There was a roar that resounded over the comms. “Barten! Are you fleeing!?” Smith asked and then laughed. But by that time Barten had already destroyed another two spiders.
—
Level 4
7150/8000
—
It seemed like the experience that he was getting stalled at 25. And he was going to need a whole lot more if he wanted to level up. Felling Smith would do the job. But that was the problem at hand. Without the next level his chances of besting Smith were slim. At least if he had some backup they might be able to force the issue.
Barten continued down the path until he came into contact with a group of 3 davs making their way down. They were battered and looked to be in poor shape. “This is Penny of Foxtrot team 11,” a voice came over comms when Barten came close. “Calling the winged dav in front. Please identify yourself.”
“This is Barten from Foxtrot team 6.” How could he explain that he was grinding experience? “I’m clearing out the lanes of the type 3s. There is a turned at the end who is defending the reactor. Back up would be nice, but it might be better to have an overwhelming amount of it.”
“Ah. We ran into one before… took two of us down before we were able to neutralize.” Penny’s dav turned and looked over the rest of his squad. “It might be best for us to retreat then. And let another, fresher, squad attack.”
“If you think that would be best,” Barten said. “I’m going to continue looking for backup while I attack what type 3s I can find.”
Foxtrot 11 ended up retreating in the end. But it gave Barten another idea. Backup would be nice. And what would be better was to have his own squad with him. He had picked a random path in order to hopefully get enough experience. Only that was a mistake. With a whir his dav turned around and he flew back down the tunnel.
When he exploded out into the room again Smith was standing by the pit in the middle. “What? Why are you back?” he asked. Barten didn’t bother to reply as he looked around the room. Once he found the path by the leg he had discarded he flew down the tunnel. It didn’t take long before he ran into Griff and the others. Crisp’s dav was missing an arm. While Yin’s leg armor looked chewed up. Griff had discarded the plasma cannon he was carrying and had Dane’s sword and shield.
“Barten? Is there a problem?” Griff asked. To which Barten quickly filled them in. “Alright. Go and clear out the other paths. If we can all dogpile Smith at the same time then we might be able to take him down without any casualties on our side. We’ll follow behind and wait at the tunnel entrance.”
With a plan taking place Barten raced back down into the room with the reactor. Smith turned to look at him again, only he stayed silent. The path that Barten took still had 2 type 3s standing guard. He felt that even though the type 3s were learning how to react to him. Barten had learned to anticipate that. And after destroying so many of them he was able to quickly defeat them. He watched as his experience trickled upwards. Yet it didn’t fill him with any good feelings. If anything, as his experience increased, so did a foreboding feeling.
At the end of the path that he had chosen wasn’t an advancing squad of davs. Instead it was a downed squad of davs with a type 5 standing over top of them. “What? How did you come from that direction?” Young voice crackled over the comms. “He thought that he was better than the rest of us with his host's stats. And yet he already lost to you?” Young laughed and lowered his type 5 into a crouch.
“Well. No. I ran.”
“You ran? Then you aren’t my match at all.”
“Maybe,” Barten said as he revved up the thruster. “You could also be just what I need in order to take down Smith.”
“What you need?”
Barten didn’t bother to respond and instead charged. Young was just as fast as Smith was and showed it in how he dodged Barten’s horizontal swing. Only when Barten followed up Young wasn’t ready and his type 5 stumbled from the blow.
Young brought the arms of the type 5 together, a trick that Barten had seen many times at that point. The hail of projectiles came as expected. Only Barten had already jumped into the air. “What!?” Young said as Barten landed behind him. Barten used the advantage he had gained and he first chopped off the leg of the type 5. And then stepped down on the torso. It wasn’t long until all of the limbs had been chopped off while Young howled. “How can you be like this? You. You’ve awakened haven’t you. He never said anything about that. The one who took Smith as his host. Arrogance. Such arrogance…”
There was a delay while nothing more was said. “Are you still there Young? Or are you still… taken?”
“Just leave me,” his voice came, thick with emotion. The comms stayed on for a moment and Young’s sobs could be heard. Barten looked down at the disabled type 5 before he looked at the fallen squad. It must have been hard to stand by while something else controlled your body to attack your comrades.
The path back down the tunnel was longer than Barten remembered it coming up. He stopped halfway to deal with the blinking blue light at the corner of his vision.
—
You have leveled up! Pilot has reached level 5
A stat point has been awarded.
A trait has been awarded.
—
The stat point was as expected. While the trait was new and was hopefully the edge that Barten needed.
—
1 trait is pending. A trait is something that modifies how your class works. Either boosting it in an area or increasing the overall bonuses granted. Since this is your first trait a recommended list has been created.
Veteran Dav Pilot
Psychic Attack
Improved Resistance (Psychic)
Improved Psychic Resonance
…
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
—
There were more. But the longer the list got, the less helpful they sounded. Barten concentrated on the first ones suggested to him.
—
Veteran Dav Pilot
Your skill with a dav has unlocked this trait for you.
+10% Bonus to all stats while piloting a dav (rounds down).
+30% to your resource stat while you are piloting a dav (rounds down)
15% reduction in all costs related to piloting a dav.
—
Without knowing anything about the other traits, Veteran Dav Pilot seemed strong. Enough that Barten was tempted to not bother looking at the other options. But it wouldn’t do to pass up on something that could help with the fight with Smith. There was also that fact that the war with the Goliaths wouldn't be finished with just this battle, And there would be other fights and battles to come.
—
Psychic Attack
Surviving attacks from multiple Aethergarblind sources unlocked this trait for you.
Use your Psychic Resonance to assault the mind of another creature. Damage is increased by the difference in your attack and their defense stat, increasing exponentially if the difference is 5 or more.
—
Barten wondered if this was the trait that the Aethergarblinds were using? They did seem to favor psychic attacks, both from the object as well as when they attacked back on Alpha Base. While it seemed strong as well, they probably all had high levels of defense against the attack they themselves used.
—
Improved Resistance (Psychic)
Your high level of Psychic Resistance has unlocked this trait.
+3 levels to the chosen resistance (Psychic)
—
It seemed somewhat weak. Though it might be handy later if there was a psychic attack that pushed past his limits. At the moment it wasn’t what he was looking for.
—
Improved Psychic Resonance
This is a basic trait for those who have unlocked the corresponding stat.
Increases the resources given by Psychic Resonance by 10%.
—
The last one seemed like it would be good if Barten had another way to use his resonance. But without the attack skill the resonance was only good for piloting the winged dav. Did the system really want him to take Veteran that much? Or was it just that he hadn’t enough time to unlock other good traits?
Barten looked at the next couple on the list.
—
Fast Runner
Reduces the amount of energy needed to run at top speed.
Long distance Runner
Reduces the amount of energy needed to continue running for long periods of time.
—
He rubbed his temples. Did those two appear since he had some skill points in running already? Or because he had spent so much time running while on Echo Base? With the Con that Barten had now he could probably run around the world easier than driving around it. Though he didn’t have a baseline to work off of. The two traits seemed like a waste.
The next few were about shooting. While there was some about piloting.
—
Veteran Pilot
Your skill at piloting has unlocked this trait.
15% increased Perception while piloting a vehicle (rounds down).
15% increased Dexterity while piloting a vehicle (rounds down).
—
It seemed… lack luster. Yes, there was a higher boost to two stats. But Veteran Dav Pilot gave 10% to all stats. Along with a larger boost to Psychic Resonance. Barten wondered if the difference in the two trails was due to the limit of old Earth technology. And things like the davs, which were based off of the Aethergarblind tech, just worked better with the system.
Without anything better to pick, as well as not a lot of time to agonize over it, Barten selected Veteran Dav Pilot. After his selection was accepted nothing seemed to change at first. But then he felt a deeper connection with the dav than he had before. He took a step forward, another one boosted by the thruster, and then glided down the tunnel on the wings. It felt like he was moving his own body. And it took a moment for Barten to realize that he wasn’t even using the pedals or arm controls. That all he was using was his connection with the suit. It ended up better than he could have hoped. Now if only it was enough.
“So. Are you done leveling up?” Smith asked. “It took me a moment to figure out what you were doing. And it was only after you retreated that I realized. It’s too bad for you that no amount of power will be enough to stop us.”
“I guess that we’ll have to see,” Barten said. He crouched his dav down and took a breath. Then he charged Smith with all of the power he could force out of the winged dav. Smith nimbly dodged to the side. And brought both of his arms forward to shoot at the back of Barten’s dav. Only Barten was ready for such an attack and he pulled up to the ceiling and out of the range of the projectiles.
Barten hoved in the air near the roof of the room. He needed to get close in order to disable Smith’s type 5. But in order to do that he would need to weather the hail of projectiles. Or otherwise somehow trick Smith into wading into close combat himself.
Hovering was eating up his Psychic Resonance, and Barten needed to make a decision soon. He slowly lowered to the ground and leveled his rifle towards Smith. “You know that’s not going to work,” Smith said. The type 5 was already weaving back and forth, ready for any shots that may come.
Barten pulled the trigger several times, aiming at Smith’s feet. Only the fleet footed type 5 was able to dodge the shots. Barten looked at the plasma cannon for a moment and then shouldered the cannon.
“What's the matter? Did you waste all of your ammo? Shooting at nothing?” Smith asked and laughed.
Barten pulled the machete off of his back, and pushed in towards Smith. As expected the type 5 brought its arms up again. Only it faltered when it stopped back right into one of the holes that Barten had just shot into the ground.
The gap was enough for Barten to push his dav forward and he swung at the type 5s legs. Smith was able to awkwardly block with the sword edge of one of the arms. And the impact sent him reeling backwards. The back of the type 5 collided into one of the pieces of roof that had broken free and fallen down.
“Is it still a waste of ammo now?” Barten asked as he pursued Smith.
“Any shot that doesn’t land is a miss,” Smith said and took cover behind the ceiling piece. It was large enough that it hid Smith completely. As Barten tried to circle around Smith was moving in the same direction. And Barten was only able to get glimpses of the type 5. “Just the same as not having a shot can also be a miss.” Smith pushed out the right side of the debris and fired a volley before he ducked back into cover.
Smith’s action reminded Barten of another time. He had seen such a tactic before. It while it was clear that the Athergarblind’s control wasn’t perfect. Guntherson had somehow resisted the possession after the fact. The creature controlling Smith was someone well versed in combat. And even with the new levels Barten was having issues dealing with him cleanly. But what if some part of Smith was still inside? Still fighting against it and the control that it had over his body?
Barten decided that it was worth the risk. And so he charged toward the side of the debris that Smith had taken cover behind. With his wings he jumped into the air and landed on top of the piece of rock. And when Smith popped out of the other side of the debris he failed to find at first. That moment was all it took for Barten to already line his shot up.
The last shot of the plasma cannon whomped out and landed it on the lower torso of the type 5. Barten then stepped forward and severed one of the arms of type 5 as it tried to crawl away. “Well fought. For this battle you’ve won. But I wonder what will happen next time?” Smith asked.
Barten waited a moment to see if the real Smith would come around. After a moment the head of the type 5 fell forward. And Smith stepped out of what must have been the cockpit and waved.