Amazon Apocalypse Extras: Book 2 Chapter 70 (Old version) (Patreon)

Alright, you guys are very concerned about the latest two chapters, since Carter kinda comes off as dumb. I don’t think it’s quite that bad, especially when read in book form. We got unlucky with non-release days, so the cliff hangers make two chapters of confusion feel like 4 or more. He figures it pretty quickly if you are binge reading a novel.

You have, however, convinced me to reread the section and make a few minor changes. I won’t be doing another large-scale rewrite of this section, since I already did one for this same section based on beta feedback (the previous version that betas disliked is what you’re about to read.)

This and the next four chapters are from my first draft of this novel. They are different from the current version, but may follow similar story beats to the chapters you just read, especially the first part. This is meant to distract you and to buy me time to reread/edit for a few days before continuing with the main timeline.

Think of this as a brief trip to an alternate universe where I didn’t rewrite this section!

These chapters are obsolete and will not make it into the final book, so I’m not going to bother editing them. Typos abound, beware!

I've got four chapters from this discarded draft that are fit enough to read. That should last me until Tuesday, by which time I will have made some very small tweaks to the main story. I could probably do it in one day, but I'm making good progress on Spellheart 10 and don't want to break my flow, so this'll be part-time edits.

Also, if you want to skip right to the “new” content, scroll down to my marker. That’s where I backtracked and started rewriting.

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Less than an hour later, we were ready for battle. Crownhill's elite were all lined up awaiting orders and someone to lead them. It was a bit scary to know that someone was me. There were about thirty people over level 25 now, most trained from the ground up. I even recognized a few of them and cast nods to Rick, Chuck, Kerrie, and a few others.

Behind them were two hundred others, all over level ten but not quite over that second racial evolution at level 25 that would enhance them further. These people just needed a little experience, but in time they too would be strong enough to defend Crownhill.

I didn't lead a mighty host like the Samhain Clan's, but at the rate we were growing it might not be too long before that came to pass. Then Elder Thalassa would eat her words.

I noticed that the women in my group were looking considerably brawnier than I remembered, particularly those over level 25. That wasn't a shift due to stats though. Even archers like Kerrie were taller and more muscular than before.

That was all because I hadn't noticed there'd been a second tab for women in the racial upgrade screen for women. I hadn't realized I could have applied the appearance changes separately, and as a result gave women the same default appearance changes that I'd given myself.

As a result, all women over level 25 were looking distinctly Amazonian these days. Hopefully nobody would notice. Considering the company I kept, people might suspect I'd done it all intentionally. Thankfully nobody had put the pieces together yet, and everyone who'd broken through to the D-Grade was just happy for the bodily transformation, regardless of the exact nature of the changes.

Hopefully when people finally figured it out I could blame the changes on another shard. It would be all too easy for people to assume I had a type.

Once gathered up, I led the small army on the march.

"It's time to deal with the people plaguing our city once and for all! Onward!" I gestured in the direction of our enemies.

There was a bit of cheering after that, and everyone followed at a steady jog. There wasn't any marching, nor any neat orderly lines, so in a way I felt more like someone leading an angry mob than a military unit. That was alright though. There'd be time to build a formal military to defend us later. For now these militia would have to do for defending our new home.

I'd wiped out all of Cromwell's assets in the area already, so I knew roughly where I was going. The two remaining members of the Three Kings, Caesar and Knuckles, stayed much closer to Crownhill County Prison, so I just had to keep heading a little further in the same direction.

"Halt!" I yelled. "And wits about you everyone. Our treaty just ended, and at any moment we could--"

I cut myself short as I saw a flash of movement overhead. There was someone on a nearby building. I'd already summoned a cluster of Mana Bolts while we were running, and they swirled over my head now.

I realized what I'd seen was the glint of a sniper scope flashing in the light. Someone was taking aim and they thought to assassinate me right then and there. I threw my spells and then braced for the impact. The high caliber of the sniper bullet felt like a bunch, but my Deflect spell bounced most of the kinetic energy away from me. My spells landed a moment later and the sniper fell from overhead.

"Ambush!" Frank yelled.

Suddenly, they were on top of us. The men here weren't quite as lawless as I thought if they were able to organize something like this. To have this many men, one of the two leaders had to be here. Who was it? Knuckles or Caesar?

"Eat this!" Kerrie shouted as she hefted her bow. Of everyone who'd taken up archery, she'd leveled her class the furthest. Now she could fire her bow as rapidly as most could pull a trigger, and she started gunning down the snipers hiding atop the roofs.

"Take out those snipers!" I shouted, firing of a half dozen of my own spells to join Kerrie's arrow fire. Everyone with a ranged ability joined in. Chuck and Frank pulled out their handguns, each sporting a revolver. Frank leveled his weapon and fired twice in quick succession.

Chuck shot from the hip but hit his target anyway, then charged straight at their defended position. Two sniper bullets blasted right through him, leaving gaping holes and chunks of flesh. But neither knocked them off his feet. If there was one thing Chuck knew how to do, it was take a hit.

He climbed the wall arm over arm, scaling the brick face before grabbing a sniper by the shirt and tossing him over the wall.

"I got him!" Rick shouted, axe held over head as he brought it down with a ruthless swing. A few others followed Chuck up the walls. It reminded me a lot of Cyra and Myrina seizing the walls of Shadefall.

I turned my attention to the building on the other side of us. There were snipers there too, though fewer in number. A few spells from me evened the odds. Soon, we were on our feet again, albeit with a few wounded.

"I've got this," Chuck said, bloody and bleeding but with his wounds rapidly healing. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a cheese grater and one of those blue troll orbs. He took the grater to the blue orb and sprinkled some fine blue dust on the pair of wounded militia. Soon, both of them were on their feet again.

"Huh. That works?" I asked, reaching into my bag of holding for the blue troll orbs I kept there.

"Sure does," Chuck said with a nod and a grin. "We're just beginning to understand all the things these little orbs can do. Not sure I can recommend eating them anymore though. Not everyone takes to the side effects well."

I left a silent reminder to check in with Martin. He was the man with control over the magic troll orb supply now. I didn't think he'd be too pleased to see me considering I set him on fire the last time we'd met, but maybe we could work something out.

I turned to the nearby buildings and shouted. "Hey! Come out of hiding! If you show yourselves with your hands up, you won't be harmed."

A few stragglers came out, and we sent them back toward Crownhill along with our two freshly healed wounded. Though their wounds had closed, they were still probably both pretty drained from being shot and would need time to recover. Having them escort the prisoners back was a good excuse to get them out of combat.

I didn't spot anyone else, which was strange. The bulk of the force we were fighting had probably fled when they realized their ambush had failed. We'd missed our chance to capture one of the remaining Three Kings.

Once the prisoners were seen to, we moved further ahead. This time, I led our army from further afield.

"I need people with high perception on all sides. If you spot another ambush, let me know. We'll encircle them before they can move out of position." I gestured a few volunteers forward, and soon we were spread out. Someone was setting up another ambush for us just ahead of our present location. One of our scouts on the left flank spotted the ambush first, but I doubled around to get an eyeful too.

There were forty men and a few women there, all of them tough-looking bastards. Ten of them were over level 25. Using Examine on them got their attention, and now they were eying the streets around themselves wary of a counter ambush.

But whatever they were planning on doing, they were too slow to make a decision. I sent a few hand signals, and soon I split the militia into three groups. The bulk of our forces stayed where they were, but the stealthiest of our elites would circle around for either flank. For my part, I raced behind on my own, completing the encirclement.

"How will we know when to attack?" asked Frank.

I glanced toward our enemies and came to a decision. "The battlecry to follow is "NOM NOM."

<Marker: Rewriting starting here. Keep prior stuff, move to Chapter 71B>

"Nom nom?" Chuck asked, head tilted askance. "You sure we won't miss that?"

I shook my head. "You won't miss it."

I waited for everyone to get into position, then pulled out my car shade and made a little circle.

"You're up, Sharky," I whispered.

Shadows swirled within the circle, and the enormous ghostly shark form of Sharky took shape. I jumped on his back, spells circling overhead as Sharky flew me into battle.

"NOM NOM," Sharky said. His voice shook the nearby building, drawing heads out of hiding to see what had made such a tremendous noise.

The people of Crownhill weren't soldiers. That was true for both my militia and for the people from Crownhill County Prison. Poking your head out of cover to look around is generally a very bad idea on a battlefield, but it was one of those things where human instincts hadn't quite caught up with the times.

I scored six headshots in that opening barrage of Mana Bolts. Several of them were even kills.

You have gained a level!

"They're here! Shoot him!" shouted one of the people in hiding. They turned to open fire on me. I jumped off Sharky's back and took cover as soon as I felt Deflect go off. I could survive getting shot, but that didn't mean I was going to stand there and get rained with bullets.

Sharky, on the other hand, didn't mind the incoming bullets in the slightest. As a tentacle-mouthed ghost shark that devoured the souls of the living, he was perfectly happy to soak up some lead if it meant having a snack.

"NOM NOM."

Sharky flew right over the balcony our enemies were using as cover. He phased right through walls, though pulling people into his waiting jaws usually involved smashing a few windows.

"Oh god! Monster attack!" someone shouted. Sharky was doing a good job of drawing everyone's attention, so I was mostly just backup. Back here on Earth, my level was quite a bit higher than most people's, so Sharky was correspondingly stronger as well. I had yet to see anyone high enough level to take him down.

I turned to the other fights on either flank. I would rather step in than lose more militia, so I left Sharky to his job while I reinforced the others.

They were making steady progress. I spotted Rick exchanging wary blows from a tall brute wielding a tire rim on a chain. Chuck had three new bullet holes in him, but he stood over a defeated scar-faced sniper all the same. I spotted six people all sporting arrows out of their chests and back that looked just like the ones Kerrie kept in her quiver.

Frank and Terrance fought back to back on the other side, each providing cover for the other as they slowly advanced up the side of the building. They gave enough cover for Michael to run into the building and shove the nozzle of the pest control bottle on his back.

A hazy purple mist filled the lower level of the building our would-be assailants were hiding in. I heard coughing and spluttering as those who'd thought to ambush us within the building were driven out by whatever Michael was spraying.

Using poison gas on an enemy army was definitely a war crime, but I never signed the Geneva convention. If it killed our enemies without losing our allies, all the better min my book.

Moments later, there was a climactic roar, and someone managed to shove Sharky back. That immediately drew my attention.

I turned as a figure jumped down from the second story window, cracking the pavement as he did.

"Out this way!" the man shouted. He was tall with bronzed skin and a tattoo of crashing waves washing over his face. Behind him, his surviving subordinates jumped down.

"Wait, Knuckles!" one of the big man's subordinates pointed toward me. "They've got this side covered to."

The big man, presumably Knuckles," cracked his bandage-wrapped fists and glared at me. "I'll take care of him."

I raised my eyebrows. "Knuckles? That's your gang name?"

"So?" Knuckles demanded. His cheeks heated up. I suspected he'd gotten this question before.

"You named yourself after the character from Sonic the Hedgehog?" I asked.

"I'm not a hedgehog!" Knuckles shouted.

He launched himself at me, covering thirty yards in the blink of an eye. It was too fast to be his sheer stats, indicating he'd used some sort of skill.

I barely had time to jump aside. As I did so, I activated Exploit Weakness and hit him with a barrage of spells from the side.

Knuckles shattered the wall of the building behind where I'd been standing. He panted, face red with rage. As the dust cleared, I used Examine on him.

Knuckles, Brawler (Level 35)

Level 35 was pretty high, considering the average level around here. I'd heard Crownhill County Prison was a bloodbath. Knuckles had probably done a lot of fighting during the early days of the integration. And he had the look of a man who'd known how to throw a punch before the System ever arrived.

"And one more thing!" Knuckles spat a wad of spit on the ground. It was tinged with blood. "Knuckles is an echidna, not a hedgehog."

"...right." I shot him with an Eldrich Blast.

The next series of exchanges involved me getting out of the way while Knuckles did the work of an entire demolition crew with just his fists. He was like a wrecking ball. Anything he targeted would get smashed to rubble.

I might have had a hard time fighting him before training with Cyra, but now his movements seemed so predictable. I could tell which way he was going to launch himself by how he placed his heel or how he shifted his shoulders. In a way, it was like fighting a smarter version of the trolls I'd already dealt with.

I chipped away at his health bit by bit. My people were dealing with Knuckle's subordinates, and by now most were either dead or in handcuffs. Terrance was bundling them up to be brought back to Crownhill for their trials.

Knuckles kept punching until his fists bled through his bandages.

"Stand still so I can hit you!" Knuckles roared.

That sounded like a profoundly stupid demand to me, and I was going to say so and end the fight when Sharky finally finished with whoever was left in the building and came rushing outside.

With one big glup, he rushed Knuckles. With wide eyes, the brawler tried to punch Sharky. But Sharky just saw that as him offering his arm as a snack.

Moments later, Knuckles was eying his bleeding stump with horror. He held up his good hand to protect himself, but Sharky bit that off too.

With Knuckles quite literally disarmed, finishing the fight was quite easy. I made Sharky spit out the limbs he'd bitten off though. If the trial for Knuckles went well, I'd have Doctor Roswell reattach them. A brawler this high level could be useful to Crownhill, assuming he hadn't done anything as heinous as Cromwell had.

Knuckles had been the name of one of the two remaining Three Kings, and he the description and level to fit the bill.

He wasn't quite as dangerous as I expected though. He had no doubt killed many people to reach his current level, but so had I. In these trying times, a little murder here and there was justified if it was for a good cause. Still, I had expected someone ruthless, powerful, and with a menacing air that would bend lesser criminals to his will. Knuckles struck me more as a small-time crook in way over his head.

Knuckles shot one glance at Terrance. "Aw fuck. The cops? I thought you were just going to kill me."

Terrance chuckled. "Nope. It's trials and a court room for you and all your friends, Tyler."

Knuckles groaned to himself. "Not again..."

Terrance had trouble handcuffing Knuckles, since he didn't have hands to cuff anymore. On an ordinary human, those wounds would have already bled him out. Anyone below level 25 would already be unconscious. But D-Grade made the body a lot more durable, and I suspected Knuckles -- or Tyler as his real name seemed to be -- had placed a lot of stat points into vitality. Even so, I was impressed he hadn't fallen unconscious yet.

Chuck grated a little troll orb on all the wounded. Ours first, then the handcuffed prisoners. We sent them all back toward the settlement. I was a bit worried about whatever we were using as a prison, but we would hopefully be done and all the militia would be back in town before the captured criminals recovered from their wounds enough to make trouble. I still had plans to sort out who was irredeemable and who might still be useful.

"Well, that makes two out of three," I said to Frank standing just behind me.

"It went a hell of a lot better than I thought." Frank stroked his chin, glaring at the ruined building before us like a monster might pop out at any moment. "I guess our hard work is finally paying off. If we hadn't completely outmatched them, this would have been one hell of a fight."

"Don't look so suspicious." I nudged him with my elbow. "We earned this victory. And we'll earn the next one soon. Everyone's getting half an hour to rest. I'll distribute some food. After this, we're headed to the prison itself."