Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 44 (Patreon)

I began the meeting by asking Bridget to recount her experience. She detailed what she had seen and what would have happened had we not rescued her and the others in time. Her descriptions of human remains were enough to provoke the anger of everyone present.

“They’re... eating people?” Sheriff Drayton asked, his voice filled with concern.

“Worse than that,” I replied. “They’re using people’s souls and grafting them onto themselves to increase their intelligence. It means not only do you not get a chance to live again through the System, but the thing that killed you becomes that much smarter and that much more of a threat to the loved ones you left behind.”

The others looked skeptical about the part with souls. They didn’t have firsthand experience on that topic, so they struggled to comprehend the fact that reincarnation was now a reality. The System was fully equipped to recycle souls. Nevertheless, the gruesome descriptions of people being devoured alive made them realize that we had to act.

“Alright, so something must be done. But why are you in charge?” Sheriff Drayton asked, arms still crossed. “Just because you have the largest survivor group doesn’t mean you can make decisions for the entire town. You’re not even an elected official!”

I frowned. Sheriff Drayton had a point, and the others nodded in agreement. Honestly, I would have been happy to yield the leadership position if anyone else could do what needed to be done. But there wasn’t, and so the responsibility fell to me.

“Examine me. See my level.” I spread my arms wide for them all to see. “The Alpha Wolfman is just as high-leveled as I am. If you think you can fight him in my place, speak up now.”

No one spoke up.

I turned to Sheriff Drayton, who glared back at me. “There’s your answer. I am in charge because no one else can be.”

Once the preliminary matters were settled, we finally started discussing tactics. We needed to strike with every advantage at our disposal and act quickly before the Wolfmen could outpace us at levels. This called for a deadly and decisive strike with overwhelming numbers and firepower. All of our forces would converge on the enemy at once, cut off all viable escape routes, and eliminate these beasts.

It was the only way to ensure the safety of the people of Crownhill.

That was when the bickering over resources began. Bullets were becoming scarce, and most of the survival groups that had made it this far had done so by using guns. There were many concerns that if they exhausted all their bullets in this mission, they would have nothing left to defend themselves afterward.

I raised my hand, cutting through the tension. “Listen, we must protect Crownhill. I won’t lie to you. It’ll take bullets. Some of you are worried we’ll use ammo we’ll never get back. It’s true we might not get gunpowder or primers the way we used to, but it might not be the problem you think it is. We don’t know a lot about the System yet, and there’s only one thing I know for sure. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

To punctuate my statement, I shot a Mana Bolt into the ground, leaving a hole in the cobblestones roughly the size of a bullet. “In the future, there’ll be alternatives to bullets we haven’t even thought of. So let’s save tomorrow’s problems for then. Today, we have to protect ourselves from man-eating wolves.”

With the biggest concern settled, the atmosphere shifted to collaboration. With renewed determination, we set to work, eager to save our town from the Wolfmen threat.

Getting the meeting to order was the hard part. However, once I had everyone on the same page, we were able to decide on a course of action rather rapidly.

We prepared for our assault in stages. The first was to interview Bridget on everything she’d seen about the encampment. We need to know our enemies’ numbers and approximate forces. Bridget confirmed we probably had enough people together to take the Wolfmen off, especially if we struck with the element of surprise.

There was some debate about whether we should wait for dawn. Still, with the similarities to Werewolves, some people feared these Wolfmen would grow even stronger at night and would attack again when we were vulnerable. Ultimately, we decided to strike before the sun fell this very day.

We did a quick survey of what we could bring to the table. Mostly, that meant guns, but quite a few groups had gotten creative with their survival equipment. A lot of groups had independently cooked up some form of Molotov Cocktails, and one of the smaller survival groups even had a level thirteen with a class built around such weapons.

Michael’s group had a few flashbangs taken from the gun shop they were occupying, and they even had a pair of grenades. They volunteered all of them for the cause.

After that, we had to get our groups organized. There was no point in fighting the command structure that had already come together, so I didn’t bother trying to convince people to mix and match groups. Instead, Sheriff Drayton would lead his group of officers in their tactical SWAT gear, and they’d move in as soon as I had lured out the Alpha Wolfman.

Michael’s group would move in from the flank, followed by Marcus and Frank, each leading another group. Sakura would stand by with Bridget, Margaret, and any remaining reserve forces, either to help me deal with the Alpha Wolfman or to aid the teams striking the Wolfman encampment.

Of all the groups, only my survival group camped around the Obelisk was large enough to field multiple teams. This message wasn’t lost on the other groups.

It was quite remarkable how quickly humans could come together during a time of crisis. Just hours ago, we’d been caught flat-footed by these Wolfmen running through our town and killing people left and right. And now, before the sun had even set, we were planning to ensure they couldn’t ever do such a thing again.

***

We were on the road within an hour. With any luck, the Wolfmen would still be licking their wounds. They wouldn’t be expecting to be attacked themselves.

We separated into our groups, though for now, everyone from the Obelisk shelter followed me. Sakura stood just to my right, and Bridget was to my lift. She was lower level than she should be, but she’d refused to stay in the rear and had been adamant about staying by my side. There was some sense to her argument. She had been taken captive by the Wolfmen, so she would best recognize the path to their camp.

“The caves are up ahead. That was where they took us before. They have a crude campsite around them, and some of the smarter Wolfmen have tried to build walls and start a fire,” Bridget explained as she pointed us in the right direction.

The sun filtered through the tall trees, casting dappled shadows across our path as I moved. Everyone was holding their breath, though it wouldn’t help against the keen senses of the Wolfmen once we got close enough.

Behind Bridget and Sakura were Frank and Marcus. The two of them had become real figures of authority in the shelter. Margaret was with them, too, though her build had been drifting less toward combat and more toward diplomacy.

Behind the three of them were dozens of the fiercest fighters from the shelter. I saw Kyle standing to the rear, the plucky young lad. Looking back, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of command settling on my shoulders. Their fates were in my hands.

And apparently, the System thought the same because the moment we’d set off, it had presented me with a new quest.

New Quest Available!

Command and Conqueror

· Objective: Purge the Wolfmen from the area surrounding Crownhill.

· Rewards: Bonuses to Charisma, leadership, and a rightful claim to ownership over the surrounding area.

· Bonus Objective: Return with at least half of your men alive.

· Bonus Reward: Gain early access to the Party Ultimate ability system! When in a party with other adventurers, you can charge your ultimate bars by contributing to party damage! These contribution points can be expended to produce powerful battlefield-changing effects!

The quest was an attractive one, to say the least. I’d played enough games to know an ultimate was often a battle-changing ability. I wasn’t sure if the System was going to be quite as generous as I would hope to see in a game, but I still wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity.

And any upgrade to my charisma was a welcome bonus. After all, my entire strategy for circumventing my curse had been to party up with Sakura, give her my experience points, and then take them back through my Soul Vampire title.

That meant that any ability that enhanced my leadership would be useful to me nearly all the time.

I accepted the quest as soon as it appeared. I considered it practically in the bag, since there was no way I would lose half my people. I’d taken the Alpha Wolfman’s measure, and now that I was back at full health, I was certain I could take him. I’d seen all his tricks, but he hadn’t seen all mine.

In the distance, the trees rustled. That was Sheriff Drayton’s group. They were just as eager for battle as my forces were, though perhaps a bit more skilled at moving as a team. My survivors were just that. Survivors. The Sheriff’s men had trained together countless times. It would be months before Marcus and Frank could reshape the teams of volunteers I had now into something resembling a cohesive force.

But they were enough for a little pest control.

Even further away, I heard a single gunshot. That had to be Michael’s group. They were even less disciplined than my own, so I wasn’t surprised one of them had opened fire early. But our element of surprise wasn’t going to last much longer anyway.

“Forward!” I yelled, and together we charged the Wolfman Encampment.

I led with Eldrich Blast. The inky cloud of shadow was a lot less noticeable than my Mana Bolts. Then I scanned for the Alpha Wolfman. He had to be around here somewhere, and when he did, my job would be to keep him from tearing our ranks apart with his superior levels.

As I scanned our surroundings, I watched Sakura’s grip tighten around her club. She moved with a predator’s grace. Not the carefully measured steps of a hungry hound like the Wolfmen, but like something big, brutish, no subtle and all unstoppable power.

“Hyaaa!” She let out a wordless roar as she charged forward, club trailing behind her as she leaped and brought it down with deadly force directly on a Wolfman’s head.

Her enemy didn’t stand a chance. The furry Wolfman didn’t know what killed him as his skull exploded into a million pieces.

The others turned at the noise of Sakura’s charge, and she whirled on them with her club. Their teeth and claws did nothing against her wood and iron. Crimson light flashed along the length of her weapon as she shattered flesh and bone alike with every swing.

Much to my surprise, Bridget was close behind her. Not to be outdone by Sakura, she jumped atop a Wolfman as well. Unfortunately, the feat wasn’t as effective for her since her level was far lower than Sakura’s. Instead of slaying the Wolfman in one fearsome blow, she buried a foot-long dagger deep in the Woflman’s neck.

Though that was a mortal blow, it wasn’t enough to drop the Wolfman. He turned and shook Bridget off, tossing her to the ground. Undeterred, Bridget drew another knife she’d kept at her waist, jumped to her feet, and hacked at the clawed hand, trying to tear out her guts.

She rolled into the blow, to both my shock and that of the Wolfman she was fighting.

Bridget was both fearless and ruthless! I hadn’t expected such a bold fighting style from the shy intern I’d protected from Craig what seemed like a lifetime ago. A certain ferocity burned behind her eyes that I’d never seen before.

Wolfman’s blood dripped down her hands as she tore one of her daggers from the neck of the fallen Wolfman. She turned to me and flashed me a proud smile.

Panting, she spoke. “Level... ten!”

Still blinking in surprise, I grinned back at her. “I’ll help you pick a class after the battle!”

I resolved to keep a careful eye on Bridget. She was hungry for levels, and while I was glad to see such ambition shining in her eyes, I was worried she might overreach.

Marcus and Frank fought considerably more predictably. They had picked up guns as part of their leveling plan since they were good ranged weapons at early levels. Just something I’d warned them against building their class around. Frank wielded my old sword in one hand, bent and soot-scored, though it was. In the other, he held a Glock, fired without looking, striking Wolfmen square in the head every time.

Marcus had a rifle, though he leaned against a long spear planted in the ground behind him, ready to swap weapons if a Wolfman got close. The two of them were hitting guards one after another, and bleeding and bloody Wolfmen were a common sight across the battlefield.

Between the two of them, Marcus had more luck with his rifle than Frank had with his pistol. The Wolfmen had powerful regeneration abilities, and pistol bullets seemed to do little more than give them bruises. Whatever these guys were made of was tough stuff. Marcus’ rifle was doing more only because it took entire chunks out of the Wolfmen whenever he landed a clean shot.

In the distance, I heard Sheriff Dreyton’s men firing fully automatic weapons. I worried a little since, despite the amount of lead they were throwing, most of their weapons were of a relatively low caliber. But Sheriff Drayton or one of his men must have realized the same thing I had because soon the sound of gunfire stopped coming so rapidly and started coming louder. Someone had switched to a shotgun, and others were following suit. The same change occurred among Michael’s people on the final flank.

Our forces pushed on. The Wolfman Camp had no semblance of sentries or organized defenses. Despite what Bridget said about them attempting to fortify themselves, we easily jumped right over their half-hearted attempt at an earthen wall.

We cut through the Wolfmen like a hot knife through butter. Dozens died in our initial assault, and dozens more as we got closer to their caves. The way we overwhelmed their meager defenses and slaughtered them by surprise seemed almost unfair and had these people not wronged us, so I might have felt bad.

But I’d seen the ravaged bodies of humans. These Wolfmen had no pity or remorse. They tore through man, woman, and child alike. They planned to eat our very souls if given the chance. They had no mercy for us, nor I for them.

And so my heart for them was as hard as stone. If only one of us could live on this Shard, I would choose humanity every time. The only thing that I wished for was that the Wolfmen could die knowing they brought this upon themselves.

The experience points rolled in. Sakura, Frank, Bridget, Marcus, and Margaret were all in my party, and they were dealing most of the damage on our flank. I was getting a substantial portion of those experience points as they cut through our enemies, but more importantly, I got a slight boost from all their stats, as they were among the highest-stat individuals in the human offensive.

I even gained from it all.

Congratulations! Your race, Human, has advanced to level 25!

You have reached the level cap for your race!

To progress further, you must select an evolution path for humanity.

I dismissed the notification, though I assigned the points the level-up gave. I wanted every advantage I could get when it came time to fight the Alpha Wolfman.

The battle raged on, and we were upon the caves Bridget mentioned. That would be both where they kept the human captives and their pups. If we slew the foul offspring of these Wolfmen, we’d have rooted them out for good.

Just as I thought that perhaps the Alpha Wolfman was too far away to come to the aid of his pack and I might not need to fight him at all, a chilling howl pierced the air. My enemy had come at last, and he was angry from the sound of that howl.