The Systemic Lands

Chapter XVII – Day 326 – Second Battle of Purgatory

My massive army marched on Purgatory, clearing out the monsters in my path. I reached the outer edge of the level 1 zone for Purgatory early in the morning. Managing the respawns when I had to sleep was incredibly frustrating to get a good night’s sleep, but I had practiced enough gathering up crystals, that I knew what I had to do to travel.

Time to split my forces into five groups. Four groups would have 200 hybrids each, 10 wolves with blue slimes, and 10 white deer. That put me at 120 summons and 800 hybrids. The last group was my personal force.

Two chameleons, two white mind slimes, four scorpions, five ant summoners, two mimics, twenty armed werewolves, and twenty white weredeer. I also had a cart for some of my personal supplies and what I was going to construct a trap with.

My personal guard advanced in front of me. I would be splitting off to the maximum distance I could be from Purgatory while still surrounding the city. It was only half a mile or so, but I would be taking no chances in case Champion Michael showed up. He would be led into my trap and nowhere else.

I had made sure not to orient my summons and hybrids in relation to my position. Champion Michael had picked up on that little detail last time. This time I wouldn’t fall for such a trick. The clearers had removed a large portion of the monsters around Purgatory, which made it easy to slowly move my forces towards each gate.

The East gate would be the first test. I noted archers at the top of the wall and that there were doors at the far end of the tunnel through the wall where it reached the city. They had purchased city upgrades. Well, it was no matter, I would easily break through.

I had a small group of hybrids run forward along with a few wolves, the tall grass providing cover. Arrows began to rain down. Injuries weren’t an issue, I just had to cut the tether before the hybrids died and there was too much feedback.

The wolves entered the tunnel and the slimes began melting through the doorway. I moved more of my forces up, specifically my summons with mental attacks. Time to sweep the wall clear. I was already deploying my ant summoners around the gate to fly over the wall and attack from the rear.

There was a blinding flash of light. I felt like I was burning. “Ahhhh!” I screamed in pain and my monsters stumbled. Focus! FOCUS! The tethers were still there, and I quickly kept moving my forces before they could be shot down.

What was that? A skill? All the more important that I end the city and the people before they became as much as a threat as Champion Michael.

The gate was weak, and hybrids had already piled into the tunnel. I had them all push forward. The gate broke. I cut the tethers. My mental attack summons had gotten close enough and began to quickly target people one by one.

One archer fell off the wall and hit the ground with a splat. The wall was clear, and I turned my focus to the people that had formed up a spear line. How quaint. Mental attacks struck and made holes in their forces. The hybrids kept pushing forward. I would lead them into the city and then cut the tether where they would rampage against the defenders.

I moved in my wolves and slimes and began targeting people as well. The entire force began to collapse. The hybrids broke through, the defending forces retreated back into the city with the hybrids chasing after them. My wolves, slimes, and deer summons followed up behind the hybrids.

I didn’t even need the summoning ants to break the gate positions. I sent them towards the plaza. If I could secure the store, I would win the war. Without the ability to resupply, get food, or regenerate, they would quickly collapse.

There was no sign of Champion Michael either. Perfect, it would take him days to get back from where he was grinding. Time enough to kill every single person and take the treasury a second time. I frowned a bit, the forces on the East wall were regroup and were fighting their way back to the plaza. I quickly had my mental attack summons retreat.

It was annoying that I couldn’t control my hybrids once I cut the tether, but the feedback was too dangerous. I had been worried about a second one of those beam attacks, but nothing. The South gate fell, and my frown turned into a smile.

It took several attacks or a head blow to kill the hybrids. Since they didn’t turn to dust, they disrupted the formations, allowing more hybrids and my summons to break through. The mental attacks staggered or knocked out people one after another.

Their skill holders were weak. Only Champion Michael was to be feared. The rest weren’t even mentioning. The North gate fell as people scattered and fell back, as they were chased down by the hybrids.

It was a shame so many test subjects were being killed, but corpses were of no use. People needed to be alive for hybridization to take place. More people died and I smiled as victory would soon be mine.

The West gate fell, I now controlled all the entrances. I deployed slimes into the tunnels. No one was escaping. I would unleash total war upon this city and leave a shadow on Michael’s heart. Once he was enraged and came after me, well that was what my traps were for.

The people quickly retreated to the plaza and had formed a camp at the pillars in the center. They had a large number of arrows and bows. I couldn’t get my mental attack summons within range, before they were shot.

I kept sending ants, but they were too weak, and the battle devolved into a battle of attrition. I finished priming my traps and began to replenish my forces.

The frustrating part was that I noted chests full of crystals were near the pillars. They had learned not to have a separate location for their treasury I could rob. That was unfortunate. Stealing the treasury again would have guaranteed my victory.

I had my forces withdraw in the afternoon and took a short nap. I woke up when it was dark. The people had not budged from the plaza. I unleashed more ants upon them. I would keep attacking during the night, sending in the occasional wolf with a slime.

Another two days and I would have rebuilt my forces for a massive attack. I would shatter the forces arrayed against me. I wondered if a slime could melt the store pillars? That was something I should check.

Hybrids as disposable shock troops, mental attacks, with the occasional summon, and summoner ants at the flanks appeared to be the best combination for large scale fights. Still, I knew all of that would be only slow Champion Michael down if he returned.

Oh, they had captured one of my ants. What were they doing? They brought it over to a middle-aged man who looked at it and then pointed in a direction. The direction of my tether. I instantly cut the tether.

So, they had reversed engineered negative energy sensing. I needed to rethink the layout of my position and traps in case Champion Michael returned. But I should have enough time before he got back to launch a full assault on day 328. I would have brought a large swath of my forces back up to their needed strength.

I stumbled and felt tired. My monsters stumbled as well. Sleep skill, that Nox had used before. Issue after issue was piling up. I needed to finish summoning and end this battle as quickly as possible.