With my target just standing there in plain view, I’d be stupid not to let loose with my armor’s weaponry and that’s exactly what I do. Twin cannons from behind my shoulders flip up and I fire a hail of high velocity, high impact rounds down the corridor at the Warden, paired with explosive grenades and a webbing grenade. I pound it with a barrage for a couple of seconds before I spot the Warden move sharply to his left and out of my fire.

  Part of me doesn’t want to walk right into its trap, but I’m leading and it’s clear this Dungeon is funneling us this way. I divert power from my armor into its shields and stalk forward along the left wall, hoping to see the Warden in time to react. My attention is so focused on the end of the corridor that I don’t react in time when the stones in the wall to my left explode out and blast me against the far wall where I hit hard and only barely catch myself before I fall prone. Exposed like a sitting duck, I leap across diagonally to a point further up the corridor on the left side again, on guard.

  “Bobby…?” asks Kate, but I don’t stop stalking forward and nothing else is said.

  I can see the room ahead of me is deep, maybe ten meters or more to the back wall. With my enhanced Perception, amplified by the PowerSuit, I can hear a low rumble, almost a chant, and I catch a glimpse of the Warden’s tower shield beyond the right side of the opening. He’s fully protected and waiting for us to come to him, with all the advantages.

  Suddenly a feeling of wrongness floods down the corridor and over me. It saps my energy and makes my skin crawl, so I stop for a moment and a notification flashes up. I open it quickly, keen for the feeling to pass, but it doesn’t.

  Cursed: - 30% to all physical Attributes for 600 seconds

  “Oooh… that’s a nasty one,” says Brad, who doesn’t seem concerned yet.

  It’s not that long ago I gained the 30% extra physical Attributes I’ve just lost, so I’m used to fighting this way and it doesn't affect me as much as it might have, other than reducing the effectiveness of the PowerSuit. The loss of Strength is a blow if I close with the Warden; its high Level, heavy armor, and damage reduction index of 12 are going to make it extra hard to put down.

  A figure darts forward at high speed and I brace for impact as I see it’s another Minotaur, leaner and faster than the others, with twin hooked cleavers in its hands. I twist and fire more from my shoulder mounted cannons and spray the air of the corridor with my beam rifle as my plasma blades form, but the Minotaur is lightning fast and dodges most of it; the rest strikes its force field but it holds, flaring orange. It’s on me before I can react, slamming its weapons with precision into my throat, knee, and elbow looking for weak spots. I’m knocked around, but manage to lash out with a vicious elbow and a low kick that put it on the back foot for a moment. As soon as it loses initiative the Minotaur darts back into the room and the Warden’s shield emerges to protect it from any fire. I just barely catch its Status before it disappears from view.

  Minotaur Duelist (Level 111)

  Damage Reduction Index: 5

  Mana: 780/980

  Conditions: Strength of the Herd, Lightning Reflex

  Not as tough to put down as the Guardian, but fast as hell. It’s got the same Class as Brad and I glance back at him. His hands are on the hilts of his twin swords and he’s watching with interest.

  “Bobby…” It’s Brad this time, a tinge of warning in his voice.

  “Yeah, I agree,” Bobby says, and pulls an assault carbine out of its holster with his right hand as a large, translucent, and obviously powerful force shield forms on his left forearm.

  Another wave of wrongness flows down the corridor from the room and I’m hit with vertigo. The world wavers and it’s hard for me to focus or orient myself properly. The PowerSuit helps stabilize me so I don’t fall over and I fight hard to bear down and get ready for anything.

  The three EDF troopers here to protect me start down the corridor, Brad in the lead, and start to pass by me.

  Fuck this, I don’t need a rescue.

  “Fire in the hole!” I scream into the comms and launch half a dozen extremely powerful explosive mines into the room where they ricochet around.

  “Calrik!” at least one person calls into my comms, so I mute it.

  Before the first mine has even exploded I surge down the corridor using the armor’s flight thrusters and into the room. I get low and slam into the Warden, trying to knock him off balance, but the massive beast just stands there rooted to the spot. I bounce off his tower shield, spinning and turning, pivoting and never staying still to be targeted. I reach and stab with my plasma blades out at full length like an ineffective whirling tornado. And I see there’s a third one.

  Minotaur Shaman (Level 105)

  Damage Reduction Index: 2

  Mana: 1970/2510

  Conditions: Strength of the Herd, Spiritual Insight

  Fire and brimstone envelop us as the mines go off. Superheated shrapnel and explosions tear through the room, filling it with deadly force. I brace myself, knowing the PowerSuit isn’t going to get through this unscathed, and lock my mental picture of where the three Minotaurs were in my mind, then get knocked around like a pinball as vicious shrapnel peppers me. Something spears through the armor into my thigh, but I fight through the spike of pain and ignore the warning flashes all over my HUD to locate the Duelist with the help of the armor’s visual dampeners. With no hesitation I ignite my thrusters at full force in the middle of the hurricane and slam into the Duelist, crushing both of us into the stone wall with one plasma blade through its muzzle and one through its chest.

  My left shoulder erupts in agony as another mine goes off near me and tears through the back of my legs. I cry out and crumple, my blades are lodged in the stone walls through the Duelist and it keeps me upright. In the overwhelming chaos I sense the bright warmth of Soul Sparks from the Shaman and Duelist and I Reclaim them.

  Before I can allocate the Soul Sparks a crushing warhammer blow strikes me in the ribs and launches me through the air, yanking my blades from the wall. Somehow the armor hasn’t caved in and I spin wildly then slam into another of the reinforced stone walls awkwardly. Only the strength of the PowerSuit prevents my elbow from dislocation and I desperately reorient, trying to locate the Warden. From out of the churning madness a tower shield emerges and smashes me again. I skitter on the floor through debris and crunch against the wall, mind racing and nerves on fire.

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  My shoulder screams as I use the PowerSuit’s ability to augment my motions and sweep the area with a hail of rounds. There’s only one direction I hear the ping of rounds being deflected off a shield and I lift my legs to my stomach then point that way and fire the thrusters in my boots at full strength. My shoulder and neck are crushed against the wall and the PowerSuit creaks with stress as I’m compacted and the Warden is launched across the room.

  I cough and roll, unable to move properly, and feel cool healing bathe me as Bobby’s Power hits me and the PowerSuit injects me with Health and Regeneration potions. The pressure on the back of my minced hamstrings increases as the Suit compensates with medical and functional assistance and I manage to stand and for a split second focus on my notifications.

  Soul Sparks Reclaimed: 51

  Soul Spark reservoir: 54

  Would you like to allocate your Soul Sparks?

  (Y/N)

  I pulse the full amount of my regenerated Mana out and can sense the Warden still across the room. Bobby, Kate, and Brad are at the edge of the corridor. I know the smart thing to do is dump all 54 Soul Sparks into Constitution. Instead, I allocate all 54 Soul Sparks into Agility, bringing it up to over four times human maximum. The warmth suffuses me and, hamstrings still crippled, I push off hard to my left and then leap off my left leg low like a missile toward the Warden, who’s waiting for me with his tower shield out and his warhammer at the ready. Before I slam into the tower shield I punch into the floor with my right leg and flip up, twisting in the air as I move above the Warden. He looks none the worse for wear as he tower shield follows my trajectory, patient and ready to lash out.

  My feet strike with a dull thud and skid across the surface of the shield and then, moving so fast my Perception has trouble keeping up, I reach down and grab the edge of the shield then flip around, using the strength of the Suit to latch on and the thrusters to accelerate my momentum down and into the Warden. I expect to stagger him at least, but his feet are planted and I simply bounce off, hanging from his shield but inside the range of his warhammer. I drop and spin, slashing with a newly emerged plasma blade, only to find the Warden has taken a step back in perfect balance and interposed his shield between us again. My legs scream as I tear apart the newly healed flesh and dive to my right, away from the warhammer that whistles down and across to pulverize me. I skitter across the ground and roll, covering up as my last three mines and four grenades explode where I dropped them at the Minotaur’s feet.

  The Warden bellows as superheated shrapnel from my powerful mines blast up into it, reflecting off its tower shield which gets blasted from its hand. The Minotaur staggers but is held by the instant cement grenades that have been set off by the explosion of the mines, locking its ruined legs in place. Its entire front is shredded including its muzzle which has been blown off. I try to get up, but the Suit collapses - flashing red lights in the HUD are everywhere although it looks like damage reports rather than critical failures and a countdown to movement flashes up at 20 seconds.

  With a grimace I eject from the safety of the suit, just as the Warden, blood flying everywhere, pulls out a short sword blade and brings it down on his own right leg, severing it just above the knee. I watch for a moment stunned as he switches grip and does the same thing on his ruined left leg. How the fuck is that possible?

  “Calrik!” calls Bobby.

  Now freed, the Minotaur tumbles forward in a mess and launches itself with its hands and a bellow toward me. I’ve made a mistake ejecting from the PowerSuit, but my Agility is just as high and I spring past its sword swing, twisting in the air to avoid the blade at the cost of pain lancing through me. The Warden lands hard and skids across the stones into the wall as I land on my feet with a grunt. It already looks like its wounds are closing as it shakes its head, sending bloody flesh everywhere.

  I turn on my personal portable shield generator and stalk toward it, looking for an opening.

  “Calrik!” calls Bobby again, and I glance over. He tosses me his assault carbine and I catch the heavy weapon without missing a beat, then brace myself and fire with wild abandon at the Warden, who even now is trying to collect itself to lunge at me. I keep firing until the weapon is empty, fighting the recoil, until I feel the Soul Sparks collect and I Reclaim them into me, then slump down to the cracked, bloody ground and just lay there, breathing heavily. Until, that is, Brad hoists me up into the air like I’m a child.

  “Calrik, you crazy motherfucker! That was awesome!” he yells as he jumps up and down, shaking me like a rag doll. I laugh like a crazy person and choke on the pain from him shaking me.

  “Brad! Put him down!” Bobby calls, and lays his hands on me. More cooling healing flows through me and he puts some med packs on my legs, shoulder, and chest through my ruined clothes.

  “We’ve still got at least the Alpha, if the information was correct,” I remind them with a wheeze as I try to get up, but Kate puts a hand on my shoulder that keeps me on the ground.

  “Sit tight, Calrik. We’ve got this one,” says Bobby.

  “Probably best,” I agree. I let my head rest on the ground despite the gore, needing a minute to gather my wits.

  Maybe a rescue from them was a good idea after all.

  Bobby stays with me after grabbing his PowerSuit and shaking his head, while Brad and Kate race off through the maze. I call up my notifications.

  Soul Sparks Reclaimed: 84

  Soul Spark reservoir: 84

  Would you like to allocate your Soul Sparks?

  (Y/N)

  I think about the geometry of the maze from the map that was being constructed in my HUD and, hoping it’s going to pay me back when they clear the maze and kill the Alpha, I allocate all 84 Soul Sparks to Aura to increase my Soul Spark Reclamation range.

  Soul Sparks Allocated!

  Aura +84 (114)

  Mana Regeneration +84 /min (114)

  Soul Spark Reclamation range +84 (116)

  As my range increases so dramatically, I can feel Soul Sparks being created in the distance and I pull all of them to me hungrily, then allocate a few more to Aura any time I can feel the Soul Sparks nearing the outer limit of my range.

  As notifications start to roll in I look at Bobby, wondering if he can tell what’s going on with me. My Level’s jumped to 5, but that’s probably expected based on what I just did. He glances over at me, then gestures to his PowerSuit.

  “You haven’t done any lasting damage, but it’s going to take a few hours to repair and I’m going to have to make a special trip to restock all the ammo.”

  “Thanks Bobby, you didn’t have to lend me your Suit,” I say and find myself now able to sit up.

  “Actually,” he says, “I wouldn’t have missed it and can’t quite believe I saw it even though I was right there. We almost intervened so many times.” He pauses for a couple seconds then shakes his head. “Brad’s right - you’re one crazy motherfucker.”

  I laugh at that.

  “If you ever make it to B Rank or even if you join the EDF, get in touch - ok?” he asks. I nod, knowing that’s a long, long way away if it ever happens. I’m still not sure how I’m going to explain my increase in Attributes to anyone who pays attention. At least when I bolster Aura there’s nothing overt other than my Level that changes, although maybe higher Level people or ones with Mana can tell.

  Suddenly a huge concentration of Soul Sparks forms in the distance and I Reclaim them with gratitude, sure nothing like this is ever going to happen to me again. Once in a lifetime and grateful for it would be an understatement.

  “They’ve killed the Alpha and cleared the maze,” Bobby tells me, and then gestures to the PowerSuit. “Put this on even if it’s not fully functional. No way am I going back to Vitalis without you in tow after all of this!”

  I groan and stand up as he lifts it so I can back into the Suit. When I’m in he claps me on the back and I stagger, Suit not up to the task but my Agility high enough to force it to move in time. I unmute the comms when I see the look on Bobby’s face.

  “... get to the end of the maze to join us at the exit,” Kate is saying.

  “Come on mate, let’s get out of here,” he says. I nod and follow along.

  “There’s an attack on Saint Marianne’s!” Kate exclaims. “Check the secure channel!”

  I don’t know how to do that but Bobby sure does.

  “Shit! Let’s go - now, Corvin!”