The Systemic Lands

Chapter 144: Day 329 – Stalemate

I stood outside the city of Heaven at its West gate. There were only ten other people with me. The only people that weren’t traumatized and willing to take the fight to the Ritualist. Naran was included in that count. Ten people, it was a depressing number.

Too many people had died, and the Second Battle of Purgatory was a pyric victory at best. I kept thinking over what I had talked to Clarissa about as we made our way to this city.

I entered the tunnel through the wall first. No monsters. I looked at the nearby buildings, no monsters either. The rest of the people followed behind me protecting the good doctor.

I had ended up giving up the crystals in the wagon for regenerations to convince him to come. The man had insisted to me privately that people were healed before he left the city. The private conversation had made it clear he wasn’t doing it for fame, but to actually help people. I had given in, since I needed him to track down the Ritualist.

Naran stayed with the two carts and Aahan outside the city by the East gate. He would be making sure our supplies were destroyed and we had a place to retreat to.

We advanced towards the plaza, with myself in the lead. “Ahhh!” The doctor let out a scream and collapsed. Mental attacks struck the other people. There were more shouts and a couple of people collapsed. I quickly got up onto a roof, and saw a werewolf jump down into a street below. A spotter and the mental attacks could be coming from any number of buildings.

I went back to the group. There were more and more mental attacks. Hard to focus. We had to retreat. We well back and the mental attacks eased off. We exited the city.

It was a stalemate. A frustrating stalemate between the Ritualist and myself. Began to think of anything I could do to get him? The problem was his range and using decoys. The good doctor also didn’t have enough Mind stats to be of use to track him down.

I had talked to the good doctor about the sensing method. One had to use the crystal powder, consuming it to boost stats. Then a person would use up their energy, when the drugs wore off, they would have negative energy. It was painful, which was why no one did it, but it allowed a person to develop an energy sense.

I was surprised the good doctor had experimented on himself, but there was no one else with stats available willing to take the risk and it was one of the more obvious questions since crystal powder could only be made by consuming energy.

There were still long-term tests being done on the effects of the crystal powder. One reason why the sensing ability the doctor had was so weak and also explained how the Ritualist was able to avoid people with his real body.

I had never done drugs and it seemed like a very questionable method for more power. It was something I was still wrestling with in my mind. Ken might have called them potions, but they were drugs in my mind. What was even worse, was that the crystals were an unknown substance that came from monsters.

Summoning and the were monster process the Ritualist did to people were clearly tied into blood powder. How did he change the woman if that wasn’t his real body? That just raised even more questions and concerns.

The threat of the Ritualist grew more and more, but I just couldn’t kill him. The conversation I had with Clarissa a couple of days ago was fresh in my mind. I looked at the people with me, dejected, tired, and exhausted.

Naran looked over at me and shrugged. He clearly had no idea what to do either. I hated being in charge. My answer to problems was to either kill them or run away. Neither of which was working against the Ritualist.

I looked at the city wall and entrance a short distance away. I noted a wolf on top of the wall. What would a truce even look like if I tried to broker one? You don’t attack us, we don’t attack you?

That could work as the most basic premise. A cold war was better than a hot war for motivating people, with less collateral and expenses. The entire treasury had been emptied once again regenerating people and for supplies. I had asked Clarissa what was in reserve before I had left Purgatory. I didn’t have the heart to yell at her, but was frustrated. It almost felt like theft, the way points from taxes weren’t going for city upgrades.

We would have to have boarders. I got out my notebook and looked at my map I had drawn. The best option would probably be the mid-point between the two cities in the deadlands. The area between the striped meerkats and brown summoner ants was the best option.

It would seal off Heaven from quite a bit. Unless the Ritualist went through a swamp, the only way to the West was through Purgatory. He would be able to get to Truth. The people with skills were probably still running around there.

We still had the dungeons of Truth and Neo Brasilia. We couldn’t lose them no matter what. A complete no-go boarder? The areas to the South and East of Heaven were areas I wanted to check out, but it didn’t look like it would be possible.

The main thing was limiting the Ritualist from new monster types. The rock mimics probably came from zone (1,-1). The place South of the Shadow Pit Dungeon and venom flies I hadn’t been able to spot any monsters if they didn’t come from somewhere East.

I looked at the city of Heaven. I could rush into the city and possibly destroy the store pillars and escape. I felt confident enough, since the mental attacks could only hinder me, not stop me. The problem was if I did that, it would force the Ritualist to respond, by forcing another battle with Purgatory.

“Naran, what do you think? Try to make a truce?” I asked curious what he would suggest.

“It is up to you. It comes down to if you think you can kill him.” Yeah, that was what it came down to. I just couldn’t kill the man. I felt like an idiot with how many times he got away. The level of frustration I felt was hard to put into words.

I had come to terms with that frustration, but it hadn’t disappeared. Standing outside the city of Heaven unable to force a confrontation with the Ritualist aggravated every fiber of my being. Screw it, screw peace.

“Naran, guard the cart. I am going in myself.” Peace could kiss my ass. Better to end a threat than let it grow. Time to man up and put on the leadership pants. The Ritualist was going to die.

Several people looked at me and Naran spoke up. “Are you sure Michael. I have the stats to back you up.”

“No. I can move faster on my own. Get me a pack of swords. And move the campsite about three miles West of the city. That should be out of his range.” Naran spent a few minutes loading up ten swords in sheathes into a pack. I then made sure it was snug on my back and the swords wouldn’t jostle around.

I then turned back to the city and went back through the tunnel through the wall. A sword in my left hand with my right hand free. I began to jog forward slowly through the city, towards the Plaza.

Eventually I was hit with a wave of mental attacks. Focus, just distractions. Kill the Ritualist. Channel Roman determination to just keep fighting. I kept moving forward. The mental attacks decreased and then went away. Taking side streets or hiding in buildings meant it would take longer for the monsters to reposition than for me to reach the plaza. I was also quite fast with my Body stat.

Small cat sized ants began to pour out of the nearby buildings. I picked up my speed and they weren’t able to keep up. Low level monsters had low stats. If they were fast, they were weak. Summoned monsters were even worse. The only good thing going for them were numbers. I could just avoid them by myself.

A few minutes after the first attacks I reached the plaza. The Ritualist was clearly consolidating his forces near the plaza. I jogged over to pillars while looking around. Well, there was one building with a door. I wonder who was behind it? I didn’t even need to guess.

I went towards the door. Acid Shot. The door began to melt. My mind spun. I quickly retreated as more small ants swarmed into the plaza. I retreated and the monsters formed up in front of the building. I didn’t need the good doctor to tell me that was where the Ritualist was hiding.

I raced down some side streets, taking the occasional mental attack. I even checked the interior of two adjacent buildings. I dragged my sword across the walls in case a monster was disguised as a wall. I confirmed there was only one entrance and exit. Killing some ants in my path, I returned to the plaza and faced the only doorway.

Acid Shot. I arced my shot up into the air. The ball of acid flew for a couple of seconds before hitting the building and melting the stone. The building wouldn’t repair as long as I watched it. I didn’t know about purchased buildings, but I wasn’t about to let up. I also didn’t know about summoned monsters and if they counted for purposes of things disappearing and repairing out of sight, and I didn’t really care at the moment.

I would melt my way through the building and expose the Ritualist. It would take time and be incredibly annoying, but I didn’t have any more pressing appointments or opponents. The small ants rushed at me. I was well rested, and probably had more stats in Endurance than the Ritualist. I could stay awake longer than he could.

My confidence was enough, that I was betting my life on winning here and now. Let’s see what new tricks you tried to pull out in the face of my brute force.

Acid Shot. The building melted some more. I slashed out with my sword and cut another ant that got to close. You would need to expose your hybrids and non-summoned monsters. If they showed up, I would kill them as well. I had a lot of Regeneration, that I wasn’t afraid to drag this out.

My stats were high enough that the level 1 monsters were not a threat to me like they would be to other people. Quality over quantity.