The Systemic Lands

Chapter 418: 42nd Floor – The Start Of The Last Loop

Chapter 418: 42nd Floor – The Start Of The Last Loop

Six. There were six level 5 monsters and forty-eight level 4 monsters chasing me about the floor. I had taken to disabling the level 4 monsters in the Southeast corner of the room, slowly increasing their numbers.

I had gotten a very good understanding of how much damage level 4 cubic golems could take before dusting. The trick was to hit them at a diagonal, or edge, about a third of the way up their side with a single Acid Shot.

They couldn’t launch a panel to defend themselves at that angle and the resulting damage was severe enough to cripple them for over an hour. Anymore and they would dust unfortunately. Still, that was more than enough to slowly build up a cubic golem memorial.

After four level 5 cubic golems, any more really didn’t do much, since they got in the way of one another. It was honestly kind of funny, how there were too many monsters. At least there had not been a combination of bosses from the various floors. Now that would have been a nightmare to deal with.

Also the increased number of spawners, meant I was able to reach a boss spawner just as the red light wall dropped allowing me to alpha strike it and take it out. Honestly my biggest regret now, was that a tower would be impossible as a grinding location. Since a person had to move through it, I couldn’t just camp the spawners and get endless point crystals.

I was still picking up the level 5 point crystals, but that was it. It was honestly kind of sad how many level 4 point crystals I was leaving behind. It would also be nice to confirm their value once I got out. My personal guess was 25,200 points each since that was 7 times 3,600 points.

Then level 6 crystals should give 6 times 25,200 points which would be 151,200 points. Once I fixed up my skills and could take out a level 5 monster with minimal energy, I could really grind up quite a number of points.

I could easily see myself earning over 5,000,000 point per day if I focused on grinding up points. But compared to combat experience, that was honestly a small amount and of little value to me personally. Better to focus on nation building instead of grinding once I got out of here, since that was where the real value lay.

Crippling the last level 4 monster, I moved in, dodging the barrage of bullets unleashed at me. The monsters needed better tracking. Acid Shot. Acid Shot x5. I aimed for a level 5 Cubic Golem, it leapt into the air and then I nailed it.

Using 5 Acid Shots was the most optimal use of my energy. It would take a couple of minutes to die and turn to dust, but that was better than spending more energy on my skills than I needed to. That was another bit of mentality I had to correct, learning not to over spam my attacks and waste energy.

It helped that I knew these monsters incredibly well after having to fight them so much. If I encountered a new level 5 monster, I would probably go for overkill. Air Burst. Acid Shot. Acid Shot x5. Air Burst. I took out a second boss golem before retreating.

The real trick had been figuring out how to overcome their panel launches. That was why I targeted the bottom of the golems when they leapt, where there stubby legs connected to their bodies. That was the one place they couldn’t easily defend. I probably could get away with 4 Acid Shots, but it was unreliable. Better to make sure the golem took enough damage to die in a single barrage.

It was too big of a waste of energy to try and follow up afterwards and a headache to kill a wounded level 5 Cubic Golem. With three down, one from my initial alpha strike, and two just now, that left three. I took my time to run around the floor, trying to ignore the massive stabbing pain in my gut.

The bomb was already beginning to swell. I was half tempted to cut myself open, but losing internal organs when they spilled out would be a lot worse than losing a hand. If I had been wearing armor, I would have had to get rid of it, since it wouldn’t have fit anymore.

Right now, I had gotten rid of my shirt, since it wasn’t fitting properly anymore and was just wearing my shorts and boots. I was getting fat. That more than anything pissed me off about what the Astrologer had done to me. Even if he did kill the tumor bomb in some way, getting it out of me would be another issue.

That probably meant surgery if anything. I was not looking forward to that. Surgery hurt, a lot. There was no way I was going to poop it out if it was somehow in my digestive track. The fact that my gut was noticeably expanding, and it was giving me a gut, meant the crisis was incredibly severe.

I just hoped the Astrologer was a reasonable person and had a solution once I got to the top of the tower. I was just a few floors away. I could almost taste my success. With how the floors kept repeating and just getting more difficult, I wasn’t too worried.

It would be a hassle, but I would be able to clear the last seven floors without too much of a headache. The final floor was the big concern if it had a level 6 monster and all the headaches that would come with it.

I was hoping for just a single level 6 monster, which would be the best outcome. Then I would just alpha strike it and hopefully kill it off before it could pull any shenanigans. Still the Astrologer was on the 49th floor, which made me curious. Was he in the saferoom or the elevator of that floor? Would I be able to access that floor?

That had been a reoccurring concern the more I thought about it, but the Astrologer’s proxy had managed to get out of the tower somehow, which probably meant the elevator. At least that was my hope. The thought of climbing all the way up to get stuck due to someone being ahead of me would have been rage inducing.

Still, he probably thought about that issue if he was sending someone in here to rescue him. Hauling his body back to a city for a restoration would be a pain, but I wasn’t going to let him take the meta-point from me at the top of the tower no matter what.

I might just rush past him to the top even. I was seriously considering it. Just bypass the Astrologer and make a run for the final boss to get that meta-point to heal myself. I already knew what I would ask for. Either a skill or knowledge on how to purge the bomb from my body. I was still working it out, since I had no idea what the Almighty System would come back with and I didn’t just want it to remove the bomb. I wanted something I could use again in the future if the situation ever came up again.

But if my first two requests didn’t come up with anything worthwhile or weren’t what I expected, then I would ask for a direct removal of the bomb inside of me for my third pick and choose that. While there were other things I would prefer to ask for, my life took precedence over everything else.

My energy was finally back. I moved in and took out another two boss monsters. The little monsters were recovering. I let out a sigh. I would have to disable them all again to take out the last boss monster. What a pain.

The floors just felt long and repetitive at this point. But I didn’t rush and take needless risks. I couldn’t afford to take an injury, so it was better to just take my time and do the best I could, one floor at a time. If that meant having to disable all the little monsters again, then I would do so.

A massive waste of time in my opinion, but trying to rush the boss monster with the little ones around was a headache. They would move to intercept my attacks and it would be too hard to approach the boss monster without using skills, which meant using energy. It was better to disable the little monsters first before going after the boss, even if it added on a lot more time to the fight.

Next tower I go in, I will make sure I have a tank at least 20,000 energy big. Spirit had become a much bigger priority for tower clearing. Just being able to alpha strike a monster or spam it down was much too valuable not to invest in.

Finally, I had a chance and the energy to act. I moved in and took out the last boss monster, letting out a sigh of relief, now that the fight was finally over. I made my way back towards the saferoom and picked up my dropped packs. Time to rest and then finish up the last floor loop and get out of this accursed tower.

I smiled as I made my way towards the elevator thinking how I had panicked on the fifteenth floor at the sight of two bosses and all those spawners. Now it was just another day at work, melting monsters, and going up floors. I looked down at my large gut.

If this bomb exploded, I would probably be sheered in half. The pain of all my organs shifting around was quite a bit. Also, my balance was off as well. The Astrologer and I were going to have words about how he made me fat again.

I took the elevator up to the forty third floor and there was a safe room. I tossed my packs to the side and sat on the stone bench, my back to the corner of the room and my right leg lifted up on the bench. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, which was hard due to the constant pain in my gut.

Curse the Astrologer, curse him a thousand times. I would have to keep reminding myself not to lose my temper with him, once I finally confronted him. That wouldn’t help anyone. The important thing was to keep calm and moving up the tower. I was almost there. I could just about taste my victory. Seven more floors to go.

They would be the hell floors, but after seeing how the difficulty increased from the previous floors, unless there was a huge change, I could handle the floors even if they were all traps and monster spawners.

Honestly at a certain point, the extra traps just hampered the monster spawners. Instead of becoming more difficult, they were a great way to take out a cluster of monsters. More wasn’t always better. If anything the Almighty System should have changed the floors themselves to make them more difficult or confusing. But since the layout was mostly the same every loop, with just more traps and monsters added in, it wasn’t that complicated.

The difference between five and twenty level 4 monsters was their depth. Meaning that I just had to avoid dead ends, otherwise there was a big risk of getting trapped and swarmed. While it was a bit of a concern, I wasn’t overly worried. Even missing one hand, a gut that was about to burst and giving me lots of pain, and stress I was in the home stretch. Just seven more floors and probably one super boss. I could do it.