Player slayer volume set.., p.1
Player Slayer Volume Set 3, page 1
Contents
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Player
Slayer
Volume Set 3
Warden Locke
Copyright © 2025 Warden Locke
All rights reserved.
1
“…they should be coming up on your map within the next minute.”
“Copy that.”
“Copy that,” Ennata mocked.
“Affirmative.”
Dyson lowered his head and forced himself to smile. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes, but he wouldn’t deny the group a chance to blow off some steam when the opportunity presented itself.
Tensions were high of late. Claire was back on the scene, metaphorically speaking, and she pretty much declared war on Commander Dyson and his allies. Using four ships to destroy his old base (which felt pretty new at the time) was a nice touch, and he hoped to return the favor someday.
Finding a new base wasn’t difficult. Bryn had a spot picked out so quickly that he wondered if it had been an option when she decided to make a new spaceship. It was isolated and easy to defend from an army, but it was still vulnerable to attack from the sky. It had to do for now, and he knew Bryn Spectre would keep searching for a new one when time allowed.
The map on his HUD was still clear, so he took a moment to look at the group. Milly, the elvish sniper, was already at max level. She had to make do with the abilities she had, and only new gear would alter her attributes. Her hit point total was a fraction of his, and likely a fraction of the enemies they would find themselves facing along the way. It was a concern, especially when he cared about her so much.
Adaphine, the brawling superhero, and Ennata, the vampiric fighter, were on their last level. They would soon find themselves in the same boat as Milly, although their stats were already superior to the elf’s.
It was good to have Sergeant McHale back on the team. The policewoman from Cyberon had been under Mindstro’s mind-control for so long that she almost felt like a newcomer. Her drones were useful, even though he caught on that her potential may be the lowest of the group.
The only true newcomer was Joannie Nova, a space elf with an ability that bordered on superpowers. They met while she was under the influence of Mindstro. Joannie was taken captive by his group, and her mind was freed once Mindstro was defeated. Her attribute page appeared on his menu shortly after the supervillain took his last breath. Sadly, she had to start at level one, making her the weakest member of the group.
That was only true because Sandra was no longer with them. She wasn’t dead, but she wasn’t exactly alive either. Sandra was a medium, a person who could commune with spirits. She used her ability to possess people, like Joannie, so she could read their thoughts and get the truth out of them. At the moment, she was in Spirit of Heroes, possessing the body of Mindstro’s respawn so she could keep him in ghost form. Not only was he no longer on the physical plane of existence, but he was stuck in the ground somewhere, waiting for Dyson and his team to end the nightmare once and for all.
That was the true problem. The nightmare. He’d been at it for weeks, but he still didn’t know what was going on. It didn’t help when there were two evil fiends to contend with. Synnia Arkwood, a modded version of a high elf from Everwind. Everwind was a famous MMORPG that only existed in Eclipso Entertainment’s computer system since the game went offline years ago. The version of Synnia who pulled him from his game to meet with the council hardly resembled the high elf from the game. Like Dyson, she’d been modded so heavily that she wasn’t recognizable. Every villain he encountered worked for Synnia, but no one seemed to know what her endgame was.
Then there was Claire. He’d never met the woman before. Their only interaction came through a phone she sent to him back when he thought she was trying to help him stop players from being asshats. He’d forgotten all about the mystery woman until she called him when four ships commanded by other versions of himself flew in to destroy him. Dyson felt like an idiot for not realizing that she’d been using the gifted phone to track his whereabouts. For all he knew, Claire had programmed the device to listen in on his conversations as well.
They were on their own now. Centros had been under lockdown since Synnia attacked. No one could get out, and no one would get in. The characters and NPCs of Centros were his only allies outside of his group. No one was coming to their aid, and he didn’t know if bringing more into his team was a good idea.
“So, is this like coming home?”
The question snapped him out of his trance. He turned to find Adaphine staring at him with a brow raise, suggesting that she had been the one to speak to him. Dyson gave the mining compound a once-over before shaking his head. “This is from Honor Armada 1. I’m from the fourth installment, so this is just…I don’t know, a fake memory.”
“How far into the game is this mine?”
“The game isn’t like that,” he sighed and gave the smooth rock walls a look. “The quest to come here was optional, so it didn’t fit within the main quest timeline. The Vrae in here would adapt to whatever level the player was.”
“And where are these Vrae, exactly?” Joannie questioned with a bit of resentment in her voice. “No offense, but I can’t say that I’m looking forward to taking on one of Synnia’s army when I’m at level one.”
“Yeah, why are you here, exactly?”
“Because of the base Bryn chose,” Dyson sighed and leaned his back against a rock. “It has a shield around it, so no one can use a portal pistol to get in without her taking the shield down first. Her theory is that it would also keep our team members from gaining XP if they stayed at the base.”
“And yet she can still communicate with us?” Ennata questioned. “Seems to me like somebody just wants to keep the base cleared out.”
“Only from snippy little vampires and their wicked tongues.”
Dyson smirked at Bryn’s comment, but he turned his head so Ennata wouldn’t see him smiling.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about my tongue, cyborg. You need to watch out for my teeth.”
“My skin is mostly plastic. Good luck finding a drop of blood in my body. I didn’t contact you to defend my logic, however. An enemy squad led by a male Commander Dyson should be entering your map right about now. Perhaps you should go silent?”
Dyson looked up at the map in time to see a single red dot move onto the edge, followed shortly by several others. “Alright, let’s go over this one more time…”
Audible groans.
“…Dyson is probably here for the boots hidden in the mines. They offer a 20% increase in XP gains, so it’s important that we don’t let him reach the cache in the tunnel behind us.”
“And why don’t you just claim them already?”
He turned to reply to Adaphine, but the cyborg beat him to it. “The boots only work for those who choose the soldier talent tree. Our Commander cannot claim them, and I have already determined that none of you may wear them since they can only be equipped by those with the proper talent tree. Now then, if you are done squabbling?”
More red dots appeared on the map. They were clustered so tightly that he couldn’t get an accurate count, so they could be up against dozens of foes for all he knew. Their location gave them the advantage, though. Accessing the tunnel to claim the boots required a short ride up a cargo lift. From their spot, they could see the tunnel below. All they had to do was keep their enemies from reaching the lift, which wasn’t a problem since he used his weak hacking ability to put a security code on the panel.
Dyson almost laughed when the first foe appeared around the bend below. A dumpy man in yellow suspenders came into view. He had a filthy beard, a nightcap for some reason, and wielded a large pipe wrench on his shoulder. He knew video game characters came in all shapes, sizes, and colors, but he couldn’t wrap his head around those that looked like cartoons.
“Hold,” he whispered when he felt Milly shift her rifle into position. “Wait until they’re all in view.”
“Easy for you to say, Mr. 44,000 hit points.”
She had a point. His HP was three times higher than the next highest member of the team. It wasn’t fair to them, but he doubted they’d complain as much when he jumped down to deal with the approaching invaders by himself.
More generic soldiers appeared like those from the Centros attack, followed closely by two beefy orcs carrying enormous guns with chainsaws on the end. He couldn’t imagine trying to aim a weapon that was so front-heavy, but he had to admit that they were intimidating as hell.
His concerns for the invasion force were short-lived when the final member of the team appeared. Dyson had seen numerous videos of his character, so it shouldn’t have shocked him to see an exact copy of himself. Logical or not, it shook him, and he almost let out a croak when he saw his twin shoulder the heavy cannon blaster on his shoulder.
“Now?”
Milly’s voice snapped him out of his tra
The elf targeted wisely. She chose one of the soldiers in the middle. It seemed random to the unseasoned, but to a trained soldier like Dyson, it was nothing short of brilliant. The weird plumber and two of the soldiers shot forward while the other Dyson ran back to the bend for cover. McHale’s drones flew into action to fire at the soldiers. Hunter took a step forward, intending to jump over the edge so he could deal with his counterpart, but something about the situation didn’t feel right. They had the other commander, two orcs, a plumber, and four soldiers. The math didn’t add up, so he glanced at the map again to see eight dots that weren’t represented in the tunnel below.
“McHale, drop some bombs in front of the elevator.”
He missed Sergeant McHale for many reasons, including the way she would carry out an order without hesitation. Instead of arguing, she motioned her flying machines toward the area so they could drop grenades. The explosions were as deafening as Milly’s rifle, but he wasn’t trying to assault the ears of his enemies. Just as he feared, eight new foes came into view. Each of them was dressed in futuristic armor and masks, and their bodies swayed as if they were standing on the other side of a massive heat source.
“Dark Op soldiers from Ebon Cell,” Piper informed the team through the new comms. “They’ll be able to go into stealth again in ten seconds.”
“Damn it, hold them back!”
Dyson drew the sword, grabbed the outer edge of the elevator shaft, and slid down to the tunnel below. As soon as he landed, he activated blood plague to draw the attention of the dark ops soldiers. All eight of their chests lit up with white light, but their health bars didn’t drop much. The masks they wore probably filtered out some of the plague. With a growl, he cut through two soldiers in one slash, kicked another into the elevator, and smashed another in the chest with his elbow.
Dark ops soldier defeated!
500 XP!
Dark ops soldier defeated!
500 XP!
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The points seemed low compared to other enemies they defeated outside of their normal games. They didn’t come to Honor Armada to level up, though. They came to slow down Synnia’s efforts until they could figure out how to deal with the high elf. Still, he felt cheated, and he used that anger to cut through the remaining soldiers.
“Commander, several portals just opened behind your counterpart. It looks like they’ve brought in reinforcements.”
“More dark ops soldiers?” he laughed as the last soldier fell to his blade.
“More orcs, actually.”
He didn’t like the tone in her voice. He turned in time to see Milly take out the last of the soldiers with her sniper rifle, and with some assistance from McHale’s drones. The rest of the enemies were on the other side of the bend, so he took one step toward them before a smarter decision came to mind. “McHale, I could use a lift.”
“As long as you don’t drive your sword through it this time.”
“I only…never mind. Just get me a drone.”
One of her machines flew in a second later. Dyson jumped onto it and waited as the drone returned him to the level above. As soon as his foot met rock, he turned to see a wide green head with tusks and pointy ears popping up over the ledge. Milly was ready, and a shot rang out. He swore the bullet hit the skin between the orc’s beady eyes, but the health bar above the brute’s head barely registered the attack.
“Level fifty,” he groaned before noting something else of interest. “And he’s an elite. Out. Everybody out.”
Protests sounded, but he pulled out the portal pistol and made an exit to the new base. Joannie didn’t hesitate to rush in, likely because her level was so low, but Milly didn’t want to budge from her perch. With a growl, he pulled her to her feet and nudged her in the right direction, but it took Ennata pulling her to get the elf to safety. McHale’s drones formed a shield to cover her escape, leaving him with Adaphine to usher out.
“Adaphine, time to go!”
The superhero couldn’t move, not when she was face-to-face with two of the new orcs, with several more popping up on the ledge. He couldn’t tell her to move when she’d get an axe in her back if she turned, so he took one step to help her, just as several orcs popped up beside him. He didn’t have a choice but to close the portal to protect the rest of his team.
“Not to question your decisions, Commander, but…”
“We’ll deal with this and make another portal later,” he growled as he pulled the blaster to tear through the green heads popping up by his feet. “Adaphine’s defense is high, so I’m confident that she’ll hold her own.”
“Not to reject your compliment, but I’m not sure if I share your confidence.”
Dyson was already on his way when Adaphine made the statement. He charged in and shoulder-rammed an orc to send him sailing to the depths below, then used the blaster on another orc at point-blank range to remove the flesh and tissue from his skull. Adaphine sounded like she was going to be sick, but he ignored the noise and kicked the orc off the ledge as well.
“Looks like I’m maxed out,” the superhero sighed and brushed a strand of curly black hair away from her face. “No more XP for me.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he leveled up as well, or that his body felt like a surge of power just shot through it. It felt like bragging, so he squeezed her shoulder instead, noting that touching her warm, bare skin stirred his manhood.
Because you didn’t finish with Milly. Damn, I’m a walking time bomb just waiting to go off.
“You alright? You’re making a face,” she whispered with her bright eyes sliding over to his hand, a hand that was notably caressing her back above the edge of her corset top. “And you’re uh…you know.”
“I’m fine,” he grumbled and quickly withdrew his hand while avoiding her gaze by looking at the map. “Looks like they’re retreating. Do you want to go after them or wait for the portal pistol to charge?”
“I want to know why you looked like you were about to cream your pants,” she chuckled after pulling up her menu to mute the comms system. “Does it have something to do with Milly? She was walking a bit funny yesterday.”
“Hey, that’s not…”
“Hunter,” she soothed with her hand on his arm, “you and I were intimate once. You don’t have to dodge personal subjects with me. She was limping, and you look like you want to devour me, so I think it’s safe to say that the two subjects are related.”
He took a moment to peek over the ledge. The invasion force was gone, so he couldn’t use them as an excuse. “I’ll make this blunt since it’s eating me from the inside. Yes, we had sex. No, we didn’t finish…Well, I didn’t finish, because…”
“Because your body has become too powerful for her to handle?”
“Yeah, something like that,” he sighed and pulled out the portal pistol. “I almost hurt her, which terrifies me. How do you get close to someone when you have to worry about…”
“Breaking them in half?” she finished for him with a raised brow. “I’ve been there, remember? Almost snapped my boyfriend in half when I got my super strength. I’d suggest sticking to oral, but we’d have to find a woman who can unhinge her jaw to take you in.”
“Stupid mod,” he groaned as the pistol lit up. “Alright, it looks like they retreated, and we can’t sit here all day. Let’s get out of here.”
2
Entering his third base in less than a month felt wrong, but not as much as his actual surroundings. Bryn didn’t choose another spaceship now that they had to worry about being attacked by Honor Armada warships. Instead, she chose something with a bit of style, a base that was taken from a criminal mastermind. It was built into the side of an active volcano with a constant flow of lava protecting ten percent of the mountain’s surface. Jagged rocks made traversing the rest of the cliffs perilous. The only safe passage was the tunnel that ran beneath the volcano, one that was protected with metal doors thick enough to sustain a tank crashing into them. It also came with a protective force field that prevented anyone from teleporting in, making it the perfect place to call home for Dyson and his team.
The run was a bust in his opinion. They failed to take out the new Commander Dyson, who would eventually regroup and go after the XP-boosting boots again. Like he said before, they couldn’t stand watch at all times, especially when there were so many versions of his game currently running.
