Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 62

For a few minutes I warred between staying at Bridget's side and rushing out to help my city. Thankfully, Mimiko caught up with us not long after, so Bridget wouldn't be alone.

"They might need your help," Bridget said.

I nodded. "Mimiko, stay with her. I'm going to kill whatever's making that racket. I'll be back as soon as I can."

I left the clinic and found the sun was growing dim, which was awfully strange, since I'd returned at mid-morning. It should be close to noon, not evening.

But when I looked to the sky, I realized the sun wasn't anywhere near to the horizon. Instead, the moon was passing in front of it. It looked like we were going to have a solar eclipse today.

I knew on Earth there wasn't an eclipse due anytime soon, but who knew what the System had changed since then. I could accept an eclipse happening today, though it seemed awfully odd that we were experiencing a massive void monster invasion at the same time. Perhaps that was the cause of these attacks.

It was an awfully unfortunate day for my son to be born, but hopefully his future birthdays would go more smoothly. From the shadow passing over Crownhill, I realized I had a city to defend.

An enormous manta ray thing was approaching, and it had already cast the city in a deeper shade of dark than the eclipse. Its body was a patchy color, both bone-white in places and black as night in others. But instead of a small mouth in the place where a manta ray might have one, there were thousands of mouths spread across the monster's entire body.

Void City Eater (Level 324)

This huge City Eater wasn't shy about showing off how it had earned its name. As soon as it landed, it was flopping against our barrier. Rows of hungry maws gnawed at my magical defenses to deplete their energy reserves. The moment they were gone, this thing would descend on Crownhill and flail around until those hungry mouths found each and every one of my citizens and ate them.

It was truly a terrifying sight to behold, and even the blooded veterans of Crownhill seemed stiff-kneed and frozen in terror. This was an enemy beyond them. But I'd been fighting worse all week.

Emergency Quest! Reality Distortion Anomalies detected.
Great phenomena stir in the Kindling Dimension. Seek shelter and wait out the storm.
Additional System rewards and resources will be distributed to help reduce casualties among civilians and low-level populations.

Emergency Quest! Void Breaches detected.
Your region of spacetime has been corrupted by a large-scale void monster assault.
Please survive until additional System resources can be reallocated from other nodes to assist in stabilizing space.
Rewards may be distributed dependent on contributions to this emergency quest.

Something was wrong, and even the System recognized it. I quickly shot off several quests of my own to restore order in the city and man the walls. Hopefully that would secure us a few thousand volunteers to help with the defense.

Then, I drew my Dragon Bone sword, cast Mage Armor and my other defensive spells, crouched, and launched myself upward at full speed.

I aimed for one of the larger gnawing mouths as I passed through the barrier. I felt my sword strike something fleshy and meaty as I shot past the teeth. I had hoped to pierce straight through this overgrown space monster and pop out the other side, but I hadn't quite done that kind of damage. Yet.

I followed up my spearfishing attempt with Eldritch Blight, a burst of power from Mana Arsenal, and a bit of hacking and hammering. Eventually, I emerged on the inside of the huge City Eater.

I'd hoped there wouldn't be any defenses inside the Void City Eater's own body, but was proven wrong a moment later when one of the walls suddenly grew teeth and tried to skewer me. Jade and I had discussed this strategy for dealing with powerful and massive planet-sized void monsters, but unless you had particularly powerful stealth skills, the insides of one of these monsters were often even more dangerous than their outside.

That didn't stop me now, however. I used Shadowrealm Stride to pass through the bulk of its body until I eventually came to a wide-open area. I was pretty sure this was one of this thing's many stomachs.

It was pitch-black inside, but I illuminated the stomach with a spell, ignored the acid dissolving everything on me besides my A-Grade robes, and pulled out Sharky's summoning ring.

"It's a little tight in here, buddy. If you want more space, you're going to have to make it yourself," I said when Sharky's nose poked out.

"Nom nom," Sharky said.

It was a bit funny to think of Sharky being inside a stomach. It was like the very thought of the idea went against Sharky's nature. From the rate at which he was tearing up the Void City Eater's intestines, Sharky seemed to agree.

I simply played support while Sharky did the bulk of the damage. Eventually, I hacked my way clear of the Void City Eater and started targeting its external vulnerabilities the same way Jade often directed me to do when finishing off the much more powerful A-Grade void monsters we'd fought together.

Pretty soon, the Void City Eater was in its death throes. I was once again thankful for the barrier as the big monster flailed and ruined most of the roads leading out of the city.

Most of my people had taken cover after seeing the huge monster trying to eat the city, but now that I was winning they were showing themselves again to clap and cheer.

I spared a moment toward the end of the fight to wave to them all, and I was pleased to see unfamiliar faces waving back at me. I knew that unrest was growing among some of the new members of the city who didn't like the idea of having an emperor, even if I was so in name only. Taking down giant monsters trying to eat the city like this one was exactly what I was here for.

The Void City Eater came crashing down, much to the cheering of the people. It was dark by the time the fight was over, but I could still see just fine. I looked overhead to see why and realized that though the sun was in full eclipse, the stars behind it were burning brighter than ever.

The specks surrounded the shrouded sun in a perfect circle, and another larger circle was forming farther away. The source of the light was coming up from the ground, and each looked like a shooting star, but flying in reverse. It was like every shooting star for the past thousand years had all at once decided to reverse its course and return to the heavens.

There was an odd feeling in the air, like something unnatural was happening. I was unaffected, but those on the ground below moved strangely, taking several steps forward and one step back. The shooting stars moved oddly too, stopping at times and then restarting.

I studied them a moment to find the source of this phenomenon, then thought to time the odd movements. I pulled out my cellphone and watched seconds tick by, only to find them suddenly stop and begin moving backward.

So this is what a storm in the Kindling Dimension meant. The very fabric of reality had begun to fray, and both time and space had grown unsteady. That was how these void monsters were entering, and until the storm abated they would keep coming.

A second later, my half-dissolved radio flared to life.

Cyra was the first to speak. "Carter, are you there? The military base is under attack by a giant something! I'm already caught in a fight with another one, and I can't handle it alone."

I tapped the radio in reply. "On my way."

Crownhill was still under attack, but now that the City Eater was dead they could handle themselves. I turned to Sharky and told him to circle the city and eat anything bad. He would be able to hold off all but the worst threats on his own.

On the way there, I received another message.

"Hey, Crownhill guys? This is Dan... You know me and my crew have been defending San Antonio since the zombie apocalypse. Anyway, we're under attack by aliens now! We've retreated to the bunkers. We're being overwhelmed by these weird bug things!" Dan said.

I tapped the radio again. "How urgent? I'm fighting something elsewhere."

"This is kind of urgent..." I heard the sound of gunfire in the background. "We can hold for maybe ten minutes? But if they get through the walls..." Dan's voice trailed off and the sound of gunfire resumed.

"I'll be there by then. Just hold on."

I rushed to the teleportation array, which was thankfully still working fine.

After traveling to the military base, I emerged and saw that Cyra and her Amazonian fighters were battling side by side with the remaining military personnel. Guns and swords tore through the darkness in flashes of light. Voidlings in their teeming thousands crawled forth with hunger plain on their lips.

Cyra's fight was plain to see, though. She was battling something bigger and more powerful than the rest.

Void Harpy (Level 297)
Void Harpy (Level 318)

This void creature was somewhat humanoid, at least from the waist up. It looked like a woman with bat-like wings and nails as long as claws. From the waist down, she was more birdlike, with legs bent backward and talons plain to see. Her eyes glowed red, and each time she clashed with Cyra's sword I watched the nearby grass wither and die.

In one hand she attacked with claws wrapped in crimson magic. In the other she wielded a staff crafted from bone and writhing dark energy.

"Bleeeeed!" the harpy hissed at Cyra in a hideous cackle. The weaker harpy was in pretty bad shape, and it looked like Cyra had been pretty close to winning when a second one arrived. Now, she was just barely holding her own.

I was shocked to see a void monster that could speak, even if the words were guttural and half-formed. There was intelligence in those eyes, and that made these dangerous foes.

I channeled mana through my body as I prepared to sweep the battlefield. When my spells were charged, I unleashed a wave of magical projectiles at the horde of Voidlings, taking out large numbers of them. Soulchain Nexus could grant me a small but measurable boost to my stats by wiping out armies like this.

In the same moment, I cast Voidling's Embrace on Cyra's weaker opponent, then conjured a Sunlight Spear to finish it off once trapped.

All attacks landed at once, and instantly the battlefield was transformed. The army that Cyra's Amazonians and the soldiers were fighting was suddenly gone, and soon the weaker Void Harpy vanished in a burst of light.

The other harpy turned to me, and I could see surprise and sudden fear painted on her alien features. She flapped her wings to ascend into the air and retreat, but I wouldn't let her get away so easily. I activated wings of my own and chased her down.

My Dragon Bone sword met her bone spear, and soon proved that Apocalypse Dragons were made of sterner stuff than whatever her weapon came from. Her spear split down the middle, and I carried my sword strike straight through to her heart.

The harpy flashed aside a moment later, but I was in no mood for a lengthy fight as I followed up my sword attack with an assault of mana bolts.

Despite the harpy's best efforts, most of them landed and she emerged from the assault battered and wounded.

I turned back toward the base, my mind already on my next fight.

"Foooolish huuuuman. I live!" the harpy cackled as she took to the sky and fled the battlefield.

I landed on the ground, then snapped my fingers, detonating all my Corrupting Marks. Far above, the Void Harpy exploded in a fountain of gore.

Cyra's Amazonians and the military men cheered and looked ready to celebrate, but I could scarcely give them more than a wave before rushing back to the teleportation array and flying to San Antonio.

Thankfully, the situation there wasn't as bad, and I made quick work of the army of Voidlings swarming the place. Dan and his defenders had been caught off guard and lost control of the walls I'd built for them, but with my help clearing the city they soon retook the defenses and would have a much better time holding the rest of the horde off.

After, I went to check in on the tree house village. I hadn't heard anything from them, and considering how low their average levels were I feared they were already dead. But my fears soon proved unwarranted when I arrived to find rows and rows of construction golems outfitted for war. They were crushing each and every voidling coming their way.

There were several rows of defenses I didn't remember as well, and it seemed the entire population of the tree house villages was near the Obelisk in the center of it all. I hadn't been here in some time, so I hadn't realized how thoroughly Governess was defending it. But since her golem factory was here, it was only natural that she have the bulk of her golems here.

That golem factory had shepherded the tree house village through previous stages of the integration. I could only hope that they'd still be enough.

I checked on several more minor settlements, some in better shape, others in worse shape. The scale of the assault seemed to depend on some combination of population and the level of the settlement's elites, so most places were strained. A few had already been overwhelmed, and by the time I arrived I found void monsters tearing flesh from bones.

"Everyone, get to the teleportation array. Crownhill is safe. Get yourself there quick if you want to live!" I ordered every weak settlement. Most people listened, especially those who'd seen a voidling rip someone in two and feast on their flesh.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to comb the wilderness for other survivors. We'd planted teleportation arrays in every small survivor group who'd cooperate with us to help integrate them with Crownhill, hoping they'd make their way to us eventually. Now, they'd have to do so in a hurry.

I spent some time with my Shardlord menus, reorganizing the quests I'd issued. This assault was far larger than I'd initially suspected, and it called for a full faction-wide mobilization. I'd built up a monstrous stockpile of rewards in the Obelisk, and now was the time to spend them. The wonky time flow actually helped me there, since I ended up spending what felt like an hour on the task, but only half that amount of time passed.

Meanwhile, the shooting stars continued ascending toward the sky, forming more and more concentric rings around the shrouded sun. The moon passing before the sun hadn't budged at all, and we were still stuck in total eclipse, despite the growing number of stars making it brighter than any full moon night.

I was planning on making one more circuit to see if anything big showed up while I was gone when my radio flared to life again, this time relayed through Margaret.

"Carter, I'm getting messages from the long-range radio. This one is from Sakura. She says New Kyoto is under attack. She doesn't think they can hold on their own," Margaret said.

I turned my gaze to the horizon. It seemed my faction wasn't the only one under attack. I wondered how much progress Nakano had made. Because if he'd made any, there might just be a way to end this war right here and now.

<Note>

I added up some stuff from the last few chapters and the next few, and I think Carter is going to have quite a few levels waiting for him when he finally reaches A-Grade.

But anyway, yes. If it isn't obvious by the shooting stars flying in reverse, time running backward, and the total eclipse and stellar alignment, Carter's son will be important.

Carter is actually lucky that he had just practiced the Kindling dimension stuff with Jade, since it is what is shielding him from the effects of the Kindling storm. Otherwise he'd be getting time-reversed along with everyone else.