Syndicate Slayer

by Mars Dorian

  “At the cost of your citizens?”

  “No one’s forcing them to stay here. In fact, our population has dramatically grown since the fall of the Beltar Empire.”

  Celeste and Caspian sighed. While they tried to sway the mayor to set-up a local church, I let my glance travel around. The spacious office boasted of lavish wall banners depicting the history of the Win Dorado, showing paintings of the mayor meeting with a bunch of people I had never seen before. The shelves carried tomes of various topics dealing with commerce, township and casino management, and Reepo-based energy infrastructure. One of the wallpapers showcased a motto:

  “Advance Fourlando. Make a profit. Preferably both.”

  That slogan rang familiar.

  Too familiar.

  My head craned around the door where I saw four more guards appearing, fully armored and shielded. My fears became reality.

  I entered group-chat. “Guys, I think this township isn’t as independent as we thought it was.”

  “What do you mean?” Yumi-D said.

  The mayor wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I respect your views, I really do. But you see, I can’t build a township on fluffy Aeonlight gospels. My religion consists of Reepo-tech and credits. Lots of them.”

  Wu unsheathed his twin daggers. Yumi-D swung her mid-range repeater as more soldiers streamed into the office.

  The mayor pushed his arms against the armrest to lift his wobbly body up. Took him almost five seconds and even longer breaths. “I hope you don’t take this personal. You seem to be lovely fellas, and under normal circumstances, we might have done a good deal.”

  His pleading sounded pathetic.

  The guard officer stepped up, chest plate raised. “In the name of the Sunblood Syndicate, you are under immediate arrest.”

  “On what charge,” I asked.

  “Trespassing Syndicate territory and participating in propaganda and terrorist activity.”

  My first reaction was to negotiate, but my co-players thought otherwise. I stopped them in my group-chat. “I still have a relationship with the Syndicate. Let’s find a way out of here that doesn’t involve carnage.”

  “We could take ‘em on,” Yumi-D said.

  “Too dangerous. The space is too narrow and we’re severely outnumbered. Remember what happened the last time we fought in a tight space.”

  Yumi-D and Wu understood.

  “I want to talk to your commanding officer,” I said to the officer in charge of the squad. “My name is Dash.”

  The man pretended to ignore my request but guided me and my group outside the mayor’s office. On the deck around the core tree, visitors rushed away. Some screamed, some yelled. Everyone was either pissed off, scared, or both. So much for a smooth debate.

  Celeste looked up at me, eyes filled with disappointment. “We underestimated the mayor’s deep fall into corruption. We had hoped a little light of unity remained in his soul.”

  “Well, welcome to reality. Never works out like the fancy stories in your head.”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Worried.”

  Rightfully so. A new group of well-equipped, Syndicate soldiers marched toward us. And boy, were they armed. We were talking auto-pikes, anti-impact shields, medium-to-heavy-armor with anti-projectile plating. Worse, these powerful soldiers were led by two familiars.

  Two people I wished to never see again.

  “What a surprise to see you again, Dash,” Captain Wedge said while his first lieutenant, Cadfael, smiled next to him.

  The game algorithm worked its maximum conflict protocol.

  Yumi-D quickly entered my chat. “You know these Sunbleeders?”

  “Haven’t you watched my stream?”

  “A bit too busy for that.”

  “I had temporarily teamed up with these guys after our failed boss battle. I think I can still turn this around without bloodshed.”

  “Dash.”

  Cadfael’s voice brought me back. “The captain is speaking to you. Stop your yapping and listen.”

  Wedge waited until he got my attention. “The town of Win Dorado is in partnership with the Syndicate and thus off-limits for Aeonlight propaganda. I’ll have to arrest your little friends for violating the zero tolerance law.” He paused and increased his volume. “Put down your weapons and come with us. The Syndicate will treat you fairly if you don’t resist.”

  The answer to his request was as clear as crystal lemonade.

  “Yeah, not gonna happen.”

  Wedge grinned.

  “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

  39

  Remember how I wished to never fight these guys? Well, that worry was just about to come true. My analyzer encircled the two elite officers.

  Enemy: Captain Wedge (BOSS)

  Type: Enhanced elite gun Ranger

  HP: 23,400 base / Armor: Composite full-armor plating (+7)

  > Reduces up to 55% of projectile damage

  (Weight: 195 kg)

  Primary weapon: Bladezooka

  > Explosive damage +75%, area effect (+3 meters)

  Special: Rocket Rain, Blade & Burn

  Weakness: blunt melee

  Drops: Bladezooka, ??

  Enemy: First Lieutenant Cadfael (BOSS)

  Type: Elite hybrid gun melee

  HP: 17,250 base / Armor: Medium adaptive plating (+4.5)

  (Weight: 116 kg)

  Primary weapon: Blunderbuss

  > +100% damage within 4 meter firing range

  >> Wide arch: 90 degrees

  Secondary weapon: Mil-Tactical Blades

  >Attack speed +50%, critical +25%

  Special: Hit & Run, Blast Master

  Weakness: sharp & blunt melee

  Drops: Blunderbuss, Tactical Blades, ??

  Even worse, they commanded dozens of armed soldiers with superb equipment.

  “Don’t worry,” Yumi-D said. “We’re in this together.”

  She unfolded her tek-bow while Wu readied his tactical knives and glaive. My glance traveled to the twins. “How about you? Can you fight?”

  “We prefer not to, but this seems to be a situation where physical confrontation is unavoidable.”

  Three human players and two enabling NPC assists against a formidable platoon of soldiers and elite officers; the heat was on.

  I launched the first smoker and clouded the narrow deck.

  As always, the Sunblood leaders remained in the back row and launched their henchmen first.

  The battle had begun.

  Wu moved into stealth mode while the twins leveled up our stats with buffs. Attack speed, damage, and even our natural healing abilities surged. Yumi-D rapid-fired volleys of arrows at the incoming troops while I targeted the weakest unit in mid-range.

  War cries cut the air.

  A guard tried to pierce me with his lance. I unleashed my BlitzBlade+, parried his pathetic stab-attack, and launched electro-damage. The electricity spread like a viral infection and brought him down. A formation of five soldiers tried to push me. Yumi-D stood meters behind me and brought two down with her armor-piercing darts, boosted by Celeste’s buffs. I sidestepped the nearest sucker and rammed him into the railing of the deck. To my surprise, the protective rail broke. The soldier fell off the platform and plunged into the abyss, screaming all the way.

  An idea struck me. I updated my teammates on the comm. “Forget about killing them one by one. Throw them off the deck and let gravity do the rest.”

  Within seconds, Wu unleashed a roundhouse kick and threw two soldiers off the deck. “Maybe we should set up a scoreboard for the most free fall divers.”

  “Let’s take this more serious, guys.”

  Yumi-D was right. She was being surrounded by a handful of soldiers and couldn’t evade their stab attacks on the narrow deck. I came to her help and struck my BlitzBlade+. The electrical damage tore through the enemy. Bolts of electricity chained from armor to armor and chopped off massive HPs from nearby soldiers.
Wu killed the ailing soldiers from behind, causing critical damage to their numbers.

  I loved my new blade.

  I also loved the human teamwork, but not the moment I found myself in.

  “Where are the twins?”

  They had been encircled by heavies to my far right. Thank God Wu came to their help. In stealth-mode, he snuck up on three heavy soldiers trying to kill the twins. With his poison blade, he caused critical damage from behind and threw them into digital sleep forever. When the smoke of my cloud grenade waned, I unleashed another one to keep the area fogged up.

  “Watch out,” Yumi-D said.

  I avoided the incoming sword attack from a new melee soldier but got hit by a shield-bearing Defender to my left. His brunt attack knocked me off balance. I lost a quarter of my health right there. Worse, three more soldiers marched through the clouds and targeted the twins.

  Always aiming for the little ones.

  “Keep your eyes on the bosses. Don’t let them surround you, and make sure you protect the twins.”

  “Will do.”

  Jeez, this platform was too small for a chaotic battle.

  A lancer pierced Yumi-D. She tried to move away when an arrow hit her back and threw her forward. I helped her get up again, but she had lost half of her health. “This platform is too small for a Ranger. I need higher ground, ASAP.” Her glance fell to the nearby hanging bridge. “And distance.”

  Her face revealed a smile for the first time.

  “Cover my back.”

  “Wait.”

  Too late.

  She made a run for the hanging bridge connecting the other massive tree and its platforms. From there, she could provide us with long-ranged cover fire and save herself from hostile melee attacks.

  “Dash, I need your help.”

  My head turned back to our deck. Wu’s stealth mode had depleted. He became visible again, which meant he turned into a moving target for every Sunbleeder in the area. The remaining troops stormed after him. He could evade the first slashes, but was punched down by a heavy with a shield.

  Damn those Defenders.

  Their armor was tough to crack, too.

  Thank tech I carried my own version of Defender armor.

  I came to Wu’s help and the twins joined my side.

  Celeste looked determined. “Let’s help your friend, Dash. I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve.”

  She probably meant another healing spell; useful, but not spectacular. At least Wu recovered from his heavy smackdown. I used my chainlink and harpooned the shield from the nearest Defender. His precious defense tool traveled from his gloved hands to mine.

  “Thanks for the item.”

  I could immediately store the shield in my inventory, which was sweet. With Wu as back up, we fought the four remaining troopers. I was looking for easy kills when both Cadfael and Wedge moved into the battle.

  Shit.

  Cadfael stormed past me and grabbed Celeste on the run. He sprinted toward the deck’s railing to throw her off; I had to prevent that from happening. While Wu was busy dealing with Wedge, I charged after Cadfael.

  “Don’t be a dick; she’s just a child.”

  “To hell with those religious cultists.”

  He neared the railing. My heavy armor slowed me down, preventing me to reach Cadfael in time.

  No, no, no.

  A volley of arrows impacted Cadfael’s rear and knocked him down. He loosened his grip and Celeste fell with him.

  “I got your back, Slayer,” Yumi-D said over the comm.

  She had positioned herself on the other deck, granting us long-range fire support. She threw me a thumbs up and said, “Go get him, tiger.”

  “Aye, aye.”

  Celeste stood up and hid behind my back.

  Cadfael quickly recovered from Yumi-D’s arrow attack. That’s when I noticed he had a damn blunderbuss. “You damn traitor.”

  His wide-arch pellets hit Celeste and I, knocking both of us down.

  She coughed. “All this unnecessary violence… for what?”

  “Loot and views.”

  “What?”

  “Nevermind.”

  Cadfael’s cooldown charged. Instinctively, I activated the Defender shield I just had snapped from a heavy and used it as a secondary weapon. When Cadfael fired at me again, his pellets bounced off my shield like pebbles.

  The first lieutenant moaned. “We could have taken back the Crescent from those stinky savages, but no, you had to play hero.”

  “Quit whining and start fighting,” I said.

  With Celeste’s regeneration spell, which healed three percent of my total health per second, I stormed toward Cadfael and tried to ram the shield into his ribcage, but Cadfael was smart… and fast. “Too easy.”

  He switched to his tactical twin blades and tried to flank me. With his thin armor and high speed stats, he moved like a dancer and seemed to slice the air. I had trouble parrying his attacks.

  Meanwhile, Celeste conjured another spell, but this wasn’t a buff or debuff.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Focus on your fight,” she said, sounding like a commanding officer all of a sudden.

  I swapped the shield for my beloved harpoon gun glove, shot it at Cadfael, caught him by surprise, and pulled him toward me. I then greeted the sucker with my charged BlitzBlade+ and annihilated his health.

  He screamed in pain as the electricity snaked through his body.

  Cadfael recovered after the one-second stun, kicked me back, and threw his twin blades after me. One whizzed by my head, the other tore through my armor and caused massive damage.

  Shit.

  “Weak,” the first lieutenant said in disgust. “No wonder you sided with the rebels. Losers flock to each other.”

  His throw stunned me for two seconds, but by then Celeste had finished conjuring her spell.

  “What the—?”

  An invisible hand seemed to grab Cadfael and toss him through the air like a crash-test dummy. He landed hard, bounced off the deck, and slipped over the edge. He managed to grab the ledge with one hand and shouted in agony.

  Celeste remained on her spot, eyes closed, deeply in a trance.

  “What was that?” I asked her.

  She either couldn’t hear me or ignored me. I stepped toward the edge of the platform where Cadfael hung on. For the first time, I felt a smidge of empathy overcoming me. The first lieutenant’s voice sounded desperate.

  “C’mon, help me up, buddy. You don’t let a former partner down, right?”

  For a second, I actually thought about helping him up. But then an armor-piercing dart hammered his back and caused critical damage. The short stun effect led to Cadfael letting go of the ledge. His face flushed in fear as his body plunged into the abyss. Cadfael became a red dot that smeared the foliage ground of Win Dorado.

  “No time for second thoughts,” Yumi-D said over the comm. “Wu’s in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.”

  40

  Captain Wedge had fired a shot from his massive bladezooka. A deadly weapon which was a suicidal tool on a narrow deck like ours. Wu tried to evade, but the splash damage caught up with him and annihilated the rest of his HPs.

  He fell into critical mode.

  My personal enabler and mysterious magician, Celeste, snapped out of her trance and exclaimed, “By the light of Aeon, where is Caspian?”

  “With me,” Yumi-D said. “On the other side of the deck.”

  No wonder Wu struggled. He lacked healer support from an enabler like Celeste.

  “I’m sorry my brother is such a coward,” she said.

  “Can you heal my friend over there? I’ll try to distract Wedge.”

  “Wedge?”

  “The evil captain with the big gun sword.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Not really. Because Wedge aimed his bladezooka at me and fired the trigger. A barrage of explosive shells blasted at me. I quickly put up the shield which took the majority
of the impact but cracked in the process. I wouldn’t survive another attack. While Wedge reloaded, I jetted toward my former captain and moved into the close-combat zone. Risky, I know, but I wanted to keep him away from Wu, whose countdown neared zero.

  “Celeste, hurry.”

  “I’m trying.”

  She reached Wu and had started the healing process when Wedge stormed after her. I shot my harpoon and chainlinked him to me. He weighed way more than Cadfael, but I could still slow him down by over ten percent. Celeste seemed to deplete her magic powers healing Wu, but at least they survived.

  For now.

  I told both to retreat to the other deck where Yumi-D and Caspian remained.

  “What about you?” Wu said.

  “I think I have an idea.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  Wedge swung his bladezooka in melee mode. The slow but powerful swing caught me by surprise and slammed me into the massive trunk of the tree that harbored our deck.

  Another fifteen percent of my health gone, plus six percent ‘slam’ damage.

  Wedge cracked up. “C’mon, Dash. I’ve seen you pull better moves against the hairy savages.”

  His next move befuddled me. While I recovered from my fall, the captain switched to gun mode again, aimed his bladezooka skyward, and pulled the trigger. The barrage of shells rocketed up the air and rained down on us. The explosives ripped holes through the deck and shattered the wooden railings. The platform tilted and threatened to plunge into the lower floors. Flames and holes undermined my WarTech everywhere where I stepped.

  “We need to get off, now.”

  “Come to my deck,” Yumi-D said.

  The rest of the team had already gathered around her as the ground below my boots vibrated.

  Wedge stood a few meters in front of me. His armor was battered, his face was smeared with blood droplets, and the he bore the ugliest smile I had seen in a while.

  “So it’s just between me and the cretin.”

  “You sound like Odin now.”

  “You should have stayed with us. Big money, amazing tech. Your little rebellions is just… useless.”

  He stepped closer. The platform seemed to shiver.