Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 42

The cell tower I was looking for was an ancient Obelisk, like the kind in the center of Crownhill. Once upon a time, this was undoubtedly the center of commerce for this group of Architects. The Obelisk was even in good shape, considering how old it probably was. The golems no doubt guarded it diligently.

I tried to access its features and was surprised when the menu popped up as normal, not counting the administrator features I had access to at the Obelisks I officially controlled.

There were a bunch of things listed that I didn’t recognize. I would have bought them all, but none of my points from elsewhere transferred to this Obelisk, so I was flat broke as far as this thing was concerned.

There were a few items listed more recently, likely by human survivors trying to buy some of the things that looked like food or tools. But since there was nobody with any points this thing would take, everything in this Obelisk was completely inaccessible.

“Worry not, my lord. Where there is a will to loot, there is a way to loot,” Mimiko said wisely.

“I suspect the Obelisk is under the control of whatever force the System considers to rule this shard. Defeat it, and you can transfer ownership of the Obelisk to yourself. Then, its contents will be yours,” Reluna said.

“Agreed. Now let’s see what waits in store for us...” I stepped forward, and two C-Grade gargantuan construction golems slowly turned their attention toward me.

Gargantuan Construction Golem (Level 124) x2

I eyed them both up and down.

“Allow me to take care of these minor nuisances on your behalf, my lord,” Mimiko said.

“Don’t leave them to her, Carter! I will take care of them much faster with our new void talismans.”

“There are two. You each can have one,” I nodded to each of the golems.

“This calls for my grand invention... the Shroud of the Moonlight Enchantress!” Reluna said as she pulled a trash bag out of a bag of holding at her side. I thought she was going to pull something out of it, but when she unfolded the trash bag, I saw it was actually covered in taped-together talismans that lined the outside. Toward the middle of the trash bag was a large cutout enough for Reluna’s head to fit in. She pulled her hat off and stuffed it around her neck like a cape before rushing off to battle.

I just shook my head. Reluna had an interesting way of... well everything.

I watched the ladies fight and analyze them both. Since I last fought alongside Reluna, she seemed to dramatically expand the portion of her arsenal focused around talismans. That trash bag cloak of hers was probably the biggest addition. Most of the talismans taped to the trash bag were some sort of shield or defensive enchantment, and thanks to them, Reluna was engulfed by a protective bubble.

The layers of defensive wards had made her far more confident in getting up close and personal with an opponent. I’d learned from my time on campaign that the average Dragon Lodge spellcaster was most comfortable fighting at a distance and casting spells at an enemy from afar.

These big and slow C-Grade construction golems would have been perfect targets for such a task. She had probably dealt with the first few in that manner, substituting in more talismans for the lack of C-Grade spellcasters in Crownhill’s forces.

But instead of the tried and true strategy, Reluna dove right into the fray and fearlessly circled the big golem. As she did so, she laid down a trail of talismans one after another. Though she had the golem’s attention, she didn’t cast a single spell until she needed to evade its falling fist, which she did so quite effortlessly thanks to some sort of short-range teleport.

At first I feared she was struggling against the golem as she seemed to deal no damage to it whatsoever, but her intent became clear when she activated the array of talismans she’d placed down all at once. Suddenly, bright light chains wrapped around the big golem’s form, dragging it to the ground. At the same time, energy beams shot forth like drills that dug gouges into the golem’s armored exterior.

The drilling was followed by a series of explosions, each targeting the newly revealed vulnerabilities in the golem’s armor. Pretty soon, the golem was falling apart into chunks of inanimate rubble.

While she fought, so did Mimiko. Mimiko’s fighting style was something I was more familiar with since I’d fought plenty of cultivators like her.

As before, I noted her fighting style had a smoother, flowing, and adjustable nature to it that System users like Reluna and I lacked. Mimiko’s individual abilities weren’t all that impressive, but the way she wove them together and used them in intricate ways was.

She flicked her wrist, and a series of swords filled the air around her, levitating on mana currents. She flung the swords at the big golem, though they failed to pierce the golem’s rocky exterior. I feared her tactics were failing, but the swords were a mere distraction while Mimko pulled out another weapon, this time a spear with a broad, cone-shaped tip that looked almost like a drill.

While the golem was still targeting her flying swords, Mimko leaped into the air and targeted the golem’s core with her spear drill, which she twisted until currents of earth mana spiraled around her. She slammed into the golem and cut a gouge through its center, roughly the size of a manhole cover.

Against most other foes, that would have been a death blow, but she must have missed the golem’s core because it still stood. And now it knew to ignore her swords and prioritize her. She dodged between thunderous punches like she was dancing, then lined up another leap and thrust with her spear. This one went straight through the big construction golem’s eye, which was enough to topple it, but not kill it.

Once the golem collapsed to the ground, Mimiko jumped atop the golem’s back and finished it with another clean thrust of her spear. This time, she was certain to shatter the golem’s core enchantments, decisively putting it out of its misery.

“I see you’re finally finished,” Reluna said as she sat atop her pile or rubble.

“I merely wanted to be sure it was dead. I crippled it before you trapped yours.” Mimko glared daggers at Reluna.

“Did not.”

“Did too!”

I chuckled. The teamwork was nice while it lasted, but it seemed like that moment had passed. I rushed forward and grabbed them both.

“Come on, ladies. I see a tunnel leading to an underground facility. That’s probably where the best loot and whatever controls all the golems on this shard are located. Treasure awaits! And presumably, we’ll get to blow a few things up on our way to it.”

The pair of them melted under either arm, and I led them down a set of stairs and through some heavy metal doors. I bypassed several dozen forms of security as we walked, and eventually we wound up in a large chamber.

“There’s something pretty strong up ahead,” I told both ladies under either arm.

“I’ll shall crush it underfoot,” Reluna said.

“Such foes are no doubt beneath your notice. Let me deal with them,” Mimiko said.

I chuckled and shook my head.

“Not so fast. There’s only one foe this time, and I should get a turn too, right? Let me deal with him.”

I rubbed both their heads, one with either hand. The two glared at one another competitively. Just what had Sakura said to them the last time they were together? It didn’t seem entirely healthy, but if the two were going to be so obsessive about besting the other, I was going to use it to my advantage.

“These two rooms off either side of the hallway should be safe. If either of you finds something interesting for me, I’d be very happy.”

They both rushed off in opposite directions. Meanwhile, I opened the final door to face what my instincts were telling me was the final boss of the golems.

Administrative Golem (Level 245)

Before me sat a B-Grade golem upon a throne of glass and steel. Wires connected to its head like something between hair and a crown. It was much smaller than the other golems and stood at only seven feet tall, a bit larger than I was. Despite that, I could tell it was far more powerful than any of the other golems I’d faced.

At first, I thought its face was expressionless, but as I approached, a blue light booted to life beneath a thick cake of dust who knew how many centuries old.

It spoke in the ancient tongue, and thanks to Mimiko’s teachings, I translated its words manually. The difference in dialect meant the translation wasn’t perfect, but I was good enough to get by with it.

“Speak thy word of passage,” the golem said.

“Password?” I asked hopefully.

The golem was silent.

“How about ‘Admin’?”

It remained silent.

“One-two-thee-four?”

The golem booted up again, and for a moment I’d thought I’d actually guessed correctly. Then it’s face flashed red.

“Invalid words of passage spoken. Thou art designated interloper. Thy form shall be rendered at great remove.”

The blue line across the golem’s face flashed red like eyes going from passive to angry.

So I squared up for a fight. While it would have been nice to guess the password and claim this fancy B-Grade golem for myself, I always expected things to come down to violence. Thankfully, I was looking for something like this to test my new class on.

The golem was surprisingly fast, at least compared to the others I’d fought. It tried to grab me, but my bloodline gave me enough warning to dip to the side and avoid it. That wasn’t what I was here to test, though, so I followed it up with a few rapidly cast Mana Bolts.

The bolts fizzled out against the golem’s side. Neutral Mana probably wasn’t the right aspect to use to take down something like this. But I’d done just enough damage to leave a Corrupting Mark. The size of the weak spot the mark left was about thirty percent bigger than before.

“Not bad... not bad...” I muttered, though if this was all a newly improved class was worth, I was going to be disappointed.

A Sunlight Spear was somewhat more effective, but Eldrich Blight was where my evolved class showed its might. The spatial rift that ability opened up was nearly twice as big as before, and it sprayed out a wave of corrupting energy over four times the area. Between this and my dragon’s breath, anything trying to swarm me would probably die long before it reached me.

Voidling’s Embrace was similarly enlarged, and the otherworldly tentacle popping out of an extra-dimensional rift that restrained the golem was much bigger than before. I had a hunch Destined Death was dealing more damage too, but the golem was pretty damn durable and it was tough to tell.

“This contraption’s might doth prove insufficient. Girding with further weaponry shall be thy remedy,” the golem said.

“What?” I asked, scratching my head in confusion at the difficult Architect dialect.

Then, the golem reached under its throne and pulled out a massive axe.

“Ah. That.” I dodged the axe blow aimed at my neck, but just as I did, enchantments activated along the length of the weapon. Even though I’d cleanly dodged the blow, my neck bled as though I’d been struck anyway.

“Defiance availeth thee naught. Yield thy will or face ruin,” the golem said.

My eyes scanned the axe. There was some sort of very interesting luck-based effect on that axe. I couldn’t be sure of the details without proper study, but at a glance, I could guess the axe spread its effects across probabilities. So long as it had a decent chance of hitting me, it would still deal damage even if I dodged the actual attack.

That was a pretty scary enchantment. And it was something I was very much interested in.

It was time to get serious.

I activated Mania, first to Dissonance, then to Furor, and Blood Frenzy. This, more than anything, showed the changes advances in my class brought. More power than ever flowed through me. My blood felt hot, like it had been turned to gasoline and lit aflame. My body moved with eagerness, like just the thought of ripping an enemy apart was enough to give me the jitters.

I restrained the desire to rush in like a madman and slice the golem apart with Arcane Blade. That axe made close-quarters combat dangerous, and I was far better off skirting around the sides of the room and slowly nipping away at this thing with spells until it died.

The room wasn’t quite large enough to make that strategy easy, but as long as I stayed fast on my feet, I could jump from corner to corner faster than the golem could keep up with me.

Bits and pieces of stone came off as my corrupting marks spread. Unfortunately, they took much of the administrative golem’s enchantment with it, but eventually, I blasted off one of its legs completely. With that, its mobility was gone, and it was just a matter of staying out of reach before I blasted its head off, and the golem was good and dead.

Unfortunately, the golem had blocked many of my Mana Bolts with the flat of its axe, which meant my prize wasn’t in as good a shape as I’d hoped. But at least I had it. Hopefully, I could still piece together most of the enchantment.

When I sat down in the chair, the System acknowledged my victory.

Congratulations, you have defeated the golems!

As golems are an automaton race, your victory over their controller has resulted in the remaining golems powering down.

You may exterminate the remaining golems, or you may reprogram them into a servant faction under your own command.

With the golems taken care of, the main thing on my to-do list had suddenly cleared up. As soon as I dealt with the last of the Torchdragon’s young, this stage of the integration would be over. And doing that would be as simple as letting Sharky loose to eat his favorite food.

I’d give my people a few days or weeks to consolidate our new territory before starting that. After all, we had at least one new group of survivors to chat with and hopefully integrate with everybody else. I also wanted to talk with Sir Trellis about his magic mirror that would let me speak with the dead.

After defeating the administrator golem, I tried to use its chair to no avail. This was clearly the control module for all the golems in this area, but the interface wasn’t meant for a human brain. Sufficient application of magic might solve the issue, but I already had a sudo-AI on my hands. Perhaps I could put her on the job. Maybe she could help me translate the Architect language better, too since the golem had barely been intelligible, even with everything Mimiko had been teaching me.

“Well done, my lord,” Mimiko said as she entered through the same door I’d come through.

A moment later, another door flew open, followed by Reluna’s steady clapping.

“No, it was splendidly done, Carter,” Reluna said, flashing me a bright smile and a nod of approval.

Mimiko folded her arms across her chest in reply, and soon the two glared at one another.

I was going to have my hands full with these two.