Alan did so, calmly watching as the Predecessor’s life fell below 10%. One second ticked by, then the next. Its HP drain began to slow, from 1% a second to .5%. Alan watched. Then, finally, the HP bar reached zero. A couple of messages popped up before Alan, accompanied by a sudden crash.
ACTIVATE HYPERCOGNITION.
Alan immediately did so, quickly reading over the messages.
Rewards for slaying the Lord of the Abyss severely diminished as it made no attempt to fight back.
x23 Level up!
Gained over 20 levels with one kill! +20 bonus ability points
Due to Predecessor’s unique Boss status and abilities its soulsteel has remained bound.
Your actions have been deemed hostile by the Warden! You are now considered hostile by the Abyss Labyrinth.
Alan looked up to see the two level 1500 Ancient Sentinels crash through the doorway, arms held aloft. Their hands glowed green, and had been transformed into hand cannons of some sort. While Eve attempted to scan the two guards Alan quickly tried to connect to the Chief Warden AI but his connection was blocked.
Scan inconclusive. 30% estimated chance of survival.
What? Don’t I need to just run past them? Alan asked worriedly as he slowly tried to make his way over to the Predecessor’s body to try to loot it.
Negative. Their long range scanners will detect us as soon as the power armor’s energy runs out. We must destroy them here and now.
With a sigh, Alan found a single vial of Predecessor DNA on the Lord of the Abyss’s body. He then unsheathed both soulsteel knives. His health was already dangerously low due to the cost, and Alan could feel that his body was low on blood. His energy shields were also already halfway drained.
Don’t worry. Based upon my estimations if we are hit once by those Sentinel’s attacks we would be vaporized instantly even if we were at full HP.
Great, Alan replied, narrowing his focus on the golems. They stood side-by-side scanning the room with waves of bright green light that emerged from their central eyes. When the light reached Alan it passed through him like he was a ghost. He silently commended Eve as he began sprinting towards the golems, knives outstretched, planning on reaching the space between the two golems, attacking each in rapid succession. The moment his knife first penetrated a golem the invisibility matrix of his armor would unfortunately be breached and fall apart, which meant these few moments would likely determine the battle. Luckily, the armor still worked despite the holes and low durability status.
Eve quickly transferred her guidance to Alan, and he saw himself trying to deeply penetrate the left-hand golem’s eye while simultaneously cutting through one of its four arms, each of which held a large blade. Alan felt a bit ludicrous charging at the behemoth of metal only holding two tiny knives, but he followed Eve’s orders perfectly.
The knife in Alan’s left hand easily penetrated the golem’s eye until his hand was stopped while his other knife sliced through the armor covering its right hand, revealing wires and circuitry. Alan quickly reversed his grip, cutting through as many of the wires in the hand as possible while twisting the knife embedded in the golem’s eye viciously. Its HP bar appeared, dropping 40%.
Alan, however, was now revealed. Eve showed three cleavers descending at him in rapid succession, moving at a speed that almost rivaled the first Predecessor Alan had met. All Alan could do was barely adjust his grip with a slight, carefully calculated step, and watch the results. With miraculous precision two of the blades were perfectly blocked by the two soulsteel knives Alan held. As soon as each blade met the soulsteel knife it was cut in two where the blades met, the rest of the golem’s blade swishing through the air inches from Alan’s body. The third slash passed in front of Alan' face, embedding itself in the ground. Taking the opportunity, Alan sliced at the mechanical fingers that grasped the blade, watching as the blade was dropped to the ground.
BEHIND YOU, Eve yelled at Alan. He turned his head to see the second golem’s arms stretching out; its eye began to glow brighter, aimed directly at Alan. Eve showed Alan the trajectories of the descending cleavers as well as her estimated path for the eye’s blast. She showed a singular path to avoid damage, a leaping, twisting backflip that required Alan to cut through the arms while in midair. Alan attempted the leap.
Almost immediately, he felt something was off, his movements not mirroring the preciseness with which Eve showed them being executed. He simply did not have the experience or skill required for such a maneuver. Still, Eve attempted to correct it, calculating and displaying a new set of blocks for Alan to make. He barely managed to fend off the first two cleavers that cut at him, but he could do nothing but watch as the golem’s glowing eye let out a gigantic blue beam of light. Alan tried to turn himself in midair, even managing to change his course slightly by pushing off of the two other arms that tried to cut him. He almost evaded the entirety of the blue ray, but it still struck a glancing blow, knocking Alan to the ground, eliminating the rest of his shield energy. Any additional hits would kill him.
Alan turned to see the damaged golem had turned 180 degrees, preparing its own eye-blast. Its three remaining arms had dropped the blades. Their fingers were now pointed drill bits, like the ends of a sharpened pencil. Alan didn’t think they would break so easily. The undamaged golem was also preparing another attack, its eye recharging while it stepped forward as its arms began descending.
An image formed in Alan’s eyes of him throwing the two knives, each piercing the direct center of the two golems. A series of calculations, diagrams and projections flashed through his mind, leaving him with the precise angle, force and technique to throw the knives. Alan followed the outline, concentrating, getting up to a kneeling position before attempting the throw. He took the two knives, and released.
As the knives left his hands Alan felt satisfaction, a rightness. Eve calculated they were both directly on-target. The knife headed at the damaged golem flew fluidly through the air, spinning, dead set for its central eye. The golem attempted to defend itself with its arms, but to no avail. Its eye was pierced, the knife’s spinning handle stopped by the golem’s armor. Gravity brought the knife downwards, and it pierced all the way through the golem’s body before slowly falling onto the floor. The golem was destroyed.
The second golem made no attempt to dodge the spinning knife headed its way. The moment before the knife pierced its eye, it instead shifted, blinking like Sidestep, appearing at Alan’s side. Eve instantaneously ran new calculations, displaying to Alan that he had to get away, back to the first knife. He leapt up, sprinting towards the thrown knife lying on the ground, narrowly dodging the four blades that descended, trying to cut him in two. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the second knife he had thrown glide through the air, unobstructed. It tumbled and embedded itself into the ground.
The golem reached one of its arms and grabbed the hilt, then threw the knife out the door. It fell into the abyss. Lost.
Alan briefly stopped to gape at the sight of his lost weapon, only to almost be sliced open by a descending blade; Eve immediately directed him onto a new safe path through the attacks. Fortunately, it seemed as though the golem had to recharge its energy after using the blink ability. If it had been able to use it as often as Sidestep, Alan would have been killed long ago.
Alan gritted his teeth, all his attention on the remaining knife. Seconds later, he managed to grab it as he ran past. He sliced at a metallic arm passing beside him, attempting to grab the blade. He jammed the knife inwards then began running back at the golem, severing the golem's wire tendons. The arm shuddered, then dropped the blade it was holding.