Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 25

Clearly, this was where all the good stuff was. Myrina, Sakura, and Bridget were going to be sorry they stayed behind to loot furniture while I pocketed the good stuff.

Mimiko must have sensed my mood.

“This is where all the best artifacts were stored?” she asked.

“Indeed. Let me see if I can get these doors open.” I made my way to the console off to the left, which I fiddled with for a moment.

Behind me, I saw Mimiko reaching up to stroke another part of the wall. It was a casual and exploratory gesture, but at the wrong place at the wrong time. I caught her wrist seconds before disaster.

“Don’t touch that, please. You can’t see them, but there are invisible wires there. Short them out and send the wrong signal, and we might find ourselves attacked from all sides by ancient golems.”

Mimiko’s face went pale, and from then on she held both hands in front of her, wringing them tightly as I worked.

Eventually, the door clicked open, letting us into the next room. There, I found something that would really make Myrina jealous.

“Ha! Is this a laser sword I see?” I asked as I flicked a power button. A beam of hard light shot out from both ends of the metal rod I was holding. I was lucky I had a fast enough reaction time to avoid disemboweling myself.

“It looks more like a quarterstaff,” Mimiko said.

I sighed in disappointment. Thankfully, a few others on the wall were proper swords. I was never a fan of the ridiculous double-ended design, let alone the other even stranger additions. Give me the classical single-blade laser sword.

Thankfully, I found what I was looking for after just a little searching. From the way the laser swords were stored, I suspected they were tools rather than weapons. They were some sort of techno-magical laser cutter, or perhaps a welding tool.

It certainly wasn’t built for anyone below C-Grade though. With the amount of light it was putting of, just the light would slowly blind most normal people while they held it, and the heat was enough to burn unenhanced hands. It was comfortable enough for me to hold though, and it made a satisfying whirring sound as I swept it through the air.

I pocketed the good laser swords. Mimiko was staring at the laser quarterstaff, looking intrigued, so I tossed it in her direction. I figured she out to have a few prizes from this trip as well, besides the lone spirit stone I planned to give her. That had been enough pay for a little scouting work, but I wasn’t the sort of boss who would pick up a treasure trove of wealth and not share a little with my underlings. Mimiko had proved herself surprisingly useful, and more importantly, loyal.

The next room contained some strange machinery, including large machinery and a huge vessel filled with mysterious liquid the size of a person. As we made our way through that room, Mimiko looked at everything with wide eyes, especially the mysterious sludge-like liquid.

“That must be an elixir of immortality!” Mimiko rushed forward to the bronze vessel. She eyed the sludge, then made to disrobe like she was about to jump in.

I put a hand on her shoulder before she did something she would regret.

“It’s not elixir of immortality. This is coolant for the equipment here. It probably used to be oil, but now it’s more like sludge.”

I shut the lid to the coolant reservoir before she could jump in.

“I sense dense energy fluctuations being emitted. Surely it is intended for body tempering?” Mimiko asked.

“It’s been exposed to the System’s energies for thousands of years longer than it was rated for. I’m not surprised it’s undergone some strange magical reactions. But this stuff is far more likely to give you magical cancer than it is to help you.”

“You are ever knowledgeable, Senior Carter. Thank you for enlightening this humble disciple.”

I kept a careful eye on Mimiko so she wouldn’t jump in any vats of mysterious liquid. She seemed particularly keen on finding a magical potion in here.

Eventually, we stumbled across a half-finished energy drink. It took some time to identify it and parse the symbols on the label, but I was pretty sure that was what it was. It was still liquid inside despite who knew how many years it had been since this facility was operational. These Architects built damn good bottles, but perhaps people who lived for thousands of years cared a bit more about their belongings being built to last.

“Here! It’s... uh... a potion of surging might! Use it wisely.” I tossed her the half-drunk energy drink.

“Mine? Truly?” Mimiko looked like I just promised to bring her childhood dog back to life.

“All yours.”

She tucked the half-drunk energy drink away like it was a precious treasure. Really, if that was the kind of stuff cultivators valued, I probably could have come here after they were done with the place and still gotten the system planetary hub.

Then again, my own companions were busy stealing furniture. Maybe I was the weird one interested in the ancient marvels of magical engineering.

I grabbed a few more toys, most of which I couldn’t identify, but that was part of the reason why I wanted them. The text from equipment labels and personal notes would do a lot to bolster my ongoing translation project.

By the time we’d thoroughly scouted the core of the facility, I’d made my way to the bottom and took in the planetary hub in all its glory.

“Now, how am I supposed to steal you?” I asked aloud.

I was hoping some sort of System prompt would pop up giving suggestions, since this was my quest. Alas, no help was provided.

The entire thing looked like one continuous structure, like a sheet of smooth crystal. At first, that was what I thought as well, but upon closer examination, there were fasteners involved. They were just passed through a higher spatial dimension and tucked on the inside of the pillar to conceal them.

I might not have noticed them if not for the fact that it was nearly identical to the construction method I used to assemble my Doomblade Armor.

And if the architects were using the same methods I was, there had to be some sort of latch I could pull to access the inner workings of these devices.

I felt around as best I could until I spotted something like a button, but rounder and more clearly felt through telekinetic grip. I gave it a tug toward me, and a panel unfolded from smooth crystal like it had always been there.

“Jackpot. Now, how do I shut this whole thing down and haul it away?”

After some more digging for some strange futuristic screwdrivers and a bit of work, I got one panel off, freeing up... a single tiny subcomponent of the huge pillar.

Maybe Sakura had the right idea about hiring some help.

A few minutes later, we finally found the combat golems.

“Woah, hold on there. Don’t bump anything near this room,” I waved everyone away from a secure chamber toward the back of the facility, which was filled with combat golems waiting for someone to trigger an alarm.

I looked over the sleek and deadly designs. These things looked like the same ones I’d encountered on the golem shard, albeit just the most powerful ones from back then.

I could probably deal with many of them, as they were only peak C-Grade, but the sheer number laying in wait would be very troublesome. It would be best to keep them sleeping for now.

Unfortunately, the security on these things was rather tight. I would have dearly loved to swipe them, but necessity required I focus on the main prize. I could certainly figure out a way to take these golems if I had infinite time and was willing to sacrifice all else for them, but I suspected these things would wake up as soon as I removed the primary component of the main system planetary hub. That meant it was either them or the hub, and I had a quest for the hub.

One thing was becoming increasingly certain, though. I needed help for this project if I was to take everything in this place before the cultivators found this place. Following Sakura’s lead, I called in some reinforcements.

Thankfully, a good chunk of my legion was in the mess hall when I moved the mystic realm, so I quickly put them to work. With about a thousand people roaming the place, stripping the place to the bones took only a few hours instead of a few weeks.

***

“Legate, sir... your instructions said to discharge the mana capacitors before removing these components,” asked one of my young enchanters recruited from the legion’s wizards.

“Issues?” I raised a brow as I stood from where I’d been crouching toward the base of the massive pillar working on detaching the more difficult components.

“Uh... what’s a capacitor? My enchanting professors never covered something like that,” the young enchanter asked.

I sighed and sat up. Sometimes, I really missed Gobgob. With her, this project would already be done. But I used this as a teaching moment and tried not to let my disappointment show as I went over to where my enchanter was working and walked them through the stage of the disassembly process I needed them to take care of.

I had the time to spare, though. By my measure, we were nearly done. With perhaps another half hour of work, I’d be ready to pull the main component. I’d already instructed Sakura and Bridget to take the civilian work crews back, and now all my forces that weren’t needed for this special operation were following them into the mystic realm.

Until now, I hadn’t considered how useful a portable pocket realm was for clandestinely deploying an army. I would have to use this trick more often. Taking Tinsburg might have been even easier if I’d known all I needed to do was sneak myself inside the city. No wonder even A-Grades coveted personal mystic realms.

“So that there is a mana capacitor, it’s storing lightning mana for the...” I paused in my miniature lecture as the ceiling shook.

“Legate?” the young enchanter asked.

“Anyway, this here--“

“Trouble!” Mimiko interrupted me. I’d set her on watch duty near the entrance to this place since she was a cultivator and therefore well tuned to the aura sensing technique they used to identify one another.

I had hoped her presence near the entrance would convince other digging cultivators that someone was already excavating this area through another tunnel, and there was no reason to dig in her direction.

“Are they through the entrance?” I asked.

Mimiko shook her head. “I tried to stop them and claim there was nothing here, which is true enough since your people had already stripped every room but this one. But they didn’t believe me. Word is spreading already, and it’s only a matter of time before Elder Blackhand himself shows up!”

I cursed.

“Get back through the portal, Mimiko.” I turned to my enchanters behind me. “All of you as well. Get out of here!”

My enchanters dropped their tools and abandoned their positions. While they scrambled, I threw down Sharky’s summoning circle and called on his help.

Sharky poked his nose out, and I gave him my orders. “There are more of those guys in black robes coming this way. Slow them down!”

“Nom nom,” Sharky said.

Hopefully, a B-Grade monster like Sharky showing up would make the cultivators think they’d stumbled upon an underground monster lair that wasn’t worth exploring.

That plan only lasted a few minutes. I sensed Sharky in battle from afar, and I activated Dissonance to give him an edge. The way the first level of Mania swept my worries away and left me disconnected made my work on the System Planetary Hub a little slower, but I compensated by trying to work faster and cutting a few corners.

For a while, things settled down, and I figured Sharky must have driven the cultivators off. Then I sensed him fighting again, and I was forced to activate Furor. And it wasn’t much longer before I had to activate Blood Frenzy too.

When somebody actually managed to dispel Sharky, I knew I was in trouble. I stopped unscrewing things and started tearing at them and shoving components into my satchel.

I heard a gruff voice echo through the halls. It was male, angry, and made me strongly suspect I was about to catch a glimpse of this infamous Elder Blackhand if I didn’t get moving soon.

“Damn it to the depths of the abyss! Who beat us here!? Who!? They didn’t even leave scraps behind. They even stole the furniture!”

“Elder, perhaps this is the wrong ruin? Maybe we have to dig deeper?” asked an unfamiliar voice, probably another cultivator.

“No, this is it. All our divinations say as much. It’s just that someone else had better diviners. Was it the Eternal Spring Sect? Perhaps they discovered the artifact as well? No... this doesn’t feel like a ruin they’ve raided...”

The voice grew louder as he spoke, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he was on top of me. But I was seconds away from removing the final components.

In my rush to finish, he must have heard all the clanging and banging from down the hall because I heard a flash of motion like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Soon, I had the distinct impression that someone was rushing toward me.

Thinking fast, I activated Arcane Blade and sliced through the remaining components holding the pillar together. The violent act severed a dozen wires that would take me hours to repair, but I wasn’t leaving without this thing after coming so far.

“There you are, thief! And here I thought I’d missed you!” said the man I presumed to be Elder Blackhand.

He was a bearded and gruff looking sort, and he wore black gloves over both his hands. Instead of disciple robes, what he wore was more of a black overcoat, complete with a dark hood that shrouded much of his features. The System confirmed my assessment with a quick scan.

Elder Blackhand (Level 352)

He was a high B-grade. Could I take him? Perhaps, if I lured him into the mystic realm where I could keep him busy while a thousand wizards pelted him with spells. But there were decent odds that he had more B-Grade elders nearby, and if I wasn’t fast enough to close the mystic realm portal, I risked losing my whole army.

I took a flight to avoid his incoming blow. I went up several flights of stairs and landed near a console. Elder Blackhand never lost sight of me all the while.

“Sorry, I was just leaving.” I slapped my hand against the alarm trigger that Mimiko had nearly activated while we were touring the place.

“I’m going to pluck your brain from your skull and drag answers out of it...” Elder Blackhand sword, fingers wriggling oddly. I couldn’t tell because of the thick black gloves, but from the way they moved, I suspected that whatever was inside those gloves wasn’t human fingers.

“How about you get answers out of them instead?” I nodded toward the nearby security door, which sprung open thanks to me triggering the alarm wards. Beyond the enchanted metal doors, hundreds of eyes lit up in crimson. The battle golems were waking up.

I waved goodbye and stepped into the Shadowrealm just as the golems emerged. Elder Blackhand’s Shadowrealm imprint snapped at me, taking a strangely mechanical form as whizzing saws tried to bisect me in two. I was ready for the attack though, and my own dragon shadow snapped at his.

I avoided the fight and returned to the center of the room, where the grand prize was waiting. My last cut had sliced the base free, though now it had a dent in the side in the shape of Elder Blackhand’s fist.

Still, I had a quest to complete. Hopefully, this would be good enough.

I emerged from the Shadowrealm and hoisted my prize under my shoulder, which was now a mostly stripped-down metal beam about the length of two cars. It was unwieldy to tuck under my arm and shove it into the mystic realm, but I made do and shoved the last of the System Planetary Hub through.

I dusted my hands, closed the portal to the mystic realm, and then shoved the throne-shaped anchor into storage.

“Stop him! And deal with these golems!” Elder Blackhand ordered, though he was caught in a fight with a dozen golems. He seemed surprisingly slow at dealing with them, given his level. Perhaps his best abilities weren’t well suited to these conditions.

Whatever the case, I made my hasty escape. I used Elemental Step and dashed toward the disciples. They were low level and had no hope of stopping me. The only person here who qualified to bar my path was Elder Blackhand himself, and with him busy, the rest of his people barely even qualified as obstacles.

I dashed for the only C-Grade among them and dealt with him with a swift Arcane Blade sweep through his chest. By then, Shadowrealm Stride was ready again, and I used it to pass straight through several walls toward the exit.

There, I discovered several piles of bone-like debris, along with a dozen voidlings, like the kind Sharky made when he had a feast. The Black Beast Sect must have thrown a lot of disciples at him before banishing him, and even now, D-Grade disciples were fighting for their lives against his minions.

I ignored them as I ran straight for the exit, then took flight and soared out of the hole. Once I was free of the ground, there was nobody left to stop me.


<Note>
I'm unsure how long Elder Blackhand is going to last. My original thought was that he'd survive until the conclusion, but I do kinda get the impression that under the right circumstances, Carter could deal with him much earlier.

He doesn't come off as smart or schemy as I thought he would, so maybe he'll die early.