Amazon Apocalypse Extras: Chapter 72 (Old version) (Patreon)

Suddenly, we were swarmed. The handcuffed people in the hallway and the rooms leading up to us started climbing to their feet one after another. By the time the screaming woman Kerrie had nudged into wakefulness finally ran out of breath, people were already breaking down the doors.

"Sounds like Rick and Frank are fighting!" Kerrie warned us. I could hear the clashing of steel and the sound of gunfire as well coming from elsewhere in the building.

Inwardly, I cursed. Michael's sleeping gas trick had been too good to be true. I should have guessed something would go wrong.

I turned my head to the woman pushing herself free from Kerrie's arms and glared at her.

"What was that scream?" I demanded.

"Uh... I... I don't know," the woman replied, flush to her cheeks. She was looking around the room wildly as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"You did something. I sensed a skill there." I conjured more Mana Bolts as I spoke. Someone poked their head in from behind the door. I shot him with a Mana Bolt, but like some sort of mindless zombie he shrugged the blow off and kept charging.

"She's an innocent victim! Don't yell at her, Carter!" Kyle turned to me, eyes slightly glazed over.

I was taken aback. Kyle had always been among the most eager of my recruits. Eager enough that I was worried he'd jump into danger at my orders without bothering to think for himself. He was the last person I ever expected to chastise me.

I would have asked more questions, but by then the enemy was nearly on top of us. A dozen former prisoners between levels 10 and 25 swarmed into the room. They were no match for the group of elite I'd brought inside, but that didn't mean we could afford to not take them seriously.

I lashed out with Mana Bolts and Eldrich Blasts, then conjured Arcane Blade over my short sword as I drew it from him hip. Then, I shouted into the distance.

"Sharky! Back to me! And feel free to eat anything in your way."

I heard a very loud, "Nom Nom," in reply.

Most of the men charging at us had their hands cuffed or zip tied behind their backs. They were completely unarmed and unable to even raise their hands against us, but that didn't stop them. They lunged at us like they planned to take us down by tearing our throats out with their teeth. More than that though, they all had a dazed, distant look in their eyes.

I glanced at the woman in the slave Leia outfit. "You! What's your name and class?"

"Me?" the woman blinked in surprise. "I'm Lisette, an acrobat, level 8. I don't have any offensive skills though."

That didn't sound right to my ears. My instincts told me this woman was dangerous. She felt less like a level 8 and more like a level 50. Not to mention the fact that she had a body that shouldn't have been possible without a huge number of stat points. And yet she didn't have a build that spoke of high agility, strength, vitality, or the like.

Stat balances determined body type, with the highest stat the most dominant. Focusing on vitality made one a giant. Agility made the user lean and wiry. Strength granted massive muscle definition. But the woman before me had a body not built for any form of combat that didn't take place on top of a mattress. What kind of stat focus did that?

I grimaced. The woman was a mystery, but not one I was going to solve until we were out of here. I’d only just met her, and she might genuinely be a victim, from what I’d heard from Knuckles. But at the same time, something felt off about her. I didn’t trust her.

But standing here thinking wouldn’t do us much good. We had to fight our way clear of the prison, preferably without losing my militia.

"I'll defend you, Lisette!" Kyle yelled, jumping in front of the woman.

"And me too! Look, I'm protecting your back!" Marcus added as he jumped behind her.

"Enough!" I barked. "We're getting out of here. These people have gone mad. They should be dead. Michale, how are they moving?!"

“Well, boss… uh… the neurotoxin works by causing excruciating agony in every nerve cell.” Michale glanced around nervously. “Most people shut down and die when that happens. But if these guys have some insane pain resistance, maybe they could shrug it off?”

My mind went back to Cromwell’s pain spell. Whatever Michael had done was similar. And whatever had rendered Caesar immune to it had spread to the rest of his companions.

I held out my sword and a man threw himself onto my blade. Arcane Blade stabbed straight through his chest, but he didn't care in the slightest. He kept charging me until I shot a Mana Bolt though his glazed over eye. I activated Soulchain Nexus on him, spreading my Corrupting Marks. If ever there was a time I needed area damage, it'd be now. There were too many targets to take out one Mana Bolt at a time.

We fought our way back the way we'd come, one step at a time. Fighting the crazed madmen of the prison was worse than battling zombies. At least zombies were slow and didn't have skills.

We rejoined the weaker group of militia. They'd taken far more wounds than we had. Even with most of their enemies handcuffed, they were evenly matched against foes who wouldn't hesitate to throw their lives away to inflict a wound. Getting out of here was going to be a challenge.

Especially when I saw who was approaching.

A lean and wiry man strode into the room. In one hand he held a makeshift spear. Unconscious he would have appeared no different from anyone else, but now that he was armed and on his feet he had a menacing aura.

"That's him!" Lisette gasped. "Caesar."

At the sound of her voice, all the zombified former prisoners turned. That moment's inattention let me behead three of them. I had originally wanted to capture these people alive, but I wasn't sure if I could undo whatever had happened to them. And I certainly wasn't going to risk getting bitten by them. If there was even the slightest chance that this madness was infectious, I wanted all of them put down.

The fighting was hard, but I was surprised to find Kyle and Marcus pulling more than their share of enemies. The two of them fought with boldness and ferocity in a way I'd never seen from them. They used their abilities and stats one after another, determined to fight their way through the hallway even if the attempt killed them.

For her part, Lisette stood between them, looking much calmer than anyone else should have given her level and circumstance. She had her arms crossed and scanned her surroundings. The way she had her arms beneath her breasts forced them up in a--

I cut that train of thought off by thinking of Bridget and Sakura. I would need the two of them by my side when I gave this suspicious Lisette woman a thorough interrogation.

I took in the man who was Caesar. His eyes were unsettlingly blank, just like the people around him. His face was smooth with unfurrowed brows and cheeks, like he hadn't worn anything other than a placid and uncaring expression for a long time.

Caesar, Spear Master (Level 43)

Caesar raised his spear. His eyes scanned my group, lingering a moment on Lisette and me. I felt a tingle run up my spine as he tried to get my level. For once, my proficiencies were not high enough to block his Examine. Caesar was a Homo Acceleratus, just like me, so he'd been enjoying the proficiency bonuses as much as I had. Most humans without special bloodlines like Sakura or Bridget would follow in my footsteps so long as they crossed level 25 on this shard, and Caesar was one of them.

Or had been one of them, rather. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him now, but he seemed barely there at all.

"Release her." Caesar demanded in a calm and level tone.

"Uh... I don't know what he's talking about! Lisette laughed nervously. "Rescue me!"

"If you have a way to calm him down, use it!" I demanded of the beautiful woman.

"I can't! I don't have any combat skills either!" Lisette replied.

Lisette was definitely hiding something, but I was pretty sure it didn't involve combat abilities. Assessing the way she held herself with the knowledge Cyra taught me told me that she didn't know how to stand or take cover in a fight. The most she knew how to do was stay out of the way while her protectors kept her safe. In this case, that was Kyle and Marcus.

I didn't have any more time to question Lisette, because soon Caesar was on top of me. I out leveled him, but in the cramped confines of this hallway while being swarmed with nearly-mindless men throwing themselves at us, I was at a strategic disadvantage.

I'd already used all of my conjured Mana Bolts to lay waste to our onrushing attackers, so I had no burst of power to throw at Caesar as he lunged for me. All I could do was draw my sword and cast Arcane Blade to meet it.

We clashed a moment, spear against sword. He gave me a shove and would have overpowered me if I hadn't switched to Eldrich Augmentation for a moment. My spells fizzled out as my mana transformed into raw strength for just a moment. It was long enough to shove Caesar back and buy myself a moment to concentrate.

I'd already been at the first layer of Mania. Now I pushed to the second, and then the third. My Arcane Blade grew darker and more sinister, and my eyes took on a faint purple glow.

The next time Caesar lunged for me, I shot him with an Eldrich Blast. The blow landed like a punch to the face, rocking his head back. It bought me another second to conjure a pair of Mana Bolts. Those I sent flying immediately. Kerrie was great with a bow, but her enemies refused to drop and kept charging at her even when stuck full of arrows. As a result, she had to draw a short sword at her side, and she wasn't nearly as skilled with that as she was with her bow.

My Mana Bolts took down both her enemies so she could go back to shooting again, which would buy us a bit more time. And time was what we needed. Once I could fight Caesar one on one, I was confident I could take him down. I just needed to see my people to safety first.

He charged me again, this time using a much more obvious skill. Crimson light streamed from the back of his spear, which by now I'd learned was a certain signal something big was coming. He lunged forward, covering a hundred paces in one mighty leap. Fire streamed from the shaft of his weapon.

"Move!" I reached out with either hand and shoved my allies to either side. That spared them from being skewered from Caesar's blow. I held Arcane Blade close to my side, pressed against my body. I wouldn't be using Eldrich Augmentation here, because even if I did I probably wouldn't have the raw stats to block the attack that was coming. So instead I deflected it.

Caesar shot right past me and through the wall behind me. I fired a few Mana Bolts at him after he'd gone by, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Off to one side, Lisette yelped as the flames licked at her heels and burned her. She pulled her leg away from the fire a moment later, but I noticed the wound. She really did give the impression of someone low-leveled. I hardly even felt the heat from the flames at my heels even though I was standing in the middle of it all.

Just as Caesar pulled his spear from the far wall and began to turn around, the ally I'd been waiting for finally returned.

"Sharky! There you are!" I jerked my thumb to the hoard of blank-faced criminals in jumpsuits. "Get them! Help everyone escape."

"Nom Nom." Sharky swam behind me, tentacles jutting from his mouth. He was already looking less like a shark and more like an eldrich horror. All the better to clear the way.

"Everyone else, follow Sharky out of the building! I will deal with Caesar and his goons." I waved everyone off and turned to face Caesar.

"Alone?" Chuck asked.

"Yes, alone. If you really want to fight, find Frank and Rick's groups and help them get out of here in one piece. Maybe help Terrance too, if his prisoners are causing as much trouble as these guys. Now go!"

Sharky cleared the way for my allies. Meanwhile, I planned to stop pulling my punches.

"Doom Seeker!" I raised the hand not holding my Arcane Blade, and my ebony staff appeared in my hands. It was an unwieldy thing with all the extra branches and dangling monster cores on it, but I didn't plan to be holding it for long. Because my telekinesis ability was a job skill, it wasn't too useful in combat. I hadn't fully figured out its limits so far, but holding my staff to keep a hand free while in battle was the most it could do for the time being. I used it to set Doom Seeker to hover behind my head, granting me access to every aspect of mana I had at my disposal to empower my Mana Bolts with.

Now, instead of just balls of energy, I could fling bolts of flame, cutting scythes of wind, shards of ice, and jolts of lightning. Caesar seemed to use a considerable quantity of fire already, so I figured the other elements might be more handy against him. Lightning conducted down the length of his spear, but would not loosen his grip on his weapon.

The wind bolts gave him lengthy cuts and might have been the element of choice, but ice proved most effective. He blocked the physical shards well enough, but as it melted and slickened the ground he found his wide low stances less viable. It also dampened the fires he was lighting every time he used that fire skill of his. I was pretty sure that my companions were clear of the building now, but there was enough rubble and debris between this place and the rest of the city that I was pretty sure would be flammable enough to get a real fire going. I'd rather not risk it if I didn't have to.

Caesar was strong and damn good with his spear. A month ago he would have been an unbeatable opponent for me. But now, like Knuckles, he'd grown predictable. I knew what he was going to do before he did. I wasn't sure if that was his lack of true experience or because of whatever had happened to turn him and his men into mindless killing machines.

Surely they hadn't been like this all the time? If they had, there would have been a lot more rumors going around.

When Sharky doubled back around and kept Caesar's subordinates off me by gobbling them up, I knew my people were safe and it was time to end things.

"Last chance to talk to me, Caesar," I said.

He didn't respond.

I reached into my Bag of Holding and withdrew a Mana Bomb. I didn't need them to the same extent the Samhain Clan did, but they were still pretty useful. Besides, now that their war was over I figured their value was likely to drop dramatically.

I threw out the Mana Bomb and detonated it, taking out the curtain of fire mana swirling around Caesar. It was some manner of defensive shield. The moment the shield fell, I saw Caesar's bloody and battered form again. I was amazed he was even still on his feet.

Now, I understood how Caesar had resisted Cromwell's pain skill. The man possessed mindless determination. He probably didn't even notice the fact that his body was in pain.

I shook my head one last time, then darted forward with Warp Step. I appeared behind Caesar, activated Eldrich Augmentation, and swung for his neck. He twisted in time to save himself from being beheaded, but not long enough to avoid losing an arm.

The blow took a hefty chunk from his health pool and dealt one last Corrupting Marks. Soulchain Nexus was already active for both him and his nearby allies, and I wanted this final blow to matter.

I snapped my fingers, and all the marks I had on Caesar detonated, finishing him off. Nearby, a dozen crazed prisoners all cried out in pain as the marks spread to them. They too were laden heavy with Corrupting Marks. When they died and spread their marks as well, the wave of death spread wider and wider.

My enemies collapsed and I felt a surge of power as some of their stats flooded into me as a temporary boost to my power. The vitality especially was a welcome boon, since I'd taken more than a few scrapes during the fighting. Between the extra stats and my Regeneration proficiency, I might be able to walk out without so much as a scratch.

Then I could sit down with Lisette and have a chat to figure out what the hell just happened. But in the meantime, the System had a notification for me.

You have defeated all major factions on your shard, and your rule is now uncontested!

You have earned the title of Shardlord. Your name shall echo throughout all eternity as the first master of this shard.