozens of little pieces.
The pebbles’ distraction had been enough for Supermassive to slip out of Titus’ range, and thanks to what Kaiden imagined was a pretty high dexterity stat, he wasn’t having much trouble staying there. Titus trudged after him, hammer swinging non-stop, but Supermassive was just a step quicker. As long as there was room to move, he could stay out of reach. The arm he’d used to punch with earlier was still hanging limp. Apparently Mass x Acceleration had quite a cooldown on it, which made sense considering how powerful it was.
Ability: Kinetic Velocity
A ranged attack that deals moderate damage.
Supermassive slung his still-functioning left arm at Titus and a chunk of rock split away and hurtled forward. Titus leaned to the side but was too slow to avoid the blow. It caught him in the chest plate and shattered with a thud so forceful Kaiden could feel it in his own chest. Titus’ health dropped to sixty-three percent. The now broken pieces of rock flew back to Supermassive’s arm and remained there as another cloud of pebbles.
Supermassive shifted his armor and the pebbles moved away, then were replaced with a fresh piece of rock armor. Then he used Kinetic Velocity again.
“He’s sacrificing armor for damage!” Kaiden realized.
With no shield, Titus had no option
