Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

I needed to get out of the tent and find a weapon. There was one problem with that, though.

In her sleep, Regina had wrapped her arms around me. I'd ignored the motion at the time. It was a flattering plea for affection. She was probably scared witless, and I was the one taking her to safety.

Except now, when I needed to get free, I found her grip was too strong to break. I'd forgotten Regina's stats. Her strength points put her well beyond the human limits, meaning she was stronger than was possible for even the burliest bodybuilder.

With my modest levels in strength, there was no way I could break her grip.

I tried to worm my way free of her grip and duck my head under her arms. Still, when I tried to escape that way, I only found Regina's grip clamp down around me tighter like she was afraid of me escaping on her the moment she let go.

"Regina, wake up." I nudged her in the stomach once I realized there was no way I was getting out of here without her help.

Nearby, I spotted more flashes of movement in the shadows cast by the fire. There were things in the woods just beyond our clearing. Multiple things.

"Regina! I really need you to wake up and let go of me!" I hissed while tapping on her shoulder frantically.

Regina drooled on my chest, pressing her cheek against me in her sleep as she pulled me even tighter.

"Regina!" I shouted loud enough that whatever was in the forest must have known I was awake.

She still didn't wake up at my shout, so I steadied myself and tore the sheet off. Just yesterday, I never would have dreamed of doing something like this, but these were desperate times. Regina had stripped down to just her underwear to sleep, and without the Mylar blanket, her bare ass was exposed to the open air.

I took one glance at her blissfully snoring face and knew I'd pay for this eventually. Still, I'd rather get called into Regina's office than getting eaten by whatever crazy monster the system had cooked up to destroy the earth.

So I gathered my will and slapped Regina's ass. The strike rang out through the air, marking her bottom with a red print.

Regina winced, eyes flickering behind their lids before they fluttered open.

With a sudden start, Regina opened her eyes and realized her arms were around me. She panicked, pushing herself off of me and sending her rolling along on the ground in a panic.

"Get off of me!" Regina huffed, even though she was clearly the one on top of me. "And why does my butt hurt?" She turned, peering at her backside.

I clued her in on our present threat before she saw my handprint there.

"I've seeing things in the woods around our fire. We might need to fight. I'll need your help for that."

"I've never been in a fight before!" Regina protested. "Besides, you're the man here. Aren't you supposed to sweep me off my feet and defend me more something?"

I snorted. "Your level is higher than mine, as are all of your stats. Frankly, you should be the one protecting me."

Inwardly, I cursed myself for not preparing a proper weapon for Regina. I had a large knife under my pillow, but that was about it. A knife wasn't exactly my weapon of choice either. It was more of a survival tool than a weapon. I didn't like the thought of actually having to use it to kill something.

In a knife fight, the winner is the one who dies in the hospital instead of the streets. If these creatures had bladed weapons, I didn't expect to be able to take out more than one or two of them without getting hit myself.

Regina and I were free of the tent, and I held my knife up before snatching a burning branch from the fire and holding it up for a torch. Regina dug around through the emergency supplies, eventually finding a flashlight.

The extra light finally revealed our assailants.

Lesser Moss Men (Level 1)

These creatures are natural creatures created from a natural confluence of nature and life zeal. They possess limited intelligence and attack through blunt physical trauma. They are a type of nature elemental.

Despite being monsters, these moss men only stood as tall as my ankle. I was grateful to see that they didn't have anything sharp on them. They stumbled along like green gingerbread men, with stumpy misshapen legs of different lengths and numbers. A few looked humanoid, but most seemed more like a collection of oddly forking roots held together by clinging bits of moss.

"We can handle them," I assured Regina. "Find a weapon and guard my back!"

Regina grabbed one of the logs she'd gathered earlier. It was as thick around as my leg, but Regina hefted it in one hand like it was as light as a dowel.

Encouraged at the thought that I would have someone guarding my back, I forward with my knife to attack the nearest moss man. My blade sunk into it, meeting no resistance.

I darted back to safety, hoping it would topple to the ground after that strike. No luck. The moss that made up most of the creature's body simply reformed around the wound, healing the damage instantly.

If the knife didn't do anything, then I would be in trouble. I looked at my other hand, still holding the burning branch like a torch.

With few other options, I stabbed the burning hot length of wood into the moss man. The flames licked up its body, and the creature sizzled and popped as it blistered and blackened. Soon, the moss man was on fire. It took a few last stuttering steps before collapsing to the ground as a smoldering pile of ashes.

Moss Man slain!

You have been awarded XP.

"They're weak to fire!" I shouted.

Inspired by my victory, Regina attacked a moss man near her. She swung her branch with incredible speed, smashing down on the nearest moss man. It thudded into the ground with tremendous strength, shaking the ground and sending up a geyser of embers from the fire as she utterly pulverized the moss man.

I heard a crackling sound, like that of snapping twigs. Regina had broken something inside the moss man with that swing, leaving it as nothing but a pile of moss. It lay on the ground, completely unmoving.

"They're also weak to smashing," Regina said as she prepared to take another swing.

Two easy kills invigorated both of us. These things weren't so bad after all. I quickly slew three more with fire, gaining more XP every time.

Moss Man Slain!

You have been awarded XP.

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

You now have four additional unallocated stat points.

I grinned and let out a whooping battle cry at that notification. Getting stronger was exactly what I was supposed to do. It was one step closer to survival.

"I leveled up!" Regina said, proving she'd also received enough XP to progress a level, even though her level was higher than mine.

I made up the difference soon, though, and by the time we killed the last moss man, I received my second level up.

Congratulations! You have Leveled up! You are now Level 4

You have four additional unallocated stat points.

"Well done!" Regina congratulated me. "I'd give you a holiday bonus if we were on the job."

"Then you'll just have to suffice with a high-five." I laughed as I held my hand up.

Regina wore a genuine smile on her face, and she slapped her palm against mine a bit too roughly, knocking me backward a step.

I pulled open my stats and immediately decided to put a few points into strength. Regina was so much stronger than I was frankly a bit intimidating, and I was eager to attempt to span that barrier. On a more practical note, I'd seen how she'd smashed the moss men to pieces with nothing but brute strength. I wanted to be able to do the same.

I noticed I had twelve points to allocate, which meant I must have reached level two when I killed that printer.

It also implied that I'd been level one before the integration, which was a bit insulting. Surely, I would have been a tougher foe than one of these moss men.

I was sorely tempted to put all twelve of my points into strength. The overwhelming power I'd get then might let me smash all foes to smithereens. But the moment I thought, I had an instinctual feeling that doing so would be a bad idea.

There were frequent punishments in place for dumping all your stats into one ability score, and I didn't even know how I was going to craft my build. I simply didn't know enough about this world or what was possible.

So I dumped four points into strength. That would bring my powers to a respectable level when added to what I got from my First Defender title. The other four I put into wisdom. I didn't want to be caught by monsters because of myopia, and a few extra points would have me seeing like a fighter jet pilot.

After, I divided my remaining points into dexterity and constitution. All those would help improve my immediate survivability. However, I disliked the thought of not being able to put anything into Intelligence or Constitution.

That couldn't be helped, though. I didn't need to prepare for a wizard or sorcerer build I might be able to capitalize on someday when I might not survive until tomorrow.

Carter Smith (Level 4)

Race: Human (Level cap: 25)

Class: None

Strength: 9 (+4)

Dexterity: 7 (+3)

Constitution: 9 (+3)

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 6 (+4)

Charisma: 8

Titles: First Adventurer: First to hunt and slay a monster in the new world. (+1 additional random stat point to allocate per level.)

First Defender: First to slay a monster in the protection of another. (+2 for all stats.)

My two random stats from my First Adventurer title ended up going into Dexterity and Constitution, which I was happy to see. Both were useful stats. These level-ups put me well beyond the power of a regular human. They had me sitting squarely in the superhuman territory.

Even without that conscious knowledge, I could tell I was strong now. Power flowed through my arms, and my body reacted to my thoughts like a well-tuned machine. The air smelled crisper, my weight lighter on my feet. I felt like a champion athlete in his prime.

"Alright, Regina, new high-five!" I said as I turned to my companion. I held up a hand with a smirk on my face, knowing she'd be the one to get knocked back this time.

Regina smacked my hand with all the might of a truck on the highway crashing into a rouge stop sign. My arm crumpled like a wet noodle, and I was thrown backward with tremendous strength. I hit the back of my head on the ground, though with my new points in the constitution, it felt no more harmful than hitting a pillow.

I bounced back to my feet in an instant, showing my points into dexterity had been well spent.

"Don't tell me..." I muttered as I stared at Regina.

"Ha! That's right!" Regina laughed. "Don't tell me you distributed all your points evenly across stats? I came up with a fantastic idea that's far superior."

"You put all your points into strength?"

"Mhm. You're a decent learner if nothing else. My race gets two points in strength at each level. I get three more I can distribute any way I choose. So I put all five of my points into strength!"

I stared Regina down, sighing as I looked at her stat menu.

Regina Tsuya (Level 7)

Race: Red Oni (Level cap: 75)

Class: None

Strength: 12 (+5)

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 14

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 8

Charisma: 6

Well, at the very least, I'd get to see if my theory about not dumping all my points into strength held any water.

Regina had no desire to sleep after our little fight, so I used the hours that remained in the night to catch some sleep. Unfortunately, I'd only get around four hours or so, but I planned to make up for any I missed once we got to the bunker.

When I awoke, Regina was jumping into a tree. Literally jumping. She went from the ground to a tree branch over her head with one big leap. The motion looked bizarre. A human-sized creature simply shouldn't have been able to leap that high, and yet she did.

"Ha! I did it!" Regina pumped her fist in the air before promptly sliding off the branch and tumbling to the ground. She landed face first, though thankfully, her high constitution saved her from any damage.

She brushed the dirt out of her hair, hastily glancing at the tent. I snapped my eyes shut, certain I'd get an earful if she knew I'd seen her like that.

Thankfully, she'd put not points into wisdom, so it was easy to fool her. She heaved a sigh of relief and tried jumping into the tree again, missing her mark several times before she landed it again. She looked strangely excitable as she jumped like that. Like a giddy little girl on the playground.

The expression seemed strange on her face, but seeing her so happy was rare enough that I just watched and shared in her happiness that way.

I yawned, making a big show of waking up so she wouldn't suspect I'd been watching her practice with her new strength.

"Good morning!" I said to Regina. "What's for breakfast?"

Regina gestured to the canteen that I'd boiled water in the night before. It was once again sitting in a pile of embers as some mysterious green sludge inside it burbled within.

"Moss man stew!" Regina said proudly. I collected all the moss I could from the creatures we killed the previous night and threw them in a pot of boiling water. Perhaps this way, we'll gain their powers! It's a pretty good idea, don't you think so?"

"Only if you want the power to be lit on fire or to get smashed by a big stick..." I grumbled as I scooped out a tiny cup of the stew.

I blew on the surface until it was cool enough to drink without burning myself. Regina looked on eagerly, crouching down next to me and staring into my eyes as I drank.

The taste was that of dirt mixed algae. I imagined if someone took a swamp, boiled it down to its essential ingredients, and turned that into a stew, this was what it would taste like.

Regina's smile fell when she saw the look on my face.

"...Well, if you don't like it, you don't have to drink it..." she grumbled.

My response was interrupted by a system message appearing before me.

You have consumed a minor potion of nature and vitality!

+1 point to Dexterity and Constitution for one hour.

My eyes widened, and my sour look suddenly turned into a smile.

"I admit, it doesn't taste great. But the benefits are amazing!" I pushed my cup to Regina's lips. "Try it!"

"Are you making fun of me? You are, aren't you?" Regina turned her head aside as I pushed the cup towards her but eventually gave in and took a sip.

Her eyes widened as she received the same prompt as I did.

"I am a genius!" Regina shouted. "And now the system recognizes it as well. So perhaps that raise I promised you should go to me instead?"

She shared her screen with me.

Regina Tsyua has earned the title: Alchemical Genius: You are one of the first ten people in the world to create and consume a potion created from monsters.

Reward: All additional potions you create will have increased effectiveness.

I gaped at the new title, wondering what to say. But, in the end, I simply agreed with her. That was often the smartest course of action when Regina made up her mind about something.

"That's right, you're a genius." I nodded and patted her on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I'll give back the raise," Regina said as she preened at my flattery. "Assuming things ever go back to the way they were, that is."

I didn't know what to say to that. I knew things wouldn't return to normal. And even if they could, I wouldn't want them to. I'd been preparing for this to happen for so long I wasn't sure what I'd do if the world just suddenly changed back to the way it was before. This had been my rudder ever since meeting the Amazons that day, and without it, I would wander through the rest of lime life lost wand without a purpose.

Luckily, the silence was enough. So, together, we packed up the campsite and got moving again.

"The bunker is this way! If we keep a decent pace, I imagine we'll be there well before nightfall. Which is good because I buried the entrance, and we'll have to dig our way in. With monsters about, I don't want to be digging during the night.

"Just make sure you can stick to my pace," Regina said. Then she started skipping. Each hopping jump took her into the air and carried her a distance far longer than a step. I soon realized that she was putting her recent enhancements to her strength attribute to work, letting her travel far faster than moving on foot.

I was about to give her some genuine congratulations when she ran face-first into a tree.

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