The Systemic Lands

Chapter 115: Day 250 (4) – A Diabolical Trap

The problem was that I was trapped with no escape. It was hard to focus my attention and my energy was running low. I only had 30 energy left. Enough to use Acid Shot three more times.

I was running out of time as the slimes closed in. It would be seconds before the slimes were on me from the front and behind. I cut more thorny roots growing out to kill me. I needed to break through. My acid was taking too long to kill the large slimes. Time I didn't have. Back to the city to recover. I raced back the way I came.

I drove my blade into the large brown slime and yanked it to the side. Thorny roots sprung out and I was forced to back up. I felt dizzy as the roots pricked me. The brown slime in front of me finally turned to dust. There was a white tunnel mind slime behind it. No giving up! The brown slime behind me was closing the distance.

Acid Shot! Acid Shot! Acid Shot! I struck the white slime three times with my skill. The mental pressure eased up. That was when it began leak out blue slimes. They were all dying, but not quick enough as they advanced on me. I was forced to dodge more grasping roots. I wasn’t making it out of this. I just didn’t have the energy and was trapped with monsters closing in. It was hard to focus.

“Rock Lance!” Naran! “Rock Lance!Rock Lance!” I heard him shouting outside the entrance of the tunnel towards the city. I had picked my direction correctly. The white slime crumbled to dust but there were still blue slimes covering the floor. A chance! The white mind slime behind me was only a foot away.

Come on stats, hold me together. I rushed forward. I stepped in a blue slime. My boot and foot began to melt. I stepped in another. I couldn’t stop. I had to keep moving. More slimes burst under my melting boots and feet. I leapt forward, over the blue slimes and cleared the tunnel.

I want tumbling on the ground in a bloody mess. Naran was fighting two wolves with his bare hands, since slimes had probably melted his sword like they had done to mine. I tried to stand and help him. That was when I truly felt it.

“Ahhh!” The pain was immense. It was mind bending as it fully it me. So that was how awful acid felt. Not good to know.

It was do or die. Time to do. I forced myself my melting feet. The wolves weren’t rushing Naran which made it difficult for him to finish one off without the other one attacking him. “Grab me and get me out of here. I can’t fight.”

“I can’t lift you and fight.”

“What?” Dammit, he could lift me, but he would be encumbered.

“I don’t have the strength to do both. I found that out back when death dusted your arm.” The slimes were slowly coming out of the tunnel for us. I tried to walk, but the pain was immense. It was indescribable. Blood was oozing out of my ruined feet. My boots were all but gone.

“Anyone coming?” I asked as Naran kept the wolves at bay. I glanced at the tunnel and saw the approaching slimes.

“Just me. Laura sent me here to back you up.” Laura, I owed you one. Naran, I owed you at least two. Dammit. I had escaped the trap but couldn’t escape. I didn’t have enough energy to use Acid Shot still, even with a regeneration of 3 per minute.

There was no way I could walk on my feet any distance. Fine! As the wolves circled. I pushed off the ground with my ruined feet, ignoring the massive burst of pain. I landed on top of a wolf. Surprise! My hands went for its eyes, and I began to squeeze its head.

“I hope you feel this! Ahhhh!” I channeled my rage and pain. The wolf’s head exploded in a shower of gore, which quickly turned to dust. Naran quickly moved in and punched the other wolf to death which paused for a moment after I had killed mine.

He helped me up and we quickly retreated from the entrance to the city. I left a bloody trail behind as I had to hop and lean on Naran for support. The pain was too much.

“Plaza?” He asked.

“Dammit!” My feet would cost thousands upon thousands of points to heal. I only had 12,607 points. After the attack. There would be no one with spare crystals. The amount I would probably need would be sizable. “Plaza. I need to see the regeneration cost.”

“Oh,” Naran said as he realized the implications of what my injury meant.

“Wait. Stop.” We came to a stop. Dammit, I needed to sort out the political situation and get crystals for points. I also needed to chase down Chase, or the Ritualist as he was now called. The city needed to be stabilized. With Ken dead, if I left now it would collapse into anarchy and all my work would be ruined. The pain was making it hard to think and focus.

A day. I would give things a day at most and have Naran drag my sorry ass out on a cart to kill monsters the day after. “Naran, I need you to carry me.”

“Yes, I can lift you. But I won’t have the strength to carry you back to the plaza and fight if we are attacked.”

“I can’t keep going like this. Crawling would be better. Death would be better. Eff this pain. I have enough energy for an Acid Shot. Carry me, I will cover for you.”

“Alright.” I climbed on Naran’s back. My left arm holding on tightly, and my legs wrapped around his waist. My bloody foot stumps bled out on him. “You owe me new clothes.”

“I owe you a lot.” I was just glad to be off my feet. Still the pain was the worst thing I had ever felt. Naran began a light jog back to the plaza. I really didn’t want to deal with that mess. I didn’t want to deal with my mess. I had screwed up. Which was going to lead to even more problems.

It took two hours to get back to the plaza, we didn’t encounter any monsters and I was on edge the entire time. The plaza itself was a charnel house. Blood, bodies, and debris was littered everywhere. The arrivals probably got a surprise when they showed up today.

Instead of a calm and stable city, it was a literal blood bath. That was probably an arrival they wouldn’t forget. Naran brought me over to the pillars. No tax collection right now. The guards stared at me but didn’t say anything. Naran slowly let me down and I put both hands on the pillar. One was still a bit raw from hitting a slime at the start of the battle, but wasn’t that bad thankfully.

The Almighty System didn’t hear my prayers. Instead, it decided to make life complicated. I needed 127,912 points for a restoration. I was about 115,000 points short. That was 2,300 level 2 crystals. At my best, I could probably grind out 5 to 600 a day. Four days to get enough.

Now, I was crippled. That was just great. With no reserves and crystals used to heal up people already, I wasn’t holding out hope for a quick restoration. I would need to drag my ass outside the city and grind them out myself. In the meantime, the situation would get worse with my weakness and another attack could come at any time.

“Where is Tyrese?” I asked one of the guards.

“Everything is being coordinated out of headquarters,” the guard said.

“Help me there Naran.”

“Bridle carry?”

“Sure.” He picked me up and carried me over to the headquarters. At least my feet had stopped bleeding and were now raw bloody stumps. Just the feeling of air moving over them hurt. Naran carried me inside. Not the triumphant return I was hoping for.

He carried me up to the conference room on the second floor. Laura, Tyrese, Clarissa, and Ken’s assistant Louis were all there. There was silence as Naran set me down on a chair. I took a minute to gather my thoughts as everyone sat it in silence. Everyone looked exhausted.

“What is the damage?” I asked. Everyone looked at Tyrese who sighed.

“Half of my people were killed. Fifteen need restorations they can’t afford. No losses from the business district. Civilians, well the death toll was in the hundreds and expected to grow if we don’t get more crystals. I will let Laura talk about the Union. Our treasury is completely empty. There is the risk of starvation currently, but we should probably be okay with the grinding from the level 1 monsters around the city.” I looked at Laura.

“Devastating. I have 3 full teams of 4. There are another 4 teams out at dungeons. I might be able to salvage enough people for a fourth team in the city, but without restorations it is impossible.” That was when Louis spoke up.

“All of Ken’s buildings were lost. He was the sole heir. While none of the business owners were killed. The businesses have completely collapsed. There is currently no economy within the city.” I turned to Clarissa.

“Most of Ken’s people were killed. They handled a lot of the day-to-day stuff in the city, like the arrivals, public showers, and public kitchens. Unfortunately, the situation is worse than Louis said. We have lost all those buildings as well. The city is completely crippled. With starvation, there are risks of riots and anarchy. Already there is looting that Tyrese’s people can’t contain.”

I suppose it was my turn. I sat up straight. I needed to project confidence, not weakness. Even with melted, hurting, foot stubs. “The culprit behind the attacks has taken up the title of Ritualist. Their identity is none other than Chase who invented crystal powder. I pursued him across the city. I wasn’t able to make things out very well, but he was probably using hostages of some kind to pull a cart.”

“I fell into a trap. He was able to compress multiple level 2 slimes into chests and deploy them within the East tunnel. If Laura hadn’t sent Naran after me, I would have died. There is more. Two things, neither of which leaves this room. Naran, can you check the door?”

He did and made sure no one was listening. “The first is that the secret to summoning monsters probably depends on blood powder in some way. This is a strategic secret at the same level as the probable conditions for a level 4 monster to show up. It will not leave this room.” Everyone nodded.

“Does anyone else know about the powder process?” I asked Louis.

“No. Ken was going to sort the issue out after the convention.”

“Then for now it will not be shared. I need to think through on the implications of it some more. But begin looking for someone to take over research. We need someone in charge of System research and to centralize it more than ever. Secondly, I suspect, but don’t know for sure, that the Ritualist is in league with Ruth, and they fled to an undiscovered Eastern city.”

“Why?” Tyrese asked.

“The why doesn’t matter. But I am fairly sure the Union team sent out to investigate her activities was killed.”

“Probably, I haven’t heard back from them either,” Laura said with a sigh.

“She also has the Sleep skill from Neo Brasilia. I doubt they sent a team, but it is a possibility. Regardless, she is now an enemy of the city to be captured if possible or killed on sight if she resists in any way. Make sure your people know. Last, but not least. I am crippled and the points I need for a restoration are quite high.”

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