Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 14

It was a great relief to be reunited with Frank, and I was amazed that he was alright. My bloodline had been acting up, and I’d feared the worse because of it. Maybe I’d just eaten some bad street food while shopping on Glacia. It was hard to tell sometimes.

I shook hands with Frank, briefly summarized what I’d been up to, then switched to questioning him. He looked like he’d been in this city a while.

“This town belongs to some kingdom of Camlaan. Knights, castles, wizards, that sort of thing.” Frank shrugged.

“Town?” I asked, looking around at what I had previously labeled a city. It would be a city anywhere in the Arcadia Multiverse.

“Yeah, the big city is somewhere that way. I’m told you can’t miss it. These guys might not be human, but they seem like nice folks. Just a little prudish.”

“That’s what got you into trouble?” I asked.

“Yep.” Frank nodded solemnly. He looked around. “The local women don’t even show their ankles, you know. When my guild members showed up here in their usual gear, it caused quite a scandal. Apparently, they violated half a dozen local dress codes.”

I shook my head and laughed. I’d cooked up all those scenarios of life-and-death battles and that whole fight in the clearing, and in the end, Frank had been held up by local dress codes?

In the end, I clapped Frank and the back. “Point me in the direction of your guys. We’ll get you all out of here. I know a trick or two about these sorts of things.”

Frank wasn’t nearly as well-traveled as I was. Besides a brief trip to Themyscira to fight Dramonar, his only interactions with other cultures were those he met back home during the integration. And even then, most of the groups we found turned out to be human survivor groups. He’d probably walked in with hands folded and asked about what it would take to get his people out of jail.

“There’s two things you need to get things done on foreign worlds. A nice smile and full pockets.” I rummaged around in my satchel and switched out my cloak for my stylish sunglasses. I needed the charisma boost for this encounter. After, I made sure I had a big pouch of gold from Themyscira at the ready.

After, Frank led me to where his people were being kept. I smiled at the clerk and did my best to grease the wheels of the legal system.

“I understand a few friends of ours committed a harmless crime? Lewd conduct, I think? My humblest apologies. We’re not from around here. I’ll happily pay the fine on their behalf.” I slid over a bag of gold. The clerk looked unimpressed, so I slid over a second one, then a third. To me, it seemed like just one bag would be an extremely generous bribe just about anywhere, but the clerk was unsatisfied until I’d produced roughly ten times my lifetime earnings in gold back before the integration.

“We will let your friends off with a warning this time. But make sure they’re properly dressed! The Whores Guild has a lot of influence in this town, and they don’t want harlots ruining their brand.”

“Of course, again, so sorry for the trouble.” I bowed and smiled, and eventually, Frank’s guildmates walked out of their cell, all wearing burlap sacks that went down to their ankles. None of them looked particularly happy with recent events. Being arrested for how they were dressed was probably pretty low on the list of things they wanted to do when they signed up to be adventurers.

“See, what did I tell you, ladies? You’re free and clear, and we didn’t have to cause any sort of diplomatic incident,” Frank laughed, then cupped his hand to whisper in my ear. “They wanted to fight their way out. I figured that would be a bad idea.”

I nodded. “Well done, one and all. I’m not sure what earns a bronze adventurer rank in Frank’s guild, but I suspect you ladies took a big step toward promotion today.”

Frank gave them a big thumbs up, then turned to me. “Well, this was certainly an adventure. I wonder if it’s too late to find who’s in charge and do that first contact quest of yours?”

I was about to respond when a trumpet blared on the walls in the distance. A cry went up a moment later.

“To arms, to arms! All militiamen to the walls! The town is under attack.”

That was when I realized the bad feeling my bloodline had given me when I was looking for Frank had never gone away.

***

The next minute was one of organized chaos. Various townsfolk streamed out of their homes and shops, rapidly armed themselves, and rushed for the walls. It reminded me a lot of Crownhill during the earlier stages of the integration, back before we’d gotten our act together to form the guard and the various adventurer guilds.

The locals had guards too, and they came rushing out of the station I’d just bribed to get Frank’s people free. A few of them shot us stern glares as they raced past us to the walls.

“I think we might be wearing out our welcome. We don’t want anyone thinking we caused whatever’s attacking the place,” I said to Frank. He nodded along.

“Agreed. Rookies, take cover. Stay out of sight and out of mind. I don’t want trouble with the locals. Meanwhile, the big boss man and I are going to take care of this,” Frank ordered with an authoritative voice I didn’t know he had.

As soon as his rookies were gone, he turned to me and spoke much more hesitantly. “So how are we going to take care of this, exactly?”

“We’re going to see who they’re fighting. And if we’re lucky, we’ll get the chance to step in.” I grabbed Frank by the wrist and took to the air.

I found a good place to sit and watch for a moment. I assumed some sort of monster was attack, since that was what normally sounded the alarms back home.

But much to my surprise, in the distance, I could see nearly a hundred warriors in black armor riding in on horseback. Those were definitely not monsters.

“Hold a moment. Until we know what’s going on, we’re liable to do more harm than good.”

Frank nodded, and I carried him and myself to the roof of a nearby building where we lay in wait and watched.

The forces outside the city formed a line outside of crossbow range from the militia defending the walls. It hardly seemed enough of a force to storm the city, since the militia numbered over a thousand, with more streaming up the walls with every passing moment. But the levels told a different story.

Militiaman (Level 23)

Militiaman (level 31)

Militiaman Captain (Level 78)

The militia ranged from E-Rank to C-Rank, with most members on the lower end of the spectrum. They were about the same level as the average human survivor by this point in the integration, though not as high leveled as the actual fighters we found, like the wilderness guys I’d just recruited, or Dan’s survival group.

In contrast, the black knights on horseback in the distance were considerably more powerful.

Black Knight (Level 125)

Black Knight (Level 150)

But of greatest interest was the lone female figure among all the knights. She was easily spotted from afar by her flowing purple robes, which ended at her thighs. The robes were tight-fitting and had cutaways for her collarbone and stomach.

Her clothes wouldn’t have looked too out of place in Crownhill, but they contrasted sharply with the prudish dresses of the women in the city they were besieging.

Dark Sorceress (Level 275)

The woman was fairly far into B-Grade, which would make her impressive even by Crownhill’s standards. Myrina or Cyra could beat her, but without them, Bridget and Sakura would have their work cut out for them.

Her presence was concerning. I knew I’d leveled exceptionally fast based on historical records. During most integrations, there weren’t even any B-Grades at all until the integration was nearly complete. I thought we were well ahead of the level curve.

The answer revealed itself when I took a closer look at the Dark Sorceress. Unlike the villagers, her spiritual roots were very much active. Power flowed through her, both from the System and from something that predated it. This was someone who had the power of a cultivator before the integration, and it had given her a hefty head start.

I was forming a better idea of what was going on, but I had yet to learn who these two factions were and what they meant to one another. It looked like the leaders of the two forces were going to address one another, so I bent my ears to listen.

It was the Dark Sorceress who spoke first. Her voice carried up to the walls as though she were right in front of us. It would have been an impressive Trick if I hadn’t seen Mimiko do the same.

“The prophecy has been fulfilled, and the end of the world has come. Where are the so-called Sages now? Where is your promised king?” the Dark Sorceress taunted.

“Vile witch! When the Warrior returns from death, your kind will at be vanquished!” the captain of the guard shouted back.

The Dark Sorceress laughed. “Keep worshiping a rusty sword then. Your warrior will come someday, but our benefactors are here today. You and the Sages will not last long now that the System has finally led us to you!”

I glanced at Frank. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, nodding with brows furrowed. He caught me staring, looking at him for an explanation.

Frank shrugged, and his contemplative air fell away. “Beats me. I ain’t got a clue what’s going on.”

“It’s some sort of schism, likely religious in nature, and originating prior to the integration.” That was my best guess based on what little I knew. I had hoped Frank had more context, but apparently not.

From that brief exchange and the look of two armies facing one another, I was guessing that two factions that didn’t get along had been merged with us at the same time. Naturally, the result was the continuing whatever war they were engaged in before the integration.

For my part, I was actually rather pleased with how things turned out. If these were the remaining two factions I’d been worried about, the two of them would be at war. As long as they kept fighting, I’d have plenty of time to sort things out with New Kyoto and General Marshall without having to worry about another two.

Depending on how things turned out on those fronts, I could double back and deal with either or both of these feuding factions angry about who knew what. A little work now would ensure that neither of them would be my problem for a good long time. The only question was who to ally with.

My initial instinct was to side with the scantily clad dark sorceress. I felt like my lifestyle would be less alarming to her than to the prudish village folk I’d been speaking with.

But in this scenario, she was quite clearly the aggressor, and I suspected this whole city would fall in short order if I didn’t join the side of the townsfolk. Though they’d arrested Frank’s guildmates for indecent dress, they’d been reasonably civil about it, and nobody had been harmed, so I didn’t want to see this town get wiped out.

Most importantly, though, the presence of another B-Grade was alarming and would prevent me from taking many off-world vacations until more of my own people hit B-Grade. If this Dark Sorceress was representative of the elite of her order, I wanted to know exactly how many of them there were and whether I needed to fight them.

“We’re helping the townsfolk,” I said after coming to a decision.

“Aww. I wanted to chat up that sorceress down there,” Frank replied.

I chuckled. “There are plenty of magical spellcasters who walk around half-dressed at the Dragon Lodge. I’ll take you someday. Now, let’s wait for our opening.”

The siege started shortly thereafter. Enchantments flared to life on the walls, increasing the power to the mana shield surrounding the city I’d spotted earlier. But the Dark Sorceress hoisted a crooked black staff aloft and started channeling mana into it. It looked like she had started with a skill given by the System, but then midway through, she began doing her own thing and continued to pour in mana, much like Mimiko’s cultivator abilities.

A great beam of power blasted forth from her staff, striking the shield. The shield absorbed the power, but flared brighter, flickered, and cracked. Already, I could see the simple enchantment matrix carved into the walls the militia were rushing to was rapidly crumbling.

This process continued for nearly a minute as the Dark Sorceress used herself like a living battering ram and pummeled the shield with the same simple spell until it crumbled. Then the fighting really started.

The defenders rushed to the front of the walls, and the Black Knights rushed forward with ladders to scale and take them. As soon as the Black Knights had a foothold on the walls, it would all be over, given the level difference between attackers and defenders.

The Dark Sorceress wasn’t patient enough to wait for her people to storm them, though. She channeled another spell, and this one conjured a cloud of dark miasma that wafted over the walls. Defenders choked, spluttered, and then collapsed into unconsciousness. With an entire chunk of wall undefended, the Black Knights were quick to climb ladders and take the walls starting at that point.

Up until then, I assumed the Dark Sorceress had been trying to storm the city with minimal casualties. After all, she’d knocked the defenders unconscious instead of wiping them out with an area-of-effect spell. But that was either her only wide-area ability or her knights didn’t share her same non-lethal sensibilities, because once atop the walls they started thrusting spears and daggers into the downed defenders, finishing them off and kicking them from their defenses with a careless shove.

At that sight, I realized we’d waited around long enough. Frank and I had gone over several plans while watching the fight, and in the end, we decided it would be best for him to take the lead on this in case this whole thing ended up being a diplomatic blunder. Me taking action would be Crownhill taking a stance in this war, but Frank was a private citizen free to protect his guildmates however he saw fit.

So I tossed him forward, and he yelled in something halfway between a battle cry and a scream of terror.

“Cowabunga!” Frank yelled as he somersaulted through the air and landed right in the middle of the black knights.

His landing shook the wall, and between his entrance and yell, it was impossible to miss him. No doubt the black knights were shocked to find a completely unfamiliar B-Grade in their midst.

Frank drew a slender saber with one hand, and with the other drew his pistol and twirled it in one hand. He tipped his hat with the barrel and stared down at the hundred knights surrounding him.

“How about you fellas pick on somebody your own size,” Frank said. A moment later, the knights charged him, and all I heard was the clash of steel interspersed with occasional pistol fire.

While Frank dealt with the knights, I had a more covert mission in mind. I had a lot of questions, and the Dark Sorceress would have answers.