The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

Jaime

We were marching West to reestablish contact with the Forbidden City. Apparently, communication had been cut. At least that was what the Captain said. Purgatory had been attacked and there were incidents cropping up all over the Empire. It made me wonder what sort of monster was causing all these problems now.

If I hadn't been in Purgatory when the super monster attacked, I would have been dead along with everyone else. There was a huge sense of nervousness throughout the squad. But we followed orders. There was nothing else to do.

"I have lost contact," the summoning scout said to the Captain and I overheard. That was not good. In fact that was very bad.

"Move into second formation," the Captain called out and we all grouped closer togeather and brought up our shields, while staring around at the mistlands. The summoner and our skill user were in the middle of our group along with the Captain. There were twenty of us, hopefully that would be enough.

The Captain was combat level 4 supposedly. That was the requirement for the position and he was a veteran of the war against the Dragon Empire. He even claimed he had met Emperor Michael in person one time.

"We need eyes out there, get more summons out," the Captain told our summoner.

"Working on it," he called back. Various summoned creatures were being deployed into the air around us and moving to cover our front and rear. They didn't enter the mistlands but held right outside of it.

"Ahead of us Captain, on the road, there is something approaching," one of my squad mates called out.

"Hold position," the Captain said and stepped out of the formation. That was why we followed him, he would put himself on the front line first just like the Emperor. We just had to believe and everything would work out alright.

"Ahhhhhh!" The shouting got closer and we saw a ragged looking man running towards us down the road.

"Halt or be attacked!" the Captain shouted out. The crazed man kept running and screaming towards us. I felt my heart begin to beat faster in nervousness.

"Fire Shot," the Captain used his skill and the crazed man collapsed to the road, burning away. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Around us!" our skill user called out and we all started looking at the mist. Three flying monsters burst down at us from above, but our formation held as the monsters slammed into our shields. I stumbled slightly but managed to hang on.

That was when there was an explosion, as the monster burst apart in blinding white light. I felt a pain from my left arm, my shield arm. When I opened my eyes, there was nothing but a stub left. Blood squirted out. My blood.

"Ahhhh!" This time it was me screaming. In pain. In fear. It was hard to tell. There was shouting as more skills were used but all I could do was look at my stub. I had lost my arm. I needed to find it. Where did my arm go?

General Ali

"Sir, last report indicates mass unrest across the Empire," the soldier reported in. I looked at the written note that was handed over to me. "There is an order to fortify."

"No recall order?" I muttered while looking at the stamped order from Supreme Governor Clarissa. What was she thinking? It was hard to say. A vast majority of soldiers and grinders had been lost in the sphere's attack. I had seen the numbers and projections.

It didn't help that a lot of people had also come to my half of the Systemic Lands out here in the West, to seek a new life, or had been assigned to this military base of a city. Things were going fairly well. Trade could be better since we weren't getting any shipments of enchanted items or food supplies, but I was able to keep the soldiers paid from the income from the surrounding zones.

I had a thousand people under my command and around ten thousand grinders out here. I looked out my office window as the small airship departed. It hadn't even waited for any kind of reply or support. All the other airships had been recalled as well. We were cut off from the East. Whatever was happening back home, was clearly a disaster.

It was no exaggeration to say that I had the largest military force under my command. I wouldn't claim it was the strongest, since there was Emperor Michael and the Holy Kingdom to the West, but I would give us a fighting chance of coming in at number two. It made it all the more concerning that we weren't pulling back, but questioning orders was a good way to get melted.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Clarissa spoke with Michael's authority, questioning that was a good way to wind up dead. So the real question was if my city was going to be used as a fall back point which was originally planned when the sphere was wiping people out, or if there was something else going on.

I ordered for my officers to come to a general staff meeting. I would update them on the situation and make sure things were stabilized. Four hours later everyone showed up to the conference room. I had been thinking about the situation and it would be better to be proactive. I needed to get an airship under my direct control to head back and get information instead of just waiting around.

It would be expensive, but we should be able to trade for one from the Holy Kingdom. We would need to look at the budget again, but it was stabilized and the lack of taxes helped quite a bit. I watched as my officers gathered in the conference room and considered how I would handle terrorism. That wasn't an easy question.

"Who are you?" I quickly stood up as a dark cloaked figure entered in behind my officers. I drew my sword as the figure turned towards me. "Guards!" I shouted out.

"Guards! Guards!" the figure shouted back in a high pitched voice mockingly. My officers collapsed to the ground. I noticed summoning tethers coming from the back of their heads. Something similar to what the Ritualist had done in the past. I had read the reports and seen the testing, but my officers should have had too many stats to be impacted by such a technique.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I demanded.

"It is too late for me. Exsanguination!" The figure rasped out. I used a skill to counter their skill, not sure what it was. But I had a strong defensive skill.

"Null Barrier!" My skill was far weaker than my opponents which cleaved through it. I was too late to dodge. My right arm began bleeding heavily. I stumbled backwards. I used my upgraded skill Radiant Beam, hitting the figure at near point blank range. They were forced back but I didn't wait to see if I had killed them. I turned and leapt out the window behind me.

I plummeted three stories, landing on the plaza, blood dripping down my arm. Radiant Beam. I fired again at the window I had just leapt out of, hitting the cloaked figure once more. "Guards! To arms! Attack!" I shouted. I looked around but there was no one.

The figure leapt out of the window and landed on the ground behind me. I spun around. "How!?" How had everyone nearby been taken out. I noticed craters and other evidence of fighting all around. How were there no alerts or noise?

I felt despair grip my heart. After everything, all the battles, all the hardships, it was going to end like this. I felt regret, frustration, and anger all at once. Looking at my executioner they wouldn't even reveal themselves. What did they even have to fear?

"Numbers are pointless in the face of absolute strength. Exsanguination." I kicked off the ground, dodging the skill. I had a high number of stats. I wasn't some mewling sheep waiting to be slaughtered. I had gone up against the armies of the Dragon Empire. I had fought people to the death before. I was not just going to stand around and die. If this person wanted to kill me, then I would make them work for it.

"Protect the General!" I heard a shout and narrowed my eyes. I just saw summoned monsters approaching me. I was no summoner, but my stats were high enough and I had enough training to work out which direction the tethers were going. Radiant Beam. I targeted the monsters which burst into dust.

I then made my way towards the pillars in the center of the plaza. I slammed my good hand and head down on one, quickly purchasing a regeneration and healing myself. I barely slowed down and kept retreating away from the figure chasing me. I crossed the plaza and reached the buildings at the far side.

Landing on top of a building, the cloaked figure landed right behind me. "You can't escape," the figure rasped out loudly. I sent a Radiant Beam in their direction. They dodged and kept up the pursuit, as I made for the wall. Hopefully there were soldiers there who could support me. Even just distracting this enemy would be a huge advantage in terms of outlasting them.

I had no idea how I was going to get away. Our stats were about even, but I was at a disadvantage with their overpowered skill in close combat. Well if the figure wanted to chase me, then he was welcome to chase me. I wasn't just going to lay down for him.

Time to try and force an outcome. I heard a lot about the chase of Emperor Michael by the Divine Empress from the man himself. I leapt across a wide open street that created a gap between buildings and then kept going while glancing behind me. The cloaked figure leapt as well and I spun about.

Radiant Beam. Radiant Beam. Radiant Beam. I hammered the figure multiple times with my skill while they were unable to dodge properly mid-air. Their cloaked was partially burnt away but it was hard to tell how much damage I had actually done.

"Despair Wires!" Another unknown skill!

"Air Burst." One nice thing about being at the top of Purgatory's military hierarchy was making sure I had decent skills. I zipped to the side as I saw wire energy constructs form about where I had been standing and twist closed. Whatever that skill was, being hit by anything was a bad idea.

The fact that this foe missed, meant that I had a serious chance of pushing them back or even winning. Radiant Beam. I unleashed several more beam attacks and they stumbled backwards as I rushed towards them.

"Hah!" I landed a massive punch on the center of their chest, leveraging my full Body stat. They went flying off the roof of the building while I was breathing heavily. I had felt their bones cave inwards, that was a crippling blow. I had won. I let out a sigh of relief right before my entire view went spinning. The last sight I saw was my headless body losing a tremendous amounts of blood from the neck area and falling to the ground. How?! I didn't even get a warning form danger sense. That was unfair.