The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

Carlos

My plan had worked. Damn, that Michael guy scared me shitless. Always grinning like that. Like the Joker from Batman. Man had a screw or two loose.

Still, he didn't cause waves for me. He actually smoothed a lot of things over. It was amazing how my men quickly shut up when he was brought up. My very own Sicario. Still, I had no illusion that if I pushed him, he would cut off my head and put someone else in my place. It had been a huge risk making it a death match, but Hamid had to go.

It was like riding a bull: dangerous but very exciting. As I walked back to my place after the fight, I thought about how I could beat him. If I had numbers, I would attack him from all sides. But if he got free, it would be a bloodbath. The man would camp outside the city and sneak in from another gate. He wasn't the kind of person to forgive or forget.

No one would want to face him head on, either. It was even worse after this fight. I had been hoping for a wound, something, but he was like a terminator. Just crazier.

I just ran numbers back home as a bookie. It was a decent gig as long as I passed up my cut to the boss. Now I was the boss, and I knew why the man drank all the time and did lines. It was exhausting. I wanted to kill half these idiots, but that would mean nothing would get done and the smart ones would get dangerous ideas. If I killed the smart ones, I would be left with the idiots.

Hamid had been the Captain handling the brothels. A lucrative position, but now I needed to replace him. I had it worked out, but the smart people were the most dangerous. Well, maybe not the most dangerous, as I thought of the winner of the death match.

"Take the chest and put it in my room." My men obeyed. I would need to get them more upgrades. Stupid things were expensive and there was so much to buy. Then there was that store upgrade we needed.

Stupid Sicario didn't contribute, but he was tricky smart like that. Focusing on his personal strength. Well, time to take an afternoon nap, and then I would have to handle disputes. Perhaps there should be more death matches to keep things lively?

No. I wouldn't force the issue, but if people asked, I wouldn't say no. Also, if it was to the death, there would be no match fixing. I wasn't going to be able to create such odds like there was today. That also meant we needed more wood carvers for new betting tokens. Which meant more salary to pay, which meant fewer points to buy stuff with.

More shit to deal with. Still, I was the Boss.

Evaline

"You were saying?" I asked Walker. He let out a small sigh.

"You were right. The man is a beast. Just whacking on the shield and using brute force."

"If it is stupid, and it works, it isn't stupid," I replied.

"Just…troubling." They had watched the match from the second floor of one building overlooking the plaza.

"Well, you were asking about him and you got a show. Still, I need a little something to keep my silence." Walker pulled out 5 crystals and handed them over. I took them, but it was disappointing how poor everyone was compared to Michael.

"Anything more on the man?" Walker asked.

"No idea where he sleeps. He is incredibly careful. Even then, he has odd hours. Often moving around at night and his senses are sharp."

"What's your best guess about his upgrades?" I thought about the question for a moment before answering.

"My best guess costs 5 more crystals." Walker hesitated but forked them over. I smiled at that. The man was a gold mine in more ways than one. As one of the few people who talked to him, they considered me an expert source.

"At least 50. Probably around 80 to 90, if I had to guess." Walker let out a long hiss at that.

"That is…quite a lot. You sure about that?"

"Probably low balling it, if anything. The man might tip large, but he rakes the crystals in hand over fist. In a day, he probably earns over 200 at least. What are you earning? About 200 with your entire group?" That would be split up four ways, so only 50 each per day and then there were the taxes. It was safer but slower.

"The man goes out alone, but he had a helper this time. Anything on that? I know. Pay for information." He handed over 5 more crystals without me having to tell him.

"He needs someone to help pick up his crystals and carry them for him since he collects so many."

"You have to be shitting me," Walker cursed.

"No joke. That is the reason he wants a helper." Walker rubbed his face, and I heard him mutter something that sounded like, 'Jesus help me.'

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"The death match thing surprised him, I could tell, but he went with it and didn't argue with Carlos afterwards. There is some real trust there, or something at least. Consider that a bonus." I added this, just so he knew the challenge of going after Michael.

"After that fight, Carlos isn't going anywhere. The only way to get to him is to get rid of Michael."

"Not going to call him Sicario?"

"That is a stupid nickname."

"It means assassin in Spanish," I explained.

"Stupid, the man should be called Brute. Alright, it has been a pleasure Evaline."

"You know where to find me if you want information, Walker." I just smiled as he left. My guard stepped in the room. I had finally managed to get Carl working for me. It had taken some talking, but he had come on board.

"The Gasp is here from Death's Hand," Carl said. Very pretentious, but he was an important customer.

"Send him up." I let out a sigh of contentment as I sipped some water and sat in my chair looking out at the plaza. Time to squeeze some more people who wanted more information on the Sicario while he was fresh in their minds.

Walker

"How did the meeting with Evaline go?" I just looked at my teammate and shook my head.

"Poorly. We are far behind. Very far behind. There is no way we can catch up," I explained.

"Even with the cost progression of the upgrades?"

"Even with that, he gets far more crystals a day than we do. Apparently, he hired someone just to pick up his crystals for him since he collects so many." My teammates chuckled at that.

"Wait, you aren't joking?" They quickly shut up at that question.

"No, I am not joking. The talk about him being a killing machine and the entire front line are no joke. Him hiring someone to pick up crystals is not a joke either," I said with a sigh.

"Should we try the dungeon then?"

"You saw what happened to the Sword Artists. No one came out and they were our biggest competitors, not counting him. No, we need to move to the brown slime area right away." I let out a sigh. "What is even worse is that he is hunting monsters this afternoon as we speak."

"What? He isn't going to the casino? He wasted an entire afternoon there and hundreds of crystals," my teammate exclaimed. I had been hoping for a repeat as well, but he was tricky. He made it look like he was a big spender, but he was tight-fisted if his income was to be believed. He was also doing something all the time, and rarely waited on anyone. Other people waited on him.

"That was just small vacation for him, so he doesn't plan to repeat it often. We need to increase our speed," I said.

"You know that risks our formation. Also, we don't have the stamina. Better to grind out the monsters the whole day than risk rushing things." I knew that, but it was still frustrating. I hesitated, thinking I could go hunt by myself. But I shook my head. It was too risky; one mistake and it was all over. Michael would die eventually. We just had to stay ahead of everyone else and the problem would take care of itself.

I grit my teeth at the stupid tax. None of Carlos' men would take a bribe from us and the pillars were guarded at all times. That just put us behind further. This place offered power, and I was going to seize it. I wasn't going to be anyone's lapdog. I just needed to find another way to break apart the Carlos and Michael duo.

"Well, we can try to ambush him. We know what gate he is using. If all four of us attack at once, he will go down and we get all his crystals," my teammate suggested.

I thought about that. The idea had possibilities.

Addison, who had been listening in, spoke up for the first time. "With two people keeping him occupied from the front, I could shoot him from behind."

She was a good shot with her bow. I weighed the risks and benefits.

An assassination like this was tricky. With the team I had, we had a good chance of taking him down. Still, he wasn't going after us. Carlos used him more as a boogieman and for large fights. But if he went down, we could get out of the tax.

We could catch him with a pack full of crystals, which would be a nice boost. I thought over his moves from the earlier fight. I could hold him off, especially if another person was covering for me. Still, he was no joke.

"This place would shatter." I looked up at my last teammate. Judson spoke little, but since he was chiming in, he probably felt strongly about the issue. "Things were bad before Carlos took over. There was cannibalism and everyone killed each other." That was what the rumors said, but I wasn't so sure.

"If his main man is killed and Carlos goes, then everyone will fight for the scraps. It will be a bloodbath," Judson explained.

"But we would be on top," I countered.

"On top of rubble. The man regularly goes out into new areas and explores. If we get rid of him, we would be doing that," Addison said. That was a risk, but I felt it was something we could handle.

"Meh. Either way it is your decision. I am good, either way," my last teammate said. This was our last chance to really take the man out. If he kept up his pace, we would be left behind with no chance to catch up.

I let out a long sigh. Second best and oppressed. I looked up at the gray ceiling. Was that my lot in life? "We won't assassinate him, but we are getting up early tomorrow. We aren't letting anyone else get ahead of us. Got that?"

My team all gave an affirmative. That was why I said no in the end. If we fought there was a good chance at least one of us would die. Having a solid team was more important anyway. That man would die all alone.

Alex

I was going to die. I was so going to die.

I kept up with my new employer, not daring to fall behind after he skewered a man's head like it was nothing. Just boom, blood and brains everywhere. That could be me.

Don't panic. I could do this. Just had to keep up and pick up crystals. It couldn't be that hard. I would stay right behind the killing machine in the form of a man.

He came to a stop at the gate. No one else was around. "They are attracted to noise. I am going to push hard. If you fall behind you will die. You better get every crystal that drops."

"Yes!" I couldn't help my voice from squeaking a bit. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"If you absolutely can't keep up, say something. But each break you take, cuts your pay by 5 crystals. So, it is up to you. If you take over four breaks… That is when you owe me money."

"That's…" I trailed off.

"Why do you think I was looking to hire someone? If I wanted to chat, I would go to the casino. Also, if you have energy to talk, you have energy to move. Let's go." I wanted to cry. This was completely unfair. But when you were the crazy killer of the local gang leader, you got to make your own rules.

He set off at a light jog banging his sword on his shield. I stayed a few steps behind him. He quickly changed directions, and something jumped at him. He blocked the monster and then stabbed it. It was scary how smooth the motion was. It was similar to how he killed that man back in the plaza.

"Taking a break already?" he asked. I quickly rushed forward and picked up the crystal. He just shook his head and rushed away, banging his shield.

I quickly chased after him.

I could do this. Just don't die. Just don't die, I kept repeating to myself.