When Cole Logged back in a few minutes later he was still snugly sequestered in the small hole he had found for himself. He was safe, but the state of mind he was in before he left was not the same as what he had when he returned.
He could hear footsteps in the tunnel, there was the telltale grind of metal and deranged whisperings, obviously the Revenant were still on the hunt for him. He ignored the situation and pulled out a healing agent. Taking it as quickly as he could then rolling himself out of the hole, even as his body healed itself and he stretched to get rid of stiff muscles.
There were three revenants in the tunnel, two of them were normal, just like the one he had fought back on the bridge, which thankfully was still empty at the moment, while the third was massive. A hulking brute of malformed flesh and metal.
"Submit yourself and your mind! Glorious rebirth awaits you!"
[Surrender at the Stage for a Chance to Initiate Race Change Quest (Hidden) Revenant Messiah!]
A hidden quest that would enable a person to change their race…. It was too good to be true, but then again they did say that there were hidden opportunities on every floor and you just had to find it.
Cole however was not in the mood for this kind of opportunity, not after the altercation he's had with the revenants. The coyote or smuggler that had led him down and into this trap in the first place was an NPC cyborg, and she probably was an example of what a person would look like if they chose to take this race.
But there was no guarantee, and Cole could end up a mumbling cyborg zombie asking for brains like the rest of these yahoos. No he was keeping his current rate of progression until level 10, then he would see what sort of race the system had ready for him.
Cole's response was to fire a shot through the skull of one of the smaller revenants, and that seemed to be all that was needed. As the massive brute pulled out an equally massive hammer, while the smaller one went down on all fours like some grotesque caricature of a spider.
They both took giant lumbering steps towards Cole, who took a deep breath and let loose three shots that sent the normal Revenant crashing to the ground with holes in its body and in the path of the larger revenant.
The larger revenant did not even seem as bothered as it stepped on its dead companion, crushing the metal part of its skull and popping the flesh part like a ripe pimple. It tried to swing the massive hammer in its hand, but that was a mistake as the tunnel they were in was way to narrow.
Cole emptied the clip of his gun into the creature, and since he was not using real bullets but plasma rounds, he lacked penetrating power that traditional bullets had, he relied on its precision form to bore holes through flesh and some metals with the gun.
But somehow this creature that was bronze rank shrugged off all the shots and sent a foot flying straight for Cole's chest. Cole wrapped himself in gravity and tried to move aside, but the massive brute had more speed than he thought and the foot clipped his side and sent him spiraling backwards through the tunnel.
Cole met another barrier, this time blocking his path back to the bridge. He hit it hard enough that he could feel his right arm pop as his gun fell out of his grasp. Cole slid down in severe pain as the revenant now identified as.
[Revenant Big Brute]
At the very least he was right about the naming. The brute sent a swift kick towards Cole's chest, Cole rolled out of the way as the brute's foot smashed into the barrier, hard enough to cause a rebound that forced it three steps backwards. Giving Cole enough time to pull out his Vibro Blade a roll forwards, its laser edge carving out a slice of the hydraulics that served as the brute's tendons.
There was a loud hiss and an escape of air as it took one lumbering step backwards in an attempt to retain balance. But Cole was having none of that as he rushed forwards, scaling the Brute's Body with one arm dangling at his side.
He unceremoniously plunged his blade into the brute's skull, five times in rapid succession.
For a moment the brute hung suspended in the air, almost as if its lumbering half metal half human body had not realized yet that it was dead yet. There was a loud groan of metal as it began to fall backwards.
Cole with a little foresight quickly placed his right shoulder against its massive skull, bracing as the cyborg abomination fell to the ground with a loud bang, the force popping his right shoulder into place as he gave a subdued yell.
Pain gauges in Titan rising online can be reduced or increased based on the kind of race you end up with. But it's all an automatic process and not one that can be carried out by players themselves. But beyond that, there was only a 10% reduction in the pain felt as opposed to the real world.
And in that regard, it wasn't so much…. In the end Titan Rising was chasing realism at its height. And pain was as real as it gets.
Cole went back to retrieve his gun, holstered it and then continued to make his way down the tunnel he was in. the red lights were a little bit more stable in this part of the sewers, because ultimately that's what these series of tunnels were….sewers.
He went round a bend and paused, his body shaking for a quick second as he took in the sight of what lay before him. There were bodies, dozens if not hundreds of them laid about a massive tunnel that led further in to what looked like a small cavern made from tubes, pipes, wires and monitors.
The people he could see were all players, the tops pf the skulls had been sawed off, leaving their brain exposed as two inch wide tubes were stabbed into it. The worst part of it all was that all of them were still conscious, he could see eyes rolling within eye sockets.
And it went beyond just having their brains sliced open with tubes in them, Cole could see metal creeping up different sides of their bodies like veins, twisting and changing them into the abominations he just finished fighting. The curve ball however was that most of them were players.
It made sense now, if Tiana and that coyote had sent down quite a few players here, after death they should have respawned back at the cradles and went after Tiana like hounds from hell.
But the heartless kid was still going about creating scenarios where a player will have no choice but to try and brave the sewers in order to gain the rewards for the quests Sierra corp was offering and the fucking Mona Lisa.
Cole held his gun in his right hand and his Vibro blade in his left as he gingerly picked his way through the tunnel and past the horror show that had just been fed to his gaze. At the end of a cavern a massive pillar of pulsating flesh, pipes, tubes, wires, monitors and one massive tri rotary cannon stood tall.
There was a ladder leading to a ledge almost fifty feet in the air. From where Cole was standing he could see a door there with the words exit painted in bright green letters over it. Then he brought his attention down to the threat in front of him.
He could count twelve of the revenant brutes he just finished fighting, all of them placed around the horror pillar that Cole now noticed had a pod with a massive brain within it.
[Elite Revenant Battle Brutes/ Level 9 Bronze Rank]
And then just over the head of the pillar with the tubes, wires, monitors and big ass grotesque looking pulsating flesh that's a brain another identifier popped up.
[Revenant Mother Brain/ Level 15 Iron Rank]
"Welcome human to my abode, have you come to become one of us or have you come to die?"
"Fuck!"
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