The Systemic Lands

Chapter 69– Day 161 – Boss Battle

“Hmm, that is a shame,” I muttered for the tenth time since Tom didn’t have any energy to use his new skill of Grass Blade. It would form a blade out of grass of the desired length based on the mental information downloaded into his brain. Well, he would need to develop a blade throwing skill to use the System given skill to its full potential. A sword slinger would be an appropriate title for that kind of fighting style.

Ruth had chosen Sleep, which she couldn’t use either. It cost 20 energy to use initially and then 5 energy per second after that. I had been really looking forward to getting some data, but that would be a future problem.

Right now, we were headed directly North from the grassland pit dungeon and had entered the spear dervish deadlands.

“Acid Shot.” My skill had gone from overwhelming to almost unfair. As the skill hit the monster, it turned to dust. The sheer amount of acid and the potency was enough to kill anything in its way. Tom was on pickup duty as Estevo got to pull the cart. We were making great time and had confirmed dungeons reset when the arrival happened. While I knew that, more data points was incredibly useful.

Talking with Estevo had revealed they were only on Day 90 in Neo Brasila to our Day 160. I guess the prior groups didn’t make it or they started at a different time. I only hoped no one had a huge head start on me in other cities. Nothing I could do about that except to keep moving forward.

The forest near the grassland had turned into a swamp and curved away to the Northeast. I had a suspicion on how it aligned with the other areas, but I continued North. The reason behind that decision was to get to the pig deadlands and then head West to the salt river, and then follow it South.

While it was tempting to cut directly West, I didn’t want to end up wandering about pointlessly if the salt river made a turn somewhere. So, it was backtracking for the most part.

It was late afternoon when I crested a hill and saw another walled ruined town with no monsters in it. A dungeon, but a night dungeon. The rest of the group caught up with me as I considered this juicy piece of information.

Dungeons were falling into my lap left and right. Still, it would be considered a level two dungeon based on the monsters in the area with level three sub-bosses and boss. Probably a dervish dungeon.

“Dungeon?” Ruth asked.

“Yes, but like the wolf one and it is a higher level. Just thinking things over.”

“Well, we don’t stand a chance, it would be all you.”

“The problem is the danger. The dervishes are one of the few monsters at their level that concern me. A higher level could use elemental-based attacks or have a shielded core. I wouldn’t survive an onslaught. That is why I need a moment to think.”

“No rush, we camping here?” Ruth asked.

“No, let’s clear up to the entrance.” We did that, or I did that.

There was nothing in the ruin as the sun was about to set. I left the ruin and as the sun fully set a thick covering of mist formed inside the ruined town. I went inside. The mist was swirling about me, and I felt an acute sense of danger. I turned around and walked right out. Nope. Just nope.

“Already?” Ruth asked.

“Nope. Not touching that place. It is a death trap. No visibility with the swirling mists at all. The only advantage over those dervishes I have is range. In there, I lose that.” I knew when to fold and there was no way I could clear this night dungeon with any sort of confidence.

“Unfortunate,” Ruth said. I agreed with her, but I knew where this place was now. In the future I could risk coming back. I would need a defensive skill or something to push back the fog at the very least.

The next day we traveled to the North until we hit the pig deadlands and then began moving West. We then ran into the gray floating rocks. I was pleased to see I was able to kill them off with one use of my skill, same as the black pigs.

We reached the salt river about mid-day and began to head South, running into blue floating rocks. It only took a single attack from me to finish them off, which made the trek bearable. The river soon entered a canyon with a clear area to walk between the canyon wall and the salt river.

“Tom and Estevo, you are both on cliff watch. If you see anything on it or above it, let me know. Ruth you are on river watch, same thing. Let’s go.” I handed out instructions and we kept moving along the canyon. The cliff walls reminded me of the cliff with the vines and the bulbs with their black stone.

It got dark much earlier due to the cliffs blocking the sun, or light source, and I called it a day. “You think we will find something?” Ruth asked.

“A dungeon probably, maybe. Can only wait and see,” I replied. Tom and Estevo were talking about how this was their first trip beyond their respective cities for both of them and their shared love of sports. Estevo was an MMA fighter apparently.

So he was in decent shape, but that didn’t mean much against monsters for the most part. I would not want to touch any of them with my hands.

“Sticking around once we return?” I asked Ruth.

“Yes, you said grinding out to the East with the meerkats?”

“Yes, you and Tom should be able to handle them.”

“He might get bit up a bit.”

“Life lesson for him. I plan to try and do some mass wipes of those venom flies and using that shadow pit dungeon.”

“Not boom boom dungeon?”

“No, that was a bit too silly.”

“It is good to smile, keeps the wrinkles away.” She gave me a look and a smile. Temptation be gone! I refused to give into drama that being with Ruth would cause. It would be all too easy to lose my drive and ambition.

“I won’t argue with that. How much of a headache do you think is waiting in Purgatory?” I asked.

“I would say anywhere from a lot to a dump truck’s worth.” I let out a sigh at her answer. “Same issue Neo Brasilia and everywhere else is probably experiencing, crystal shortage, and too many people. If anything, our situation is less dire than theirs, since we have the Red Dawn, a functioning government, and a tax for upgrades.” Calling it functional was a stretch since I was part of it, still I would take the roundabout compliment.

“How do you think people will react to another city being found?”

“Panic, maybe a bit of motivation, but it doesn’t change things at a high level. It isn’t practical to track people and guard the entrances at this time.”

“Fair, the risk is a rouge like me. I guess I can only deal with it when it happens.” Fighting someone like me would be a nightmare. I really did not want to be in that type of fight.

“Why so much worrying?” Ruth asked. She was really asking a lot of questions lately, but they kept the conversation going and weren’t that prying, so I didn’t mind that much.

“I don’t want to deal with a mess when I get back. If there is a mess…well, I won’t be happy and leave it at that for right now.” Ruth dropped things there probably sensing my mood. With a second city, the problems would just keep growing.

The next day we set off along the salt river down in the canyon. It kept heading to the South for the most part with a slight curve to the East here and there.

I turned a bend and came to a halt. Well, that was the source, and I didn’t like the look of things. There were ten blue rock floating monsters. Then a very large purple floating rock monster, that was composed of five very large rocks the size of cars.

There was the spring of water, acting as a source for the river, and there was land around the outside and around the spring. It was the width of two carts, and then the cliffs. I looked at the cliffs and I counted at least twenty of the floating gray rock monsters nestled on the walls. They were kind of hidden, but the sparks they emitted occasionally gave them away.

“That doesn’t look good,” Ruth muttered. No duh Sherlock, brilliant deduction, have negative one Michael point. Thirty lesser monsters and a level 3 of unknown power. I had no idea what purple meant. I looked at the water, and that was when I realized it got even worse. There was a large blue rock monster swirling at the center of the spring that formed the river.

“No, it doesn’t.” I pondered over the situation. “Alright, fall back at least two turns and I will engage.”

“If anything comes for us, we can only retreat,” Ruth said. That was true. My skill was strong enough and I had the energy to handle the blue floating rocks, Ruth didn’t. At least she could get the group back to Purgatory if I died. Still, that wasn’t going to happen.

“That is fine. Let me grab some equipment first.” I laid out two shields and a number of clubs. I took the iron shield. It still had dents in it but was more than serviceable. My energy was topped off and my companions fell back.

“Acid Shot.” I took my time and began to pick off the lesser monsters at a distance, taking my time to aim each shot. I didn’t care if I didn’t get the crystals. I just wanted the skill crystal from this place.

I could attack outside the aggro range, but I still didn’t enter the spring area. Those level 3 monsters were concerning. I cleared the nearby cliffs and airspace. I had a half circle cleared out from the entrance to the spring area, almost out to the center where the purple rock monster was floating.

I let my energy recover and returned to my group. “Trouble?” Ruth asked.

“Need to recover energy, I want to be topped off for the next part and could use a drink.” I had some water and an apple. No one said anything as I thought about the strategy, I would take next. I then went back, and everything was the way I had left it.

“Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” I unleashed four attacks right away on the purple rock monster without hesitation. Large chunks melted away but it didn’t die. The rocks suddenly banged together.

BONG! Everything was spinning. I stumbled backwards, coughing up blood as my head was pounding. “Ac-Acid Shot! Acid Shot! Ack! ACK!” Everything hurt. My head was spinning.

I launched two more attacks at the monster and began to cough out blood. That stopped me from using my skill anymore. I looked through my wobbly vision and saw the purple rock monster collapse into water and turned to dust.

What the hell, that kind of attack was completely overpowered. The giant blue rocks floated up. Great, round 2 and I felt like I had just been beat up and spun about. “Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” I got two attacks off, but they only did minor damage. Water swirled in front of the monster. I ducked behind my shield and angled it upwards. I also exhaled, in case there was another sonic overpowered attack.

BZZZT! I went sprawling along the ground. A top portion of my shield had been sliced off and there was a gouge in the cliff face. Water was dripping down from my shield and the cliff face. It had been a water lance. Can’t let it attack again! “Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot!” I kept back my blood-soaked coughs as I used my skill over and over.

A shell of water had formed in front of the floating rock monster and only a small portion of my attacks made it through. Water began to swirl again. I ducked behind my shield.

BZZZT! A larger portion was sliced off, just missing my head. That was too close. I discarded what was left of my shield. “Acid Shot. Acid Shot!” I was out of energy and ran. I turned the corner just as another attack was launched. This time I saw the water lance cut out a good portion of the cliff. Rocks tumbling down onto the dirt path and rolling into the salt river.

I checked around the edge and the monster wasn’t moving. I ducked back and spat out a mouthful of blood. I felt a mess and probably looked like one too. That sonic attack was completely overpowered. A person without upgrades would probably have their body explode.

I kept checking and the monster occasionally let a water lance off, cutting into the cliff, but it didn’t pursue or send minions. I could cheese this fight.

Once my energy was recovered, I let the monster unleash an attack. Then it was my turn while it was unshielded. I fired off eight Acid Shots in rapid succession. That did the trick and the monster finally died. A skill crystal appeared, and the spring stopped flowing. I let out a sigh of relief. Urg, my body felt messed up and I had a killer headache.

The water level quickly dropped. I quickly finished off the remaining lesser monsters. I collected the crystals and then touched the skill crystal. This was a moment I was looking forward to. A high-level skill.

I had two options, both really good in my opinion. The first was Sonic Shock. A non-physical attack like that was overpowered, but I could see it struggling against certain types of enemies.

The other option was Aqua Shell. A defense skill. I did look at the upgrade options for Acid Shot, even if I wasn’t picking one of them. There was nullification, persistence, and minor effect again. No descriptions like usual unfortunately, so I could only speculate based on the name. If that water lance attack was available, then I might have considered to make that my attack skill.

But since it wasn’t, I chose Aqua Sphere for defense. I almost puked when the mental information that came with the skill gave the cost. It cost 50 energy and 10 energy per second after that for upkeep. That was robbery! I would be able to use it for two seconds. That was it.

Also, it required two hand signs in a row. Index and middle finger pointed out with the other two touching the thumb, spin the hand in a clockwise circle. Open the hand fully with fingers spread, then close it. That would take at least a full second even with practice. I would need to get the timing perfect if I was going to use the skill in combat.

As for the energy costs, I would need 6,000 Regeneration to earn 1 energy per second. To keep this defense up indefinitely, I would need 60,000 Regeneration. Yeah, just yeah. That wasn’t happening any time soon. I slowly made my way back to my group, my good mood soured from what I had learned.

“Michael!” Ruth said and rushed over when she saw me.

“It looks worse that it is,” I said as she helped me sit down against the cart. Blood had been leaking out my mouth and probably my other orifices. Tom quickly brought over a flask of water.

“You win?” I drank a bit and spat it out to clear my mouth. I then took a deep drink.

“Yes, but not doing that again. Someone should get the equipment left behind. No monsters left.”

“I got it,” Tom said and rushed off.

“I was worried after that huge noise and those cutting sounds, then nothing,” Ruth said. “Since the water stopped flowing, I figured you won.”

“Yeah. I just need to rest. There was a massive sonic attack. I still feel my heart vibrating from that.” Ruth let me rest and Tom soon returned with what I had dropped. The iron shield was wrecked. That was annoying, I needed that to face the bulbs.

I used a flask of water and my cloak to wipe down my armor as best as I could from all the coughed-up blood. I also used it to wipe off my face. My wonderful black cloak was now a towel. I couldn’t bring myself to care that much. I got up.

“Time to see something amazing, and no talking about this ever.” Everyone quickly agreed. I couldn’t wait to test this skill. I stepped away from the cart. “Aqua Sphere.” Water materialized around me in a shell and swirled around. “Acid Shot.”

The skill passed through the other one without a problem. Maintaining a spell required me to use a hand, so I could only have two spells at once. But they didn’t interfere with each other. Aqua Sphere just became infinitely better.

“A defensive skill, that Acid Shot can pass through,” Ruth said.

“Exactly. Unfortunately, it is a level three or two spell.” The area was level two, but the monster was level three. I would call it a level three spell. “Level three. A bit expensive, but I will figure something out.”

“Hmm, hopefully you can afford the cost soon. If you do let me know for Sleep,” Ruth said.

“Maybe. I like it. It is the first defensive skill I have come across and it provides protection in all directions.”

“Well, it looks impressive at the very least,” Ruth said.

“I guess I am becoming a hydromancer, still could use blink. Anyways let’s head to the cliffs. Still daylight left,” I said.

“We can also cross the river now,” Ruth said. I looked at the dried-out riverbed.

“And when it starts flowing again in the middle of the night? No thanks. I am explored out. Even more so after that last fight.” I did not want to take another one of those sonic attacks again and that water stream cut way too close for comfort.

We made our way back up the way we came and kept going North. Once we hit the point where the salt body of water was, probably a lake if I had to guess, we turned to the East to head for the cliff and vines. I wondered if the lake could be drained, by keeping the spring inactive? If it even was a lake? Made me wonder where the water was eventually ending up.