by Rick Scott
“See how well you deal with this, Shard Warrior!”
The LM cries out and whips the giant hammer above his head with incredible speed. It comes down just as fast and I narrowly shoot to the side to avoid it.
BOOM!
A shockwave goes off, radiating outward with a massive blast of ice and frost.
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
Crap, an AOE! I quickly recast Shadow Copy as he recovers from his hit. I won’t be able to keep dodging blasts like that forever. I need to figure out what the heck I’m going to do!
Rembrandt springs from his crouched position, both pistols raised.
“No, Rem, stop!” I say through the chat and the cyberpunker halts.
“What?” he says, confused.
As much as he looks like Rembrandt, it’s really just a 1/10 copy with reduced attributes and powers to match. One hit from that AOE and he’ll be a goner.
“I can’t lose you. You’re the only link we have to Val. Just stay hidden for now.”
“All right, mate,” he says, lowering his weapons and dropping back into the shadows. “But what now?”
“I dunno…”
Geez, I really need to figure out what to do.
Fire burns on the edge of the forest started by the crashed log. If only that thing had hit the catapult. Then I wouldn’t even need to worry about fighting this crazy giant. But at least he can talk.
“Hey!” I shout up at him. “How about we call this even and you stop destroying my keep?”
Your Barter increases by 0.1.
If I was expecting a smile, I get purely the opposite in response. The giant grits his teeth in anger and gives me a nasty scowl. “You dare jest? Your kind make mockery of us. Of our entire world do you treat as but a game. But your time has come, Shard Warrior. Worthy of death…are all of you!”
Oh crap…
He releases a howling cry and swings the hammer in a wide arc. I duck under it and deftly avoid the two follow-up strikes that follow. Thankfully there’s no AOE blast this time, but I have Shadow Copy at the ready just in case.
Seems like talking is useless. And if Braxus had anything to do with him now being pressganged into working with his army, then I can see why he wouldn’t have such a good opinion of Shard Warriors. But who did he mean by ‘us’? Did he mean the giants? Or NPCs in general?
“Reece!” Rembrandt shouts, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Movement from the west. They’re closing in.”
Darn it. The fire and fighting must have drawn their attention. This whole operation is a wash now! If only this stupid catapult was on fire instead of just those trees.
That gives me an idea.
“Rem,” I say through the party chat while avoiding another swing. “Tell Val to launch a barrel of worm oil at the catapult!”
“What?” he says. “A barrel?”
“I dunno!” I shout. “Just make it happen!”
I need to buy time now, but to do so I’ll need to survive and keep this giant’s attention away from firing that catapult. I’m not sure how much damage I can even do to him, but I’ve got to start making myself a threat.
I yell with a War Cry. “You’ll never hit me, much less kill me, you big oaf!”
The verbal attack causes a vein to pop on his forehead and he lets go with a savage AOE blast again, slamming his hammer into the ground.
Your shadow absorbs the attack.
I waste no time rushing in with my blades, getting quick slashes into the bare skin on his thighs. He barely seems to notice as I do a whopping 1% worth of damage to his health bar.
The LM throws his head back and scoffs.
“If only I could kill you, whelp.”
‘Could’ kill me?
The way he says it, it sounds like he needs some kind of permission or something. And maybe he does. I focus on the sounds and torchlights growing in the distance and put two and two together.
This giant has been stalling me as much I’ve been stalling him!
They’re trying to capture me!
“Rem, we need to get out of here!” I say, but I can’t leave without ensuring this catapult is destroyed. “How’s Val doing with that oil?”
Tense seconds go by as I wait for an answer. I try debuffing the LM with a burst of purple mist from my palm.
You cast Shadow Mist!
Witgar resists the Paralyze!
Witgar resists the Poison!
Witgar resists the Slow!
Crap…no surprise there, I suppose. I should have hit him with a Shadow Darkness debuff first! It’s been so long since I’ve taken on anything solo like this that I’m forgetting all my tanking skills.
I buffet him with a Charge Strike up close and when the Stun lands I use the opportunity to rebuff my spells.
“Rem??”
“Becky’s just crafting the barrel now,” Rembrandt says. “Give them a couple more minutes.”
My heart pounds as the sounds grow closer in the distance. “Don’t know if we have a couple of minutes, Rem!”
I blow Active Dodge as Witgar unleashes with another series of hammer strikes to the ground. I try to keep the pressure on, slashing where I can, but I’m barely making a dent in his massive HP pool. A warhorn blows and is echoed by several more. The sound travels along the ring of campfires, extending outwards throughout the entire perimeter.
Oh god… I’ve alerted all of them!
They’re closing in on not just me now, but the keep, from all sides!
“Rem!”
“They’ve got it. They’ve got it!” he says frantically. “I’m just trying to adjust for the new position now.”
Please don’t miss…
“It’s away!”
I risk a glance behind me. The trebuchet’s arm whips into the air again, but I don’t see a payload against the night sky. I count the five in my head.
Please don’t miss!!
The barrel hits the catapult with a loud crash and bursts wide open.
“Yes!” I cry in triumph.
As excited as I am, the acrid stench of the worm oil nearly makes me lose the contents of my stomach. Witgar too flinches as he’s splashed by the vile liquid. He gags and curses something in his native tongue that I don’t understand.
“Light it up, Rem!”
The cyberpunker emerges, pistols blazing.
Foot Soldier 16 uses Fire Shot!
The incendiary rounds explode on the surface of the catapult and the entire thing ignites with a massive whoomph of flames!
Witgar cries out as the flames engulf him as well, igniting the worm oil on his skin. He screams in panic and swats his arm, but to no avail.
“Curse you, Shard Warrior!” he bellows with an agonizing cry. “Curse your kind from all existence!”
“That’s our cue to leave, Rem!” I shout and take off toward the keep.
“See you when you get here, mate!”
He then crumbles into nano-dust.
I trade stealth for speed as I hit Sprint and leave the towering inferno of both catapult and giant, blazing behind me.
Chapter 46: Complication
Bruce stared over Carl’s shoulder at the error code floating on the holoscreen.
[Progress…………….31%]
[Fatal Error! Process aborted!]
“Every damn time,” Carl said as he swiveled his chair towards Bruce. “That’s as far as the system compile will go.”
Bruce shook his head slowly at the result. “There’s nothing you can do about it?”
“Besides getting a second recording to make sure my primer constant isn’t out of whack?”
Bruce’s insides shrunk at just the thought of it. No way in heck was he putting himself through that again. “You heard our conversation. I’m telling you, something is seriously wrong with that guy.”
Carl nodded with a frown. “I heard. He’s got some crazy ideals. Dangerous too. Honestly I don’t know how you’re going to keep working with him. Especially once
we figure out what this recording is actually saying.”
Carl pointed at a miniaturized image of Dennis’ single-sided conversation playing on the holoscreen.
“So how do we figure it out?” Bruce asked. “And please don’t say a redo.”
Carl tapped a few controls and the hologram filled with pages of complex equations. “Well, there’s a chance there’s still a bug in my algorithm. It does keep failing at around the same point each time.”
“Can you look for it?”
“Tried to three times already,” Carl said. “Nothing so far. Doesn’t help that it takes over two hours just to reach the 31% mark each time either. Been burning a lot of hours on this.”
Damn, this wasn’t good.
“Do it three times more,” Bruce said. “A hundred more times if you have to. We need to know what that other voice is saying.”
“I hear you, Bruce,” Carl said. “Don’t worry, I’m not giving up yet. I just need a fresh angle.”
“And you’ve got one?” Bruce asked.
“You mean one that doesn’t involve me going through my source code byte by byte?” Carl gave a caustic laugh. “Not yet.”
Bruce sighed. He looked at the holoscreen again, to where the miniaturized image of Dennis’ single-sided conversation was still playing, the secrets locked tight. “Don’t tell me this was all for nothing.”
“Don’t worry, Bruce. I’ll think of something.” The sonar tech leaned forward, his eyes skating across the thousands of lines of mathematical code. “I just need some more time.”
Chapter 47: 360 Assault
I skirt wide around the rear flank of the main army. I don’t know how many bodies are closing in behind me from the campfires on the perimeter, but I know for sure the numbers ahead of me haven’t changed.
The horde of soldiers, mammoths and giants is still over a thousand strong and surges against the keep like a lapping sea. From this vantage I can see the progress they are making against our defenses and I’m doubly thankful we were able to take out that giant catapult now.
I bring up the keep stats to check on the wall.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
West (27%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
West (52%) [Auto-Repair]
Resources:
Wood: 171 units
Stone: 412 units
Iron: 8 units
Good…the numbers are climbing back up again, and with that catapult down, hopefully they’ll keep going that direction.
So long as we have nano.
I head for the jagged tree line to the south, heading around the army. The trees are mostly trampled in this area and I feel wide out in the open, even with my Shadow Cloak on. When I re-enter the forest, I immediately feel safer. I pick my way through the darkness, stumbling through dirty snow and frozen underbrush.
The sounds of battle carry in the distance—a constant drone of muted shouting, loud bangs and the ever-present blowing of warhorns. It makes it hard to use my Awareness skill and I all but stop at times to strain my ears and determine if there are any troops heading my way or not.
I get within a stone’s throw of the keep and sense something coming towards me. I stop and hide within a copse of trees and focus my senses to determine if there’s truly something within my immediate area or just the sounds of combat echoing across the battlefield.
Tense seconds go by until I hear the definite crunch of wet snow underfoot.
Lots of crunches.
Your Awareness increases by 0.2.
Crap…
I expect to see torches moving through the forest but instead I see large shadows of giants hauling a log between them on chains. More battering rams…but they’re heading to the south wall, not the west. It puzzles me for a moment, but then I quickly piece together why.
Lyons is going to start attacking the fort on all sides!
With the loss of that giant catapult, he’s already changed tactics.
We’ve been focusing all our resources on repairing the western walls, but if he starts using his reserve forces to attack from all sides, we’ll be forced to split our defenses as well. And not just our defense, we’ll have to split the nano reserves repairing the walls too.
I recall how the wall repairs would slow every time we had to replace those ballistae. This would do the same thing. Only ten times worse. Holy crap…this could be worse than even the catapult!
I need to get back to tell the others. Our time limit has been cut down yet again!
I dive from out of my hiding place and make a bee line for the keep walls.
I scale up the perimeter wall with Wall Run and then hop across to the main wall on the opposite side of the gap. Below me I spot Val Helena reloading the trebuchet, but with its massive range I wonder if she can even hit any of the army right outside the wall.
I rejoin the main party and send out a chat. “Guys, we need a new plan! Something’s happening!”
Rembrandt is the first to respond. “What are you talking about, Reece? We got the catapult, didn’t we?”
“Yeah we did,” I say. “And nice shooting, Val. But it might not even matter now.”
“What?” Val Helena says, looking up at me. “What do you mean?”
I Sprint along the top of the wall, rejoining Rembrandt, Aiko and my brother on the western front. The mid-section of the perimeter wall is all but collapsed and the top of the inner wall doesn’t look much better. One of the Ballistae is down again, which seems just as well since most of the ammo appears to be gone as well.
The army below me looks even worse up close. There are more battering rams than before and the giants throwing rocks target the walls as well as the Ballistae now. Stray arrows zip past my head and I duck down to make myself less of a target.
Maxis is on the far parapet across from me. He’s abandoned his Ballista, which is now broken, and is throwing the bolts by hand into the army below. Aiko, somewhat closer to me, is still using her siege weapon, taking out giants with a single shot. Rembrandt’s clones meanwhile, keep the pressure on with a constant stream of damage. But they’re taking more damage too now. For every soldier I see fall, one of the clones gets turned into nano-dust. Below me Becky is still doing her best to mitigate that, throwing Great Heal spells and Second Winds.
I bring up the keep status again, but include the other walls which I had excluded before.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
North (100%) [Auto-Repair]
South (97%) [Auto-Repair]
East (94%) [Auto-Repair]
West (28%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
North (100%) [Auto-Repair]
South (100%) [Auto-Repair]
East (100%) [Auto-Repair]
West (61%) [Auto-Repair]
Resources:
Wood: 171 units
Stone: 412 units
Iron: 8 units
It’s beginning… Already I can feel the multiple reverberations as new battering rams slam into the other walls.
“General Lyons has called in forces at the perimeter to lay siege,” I say. “They’re going to wear us down much faster now!”
“How much faster?” Becky asks from below, standing next to Val Helena. “I’m burning through nano like crazy already.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “Check your HUDs.”
I do the same and see the number slipping in the wrong direction again.
Crap…
“It’s the auto-repair,” Becky says. “The system is splitting the repair function to address the extra damage.”
“Yes, I know,” I say. “That’s the problem.”
“So turn it off,” Aiko says from behind me, letting loose another bolt. “Put everything back to the west wall.”
It’s an idea, I suppose.
“Okay, I’ll try it.”
I pick the south wall and deselect the auto-repair function.
I check the number
s again and my heart jumps when I see the results.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
North (100%) [Auto-Repair]
South (78%)
East (94%) [Auto-Repair]
West (28%) [Auto-Repair]
Holy geez, it just lost 15 percent?! I watch a moment more to see if it’s some kind of fluke. The banging and slamming from the south wall coincides with a loss of more than 5% each time.
No way!
I re-engage the auto-repair and the numbers stabilize. “That won’t work, guys. If we drop the auto-repair, these walls will be down in minutes.”
“Damn it…” Val Helena curses with a hand on her armor-clad hip. “What can we do to stop this?”
“I don’t know,” Becky says. “But we’re going to start running out of nano at this rate.”
Tension builds in my stomach as our world literally begins to crumble around us.
These walls can’t hold. Using the nano repair gave us a false impression of how strong they really were. These giants are blasting right through them like tissue paper! It’s only the nano itself that’s giving them any resilience at all. It’s no wonder we’re burning through so much of the stuff so quickly.
I check the status of the tunnel with the map marker. Gilly’s still got 80 feet to go.
I stand and spin in a 360 and spy more siege weapons joining the fray to the north and east.
Not good.
“Rem,” I say. “How much time does Gilly say she’ll need?”
“Hang on, mate,” he says and a moment later he returns with the answer. “She said maybe 50 minutes.”
My stomach sinks with uncertainty as the numbers on the walls continue to slide.
“I don’t think we’re going to get 50 minutes,” I say, my mouth going dry.
We need to escape through that tunnel.
We need to escape right now.
Chapter 48: No Escape
“Gilly!” I shout through the party chat as the numbers keep slipping on my HUD. It’s only been a couple minutes and already the west perimeter wall is down to below 15%.
