Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

We followed the roar and soon found what was left of Craig’s remaining people. They’d broken and scattered, but the bulk of them had gathered here.

Gathered and then promptly slaughtered. And the culprit was munching on their corpses. It took me a moment to recognize her.

Her fur was the black of a starless night, and her eyes were like burning coals. Her claws were as long as daggers, and her teeth were deep yellow. The way her feral lips pulled back in a snarl made her look eager to see me in a deadly and predatory way. Her body was the size of a car, lined with scars and with one faint line along her side from a makeshift spear. I recognized the old wound, which looked like it had happened years ago now. This was the very rat I’d fought twice before.

Rat Matriarch - Level 20

First, I’d nearly killed her, then she’d nearly killed me. It looked like this time she intended to finish things between us once and for all.

“Behind me!” I shouted, and sooner had I spoken did she open her mouth and spray forth a toxic green mist that washed over our surroundings. Off to my side, Marcus turned green and fell to his knees. A few others soon followed suit, especially those at lower levels.

The moment I saw her, I knew this was the challenger the quest spoke of. But I doubted she’d come for the settlement quest. No, somewhere in her beastly brain was a desire for vengeance. She came for me.

I held my breath, but the foul stench was so potent it forced its way up my nose. Decaying corpses had nothing on the Rat Matriarch’s breath.

I coughed uncontrollably, and I heard others do the same behind me. Only a handful held it together, while most of our group collapsed to the ground to splutter and gag until it sounded like they were about to cough up their lungs.

She charged forward, slashing with razor sharp fangs. She was fast, faster than I expected. Even with my enhanced reflexes, I barely dodged her attack. I used Power Jump to get clear from her and position myself so I could rain down spell fire on her.

Finger pointed, I fired Mana Bolt directly at the Rat Matriarch.

I expected little, but I hoped I might be able to slow her down a bit. The bolt struck home, and the Rat Matriarch flinched, but it didn’t slow her down. It was obvious she was resistant to damage. The blast merely irritated her more. She closed the distance between us in a flash.

It was going to take something special if I intended to defeat her. I cast another Mana Bolt at her. The fire roaring behind me was still potent enough to fuel my spells, and just like against Craig, this Mana Bolt dripped with burning ichor.

As soon as I finished casting my spell, I dived to my right, avoiding the charging giant Rat Matriarch headed my way.

Unfortunately, that gave her a chance to turn and slash at me. Her claws tore through my shirt, leaving holes where they passed. Thankfully, I’d followed Sure Step’s guidance and kept just enough distance that only my shirt suffered from the attack. I was unharmed, though I heard several screams that thought otherwise.

“Carter!” Sakura yelled.

“Provide cover fire for him!” Marcus yelled.

But my companions would soon have problems of their own. For just like last time, the Rat Matriarch hadn’t come alone.

Red eyes lined the darkness of the streets, filling alleys as far as I could see. Most were tiny, no larger than normal rats. But many others were bigger, stretching from the size of cats to the size of dogs. The Rat Matriarch was the only one who’d achieved her truly colossal size, but the sheer number of feral creatures was terrifying to behold.

The Rat Matriarch screeched, and the call carried through the rest of the rat hoard, repeated until all heard it. Like a vast army, the rats moved as one.

They charged forward as one as they heeded their matriarch’s call. The rats weren’t nearly as strong as her, but they were fast and could move quickly despite being small. They swarmed over me as I tried desperately to keep them off of me while dodging her blows. A single blast with Mana Bolt was enough to put any of them down, but every Mana Bolt I wasted dealing with them was one I couldn’t fire at the Rat Matriarch.

One of them latched itself onto my leg and began chewing frantically. Its teeth dug deep, drawing blood with its little jaws. Another grabbed my neck and attempted to pull me toward its mother. But I kicked it aside and threw it off with both hands, sending it flying past the Rat Matriarch.

I wished for my sword, but that battered and bent thing was still stuck in the shoulder of Craig’s corpse as the building burned down. I would have to make do with feet and fists.

Power Jump helped me stay nimble and out of the way while blasting any that came close enough to become a problem.

I wasn’t the only one fighting the rats. Sakura, Bridget, Caleb, Marcus, and many others were behind me, and all of them were busy fighting their own foes. Most were targeting the rats with their guns, but Bridget and Sakura, in particular, were taking care of the ones attacking us with melee weapons and were the only thing keeping the rats from attacking those dependent on their guns to fight. If either of them failed, our line would crumple. That was probably what happened to all the bodies around us.

My comrades were only barely keeping pace with the Rat Matriarch’s army, and I could see a few eyes darting in terror each time the Rat Matriarch moved.

“There are too many of them! Run!” A woman armed with a rifle gasped, wide-eyed and shocked.

“They got me! I’m bleeding! Help!” a man yelled as he clutched at his throat. A rat was biting him there, hanging on by its teeth as he tried to pull it free.

“Hold!” I shouted in reply. I cast one spare Mana Bolt to put the rat attacking him out of its misery. He probably would have been able to kill it himself if he wasn’t so panicked. “If you flee, they’ll just chase you down and kill you even easier!”

The few who looked like they were about to bolt hesitated at my words. When nobody else fled, they calmed and hefted their guns to keep fighting, though terror warred with what little courage they had left.

I had to win my fight against the Rat Matriarch. I had a feeling the moment I did so, the rest of the rats would scatter. But she was both fast and strong, like her kin, but to a far greater extent. Worse, my stats were still half depleted from my fight with Craig, and the few minutes I’d had since facing him were far from enough to recover from my wounds.

I had been using Mind Over Flesh to consume mana and regenerate with all speed, but I had to cut that expenditure now. I wasn’t sure how long this fight would last, and I might need to use that mana offensively.

My next Mana Bolt landed on top of the Rat Matriarch’s head, exploding with searing flames. The scent of burning fur filled the air, and the Rat Matriarch howled. She whipped about wildly, trying to shake the flame away, but couldn’t.

Marcus had finished off the last of the smaller rodents coming toward him, and now he aimed his gun at the Rat Matriarch’s torso. He pulled the trigger, and a gunshot echoed down the street. But he had yet to learn the lesson I already had. Ordinary bullets became increasingly less effective the more points in vitality something had.

His bullet hit the Rat Matriarch square in the snout, but the bullet bounced off doing nothing except making her angry. In response, she lashed out at Marcus, striking him hard against the wall nearby. His armor cracked, and he stumbled backward, bleeding profusely from the wound.

Caleb ran to help Marcus, but the Rat Matriarch launched herself at him. He dove out of the way, avoiding being crushed beneath her weight. Then she swung again. Again, he evaded death by inches.

This time, though, he was slower to dodge and took a wound along his back from those long sharpened nails. Blood flowed from the gash, and he dropped his rifle before falling flat on his stomach.

He scrambled to grab it as the Rat Matriarch stomped towards him, intent on tearing into him with her huge paws. But I wasn’t about to let the beast kill my comrade right in front of me.

I jumped forward, grabbing the barrel of his weapon as it slid across the ground toward me. My fingers wrapped around it as I twisted, using Caleb’s rifle like a club, as I bashed the Rat Matriarch in the head. The impact drove her back slightly, but she recovered almost immediately. But that was enough for Caleb to recover and crawl out of danger.

She whirled on me, and my eyes met hers, each of us carrying deadly intent. A silent message passed between us. This would be the last time we fought. Only one of us would walk away alive when we were done here.

I cast Mana Bolt and swung the rifle around in my hands to use it normally, getting one excellent shot off before the Rat Matriarch was on top of me. I had to use Power Jump to get myself clear.

The Rat Matriarch looked like she wanted to pursue it, but someone else joined the fray. Bridget lunged from our defensive line while Sakura took a step back, furiously fiddling with her stat menu. It looked like Sakura had leveled up and was allocating her stat points as quickly as possible.

Bridget was only level 7, but she made up for it with a furious war cry and the table leg in her hands. It was the same one I’d given her earlier that day when the integration began.

She whipped it over her head, smashing it into the Rat Matriarch’s exposed rear.

“Come here, you big, ugly rodent!” Bridget taunted the creature. Her wounds didn’t do any actual damage, but they succeeded in what I was pretty sure she’d been planning. She drew the beast’s attention.

“Bridget, get back!” I yelled. She didn’t have the stats to help me against a monster as powerful as this one. With its speed and strength, it could end her life in a moment.

But even as I yelled, I realized Bridget knew exactly what she was doing. And she was prepared to risk her life anyway, all just to give me another opening. Not even I could jump between her and the Rat Matriarch and protect her. The only way to save her now would be to draw the Rat Matriarch’s attention away again, just like Bridget planned.

So I unleashed Mana Bolt after Mana Bolt on the Rat Matriarch’s exposed rear. It growled at Bridget, snapping at her with her teeth and claws as it tried to catch her. But Bridget slipped away twice in quick succession.

The Rat Matriarch paid a heavy price to let herself be distracted in a fight against me. I fired a dozen Mana Bolts at it as quickly as I could. But, as close as I was, every one of them struck, and within moments her fur had turned into a bonfire as my fire-laced Mana Bolts took hold and nipped away at her skin. Soon, her hide looked much like my body did at the moment, burned and blistered all over.

“Hey, pick on someone your own level!” I shouted at the Rat Matriarch. I sensed Bridget was slowing, and the last attack had nearly taken half her stomach out. She just wasn’t fast or strong enough to play the sort of game she had been playing with this monster for long. But I was. Now that Bridget had helped me level the playing field between us, I was more confident in my ability to put her down.

But instead of turning, the Rat Matriarch turned to Bridget once again. Unlike before, Bridget was just a hair too slow this time. The Rat Matriarch Bit her hand, and Bridget’s eyes widened in a silent scream.

I was on top of the Rat Matriarch then, rifle barrel in one hand and Mana Bolt in the other. I clubbed her in the side of the head as I blasted her with Mana Bolt, finally taking out one eye and blinding the Rat Matriarch on one side.

It couldn’t get to me with its claws, so it tried with its maw. It had to release Bridget, who flopped to the ground with a limp thud. The Rat Matriarch arched her spine as she tried to bite me, but only got a smack in the snout for the maneuver.

Then she rolled. I wasn’t prepared for that, and her crushing weight was on top of me instantly. She twisted, and my worst fears came true. I was stuck in a grapple with an opponent far stronger than I was. Worse, this one had sharp teeth and a poisonous bite.

I shoved the rifle into her mouth, and her teeth cracked on the wood and steel. I sensed a foul stench emanating from her mouth as she breathed toxins on me again, but I remembered I had my own breath.

Fire met poison, and we struggled once more. She was stronger than I was, but with my Surging Strength skill, I could match her for the moment. But the lesser rats were coming closer, and I felt them eying my vulnerable throat with hunger.

Time slowed as I raced through my options in my head. I’d already targeted the Rat Matriarch with my new curse. Mana Bolt was my best offensive weapon since I couldn’t use Disassemble while she had so much fight left in her. I could escape, but I would take some heavy wounds, especially from those other rats coming toward me.

Just while I was getting ready to commit to a move that would probably lose me an arm, a scream echoed down the street, barely recognizable in the depth of its ferocious fury. But I did recognize it. That was Sakura’s voice.

“Die!” she yelled as she landed on top of the Rat Matriarch. She had her bat in hand, battered and bruised from ages of use, but with crimson light lining its length as she reinforced it and brought it down on top of the Rat Matriarch’s head repeatedly.

Each blow sent an echo running up and down the street, and the ground shook like the earth was quaking. But that wasn’t the first thing I noticed.

Sakura had a horn.

A single red protrusion stuck out of the middle of her forehead, hair streaking out behind her. Her entire body shimmered with raw, uncontained physical might, and a sense of danger filled the air around her.

Again and again, she brought her bat down on the Rat Matriarch’s head, and as she did so, I blasted it from below. I fired Mana Bolt again and again into its maw, pinned open with the rifle.

It howled in pain, and I shoved my boot into its stomach and used Power Jump to shove myself free. That was when I got a good look at Sakura. She was taller than before. Whatever had given her that horn took her from a petite thing to a woman just a bit smaller than Craig had been. The Rat Matriarch beneath her was still larger, but as she beat the beast with her club, it struggled to throw her off.

How many stat points did Sakura have in strength? To hit that hard, it had to be far more than me.

Her level had also increased, and her name flashed differently for a moment.

Sakura Miyamoto - Oni Berserker (Level 10)

I wasn’t about to waste this opportunity Sakura had bought me, though. I attacked while the Rat Matriarch struggled to deal with her, and between the two of us, the Rat Matriarch was being overwhelmed. She turned on Sakura, snapping at her legs to even the odds.

But she dodged, then slammed the club straight into the side of the Rat Matriarch’s skull. I heard bone crack, and the Rat Matriarch looked dazed. This was my moment. I summoned all my remaining mana and cast Disassemble.

My mana washed over the creature, and though it had the raw reserves of power to resist, it didn’t have enough of its wits about it to do so. My mana overwhelmed its own and flooded its entire body. Then my mana pulled.

The Rat Matriarch exploded in a fountain of blood and guts. The pieces flew upward before falling back down in neat and well-organized piles.

“Bridget!” I yelled, rushing to the fallen intern. She lay limp on the ground, head pouring with a fever sweat as her eyes hung half-lidded.

Marcus ran up to me. “I have a first aid kit! It’s right around the corner.”

“Go get it!”

Marcus ran as I inspected and cleaned the wound. He was back in a flash, handing me a familiar red box. I flipped it open, searching for the antibiotic ointment. From the looks of things, Bridget was afflicted with the same toxin the Rat Matriarch had hit me with, Toxic Bite. Only now that she was stronger, her poison was stronger, too. The level difference between Bridget and the Rat Matriarch was far larger than the level difference between her and me when I’d been bit. This would be a close one, but I hoped Bridget would be okay if I got rid of the toxic affliction quickly enough.

“Bridget, this is important. I need you to share your status screen with me,” I said.

Her bleary eyes shook, and her hand trembled a moment before a screen popped up before me.

You are afflicted with [Toxic Bite]! You have received damage.

You are afflicted with [Paralysis]!

Sure enough, Bridget’s health was steadily ticking downward. But there was something I could do about that. I used the antibiotics on her, and the notifications started coming less frequently.

“If you have any spare points, dump them into Vitality,” I told Bridget.

It turned out Bridget did have a few spare points. The last fight had given her two levels, and she dumped all eight points into vitality. That at least had her stabilized to where she wouldn’t die. Hopefully, a few more applications of the antibiotic ointment would heal her like it healed me.

“I’ll bring her somewhere to lie down,” Caleb offered. “We cleared out a little space in one of the nearby offices. Marcus and I were talking about setting up camp there after running away from Craig’s crew.”

I hesitated a moment, not wanting to let Bridget out of my arms. She’d gotten that bite helping me, after all.

“You’re in no condition to be playing medic. You look half dead yourself,” Caleb replied. He leaned in and whispered to me. “And half the men are convinced you’re a zombie. If I let you take her away, they think you’ll bite her and turn her into an undead like you.”

I chuckled. “Point taken, Caleb. I’ll check in on her when I’ve healed up myself. Remember to apply this antibiotic ointment to her as soon as you can.”

Caleb nodded, scooped Bridget up, and then departed back in the direction we’d come from. I turned back to the scene of the dead Rat Matriarch. Or what was left of her. The bits and pieces pulled out of her by my Disassemble skill were scattered all over the battlefield. The last of the rats were gone, scurrying off to whatever burrow they’d come from in the first place.

Sakura sat in the middle of it all the carnage, sitting on her knees with blood covering her arms and legs. Her face, though, was remarkably clear of guts and debris, and she panted as the furious light faded from her eyes and she sagged in place. But the horn jutting out of her forehead remained as plain as day.

“Sakura, are you okay?” I asked.

She looked up at me and gave me a bloody smile. She probably had a few internal injuries. “Did I do good?”

“Wonderfully.” I hauled her to her feet. She’d shrunk down a bit after whatever ability she’d used earlier ended, but she was still noticeably taller than before. New muscle tone lined her frame as well, widening her hips and shoulders until her clothes split at the seams. She didn’t resemble the office worker I knew at all anymore. Now she looked more like an Olympic athlete at the peak of her training.

“Good, I’m glad.” She smiled at me, eyes meeting mine. Something special passed between us, and I felt a sudden urge to kiss her come upon me. I moved my lips a little closer, eyes locked on her lips. Sakura seemed to know what was happening and closed her eyes with a blissful smile on my face. She leaned in toward me quicker than I expected.

Then I hit my forehead on her new horn, and both of us yelped in shock and surprise.

“Ow!” Sakura rubbed her forehead, touching her horn. I rubbed my forehead, touching where the horn had poked me.

We both looked at one another and laughed.

“Is it really that sensitive?” I asked as I rubbed the tip of Sakura’s horn.

“Mhmm!” Sakura let out a moan that told me far more than words.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

<Note>

Sakura is now officially horny!

Get it? Get it?

Okay, I’ll stop.