Chapter 253: Day 535 (3) – A Rampant Invasion

General Smith, you earned some major points. I looked at the devastation his soldiers had done on the Ritualist’s army. I noted the soldiers retreating along the top of the wall. Well time to bait the Ritualist inside and cut him off with the city shield.

I noted friendly summons were still around, ready to relay information back. I watched from the top of a building near the collapsed worm bit as the hybrids entered into Purgatory. If I had to guess, General Smith’s little trick cost the Ritualist around 400 hybrids either from killing or crippling them. With the earlier losses, the Ritualist still had over 80% of his army remaining and had used one of his trump cards to match one of ours.

We had only taken moderate losses on our end. I noted summoner ants settle on top of the wall. Their little minions began to pour forth. What appeared to be level 1 scorpions and squirls poured into the city through the breach.

If we activated the City Shield now, then only the summoner ants would be caught. The Ritualist knew they weren’t worth a million points and was trying to force us to commit to using the City Shield too soon. This was where I had to really earn my paycheck and bait more of his forces inside the city. Otherwise, he would engulf the city and siege the plaza. We would be worn down and lose if we fell into that situation.

I noticed summons from my side flying in with primed crafting crystals. Beams of energy lanced up from outside the wall, but they didn’t have a good angle except from the rubble pile. Then the mental attacks hit, and General Smith lost points he had just earned as the attack was rendered ineffective. A critical oversight and a waste of resources.

Well, there was one thing the Ritualist never considered. Level 1 monsters were weak! I ran forward and kicked off the roof. “Air Burst! Air Burst!” I quickly ascended to the top of the wall. Small level 1 ant summons rushed to bite me. Ignored them and raced for the summoners, striking them down with a sword.

I hated melee combat, but I needed to conserve my energy. The low level monsters tried to swarm me, but I was just too fast and had too much Body for them to anything. This kind of tactic irked me something fierce, taking any kind of attack. But I knew level 1 attacks would do nothing. My time at the ant nest had showed me that, but it was a bad habit to develop.

The mental attacks came. But I had more than enough experience with level 3 mental attacks and enough Mind to resist them without being distracted. I saw the higher level flying monsters move in. Acid Shot x3 and I was out of energy for the moment. I ran North along the wall away from the horde while ripping off the remaining level 1 monsters clinging to me with my free hand.

I came to a halt once the flying monsters didn’t commit. They stayed just outside the radius of the wall. I didn’t mind waiting as my Regeneration stat was earning its pay at 10 energy per minute. The move was in the Ritualist’s court.

He responded by sending two of the large pulsing red great worms and around 400 hybrids into Purgatory through the breach, the low level summons spreading out in front of his advance. He wanted to force a city shield activation. There would be no way I could kill that force on my own, even with full energy.

I considered my options and none of them were good. The Ritualist was no idiot. While he did make mistakes, he was well aware of his core weaknesses, strengths, and those of his opponents. I frowned since his control was exceptionally good. I had been observing his forces movements and the individuality of each was impressive.

It wasn’t group commands like before. The way he exchanged wounded hybrids and easily shifted his forces about spoke to a massive improvement in his control. Also, the super large hybrid army was a clue as well.

In the end I chose to do the most annoying thing possible. I began to stretch slowly to keep myself limber while I waited. When the Ritualist’s reached the plaza, they could be able to handle it or activate the city shield. The best thing I could do was to remain here and continually poke the Ritualist, over and over until he committed more of his army to chase me down.

The option to do nothing was always an option. The most annoying option in this case. I couldn’t leave the walls and the Ritualist didn’t dare enter until the City Shield had been used. Once it was activated, I had no doubt he would siege the plaza.

It was a standoff, each of us not willing to commit, or risk a critical loss. I hated being passive like this but fighting on the defensive was our best option and the City Shield was our best weapon.

I thought of the Astrologer as I waited. For all his talk, he still hadn’t done anything. Something was clearly off about the man. I had no doubt he was the kind of person to milk a situation for everything it was worth. He would show up at a critical time just to claim the most credit.

The monsters of the Ritualist were moving about, and a large clump was approaching the rubble where the city wall had been shattered. I eventually lost sight since the wall was in the way, but I checked beneath me and above me. I was still being watched closely, but the Ritualist was ignoring me for now.

Several of those large pulsating red worms appeared and began to head for the plaza. I counted nine of them. I winced at that. The city would be forced to activate the shield once they all arrived at the plaza. Nothing was ever easy unfortunately, and I needed to think. I walked over to the portion of the wall where it had crumbled downwards.

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Ah, there was the Ritualist being moved by big, armored creatures in a box. Probably padded too. It was nice that he made a coffin for his funeral ahead of time. Beams of energy shot up towards me and I backed away from the edge.

I had also noted that he was spreading out his forces around the city. Once the City Shield was activated, he would tighten the noose around our necks and slowly squeeze us to death. I had no doubt he had a large reserve of crystals to keep send more of those worms at us.

It would be a struggle to keep constant attacks like that back. A war of resources and attrition. While the Ritualist couldn’t use hybrids, he clearly had a method to summon mass amounts of level 3 monsters with limited impact to his energy. Then I realized, the setup was just a sham, it was all primed in some way.

Really Ritualist? Resorting to petty deceptions still? I guess once someone was a tiger, you couldn’t dye their coat and turn them into a housecat. They would still be a tiger at heart. The Ritualist liked to play mind games and had a flare for the dramatic. He clearly wanted me to leave the city.

That was not going to happen. He could have laid outside the city naked, and I wouldn’t believe it for a second. He was probably using body doubles and other techniques to hide his real location. If that was his real body in that coffin, then that was an amazing double bluff.

I took another peak before I could be blasted and saw the Ritualist rearranging his forces, leaving the coffin exposed from above. Another trick to draw me in. That was never going to happen. I might not be the smartest person, but an obvious trap was an obvious trap. Well I would keep waiting here, until my energy refilled. Until then I was content to be left alone and the Ritualist was clearly willing to leave me alone.

When my energy recharged, that would be just before the moment when the monsters would reach the plaza. I still wouldn’t leave the city no matter what. I was not going to spend a day running around and become exhausted.

Would it be bad? Leaving the city, during the siege would force the Ritualist to split his attention. General Smith and Clarissa could hold the plaza. It would be difficult, but it was possible. The main issue was that the Ritualist could keep sending monsters as remote bombs to assault the plaza.

I considered how much damage I could do to his horde if I attacked, even more importantly, I considered the difficultly of escaping. It would not be easy to get away once I left the wall. Right now I had the high ground. If I tried to escape up to it after dropping down, I had no doubt the flying monsters would intercept me, so the ground monsters could mob me.

The challenge was getting close with those ranged beam attacks. While not as visually stunning as Radiant Beam I was not about to try my luck against them. That much focused firepower was stupid and not an easy wall to overcome. The mental attacks I could handle. The physical attacks I could dodge. But the beam attacks could saturate an area, leaving no space for me to advance.

I looked up at the sky. The aerial monsters were an issue as well, but I had experience in high level aerial combat. If I got up high enough I could drop back down, but lob ranged attacks at the Ritualist and take out his flying monsters from a height. I could also land back on top of the wall. Could the Ritualist force me off by sending troops around on top of the wall?

I considered that option, but it didn’t seem likely, and I could easily escape into the city. With Air Burst it was only a matter of energy of ascending and descending from the four-story wall. The wall shook and I took a quick peak. The Ritualist was having the giant worms dig out the ground in front of the wall and move around the city, like digging a moat.

He was planning to collapse out all the walls by digging out their foundation. They only went a short distance underground. About ten feet or three meters before there was compacted dirt. The Ritualist wanted to remove the walls, and then he would probably remove the buildings one by one on his way towards the plaza.

It would take time, but it would be effective for forcing people back to the plaza while he unleashed countless attacks against it. I let out a long sigh. The Ritualist was not an easy foe to defeat. Not for the first time and probably not the last, I cursed myself for letting him survive so long ago.

I looked at the flying monsters above me keeping their distance. I noted a shimmer in the air a distance away from me. The Astrologer appeared floating in the air and dived directly down for the coffin.

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