The Systemic Lands

Chapter 572: Day 5,049 – Tracking A Donkey

“There you are,” I muttered while staring intently at the map in the newly purchased Regional Map building. I was spending quite a bit in various cities as this was the fifth such building with upgrades that had been purchased. Millions of points to locate the monster.

We had been engaged in a game of cat and mouse. I was the cat in this fight. The real trick had been observing the monster for the last couple of days across multiple cities. There had been a lot of flying back and forth. Sometimes it even changed direction while we were traveling which made things more difficult and we had to locate all over again.

The issue wasn’t finding the monster. That was easy enough. We had done that several days ago. The real trick would be pinning it down for a long period of time and sealing off any escape. As I had proved several times over the years, along with other people, it was one thing to kill a person or monster in a pitched battle to the death. It was another nightmare when one side involved in the fight was intent on escaping.

I thought back to my escape from the Divine Empress. That had been legendary. I also didn’t want to get caught up in a situation like that myself. Work smarter, not harder. Bringing the monster into a pitched battle would be the hardest aspect of the entire fight.

That was why we had been observing it carefully over the last several days to get a better idea of its movement patterns. In addition, Michelle had been preparing a lot of flying monsters with sensory skills. Our plan now, was that once it came into range of a city, we would encircle it, the Crystal Vortex would provide overwatch with Captain Francis using his sensing skills along with Michelle’s monsters to stay right a top of the monster.

I would be engaging it directly one on one. It was too big of a risk for anyone else. If the monster separated from me, Michelle would sacrifice a summon to slow it down to allow me to catch up. The good doctor was on standby if I got hurt.

I watched the holographic map and the tiny monster on the map. It took a lot of scanning zone by zone to find it, since there were no labels, and it was just a blur. The easiest way was to observe the other monsters in the area reacting to it and moving, since there were no people around. Any monster movement was due to the unique super monster that we were trying to kill.

This was also why we had to kill it right away before opening this area up to the Empire of Purgatory. Once people started flooding the zones, it would be a blood bath and very hard to track down the super monster. The fact that it could fight against me, showed it was a threat.

While I didn’t feel much personal risk, with how much Doctor Katz had struggled there was a lot of concern over anyone weaker that myself engaging the monster. Even the summons had to be used carefully so the monster couldn’t take control of them or impact Michelle like the previous time.

I watched as the monster rapidly altered course and began moving towards the city we were in of New Kochi to the Southwest, near the Rift and just West of The Abyss. “Someone senses us, or it moving in to clear out the city when people arrive,” I voiced my thoughts out loud.

“We suspected it was reacting to our sensing with out erratically it was moving and how it quickly left the area around each city we were spying on it from,” Captain Francis pointed out.

“So, a confrontation. Hmm, let’s leave a summon to watch, you good with that Michelle,” I looked at the nearby monster and it nodded. The Captain and I left the Regional Map building and quickly climbed back up to the waiting airship.

“Any changes?” I asked Michelle.

“No changes,” she replied. We quickly set off over off, low over the city. “Intercept time?” I asked her.

“Right outside the city in the grasslands, it is still approaching,” she replied. I nodded at this and kept an eye out ahead of the airship. We cleared the city wall.

“It is retreating rapidly,” Michelle said. “I won’t be able to watch it,” she replied.

“Which direction?” I asked and she pointed. Captain Francis kept the airship going as Michelle kept us updated on the monster’s position up until she lost the connection with her summon. We kept up the pursuit for another few minutes but were forced to return to the city and check its location. It had altered course to move more West than South. We then went to the next city to the West of New Jaipur. We were using the names the Indian Sultanate had given these cities for now. I had no doubt they would change in the future.

We didn’t slow down the airship, I leapt off to check the Regional Map as the airship circled tightly overhead, to keep up its velocity. The monster wasn’t moving much. We had a shot of catching up to it. I quickly left and got back on the airship with some well time Air Bursts.

The monster stopped in a level three zone. Once its general location was confirmed, we set off once more. Everyone was keeping their eyes peeled as the airship quickly increased its velocity. When I got off, I would be descending at a rapid speed, a very rapid speed.

Perhaps we should have waited for the monster to get closer before. But once it was inside a city, there were too many places it could hide. That was why it was better to intercept it outside the city. I really hated donkey type monsters that ran away and hid.

While they weren’t number one on my most hated things list, they were slowly gaining ground to reach the top of said list. At least in the tower, there were only so many places to hide. Out in the wilderness there was a lot of open space. While the hiding spaces weren’t many until level 3 zones. Unfortunately, we were over some boulderlands at the moment.

The large boulders would have plenty of places for the monster to hide and move while hidden. Also, my footing wouldn’t be good. The local monster was some kind of spider monster with too many eyes, which wasn’t a huge concern, since it was a level 3.

“There!” Captain Francis pointed out the monster. I looked towards it in the distance. I could see the energy it was emitting, even if it was incredibly faint. That was when the monster ducked under the boulders.

“Michelle, I am counting on you, get a perimeter,” I called out and then leapt off the airship without waiting for a reply. I went hurtling through the air towards where the monster had last been seen. We were moving too quickly for an extended conversation. I trusted she knew what to do with our years of experience fighting togeather and our planning sessions. She had to contain and track it.

I slammed into a boulder. The large rock burst apart, and then I used Air Burst right after impacting it, to stop going further into the ground. We had been traveling really fast. I did the large initial impact to prevent the monster from targeting me at my most vulnerable, the moment I landed on the ground.

The Air Burst sent me slightly back up into the air, where I spun around and looked for my target. I couldn’t spot the monster. The Crystal Vortex swung about bleeding off speed as quickly as possible. I noticed Captain Francis pointing in a specific direction and Michelle’s flying monsters were moving over that position. I kicked off the boulder I had landed on and went in that direction.

Fire beams cut through the air, killing several of Michelle’s summons, but that just let me pinpoint its exact position. Air Burst. Acid Shot x5. The monster used a shield to block the attack, dispersing the acid to either side as it began to move away across the boulders. The air ship was swinging back around to get right above and behind it. We wouldn’t be losing it this time. I noted Michelle cut the tethers to her summons that the monster got close to as it ran.

Our speed was evenly matched, as long as I didn’t lose sight of it. That was why I wasn’t rushing to close the distance to the monster. I wanted to keep it view at all times. I wasn’t going to be able to kill it with a single attack. Instead, I would follow and wait for it to move into a more open area, before I pounced. I also wanted to take the time to observe its movements as well.

It made some movement decisions like going around, or under a boulder, instead of over, which was why I wanted to get a better sense of how it would retreat. While annoying if we lost it, we could always find it once more with the Regional Map buildings. I had purchased enough to make tracking it a matter of going to that building in the nearest city.

The airship was about to pass over the monster, when it leapt up towards it. Air Burst x2. Radiant Beam. Radiant Beam. I cut off its path to the airship, and it quickly altered directions to head back down to the boulders. The airship had to stay low to avoid drawing in flying monsters, which left it vulnerable to a ground assault. Also, it was having to slow down so it wouldn’t keep overshooting the monster and could track it. Ideally it would remain just behind me, and the monster would have to go through me to get to the airship.

That was one more option cut off for the monster. We just needed to keep removing options and increasing the pressure. This kind of move was why I hadn’t moved in and committed to Acid Shoting everything in sight. It would allow the monster to possibly get away.

It ducked under the nearby boulders. Not it was going to use cover. Air Burst. I went right after it, closing the distance. Air Burst. I used the skill again, having to rapidly change directions as it went down into a crevice. Acid Shot x5. I was close enough to put pressure like this, and it blocked. I scrambled around the boulder, the stone scraping my armor, letting off sparks with how fast I was moving.

Twisting, my feet slammed into a boulder. The monster had maneuvered to the side and shot up into the air for the air ship once again. Air Burst. I went after it, as summons moved to block off its angle of movement. That was when I realized it had maneuvered me so I couldn’t use beam attacks without risking hitting the air ship. That was the problem with intelligent opponents.

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