Harbinger (Nova Online #3) - A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

  Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds

  The hammer flashed as it made contact and Kaiden also saw his own charge bar fill by ten. A good amount considering he hadn’t yet had to tank an attack on his shield – a bit difficult to do with his shield currently in the form of a hammer. His health dropped again from Improved Volt Field. This wasn’t a winning strategy, but Moran had no stimulant cooling chambers on his armor, which meant he didn’t have stimpacks.

  I can afford to eat some damage here if it means building charge.

  Moran lashed back and Kaiden dodged to the side, slipping around the blow, then barely ducked under the follow-up strike.

  Riposte x1 gained!

  Riposte x2 gained!

  Was that surprise on Moran’s face? The debuff from Chrono Sledge must have caught him off-guard.

  With a double riposte stack, Kaiden attacked back. He aimed for Moran’s head and just managed to land the hit. The extra damage from riposte poured in on top of the critical hit damage and Kaiden’s base damage

  +50% damage (Riposte x2)

  +50% damage (Headshot)

  +5% damage (Chrono Sledge ability, extra damage on crits)

  Moran is slowed by 30% for 2 seconds

  Moran’s health dropped by a little under three percent this time, but Kaiden smiled to himself anyway as his charge bar jumped by another ten.

  “If I keep landing crits, he’ll stay slowed,” Kaiden shouted through comms. “Hit him while we can!”

  Kaiden and Moran exchanged more blows while the others charged in. Titus and Thorne joined the fray and between the three of them and the speed debuff, Moran started actually taking damage.

  Ability: Improved Paralyzing Shot

  Fires an electric blast that confuses the electrical impulses in the target’s muscles, deals 110% base damage and slows target’s movement by 60% for 10 seconds.

  “How’s that?” Zelda asked as her shot caught Moran in the back and sent spasms through his body. She was the only one of them with any significant charge, thanks to Improved Atmospheric Charge, so she was the only one with access to consistent abilities. “Now you can really tear into hi—"

  “Enough!” Moran shouted. He ended Dual Wielding and his energy hammer morphed back into a shield, which was immediately put to use in a Shield Slam that left everyone stunned for two seconds.

  Ability: Embolden

  An aura of rage surrounds you. For the next 5 seconds, you and allies within 20 feet deal double damage on melee attacks and take 50% more damage.

  Ability: Gravity Sledge

  You channel a massive amount of charge into your hammer. Your next attack deals 250% base damage and on a successful hit, knocks the target into the air. They take fall damage on landing.

  Moran hit Thorne and her health dropped to fifty-four from the blow, then forty-nine as she crashed to the floor some distance away.

  Ability: Improved Shield Break

  You channel charge into your hammer. Your next attack ignores armor, staggers the target, and deals 250% of base damage.

  Moran hit Titus next, dealing a massive dose of damage. The big man’s health settled at fifty-nine percent and he stumbled backward, trying to recover from the suddenness of the assault. Moran hit him again with a Debilitating Blow that sent his health reeling down to forty-six.

  “Heads up, asshole,” Zelda said then hit Moran in the back with an Improved Warden’s Bolt. With Embolden active he took an additional fifty percent damage from the attack and his health dropped to seventy-eight percent.

  “Hit him again!” Kaiden shouted, ducking a hammer strike and backing out of Moran’s range.

  “You’re annoyingly slippery, you know that?” Moran growled and pointed his hammer at Kaiden’s face, but he was well out of arm’s reach.

  Ability: Improved Scatter Shot

  The end of Moran’s hammer opened with a faint click and Kaiden found himself staring down the barrel of a hammer-gun. A flash of light, and then a shotgun blast of lasers burst out. Kaiden lunged backwards but there was no avoiding the flurry. The individual lasers exploded on impact and he was left reeling, vision blinding bright.

  “That was a blast warden attack!” Kaiden shouted as his health fell to seventy-two percent. He retreated, trying to avoid any follow-up attacks. “He has abilities from all of the classes. The Hierarch is every warden class combined.” His stomach fell through his feet as he said it. How do we beat that? How do we compete with every warden ability at once?

  “Every class at once?” Thorne asked. There was doubt in her voice. “How is that possible?”

  “He’ll die just like anyone else will. We just have to hit him enough,” Zelda said through gritted teeth.

  Moran advanced on Kaiden, then reared back to attack again, but an Improved Burst Arrow from Zelda caught him in the back. The laser exploded against his torso in a spray of blue sparks. Zelda charged up another shot but Moran swung his hammer in her direction.

  Ability: Energy Grip

  A lasso of energy whipped from the end of his hammer and, before she could move, had wrapped around her leg. Moran gave a yank and Zelda was ripped out of Sniper Mode and dragged across the floor toward him.

  “Gah!” Titus shouted as he charged to protect Zelda.

  Moran met him with a hammer strike, raising his weapon high then bringing it down in a blur. Titus caught the blow on his shield – finally gaining some charge – and a shockwave burst out at the impact.

  Ability: Hammer Smash

  The big man slammed his hammer into the floor, creating a mini-crater and sending a rolling burst of energy out in all directions. It washed over Moran and set his health bar to flashing. Titus followed up with a Shield Slam, smashing his shield into the already formed mini-crater and stunning all enemies in a ten-foot radius.

  But Moran wasn’t within ten feet of him. He’d used Kickback, dealing base damage to Titus and launching himself fifteen feet away.

  He landed with a smirk. Titus looked up with a frown but Moran was already in motion again.

  Ability: Earth Shatter

  His hammer had grown in size again; it was now as large as a power warden’s as he launched forward, then came down right in front of Titus. The mini-crater was obliterated as Moran hit the ground with enough force to completely shatter the floor. Stone and tile whipped through the air, carried in a shockwave that washed over Titus and dumped him to the floor.

  Zelda was on her feet now. She spun, leveling her hammer-gun at Moran.

  Ability: Improved Scatter Shot

  From so close, Zelda’s attack should have dealt a fair amount of damage, but Moran had been ready.

  Ability: Karmic Reprisal

  Your shield glows brightly, infused with charge. You may expend X% of max charge to reduce damage from a single attack by that percentage. Additionally, your next attack deals base damage plus additional damage equal to the amount this ability negated.

  Cooldown: 3 minutes.

  He’d abandoned Dual Wielding and his hammer had reformed into a shield now. But not just a regular shield. It’d grown and stretched so it was large as a shield warden’s. Its glow swelled and brightened and Zelda’s eyes went wide as it absorbed her attack. All of one percent damage trickled through to Moran’s health.

  “Ooh. I almost felt that,” he said then struck back with a hammer strike. The additional damage from Karmic Reprisal exploded against her chest, cracking her armor and dealing a massive hit. Her health plummeted to fifty-eight percent and she wheeled backward, teeth gritted against the damage flowing through her.

  “Does this guy ever run out of charge?” she growled through comms.

  “He’s using Slayer, so every critical hit is restoring five charge for him. Plus his armor buffs that by another ten percent,” Kaiden said, recalling what his visor had shown him.

  “And he has Improved Atmospheric Charge generating seven charge per second and Improved Aggressive Mindset giving him charge equal to fifteen perc
ent of all the damage he deals,” Thorne added, pulling herself from where Moran had flung her.

  “And he’s building charge the normal way, through blocking attacks with his shield,” Titus said, sounding none too happy about it.

  “So no, then.” Zelda scowled. “He’s not going to run out of charge.”

  Kaiden’s Dual Wielding had fizzled out now and his energy hammer shifted back into his shield. As it did, he took a half second to glance at everyone’s health.

  Zelda’s at fifty-eight. Titus, forty-six. Thorne, forty-nine. And I’m down to fifty-four already. Meanwhile, Moran… He turned his focus on the hierarch. Moran is sitting pretty at eighty-two percent.

  “We’ve put a grand total of twenty percent damage on this guy between all of us,” he told the others. “This isn’t working.”

  “We still have the numbers advantage,” Zelda said. “Attack as one. He can’t stop all of us at the sa—”

  Moran darted in and swung a hammer strike at her head. Her voice cut off as she flung herself away from it.

  “I’m not going to let you sit there and conspire,” Moran said, shaking his head. “This is a fight, you know.” And then he was in motion again, charging Zelda.

  Thorne charged in, hammer raised high and ready to bring down on Moran’s head. He stepped calmly forward and spun under her strike, then activated an ability.

  Ability: Gravity Sledge

  His energy hammer bashed into Thorne’s rib cage and flung her into the air. Her health flashed from the blow, then again as she slammed into the floor ten feet away.

  “Really, now,” Moran said as he stared at them scattered about the room. “I expected more from you four.”

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  “Pop your stimpacks,” Titus said as he threw up an Improved Barrier around himself and Zelda.

  We can’t beat Moran head-on. Is there an alternate win condition here? We don’t need to kill him. Just distract him long enough to get the message out, right?

  “Over here, you tyrannical asshat!” Kaiden shouted, scrambling for a ridiculous insult in order to draw Moran’s attention. As he shouted, he charged the hierarch, hammer raised, then switched back to private comms.

  “Zelda! Can you get to the broadcast control panel? Send out the database while we distract Moran?”

  Even from across the room he could see her eyes light up at the idea.

  “Keep me covered. I’ll do what I can,” she said, but Kaiden was only half listening, staring as he was down the barrel of Moran’s hammer-gun.

  Ability: Improved Paralyzing Shot

  The shot exploded from Moran’s weapon. Kaiden spun, then activated Kickback. His hammer slammed into the ground and he exploded up, over the oncoming attack and Moran’s head in one motion.

  He came down behind the hierarch and began charging an ability.

  Ability: Flash Bang

  Discharge an intense light from your shield that blinds opponents within 10 feet for 5 seconds. Has a 3-second cast time.

  “Cover me!” Kaiden shouted but Thorne was already on it. She came in from the side and as Moran loaded up for a no-doubt crippling blow on Kaiden, Thorne landed with an Earth Shatter.

  Moran was knocked onto his back. He stood up just in time for Flash Bang to go off in his face and blind him. He wasn’t stunned, though, so he was still free to attack.

  Ability: Through the Breach

  You channel charge into your armor. For the next 10 seconds all damage taken is reduced by 30% and your attack speed is doubled.

  Moran popped the ability then attacked wildly, his massive hammer swinging in long, looping blows. One caught Kaiden in the shoulder before he could duck away and sent his newly replenished health back down to seventy percent. Thorne had other plans, however, and she stepped in swinging.

  “We need to buy time,” Kaiden said, glancing to where Zelda was now interfacing with the console.

  “I need sixty seconds for it to upload to the broadcast system,” she said.

  “You heard her. Don’t focus on damage. Focus on delaying him.”

  “I can do that,” Thorne growled.

  Moran blinked a few times, then winced as Flash Bang’s blind effect wore off. He raised his hammer toward Kaiden, but Thorne grabbed him.

  Ability: Improved Grip Like Iron

  You channel charge into your shield hand. The next opponent you grapple will be held in place for 5 seconds plus X seconds, where X is 3% of your total strength stat. A grappled opponent can be attacked and deals 20% less damage when attacking.

  “Interesting approach,” Moran grunted, then took advantage of the grapple to land several attacks on Thorne. He had the twenty percent debuff to his damage but still his blows fell with incredible force. The grapple came to an end with Thorne at forty percent health. Moran broke free and stepped away – just in time for Titus to hit him with the full force of an Improved Shield Charge.

  Kaiden had all too good a view as the force exploded through Moran, sending his eyes wide and rocking his armor to its core. But Intransigence kept him standing, though it didn’t protect him from the damage of the attack. His health was down to eighty percent now.

  The tides were turning; Kaiden could feel it. Moran was strong, but who could take on three opponents at once? And Zelda was at the broadcast control panel now, working it with hands a blur.

  Thirty more seconds…

  “Oh, so that’s where you went.” Moran’s voice boomed out, echoing off the floor and walls and ceiling such that it resounded through every nook and crevice of the chamber. Moran reared back, aiming at Zelda, and Kaiden didn’t need a visor to tell him an Energy Grip was coming.

  He darted forward and caught Moran in the back with a Shield Bash, stunning him for two more seconds. The hierarch growled, but Kaiden scored two more hammer strikes on him. The stun wore off quickly, though, and Moran ignored Kaiden, aiming up the Energy Grip again.

  Ability: Energy Grip

  Ability: Lightspeed

  Moran flung his lasso at Zelda – and Kaiden darted in front of it, carried by the unnatural haste of Lightspeed. The lasso wrapped around him instead of Zelda and Moran howled, then yanked Kaiden toward him.

  “Not what you were hoping to catch?” he said as he climbed to his feet, then got a hammer strike to the chest for his trouble. Kaiden darted away before he could get hit again, his health bar already flashing. When it stopped, he was down to thirty percent health. But he’d bought Zelda a few more moments.

  Just fifteen more seconds…

  Moran charged Zelda.

  Thorne cut into his path but was promptly bowled over by Improved Shield Charge.

  “Hey punk,” Titus shouted. “Might want to rethink that.” He fired off his newest ability.

  Ability: Center of Attention

  For the next 30 seconds, a target of your choosing must target you or take 2x base damage for every second they don’t. You must be standing still to use this ability.

  Moran hesitated for a moment, then scoffed and spun toward Zelda, his health ticking away by the moment.

  Seventy-eight percent, seventy-six percent…

  “I said get back here!” Titus lashed out with an Energy Grip but Moran slammed his massive shield down and blocked the ability as it reached him.

  “Just about got it—”

  Zelda was cut off as Moran reached her and ripped her from the console.

  “No!” Kaiden shouted as she was flung backwards.

  Moran hit a button and the progress bar on the console reset.

  “Almost had it there,” Moran said, a look of relief on his face. “Now, Titus. I believe you wanted some attention?” Moran fired off a combo of abilities all at once.

  Ability: Berserker

  The warden does double base damage but also takes +50% damage for 20 seconds. Speed is halved for 1 minute following the ability.

  Ability: Improved Instigated Fury

  The fervor of battle sweeps over you. For th
e next 8 seconds, each time you take damage your base attack increases by 15%.

  Ability: Lightspeed

  Dangerous levels of charge are channeled into your leg implants, increasing movement speed by 200% for 10 seconds. You will take double damage if hit during Lightspeed.

  Ability: Lethal Precision

  Your knowledge of the enemy increases the chance of you and your allies landing critical attacks. For a duration of 15 seconds, all attacks from you or your allies (within 50 feet) gain a +20% chance of becoming critical attacks.

  Double base damage, damage increased every time damage is taken, insane movement speed, and an increased chance to land crits. Kaiden could barely keep up with all of the abilities as they flashed in front of him.

  Moran went for Titus first. Lightspeed did its thing and he was a blur. Right up until his hammer came down on Titus’ head with a resounding crack and his health bar went wild with flashing. Nineteen percent health evaporated in the blink of an eye. Fifty-two left.

  Another blow landed on Titus, echoing through the chamber. His health plummeted. Another attack or two and he was done for.

  Ability: Improved Burst Arrow

  Zelda fired the attack but Moran was moving far too fast to be hit by it. He sidestepped it then turned back toward Titus, looking to deal a lethal blow.

  Ability: Improved Scatter Shot