Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 42

"Let's start things off right. I'm Carter, and this is Frank." I gestured to myself and then to Frank behind me.

I waited a moment. A few seconds of silence passed before the man spoke again. "This is Martin… Boss Martin to you," the sentry said.

Boss Martin held up his hand. "Go back to keeping watch," he ordered.

"Yes, boss!" the sentry nodded diligently and soon vanished.

"We're the Vipers. At least that was our old name for ourselves, back in the cells. Now that we're out, we kept it… out of habit," Martin explained.

"You're from Crownhill County Prison, aren't you?" I asked.

Martin gave me a tiny nod. "We were. But those guys are tough bastards. Fighting was getting bloody there. Lots of rough people. Compared to them, these trolls were easy pickings. We told 'em we could help them trap the ogres… so we did. We told them we wanted those orbs of theirs in exchange. They gave us some orbs, but not enough."

"So you killed them?"

Martin shrugged. "It's a rough world. One of my boys was a chemist. He put some arsenic in their food; it was easy enough after that."

From the sound of things, Martin and his vipers had approached the trolls as potential allies, then swiftly stabbed them in the back as soon as the opportunity presented itself. I decided then and there that we wouldn't be allying with the Vipers—even if they had taken out the trolls. They might be strong, but I knew I couldn't trust them.

There was one thing I was curious about though...

"Those blue orbs of the trolls. They make them inside their bodies. If you wipe the trolls out completely, how will you get any more of them?"

"We've still got some of the troll women. They're easier to keep a leash on than the bulls. Some of my boys think they can make half-trolls," he explained.

Martin stared at me once he’d finished speaking. I would have thought he was studying my face, if not for his distant gaze.

Well shit… that was one way to go about it. I was increasingly less interested in having anything to do with Martin and his Vipers.

"Enough about us." Martin shrugged his massive shoulders. "Why are you here?"

I sighed inwardly. I was hoping to get Martin in a better mood before this part of the conversation, but this guy seemed a tough man to please. I suspected my particular Charisma bonus was much more effective with women than with someone like Martin and his band of troll-fuckers.

"Martin," I began, measuring each word, "I'm here for Marcus. He’s one of my guys."

In the dim light, I could see Martin's skin had a faint blue glow to it. The way it concentrated in the unnaturally squirming veins made me feel like I wasn't talking to a fellow human at all.

"The kid who walked in here like he owned the place?" Martin asked.

"He wanted to talk to the trolls," I explained.

"Too bad for him that we planned to gut the lot of them. He's seen us fight. He’s seen what we do with the orbs. He'll have to join us now… the same goes for the two of you," Martin replied.

My heart sank. It seemed like this was going to come down to a fight after all.

"Marcus is coming out of here with me. Frank, too. We'll be on our way and not cause you any more trouble." Quiet as I could, I stuck a hand in my pocket.

Between my curled fingers, a Mana Bolt sprung to life. Then a second followed it.

"And what if I say no?" Martin crossed his brawny arms, staring hard at me.

"You don't want to say no. Check my level… if you can. You're outmatched."

I felt a tingle run up my spine. At the same time, I scanned Martin.

Martin, Boss of the Vipers (Pugilist - Level 26)

Behind me, Frank slowly lowered his posture, bracing himself for a fight. His fingers twitched for the gun he kept at his waist—not that Frank's little pistol was going to do much against the man before us.

I ran my tongue over the unusual word. Pugilist... that meant...

By the time I remembered what the word meant, I had barely enough time to dodge the punch that was headed straight for my face.

Martin's fist skidded off my shoulder, leaving a bruise, as I Warp Stepped clear. I pulled my hands out of my pocket and stopped hiding the Mana Bolts I'd been generating. I funneled more power into them as I prepared to release the whole lot of them.

Meanwhile, Martin's fist turned the wall of the troll hut to rubble. His knuckles splintered wood and shattered stone.

I unleashed my Mana Barrage at the same time that Frank reached for his gun. Drawing faster than I could track, he fired. Both ranged attacks struck Martin at once. The bullets sank into the skin of his chest, cutting straight through his clothes but only scoring his tough skin. They left little red welts on his flesh... which vanished a moment later as he healed back to full health.

My Mana Bolts did a lot more. The raised red patches of flesh they left lingered a few moments longer. But they too quickly showed clear signs of fading.

Martin let out a hissing roar—it sounded more like a troll’s than a human's voice—and charged us with his arms outstretched.

I pushed Frank out of the way as I dove aside myself.

Frank emptied every bullet in his gun into Martin's back, but the whole clip failed to accomplish much of anything. "Well, crap..." Frank muttered.

"Get Marcus and get out of here!” I shouted to Frank. “I'll hold him off!"

Frank nodded and ran out of what was left of the hut. Hopefully I'd draw all of Martin’s attention, giving Frank and Marcus the time they needed to escape. It was time to put my new abilities to the test.

I threw out an Eldritch Blast, striking Martin between the eyes while I conjured more Mana Bolts.

"You're probably used to fighting people much weaker than you," I said conversationally. "You're not used to battling someone who has also reached D-Grade. It's a big jump, isn't it?"

"Stand and fight like a man..." Martin growled as he held his bare knuckles up before his face in a boxer’s stance.

"No." I fired another Eldritch Blast at him.

This man was tough. He was strong too. And his regeneration was incredibly fast—though not as fast as Chuck's had been. That seemed odd to me. Maybe there was something special about Chuck that I hadn't noticed before.

Martin lunged at me again, using an ability this time. His movements were a blur, but I leaped over him without difficulty.

Despite my best efforts, my Mana Bolts weren't doing much damage. I was hitting him in all the vulnerable points according to Exploit Weakness, so I figured I had to be dealing more damage. I knew a few of those had been critical hits, too.

My eyes flickered to the cooking fire, and I remembered what I'd heard about trolls. Being set on fire went poorly for them—it was how Martin and his people had killed them, despite having a much lower average level.

Martin had the powers of a troll. Did he have their weaknesses as well? I intended to find out.

Dodging left and then right, I kept Martin off me with strategic uses of Eldritch Blast. The pulses of dark power didn't do much damage since I hadn't pushed myself to the first level of Mania, let alone the third. I just didn't feel the pressure to do so against Martin.

He was certainly fast and strong. Hell, he probably could have given the Alpha Wolfman a run for his money. But my tutorial with Myrina had completely transformed me at a fundamental level. My proficiencies alone made this less of a fight than it should have been.

Though Martin was stronger than the Amazonian Kidnapper and Ranch Hand's I'd fought, this was only because of his experience in combat and his own proficiencies. He was behind them in levels—and behind me in both levels and proficiencies.

Though it probably didn't seem like it to onlookers, I was in total control of this fight.

The troll hut had been barely holding itself together. With all of Martin's punching, it had quickly disintegrated, taking our fight out into the open. The massive willow-like swamp tree that had made up the back of the hut received the last punch it could take, and his fist split the tree in two. It groaned as it toppled over, collapsing in the middle of the Viper's camp.

If everyone hadn't already heard Martin's battle cries, they did now.

I used the distraction as Martin tore his hand free from the trunk to look around. I quickly spotted Frank nearby. Marcus was with him—tired and battered, but alive. Good. They'd soon be out of the camp, which meant it was time for me to end things with Martin.

I unleashed the gathering storm of Mana Bolts that circled my head, each already lit with fire mana from the nearby troll pyres and cookfires and strengthened with fire affinity from my Pendant of Magical Fire. They struck Martin all at once.

When they did, his skin caught fire, the flames spreading rapidly.

"Argh!" Martin let out a piercing scream as he tore his coat off, but then realized his skin was burning beneath it.

Whatever had been running through those sickly blue veins was more akin to oil than water. That was the only explanation I could think of for why his flesh burned so vigorously.

The whole fight had been surprisingly easy. Martin hadn't been able to touch me once, despite his power. I glanced down at my hands and frowned. I was stronger than I realized.

I shot a quick glance at my combat notifications.

You have scored a Critical Hit x10!

You have dealt Elemental Weakness Damage!

Martin stumbled around for a few moments, setting several of his own men on fire before gathering his senses and running into the swamp. Flesh sloughed off him as he dove in. I waited for him to reemerge, but the damage I'd dealt him must have been severe.

He didn't rise from the water even after several seconds.

With a shrug, I detonated my Corrupting Marks. The water churned and blood gushed upwards in a fountain from the water, but I received no notification of a kill. I shrugged. It was probably best that Martin didn't die.

This was a rough crowd, and it was only their leader's personal power that was keeping them in line. I'd just trampled all over that, though. Martin would have a damn hard time getting his camp back in order again. But I presumed he would do so.

It would slow his expansion, and hopefully keep him from causing trouble for me and Crownhill.

"That guy just shot the boss! Get him!" someone shouted.

I swiveled my head to stare at the person shouting. He was a skinny man with the sunken-eyed look of someone who'd spent several years abusing drugs. I shot him between the eyes with a Mana Bolt and he dropped like a rock.

He'd only been level six. He probably hadn't even been a high enough level to Examine me without getting blocked.

"Anybody else?" I called out to the gathered Vipers.

"Hell no. You beat the boss," a rough-looking woman in the crowd replied. There were murmurs of assent all around.

"Then I'll be leaving now… it would be unhealthy for any of you to try and follow me." I jumped down from my perch on top of the fallen tree and made my way through the camp. Wherever I looked, people shrank away from my gaze.

I passed several hastily-constructed cage doors bolted on to troll homes. Inside, I could see smaller and much more feminine versions of the trolls I'd fought. I only caught a brief glimpse, but they were surprisingly humanoid. All the trolls I'd seen and fought so far must have been the males of their race, because their females looked like gray-skinned women—just with longer teeth and sharper nails.

I debated trying to save them, but these were the same creatures who would happily feast upon humans, given half a chance. The stories I'd heard from a few survivors of troll attacks were bleak, to say the least.

I feared the Vipers who'd conquered them were only marginally better. And the Vipers were exponentially more dangerous. I would have to work even harder to prepare Crownhill to handle them… them and whatever other threats might arise on this shard.

I sighed. Who knew what the next challenge the system would throw at us might be. I walked away, half expecting someone to try their luck and shoot me in the back.

Surprisingly, nobody did.