Chapter XVIII – Day 327 – Second Battle of Purgatory, Second Day
My outer patrol forces froze for a second as I felt a tremor of shock and fear race through my body. It was Champion Michael racing for the South gate. It was only the second day of the battle. I should have had another day at least before he got back. How was he so fast?
He must have risked traveling through the night. I chuckled to myself. He wanted to kill me just as much as I wanted to kill him. He easily spotted and killed the brown slimes just outside and inside the tunnel. My expression turned grim at his speed and movement.
I sent in wolves with slimes, but he easily dodged and killed them. I pulled back my forces and began to reorganize him. The battle was lost unless I managed to kill Champion Michael. If he died, then it was as good as won.
I concentrated my mental summons off to one side of his route inside a building that wasn’t directly accessible from the street he was traveling on. If the people in the plaza pushed outwards right now I would be in trouble, but they had long fallen into a passive position, waiting to be rescued.
I piled in my forces I had been building up for the second round of fighting in the plaza that I had planned for tomorrow morning. They would be better spent trying to kill Champion Michael. He was rushing for the plaza and his path was easy to predict. I was surprised he didn’t try to take a separate route. Was he truly that confident in defeating me?
He entered the target area. All the mental attacks struck him at once. He stumbled and dropped his weapons. I rushed my summons, not getting my hopes up. He leapt into the air and over my summons. He also unleashed a torrent of acid, over 30 of my summons were killed from that attack.
I was right to consider him the only real threat this place had. I began recalling my forces and moved into position for my additional traps. It would take more than weak monsters to kill Champion Michael. That was no problem. I had a lot more planned.
Michael was organizing something with other people from what I could tell. The man from before came over to him after a couple of minutes and I recognized the people Michael had with him. He was assembling a strike force to take me out.
He rushed out through the summoned ants towards the West. A cart had returned with two people from that direction. I only had a few slimes just to keep track of movement in the tunnel, and they had killed them.
Well, I was at the limit of the tethers. No way was I ever going to let Champion Michael get close to me again. That wound in my shoulder had been far too close. My path to godhood wasn’t going to end here, no matter what. Win or lose, I would still be alive.
I saw a person making hand signs and then a glow. I cut the tether to my hybrids in the path of the attack. I still winced at the brightness. A burning line had been carved into the ground and into the right flank of my formation, decimating the mental attack group on that side.
No matter, the battle formation was more to keep other people from interfering with what I had planned. No deus ex machina for you Michael. You are going to die here today and cement my victory. He rushed forward.
Impressive like the brute he was to dodge and cleave his way right through my army. The power of a high Body stat was truly impressive. He completely punched through and the people behind him engaged my forces.
Ah, he was staring right at the mimic I had prepped. I grinned back at him as I pulled back my summoner ants. He launched a ball of acid without advancing, a summoner ant swooped in and took the attack. It collapsed between us in a pool of acid as the staring contest continued.
He might not believe it is me. “Well, I suppose I won’t be able to trap you that easily again,” I had my mimic say. He still wasn’t advancing. Well, no matter. I triggered the combination hybrid that had been buried out here. Vines burst forth from the ground.
“My special level 3 hybrids. Took forever to get the combination just right. Funny thing Champion Michael. I don’t need to kill you. I just need to kill everyone else, and you won’t have the strength to fight me alone.” People were dying in the field behind him, but he just stared at my special hybrid monster.
“What is even better is combining monsters. It took a long time get right. But meet my finest creation. The level 3 hybrid Vine Summoner of Endless Strangulation.” I frowned as his companion interfered as well as other people who had broken through. My army was collapsing, but unlike people they would fight to the death. Still, this wasn’t even the real trap. I knew he would be expecting a trap. This was just to drain his energy, which unfortunately failed due to the interference.
“Consider this a taste of what is to come!” Champion Michael shouted. He then melted my mimic’s head.