Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 60

After letting the workers flee into the city, Myrina lit the workshop behind us on fire. The old wood caught in moments, and before long the entire workshop was going up in flames.

"Mission accomplished. Time to go," Lark said.

She’d been glaring at me since our altercation. She was Myrina's mercenary and prepared to follow Myrina's orders, but she clearly thought letting the workers go was me being soft rather than pragmatic.

I was just glad that she was dedicated enough to her mercenary contract that when Myrina gave the order to stop, she stopped.

"Which way is our escape route?" I asked Myrina.

"Behind us and to the left is a sewer grate. It continues on through the outer wall. It'll be a bit of a jump to the base of the wall, but we can make it," Myrina jerked her head behind us.

"What about Cyra and the others?" I asked.

"She can handle herself... probably." Myrina cast a hesitant glance back toward the city gates. The clash of weapons had gotten more intense, and from where we were, even I could hear the sounds of heavy fighting, mixed in with more than one Amazonian scream.

"That doesn't sound like she’s handling herself," Bridget muttered, a frown on her face.

"Crap. You're right. Let's go!" Myrina took off at a jog, and the rest of us followed her.

It wasn't long before we came upon Cyra's distraction. And what a distraction it was.

Cyra stood in the center of the street, a juggernaut of steel and fury. Her crimson hair tied back behind her head streamed behind her as she smashed her way through enemy lines. She had one of my Mana Swords in either hand and all around her were summoned monsters.

She battered the shell of an enormous turtle with the sword in one hand. Meanwhile, she cut through balls of fire from another summoned monster with the other. Far from overwhelmed, she was chipping away at the shell of the turtle beneath her. Before long, it would disperse into the mana it was made from and she'd be on to her next target.

Unfortunately, the others in her party lacked Cyra's fearlessness in combat. Two Amazonian warriors lay dead on the ground, one of them from the pair Elder Thalassa had sent to keep an eye on Myrina. If Cyra lost any more support, I feared she might get overrun with more summoned monsters than even she could handle.

Despite the ferocity of her strikes, each strike of her mana swords could only convert so much kinetic energy into magical energy; each blow only dealt so much damage. Had Cyra been fighting physical monsters, she'd no doubt have already cut a swath straight through them all the way back to the gates, but these specters were a tougher challenge.

"If we don't jump in, they're probably going to die," Robin said and then shrugged, casting a glance at Myrina. She seemed not to care, either way. To her, this was just another day on the job.

"Dammit, " Myrina hissed, "now we need to be a distraction for her. We need something that can draw their attention away to buy time for us all to reach the gates." She shot me a hopeful look.

I frowned. "Give me a moment, I might actually have something.

I'd stashed a wire circle from a car’s sunshade—the kind that folded up into a coil and then sprang apart into a sunshade all at once—in my bag of holding for summoning Sharky. I withdrew the coil of wire and tossed it on the ground where it was supposed to unravel into the perfect circle I needed to perform my summons. I’d tested this wire as a summoning circle once before, but in the heat of the moment, mistakes happen.

When it uncoiled on the ground, it caught on the edge of a cobblestone and bent. With a curse, I squatted down and straightened it out. Eventually, I got things right and dark mist swirled within the circle.

A huge ghostly shark appeared, already with sinister tendrils writhing around its mouth from my Mania. The shadows around him spread out to coat the streets. If anything could catch more attention than a battle-hungry Amazonian warrior wielding two swords as she cut through monster after monster while screaming at the top of her lungs, it was Sharky.

"Sharky, see those ghostly monster things? They're today's snack. Go get 'em!" I pointed at the things attacking Cyra.

"NOM NOM!"

Sharky shot forward with his tendrils extended. He managed to get surprisingly close to the group of monsters before they reacted. None of the militia moved to interfere, though I wasn't sure if that was because they were afraid of him, or if they assumed he was one of their monsters.

The first thing Sharky did was bite the turtle Cyra had been fighting in half. Though he was a lower level than Cyra, he had no problems dealing damage to spectral foes. Cyra jumped back in shock and surprise at the sight of this strange new monster, but the rest of us wasted no time as Sharky drew the attention of the crowd of ghostly beasts.

"Big Sis! It's us. We're done. Let's get out of here!" Myrina yelled.

"Don't harm the giant shark ghost summons, he's with me!" I warned just before Cyra attacked Sharky. Cyra took a few steps back, seemingly surprised that Sharky didn't lunge for her.

Cyra pointed a sword toward the other end of the city. "The other two workshops haven't gone up!"

Myrina shook her head. "Either the other groups completed their mission or they failed. It's time to go!"

Cyra's eyes darted between the unburned workshops in the distance and her younger sister. She came to a decision while cutting into the spectral head of an octopus monster. A moment later, Sharky took a chomp out of it and finished it off.

"Fine, let's go. To the gates!" Cyra yelled. At her order, her subordinates peeled off for the gates.

"There they are, but they look to be more heavily guarded than they were on the way in!" Robin pointed ahead of us.

Sure enough, the formerly empty towers back behind the gates were now crowded with militia. No doubt each of those militia could summon a dozen or more spectral monsters, if the need arose. And if we tried to break through the gates, then the need would definitely have arisen.

"Crap! We can't take them." Cyra skidded to a stop. "We need to find another escape route."

"Myrina, you have the map memorized. Which way should we go?" I asked.

All eyes turned to Myrina.

"Uh... this way is the nearest exit!" Myrina started running down a side street and the rest of us followed.

We ran through the streets, no longer trying to hide who we were or what we were doing. We had to shove aside a cart to make it through a crowded marketplace, much to the frustration of its owner.

"My cabbages!" the man behind the cart yelled.

"Sorry!" I yelled back as we ran past.

Myrina led us through an elaborate series of turns. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, so everybody followed her without question.

"Crap! This one's heavily guarded, too. Next one," Myrina yelled, turning us once more when the side gate she’d led us to was guarded by several dozen militia.

Cyra cocked her head to one side. "One of the other targets is nearby. We should see if the other team accomplished their mission and made it out. If not, we can escape with them!"

Myrina took us on a quick detour. Rounding the corner, we found one of the other elite teams of Amazonian warriors struggling with the lock on the door of the workshop.

"You're still not inside?" Cyra asked, flabbergasted.

If she'd still been fighting to buy time for the others, she'd be on her last legs by now.

"We just got here! We took a wrong turn," the leader of this squad of Amazonian elites snapped. "And this lock is impossible!"

One of the team was hunched over, trying to open the magical lock with a set of mundane lockpicks. No wonder they hadn't had any luck with it.

"Oh for the love of..." Cyra raised a boot and slammed it into the door, sheering the bolt holding the doors shut with one swift blow.

I jumped up behind her. "Hey everybody, if you don't want to die, get out of here!" I yelled.

Cyra shot me a surprised look.

I shrugged. "The militia already know we are here. Causing a bit of panic will only help us get away," I explained.

Cyra shrugged. "Make this quick then, we don't have much time!"

Bridget and Myrina went for the tools on the workbenches, as did most of the other Amazonians. Meanwhile, I ran straight to the rear office. This workshop was structured surprisingly similar to the one we’d destroyed—similar enough that I found the safe in the back of the small office without any issue.

I had it open before the others were done. This time, I didn't have time to read the covers of the books I swiped, just stuffing them into my bag of holding for later examination along with all the money in the safe. There was no sense in leaving that behind.

"Everybody out, I'm lighting the place up!" Cyra shouted.

We all got out as quickly as we could. We were already running when the weathered wood caught and flames rose up behind us.

"The western wall is well manned, too!" Myrina growled, pointing to the closest exit.

Cyra grimaced. "Figures. We took too long. That leaves us with only one option. We’ll head to the other workshop and unite with the last team. Then, we'll fight our way out through the gates, manned or not."

We pounded down the cobblestone streets, keenly aware that the clock was ticking and the window on a successful mission was closing fast. When we rounded a corner and saw the final workshop, it’s door was still closed.

This workshop was bigger than the others and in a nicer part of town, too. If I remembered our dungeon run correctly, this had been that upper part of town where the wealthy used to live. The city's population had shrunk since then, though, so now part of what had been the better part of town was dedicated to a higher-class workshop than the ones we'd destroyed so far.

Despite its nice appearance, the entire area seemed to be completely devoid of people. It was like this chunk of the city had simply been abandoned.

"Where's the other team?" I asked.

Cyra cursed. "They must have never made it. They're either lost somewhere in the city or dead somewhere in the streets. We’ll need to finish the job. Come on, let's—"

Cyra took two steps, but then something caught my eye. Something not quite right with the cobblestones in front of the workshop. "Wait, Cyra!" I grabbed the back of her broad leather belt, hauling her back.

I had done so just in time. Her foot passed over the trigger to a hidden arcane trap just before I jerked her back. That trap detonated with explosive force where her foot had been about to land.

"Damn! Must be some sort of magical trap..." Cyra cursed. She cocked her head at me and blinked with surprise and gratitude. "Seems like I owe you a leg, Carter."

I chuckled. "Don't worry, you can keep it. Come on. We can't enter that way. I see three more traps just like it."

We ducked around the corner, keeping our eyes open for the missing team of warriors the whole while. Eventually, we found them. Two were dead, and the remaining four were trapped in an energy barrier. They hammered on the walls of the barrier from the inside with their Mana Swords as they struggled to escape.

"They're trapped!" Myrina yelled. "We have to break them out!"

Myrina and Cyra ran for the energy barrier, but I traced the flow of mana leading to it. There was something else nearby... Ha! I found the power source for the force field nearby hidden under a fake cobblestone.

It was something akin to a battery, only it recharged itself by absorbing kinetic energy. No wonder the surviving Amazonian warriors hadn't broken out by now. Every moment they spent pounding on the walls only charged the spell holding them prisoner.

Hauling the battery out from under the cobblestone, I slipped it into my bag of holding. I could already think of a dozen uses for something like this—especially when combined with what I expected to find in some of the books I’d picked up.

With the barrier down and the last squad of Amazonians rescued, we looted the final workshop in less than a minute. With the experience of cracking two similar locks under my belt, I made quick work of the safe and was out the door with the goodies it contained.

As two of the squad we’d rescued set the place on fire, I took a quick count. There were now twenty-five of us, in total. While not exactly an army, it would hopefully be enough for us to fight our way free.

"Now we make for the nearest exit!" Myrina said, already running in the direction of the western gates.

They'd be well defended, but we had no choice but to fight our way through them.

I winced as I felt a flash of pain. "My ghost shark summons just died. It'll take the militia a few minutes to get over here, but we could well be dealing with flying spectral monsters any minute now."

Cyra nodded her thanks for the information, then hurried us along.

We ran for the western gates anyway. There, we found about two dozen militia. We outnumbered them, and certainly outleveled them, but they had a trick up their sleeves.

The moment the guards saw us, instead of drawing their weapons they reached into their pockets and cocked back their arms. A second later they threw tiny little stones at us—monster cores.

"Take them out before they manifest! If those things block the gate, we'll—" Cyra shouted.

But I was one step ahead of her. As we’d approached the gates, I had started casting Mana Bolt over and over again. By the time we reached the gates, I'd built up a constellation of buzzing balls of energy that floated around me. Each magical bundle of energy drifted in lazy circles, waiting for my command to strike.

I gave the command.

Without Exploit Weakness highlighting each target, the wand extended in my hand, and my Spell Sniper proficiency, I probably wouldn't have pulled it off. Even with all of those advantages, it still took a fair bit of luck to land eleven critical hits in rapid succession.

The sound of shattering glass rang through the air as each modified monster core exploded one after another when struck by my mana bolts. Wild mana flowed through the area as the monsters those cores would have created dispersed into nothing.

"Damn! Nice shot, Carter!" Myrina whooped. "Let's go!"

The people at the gates panicked when they saw their initial volley of monster summoning stones had failed. Now, they'd have to fight the band of ferocious Amazonian warriors charging them up close and personal.

One drew her sword, but the others all looked at one another and quickly realized they were hopelessly outmatched. All but that one brave soul turned to flee. Suddenly, that brave soul found she was left guarding the gate by herself. One of the Amazonians shoved her aside before she could so much as get a single slash off.

Unfortunately, the militia standing before the gates themselves weren't the only ones we had to contend with. There were others up on the wall. And when they saw us escaping, they threw out another wave of spectral monsters for us to fight.

These I wasn't ready for, and I only managed to snipe three of them out of the sky before the rest manifested.

"Mana Bombs!" I yelled. "Don't hold back… throw what you have!"

I fired off a few more spells, but at my shout Cyra produced four Mega Mana Bombs from her bag of holding, held between each finger of her right hand. She threw them down and they scattered on the ground before us. Each lit up like a firecracker, exploding in a sudden bright flash as collectively, they weakened the magical structure of the spectral monsters arrayed before us.

"Charge!" Myrina yelled, and the Amazonians all ran forward as one. Suddenly, everything was slashing swords and sudden bursts of raw physical energy. Armed with my Mana Swords, that physical might was converted to magical damage—letting them put the wave of monsters down with surprising speed.

I wanted to get some more spells off, but my allies were everywhere all at once and I couldn't be certain they wouldn't jump in the way of one of my Mana Bolts or Eldritch Blasts if I fired them. I could either move in close and join the fight with my Arcane Blade or I could keep back. I opted to remain at a distance and scanned for any more incoming monster cores, which I took out before they activated. I figured that was the best use of my abilities.

The fight lasted no more than a minute, though it felt like it took hours. All the while, I heard the pounding of armored boots on the parapets. If we were captured, Bridget, Sakura and I would be fine—assuming we could avoid being executed until our time here ran out and we were sent back to Earth. Myrina and Cyra, however, would certainly die.

If I had to, I would buy time for them to escape myself.

"We're through, come on!" Myrina yelled.

Glancing back at the gates, I wondered if I should stay a moment to fire off a few more shots to buy some time for everyone else to make a clean getaway.

"Carter, don't even think about it!" Myrina seemed to sense the direction of my thoughts as soon as they came to mind, and she snagged me by the wrist. "I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here if I have to," she snapped.

I turned and ran. Myrina knew me too well. We sprinted at full speed away from the gates, dodging arrows as we ran. In the distance, I could just barely make out the rest of the Samhain Clan's forces.


<Note>

So you guys are liking the faster release rate, huh? I see the number of likes per post is way up from usual.