The Systemic Lands

Chapter XVIII – Day 327 – Second Battle of Purgatory, Second Day

My outer patrol forces froze for a second as I felt a tremor of shock and fear race through my body. It was Champion Michael racing for the South gate. It was only the second day of the battle. I should have had another day at least before he got back. How was he so fast?

He must have risked traveling through the night. I chuckled to myself. He wanted to kill me just as much as I wanted to kill him. He easily spotted and killed the brown slimes just outside and inside the tunnel. My expression turned grim at his speed and movement.

I sent in wolves with slimes, but he easily dodged and killed them. I pulled back my forces and began to reorganize him. The battle was lost unless I managed to kill Champion Michael. If he died, then it was as good as won.

I concentrated my mental summons off to one side of his route inside a building that wasn’t directly accessible from the street he was traveling on. If the people in the plaza pushed outwards right now I would be in trouble, but they had long fallen into a passive position, waiting to be rescued.

I piled in my forces I had been building up for the second round of fighting in the plaza that I had planned for tomorrow morning. They would be better spent trying to kill Champion Michael. He was rushing for the plaza and his path was easy to predict. I was surprised he didn’t try to take a separate route. Was he truly that confident in defeating me?

He entered the target area. All the mental attacks struck him at once. He stumbled and dropped his weapons. I rushed my summons, not getting my hopes up. He leapt into the air and over my summons. He also unleashed a torrent of acid, over 30 of my summons were killed from that attack.

I was right to consider him the only real threat this place had. I began recalling my forces and moved into position for my additional traps. It would take more than weak monsters to kill Champion Michael. That was no problem. I had a lot more planned.

Michael was organizing something with other people from what I could tell. The man from before came over to him after a couple of minutes and I recognized the people Michael had with him. He was assembling a strike force to take me out.

He rushed out through the summoned ants towards the West. A cart had returned with two people from that direction. I only had a few slimes just to keep track of movement in the tunnel, and they had killed them.

Dammit, that was the man and Michael’s cart. I should have recognized it. No matter, I kept moving my forces into position. Everything needed to be perfect. He reached the West gate and found the last remaining slime there.

The man pointed in my direction and Michael killed the slime. Luckily, I had already taken this into account. You were only figuring out my direction, not the distance. This would give Michael a false sense of confidence when he believed he had found me. Instead he would be rushing to his death.

I let them catch one of the few hybrids I was using to scout. I was ready to cut the tether at any second, but they captured it instead. Even though its eyes and ears were wrecked, I could sense its position. It was moving back towards the plaza. How interesting, Champion Michael.

You thought you could find me that easily, but I was nowhere near there. I knew which person was tracking me down. I knew you were triangulating my position. That was why I was moving outside the city, to create the false impression I was somewhere still inside the city. He was playing checkers. I was playing chess.

He rushed into the building, shouting like the brute he was. My level 2 summons were quickly melted. That was when I unleashed my first trap. An enclosed space with slime hybrids. Their acid would persist far longer than summons, melting him.

He leapt into the air and shot out the door. His energy reserves were impressive, almost too impressive. He clearly hadn’t been idle since our last fight. The group began rushing for the location they thought I was in.

I move in all my monsters in the area. I wounded a couple of them, but Champion Michael finished the rest off. Well, they were no more use anyways.

Ah, he showed up at the East gate, just like I suspected. The last of my summoner ants were already returning to me. I began forming up my army in the grasslands to the East of the city. I formed up my strongest battle formation.

My armed were monsters at the front. Wolves with slimes on their heads on my flanks to act as cavalry. Mental attack summons at the rear along with my summoners to plug any gaps. Champion Michael looked at his direction finder who pointed in my direction.

Well, I was at the limit of the tethers. No way was I ever going to let Champion Michael get close to me again. That wound in my shoulder had been far too close. My path to godhood wasn’t going to end here, no matter what. Win or lose, I would still be alive.

I saw a person making hand signs and then a glow. I cut the tether to my hybrids in the path of the attack. I still winced at the brightness. A burning line had been carved into the ground and into the right flank of my formation, decimating the mental attack group on that side.

No matter, the battle formation was more to keep other people from interfering with what I had planned. No deus ex machina for you Michael. You are going to die here today and cement my victory. He rushed forward.

Impressive like the brute he was to dodge and cleave his way right through my army. The power of a high Body stat was truly impressive. He completely punched through and the people behind him engaged my forces.

Ah, he was staring right at the mimic I had prepped. I grinned back at him as I pulled back my summoner ants. He launched a ball of acid without advancing, a summoner ant swooped in and took the attack. It collapsed between us in a pool of acid as the staring contest continued.

He might not believe it is me. “Well, I suppose I won’t be able to trap you that easily again,” I had my mimic say. He still wasn’t advancing. Well, no matter. I triggered the combination hybrid that had been buried out here. Vines burst forth from the ground.

“My special level 3 hybrids. Took forever to get the combination just right. Funny thing Champion Michael. I don’t need to kill you. I just need to kill everyone else, and you won’t have the strength to fight me alone.” People were dying in the field behind him, but he just stared at my special hybrid monster.

“What is even better is combining monsters. It took a long time get right. But meet my finest creation. The level 3 hybrid Vine Summoner of Endless Strangulation.” I frowned as his companion interfered as well as other people who had broken through. My army was collapsing, but unlike people they would fight to the death. Still, this wasn’t even the real trap. I knew he would be expecting a trap. This was just to drain his energy, which unfortunately failed due to the interference.

“Consider this a taste of what is to come!” Champion Michael shouted. He then melted my mimic’s head.