The Systemic Lands

Chapter 218: Day 505 (4) – Sky Worms, Round 2, Fight!

Four people used the skill at the same time. A wave of burning light swept through the air above me. I felt the heat press down on me. I quickly turned to my left and raced for the store pillars. A quick glance showed, that two of the flying worms were hit while the other two after me were forced to dodged. The top of my house was melted and blown apart, given the top corner a melted and ruined appearance.

General Smith and the skill users quickly retreated back inside a building. I reached the pillars. I slammed my free hand and head down on one. I paid 121,871 points for a regeneration. That confirmed that Death had done something beyond cutting off my arm.

I shook my newly formed right arm, trying to ignore the weirdness of suddenly having an arm once more. My side was also better, which was nice. Everyone was either dead or hiding in a building. Only Naran and myself were in the plaza and he had just finished killing both flying worms that had been down by Radiant Beams.

That put us at five Christmas Sky Worms, with one of them being wounded, versus Naran and myself. A present from the Almighty System to the people of the city and myself. The worms bulged up.

I moved. I zig zagged away. I noted that the store pillar I had been next to had been shattered. “Naran! The Airship Port,” I called out.

“On it!” Naran shouted back. We raced for the entrance. Naran was in front of me and got the doors open first. There were wounded soldiers cowering in the tunnel that led to the elevator. We rushed past them and took it up to the deck of the Airship Port.

“Wait until I go first. I am going all out,” I said.

“Will be right behind you,” Naran said.

The elevator gave us a moment to breathe before we reached the top. Once we got there, we didn’t hesitate and raced for the edge. The worms were struggling to gain altitude. I leapt off the ledge. Acid Shot x2.

A wave of acid came forth and flooded down at two of the worms I was angled between. They spun in mid-air. They hit each other with acid they deflected from themselves. Acid Shotx2. I was mentally ready to launch a follow up attack. Level 4 monsters needed to be baited to use their defensive skill first, something I learned from the golems.

Both of the monsters were directly hit. “Air Burst!” I went forwards at a downwards angle. A few air burst attacks barely missed me. “Air Burst!” I slowed my landing, but I stilled rolled with my landing to keep moving forwards. I didn’t have confidence in myself to begin zig zagging without making a mistake after landing, which was why I rolled.

I got moving again and glanced upwards to see how Naran did. The man was a mad lad. He cut another one of the monsters in half with his sword. He had to fly right at the worm, block or dodge the blade tail, then cut down into the monster using his momentum.

There were only two worms left. Both of them were moving in on me. With only two to dodge, it was easy enough to pace my movement. I Naran went back into the Airship Port, while I kept the worms near it. He leapt off again. This time I saw exactly what happened.

The worm swung around, its bladed tail moving to bisect Naran. He blocked with the flat of his blade mid-air. He then swung around from the strike and slashed deep into the monster. The blade broke at the hilt, but it was a crippling injury since it had gone more than halfway through.

Unfortunately, the monster hit him with a wing on the way down. I winced as he landed at high speed at a bad angle. His left snapped at a horrible angle. He went down with a scream. I was already moving the moment he was hit by the monster’s wing. I slowed for a second to grab a spear someone had dropped.

I leapt up into the air, angling mostly upwards near the Airship Port. I then kicked off the wall. Acid Shot. The last monster countered my attack with an air burst attack at my skill, spraying my acid back at me. My armor began to melt. But the monster was out of position for a tail attack.

My spear went into its side and sank a bit more than half a foot or a quarter of a meter into the monster’s circular teeth filled maw.

It spun about in mid-air. I let go of the spear and went flying through the air. At least I had time to adjust my orientation mid-air like a squirl. My feet hit the ground and I went tumbling along the ground once again. I officially hated aerial combat.

“Radiant Beam!” A bright burning light cut across the plaza, hitting the worm on one of its wings and leaving a deep melted patch on the side of the Airship Port. General Smith apparently kept a fifth person in reserve, or one of the people had enough stats to use the skill twice.

I looked around and grabbed up a dropped sword. I raced over and dodged the bladed tail. So much easier on the ground, when I had a surface to kick off of. I slammed my blade into the monster’s side. The blade broke and I retreated.

I retreated as General Smith raced over with several archers. “Nock! Loose!” Five arrows struck the monster. Then the force bombs attached to the sides of those arrows activated. The monster twisted, then its wounds began to rip and tear. It exploded in a shower of green blood and worm flesh as it all twisted in the air before falling to the ground. It then all turned to dust.

I looked around and confirmed all the monsters were dead. Two soldiers were helping Naran towards the store for a regeneration. “General, I want all 10 crystals collected and brought to me within half an hour,” I commanded.

“Yes, Champion Michael!” He then began issuing orders to secure the crystals, help the wounded, and clean up the mess. I made my way over to the pillars.

Naran’s leg was fixed. I went over to look at the shattered pillar. I touched it and the rubble. Nothing. I put my hands on another pillar. I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. Of course the day just got better.

Naran came over. “Ah, yeah,” he said, which was an understatement. Touching one of the seven unbroken store pillars gave me some important information.

Critical Damage. Upgrade canceled. Ten million points for repair.

All that for nothing and we got a bill on top of it. I wanted to scream. I noticed Clarissa was walking over. I turned to look at her with a glare, trying to melt her with my eyes. She stumbled for a second and then came over.

I just gestured at the pillar I had checked the system store on. She put both of her hands on the pillar. “Oh,” she said softly. That was an understatement.

“Ten million points is a scam. I would say not to bother, but the Almighty System calling something critical, doesn’t sound good,” I muttered unhappily.

“No, it doesn’t,” Clarissa said. There were pained moans and screams as the injured were brought over to the pillars for regenerations.

“Our crystals?” I asked.

“The reserve of the RMPF, not the city budget,” Clarissa said. I nodded at that. “I screwed up,” she said.

“If I didn’t think it was worth the risk, I wouldn’t have agreed in the first place. Twelve million points wasted,” I muttered the last part.

“Repair first?” Clarissa asked. I touched the pillar again. I contributed 1 point to the repair cost. Now it was 9,999,999 points. I took my hands off the pillar.

“Yes. It gives the message, critical damage. Not just damage. Watch, the pillar is broken long enough, and it lets a super monster come and attack us. No time frame given either,” I replied.

General Smith then came over with a pack in hand. “All ten crystals from the monsters have been collected. What is it?” I took the pack from him and gestured at the pillar.

“That isn’t good,” he said and then looked at me. I was curious if he considered myself or Clarissa in charge. I guess fighting level 4 monsters was more than enough to reaffirm my position as top dog once again. “What are we doing about it?”

“The city development fund will go into the repair. And now we know for the next attempt,” I said and frowned. “Also shut the city shield off. If there was going to be another attack, it would have happened.”

General Smith went over and began issuing orders while I turned to Clarissa. “What time frame are we looking at for the next attempt?” I asked while rubbing my left hand over my right arm. It just felt weird in a way I couldn’t describe.

Before she could answer, Naran came up. “Need a hand?” He was holding my lopped off arm and held it out to me. I hesitantly took it and pulled off the bloody scraps of armor and clothing. I then compared it to my current arm.

They were exactly the same. I looked at the pattern of hairs and the small mole I had. It all matched up. I tossed my old arm away from me to an area no one was standing at. Acid Shot. It quickly melted along with the stone beneath it. So, it didn’t have my innate resistance to my own skill anymore.

Good to know, and interesting. “Timeframe?” I turned to Clarissa and asked the question again to get back on track.

“About 70 days, so day 575, if there are no major incidents. Enough to cover the repair cost, another use of the shield, and another million points for an attempt at the upgrade, twelve million,” Clarissa said. The amount almost caused me physical pain. I could feel my soul crying inside of me.

General Smith came back over just as the shield shut down. Color came back to the world and the white dome over the city disappeared. I blinked a couple of times. That was really freaky.

“Well, it is bad,” General Smith said with a heavy sigh. “Lost 87 soldiers, another 38 were wounded but survived to get regenerations. The attacks tended to be fatal. Also the summoners were all knocked out across the city and need regenerations. Union teams, they are still counting.”

That was when Garrett came over. He used to be Laura’s assistant. Clarissa had kept him around, so I didn’t say anything. “Champion Michael, Chief Administrator Clarissa. Out of fifteen Union teams, nine were completely lost, the remaining six teams have a total of 23 survivors between them.”

Good, they served their purpose as meat shields, but were totally useless otherwise. It was not that much of a surprise. If the combat gap was too big, then death was the only outcome. “Even after all the attention I drew?” I asked.

“There was no defense against the attacks, even with the shield reducing their power. People were wounded, others tried to help them. It was chaos. We were expecting to deploy to a wall, not an aerial attack. The non-combatants were unaffected so the shelter in the nearest building instructions worked,” General Smith explained.

“Good job with the Radiant Beams,” I said.

“Thank you, but they didn’t kill the monsters in one hit unfortunately,” General Smith said.

“It doesn’t matter. Have we set up a rotation so more people can get that skill?” I asked.

“I have to deploy at least four out of the five people that have it to kill the pod monster,” General Smith said.

“Make it a priority. We will plan for day 605 for a second attempt. That should give us around fifteen people with that skill. That much concentrated firepower is quite useful. Stock the shield with the extra points. I don’t want us struggling for crystals to activate in an emergency,” I ordered.