Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 24 (Patreon)

I came back outside to find nothing but crumbs left on the table from the food Bridget and I had laid out. "I guess the people here really were hungry!" I said with a laugh.

"They liked it. I'm glad." A soft smile lingered on Bridget's face as she looked over the camp.

"I take it you gained some good job levels?"

"That, too," she admitted with a blush.

I wrapped my arm around her waist, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm sure they're all very grateful. Just don't let them talk you into staying. I've gotten awfully attached to your food, too."

"Others are saving up for jobs from the Obelisk. They're getting more expensive every day, but I heard someone else picked up the Chef job recently, just like me. I'm sure they're a few levels behind me, but it won't be long until the people here can get food like mine without me."

I shook my head. "The favor is nice, but I don't only love your food because it tastes good. You put your passion into every bite."

Bridget turned to me and raised an eyebrow. "You can taste that, can you?"

"I can," I replied seriously.

Her cheeks flushed and she turned away in embarrassment. "Don't be so sappy in front of everybody else. You're making me blush." Bridget pushed me away, and I laughed.

"Come on. We should check in with Doctor Roswell while we're here. He has those wolf pups, including the one that's connected to you. It's past time we figured out whether or not he's figured out how to sever the connection safely and cure you."

I turned, and Bridget looped her arm through mine.

"I'm going to see if the militia the others have trained are up to stuff," Sakura waved the two of us off. "I wouldn't want them wasting your time tomorrow if their levels are too low. It's time to go cockroach smashing!"

"Have fun!" Bridget waved Sakura off, and my tough oni berserker went to join the militia.

We stopped by the Blacksmith in the shelter—or Blacksmiths, now that there were more of them. I found someone with a high level in the job who didn’t seem to be too busy and delivered my armor to them.

"Melt this down if you can. I want you to try and make wire out of it. I'll pay you in points if you'd like, or you can take half the material that's left over for yourself. It's orichalcum."

The smith's eyes lit up. "My job told me about this stuff! I'll see what I can do."

We shook hands, deal made. I'd pick up the final product in a few hours. In the meantime, Bridget and I had someone else to visit. We made our way over to Doctor Roswell's clinic.

"Ah, my favorite patient! Well, my favorite living patient..." Doctor Roswell rubbed his hands together.

I blinked in surprise. Since when did he get his missing hand back? He'd lost one of his arms during the Wolfmen attacks. The same one that led to Bridget taking on distinctly canine features.

Doc saw me looking and grinned.

"Like the new arm?" he asked.

He pulled off his glove. The skin of this arm was a much darker skin tone than the rest of him. It was also about twice as thick as his other limb. Whoever had owned that arm previously had been far more muscular than the doctor. Perhaps it would even out in time, but for now he looked rather lopsided.

"I found a fresh body, and the arm was still good, so I figured I'd use my new class and do a little flesh welding. It worked far better than I ever imagined!" The doctor let out a slightly maniacal cackle. "With my new power, replacing lost limbs is a snap… as long as I have the spare body parts, that is. I'm still working on a way to keep detached limbs viable for more than a few hours."

"That's... reassuring, I suppose?” I frowned. “Actually, that’s really disturbing, but it’s good to know you're already pushing the frontiers of medical science so soon after the integration."

I shrugged. Having an arm stolen off a corpse was disturbing. But between that and having to live with just one arm, I was confident most people would choose to have a corpse's arm flesh welded to their shoulder.

"Yes, it's quite marvelous. I wonder what else I can replace. Can I mend a severed head if I attach it to a new body quick enough? I'm positively dying to try. Let me know if you plan to behead someone so I can test that theory. Anyway… unless you're missing a body part I can't see, it doesn’t look like you're here for replacement limb surgery.”

I laughed and shook my head.

“Let me think... ah, the wolf pups, correct?" Doctor Roswell's eyes lit up as strode toward the back room.

We followed him into the back room. This place had previously been a veterinarian's office, so they had a large fenced in area for recovering dogs to sit and wait. Now, though, it was filled with the remaining pups of the wolfmen.

One of them turned to regard Bridget and I as we approached. I got the vague sense that it recognized me through Bridget's memories. I couldn't help but notice the color of its fur had brightened until it was the same golden yellow as Bridget's hair. Its upturned ears resembled the two tufts of hair that always seemed to be sticking up on the top of Bridget's head these days.

The wolf pup stared us down, a dull growl in its throat.

"Watch out, it may try to bite you," Doctor Rosman warned. "I suspect it has the instinctual knowledge that if it kills you and devours your body, it will gain your power and soul for its own, becoming a true wolfman! Truly remarkable creatures, these things. Unfortunately, after nearly losing some of my new fingers I had to put mine down."

Doctor Roswell pointed across the room where a pile of fur lay. It looked like a pelt sized just large enough for one of the cubs in the cage.

"So that's it?" I asked. "Put down the pup and Bridget goes back to normal?"

"Well... yes and no..." Doctor Roswell trailed off. "I've had some lingering side effects. A heightened sense of smell. Sharper hearing. Moments of hyper awareness. A taste for human flesh. All useful new abilities according to the descriptions prepared by the System. But they will remain even though the connection has been severed. However during my postmortem dissection, I discovered another path. One I missed for myself."

"And that is?"

"To do unto the wolf as the wolf would do unto you," Doctor Roswell rubbed his hands together again.

I could tell he was excited. I sucked in a breath. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"Indeed it does! If Bridget here consumes the wolf, as it wishes to do to her, she will gain its soul and its powers."

I grimaced. "I don't think Bridget wants to be anything like the Wolfmen. Or the Chaosborn Lycans that they became."

Doctor Roswell waved me off. "Nothing of the sort. That dagger you gave me? The one that created the Wolfmen in the first place? That was not created with making the Wolfmen in mind. It was created to make men with the power of wolves!”

“Huh,” I grunted.

“After my studies, I have determined that the Alpha Wolfman was not lying to you when he claimed that he and his pack had been experimented on. A society of humanoid tool-users crafted this dagger to do exactly what I am talking about. In a way, the Wolfmen were merely a twisted perversion of their original intent. Bridget could become whatever they were trying to make!"

I turned and glanced at Bridget, who was frowning at the still growling pup. "Doctor, I appreciate it, but Bridget isn't your experiment."

The doctor’s excitement drooped. "I suppose you're right. She can refuse if she likes, and we'll simply put the wolf pup down the way I did mine. But I can't help but feel like I missed out on an incredible opportunity. Consider it, okay?" he all but begged her.

Bridget's eyes darted to the wolf. "I'll... think about it."

Doctor Roswell smiled. Like Bridget's, his teeth were a bit sharper than natural for a human. "Just know that if you wait too long, your decision will be made for you. Should you and the wolf pup grow too closely in sync, your souls will merge. Who knows which of you will end up in control, then?"

With those dark words, we left Doctor Roswell's clinic. Bridget was looking at me the whole time. I rested a hand on her shoulder.

"It's your life and your decision,” I explained. “You could play it safe, or—"

"—Or take the risk in search of more power," Bridget finished. "What do you think I should do?"

I shook my head. "I can't make a decision like this on your behalf. Just know that I'll support you, no matter what you decide to do."

Bridget nodded, going silent as she wrestled with her own thoughts.

I was busy thinking of how to comfort her when I spotted someone heading our way.

"Is that..." Bridget began, staring hard at the bloody man coming down the street.

He was dressed in the raider's attire we’d left him in, though it was looking more ragged than it had the last time I'd seen him. He stumbled along, clutching a wound in one arm and a bent machete in the other.

"Hey!" he waved to us, and silently I readied myself for a fight. But he didn't raise his machete. "The guys in uniform back there said this was the clinic? I've got a nasty neck wound I need someone to have a look at. I’m not sure what it was from."

"You don't remember?" I asked, curious.

Chuck shook his head. "Don't remember much of anything, anymore. Not sure how bad I hit my head, but everything from before this morning is a blank. I'm lucky I remember how to talk."

"That sounds... difficult. But yeah, this is the clinic. Doctor Roswell is right inside." I jerked a thumb over my shoulder.

"Thanks, man." Chuck limped past me and opened the door, vanishing inside.

He didn't pay me so much as a second glance.

***

Chuck seemed to recall nothing of his encounter with me and Sakura, and I decided it was best to leave things that way. I expected him to be gone from Crownhill by morning, and paid him no more mind when Sakura, Bridget, and I returned to my farmhouse for the evening.

Which was why I was surprised to find him waiting for me with the new militia recruits the following morning. "You're all here for special training?" I asked, making sure I had the right group.

"Yes, Sir!" Kyle said.

He, I had expected. I looked around, silently counting. Besides Kyle and Chuck, there were around thirty others. Some were already over level ten, but a few others were still around level two. I even spotted a boy who couldn't be older than fourteen still at level one.

"Alright." I clapped my hands together to get started. "Let's group everybody up based on their level. If you're under level five, stick with Bridget. You guys will be hunting bugs. Between levels five and ten, go with Sakura. You'll be looking for more of those fire breathing squirrels. The rest of you are with me. We're going to be hunting big game."

"How big are we talking here?" Chuck asked, worry in his eyes.

"If you need ammo, don't bother with anything that won't take down a bear."

There were a few murmurs from the group, but nobody left. Good. I'd need fighters with resolve. The previous night I'd come up with some plans, but every one of them required a skilled group of warriors at my back.

If push came to shove, I might have been able to pull things off with just Frank, Marcus, Margaret, Bridget, and Sakura. They'd all be able to fit in my party, then. But it would be a risk—with such a small strike force, I wouldn't be able to confront either the trolls or the ogres directly if things went to shit.

And when in combat, it was best to plan for things to go wrong. All you could do was prepare your team by training them up and then stay flexible. A friend of my dad’s who’d been a marine used to joke that the motto of the US Marine Corps wasn’t Semper Fidelis, ever faithful, but Semper Gumby—always flexible.

So, training it was. We broke off into three groups, all staying relatively close to one another. I'd taken Bridget and Sakura into combat enough times that they both knew how to position themselves safely. They could do the same for larger groups. Besides, I wanted to give both of them time to build their own leadership proficiencies.

Bridget's group engaged in combat first. There were always plenty of bugs and bug-like monsters anywhere I was, especially in the city. We'd cleared the place out several times, but the bugs just kept coming back.

"Everybody else stay back. Let Bridget's group have the experience points."

I held up my hand and we waited for the lowest-level group to clear out the small monsters. They ranged in level from one to five. Even the boy at level one was able to take care of them, though. If he'd only had his base stats, he might have had trouble, but the System had been generous and given away all those early stat points.

In a way, his fight was like the reverse of how a fight with a monster usually went. The monster tried to wear him down with its ability to spit acid, while he simply overpowered the bugs. I suspected most of these creatures we were fighting were loosely based around some sort of ant. But the kid was faster and stronger than the bug could keep up with, so he eventually squished it underfoot.

"Well done, everyone!” I shouted to the Bridget’s group before turning the higher leveled militia that I led. “I promised you big game, but we're going to have to go find it."

"Hell yeah!" Kyle cheered.

We spent the next few hours patrolling the area immediately surroundings the city and then eventually the wilderness beyond. If anyone had been traveling alone, they probably wouldn't have encountered a third of the monsters we did. Some of that was because being a larger group we made more noise, but most of it was due to my death curse.

If there was one true advantage to having my death curse, it was that my companions never needed to search too long for something to fight.

Sakura's team took the vanguard for a bit as we encountered mid-level foes, with my group reinforcing them. They took the kills and the experience points for now, but the moment we encountered something over level ten, my group would take over.

Fire Squirrel - Level 6

We encountered quite a few giant squirrels, each with ember red fur and eyes like burning coals. They hurled fire balls at us, and Sakura's group returned fire while Bridget pulled everyone too low for this fight back to safety. I positioned my team between the two groups, in case there were any surprises.

I had to use my Deflect spell to block a fireball aimed at the kid who’d started this morning at level one. He was now level three, so a fireball wouldn't have taken him out—but it would have been pretty painful, if it had landed.

With the squirrels taken care of, we headed further into the outskirts of Crownhill. There were more low leveled beasts and monsters, and we took care of them quite readily. We spread out further once we got beyond the city limits, with my group switching out to lead.

The atmosphere grew tense and anxious as we left the city.

"I haven't been outside the city since we tried to take out the Wolfmen..." Kyle whispered, his eyes darting around the forest.

"I haven't been outside the city since the System arrived," a woman added. "Were the woods always this scary? I don't remember the trees being so tall. Or the shadows so sinister."

"It's certainly a lot more dangerous than it used to be,” I admitted. “But get a few more levels and you won't have to worry. The city will need people with high enough levels to move freely throughout the area. That'll be you, if I have anything to say about it." I waved to the empty woods, showing confidence where the others were frightened. They seemed at least to be somewhat inspired by my words.

"That's right. You go out here all the time, don’t you?" Kyle replied.

Eventually, we found something worthy of my team. I spotted it before the others and fired a Mana Bolt to startle it out of its ambush.

Frostbite Chimera (Level 18)

"Look alive! That things got teeth and claws. Melee weapons up front!" I ordered.

My group quickly assembled. A few bore shields and spears, and others merely swords. They formed a line while those with ranged weapons stood behind them. We had an odd assortment of weapons at our disposal. Our weapons ranged from something out of the dark ages to modern pistols and shotguns. A wave of bullets was the first to land.

Little bloody welts lit up all along the monster's body, and I finally got a good look at it. Towering at a staggering ten feet, its main bulk resembled a massive mountain lion, though instead of golden, its fur was a sleek coat of icy blue. It glistened with frost like it had just rolled in a pile of snow, though there was no snow nearby. A pair of antlers stuck from his head like gnarled tree branches, while behind its back a serpent's tail flickered with scales as blue as its fur.

It was fast, too. The monster crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I thought I was going to have to stop it, when one member of my group leaped forward to intercept it and protect the others.

"Eat this!" Chuck lunged forward, turning his machete in his hand and twisting it sideways. The chimera's finger-length teeth locked along the steel length, and Chuck wrestled with the massive monster a moment. "I got it!"

"Now's your chance! Strike!" I yelled.

The others rushed forward as Chuck contended with their foe. They hacked and battered at its sides, digging grooves along the Chimera's flesh.

The monster roared, and ice flew from its body all over Chuck. I expected him to falter, but he grit his teeth and shrugged off the attack. His skin turned blue, but that same blue orb I'd spotted in his chest when I’d fought him lit up even brighter than before. His frostbitten flesh regenerated more and more by the moment, and he struggled on as he shrugged off the Chimera's desperate attacks.

I was impressed.

"Hyyaaa!" Kyle yelled as he vaulted onto the Chimera's back.

It lunged at him with its tail, but someone else grabbed the tail before it could bite Kyle. Kyle flipped his sword around and with one more battle cry he plunged his blade straight through the back of the Chimera's neck. That finally did the trick and the beast collapsed, dead at last.

I gave everyone a brief round of applause. "Well done. Well done, everyone!"

I waved my hand over the Chimera and cast Disassemble on it. The creature vanished like it was sucked into a vacuum hose, vanishing into my bag of holding. Margaret had warned me they had food concerns. I hoped they wouldn't mind eating Chimera.

"We did it!" Kyle grinned as he stood.

"You put it down well," I grinned. "Check your System notifications. That was a critical hit if I've ever seen one."

Kyle shook his head. "All I did was stab it. This guy here wrestled with it while the rest of us got free hits in!" Kyle gestured to Chuck.

Chuck rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Shucks. I was just doing my part."

I smiled wider. "If that was just doing your part, then any party would be blessed to have you on their team. I hope you all saw that! Keep it in mind when you're assembling parties of your own."

The others congratulated Kyle and Chuck as the heroes of the day.

Eventually, I broke up their celebrations early. "Alright, don't throw a party quite yet. There's more where that thing came from." I pointed into the distance, where I sensed another monster headed our way.