The Systemic Lands

Chapter 101: Day 242 (2) – Calamity

That was either a person trying to be extremely edgy or Death himself decided to pay a visit. The figure stood taller than me on a nearby hill to the East. While the sun, or light source, was coming up behind them it was darkened or muted. Like the figure itself was sucking in the light.

The figure had a dark black cloak and robe. A hood covered their head, and a silver rope was around their waist. Sticking out of the right sleeve of the robe was a dark blade, which reflected no light. The being gave off the same presence as the cracks that ran through the ground and into nothingness.

A subtle pressure, bearing down. An ill wind that you couldn’t feel. The desire to be anywhere else. I didn’t dare move, and I tried not to breathe too loudly. I was in the presence of an apex predator. The instinct driven part of my mind was screaming at me, ‘DANGER! DANGER!’

The rational part was also screaming, ‘DANGER! DANGER!’

None of that was useful in figuring out what to do. Fighting had to be the last resort. That was the only thing I was completely sure about. “Naran, get the cart. Just do it,” I hissed out at him. I heard him moving. I didn’t take my eyes off the dark robed figure.

“I can’t pull and clear,” he hissed back at me. Dammit. That wasn’t good.

“Clear a path North. Leave the cart. Once you clear about a mile come back and then we will move. One last thing. If you run off, you better keep running, got it?” I could only pray he listened. I was not looking away from that figure in case they moved.

“I got it.” Naran quickly set off. The figure and I kept having a stare down. I couldn’t see their eyes with that overly large hood, but their body was facing me. It was nerve wracking, how it just stood there waiting. Either attack or leave! Why wait?

Naran finally came back and began pulling the cart. I let out a quiet sigh of relief at that. I stayed right behind him, slowly walking backwards. The figure disappeared behind a hill after we got enough distance, but I kept walking backwards. We came to a stop a few minutes later.

“That is as far as I managed to clear,” Naran said.

“Alright, we race straight to Esperanza, where I am cashing all of the crystals in. Then we rush back to Purgatory,” I said. I looked around again, but the figure was nowhere to be seen. Still, I felt incredibly uneasy. It was completely unnatural. If it was a person, why were they just standing there and with that kind of presence. If it was a monster, the same question. Why was it just standing there?!

There was nothing for it, but I began to clear the way through the rats while constantly looking every direction. Naran was doing the same but focused more behind us. We passed some cliffs Naran had found but ignored. There was probably a dungeon, but I didn’t want to bother before and now wasn’t the time.

When we hit the striped rats, I didn’t complain. Just killed them as quickly as possible. They were incredibly annoying, but now was not the time to hesitate.

By mid-day we reached the flowerlands and I began to relax. “Michael, behind us!”

I spun around. The dark figure was on a hill facing our direction. “Did you see it move?” I said in near panic.

“No, it was just there, but I wasn’t paying attention to that spot.” It was following us. It was following us!

“We need to reach the city.” We quickly pushed through the red beetles. I quickly killed them while looking over my shoulder constantly.

We didn’t even bother to pick up the dropped crystals. Just after mid-day we reached the South gate to Esperanza. No. Impossible. There was no way it could have circled around.

The dark figure was standing there at the entrance to Esperanza. “Michael, what do we do?” Naran asked. I don’t know! It wasn’t attacking, but I had no doubt in my mind it would do something if we approached it.

The figure didn’t want us to enter the city. Dammit. There were only two options. The first option was that the figure was after one of us, probably me in that case. Or it was after our crystals. No. I was not giving up a million points worth of crystals.

My soul was crying. That was when two guards came out of the gate. “What is-“ The moment I saw them I was elated. The figure had its back to them, so they must not have received the full blast of negative vibes it was giving off.

What was really annoying, was that I couldn’t tell if it was a player or a monster. If it was a player, then there could be reason. If it was a monster, then it hopefully had a script it followed, like the other monsters, that could be exploited in some way.

The figure spun and the pressure disappeared. Its blade shot out, moving incredibly slowly compared to how fast it just moved its body. The two guards just remained standing there. “Move.” Naran and I quickly began to retreat around Esperanza to the East.

It was tempting to stay and watch, but that would be a mistake. Whatever triggered the figure, could stay triggered. We hugged the wall of the city to avoid any monsters and have a clear path. It was a bit less than four miles, but we kept up a light jog. Naran was huffing and puffing.

No figure. Phew. City entrance, yes! As we stepped foot inside, I felt a chilling presence behind me. “Don’t stop!” I called out. I was behind the cart. Naran kept moving forward thankfully. We entered the city proper. Only then did he come to a halt and so did I. I looked behind me. The dark figure was standing at the entrance, but not stepping a foot inside the tunnel.

I was tempted to tease the figure, but better not tempt fate. Monsters refused to enter the cities, at least from the tests that one Lord in Truth had done. They would rather kill themselves instead. At least we were finally safe…no. Just no. The figure began to glide into the city slowly. The black robe around its bottom did not move as if it was walking. Some nearby guards had come running up to us. I noted Mateo was in the group.

“What is going on?” He followed my gaze and saw the figure coming down the tunnel. One guard pissed his pants. Two of them dropped their clubs and ran away screaming. Mateo just gave me a look before running away.

“Your mistake, was coming down a narrow path!” I shouted to raise my fighting spirit. Acid Shot x5. The tunnel was filled with large acid balls tainted with death. That flew towards the figure. Oh. Death energy, that thing looked like death. Please work.

“Rock Lance. Rock Lance. Rock Lance. Rock Lance!” Four rock lances shot out of the walls, floor, and ceiling targeting the figure. I lost sight for a moment as the acid washed over it. There was a blast of wind. The acid was blasted backwards, splattering on the ground and the tunnel sides. The rock lances had been cut. That was completely unfair. The figure began to glide forward again.

Fine then. Just fine. We retreat and throw bodies at this thing. I picked up the cart since Naran was out of breath. “Come on, don’t slow down,” I said and began pulling the cart.

“Michael, it is still coming after us.”

“We are not leaving the cart.”

“But-“

“Naran, save your energy and tell me if it gains on us.”

“No, it is very slow.” Think! Urg, I needed to remember the path back to the plaza. I didn’t have energy to think right now.

An hour later we reached the plaza. Juan was standing there and so was Luis. “Michael, turn away and take that thing with you,” Luis said.

“Let me pass or else. You know you can’t beat me.” I stared at Juan. He looked to the third guy that was with him before. They began a hushed conversation in Spanish. Then spoke to Luis.

“Fine. But half your crystals as compensation for those who have died.” Nope. I wasn’t paying tax in Purgatory, and I didn’t have time for this. Death was coming. That was the label I had given the figure. It was pretentious and over the top, but so was the cloaked figure.

“Get out of the way or else, I won’t ask again. I am not handing over one crystal. Don’t push me,” I really didn’t want to send this city into chaos.

“Fine. But you owe us one gringo,” Juan said.

“Agreed. I owe you a favor.” Juan nodded at that, and the people got out of the way.

We quickly went to the pillars. We arrived and I purchased a restoration for 5,698. That was a lot, but no time to complain or think about it too much.

I began cashing in my crystals as fast as I could. I turned in all my tier 3 crystals at 450 points a pop. I purchased 200 stats for 919,500 points, leaving me with 195,408 points, I was going to save just in case.

Body-300; Mind-100; Spirit-100; Perception-100; Aura-100; Regeneration-200; Endurance-50; Absorption-50 for a total of 1,000 upgrades.

Naran was also cashing in all his crystals as well. He had about 200,000 points worth. With his 100 stats that would be about 150 more stats to add on to bring him up to 250.

“Well, at least you didn’t wreck another city,” Naran said.

“Shut up. You see Death?”

“That’s what we are calling it?”

“You have something better?”

“No. Don’t see, don’t feel it.” I was slowly moving my limbs one at a time to get used to my upgraded stats. “We running?”

“No. We wait. With the store next to us, this is our strongest position, since we can grab a restoration if needed.” Also, the other people might distract it for a split second. We waited and I focused on thinking. It was fast when it moved to kill the guards outside the city. But it didn’t move quickly inside the city. Except for when it blocked my attacks.

Death didn’t chase us down. It just pursued. That was the troubling aspect. Did we trigger something attacking it in the tunnel? But it came in the city. People had tried to bring in monsters before, but they turned away at the tunnel. It would reach a point, where their agro wasn’t enough and they would turn and leave. Forcing the monsters would lead them into a panic and they would kill themselves.

That had implied cities were safe. So was Death a player or a monster. It didn’t behave like a player, and it could enter the city. It had paused though. There was some kind of calculation being done. It was also the only time I saw it move. Think! Put the pieces together.

“Michael.” I looked up. Death had entered the plaza and was gliding towards us. Two bursts of fire struck at the monster. One from Juan and another from the third person who had been with him. Its sword swung quickly up, and the flames extinguished in the air.

Four arrows were fired. A wave of its sword and there were four piles of kindling in an instant. “I can barely make out its speed. Its attacks. My weapons won’t hold up,” I muttered. People began to scream and flee from the terror the thing was exuding. With my upgraded stats, something was giving me better resistance to its terror effect.

One person ran towards the figure. I had no clue why they did that. They just did. The sword swung out, impossibly fast. The sleeve of the dark robe covering up any hand or hilt of the blade. The blade tip only grazed the person for a millisecond. They collapsed into dust along with all their clothing.

One second, there. Next second, dusted. It was like the dust monsters left behind. “Of course, Death has an instant kill attack,” I muttered.