Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 19

It took nearly half an hour to complete my work on Mimiko. The entire time she lay down while I ran my hand down her robes, I had visions of Sakura kicking down the door. While I’d be fine in such a scenario, I doubted the same could be said for Mimiko.

Thankfully, I was lucky this time, and the entire half hour passed undisturbed. With her cooperation, it was much easier to examine her soul. I looked it over, taking in the unique cultivator biology I observed.

Mimiko wasn’t human, of that I was growing increasingly sure. I wasn’t sure if humans like me even had spiritual roots like she did. No, I suspected Mimiko was a distant decedent of the legendary architects, the creators of the System.

Her ancestors were the ones who evolved the humanoid form, and the System guided various species to take shape in their image. So far, I wasn’t too impressed with their people. Perhaps they’d had a golden age once upon a time, but they’d fallen far from their former heights. Perhaps I was biased as a monkey-descendant, but I liked the way the humans of Earth looked a bit more than the too-perfect appearance of the architects.

With her fully cooperating with me, there was little need to occupy the manor’s only prison with her. I tossed her a single spirit stone, which she accepted with the same delight she’d shown when I first tossed it to her.

“Don’t run off on me and there’ll be another one of these for you in a week,” I told her.

“This one is honored to serve!” Mimiko gushed hastily as she rubbed her cheek against the shiny piece of jade. The smile on her face spread from ear to ear, and when she thought I was out of sight, she even kissed the rock.

Mimiko could be useful at some point, though I hadn’t decided what I’d use her for. Still, I’d been right to save these spirit stones. If a little aethersmithing and a rock could win over a cultivator this easily, maybe I could devise something more clever than fighting these people head-on. I’d have to share my information with Prince Herius and mull over a few ideas with him.

I emerged from my manor to find one of Legate Maximus’ men waiting for me.

“There you are, Legate Carter!” the soldier threw me a hasty salute. His chest was heaving, and his brow was covered in sweat. He’d probably been running hard until recently. “I finally found you!”

“My people knew where I was. All you had to do was ask some of them.” I frowned at this breach of protocol. Not that I was an inflexible leader. Exceptions always had to be made.

“No time. The situation is dire! The third and thirteenth legions are being wiped out as we speak. They were ambushed by several Black Beast Sect elders, and they don’t have any B-Grades to contend with them. Legate Maximus is already on his way with his best men, but we need you too!”

I cursed. Given what Mimiko had been telling me, this sort of surprise attack came completely out of nowhere. The cultivators should have been trying to avoid big climactic battles like this. But maybe a few elders had taken one look at the third and thirteenth legions and decided we were weak enough to bump off.

While Legate Abesa and Legate Morin had their issues with me, I wasn’t about to let their troops be wiped out. Not to mention my own troops that were out there reinforcing them.

“I’ll gather my commanders and lead a party of combat-ready elites. Will they survive five minutes?” I asked.

“No! They need you immediately. If you go ahead, I’ll tell your subordinates to follow,” the soldier said.

“Fine. Where are they?”

The soldier gave me a hasty location on the far outskirts of the city, and I took to the air on ephemeral dragon wings. Between Elemental Step, Shadowrealm Stride, and these wings, I could traverse far distances in the blink of an eye, and what would take the F-Grade soldiers a day of marching was just a matter of minutes for me. This kind of speed had helped me save more than one batch of troops who got in over their heads.

Along the way, I pulled out my radio. The party system was all well and good, but radios had no member limits, and I made sure every officer of mine had one.

“Everyone, you should have gotten word of an emergency. The third and thirteenth legions are in trouble, and I will rescue them. I’m heading east at top speed, but I want a party following behind to help with cleanup. Is anybody out there with eyes on the situation? First auxiliary century, I know you’re stationed in that area. What’s going on?”

The radio buzzed, and Asimi’s voice came back to me over the radio.

“I’m not seeing anything, Legate. In fact, today has been unusually quiet. There hasn’t been a sign of cultivator presence anywhere.”

“All clear here,” another voice chimed in.

“Clear as well,” said a third.

“Carter, this is Cyra,” Cyra’s voice came through. “You said we should have gotten word of an emergency?”

“By now, certainly. There was a soldier from the Seventh Legion who seemed nearly in a panic.”

“I haven’t seen them. Anybody else?” Cyra asked.

All was quiet.

“Maybe he got lost? It’s a big city?” Myrina chimed in.

I slowed to a stop, and my phantom dragon wings brought me sliding to a halt.

My officers were stationed all over the city. It would have been practically impossible not to get in contact with at least one of them. Something wasn’t right here.

“New orders. I want patrols scouring the city for a man matching the following description. If you see him and he doesn’t immediately approach to deliver a warning of a surprise attack, detain him and hold him for questioning. He was last seen wearing a messy Seventh Legion uniform. He had brown hair and eyes, pale skin, and vaguely bird-like features.”

I told my people all I could remember of my brief encounter while scanning the horizon and looking for any sign of fighting at all. Just as I was telling my people what to do if they found the man we were looking for, I sensed mana gathering nearby. Somebody was channeling a powerful spell of the sort that could only be a B-Grade attack.

“This is Legate Carter. Cyra, I need you on my position immediately. I think I’m in a bit of trouble,” I whispered into the radio before shutting it off. B-Grades had keen hearing, and they might hear a reply.

As energy continued to build, I was alarmed that I wasn’t dealing with just one B-Grade. There were multiple hostiles nearby, all laying in ambush. And now that I was looking, there were wards hidden by spatial magic on the ground nearby. I would have been caught in an extremely deadly trap if I had landed.

I pretended not to notice for a little while longer while preparing myself for the ambush. My passive abilities activate one by one, and I ate one of Bridget’s battle biscuits like I was having a little snack before battle.

Blood Frenzy took hold, along with a half dozen other passive buffs that bolstered my stats to double their baseline. My Signature Skill took hold, massively enhancing my mana pool and reflexes. All the dragon lodge abilities combined neatly with blood frenzy, and I felt like a ravenous dragon starved and ready for battle.

I double-checked my talismans to ensure I could use Unholy Revelation, the fourth stage of Mania, if needed. I wasn’t sure what effects that would have now that I was B-Grade and had some chaos god power of my own, but I’d only field test it here if I really needed it.

I activated Mage Armor and Elemental Phalanx, too. Both would let me take an extra hit, and Living Paradox was active. Should I put on my Doomblade Armor as well? It would increase my physical defenses but limit my magical combat power. I still hadn’t upgraded the armor enough to keep up with my B-Grade power.

I could summon Sharky, though that would take a minute. I decided that was the best way to use what time remained and threw down the summoning circle. The spell began, but that was all the time I had.

As soon as I sensed the offensive spell meant to kill me activate, I cast Aegis of the Void. A beam of sinister black and crimson light pierced the sky. It had a deadly aura to it, like it would erase absolutely anything it touched out of existence, and even a B-Grade like me could easily die to a direct hit.

But Aegis of the Void opened a portal to the endless expanse of nothingness, so when the beam passed into it, there was nothing for it to hit.

They dropped their stealth abilities the moment they launched their attack. I had a fraction of a second to survey my enemies, and I used Time Stutter to draw that second out as long as possible.

Black Beast Sect Elder (Level 255)

Black Beast Sect Elder (Level 235)

Black Beast Sect Elder (Level 222)

Black Beast Sect Elder (Level 212)

My assailants were four Black Beast Sect elders, most higher level than I was.

How had this happened? And why me? I’d put Maximus in charge of the city and would have figured they’d target him before me. If he died, Abesa and Morin would fight me for control every step of the way and throw our remaining forces into chaos. Someone must have decided using this opportunity to get rid of me was more important.

They could certainly try to get rid of me here and now, but I had no intention of going down easily. I targeted the weakest of the four Black Beast Sect elders. He wouldn’t have expected me to respond so fast and lethally after being ambushed, and getting a few more levels mid-battle would help me with the rest.

I slipped into the Shadowrealm and reappeared after closing the distance between him and me. Exploit Weakness quickly spotted a bandaged wound on his neck, and I threw a Sunlight Spear at it, followed by a sweep of Arcane Blade from hip to shoulder.

The two rapid attacks weren’t quite enough to kill my target, so I followed up with a cast of Eldrich Blight. That was an attack meant for large groups, but I needed to stack up at least one Corrupting Mark on him as I hit him with Soulchain Nexus.

That was all the time I had before the other elders were on top of me. They jumped on me in the blink of an eye. One wielded a sword, another a pair of daggers. The other two fought with nothing but their fists.

Their fighting styles were ferocious and brutal but had a certain smoothness to it that I envied.

Fights between people in the System were a game of testing and probing the enemy for weaknesses and skills or combinations of skills that would break through enemy defenses. This was something else. The cultivators dove in against me, trusting their techniques and well-honed combat instincts to pull them through the fight.

I dodged a punch as I cast Arcane Blade again to drive another back. A third tried to kick me, and one of my Elemental Phalanx crystals expended itself to block the mana-enhanced blow. The man I’d tried to kill turned on me after drawing his hand along his own sword. It dripped fresh red blood and shone with dark light.

“It’s a thousand years too soon for me to die to a young brat like you!” the bleeding cultivator spat.

“A thousand years is coming early for you!” I flicked my wrist, rapidly casting Sunlight Spear. A beam of light shot toward him, but he shifted his stance low and deflected the beam of light with his sword.

“Pathetic. You System users think--“ the cultivator mocked me for a moment... until he saw the beam of condensed fire mana gathering in my mouth.

I blew a head-sized hole in his chest, and the man toppled to the ground. Soulchain Nexus and Lifesteal took effect, bolstering my health pool and stats. I gained three racial levels right then and there, and allocated the stats as quickly as I could to buy me a little extra power for this fight. Three B-Grade levels were like fifteen C-Grade ones, so the boost in power I felt was palpable as new power surged through me.

The other three didn’t let up the pressure for a moment, but Elemental Step was ready again and I used it to get clear of them. They followed close behind as I took to the air. Each took out flying swords which they rode upon like surfboards.

I let them chase me momentarily, like I was trying to run away. Meanwhile, Mana Bolts took shape all around me.

Thanks to my Signature Skill and my evolution to B-Grade, I had a far larger mana pool than ever before. Once, I never would have risked more than a dozen mana bolts in combat because of the high mana cost to sustain them. That was no longer an issue.

By the time I stopped running and turned, I had more than a hundred hovering around me. I targeted the second weakest of the cultivators with them, and his eyes went wide as he frantically rummaged through his pockets for what looked like a defensive talisman.

I probably could have landed half my Mana Bolts before he activated the talisman, but I held back just a moment. His eyes lit up, and he looked like he was about to breathe a sigh of relief... until he saw my Void Cannon flying straight for his face.

My shield-breaker spell struck his shield with the same explosive ferocity I was used to, and a moment later, my Mana Bolts peppered his unprotected body. My Mana Bolts didn't pack the punch they did at C-Grade, but teaching the spell to much of the legion gave it enough of a boost that it could get through basic B-Grade defenses, which was all I wanted. The bolts themselves left little more than scratches, but each scratch inflicted a Corrupting Mark.

My bloodthirsty onslaught wasn’t without its price though. The two remaining Black Beast Sect elders came at me from either, each channeling powerful abilities. One was surrounded by a cloud of black lightning, while the other had eyes that glowed bright crimson.

I used Arcane Blade on the wounded elder while shrugging off bolts of lightning and more beams of dark crimson energy. Their attacks rapidly shredded what was left of my Elemental Phalanx, and my Mage Armor didn’t last much longer.

I took some serious damage from the two of them, but slicing off both my targets arm gave me back a lot of health through lifesteal. His allies forced me back before I could finish him off, but I had another way.

“Detonate,” I growled, and my Corrupting Marks exploded. The armless Black Beast Sect elder exploded in a fountain of gore and blood.

That series of moves had been vicious and aggressive like the full might of Blood Frenzy redoubled. Perhaps this new Apocalypse Dragon Signature Skill was affecting me more than I thought. I felt like I had some vicious instinct guiding my spells and claws like generations of draconian genetic memory were granting me whatever passed for dragon martial arts. For a moment there, I desperately wanted to sink my teeth into one of the cultivators’ throats. If I had bigger jaws, I’d already be down to one opponent.

The remaining two Black Beast Elders glanced with one another, and their expressions firmed. They realized how much they’d underestimated me. Perhaps they had another trick up their sleeves. Or perhaps they planned to deal one deadly blow and then make their escape to regroup and fight me another day.

“Damn it! Curse that bastard for lying to us. This one is way too strong.”

“Agreed,” the other replied with a grimace. They exchanged a small nod as they came to a silent agreement.

Whatever plan they had would never come to fruition.

Sharky’s summoning was finally finished, and he emerged from his circle as hungry as ever. Already in his eldrich form empowered by Blood Frenzy, he let out a guttural gnashing of teeth that carried with it a feeling of cruel delight.

“Void beast!” One of the cultivators shouted in alarm. But it was too late.

“Nom nom,” Sharky said as he shot forward and latched onto the weaker of the two elders with teeth and tendrils.

The tentacles around Sharky’s mouth grabbed him by the legs and dragged him, kicking and screaming toward the living wood chipper that was Sharky’s jaws. The last thing he said was a series of incomprehensible screams.

While Sharky dealt with that enemy, I chased down the last Black Beast Sect elder. He was the highest level of the batch and had made it through the fight the best. His sword was also the fastest, and even with Elemental Step and my wings, he kept out of reach. I could catch up to him by also using Shadowrealm Stride, but the area he fled to was the one he’d already loaded with traps ahead of my arrival. I slid to a stop as I looked at the ground warily. Could there be a second ambush lying in wait for me?

I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t intend to find out.

I stood there panting and replenishing my Mage Armor spell, still ready for battle but finding no more enemies.

Was it over already? Four enemies had come for me with the element of surprise, and now the last one was fleeing for his life?

I'd won! A smile slowly spread across my face, and I felt the urge to laugh. That's what they deserved for trying to ambush me!

I returned to the scene of the battlefield to find some of my soldiers finally arriving. Cyra was calming them down as they leveled wands at Sharky with shaking hands.

"Monster! Don't worry, Legate, we've got your back!" shouted one of Cyra's Amazonians, who was only now arriving on the scene.

“W-what is that thing?” a young woman asked, terror clear on her face.

“Calm down. The fight is already over. And don’t worry, Sharky’s friendly,” Cyra said, giving Sharky a pat on the side even as he continued to shred the cultivator in his jaws into a bloody paste.

"It's eating someone!" Cyra's Amazonian warrior said, hand on her sword.

“Ignore that. He's eating a bad guy. Everyone, meet Sharky! You can think of him as my summoned familiar. Maybe even as a legion mascot. You’d like to be a mascot, wouldn’t you, buddy?” I asked.

“Nom nom...” Sharky snatched the corpse of the other cultivator, flipped him in the air, and ate him just like the other one.

Congratulations, your class, Sage of Forbidden Knowledge, has reached level 234!

Congratulations, your race, Homo Fatum Deus, has reached level 233!


<Note>
There we go, had a good fight. And Carter's dragon powers are beginning to affect him.

Also, I know some people were concerned that Carter would turn into a generic protagonist with dragon powers and lose his eldrich wizard powers. Don't worry, his Signature Skill lists him as an Apocalypse Dragon for a reason.