300,000 (+0); Mind-60,000 (+0); Spirit-222,000 (+12,000x3); Perception-60,000 (+0); Aura-60,000 (0); Regeneration-60,000 (+0); Endurance-60,000 (+0); Absorption-60,000 (+0); Sense-60,000 (+0); Channel-60,000 (+0) for a total of 334,000 total stat upgrades, or 1,002,000 after my meta-point.
I had purchased my stat points the day before we showed up in New Delhi, flying way out of the way to the West. There was another errand I needed to run and an important conversation I had with one of the few sane people I had met in the Systemic Lands.
While I might not have an Empire anymore, my promise of a favor, or a billion points, was more than enough to buy a lot of good will and some extra hands. The favor was far more valuable than a billion points, but I offered one or the other, and they took the favor.
Dylan had been surprised by my surprise decision, but it was something I had been considering. Using the power of friendship to triumph over Qi Ji Long, the boy with no friends. That was the real trick. I only got tricky, when I felt like I had a winning move.
All the confrontations with Qi Ji Long revealed a critical weakness in his combat style. While I had no doubt he had long range control and could implant suggestions, there was a limit to his control at a distance. For what other reason had he attacked the Crystal Vortex and exposed himself? That piece of key information was incredibly valuable.
And if he took the bait, which I was fairly confident he would after getting a read on his personality, then he would have no chance of escape. No one would be escaping this city in fact or the entire zone. I wasn’t taking any chances or doing half measures. If I was going to owe a favor, then I was going to get its full value.
“Well, let’s get unloading,” I told Dylan as the air boat set down in the plaza. I was scanning the area and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But I knew that if Qi Ji Long was going to act he would act before I started cashing in points with the hope that he would reclaim them all.
“Alright, Michael,” Dylan said nervously. He knew the plan. His job was to try and save the air boat, which would fail, and then himself. I leapt off and he passed down a chest.
I glanced up and saw a horde of monsters flying down towards me. Level 4 monsters, so nothing that dangerous. I unleashed Void Beams and Radiant Beams
over and over again, easily wiping out the monsters flying down. While I didn’t have the multi-cast for those two skills, I did have gestureless and silent. This allowed me to spam them relentlessly with my energy reserves.They had been great choices so I had long range attacks. “From the sides!” Dylan called out as more monsters rushed out. Oh, now I recognized them. They were summoned monsters, so Qi Ji Long had gathered some summoner type monsters and was trying to spam me.
“Take the chest, and escape,” I will deal with this,” I replied. Dylan took the chest back onto the air boat as I zipped around. Yes, commit more. Unleash everything you have. Dylan took off and a long-range beam attack cut through the air boat. It lost its lift and then crashed on top of one of the nearby buildings.
Dylan quickly ran off, as he set off the bombs made from level 6 crafting crystals. The explosion leveled the building the air boat had crashed on and would hide the fact there were no crystals on board. “NOOO!” I yelled in pretend rage. I hoped I was selling it. I knew I was a terrible actor, but I didn’t think Qi Ji Long would realize the trap that was already in motion.
Air Burst. I moved from the plaza to the ruins of the air boat, while constantly taking out monsters swarming towards me. Dylan had run off, but I kept an eye on him. Qi Ji Long did not divert anyone to go after him. I was ready to use him as bait, but better he get out of the way of this final battle if possible.
Now the hard part for me was about to happen. I needed to clip Qi Ji Long’s wings. I hadn’t just been singing and grinding while I had been gathering points. I had been thinking constantly how to catch and end his threat once and for all. The moves he would make, the moves I would make, the counter plays, and everything else that would go into this conflict.
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I brought up a hand above my head and released a blinding amount of light energy. In that moment, I carefully observed how all the monsters moved. I couldn’t pick up anything, a shame. I was hoping to locate Qi Ji Long myself using this tactic.
I continued to fight the ongoing swarm of low-level monsters. Taking my time to line up shots with my beam attacks to take out several every single use of one of those skills. I also got into melee, making sure to manage how many monsters I was fighting at once, so I didn’t get dogpiles.
Five minutes, then ten minutes. Qi Ji Long had taken the bait. I did move about and took out the summoner monsters, but it was slow going. The entire city was saturated with them. The occasional stronger flying monster came into play as well.
Someone really was angry about the letter I had sent them. The rage was real. I didn’t think he would fall for that, but apparently it was rage inducing enough to work. Now the only thing to do was wait, and Qi Ji Long would be put into checkmate.
It was obvious where he was hiding, but not how. He somehow had a way to travel by airship and not have flying monsters attack him. The other little bit of information I worked out once he showed up to attack the Crystal Vortex. That meant he thought he was safe, way up in the sky behind one of the clouds.
That kind of position would appeal to him as well. Looking down on me, like I was trapped. Treating this entire battle like some kind of real time strategy game. Unlike a strategy game, this was more like chess. You had to protect yourself, the king.
The hardest part was drawing him into battle, which I had accomplished. He would constantly harry me now with the goal of killing me. If I did manage to kill off all his summoner monsters, then he might retreat to try again or do a different plan. This meant I had to succeed the first time he did a move like this.
I added in more melee attacks, making it appear I was concerned about energy management. He knew that was the best way to defeat me. Once I ran out of energy for skills, I would be vulnerable. If I had to fight me, I would use a similar attrition tactic as well.
The second hard part was actually targeting his physical location. The expense of this was going to be horrendous. But I would willingly pay 20 billion points to kill Qi Ji Long. If it succeeded, I would pay my helper that much. Unlike the Divine Empress or all the other enemies I had faced, I wasn’t above asking for help.
That was the last piece of information I needed. Qi Ji Long did not have anyone to come to his aid. There would be no escape. The Sword had been sent away recently and shouldn’t interfere with how long the times in between new wielders was. Jacob had been killed as well. My mother was no longer in danger.
The only problem was the massive expense of what was about to happen, both in terms of points and human lives. But to kill Qi Ji Long, I would kill a thousand people to kill him without hesitation. Owing a large favor was nothing in comparison.
While I didn’t want to owe a favor, I couldn’t make my request a threat. The risk of betrayal would then become a possibility. And Qi Ji Long pissed me off enough, that I was fine bowing my head, and asking for help. To win, nothing was sacred, not even my pride as the strongest person in the Systemic Lands.
The battle reached the hour mark and was still ongoing. I had used up two thirds of my energy and was already getting physically tired. He really had wasted all his time preparing this trap to take me out. It was amusing that he was spending so much effort, but it was pointless.
I let myself take a couple of hits and bleed a bit. This was the hardest part to sell, but I needed his full attention on the battle and not scanning the area around him as the net closed in. My help was quite far out since they were building up speed. Once Qi Ji Long was located, his airship would be destroyed, and he would be forced onto the ground.
From there it was a matter of killing everyone while I used the Regional Map building I was prepared to quickly purchase to locate him. The moment the trap occurred, I would disable the astrolabe, so the building’s function wasn’t disrupted. While he might try to hide or run, he wasn’t faster than me.
It was strange. To think that I would overcome him with the power of friendship. It made me want to laugh, as I took another blow, and I did just that to make it seem like I was losing my mind.
“Qi Ji Long you coward. Come out and fight!” I shouted as I punched another weak monster to death. There was no reply through any of the monsters, which was fine. He might be too focused or it might reveal his position. It didn’t matter as long as he kept up the attacks on me. Give in to your hatred, I am the only thing that matters. Don’t pay attention to other things.
The monsters began to pick up in intensity. It was time for the trap to be sprung. An hour and a half after my arrival, the sky and the city would be cleared of everyone except Dylan who would surrender to the forces arriving.
There was no escape no Qi Ji Long. You were dead. If you had lived out your life quietly, then it wouldn’t have come to this.