Chapter XVII – Day 326 – Second Battle of Purgatory

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.

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.