Amazon Apocalpyse 4: Chapter 47

We took the rest of the castle without issue, and then I sent messengers back the way we’d come to inform the others of my victory.

“I’m going scouting. Don’t follow me,” I ordered.

“B-but sir hero!” Prince Eowyn protested.

I shook my head. “We lack the manpower to secure the castle as it is. A party to escort me will just leave the place undefended. Besides, I can get in and out of danger easily if I’m alone.”

“A-alright...” Prince Eowyn’s cheeks flushed in a decidedly unmasculine way. “Be careful, okay?”

I departed alone for the wilderness, where I found several groups of undead and some hulking ogre-looking guys marching toward the castle. None were above the D-Grade, and I slaughtered them all without mercy.

Once I was certain I was out of sight of the castle, I did what I’d really come all the way out here for and pulled out Sharky’s summoning circle.

I tossed the metal loop on the ground and called him forth, and soon, he appeared in all his glory. As a hulking Void Leviathan, he put to shame any monster I’d seen out of this so-called Demon Lord, and given his level had once again increased to match mine, I knew he could tear apart even a general like the one I’d slain.

“Our allies here look like me, but smaller and weaker. Don’t eat them. Anything else is yours to feast upon.” I gave Sharky’s side a fond pat.

“Nom nom,” Sharky said, promising an apocalyptic tide of destruction on the Demon Lord’s army. He turned and departed, keen senses drawn to the nearest prey.

He would have to do the bulk of the killing. I suspected I would be stuck leading an army, which meant I would be out of the field most of the time. But as far as I could tell, Sharky never slept and never tired. Hopefully, he could hound the enemy army better than I ever could and drive them back into their fortresses. If my newly recruited knights and I only had to deal with weakened stragglers without support or reinforcements, retaking the villages and towns I’d spotted from afar would be significantly easier.

I returned to the castle to find Prince Eowyn had been up waiting for me.

“You’re back! What did you find?”

I chuckled. “That hungry for battle, are you? I found several targets worth striking at. When reinforcements come to help hold the castle, we’re going to clear all the outlying villages. Our army is short on supplies, so that should help greatly. I would also like to recruit villagers to fight for us. Knights and men-at-arms are grand and all, but not all the tasks an army needs to be done require years of training.”

I found quarters in the castle and was surprised to find a substantial horde of silver, gold, and gems. The general I’d slain had been something of a hoarder and had brought his entire personal trove of wealth on the road with him. This was an excellent find, since it meant recruiting village boys to join my army would be much easier. I could have levied them if I needed to, or even tried to pay them in Amazonian coins, but handing out local silver and gold would produce the least friction.

Morning came with reinforcements, and soon the castle was fully staffed. I listened in to some of the rumors being spoken at breakfast.

“The hero smote an army with a word!”

“He can hand out divine blessings left and right! Each loyal knight who stands by his side becomes anathema to demons and undead!”

“Remember Tomlagor the Tormentor? The general who slew so many of our champions? He could not so much as touch the hero’s armor!”

Many more rumors spread, and the excitement of a victory after such a lengthy string of defeats brought with it more authority than any religious proclamation. Though High Priestess Calista arriving to see proof of my victory with her own eyes was certainly another boon to my cause.

In the end, she even joined me and Prince Eowyn’s knights in liberating the villages. Her light-aligned magic was particularly effective against the undead. Curiously, the people of this land had no actual gods but instead worshiped the heavens, light overhead, and the general themes of honor, duty, and virtue. The general impression I got was that it had been a weak and dying religion before the current crisis revived it.

I suspected that was part of the reason I was here. Had they worshiped gods, they might have had divine protection against the Chaos Gods and their allies. But without it, they were on their own. Their only hope was beseeching the System for aid in the form of me.

We spent the next three days liberating villages. I’d overestimated the remaining supplies the army camped at the cathedral had been surviving on, and the knights had already gone hungry for a full day by the time we got the first load of grain back to them.

We watched the army eat from the balcony of the cathedral. This time, people smiled and waved in my direction, even though I’d so recently stood here and insulted them. Next to me were High Priestess Calista and Prince Eowyn. Both had gained more levels than anyone else fighting by my side and while they were still far from C-Grade, they were making faster progress than anyone else.

“I’ve never seen nobles rejoice at the sight of crushed oats before,” High Priestess Calista laughed as she stood close to my left side.

Prince Eowyn stepped up to my right side, edging a bit closer than the high priestess. “We’ve been on rations for nearly a year now. Last night, I dreamed of honey cake, and when I woke, I nearly cried at the thought I might never taste it again.”

I rested a hand on the prince’s shoulder. “Once this is over, there will be a lot of rebuilding to do. But good times lay ahead.”

High Priestess Calista nudged closer to my left at that, and pretty soon, I was thoroughly squished between them. When they started glaring at one another and tugging at my arms, I figured it was time to go on another scouting mission.

The two of them were fine people, and if this was not a quest, I could see myself making lifelong friends here. But the System had taken me who knew where, and when I was done with my task, it would take me back home. There was no point in getting too attached.

For that same reason, I’d avoided committing too much to these people. I reorganized their motley feudal military into something more akin to an imperial structure so that I’d have greater ease of command. Their feudal hierarchy was largely destroyed anyway, so I would have had to reorganize them one way or another.

But I didn’t enchant their swords with magic. Nor introduce them to fertilizer or electricity. I wasn’t trying to build an empire in my image, just complete a quest and vanish. If all went well, I could fade into history and be a nameless hero who future generations would not even be sure existed at all. I hadn’t even told the locals my real name, and they were stuck calling me ‘Sir Hero’ for lack of something better.

Hiding so much was more frustrating than I thought it’d be. Thankfully, there were plenty of targets to take my frustration out on. I received a notification earlier that day that Sharky had slain another of the Demon Lord’s generals, so I chased after his wake and cleaned up what was left.

***

The following morning, I mustered my forces. For each of the knights who’d taken the castle alongside me and Prince Eowyn, I had twenty more, and a hundred men-at-arms on top of them. Fewer peasants had accepted my coin than I would have liked, but all told, I had assembled about ten thousand fighting men and no small number of women in disguise.

The scale of this fighting would be larger than any battle I’d led before, though made different largely by the weakness of the average recruit. On Earth, I had a few hundred men to my name, but dozens of elite C-Grades who could have decimated my army on their own. Even elite D-Grades from my forces like poor Sam, who’d lost his life during the Voidling attacks, would have been a champion among champions in this crowd.

But we made up for our lack of power with numbers, and with foes to fight, levels would only grow from here. Or at least the closest equivalent these people had to levels. They seemed unfamiliar with the System, so they were probably unintegrated, though the System seemed to work fine for me, which meant we couldn't be out of System space.

I went to each of my loyal knights and made them an officer in full view of the mighty host. Then I broke the army into twenty cohorts, and from there centuries a hundred strong. Smaller groups would farm from there, but I made sure those who took the castle were rewarded with command positions.

“Each century has a destination. Look to your leaders and cleanse this land of the enemy!”

There was a bit of chanting and praise for their hero, but soon, everyone was on their way. I stayed beyond to watch most of our forces clear out. They didn’t know it, but Sharky had already done the hard work. They were just doing cleanup. While we waited, I spoke to Calista again.

“High Priestess Calista, what do you know of other worlds? Or other continents, for that matter. Why do no ships sail from afar to join us?” I asked.

“I know you came from another world. I also know that long ago my people knew of places far from here, ruled by men and women akin to gods. Once, there were mighty arrays of light and magic that could take us to them, but the last of those arrays were destroyed in an uprising generations ago. Now, only heroes summoned by special magic may come and go. As for other continents? I’m not familiar with the term. All the mortal realms of the world have already joined in our fight or been defeated. The Demon King will stand for no resistance to his rule.”

I nodded, stroking my chin. “I thought as much.”

This was an isolated world and an even more isolated continent. It was easy prey for the Chaos Gods, but what exactly did they want here? By multiversal standards, the people were poor as dirt. Even their princes and kings lived scarcely better than medieval peasants. Only their priesthood had any magic to speak of, and the rate at which monsters spawned was pitifully low, hence the low average level. I wasn't sure I'd even seen a natural monster anywhere, though there were plenty of rumors.

Conquering this place would bear little in the way of resources without considerable effort to uplift the people first. The Chaos Gods didn’t strike me as far-sighted enough to make use of this land in that way. So why claim this world?

“Something is bothering you, hero. Does your fight with the Demon King weigh on your mind?” Calista asked.

I chuckled. “If only all my problems could be solved by slaying a Demon King. I’d sleep much easier at night.”

Calista went silent, and my words seemed to disturb her. Threats that made Demon Kings seem pleasant by comparison were likely things she didn’t dare to think about.

“Don’t worry, I won’t trouble you with my problems. Come, let’s find Prince Eowyn and begin a march. There are a string of fortresses to the south, and we must claim each one to protect the centuries of knights patrolling the lands nearby.”

***

One day turned into two and then into a week. I was growing worried about how much time was passing. Every day I stayed here on this world was another day I wasn’t back home. What was happening in Crownhill? And what was happening with Cyra? The Mucaria pocket realm moved three times faster than normal. Did she even remember that night in our tent together?

I found myself sleeping less and less. It was a good thing too, because both High Priestess Calista and Prince Eowyn came late at night with looted wine or other goods to share. They always left disappointed when they couldn't find me.

Our scouts found another general, and I made my way to him under cover of night. I came to a castle lit with torches and heavily guarded, but I paid these mundane defenses no mind as I slipped into the shadow realm and walked by them all like they weren’t even there. When I emerged into real space again, I stood before the general I sought.

He was surrounded by several captured noble girls, all dressed in the scraps of once-fine ladies’ gowns. One bore a tray of wine, another hand-sized sweet biscuits I took to be honey cake.

I appeared before the door to his chambers and grabbed the heavy iron latch to bar the door and swung it shut. This was the only exit from the room, I’d made sure of that.

I turned to the demon general, a black leather cloak fluttering behind me. I normally wore something brighter, since during the day I was a radiant hero who wanted to be seen. Here at night though, the Moonshade Fox Cloak lent the silver armor I wore a more sinister look.

“You know, at first I thought to decapitate you in a drunken stupor, but now I find myself curious.”

“Huh?” the demon general stood. Like the other, he had the look of a flayed man with raw red muscles adorning his body. He was bigger and stronger than a normal human, but I’d already judged him and found him to be even weaker than the first general I killed.

Molagor the Wrathful (Level 145)

“I have questions. I’ll take a limb each time you say or do something I don’t like. I don’t know how many limbs C-Grades of your kind can afford to lose, but I’m prepared to find out.” I strode toward the general, slender rapier drawn and ready, glittering with powerful enchantments unknown to any mortal soul of this realm.

“How the hell did you get in here? Who are you?” the general began while reaching for a barbaric-looking sword. The blade was all wrong and had smaller daggers jutting out from the hilt at odd angles, like he was trying to make a serrated blade but only knew what they were from descriptions.

I swept my sword through the air, cutting his sword arm off at the elbow. The captive noblewoman screamed at the sight of sudden blood.

“Ladies, in back, please. You’ll be rescued tomorrow when the hero’s army arrives. I need to talk to this guy alone.”

“Agh! My arm. Who the hell are you?” Molagor the Wrathful gasped. He reached down with his good hand to pick up his severed limb, but was stopped by the point of my blade mere inches from his eye.

I glanced at his gushing wound and realized the demon general was fading already. That wouldn’t do. I needed him to answer at least a few questions if he was to sate my growing curiosity.

So I flicked my fingers and drew on mana from the fireplace nearby. The flames dimmed, and a mana bolt struck Molagor’s severed limb, searing the wound shut so he wouldn’t lose consciousness from blood loss before I was done with him.

“I saw quite a few severed heads adorning the walls. Your handiwork, I assume?”

“Y-yes. Stupid nobles. They had it coming to them.” Molagor took a few steps back just to get his face away from my sword. I let him go.

He glanced at his sword and reached for it with his other hand. Like the other, I severed it at the elbow, then sealed the wound with a Mana Bolt. Then I waited patiently for him to stop screaming. When he finally calmed, I resumed my questioning.

“You’re a local, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

I waved around us with my sword. “You’re from here?”

“I was a serf in the fields outside. The noble family here treated me like dirt. Not anymore, though. Not since the dark one made me strong.”

That confirmed another theory of mine. The so-called demons of this realm had nothing to do with the void or any hellish plane of existence. They were all strictly local.

“Let me guess, you were given your current body through a magical ritual that involved mass sacrifice? Cutting out someone’s heart or something?”

When I asked Reluna about what happened to Dramonar, she’d guessed at something along those lines. And I’d seen enough of a Chaos God ritual when possessing that dragon to have a decent idea of how things went.

“Those nobles had it coming!” Molagor shouted at me.

I glanced toward the back room where the noblewomen scurried off to. “And those are the wives and daughters of the noblemen whose heads adorn your walls?”

His glare was as good as an answer.

“Who are you? And why are you here?” Molagor demanded.

My sword whipped out, extended by Arcane Blade. Molagor’s leg came off just below the knee. He toppled backward and would have fallen on his ass if not for the chair behind him. He’d been relaxing in it before as the noblewomen tended to him. Now, it was the only thing keeping him off the ground.

Normally, I found most sorts of torture distasteful, but from what I’d seen and heard, Molagor the Wrathful was about as far from a good man as it was possible to be. I suspected that was why the Chaos Gods favored him so. They needed someone to cause chaos for them.

“Okay, so you were a discontent serf who got an opportunity to overthrow the local lord and sacrifice a few people for personal power. Makes sense. But who came and gave you the offer? That’s what I need to know.”

Molagor’s eyes flickered. “The Demon King, who else?”

But I sensed a trace of a lie there. I tapped my sword against his cheek, drawing a line of thick, black blood.

“An old necromancer! He’s a wizard of dark and terrible power! Only an otherworlder could wield magic like he can!” He stared at me a moment.

“There’s more.”

“The necromancer came riding a great and terrible beast. It used to be an egg, but the lich raised it into this huge monster. The thing looks like a giant lizard but is far more fearsome.”

I nodded to myself, figuring it’d be something like this. They would be the ones to know what I was interested in.

“N-now I answered all your questions. Fix me! We can forget this ever happened, and I can even give you a good introduction to the Demon King! If you’re this strong already, imagine how much more powerful you’ll be with a Chaos God’s blessing. You’ll be unstoppable!” He lowered his voice, whispering. “And you know, together, we could even get rid of the current Demon King. You could help me steal his throne! Of course, I’d reward you handsomely for your aid...”

I let out a slight scoff as I flicked my blade through the air.

“No thanks. And you ladies in back, remember to sit tight until tomorrow!”

I activated Shadowrealm Stride to vanish from sight. Behind me, Molagor’s head fell from his shoulders.