Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 34

My heels dug into the dirt, but the strength of a peak B-Grade was more than enough to stop a crashing helicopter. Unfortunately, it was filled with ammunition and fuel, both of which were moments from exploding.

Kindling Architect gave me some mastery over temperature and heat, but it didn’t work fast enough to stop what was about to happen. I had to work fast with Mana Arsenal and Mage Armor. Between the two, I was able to make a quick shield that protected my team behind me.

If catching the helicopter hadn’t been obvious enough, the flash of bright blue magical energy was a dead giveaway that I was using more abilities than the humble swordsman I pretended to be should be capable of.

After the explosion was contained, I tossed the burning wreck of the helicopter aside.

“You guys alright?” I asked.

Charlie stared at me in confusion. Abby looked at me with new eyes. Suzie held her dagger a little tighter. Meghan let her borrowed coat slide down her shoulders.

They all seemed at a loss for words, so I smiled at them and continued.

“Just stay put. I’ll finish cleaning up here, then we’re headed home.”

I turned, gathered mana in my palms, and got to work. Since everyone was wearing the same uniforms, it was difficult to tell who was still possessed and who was in full control of their faculties. It didn’t help that both sides seemed equally confused and responded to my words with gunfire.

I had a lucky discovery when I took a quick shortcut through the shadowrealm and realized the confused possessed were much easier to spot from there. Bits and pieces from the Corrupted Natural Divinity were clinging to them like drowning men to a life raft.

Blasting the remaining bits of natural divinity in the shadowrealm also proved effective and helped reduce collateral damage. There were a lot of low-level people around the base, and normal people were shockingly delicate. I didn’t just have to worry about debris or missed spells, even the noise from all the explosions or the airborne toxins some of my spells produced could kill them.

Cleaning up this mess felt a bit like fighting with my arms tied behind my back, but given the level difference, cleaning up was bound to be more tedious than challenging anyway.

It took me nearly an hour to hunt down the last possessed people, some of whom had been in the refugee camp. While the natural divinity preferred uniformed male soldiers as its host, it could make do with a military-aged young man out of uniform if it had to.

I hadn’t expected it to be able to possess anyone after the memorial was destroyed, but it looked like the natural divinity had a few more tricks up its sleeves. Fortunately, the quality of these hasty attempts at possession were halfhearted at best, and the unlucky hosts seemed mostly oblivious to what was affecting them.

What remained were such weak fragments of the nascent divinity that I was pretty sure their souls would eventually shove the offending intruder on its way, given time. But one could never be too careful when dealing with evil gods.

I kept at it until I got the notification I’d been waiting for.

Congratulations! You have defeated the ruling faction of this shard.

Their leadership has fallen, granting you victory and ownership over this shard. You may do with the survivors as you please.

You currently control two of five shards.

With my victory, we got one step closer to ending this stage of the integration. And more importantly, we doubled our access to monster hunting grounds and more than doubled our human resources. If even a fraction of these people were amenable to training, the other shards wouldn't be nearly so intimidating.

My mind went back to what the Goddess in Jade said about this thing. I kept thinking about her trying to eat it, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew there had to be a better way. Gross-looking or not, shadows were tough to eat.

I ended up back at the ruins of the memorial. I saw nothing but chipped stone there. The explosion had destroyed the thing quite thoroughly, but there was something calling to me among the debris.

I rummaged around in the dirt and stone until I found a strange-looking crystal. I used Analyze on it and realized this was probably what we were supposed to destroy in the explosion.

Corrupted Nascent Divinity Core (Divine)

This extremely rare natural treasure is a high-level crafting component and leveling item. When added to an enchantment, this core allows an enchantment to draw deeply from the power of the Kindling Dimension, powering sapient golems, weapons, and other artifacts. A-Grades can also consume this core to receive several levels.

The core had a crack running through it, but otherwise seemed alright after the explosion. I probably should have guessed that mundane explosions would have a hard time destroying such a high-level item. This little core was probably what the Goddess in Jade had been referring to when she mentioned A-Grades eating these.

Not completely damaging it in the explosion had been a bit of bad luck on my part, but the fight was over now, so perhaps it was good luck I could now pick up a souvenir from it. Originally, I’d been planning to sell anything I picked up off this thing to the Goddess in Jade, but after reading the description from my Analyze ability, I figured it might be worth keeping. So, I tucked it into my pocket and rejoined my team.

“Well, that went about as well as can be expected. I suppose you’re all looking for your rewards, and maybe a ride home?” I asked Charlie, Abby, Suzie, and Meghan.

“Oh yeah! The Shardlord should show up any moment now, right? I wonder if he’s really going to keep his promise and introduce us to our guild of choice.” Charlie scratched his head.

Meghan hid her smile behind her hand, and Suzie cut back a snort.

Abby placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder and carefully explained things. “Charlie, the Shardlord is already here.”

“And rest assured, he is a man of his word,” I added. I hovered in the air in front of them. The mana from Instrument of Fate swirled around me, giving me a mysterious and powerful aura that they could sense but not understand.

“Where is he?” Charlie glanced left and right.

“Right there.” Abby pointed at me.

“Behind Himmel?” Charlie leaned over and glanced behind me.

Meghan and Suzie had palms to their faces, but I chuckled. Charlie had taken quite a few hits to the head today and had fended off possession twice before that. I wasn’t surprised that he was a bit slower on the uptake.

“Himmel isn’t real, Charlie. I used the pseudonym so I could pretend to be a D-Grade and scout this place out on the ground level. And you’ve all been very helpful. Rest assured, the rewards I’m preparing for you will be even better than initially promised.” I smiled at all of them.

“Oh...” Charlie nodded in sudden understanding. “You’re one of those people, aren’t you? One of the shardlord’s harem of super-powerful assistants? Weird, I thought you guys were all women, but now I see the Shardlord likes guys too.”

Abby thumped Charlie on the head, and that seemed to be all the brain damage even a tank like him could take for the day. He flopped over on the ground, suddenly unconscious.

***

I hauled my team back through the shadowrealm with the help of a rope. The three girls held on for dear life while I ran, with Charlie trailing behind me at the end of the chain. I had to go slow for their sake, and it was slower than just carrying them like I normally did with my companions, but it was still faster and safer than having them walk back through dangerous wilderness. This way, the trip only took a few hours instead of all day.

The woods here weren’t like those around Crownhill. There, powerful adventurers usually took care of any C-Grade monsters as soon as they spawned. The military base had fewer resources to spare and so had only cleared out enough room for their main base and their forward camps.

The rest of their shard had gone feral. Crownhill’s powerful adventurers would have a grand time taking care of these C-Grade monsters, though, and once they were gone, the D-Grades would make good fodder for the weaker teams.

I stopped a few times to take out monsters. One was a B-Grade only I could handle, but a few times, I helped my team take out a few low-ranking C-Grades.

“Normally, I’d recommend against trying to fight up a level. It’s incredibly dangerous, and doing so without a plan and all the right tools is a good way to get yourself killed.” I glanced over my shoulder, shooting Charlie in particular and hard look.

He scratched his head sheepishly. Suzie, Meghan, and Abby had to explain it to him a few times, but I was pretty sure he now understood I really was Shardlord Carter, and had been all along.

“I thought we were leveling fast before. I’ve gained fifteen levels in a single day...” Suzie shook her head in shock and wonder.

Most of my team’s levels had come from being in my party. Just being teamed up with me granted some pretty hefty experience bonuses, thanks to the Death Curse I’d inverted into a blessing. Just sticking with me while I fought things way above their level granted them a lot of experience points.

Normally, I’d be a bit nervous about powerleveling a team to this extent, but these guys earned it. Plus, I would be outfitting them with the best skills I could find and making sure they got top-notch training with whatever guild they wanted to join.

The rapid levels shouldn’t put them too far behind where they should be, and it would help them jump from average adventurers to an elite C-Grade team and a match for all but the strongest enemies from the other factions.

“I think I have a pretty good idea of all your fighting styles. We’ll stop by my place so you can pick some things out of the skillbooks I have in stock. I have a decent private collection. Nothing special, but it works.” I shrugged and took them back to my farmhouse.

When we arrived at the walls of my farmhouse, I had to scratch my head a bit and figure out how to open the gates. I always just phased through them with Shadowrealm Stride, so I wasn’t sure how they even operated manually. Thankfully, Governess saved me from a moment of embarrassment and opened the gates automatically.

“Welcome home, sir. And to your guests as well. Their identities have been catalogued and registered,” Governess said through a hidden speaker.

“Who was that?” Suzie asked.

“My computer. She runs the place.” I waved them to follow close behind me while my team looked around at my little family compound before us.

Now that I was seeing it from the entrance, it was actually somewhat impressive. High walls surrounded several buildings, the humblest of which was my old farmhouse and barns. The castle we were currently living in was off to our left, while there was a huge tower on the right topped with Governess’ main computer system. Nearby was a large solar array with the monster farm attached to it.

There were several decent-sized gardens decorating the place, too. The one by Reluna’s old cottage looked to be growing alien herbs and reeds. The one next to the castle and the old farmhouse were growing vegetables and other fresh foodstuffs. Both were pretty expensive and well-groomed. Given that Reluna hadn’t been here in months, I suspected she’d handed off the task of maintaining her garden to Governess.

“So this is the Forbidden City everyone mentions, huh?” Suzie said.

“Am I allowed to be here?” Charlie asked, shuffling awkwardly.

I laughed, but before I could respond, Bridget caught sight of me from the window and came rushing out. Pregnant or not, she jumped into my arms.

“You’re back! Finally, don’t think you’re leaving so soon this time,” Bridget pressed her cheek against mine, clinging tightly to me.

I chuckled. “Don’t worry, Bridget. The military base is taken care of, and I have these guys to thank for it. I hope you don’t mind them coming in. I promised them a few rewards.”

Bridget seemed to notice our guests for the first time. She blinked at them, cheeks flushed as she realized how affectionate she’d been in front of company.

“Oh, guests! I’ll have to make a bigger dinner. I’ll be back later!” Bridget hurried off back to the kitchen.

I looked around for my skillbooks. I used to keep them in bags of holding, but at some point either one of my ladies or Governess pulled them out and organized them into a library. I hadn’t even known we had a library in the castle, but somebody must have directed Governess to add it at some point.

“This is your private skillbook library?” Abby asked, shock plain on her face as she looked around at the expansive shelves of books. The others bore similarly awe-inspired looks.

“It’s the start of one,” I shrugged, though I was a little proud at the size of my collection. Though as soon as I had any such thoughts, my mind went back to Ted’s massive tower on Glacia and the countless millions of skillbooks there. Compared to that collection, my little library was insignificant.

“Can we really take whatever we want?” Suzie asked.

I nodded. “Fill up your skill slots. I have a few recommendations for all of you if you want my advice.”

I spent a few hours gathering up a stack of books for every team member and handed them out. While they looked over skillbooks, I looked through my other items and picked out some equipment suitable for early C-Grades

That was our best-selling grade of equipment in Doomblade’s Armory on Mucaria, so there was plenty to go around. After, I was scratching my head thinking what else my team needed. Giving away points would be by far the easiest, so I made plans to give them five times the reward I promised. Perhaps extra training? I could probably set Charlie up with one of my Amazonian warriors too, though I wasn't sure what to do for the girls.

Just as we were finishing up, Bridget had Governess call us for dinner.

We put our things down and arrived in the dining room, which I also hadn’t known existed. Normally, we ate at a small table just outside the kitchen. The girls really had taken to expanding the place when they realized all they needed to do was ask Governess for renovations. When all of them were here together, I feared I wouldn’t recognize the place between visits.

Just as we sat down, Sakura appeared, arms folded. She scanned the crowd, eyes skimming over Charlie and Suzie. She eyed Abby for a long moment, but most of her time was spent on Meghan, who was blushing shyly and still only wearing a coat.

“So you must be Carter’s new friends, huh?” Sakura eyed Meghan, chin up-tilted.

“Hello?” Meghan replied shyly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, and Meghan started hastily buttoning up the coat she was wearing.

A few minutes later, Sakura lent Meghan a very unflattering businesswoman outfit, complete with overly large glasses and a floral-patterned undershirt that made it look like Meghan was dressed like someone in their eighties.

Other than that, dinner was nice as usual. My team made moans of appreciation the whole time. Bridget’s cooking was divine compared to traditional fare. I'd grown used to it to the point that anything not cooked by her tasted only slightly better than sawdust.

After dinner, I took them out for training and practice. Eventually, Sakura offered to take that over while I ran some errands.

I thanked her for the offer and made a quick stop at my wizard’s tower. I climbed to the top, hefted the Corrupted Natural Divinity core, gave it a quick shine and a bit of Kindling Architect work to mend the crack running through it, then brought it up to Governess’ main computer.

“Hey, Governess? What do you think of this?"

<Note>

Long-awaited full sapience upgrade for Governess?

Also, we're roughly at the halfway point in the book. Time sure flies. My file says we're at 130k words already, and it still feels like we've only just gotten started. Granted, some of that is notes, so it's probably closer to 100k of actual story.