Champion Michael had grown predictable. I knew he would try to clear the dungeons a second time and would sweep past the city in the most direct line to do so. It was a chance to trap him.

Leaving the city was concerning, but I had my level 2 summons protecting me. I rode atop a scorpion, since Nox had disappeared with the cart. That traitor would pay for running off. She would make an excellent hybrid, my first level 2 hybrid. The previous tests had been sub-optimal with the hybrids exploding. I needed a person with stats to hold together better.

I was curious to see what the result would be. Still, I had a Champion to trap and kill. My forces set up and cleared a large area between the Deer Grove Dungeon and Heaven. There was no one left in Heaven to worry about. With the new arrivals, I had an army of 200 hybrids and around 40 summons as my trump card.

He walked right into my trap. By the time he noticed it was too late and my forces had already encircled him. A moment of carelessness and I had him at a disadvantage. I didn’t think I could kill him if he ran, but I would annoy him just like he annoyed me. I would kill the people with him.

He appeared ready to fight. Might as well have some fun first. I had one of my wolf hybrids step forwards. “I wouldn’t be so hasty.” He quickly stopped and looked at my hybrid and the surrounding monsters.

“Ritualist. What do you want?” He asked. How quaint, thinking he could understand the depths of my genius.

“Want? I just wanted to see the look of despair on your face as I killed your friends.” I was grinning at the thought of making him suffer. He had tried to kill me, that was unforgivable.

“Well, time to test your control. That is a lot of monsters. Oh, so that is where you are hiding,” Champion Michael said. Impossible, he couldn’t know where I was?! Did Nox betray me and give him the secret of negative energy?

Dammit! He was charging right for me. I had to run. I had all my summons and hybrids race to intercept him. He cut through a couple and then leapt into the air. Ahh! There was a massive rush of pain as the hybrids died. I needed to focus. He was vulnerable! That was when he kicked off a nearby tree and changed directions.

He was closing in! Summoners activate! I sent swarms of black ants at him to slow him down. He just raced over them, too fast to stop. I quickly formed up a line of defense.

The line of defense was wiped out by his acid attack. He hadn’t even needed to gesture, so I could have my monsters dodge. He was seconds from reaching me. Time to use one of my trump cards as the rest of my summons caught up.

The chameleon monsters were my assassins. Go! Champion Michael clearly was the greatest threat as he dodged an attack, he shouldn’t have been able to see. Perhaps luck. He dodged a second time as multiple chameleons attacked and then he killed my summons with his acid.

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Fine. Time to go all in. I had two white mind slimes hanging back just in case along with 10 white deer hybrids. I quickly moved into the center of the formation. I focused the mental attacks on the Champion and he quickly retreated.

I had my summons and hybrids move to assist as quickly as possible. I stared back at him with my own eyes. I hated the man. I had come so close to killing him a second time, but it was not enough. He brought his sword back. He was going to throw it! I tried to dodge to the side, but I was slow. A weredeer next to me, dived in front of me.

My hybrid was skewered, and the blade went into my shoulder. “Ahhh!” I let out a scream of pain. Champion Michael looked like he was about to attack, but more of monsters quickly arrived. He quickly retreated and I let out a sigh of relief and frustration.

Dammit! The pain was horrible. It was only a minor wound, but it still hurt. The sword was lodged into the weredeer’s arm. I could feel its pain as well. It was all I could do to have my monsters swarm towards Michael and myself.

It was too hard to focus, and it took every ounce of concentration I had to keep the tethers from breaking. I retreated to the city and thankfully Champion Michael did not pursue me. My hybrids were a weakness, not a strength.

I needed a regeneration. I needed to stop this pain. So much pain.

I returned to the store and grabbed onto a pillar and got a regeneration. I let out a sigh of relief. Nox had been right. Michael was insanely strong. I had no idea why he had let me go there. I had been that close to death, and he almost had me.

Heading back to my lab and bed, I collapsed on it. That was twice Michael had escaped my traps. I was losing and badly. While he learned more of my capabilities each fight. Dammit! Where had I gone wrong? Why wasn’t I able to kill him?

It was just so incredibly aggravating. If I was able to kill Champion Michael, then no one would be able to stop me. Still, I could learn from him just as he learned from me. He had targeted the people I had sent out to grind crystals, his city Purgatory was vulnerable.

If I waited, they would surround me and kill me. Champion Michael would come back stronger than ever and just rush right for me. I needed to attack Purgatory and have an escape ready for when he showed up. Perhaps I could try to kill him again, but that was something I wasn’t going to have confidence in.

The mental attacks. They were quite useful. I recalled how he had staggered when he had come into range. While he wasn’t killed or rendered helpless, he was affected.

I also needed a champion monster and decoys. The chameleon monsters were useful but ended up disappointing. A champion would be able to hold their ground against Michael while I maneuvered forces to engulf him or retreat. Decoys would be perfect for pulling him into traps.

A primed summoning would also be useful. It had been something on my mind for a while. There was so much to figure out the pressure was immense. Almost like a deadline for a report or presentation. I needed to get ready before Michael came back to finish me off.

I needed to kill his people and force him back. Killing the man himself just seemed impossible at the moment. I couldn’t give up on my path. There was one more thing I would need to do. I would need to train up my pain resistance.

I winced at the thought. But the feedback from the hybrids in that regard was overwhelming. I had thought their senses muted, but in death, the pain was incredible. If I lost a lot of hybrids at the same time, I could be incapacitated and so would my summons.

That was a weakness I needed to address. I let out a sigh. I was a long way from becoming a God and Champion Michael had delivered the wakeup call.