Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 47

Sakura and Bridget kept me busy for a good long while. By the end of it, I had gained four levels to my race. I was now level 49 and a good ways towards level 50. Bridget and Sakura were both back below level fifteen after all was said and done—though, fortunately, they kept all the bonuses for having reached D-Grade already.

I shook my head. "You two really shouldn't look so satisfied after losing more than ten levels a piece."

"Worth it," Sakura muttered, curled up against my side.

"Now that you're even stronger, you can get them back for us even faster than we got them before," Bridget said from my other side.

"True enough," I chuckled.

We relaxed for a while, and I spent the time trying to meditate while using Mind Over Flesh at the same time. Meditating bolstered my mana regeneration, and Mind Over Flesh converted that mana to health points. My wounds from the previous night already felt mostly healed, and by now I could take off the bandages and discard them. After another hour, I felt like I'd spent a month recovering. By tomorrow morning I was pretty sure I'd be as good as new.

The three of us didn't get up until we heard the familiar whoosh of the teleportation pad activating.

"Ooh! Delivery!" Sakura squealed as she sat up, stretched, and hopped out of bed.

Bridget followed soon after and, seeing how eager the two of them were to see what we had, I decided to take a look as well. Sakura snatched the bags of holding off the pad. They looked much the same as the ones we'd placed there not long ago, but Sakura's eyes lit up when she inspected what was inside.

"Yes! She finally got it!" Sakura reached her entire arm into the bag and withdrew a skill book.

I read the title.

Book of Headbutt

"That's what you're so excited about?" I asked, looking at her askance and trying to hide a smirk. "Do you really need a skill to be able to headbutt someone?"

Sakura shook her head and clucked her tongue. "There's a reason Marol is the Theory Crafter and not you. Headbutting is an ancient art practiced by Oni everywhere! Our horns are naturally sensitive, since they're used to help with our magic rather than for combat. But that doesn't mean the right set of skills can't make them useful for combat!"

She stroked the pointed red shaft sticking out of her forehead. I imagined getting skewered by that thing would be bad news for anybody on the receiving end of her horn. I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of an Oni headbutt.

"I'm sure it'll be a lovely skill." I chuckled. "Just don't expect me to participate in any of these ancient Oni headbutting rituals Myrina might have told you about. I need my forehead in one piece."

Besides the skill book, Myrina and Misa had also included some leatherworking tools for Sakura. I'd brought back a mundane set of leatherworking tools for her on my first visit, but this set seemed to have a bit of magic in it.

"My Job isn't innately magical like yours is, mister Artificer," Sakura explained. "But we have an awful lot of magical hides, and I need magical tools to work with them properly if I want to preserve as much of their magical abilities as I can."

There were also a few items for Bridget. "Mystic Flour! She found some for me! This is wonderful."

Bridget hugged a small sack of flour to her chest, coating her bare skin in a sprinkle of thin, white dust. None of us had gotten dressed after our little romp, since usually the three of us all piled into the shower together shortly after.

"What's the difference between flour and mystic flour?" I asked.

"The magic, silly!" Bridget smiled. "Mystic Flour comes from wheat grown in an environment with extremely high ambient mana—usually of a specific aspect. This flour feels like it received the sun aspect. Eating anything made using this flour will feel like enjoying a warm summer day."

"These are for you, too," Sakura passed Bridget a pair of fingerless gloves.

I could tell at a glance that they were enchanted, which would have made them rather expensive at the auction house on Themyscira.

"Gloves of Speed!" Bridget dropped her flour to try on her new gloves. Her fingers moved visibly faster when wearing them, as each delicate wrist movement became a blur. "Wow, these feel… weird. That's going to take some getting used to."

"Huh... I'm not sure who this is for..." Sakura picked up one more item. It was another skill book, by the looks of it. She read the title aloud. "...Ghost Shark. Must be a Carter skill."

"Ghost Shark?" Bridget held a hand over her lips, smiling at me as she stifled a laugh.

"Really?" I asked with furrowed brows. "And what makes you think it's mine?"

"You're the one with the edgelord class. Who else would have a skill named Ghost Shark?" Sakura handed me the book with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Ghost Shark..." Bridget struggled to contain her laughter.

"Fine. Let me see this thing..." I flipped through the first few pages.

The skill book took the reader through the process of summoning a small, human-sized shark that could phase through objects and bite things. It sounded pretty lame, at least at first. A spectral shark that bit things its summoner targeted seemed like a middling ability at best—which I suppose befitted a common-rank summoning skill book.

I soon realized there was more to this little book that a pet that could annoy people like Myrina who had no natural means to deal magical damage. It would also fit neatly into a class spell slot, letting Mania enhance it and not taking up one of my dwindling racial skill slots.

Book of Summon Ghost Shark (Common)

This ability summons a spectral shark. The spectral shark swims through ambient mana as though it were water and is capable of inflicting damage with its bite. It will take on the color, abilities, and temperament of whatever mana it is fueled with. Fueling the Ghost Shark with neutral mana will create a nearly-invisible shark capable of phasing through solid matter. Its attacks are considered attacks by the caster. Cool down between summons is eight hours.

"This... sounds awesome!" I grinned, much to the surprise of Sakura and Bridget.

"Wait, really?" Bridget asked.

"Really. Imagine an invisible shark that can inflict Corrupting Marks while I'm distracting the enemy. I have to learn this!"

I took a seat and settled in to read. Minutes flew by as both Bridget and Sakura got back to work, as well. I focused on the skill book for a while, wrapping my head around the delicate weave of mana required to summon a Ghost Shark.

Before too long, I was greeted by a notification.

Your Neutral Mana Proficiency resonates with the skill Ghost Shark!

Expend Neutral Mana proficiency levels to increase the rarity of Ghost Shark?

Intrigued at this rare opportunity, I expended 5 Neutral Mana proficiency levels, curious to see what Ghost Shark would become.

Due to your understanding of Neutral Mana, Ghost Shark has improved from Common to Rare!

Book of Summon Ghost Shark (Rare)

This ability summons a spectral shark. The spectral shark swims through ambient mana as though it were water and is capable of inflicting damage with its bite. It will take on the color, abilities, and temperament of whatever mana it is fueled with. Fueling the Ghost Shark with neutral mana will create a nearly-invisible shark capable of phasing through solid matter. Its attacks are considered attacks by the caster. It is now possible for your summons to evolve over time—given proper care and feeding. Cool down between summons is four hours.

Damn, that was pretty good. I'd only been hoping for a single rarity rank increase, not for it to go all the way from common to rare. That was even better. And with the number of spells I was throwing around these days, I was sure I'd earn back the five Neutral Mana points it had cost me in no time at all.

I finished learning the new and improved Ghost Shark ability, and soon I was ready to try casting it. I found Sakura already outside working on her new headbutt skill. She was busy ramming herself face-first into a tree. From the look of things, she'd be at that for a while.

Summoning a ghost shark required me to draw a circle on the ground. A line in the dirt was sufficient, though it did have to be a neat, uninterrupted circle. It would be next to impossible to summon my Ghost Shark in the middle of a fight unless I got lucky with some nearby graffiti or a circle of mushrooms. If I didn’t make a brass hoop or something to carry around in my bag of holding, I would have to make sure I cast the spell ahead of time—whenever I thought I might need it.

"Come forth, Ghost Shark!" I proclaimed as I held my hands wide after making the appropriate gestures.

Everything turned dark within my dirt circle, like a portal was opening up to some distant void beyond my reach. The deep purple color reminded me of my Scholar of Forbidden Knowledge class. Hopefully it synchronized as well with my abilities as I hoped it would.

The first thing I saw was the faint outline of teeth. They appeared one after another, row after row of them. They had no color, and I could see straight through them. They almost looked like an outline made of chalk, drawn onto the real world.

It opened its mouth wide, teeth bared in a silent growl. It would have been terrifying... if I'd been a foot tall. Unfortunately, when my skill book said the Ghost Shark would be body-sized, it was talking about the shark’s length.

The ghost shark was about as long as I was tall, but that meant it was a relatively small shark. In my head, I'd been picturing a ferocious great white that could swim through the air and gobble up my enemies in one bite. But that didn't mean I couldn't aspire for it to do great things—one day.

"I dub you Devourer of Souls!" I declared.

Sakura stopped headbutting the tree to stare at me. "Really? Devourer of souls?"

"What do you recommend, then?" I asked.

Sakura walked over to me, staring down at my ghostly shark apparition.

"Hmm... How about... Sharky!" Sakura smiled.

I rolled my eyes. "Sharky? And you made fun of my name."

"Bridget, come over here!" Sakura beckoned Bridget outside when she looked through the kitchen window at us. Catching her eye, Sakura hollered, "Bridget, we need you to vote and settle things. Should Carter call his pet shark thing Devourer of Souls or Sharky?"

"Definitely Sharky," Bridget shouted back in reply.

Sakura turned to me, a smug smile on her face. "You've been outvoted."

I sighed. I should have waited until we were with Myrina to name it. She would have voted for Devourer of Souls.

"Go forth, Sharky. Hunt!" I ordered.

I was surprised when Sharky seemed to understand the command and took off for the woods. Not long after he disappeared into the trees, he returned like a puppy with the remains of a dead rabbit-looking thing in his teeth.

"Hey, that’s not bad," Sakura said. "If nothing else, Bridget and I won't have to run around taking care of those little monsters that always hound you and make life around here annoying. We can just unleash your Ghost Shark to kill any who dare come too near."

I perked up a little, hearing this. My Ghost Shark really would be handy for that. It would mean we could finally get a good night's sleep. Lately, the girls had been waking up every few hours to take care of the host of minor monsters clawing at the front door.

When their levels had been really low, it had been good source of experience points for them. But by now, there was little they could gain from killing giant cockroaches. Leaving them to Sharky to deal with would be a welcome boon. Especially since as my summons, any experience points Sharky earned me didn't go to waste. As long as Bridget and Sakura remained in my party, the two of them would still benefit.

"I want to test Sharky out for real, and the two of you need some levels. What do you say the three of us go on another trip around the valley?" I asked.

Sakura grinned. "As long as I get to headbutt something, count me in!"

***

We spent the rest of the day running around the valley, attacking anything we could pick a fight with. There were more of those golems we’d fought before. I would have thought Sakura would shy away from headbutting them, since they were made of stone, but she lunged forward anyways. Her horn plunged right through their rocky exteriors, shattering the core in the center of the golem and putting it down in just one blow.

It would have been rather impressive, if she hadn't gotten her horn stuck in the golem in the process. I ended up having to chisel the golem’s remains from her horn.

Another discovery I made was that if I channeled Earth mana into Sharky, he became solid.

"Check it out, you two… I have a mount!" I laughed as I rode on top of Sharky.

He continued to swim through the air, toothy maw hungry for anything worth eating. Now that he was physical, he could even make sounds. "NOM NOM," Sharky said as he bit the head off a dead golem.

His voice was peculiar. I wasn't sure what a shark would have sounded like if it could breathe air and talk, but I doubted it would sound like Sharky. He sounded almost like a gravelly-voiced, two-packs-a-day smoker pretending to sound like a shark.

Riding Sharky around made the process of slaying the minor monsters Bridget and Sakura required to regain their lost levels a lot more fun. And it seemed the monsters had gotten a little stronger in our valley. Since Bridget and Sakura were both down to level 14 again, thanks to their dragging me into the bedroom with my sunglasses on, the levels came quickly when I targeted monsters over level 30.

I was almost to level fifty—at least for my race. There wasn't anything in the valley capable of harming me. The only real unknown was whether or not they could defeat Sharky.

"Go forth, Sharky!" I commanded the moment we spotted what might once have been a small group of coyotes.

Shadowflame Coyote Alpha (Level 25)

All the other Shadowflame Coyotes were between levels 15 and 20, but since there was a group of six of them, they represented enough experience to make them worth our while. Plus, I wanted to see how Sharky did against multiple opponents.

My ghost shark shot forward like a torpedo toward the Coyote Alpha. Sinister purple light streamed behind him, and he charged forward with gnashing teeth and the same battle cry as before.

"NOM NOM NOM," Sharky said as he bit into the head of the Coyote Alpha.

The moment he had a grip on the coyote, he tossed and turned his head in an attempt to tear the head free. At some point, the coyote's neck broke, but that didn't stop Sharky from gnawing his way through it. Eventually, the coyote’s head came loose completely and Sharky gobbled the head down before swallowing the rest.

The meat of the coyote fell to the ground.

Sharky was just a ghost, so he couldn't really eat it. Somehow, I got the impression that something vital had been stripped from the body. I couldn’t really say how I knew it, but I was sure that Sharky had just eaten the coyote's soul. The skill book had suggested such a thing was possible, and even desirable for a summoner such as myself. It was why I’d picked Devourer of Souls for his name—before Sakura changed it to Sharky.

Your Neutral Mana proficiency has gained a level to Level 18!

The other coyotes ran in terror, but that didn't stop Sharky. All he saw was his dinner trying to escape. Some of them tried to fight back, but by now Sharky had shed the Earth mana I'd infused into him before to ride him, and now I was trying fire mana. Their attempts to take him down only ended with them getting burned.

"NOM NOM." My ghost shark flew forward, hungry as ever. One by one, it chased down the fleeing coyotes and did to them what it had to their alpha. Sharky showed no pity or remorse in his ruthless pursuit, only endless hunger to seek and consume.

Your One Against Many proficiency has increased by one to Level 15!

"Who’s a good shark?!" I called him back to stroke his sensitive nose. My hand went right through him until I channeled more Earth mana into him to make him solid.

"Uh... Carter, you might want to watch your fingers around him," Bridget said warily. "That ghost shark of yours is even more of a bloodthirsty killing machine than I expected for a spectral… uhh… shark thing."

"The skill book said it would take the soul of the most deadly aquatic predator it could find, strip it of any desires other than that of a hunger for blood, then combine it with a limitless need to devour souls to sustain its structure and solidify its existence.”

“Like leveling?” Sakura asked.

I shook my head. “It isn't quite like leveling, but apparently he can evolve or something—assuming I continue to feed him. That wasn't possible in the original version of the ability, but after I improved the rarity of the skill to rare, the option opened up." I gave Sharky a fond pat. I'd really done a good job with him.

Bridget glanced between me and Sakura. "So now we have a mindless killing machine that consumes souls to empower itself? It just tore apart a group of coyotes higher than the level of the average person in Crownhill and devoured their souls. And we're treating it like some sort of pet?"

Sakura shrugged. "Seems like Sharky's been a good boy to me. Here, Sharky, fetch!" Sakura picked up half of a dead coyote and threw it.

Sharky didn't budge, likely because he'd already stripped that chunk of Coyote of whatever soul had been in it.

"I think we need to find live food if we want Sharky to fetch," I suggested.

"Ooh, you think Sharky likes to chase squirrels?" Sakura asked.

I studied my ghost shark. He was wiggling excitedly under my pats and our praise like a puppy. "I would imagine so."

"Let's hunt down one of those mean fire breathing ones! I saw one a little ways back.

Bridget shook her head and rolled her eyes. "At least I gained a few levels..."