by Tao Wong
Capacity: ??/??
Not particularly helpful, but it’s clear that the longer the Tinkerer has to work, the more of his toys he’ll be able to build. Still, I’m forced to wait till the pirate teams are a decent distance from each other. One advantage we have is that the merchant ship is huge.
“Team four here. Sensor ghost down.”
“Good,” I say, eyeing the suddenly fast-moving group nearest them. “Retreat to hold 4 – 3.”
“Roger.” Our team’s dot moves fast. Which is good. Except…
“Oy, idiots. The other way,” Ali speaks up before I do. He takes over giving them directions while muffled curses from the group erupt over the joint channel.
I ignore it all, eyeing the other sensor ghosts, who have slowed down and are darting through walls at a more regular pace. Unfortunately, our attacks mean that the pirate teams have sped up.
“Team two. Pull back.” Their acknowledgement is ignored as I turn to the rest of the volunteers around me. “Get ready. We’re going in.”
I meet Mikito’s eyes, knowing that the Samurai knows what I want. She gives me a half smile, her naginata in hand as she readies herself to dart through the Portal, casting Haste and other buffing spells on herself. All around us is the dim glow of various beneficial spells layering on the group, healing, mana, and defensive spells popping up one after the other. I take the time to layer my own Soul Shield on myself and Mikito before adding a third on Harry.
“Ready,” Mikito says.
Activating the Class Skill takes a few seconds of concentration. The moment the pitch-black Portal opens, Mikito darts through. The other end of the Portal opens up right in front of the docking bay doors. It gives Mikito a fraction of a second of surprise—more than enough time for the Samurai to attack. Rather than going for any single individual, she darts forward, intent on destroying their teleportation portal.
The rest of the teams jump through, one after the other, firing weapons, casting single-target spells, and activating Skills in a rush of destruction. One team swerves left, the other right, focusing their fire on the flame throwers that have turned around. Unfortunately, hidden shielding keeps them in working order, the spells, bullets, and beams splashing harmlessly against them.
“Oooh, rats coming through the Portal. How annoying…” the Tinkerer says.
Even as the Tinkerer turns toward the teleportation portal, Mikito’s Charge smashes apart the defensive shielding around it, tearing apart the contraption. As her naginata buries itself in the sensitive machinery, Hitoshi glows, Mana flooding the artifact.
“My pad! Damn you. That took months to build. How did you break the shielding? No. I’ll just have to take that weapon of yours. I can see it’s an artifact, oh yes.” The beam weapons on Yidma’s robotic form fires even while its legs patter over to the side, where new liquid-metal tendrils extend, patching together new machine parts that appear from its inventory.
“Move, people,” I snarl at the teams bunched up around the Portal.
I’ve kept the size of the Portal big enough for two people to go through at a time so that stray attacks from the other side don’t come bouncing back, but it also creates a bit of a chokepoint. Especially when the Adventurers and bodyguards hesitate about jumping through.
Heat washes through as the flame throwers kick in, burning a few unlucky, unshielded Adventurers. The teams on the other side are doing their best to take down the shields, but they’re hampered by the dozens of tiny drones the Tinkerer is throwing out and still building. I watch as the health of one slick-furred creature drops as it’s lit up in yellow and green flames. Hastily cast Healing spells extend its agony as the weapons chew through him.
“Boy-o, those shields are reforming based off his Mana. It’s a Class Skill,” Ali says. “You’re going to have to hit hard enough to pierce the active regeneration or take him out.”
Frack it.
“Move!” I tear past the group, in a couple of cases literally tossing my allies aside as I push forward. A moment’s concentration and the Portal slides open wider, allowing me to dive straight into the inferno. Already, I see the integrity of my Soul Shield drop as the damage ticks up. “Portal closing. Wait for orders!”
That’s about all the warning I have time to give as both pairs of flame throwers, a newly constructed beam cannon, and something that shoots metallic spikes focus fire on me. I swear mentally, wondering why I didn’t just charge in myself first.
My Soul Shield shatters under the onslaught, flames washing over my body even as the first spike impales my raised left arm. I cut another aside as the beam scorches my side, then I see my target. Blink Step takes me right above him, my favorite position to unleash a multi-bladed Blade Strike. Each arc of solidified force and Mana-edged strikes cut toward Yidma, only to be stopped inches away by a solidified Mana Shield.
Yidma, Overgeared (Artifact Tinkerer Level 23) (M)
HP: 430/430
MP: 1278/3820
Conditions: Shielded, Armed and Armored, Artifact Connection * 7
Shield Integrity: 874/2037
“Oh, another Master Class. No wonder the rats have some guts,” the Tinkerer says.
I land, my sword bouncing off its shield. The replica blades from Thousand Blades miss as the robot scurries backward. In his place, he drops a pair of four-legged drones with hammers for hands that swing at my knees. A portion of my mind splits, focusing on increasing both my Strength and Agility to root me in this reality more strongly. The action makes me the immovable object the drones pound on, throwing them off-balance. It’s a fraction of a second, but that’s more than enough for me to cut them apart with my conjured Soulbound sword.
“Boy-o, you’re going to get incoming in about six minutes. Draugr is coming back, hell-bent on having a good tasting, and I’ve lost track of the Commando,” Ali reports in.
“Other Master Classer?”
“Still on his way to the engine room.”
“ETA?” I’m cutting through the swarm of drones that the Tinkerer keeps creating or pulling from the other Adventurers. He’s entirely focused on me, which is great, except for the fact that I can’t get to him.
“Three minutes. He’s cutting through the doors like crazy.”
Snarling, I throw up a Soul Shield and charge forward, putting everything I have into the direct attack. I throw on Vanguard of the Apocalypse and Thousand Steps, giving me a slight boost in speed and strength. The drones crash and spin off my Soul Shield, monofilament blades and Mana-charged beams failing to penetrate.
Then I’m at the damn Tinkerer and slamming into his shield with my sword. A second later, the remainder of the trailing swords from my Thousand Blades Skill smash into the shield, and together, we overload the Tinkerer’s ability to stop the attack. Up close and personal, I grab hold of the bulbous body, charging an Enhanced Lightning Strike in that same hand even as I lift. A moment later, I’ve interposed the Tinkerer between his drones and me. Then I release the built-up charge of lightning in my hand.
Funny thing. Electricity set free in a metallic structure has a tendency to ground itself—fast. Even with a part of me guiding the flow of electricity using my Elemental Affinity, the vast majority of it floods right through the Tinkerer’s robot’s metallic legs into the floor, rather than jumping to the drones. And being the closest meatbag, I’m eating a ton of free electrons. It creates a feedback that has me clenching my teeth so hard they could shatter and causes smoke to peel off my skin. If I could scream, I would.
Artifact Tinkerer Slain
+249,381 Experience Gained
The experience notification flashes right in front of my eyes, along with a loud chime, clear enough that it cuts through the pain. I stop the channeling and sag to my feet, groaning as I shudder from the pain. Damn Tinkerer must have had a billion and one resistances in that bot to have survived so long. As it stands, my own health is down by nearly seven hundred points, never mind the rest of the damage I’ve taken from the T
inkerer’s other toys.
John Lee (Level 23 Erethran Paladin)
HP: 2238/3470
MP: 1873/3220
“No kneeling on the job,” Mikito cries out, dancing past me as she cuts apart a pair of drones. A wave of her polearm and an arc of flame and Mana explodes forward, catching a pair of Advanced pirates. Like living energy, the flames wrap around the three, holding them still for precious seconds as Mikito continues to dart through the docking bay, bringing aid and destruction as necessary.
“And where were you when I needed help?” I grumble as I stagger upward. But I know it’s a bit silly of me to complain. I’m the Master Classer, and Mikito had her hands full with the rest of the pirates.
An explosion turns my attention to one of the two flame throwers, now a melted wreck. Surprisingly, the second isn’t being attacked any longer, as the team focused on it turns their attention to a trio of pirates. Both groups are hunkered behind mobile barriers, trading spells and bullets while a still body lies between the two groups. As I raise my sword to cut down the flame thrower, it fires on a pirate, catching the half-hippo creature in the back with a concentrated blast of fire. All around, I realize that our side has the upper hand.
“Tick-tock. Two minutes till engineering falls,” Ali says.
My eyes narrow, thoughts whizzing by at a thousand, a million, miles an hour. Even then, my hands move to pull and down a Mana potion and a Healing potion. A wash of green light sees my Health shoot up as one of the healers on our side finally gets around to helping.
“Mikito, you’re in charge.” I’m already forming the Portal to our holding room, ducking inside as I idly cut apart another drone.
No time to hear her answer, but I trust the Samurai has this. Hopefully she’s got the Draugr.
Back in the holding room, I release the Portal and form the next one, barking orders out even as I do so. “The rest of you, we’ve got another Master Classer to kill. Ali, you’re with me.”
“John, do you need help?” Katherine’s voice breaks in as the Portal forms and the Adventurers stream out.
A couple hold back, but I don’t have time to deal with the cowards. Katherine’s worried enough to even show up in video, so I’m treated to seeing my ex-secretary wearing my ex-mecha. Sabre looks good on her and, with all the upgrades, will help keep her alive longer. It pains me a little to have given it away, but at my Level, it’s not that useful.
“Negative. Stay out of it. We’ll handle them,” I say.
Except that’s a bit of a lie. I’m down a third of my Mana and health and we’re only a third of the way done, the softest target down. Unfortunately, since we’ve lost sight of the third Master Class, I can’t pull Katherine’s people off her. I enter the Portal the moment it’s clear then shut it, leaving behind the cowards as the teams set up the next hard point.
We don’t even try hiding—there’s no time and chances are it’d be of no use. There are so many ways for the wary to pick us out, there’s no way we could hide all of us. Especially since they know we’re fighting back. Too bad this area is pure metal or else I’d even throw up some Mud Walls. But I don’t have a Metal Wall spell, so I make do with a couple of portable shield generators then pull out my latest toy.
Silversmith Jeupa VII Anti-Personnel Cannon (Modified & Upgraded)
This quad-barrelled anti-personnel weapon has been handcrafted by Advanced Weaponsmiths to provide the highest integration possible for an energy weapon. This particular weapon has been modified to include additional range-finding and sighting options and upgraded to increase short-term damage output at the cost of long-term durability. Barrels may be fired individually or linked.
Base Damage: 787 per barrel
Battery Capacity: 4 per barrel (16 total)
Recharge Rate: 0.25 per hour per GMU
The entire thing is nearly eight feet long, a pair of stabilizing tripods required to keep the beam rifle working. The moment I have the canon deployed, Ali flies over and patches directly into the weapon’s auto-targeting software, feeding it all the information he can.
“Damn it, that’s my toy,” I say, stepping away and pulling a much smaller and less powerful rifle into my hands.
“Once you can read machine code and tap into the System, you can have it back.”
Snorts of suppressed laughter erupt around me, everyone a little on edge. I ignore it all, watching the little dots in my minimap approach. Since I have the time—and knowing the kind of fight I’m expecting—I trigger all my Shield options, including the one in my ring, before continuing to drain my Mana battery. Constant low-level increases in my health come from healing spells cast on me and the System regeneration, pushing me up to nearly three quarters full.
“Incoming,” Ali’s voice cuts through my thoughts.
A moment later, the pirates turn the corner. A few hasty shots are snapped off, either blocked by shields or swatted aside on both sides.
“Hold your fire.” I don’t blame them—the Shapeshifter is a bit jaw-dropping. This must be its tank form, since the creature is armored in thick, overlapping plates of bone and metal on its six-footed, multi-eyed form. The damn thing looks like a pissed-off ankylosaur, and as it charges, glowing green streaks of light form all around it.
“Hold!”
Muk Muk covers a dozen yards in the time I take to speak. I watch out of the corner of my eyes how the power charges up in Ali’s cannon, how spells and beam weaponry increase in their damage potential. And I weigh the options in my mind.
“Hold!”
Another dozen yards.
“Fire!”
Ali hoots as the anti-personnel cannon throws out green rays of death. Just the ancillary heat from the passing beam is enough to damage my Soul Shield. And the cannon is only the first weapon to fire. It’s joined by dozens of other beam rifles, bullets, railguns, and yes, the occasional enchanted arrow. On top of that, targeted spells fly down range, as well as a few carefully controlled area effect spells. A pair of crouched humans weave a Grasping Hands spell, forming transparent, semi-solid limbs that grab and grip the pirates as they rush past, slowing down the entire group.
Into this storm of death, the pirates’ erstwhile leader charges, his green light deflecting a portion of the damage. The rest of the attack break through his Skill and begins to cut through the remainder of his Force Shield defenses before they finally reach the Shapeshifter’s armor. Immediately, the armor glows red from the heat, but rather than melting, it seems to disperse the damage.
Ali’s already on his third charge, the anti-tank cannon never seeming to stop firing, and we’ve barely scratched the Master Class. Sheltered behind Muk Muk, the pirates push forward, only a few unlucky bastards caught in the fire.
Seeing the damn monster continue his charge, the team around me wavers. Rather than let them break, I decide to go for broke. The Aura of Chivalry flows out from me, covering the battleground and drawing the attention of our enemies. The moment my Aura hits the pirates is visible, even the Master Class stumbling in its track. That pause is enough for another group of hands to grab its legs, slowing it down further.
Aura of Chivalry (Level 1)
A Paladin’s very presence can quail weak-hearted enemies and bolster the confidence of allies, whether on the battlefield or in court. The Aura of Chivalry is a double-edged sword, however, focusing attention on the Paladin—potentially to their detriment. Increases success rate of Perception checks against Paladin by 10% and reduces stealth and related skills by 10% while active. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 5 permanently.
Effect: All enemies must make a Willpower check against intimidation against user’s Charisma. Failure to pass the check will cow enemies. All allies gain a 50% boost in morale for all Willpower checks and a 10% boost in confidence and probability of succeeding in relevant actions.
Note: Aura may be activated or left off at will.
All around me, I feel the group’s resistance firm up while one unlucky or particularly
weak-willed pirate actually turns around and runs. I drop my beam rifle back into my inventory and step around the shields, raising my hand and calling forth my sword.
“Time to end this,” I say with a savage smile, swinging my sword down.
All around me, a dozen replica blades appear. The penultimate attack Skill of an Erethran Honor Guard triggers as the blades slice down, forming empowered blade strikes that slice through space and set fire to the very air and the shapeshifter. The monster might have defense and ablative armoring. It might be able to soak up hundreds of points of damage with its armor. But my own Class Skills are a hard counter, Penetration letting me rip through the armor and shielding.
Light fills the corridor, followed by thunder. Smoke from superheated metal and burned flesh hangs heavy in the corridor. As the smoke clears, it’s obvious that not much of the corridor survived my attack.
Below, scraping sounds. I step forward, looking down to see the Master Class staggering back to its feet. My lips pull wide into a grin and I jump down, continuing our dance.
Chapter 3
“You destroyed three floors in that fight of yours!” The captain of the ship, an angular merman waving his flippered hand at me, is rather agitated. So much so that the rebreather apparatus stuck around his scaled gills is struggling to keep up.
“The Shifter was tough,” I say with a shrug.
Even using Army of One, I only managed to lower the creature’s health pool by half. That the attack had also torn apart the upper and lower levels was unfortunate. Since the majority of the pirates had managed to evade the collapse of the floor, I’d left to fight the Shifter on the lower decks while my strike team mopped up the separated pirates. With the anti-personnel cannon and Ali, it was a simple enough job.
Not that dealing with the Master Class was easy. Once he realized he was only fighting me, the son of a bitch had shifted forms to something smaller and faster, basically forcing me into a running battle through the ship corridors. It only ended when word came that all the “normal” pirates had been dealt with, including the Draugr.
