“Looks like there’s contact up ahead,” Cal says as the Humvee arrives upon a mass of activity. “Fuckers even stopped the unit from moving,”
Dante and Nadia both look out the windscreen to see a group of troops, using their humvees as cover whilst firing upon a large group of Spider and Wyrms.
The shield unit has stopped, and is falling behind the centre of the garrison, which will expose troops to the Krix on the other side.
“Preston-” Ksshh, the sound of static pierces Cassie’s ear before she grunts in frustration.
“This is bad. The shield unit has stopped moving, and we can't get a message to Command to stop the garrison. So, we need to get them moving again,”
“How?” Nadia asks.
“I’ve got one idea,” Cal chuckles before dropping lead on the accelerator.
Everyone in the Humvee grabs the support bar as it barrels through the dirt, directly towards the group of Spiders and Wyrms.
“Uhh-” Dante stammers, “Is this a good idea?”
Nobody responds, and as the vehicle approaches a group of Krix it finally grabs their attention. They all scatter in an attempt to evade the Humvee, but many of them fail and it plows straight through the crowd.
“Booom!” Call yells as the vehicle bounces and jostles over the Krix that couldn't get out of the way, “That’s about as much as I can do without fucking up my taxi,”
“We’ll handle the rest,” Cassie grins
The Humvee comes to a stop in the distance, out of range of the Krix surrounding the shield unit and the doors swing open for Dante and Nadia.
“Get to the shield truck,” Cassie orders as she exits the Humvee.
_HP: 34 (-66)
_MANA: 41% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 94/230 (+4)
_NOTES: Multiple broken ribs. Muscular damage from stab wound to leg.
They all sprint straight for the truck and the swarm of Krix surrounding it- He isn't as fast as Nadia and Cassie, his leg’s holding him back. On top of that, his mana isn't in a good state, forty-one percent should make a decent shield but he hasn't tested it yet. Last time he put over seventy percent of his mana into a shield. Despite that, it was less mana than he has now, even at forty percent.
“Dante, stay back and reserve your mana for a shield,” Cassie orders as her energy blades emerge.
He slows down and hangs back at a distance, watching Nadia and Cassie approach the Krix surrounding the shield unit. Honestly, charging head first at that many Krix seems like a bad idea.
“I’ll clear a route,” Cassie says as a surge of energy builds in her blades, each one buzzing like a raging hive of bees as she increases her pace, “Cover me,”
Cassie drifts to a stop before crossing both of her arms. The energy around her continues to grow, so much so that the dirt beneath her slowly rises to the charge of her energy. Her dark black hair flowing up to the static charge building.
What is she doing?
Nadia lassos two spiders that vault at Cassie, and she throws them overhead- Those extra strength points work well with her ability. Both Spiders crash into the floor behind Cassie whilst she continues to hold her pose. As the Spiders get up, a giant hole suddenly pierces each of them, followed by the crack of Nadia’s whips rupturing through the air.
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“Out of my way!” Cassie yells as her eyes glow with the surge of her power- her energy illuminating her surroundings.
She releases her crossed arms with a sharp slash through the air and two blade-like beams of energy fly like roaring crescent moons. Each one tears through the ground as they soar towards the amalgamation of Krix, and before many of them can get out of the way, they shatter and explode into pieces. The sharp surges of energy barrel through everything in its way and dissipates before hitting one of the allied humvees.
“Woah!” Dante blurts out, basking in the power of Cassie’s ability as he tries counting the number of targets she destroyed- That must’ve been over thirty Krix! Within a few moments of arriving, Cassie and Cal have successfully eliminated more than half of the targets.
_ID: CASSIE
_HP: 87 (-13)
_MANA: 40% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 200/500
How much of her mana did that use? She still has forty percent, Dante notes from Cassie’s lifeline- He isn't sure of how much she had used before, but abilities like hers usually have a baseline of diminishing returns. Say it's thirty percent of her mana pool, the remaining seventy percent can go towards specialized attacks.
Dante doesn't have any of those… Not yet anyway, he still needs to figure out what his third ability is going to be. Hula-blade and a shield are all he’s got so far, he can't even think of specialized attacks for those yet.
“Dante! Get your head out of your ass,” Cassie yells as she and Nadia make their way to the remaining Krix surrounding the shield unit.
Dante turns to see Wyrm burrow from the ground beside him and immediately whip its tail at him.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: WYRM (TIER FOUR)
_HP: 100
Dante drops to the ground in response to the attack, just in time for it to whizz overhead and gets to one knee in a hurry to raise his shield.
_HP: 34 (-66)
_MANA: 0% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 0/230
_NOTES: Multiple broken ribs. Muscular damage from stab wound to leg.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 100%
The wyrm strikes its tail at him again, this time colliding with the shield and sending a vibration that nearly causes Dante to lose his footing.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 94%
Dante half expected that to break the shield, considering how much damage a direct hit did to him- This means my shield is strong.
Before the wyrm strikes again, a barrage of laser fire erupts from behind the parked Humvees- Some of the soldiers from the shield unit are providing Dante with support.
“Focus fire at the wyrm!” A soldier yells out.
“Don’t let it kill the Zo’an,'' Another soldier orders.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: WYRM (TIER FOUR)
_HP: 78 (-22)
The Wyrm squeals a loud mechanical hiss before smacking Dante’s shield again- with such a sudden speed that Dante couldn't brace for it, and the hit sends him falling onto his back.
_SHIELD STRENGTH: 88%
I can't let it keep hitting the shield, Dante realizes. It’ll get through his defense eventually and he’s going to need the shield for when Cassie orders it.
“I need help,” Dante calls out over comms.
“We’re a bit busy,” Nadia responds with a heavy breath.
“Don't die, Dante!” Cassie orders.
“We’ve got you, Kid” The soldiers yell out before another barrage of fire lights up the wyrm.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: WYRM (TIER FOUR)
_HP: 62 (-38)
Dante realizes that the soldiers are his best bet, and since they're laying down decent damage, he needs to make sure he doesn't get caught in the line of fire. The Wyrm is focusing on him and not the soldiers, which is good- he wouldn't be able to stop it if it did.
I just need to make sure that I don't get hit.