Indestructible, it turned out had an entirely different meaning when it came to Doinkmaster Supreme, the red-headed tank with a tendency to use his oversized sword as a cudgel rather than a blade.


    He charged down the stairs and into the chamber beyond with Gideon and Mia trying to keep pace, the latter cursing at Red the whole time. Oblivious to their urges for him to slow down, Red moved into the storage chamber practically at a run, sword held in a double-handed grip as he practically dared the enemy to attack.


    On being confronted by three drone Stalkers standing in the middle of the room, he triggered Warden’s Roar, shouting a phrase of his choice which was imbued with power, drawing the attention of all the enemies in the large room but one.


    “Eat a bag of dicks you Stalker pricks!” he shouted as a wave of power radiated outwards from his body.


    The three drones immediately attacked, swamping him with claws striking at his body while Red tried to fend them off largely by smacking them in the head. From behind Mia fired short bursts of her assault rifle, but the gunfire did little to damage the Stalkers given their armor plating.


    Gideon moved to the side of the group, watching as Red stumbled backwards, blood gushing from a wound on his leg and one arm hanging limply as he tried to fend off the four attackers. He triggered Colossus Stance once again and a shockwave radiated outwards, driving back the Stalkers for half a second before they regrouped and dove toward him once again.


    Out of the corner of his eye, Gideon saw two Bloodborn Stalkers standing further back in the room, cloaked in darkness and standing sentinel in front of a monstrous third figure that he couldn’t see clearly. Whatever it was, the bruisers were protecting it and Gideon knew instinctively that he was going to have to put that thing down sooner or later.


    First though he had to dig Red out of a hole.


    He moved to the closest Stalker, stabbing into the creature’s back with dual talons, and ducking away before the enemy could spin around and retaliate. He used Shadow Veil to move to the other side of the fight, repeating his attack against another Stalker and triggering Stealth Strike to maximize the damage.


    Red was struggling to hold his own, but the Stalkers had faltered in their attack, with two of their number now badly wounded and their attention divided. Despite his bleeding, Red continued to batter the third Stalker, driving it down to the ground and smashing the hilt of his blade into its chest over and over.


    The tank’s activity had once again drawn the attention of the two wounded Stalkers, allowing Gideon to use the distraction to use Thrust to finish one of the enemies and quickly move to the third. Before he could strike though a projectile shot past, narrowly missing his neck and leaving a trail of bright green smoke as it thudded into Red’s chest, driving him backwards.


    Red staggered, losing his grip on the Bloodborn Blade and slipping on the floor to land with a thud, a dark green arrow sticking out of his chest as he coughed and spluttered. He was struggling to breath, thin tendrils of vivid green branched out from the wound on his chest, snaking up his throat as he gasped.


    Gideon turned, spying a fourth Stalker off to the right, holding a black bow which looked like it was made from the same chitinous substance as the Stalker amor. It was thinner than the other Stalkers and its chitinous armor was laced with green light that glowed at the seams. Its eyes glowed with a sickly emerald luminescence as it pulled back another arrow and prepared to loose.


    With Red on the verge of death, one wounded Stalker running toward Gideon, and Mia attempting to trigger a healing spell to save the tank, Gideon triggered Shadow Step, moving through space and appearing behind the new threat. Green lit amor shone ahead of him as he plunged the daggers into the archer’s back.


    That was the plan at least, but it moved too quickly, catching only a glancing blow with Gideon’s blades before swiping its venom-tipped arow toward his throat. He felt ice and fire rip through his neck as he ducked back, narrowly avoiding an attack that would have split his neck apart.


    Using a little of the strength he’d chosen to allot, he shoved forward with his fists, punching the archer off balance and then slashing the twin talons out and knocking its weapon to the ground. The Stalker still held its arrow and tried to shove it through Gideon’s eye, but he ducked to one side, driving his right blade up into the alien soldier’s armpit where the armor plating was absent.


    The creature shrieked and Gideon pushed his advantage, driving the blade further up and directing it toward the Stalker’s chest. He then drove the second blade up into the alien’s neck, ending the Stalker’s life in one brutal stab.


    As the archer fell, Gideon spun around, watching to see whether the two hulking Bloodborn had left their guard positions and attempting to track the last surviving drone. His vision blurred, bright specks of emerald dust floating in the air around him like fireflies as a stab of fiery rage shot through his neck and engulfed his mind.


    He fell to the floor, knees cracking against the hard concrete as he dropped one of the talon blades and reached up to pull the venom arrow from his neck. It took three fumbling attempts to pull the arrow free, by which time he was seeing double and could no longer stand.


    Gideon fumbled for the talon blade he had dropped, but was forced to give up as the movement caused the room to spin around him. He felt like he was going to vomit. At the same time the strange green lights swam around him, obscuring his vision.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    “Gideon!”


    He heard Mia call out but her voice was a distant, far off thing. He was dimly aware of the fact that he was lying against the floor, having fallen down at some stage.


    Gideon fought to push him self up, ignoring the pain and baffling nausea. The room lurched around him as he knelt and tried to force his body to heal itself.


    He wasn’t under attack and that should mean that the echo was naturally fighting whatever venom was currently coursing through his system, but clearly the venom was working against him. Gideon could feel it like a fire raging through his system, shutting down his muscles and sense one by one.


    33:29


    Fighting against the urge to give in and slump to the floor, he knelt like a statue, teeth gritted, sweat pouring from his brow as he locked horns with the poison trying to devour him from within.


    The stalemate was broken a moment later when a thread of shimmering golden light struck his shoulder. The moment it made contact he felt strength and vitality swell through his body, driving back the infection and filling him with power as he stood to his feet.


    Gideon turned to see Mia standing nearby, one hand extended toward him, a golden stream of healing light still emanating from her hand. Her other hand was pressed against Red’s chest, Patchwork Remedy bringing the tank back from the brink of death.


    Red drew in breath sharply, sitting up and slapping a hand against his chest at the place where the arrow had been moments earlier. He looked around, momentarily disoriented until he caught sight of Mia next to him. He smiled up at her, accepting her hand and pulling himself to his feet as Gideon walked over to the pair.


    He was holding the bow and a quiver he had taken from the dead Stalker with the green tinged armor. Everything inside Gideon wanted to keep the bow and finally start on his journey to becoming the rogue he’d always dreamed of being.


    But there were practical considerations to consider and the fact was, at the moment Mia was basically useless as a damage dealer. Conventional guns didn’t seem to do anything against stalkers whereas, with the bow, she could provide ranged damage while Red and Gideon did the close up work.


    He smiled, handing the weapon to Mia.


    “Here, you should have this.”


    She took the bow and quiver, eyes wide as she examined them. “Thanks. Yeah, I’ve trained with a bow so this should do nicely.”


    He returned her smile, but some part of him wished she’d refused the weapon.


    “That spell back there, the healing spell?” he asked. “Where the hell did that come from?”


    She shrugged. “Picked it up when we assigned enhancement points. I still can’t use ether, but at least I got a new spell out of it. Luminous Mend. I’m glad it worked.”


    “Oh, it worked alright. It was incredible.”


    “Ah, yeah,” Red broke in, “when you two are finished making kissy kissy we should really deal with that.”


    They turned to face the direction Red was pointing in. The two bulky Bloodborn Stalkers were still standing like statues near the shadowed walled at the far end of the room. Behind them a barely visible figure squirmed and hissed its monstrous body writhing against the wall, one swollen eye regarding the trio and glowing with sickly green light.


    “What is it?” Mia said, pulling an arrow from her new quiver and placing it against the bow.


    “Some kind of ass monster by the smell of it,” Red offered.


    “It’s an Ether Harvester,” Gideon said, twirling the talon blades around in his hands. “It just popped up on my—”


    LEVEL 1 BOSS: ETHER HARVESTER


    A towering monstrosity of chitin and shadow, the Harvester is a bio-etheric siphon, designed to absorb, store, and redistribute ether to its allies. A vital support unit in the Harrow Collective’s forces, it lumbers across battlefields, draining the very essence of the fallen and fueling its army with unnatural strength. Its hunched, insectoid frame is layered with hardened, obsidian chitin, pulsing with glowing ether veins that swell with stolen energy.


    PRIMARY ABILITIES:


    Ether Absorption (Passive): The Harvester passively drains ether from the battlefield, absorbing fallen enemies’ essence into its core.


    Infusion Surge (Support Ability): Transfers stored ether to nearby allies, enhancing their speed, damage, and resilience.


    Harvester’s Talons (Offensive Ability): Bladed limbs crackle with excess ether, piercing armor and dealing true damage based on its stored energy.


    Ether Storm (Ultimate): At max ether capacity, the Harvester releases a catastrophic energy discharge, overloading nearby enemies and allies alike.


    “—HUD,” Gideon finished.


    “Holy shit!” Red blurted. “That one nasty boy!”


    “Why isn’t it attacking?” Mia asked.


    “It could be hurt?” Gideon reasoned. “Or maybe it’s just too precious an asset to risk sending against the enemy?”


    Even as he said the words, Gideon dismissed them. He could barely see the creature, but what he could make out in the low light was a vast armored form which seemed to have it back toward them, almost as if it was jealously guarding something.


    “Ether!” he blurted, turning to Mia. “They must have it stored down here somewhere and that thing’s trying to get to it. That’s why it’s been sitting here this whole time with those Bloodborn protecting it.”


    “Okay,” Red said, “so why don’t we leave it be, find the generator and get the hell out of here. We can come back and kill it some other time.”


    Gideon checked his timer, shaking his head.


    29:58


    “We’ve still got plenty of time and leaving this thing to steal stores of ether isn’t a good idea. We should kill it now, take it out before it beefs up on ether.”


    “Agreed,” Mia said.


    Red rolled his eyes. “Fine. But if shit goes south, I saw we book it with the generator and leave Big Bertha down here.”


    Gideon grinned. “Only one problem with that, my man.” He pointed a dagger toward the Harvester. “Generator just popped up on my mini map and it looks like it’s sitting right under the Harvester, so we’re gonna have to kill Bertha either way.”


    Red rolled his eyes. “Okay then, time for the smash, smash.”


    “Wait,” Gideon said, just give me a second to clear away some announcements. Also, maybe this time we should talk strategy. They’re not attacking us yet, so we should actually try and plan out an attack.”


    Red sighed. “I prefer the fuck around and find out approach.”


    “Of course you do,” Mia chirped. “You’re clearly studied at the school of Leyroy Jenkins.”


    Gideon chuckled in response as Red looked at both of them in turn, clearly unimpressed and with no idea what they were talking about.


    Bladed Weaponry +2


    Tactical Insight +2


    Endurance +2


    Stealth +3


    Dodge +1


    Venom Resistance +1


    “Okay,” Gideon said, closing out the announcements. “I say we pick a side and strike together. Red, you charge at the Stalker on the right and use that aggro ability to hook the other one. I’ll go for righty while Mia stays back and sees what damage she can do to Big Boy. Sound good?”


    Mia nodded and Red reluctantly agreed.


    “As long as I get to hit something soon, I’m in.”


    Gideon put a hand on his shoulder, nodding down at the oversized sword in his hand. “You might even want to try stabbing something with it this time.”


    Red shook his head. “Nah. I like the feel of bones breaking. Besides, what’s the point of any of this if we can’t have some fun?”