### 312

You dive to the ground, but the white beam is lightning fast and it glances your shoulder as you fall: lose 5 ENDURANCE points. You bite your lip to stifle a scream of pain as you hit the warehouse floor; then you scramble for the nearest cover—a heavy iron chest, banded and riveted with steel—to avoid leaving yourself exposed to another blast from this deadly weapon. The warrior follows your swift move and discharges a second beam from his spear which slams into the iron chest with stunning force. You gasp with horror as you see the side of the chest bulging towards your face. Its thick rivets tremble and its age-blackened skin smoulders with a sullen heat. Instinct takes over, making you roll away from the iron chest and seek cover elsewhere. As you move, the beam of light tears through the rear of the iron box and destroys the ground where, only moments before, your face had been.

You call upon all of your camouflage skills to mask your body as you hurriedly seek a way to escape from this warrior and his sorcerous weapon. You reach the base of a large steel tank and scramble up a ladder fixed to its side. The top of the tank is stacked high with coiled ropes and you force yourself in amongst them. A few moments later you watch the warrior approach the smouldering remains of the iron chest. He is close enough now for you to see that his weapon is attached by a length of steel cable to a canister strapped to his back.

If you possess a Bow and the Discipline of Magi-magic and have attained the Kai rank of Sun Lord, turn to 209.

If you do not possess a Bow, or this skill, or if you have yet to attain the rank of Sun Lord, turn to 156.