Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 2 (Patreon)

“Come on. Who’s to say that date night can’t involve a bit of carnage every now and again?” I teased.

Sakura shook her hair, and a pint's worth of blood splashed on the ground.

“Alright, fine. Let’s clean up back at the apartment.”

“Then we can go back and finish dessert?” Myrina asked hopefully.

I nodded. “And then we can go back and finish dessert.”

Sharky arrived toward the end of the battle, likely quite disappointed that he couldn’t take part. As a Void Leviathan, Sharky probably could have taken on a decent chunk of that army alone. If the Warpriests and the Necromancers had worked together, they might have been able to pin him down long enough to banish him. But I had no doubt he would have done a number on them, and he would have lasted long enough for me to notice the fight.

In short, even if I hadn’t been in town, this attack was doomed to fail. I was glad our enemies had tried, though. Considering their losses, their forces on their own shard had to be running low, especially the Naga. Every one of them we killed out on the open was one more we wouldn’t have to hunt down in their home territory.

We cleaned up and showered. This was the second time I’d gotten in a fight today, so I was quite overdue, even if my Charisma stat could cover up the smell of blood better than a five-gallon bucket of cologne.

Unfortunately, the shower was really only meant for one person at a time. My girls insisted I go first, but naturally, it was a planned ambush.

“Ha! We’ve finally got you right where we want you!” Myrina said as she kicked the bathroom door open. I didn’t resist, even when Myrina jumped onto my shoulders and pulled me to the shower floor. The move tore the curtain right off his rack and we all went tumbling to the floor. Before I could get up, I felt Sakura straddling my waist.

Pretty soon, all three of them were on top of me. I really did need to reapply my Fabulous Phallus buffs on Myrina and Sakura. And truthfully, I hadn’t expected date night to end any other way.

Before the System and the advent of superhuman stats, any of these girls would have had me wrung out and unconscious in fifteen minutes or less. But these days, especially with my level lead on them, I could give as good as I got.

Sakura rode me first, then Myrina right after. Bridget took the third shift, and I got the distinct impression they were trying to wear me out. I wouldn’t be bested that easily, though, no matter how strong my lovely warrior women were. Liberal application lips and fingers soon had the three of them moaning with delirious delight.

“Oh, Carter, it’s been way too long...” Sakura moaned.

I would have responded had Myrina not been riding my face.

“That’s the spot...” Myrina gasped.

“I’ll get a towel for when—eep!” Bridget let out a squeak as she tried to slip away, only for my telekinetic abilities to caress her in the right way to send a shudder running up her spine. This probably wasn’t what most of the Arcadia Multiverse thought Master Artificers did with their profound magical powers, but Bridget certainly appreciated it.

It was fun, quick, and made me realize that life had been far too busy lately. Anyone else with lovers like these would probably stay cooped up in his farmhouse for the rest of his life—or at least until his hips wore out from overexertion.

It was over all too soon, and I had two levels to show for it.

You have drained a level from Myrina Samhain!

You have drained a level from Sakura Miyamoto!

You are now a level 118 Human!

You are now a level 118 Sage of Forbidden Knowledge!

I sat up, distributed my new stat points, and yawned as I stretched as the shower turned back on, this time for real. We took turns getting clean all over again, and this time, we actually without too much in the way of distractions. At least, that was what happened for the first hour while we sat around waiting for the next attack or battle to rush to. When none came, I wasn’t the only one who looked surprised.

We’d gotten so used to rushing everywhere lately that enjoying some downtime felt positively strange.

“I know one way we can pass time...” Myrina’s hand crept toward the hem of my pants.

And just like that, they were at it again. Once more, I was very thankful for this superhuman body of mine.

***

Morning came when I finally crawled out of bed. I’d fought battles that left me less sore than the previous night. I yawned, stretched, and meditated a bit until the scratches on my back faded to thin lines. My muscle aches turned to dull memories.

Rather than be drawn into another day of debauchery, I figured I needed to get something productive done. Besides, dealing with warrior women like my companions took a certain amount of strategy. I couldn’t ever let myself be worn out before them, otherwise I’d sense weakness and pounce upon me, never letting up until they were satisfied. Considering everyone had the nymphomaniac title, satisfied wasn’t something that would ever come to pass for any of them.

A gentleman might start breakfast, so Bridget, Myrina, and Sakura can all wake up to something nice. Unfortunately, Bridget has spoiled me rotten lately, and I’m not sure I even remembered how to cook. I took a brief trip down the street and bought the basics, which to me meant coffee, milk, and eggs.

The coffee grinds were easy enough. Our supply had been dwindling, but the discovery of San Antonio on the undead shard had given us another few months of the stuff, at least. Milk and eggs were harder. The ones in San Antonio were already rotten by the time we found them, and precious few remained in stasis up for sale on the Obelisk. I ended up buying some of the milk, but I left the eggs up there.

I still had hope that somebody with a biology-related class could force those infertile eggs to hatch and mature. Maybe Doctor Roswell could manage it through his peculiar flesh-sculpting technique.

Thankfully, plenty of monsters laid eggs too. I bought a single giant egg about the size of my entire chest. That would make a big breakfast, even for my crew.

I got all the way back to the kitchen before deciding my companions would appreciate me fetching the ingredients more than my actual cooking, so I simply left breakfast unfinished on the table. With the tedious part done, I had no doubt Bridget could whip something up in record time.

There was more to do before I got any relaxing in, and after a bit of thought, I figured I ought to call a council meeting. Considering how many core people were still on Themyscira, it would be a significantly reduced council meeting. But there were benefits to be had from calling for a meeting now.

All my friends and council members had seconds in command, who I rarely interacted with in person. Those seconds would still be here to keep the council seats filled, and I’d have the chance to speak with them for once.

With the plan settled, I snuck out the back door while my lovely ladies lay curled up in bed, just beginning to stir.

When I found Margaret, she was bleary-eyed and making her way to her office. From her, I learned the daily council meeting would be in another hour, so I walked over to the walls and caught a minor monster. I cast Share Curse on it and gave it to one of the monster hunting bands going out for the day. In this case, the little monster was a bunny with particularly sharp teeth.

“Remember, kill the cursed rabbit if you start getting overwhelmed. It will lure monsters to your position for as long as you have it,” I instructed the monster hunters.

“Understood, sir!” the leader among them replied, wearing a wide grin. This wasn’t the first time I’d handed off one of my improvised monster lures or acted as one myself. Everyone knew it meant they’d have good hunting so long as they stuck close by.

I kept an eye on them for a bit since they looked pretty fresh-faced. A few of them had been San Antonio survivors rescued from Dan’s group, and they were still in a zombie apocalypse mindset rather than a magical System apocalypse mindset.

Despite my worries, they seemed to have things well in hand, and when an hour had passed, I doubled back for the council meeting.

I arrived fifteen minutes early only to realize I was the last to arrive. Glancing at the nervous faces around the table, I realized everyone besides Margaret was nervous to meet their boss’ boss.

“Seeing as everybody’s here, let’s start early, and we can all be out before lunch.” I clapped my hands together to get us started.

After the usual nods, greetings, and sharing of names and positions that wouldn’t have been out of place at any business meeting in the old world, we got to work. Reginald was the only one who looked comfortable since he and Margaret were the only full-fledged council members who hadn’t gone to fight with me on Themyscira. I did notice he was still wearing the armor he had when he joined the militia.

“So... uhm... it’s obvious the Naga and Undead know something is up now that our expeditionary forces into their territory have withdrawn. We’d hoped they’d take time to gather their strength and prepare for a counterattack, but they sensed weakness far sooner than I thought,” said the provisional leader of the remaining scouts. She was one of the Greek survivors and had introduced herself as Artemis. I wasn’t sure if that was a given name or one she’d chosen for herself after the integration. She was our strongest Earth-born scout and was taking the scout leader’s usual job while she was away. While young, she was ambitious and had a natural affinity for exploring the wilderness outside the city.

“So, more attacks like that are coming?” Reginald asked, shooting me a nervous glance.

“Don’t worry, my companions and I can handle them.” I waved off his concerns.

Truthfully, these Naga and the Necromancers were a modest source of experience points for me—much less than they used to be, considering they were all D-Grade—but since my curse prevented me from harvesting experience points from monsters, it was still welcome. Every level I gained in C-Grade was the stat point equivalent of five levels in D-Grade, so even incremental progress was quite potent.

“What is the plan long-term?” Reginald asked, and all eyes turned to me.

I shrugged, giving an easy smile in return. “Must there be a plan? We hold a decisive advantage now, one that will only grow when our people return with additional knowledge and experience. There’s no reason to rush them back when they’re in the middle of receiving considerable benefits from where they are. As for the Naga and Undead? I will personally slaughter any that encroach too deep into our territory. Otherwise, we can continue hunting monsters as we have been and gaining levels.”

“What if they attack in mass? I know we killed many of them, but both the Undead shard and the Naga shard are heavily populated, even by the standards of this shard. They have a lot of people.” Artemis glanced at me curiously.

“Then that’ll be all the better for us. If that happens, I’ll be able to deal with them all at once.”

“And what about the dragon shard? People have heard terrifying stories of the beast there.”

“It’s contained. I’m sure people have also seen the construction equipment there currently building a wall? The dragon is territorial and largely defensive. So long as that doesn’t change, we have all the time in the world to build up our forces and attack.”

Eventually, we’d have to kill off the Torchdragon. But that wouldn’t happen until I could put it down safely. I’d need to grow into my full power as a C-Grade to make that happen, as the Dragon was most of the way through C-Grade itself. I’d be there by the time I filled out my open skill slots and increased my level by wiping out the Naga and the Undead. Once I was a match for the beast, I was confident that bringing along an army of allies would turn the even match into a slaughter.

“And the fourth shard? They seem particularly secretive,” Artemis asked.

“Golems. They’re also passive and territorial. The wall on our side is just there to provide warning in case that changes.”

I suspected the reason the System had given us two relatively passive and territorial shards to contend with was its own way of balancing things after putting us up against two hostile shards, both affiliated with Chaos Gods and willing to work together to wipe us out. We were a match for a two-on-one, but if all four shards had been equally hostile, our only hope for survival would have been finding a way to get Cyra and her Elders over to Crownhill.

“So... business as usual, then?” Margaret asked.

I nodded. “Business as usual. We hold the advantage, and until that changes, we don’t need to do anything unusual. But if it’s a subject of concern, I’ll ensure Sharky is out hunting. That’ll keep any Naga or Undead from getting too close to the city. The monster population out in the wilderness can recover a bit while we wait for the bulk of our forces to return. Once they’re back, we can hunt them to level and then prepare for the final push against the Naga and Undead.”

With our military plan settled, the meeting turned to civil matters. Many people had seen my automated construction equipment, and walling off the two neutral shards wasn’t the only place people wanted me to build stuff. The city would be well defended through the purchases I’d made from the city interface, and there were a few more of those to make. But the city interface didn’t include anything about roads and certainly repairing the stuff that had been broken during the integration. I promised to add more repairs to the list of jobs in my queue for the machines.

Surprisingly, nobody asked how the automated construction equipment and the associated magical puppets worked. They must have thought people on lots of worlds had an army of golems like mine at their command. I was a little more worldly and knew that wasn’t the case, but everyone else accepted things at face value.

Things were pretty good here in Crownhill and even on Themyscira. I started to have a bit of hope that maybe things would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Somehow, I knew not to hold out too much hope for that.