The Systemic Lands

Chapter 198: Day 432 (4) – Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Our camp was coming up. “Think we should detour?” Naran asked.

“None of Gertrude’s team can live. You know that,” I replied while the ground trembled under our feet. The horde of seven golems was still after us.

“What a waste, but better to nip problems before they build up,” Naran replied. I wanted to nod at that but was too focused on controlling my movement and speech. Timing everything just right was headache inducing.

I saw the edge of the level 3 zone up ahead. We reached the edge of the zone and the golems still kept chasing us. There was the camp ahead of us. I noticed that the people there were panicking. Sorry Fethee, you weren’t going to make it.

We ran through the camp. My eyes went wide as Naran grabbed Fethee and put him on his shoulder. The women were shouting and running, but they didn’t have the stats. There was no time to grab anything. The golems smashed their way through the carts and the women, leaving carnage and wreckage behind.

“Keep still and hold tight,” Naran said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes. He is on our team. He isn’t about to be sacrificed. I can handle it with my Body stat,” Naran said. That was his choice, but I was surprised. I could understand saving me, since I was more important and could give benefits. Fethee was just another cart puller that could be replaced at any time.

Still, it was Naran’s choice in the end. If he wanted to save someone and tire himself out, I was annoyed but he was welcome to do that. I wasn’t about to criticize his altruistic impulses. How did Truth ever end up with him in charge?

I suspected that he felt guilty about his time in Truth. The list of atrocities that occurred in that city was complete. There wasn’t anything horrid that could be done that they hadn’t. Only the lack of knowledge held them back slightly, but even then, it was only so much of a setback.

The fact that a previous Lord of Truth had engaged in cannibalism painted quite the disturbing picture about consumption. One didn’t get points by killing others, but by eating them. I thought back to my first days in Purgatory and how worried I was about people killing other people for points. How I breathed a sigh of relief when that wasn’t the case.

I was naïve. I had made an assumption. A human assumption. This place didn’t operate by fairness or human rules. Heck, it didn’t even operate by balance or game rules. It operated by its own rules and assumptions which were truly alien. Having seven golems chasing after me showed how badly I had assumed.

As we kept running, I could see Fethee wincing at the speed, but there was nothing that could be done. I was going at my maximum speed that I could maintain, and that was keeping us just ahead of the horde of golems. Fethee would have a huge bruise at the end of the day, and he was still probably going to die. Maybe, it was hard to say. Anything could happen with level 4 monsters, with how they teamed up to chase us.

There was nothing much to say as we kept running past level 2 centipedes towards Neo Brasilia. Hopefully the buildings would slow the golems down and allow me to take them out one at a time. Until we got there though, there was nothing to do but run and think.

Also, constantly midair spinning to check the golems. They didn’t give each other a boost that often. It was more of a random occurrence when the timing was just right for one to be coming up on the bottom of another. More like teamwork by mistake.

It was humbling in a way. These monsters were lacking in key areas, but they still severely outclassed both Naran and myself. “Incoming!” I called out. Naran couldn’t midair spin while carrying Fethee and he hadn’t practiced that move as much as I had.

Naran went left, I went right. We easily dodged the golem and regrouped to keep running. One of the black centipedes that came to chase us was crushed in the process. Again, it was more like an accident than the golems targeting the other monsters on purpose. While they had gone out of the way to kill the other summons, they didn’t go out of their way to kill regular monsters.

They had rules. I hated not knowing the rules. I was the kind of person who didn’t just read a news article about a court case, I went and read the legal opinion of the judges. I preferred primary sources to understand what was being said and to understand the world around me.

Here, I had to infer everything by what occurred. It was obvious that the golems had three aggro ranges. The first was when they were in the tower and then came out to defend. That could be a product of the tower itself or the golems. I would call it the defensive phase.

The next state of aggro was when a golem killed a summon. It could be considered a passive response or the passive phase. When that was response was triggered, it ended the threat and searched out new threats. This search ability was much further than I had first assumed.

I should have realized the golems had exceptional sensing capabilities when they exited the tower. I was too focused on the tower and not the specific nuances of their behavior. Just one failure to think and I had ended up in this situation. It was both humbling and an important reminder.

The third aggro range was the active phase. The golem scanned for nearby threats. Counted out eight, since it counted summons as well, then attacked with backup. Both the sensing range and calling for backup were things I had missed.

“Incoming!” I called out and Naran and I dodged another time. Fethee had his eyes shut and mouth open. Probably trying to stop the nausea from being carried. It was rough being carried by someone else. Naran and I had tested carrying other people a bit, both ourselves and Fethee.

The force nullification from Body stopped forces from hitting a person, but not the change in acceleration that Fethee was experiencing. Each kick drove Naran’s shoulder up into him again violently. He would probably have internal injuries at the end of this.

It was a good thing we were running towards a system store, otherwise he might die from internal bleeding from being carried like this for a long time. If it had been the old fat me. I would have jiggled so much, like a water balloon, and popped. Now that was a gruesome thought.

It would only get worse in time as the Body stat increased. More care would need to be taken when in a combat situation and handling someone without a Body stat. There was enough subconscious training that came with the stat to not crush everything in one’s path, which was a very good thing. But as Gertrude had proven, there was a big difference between not crushing things and mastery.

We would have to go to another area and grind there. We would also need a new cart, new supplies. I smiled a bit since I had my notebook with me and the Processing Rod. It was easy enough to have a small holster for the device on my waist and I kept it with me all the time.

It was too much of a headache to constantly get it out every time we traveled and I killed level 2 monsters for their crafting crystals. That was the big loss. All the crafting crystals we had earned so far from this trip.

At least I had already cashed in my points at the store. If I had lost a couple hundred thousand points, I wouldn’t cry about it, but I would be upset about the wasted effort. Having that one guy steal from the city and then the Ritualist, was more than enough robbery for a lifetime.

I was not about to be robbed by monsters. Even a horde of monsters if I could help it. “Incoming!” I called out again. We both dodged. I noticed blood dribbling out of Fethee’s mouth that wasn’t good. Dammit. I knew Naran was going to ask for the crystals from the golems for points.

Since we had no spare points, those would be the only points available. I wanted to save those crystals for a summoning or a hybridization. Create golem super soldiers. Sure, it would take a lot of investment into stat points, but with consumption, it wasn’t a difficult or costly task. Just a very annoying task that would take a while.

But a level 4 hybrid like the golem would be amazing. It would also let me see if there were weaknesses at the higher levels for summoning and get a better grasp on the Ritualist’s possible threat level. Still, I couldn’t deny Naran. If he went to this much effort to save Fethee, then he could use up the points. Even if I wanted to cry inside.

I also couldn’t count it as a favor against him. Level 4 crystals, while valuable, were nothing compared to the value I put on my life. So, If I weighed their cost against saving me, it wasn’t even a drop in the bucket. Okay, maybe a couple drops, but the cost was so disproportionate, that arguing would mean arguing that I was worthless.

I saw the forest East of Neo Brasilia up ahead. Hopefully the large pine trees would slow the golems down. “Hopefully they slow the golems down,” I said out loud.

“Hopefully,” Naran said. I noticed he was breathing heavily. Carrying a person was hard. Even with a high Body stat, one had to adjust for the additional weight. Also, it was a human being Naran was carrying, so he had to be careful as well. I wouldn’t have done it, but it was impressive regardless that he had managed to carry Fethee this far.

We ran into the forest. The silver golems relentless in their pursuit. The only difference now, were the trees being smashed apart as the golems collided with them. Chunks and splinters went flying everywhere as the golems just relentlessly pursued both of us. That wasn’t a good sign.

They weren’t taking damage from what I could tell, and they were only slowed slightly. If they could do that to the trees, then there was a good chance they could pulverize the city. I thought about the wall height. They weren’t tall enough to jump over. The tunnel would give me a chance.

“At the tunnel, use Minor Tremor at the entrance, we retreat to the far side. It can only fit one of them at a time, maybe two if they really squeeze,” I said.

“Got it,” Naran replied. “Fethee, needs a regeneration.”

“I see. Once we kill the golems, you can use the crystals,” I replied.

“Thanks,” Naran said. I didn’t reply. We both needed to focus as we dodged trees on our race to the city. There was no use in worrying about saying useless things. We both needed absolute focus. It had been a risk to even speak while rushing, but it was important to have a plan. There would be limited time to act once we reached the tunnel.

If I could kill two golems, I would count it as a win.