Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

time; they circled around from outside the range of his minimap, and then closed in until it was too late. There was a large contingent of yellow dots leading the pack mixed with other colors. He decided to thin the herd a bit and make a calculated retreat to the turrets. He dashed forward and saw the first of the Shamblers, ordering Nick to start one of his fight playlists.

Ass Kicker’s Haircut by The Saturday Knights. Success Rates x 1. (Chain anchor, no bonus)

Gus readied his spear and decapitated two of the lead Shamblers. He spun and thrust into the eye of another. Taking a step back, he repositioned using Sweep the Leg on another. “Cobra Kai style!” Gus yelled, sinking the spear into the eye of the downed zombie.

Gus wished he could have squeezed in another training session. He used this new weapon like his old spears, but those techniques ignored the large blade edge fashioned from Razorback. Even still, he felt like he was really getting into the flow of fighting with polearms. The katas made a big difference in positioning and firing some of his counter skills and activated more chain attacks. Oddly, the majority of these first line attackers were Shamblers.

The naginata hummed as it cut through the zombies’ flesh with ease. Gus caught a twitch from his perception and noticed Mantids in the trees. He backed up closer to the turrets to get a little coverage behind him.

Bad Seed Rising by Bad Seed Rising. Success Rates x 2. Damage doubled.

Gus stabbed another zombie and felt the jolt of Wreck-tums activate. He spun into a Chained Attack, decapitating a Mantid in midair. As he fought, he still could manage the Mantids and Shamblers without too much difficulty, thanks to the turrets assisting him. There were just so many! He saw the Mantids spreading out, avoiding the turrets by leaping from tree to tree. They were trying to disable the turrets from behind while they were focused on the oncoming horde!

Gus triggered a Basic Flight and jumped to clear the turrets, interposing himself between the eight Mantids approaching from the rear. This many opponents was a different level of challenge, and more than once his new armor stopped a stray talon that made it past his defenses. Gus was a blur of motion, but he had definitely shifted to the defensive. The turrets were tasked to only attack the area in front of them, and Gus’ attention was so focused he couldn’t access the controls to widen the kill zone.

“Nick! Adjust the second row of turrets to attack this direction!” Gus grunted as he turned a parry into a riposte as his attacker became open.

Hero by The Verve Pipe. Success Rates x 6. Damage increased.

The Mantids were definitely fighting with much more coordination. It was all he could do to maintain attacking, blocking and retreating without letting the Mantids chase him away from the turrets. They fell back as three of the turrets rotated and began peppering them with projectiles. While they were distracted, Gus tried one of his new abilities. He hurried to activate Wrecks and Parks. One of the Mantids froze in the air, reminding Gus of a Matrix scene, with it suspended in an attack pose.

The ability was cheap and apparently had no cooldown so he ‘parked’ three more Mantids. The turrets shredded them to pieces as they were hanging there. He noticed a blue pulse flicker above him when firing Wrecks and Parks. He looked up and saw one of the blue creatures that resembled a poop emoji with too many eyes wedged in the nook of a tree. The stupid thing was directing the other Mantids and could sense his powers, the little jerk!

Gus would get to it later. With the herd thinned, he was able to take out two of the remaining attackers. They viciously protected their frozen allies, apparently unaware that they were dead. Or maybe they did and wanted to have the brains readily available to boost any lost HP.

Another chain combo later, the two active Mantids were down, and Gus attacked one of the remaining frozen ones, lopping off its head. Grinning evilly, Gus threw the severed head at the little blue Peeping Tom. Direct hit! With no appendages, it couldn’t dodge or move out of the way and it was pushed off of its roost. The squelch as it hit the ground and popped was very satisfying.

Berzerk by Eminem. Success Rates x 24. Damage increased.

Turning around, Gus was shocked to see the carnage that had been delivered while his back was turned. Zombies crawled over piles of bodies, only to become part of the growing mountain as they were picked off by the turrets. The Mantids were better at dodging, but it was difficult for them to dodge every turret. Some stopped to crack open the skulls of fallen Dark Nth and gorged on the neural tissue inside.

Gus wasn’t sure if it was some form of psychological warfare tactic, but man… it was incredibly unsettling. The growing pile of bodies allowed the Mantids a higher ground advantage, and Gus moved between the two rows of turrets and sliced at the creatures as they leaped toward him. It was difficult to score kill shots from this angle, but he saw that if he could at least wing them sufficiently, the turrets would do the rest since the Mantids could not flee and their unnatural speed was curtailed by a significant enough wound.

Mr. Hurricane by Beast. Success Rates x 120. Damage increased. Recovery accelerated.

Gus wanted to try firing T-Wrecks but he had dipped below 100 MP. He would have liked to see a large dinosaur tear through this mass of enemies. He felt his stamina waning after what felt like constant fighting. It wasn’t like the movies, where one guy held off hundreds of ninja warriors, polite enough to attack one at a time. Fighting multiple creatures at a time was tiring! The minimap was swathed in color far