The Systemic Lands (Dark Progressive LITRPG)

"Sir, airship on our six," a soldier rushed onto the bridge and reported.

"Helm, spin us around, all hands battle stations, hold fire," Captain Francis ordered. My heartbeat quickened. Someone was chasing me. It was getting dark as the light source was setting behind the horizon. We had been heading West, and were over the void between Esperanza and New Beijing.

"Battle stations! Battle stations! Hold fire!" the cry quickly echoed throughout the airship. I spotted the airboat through the front viewport as we swung around. My eyebrows rose slightly. That wasn't a design I had seen anywhere else. There were several cloaked figures standing on the deck, but I couldn't make out their faces or energy signatures.

"Captain, maintain speed and heading, I am going to greet our guests," I replied while rolling my neck and shaking my hands to limber up for the upcoming fight. I watched as the airboat was closing in.

"We will be over the void still once they reach us," he replied.

"Indeed, but what is far more interesting is that there are no flying monsters after them." I looked over at the biological item that was keeping them away from us. "That is unique." I pondered over the situation as the enemy airship was slowly closing in on us. We could outrun them, but I wasn't one to run away from a fight in front of me.

We weren't going that fast, and I could catch up with the Crystal Vortex if I leapt off. But I was far more concerned about the lack of flying monsters harassing the enemy airboat at the moment. "Michelle," I turned towards her.

"I am ready to support. But it will eat into my reserves," she said and I hesitated. Then I shook my head.

"Then don't worry about it. I will shield the airship." They were about a mile behind us and I still didn't recognize them. "I am going on the top deck to give them a greeting. Keep it steady," I ordered Captain Francis.

"Yes sir!" he replied as I left the bridge. The kitchen and dining area had four medics standing by. They saluted as I made my way through and up to the flight deck. I went to the front of the airship, where the cannons were manned.

I brought up both hands. Void Beam. Radiant Beam. The attacks headed towards the enemy. One of the figures brought up their hands and a golden shield formed in front of the airship, it blocked my annihilation attack. My frown deepened. Was this a cult of the Avatar or something? A golden color was the System's color for its all-powerful abilities.

"Single volley from the cannons," I told the gunners.

"Yes Emperor!" they said and fired. The attacks were blocked. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly afraid of the unknown.

"I am going to engage. If you have a clean shot on that airboat, take it. We can't allow whoever is over there to reach the Crystal Vortex. Watch your aim," I ordered. They gave me an affirmative, but I was focused on the enemy.

They were closing in. I didn't see my mother, so this was just an attempt at interception. Not at some bigger scheme. I lightly kicked off the deck of the airship, launching myself into the air. There were five cloaked figures on the enemy airboat.

Air Burst. I went flying through the sky. I aimed to head above them and then attack from behind. A thin golden beam lanced out from one of the figures raised hands. Air Burst. I barely managed to dodge. I noted that the attack quickly dissipated. Much shorter range than my beam attacks or the cannons.

I gained elevation. Their entire airboat began to rotate to remain pointed at me as more golden beam attacks came in my direction. Once I crossed the forty five degree mark, the airboat was still spinning. That shouldn't be possible. Also the figures were standing on the deck without bracing themselves. Their hoods still in place.

Two cannon beams were fired from the Crystal Vortex. They struck the hull of the airboat, blowing out large chunks, and almost cutting it in half. I fired beam attacks as well but they were blocked by a golden shield.

Air Burst. I maneuvered to return myself towards the Crystal Vortex as more cannon fire lanced out and hit the disintegrating airboat. The cloaked black figures leapt off and flew through the air. Okay, that was cheating. Well two of them flew the remaining three soared through the air a bit, before they began to plummet.

Radiant Beam. Void Beam. Both beam attacks hit the target in the same spot. There was an annihilation explosion. Then the cloaked figure exploded massively! Air Burst. I barely escaped the massive explosion of fire and energy. The other cloaked figure came soaring out of the smoke from the explosion at me, and their cloak was on fire.

It wasn't a person under those robes, but some kind of mechanical monster. No eyes, mouth, or anything other major feature recognizable on the face. There were several tiny symbols etched onto the metal that had a slight golden glow to them. It brought up its hand which quickly began to move in impossible configurations as some of its fingers bent backwards.

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A large amount of energy began to gather. Acid Shot. Force Shot. I pushed 10,000 energy into both skills as I kept using Air Burst. The massive explosion engulfed the mechanical being as I sped away. My explosion was bigger and was directed away from me, which saved me from being hit by it exploding like the last one.

Two golden beams lanced up from below, barely missing me. Even while dodging away, I kept up my evasive maneuvers. I looked at the falling figures and debris as I zipped back towards the Crystal Vortex. That had been slightly dangerous, but it clearly wasn't enough. I would put those golems at combat level 6, maybe a very low 7.

They were dangerous, but not life threatening to me. I landed back on the open door to the bridge, since the other one had an airboat there. I pulled myself inside the Crystal Vortex and closed the door behind me. I was still processing what just happened as everyone on the bridge glanced in my direction.

"Any other pursuit?" I asked.

"That is it for now. No new reports have come in from any of the soldiers," Captain Francis replied. I nodded at this.

"What were they?" Michelle asked. That was a damn good question.

"Monsters, or enchanted weapons," I replied with a frown as I sat down on my chair. I glanced at the Avatar who was gagged and tied up on the other side of the bridge. I let out a long sigh. "Also, that airship was of an unknown design. Which means there is some city that made an airship that wasn't reported." It was unfortunate that the information couldn't be backtracked on anymore. That would have been a possible avenue of investigation.

This entire situation just escalated several levels in my mind. An unknown airship. Non-human constructs or monsters that used golden energy. And the ability to locate the Crystal Vortex while in flight. All of this indicated that the threat against me was beyond what I had imagined.

At best I had thought it was a clever terrorist who had lucked into a meta-point. Everything up until right now was something I could have accomplished myself. But that golden energy, was unmistakable. Other people might not recognize it, but I did without question.

The density was less than what I had seen in the past, but it was still impressive. It was System energy. I felt my head begin to ache at the mess that had quickly appeared since I couldn't tell which fact was the most concerning.

That was when I realized that the attack failed, but they still attacked anyways. Why would they do that? In games and movies, villainous idiots might send their forces one by one slowly escalating in strength, but that made no sense in reality. Having the most powerful alpha strike possible was the singular best option in regards to conflict. The element of surprise could not be underestimated.

Now it had been wasted in this weak attack. That really confused me. Up until this point I could paint my enemy with the brush of logic, but this attack failed. Unless I was so strong that it just had no chance? While I had a high opinion of myself, to just casually blast through such an attack made no sense.

I couldn't tell if they were monsters or something else since they had exploded when killed. The remainder had fallen into the void. I hated puzzles and enemies who didn't make sense. "Were we slowed down?" I turned to ask Captain Francis.

"No. We are still on the same heading, but our velocity isn't that high," he replied. I nodded slowly at that, as I tried to think from my opponent's perspective. They began an escalating series of terrorist actions. This led to Jacob, the former Master Fleshcrafter switching sides and capturing my mother who had appeared in Purgatory.

Terrorism and attacks escalated, cutting Purgatory off over a period of several days, including the destruction of New Kochi on the western half of the Systemic Lands. No move was made on Purgatory itself, me, or Clarissa with me present. A letter arrived right before I left, which I decided to postpone reading.

Now an airship with humanoid constructs using golden system energy attacked with an unknown airship design. That last bit didn't match up with everything else. I felt like I was playing checkers, but then someone explained that the game was actually chess mid-game. I had upended the board by leaving and now my opponent had upended the board back at me.

"Do you want me to speed up or change course?" Captain Francis asked me. I slowly turned my head to focus on him. I scanned him intently for any kind of energy or oddity about him. I didn't see anything.

"Why are you asking that?" I slowly asked Captain Francis while staring intently at him.

"If we are being tracked, we could randomize our path," he replied. I didn't like that answer. It reeked of idiocy and foolishness.

"Michelle, do you sense or see anything off about Captain Francis here," I asked here while keeping my gaze locked on him.

"No? Is there something wrong?" she asked while he had frozen.

"I am not sure. That question about changing our heading, seems like a very idiotic question to ask. Captain Francis, can you tell me why it is idiotic?" I asked him. He frowned heavily.

"We don't know their method of tracking and they found us far from Purgatory," he slowly replied. "Changing course will just make us easier to intercept. But that is why I suggested speeding up as well. I apologize if I was out of line," he replied. I slowly shook my head.

"I am on edge. We will not change our course and speed. It has already been decided. The attack was weak enough, that I suspect it is meant to alter our actions or have me respond in some way. That is why I won't respond," I explained.

"How does that make sense?" Michelle asked while frowning. They didn't see it. This battle had elevated into another level of strategy. The terrorism and Clarissa's response could be seen as the standard base level strategy. My departure and delay of reading the letter, could be seen as going one rung up the strategy latter to gain an advantage on my opponent.

They countered and went up another rung by this attack, creating more unknown variables I was forced to deal with, since I didn't consider it a serious attempt on my life. While most other people would react and that would be the standard reaction, I was forcing myself to stick to my predetermined decisions. It was the safe choice and ran directly counter to my opponent's scheme of making me react.

The best option would have been to send some kind of response back through a proxy like I did, but there was a massive information asymmetry, which put me at a huge disadvantage. This battle had been won, but I was losing the war.

That thought brought me up short. Was it possible to make the optimal decision in each circumstance and still lose? At least optimal in terms of my safety while trying to draw out information. If they realized those were my goals, my actions could be predicted.

Perhaps I needed to make a sub-optimal move in order to gain information more quickly?