MarvinKnight
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Amazon Apocalypse: Chapter 15
🕑 Added 2022-11-07 16:00:09 +0000 UTCI’d been keeping myself nearly full of mana and avoided going all-out, so I was ready to join Ben and the others at a moment’s notice. But the signal had never come. So where was he? Surely Craig was as weakened as we were going to get him. I’d gone from hearing a gunshot every minute from his side of the building to one every half an hour. He was probably conserving his last bullets.
Overhead, the sky went from blue to orange, and the waves of monsters grew denser. I looked at the quest message on my system screen.
Quest time remaining: Two hours.
Just when I was worrying that the lack of light would start hurting our people’s aim, the lights came on in the office, and a floodlight shone down from overhead into our kill zone. The light blinded the monsters heading our way and made them easy targets.
“Hell yeah! Looks like the guys in the rear got that generator working!” Marcus yelled. Sure enough, I heard the drone of a motor on the third floor.
“Can you guys handle the last of these squirrels on your own? I’ve heard a few too many shouts on the right flank,” I said. “I’m going to see if they need reinforcements.”
“We’ve got these guys, Carter!” Bridget replied. Marcus gave a nod, as did Sakura and Caleb.
With my companions willing to cover my absence and our people healthy enough to deal with all incoming enemies for the moment, I headed off to check on the other flanks and look for Ben. The lack of news about Craig was starting to worry me.
First, I checked on the right-hand side of the office building, opposite Craig’s front. I’d heard some screaming from there earlier and figured Ben might be busy reinforcing them.
When I arrived, I saw no sign of Ben, but I was glad I’d shown up when I did. They were on the verge of being completely overrun. If I’d been a minute later, we probably would have had monsters showing up behind our barricades as whoever was left here fled and abandoned their posts. Why hadn’t Ben sent these people reinforcements from the reserve forces?
“I’m hit! Aghhh!” A man screamed when a fireball launched from the mouth of a fire squirrel struck him. His clothes burst into flame, and he dropped his gun while running and screaming on fire.
“Roll!” I shouted. “Drop to the ground, cover your face and roll!”
The man was too panicked to hear me, so I pushed him to the ground and rolled him with my boot on his back. That finally put the fire out.
The man was hyperventilating with blistered skin and burnt hair, but he would live. People with vitality below eight or so couldn’t shrug off the fireballs like higher-level people could.
The man was hyperventilating and shivering in terror. I gestured to two riflemen hiding behind their positions as wave after wave of fireball washed over the defenses. They didn’t dare stick their heads up to return fire.
“You two! Drag this man back to the office for treatment. And while you’re there, get them to send our reserve forces out here!”
The two I shouted orders at were almost as terrified as the man who’d nearly burned alive.
The two men glanced at my armband. Their shell-shocked minds took a moment to register my minds as orders.
“Come on, hop to it!” I shouted, ducking to the side as a fireball soared past where I’d been standing a moment before.
The front was badly understaffed, with one man wounded and two more pulling him to safety. Nearby, I saw two burned and unrecognizable bodies. Until those reinforcements arrived, it would just be me, two riflemen, and a couple of frightened civilian assistants.
Worse, those assistants on this flank hadn’t used the earlier waves to get a few levels, so they were still level one. Their vitality was low enough that one fireball would be enough to take them down, just like the bodies nearby.
At first glance, the position this group was defending was far easier than the one my group was watching over. The center of their flank was protected by a giant brick wall, which meant they only needed to watch two locations, both large and with a wide open kill zone that was perfect for gunning down enemies.
But at some point, they’d slipped up. They weren’t killing fire squirrels as fast as they were accumulating, and that let them reach a critical threshold where they could continuously shoot fireballs at the defenders to the point where none of them dared stick their heads up over the barricades to shoot back. That meant more fire squirrels accumulated, and suddenly it was all they could do to fight the cockroaches sneaking past the barricades. Things were looking grim, and in another minute or two, they would have been completely overwhelmed.
At that point, it wouldn’t matter if my people and I held our flank without issues. The office would be overrun, the non-combatants slain, and the quest lost.
I was once again worried about Ben and the plan. He should have seen these people’s dire situation and deployed the reserve forces. Where was he?
But I put that thought out of my mind for the moment. Right now, I needed to turn the tide, which would probably take everything I had. Including those new skills, I had just picked up.
“You! By the barricades. Pull back and tighten the ring of desks.” I said to the few shivering survivors. I picked up a dropped pistol. Blood was on the handle and a couple of cockroaches licking at it. It had been near the burning man I had saved, so I figured he wouldn’t need it. I scooped it up since my rifle was a two-handed weapon and I wanted something I could use while casting Mana Bolt.
The remaining gunmen scrambled to safety, and the civilians supporting them with clubs and improvised weapons moved to tighten the barricades and put out the burning ones.
“Where are you going?” One of the people asked as I placed one foot on an upturned desk that served as part of the barricade.
“I’m going to draw fire from those squirrels. Do your best not to shoot me in the back.” And with that, I pushed myself off the side of the desk and leaped over it in one bound. Power jump would have been a lot of fun when I was a teenager, and my standing jump took me twice my own height in the air and four times that in distance. It felt much like what I imagined it would be like to jump on the moon.
I landed in the open, surrounded by fire squirrels. Their reaction was surprise, followed by a hail of fireballs. But by then, I was already moving.
The fireballs were moving just about on the edge of what was possible for a normal human to dodge. It was possible to duck out of the way if you saw it coming early enough. But at level 9, I could hardly be considered a normal human anymore. With the enhancements to my perception and agility, the fireballs seemed to come at me at half speed, like they were traveling through water instead of air.
Three of them washed harmlessly by me, while the fourth triggered my Deflection spell to swat it aside. That left me vulnerable, but I’d gotten used to fighting these things and knew I had a few moments before the next wave of fireballs came. And a few moments was all I needed.
I fired the pistol with one hand and activated Mana Bolt with the other. I twisted in place, becoming a whirlwind of death and destruction as I rained bullets and magic down on the enemies encircling me.
With them so close, I couldn’t miss. I blasted holes in three of them, leaving mortal wounds in all three. Then I used Power Jump to leap over their heads and land behind those that remained to unleash another barrage of attacks.
The squirrels whirled on me, and fireballs scorched my arm and chest. My skin sizzled, but I could weather the damage with my vitality so long as I dodged most of them. Iron Will helped me fight through the pain, especially since I knew I could it away at any moment.
And that moment came shortly after that when I used Mind over Flesh to convert some of my mana into health points. I felt my wounds begin to heal with supernatural speed. I fired another barrage of bullets and mana bolts just as the first batch of fire squirrels were breathing their last gasps.
You have slain [Fire Squirrel - Level 5] x 6
You have gained the Pistol proficiency.
You have gained the Regeneration proficiency.
The remaining beasts came at me with teeth and claws once they realized I was shrugging off their fireballs, but much like me, these creatures had thrown their stats into magic rather than physical attacks. I kicked one aside before using Power Jump to put some distance between the snarling squirrels and me.
I took a moment to recast Deflect and regain the protection that the defensive spell gave me, then I unloaded the rest of the bullets in the pistol into the nearest fire squirrel. It hissed, spluttered, and died. That was one less enemy, but now when I pulled the trigger to my pistol, all I got were a few empty clicks. I was out of bullets.
I suppose that was part of the problem with guns, at least for me. A true gun nut would have counted his shots as he pulled the trigger, but someone like me would have been caught with their metaphorical pants down when their gun suddenly stopped working in the middle of combat.
And that was when the gun was working correctly. I had to pull a few of the riflemen on my side out of a sticky situation when their guns jammed. It made me feel a bit like a medieval knight scorning the invention of the musket, but I just couldn’t see myself investing too heavily in mastering firearms. Not when the alternative was being able to shoot bolts of magic out of my hand.
So I tossed the pistol at the nearest squirrel, bonking it on the head. That did little, but the Mana Bolt I followed it up with looked like it hurt. I reached for my belt and grabbed the knife I’d looted from the gun store earlier that day. It was a lot bigger than the thing I’d made my makeshift spear from, and when I drew it, the weapon just felt right in my hand. The weight in my palm was even more comforting than the discarded gun.
The short sword and Mana Bolt felt like a more comfortable combination for me. I didn’t have to work so hard to keep my distance with a weapon in my hand. The teeth and claws of these giant squirrels were nothing compared to a knife as long as my forearm, and any that dared close the distance between them and me got a heavy slash across their fuzzy maws for their bravery.
Eventually, the squirrels fought me mage to mage and pitted their fireballs against my Mana Bolts. I dodged, weaved, and deflected fireballs while the fire squirrels took hit after hit. Before long, they collapsed to the ground, battered and bloody as though they’d been pelted with rocks the size of my head. At my current Caster proficiency, that was probably what getting hit by my Mana Bolts felt like.
You have slain [Fire Squirrel - Level 5] x 16
You have slain [Cockroach Scavenger - Level 2] x 25
The cockroaches were barely worth mentioning since they died to either a Mana Bolt or a good stomp. I would have preferred to use a Mana Bolt, but I ended up playing it safe with my mana reserves and giving them a good stomp more often than I would have liked.
During the battle, I entered an odd state. It was reminiscent of meditation, except far better than any meditation session I’d ever tried to take part in. There was something oddly zen about throwing all of my concentration into a life-and-death battle where I had to fight with everything I had.
But the fight was over before I knew it. When I looked for my next foe, there were none to be found. So I stood bloody, battered, burned, and covered in the blood of my enemies. Walking back to the barricade, I found the reinforcements I’d called there standing in reserve. They weren’t firing, though. Instead, they stood slack-jawed with awe and fright on their faces as they stared back at me. I supposed it was like watching professional athletes at work. With my stats, I could do things that weren’t possible before the System. Still, they shouldn’t stare that much. It was just a few low-level monsters.
“Do any of you guys have a towel?” I asked as I gestured to the blood in my hair and on my face. “I want to get some of this off me before this dries.”
“Y-yes, sir!” a man said, tearing his shirt free and offering it to me. I shrugged and used it to wipe the blood and goo off me.
“I take it you can take it from here, right? Don’t let those squirrels gang up on you again. Thin them out before they become a problem.”
“U-understood, sir!” the man stuttered.
“Good. I’m going to go look for Ben.”
Behind me, I heard one of them whisper. I wouldn’t have heard it without my enhanced Perception stats.
“Are we sure he’s really a human? Maybe he’s one monster in human form?”
The man who’d given me his shirt shushed the other. “Just be glad he’s on our side.”
After asking if any of them had seen Ben, I ended up going to the front flank. They were doing much better than the one I’d just helped, but they still looked like they needed a hand.
I had hoped that the reason why Ben hadn’t reinforced the people I’d just helped was because he was busy helping the defenders guarding the front, but that didn’t look like it was the case. There was no sign of Ben. Nor any of Stacy, Brett, and Michael, the three high-leveled individuals outside of my little group of survivors.
I did spot Margaret toward the front. Ben had placed her in charge here. In truth, I thought she’d be little more than a figurehead, but she must have gone down to the shooting range with Ben more often than I’d given her credit for. She was picking off Fire Squirrels one at a time before promptly ducking back under cover. Those fireballs were a lot scarier for lower leveled people since they couldn’t just shrug the attacks off and keep fighting like I could. They also didn’t have my Deflect spell, so they had a smaller margin of error for dodging these things.
“Margaret, where’s Ben?” I asked as I crouched behind an upturned desk with her.
Margaret didn’t respond. Her eyes were focused on her gun, which had jammed a moment ago. She was pulling the clip from it with frantic haste and tapping it against her palm.
“Margaret?” I asked.
“Monsters... there’s so many...” Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, knuckles white as she clutched her weapon. A stuck shell finally fell out of the gun, and she hopped over the barrier again to keep shooting.
I realized then that if I wanted a response out of her, I’d need to clear the battlefield just like I had before.
So I jumped up from the barricade, immediately drawing fireballs. But by now, dodging them had become as easy as breathing. I didn’t even end up using my Deflect spell.
You have slain [Fire Squirrel - Level 5]! x 5
I used Power Jump to close the distance with the last of them and slashed its side wide open with my sword before finishing it off with a Mana Bolt to the face. I thought that would be the end, but something small, black, and far faster than any of the squirrels rushed me with its wide open maw.
I dodged out of the way with Power Jump, flinging a Mana Bolt at it as it missed me. It tumbled through the air and lay sprawled on its side, its vulnerable underbelly turning upward. I wasn’t about to let that opening slip by, so I jumped on top of it and plunged my sword deep into its guts. I didn’t even realize what it was until it was dying.
Giant Rat - Level 6.
It seemed like a new wave of monsters was trickling in. In fact, this rat looked just like the rat matriarch when I fought her last. But now, instead of just one of them, there were dozens of creatures, all at her old level. Worse, with more fire squirrels still trickling in, these rats could charge the defenses under cover of fireballs. That would keep our riflemen from gunning them down with impunity.
It was an unfortunate combination that would make things exponentially more difficult for the defenders. I just hoped everyone had gained enough levels to make it through this. The civilian fighters, especially, would need to step up if some of those rats made it all the way to the barricade. I hoped they’d been putting points into strength and vitality.
The number of times I used Mana Bolt was finally dipping into my reserves, so I snatched a discarded pistol off the ground and took a few shots with it instead. My aim wasn’t particularly good compared to the others, but I could stand up in front of the barriers without worrying about the fireballs, unlike the others who had to hop up and shoot quickly for fear of returning fire.
With my help, the field was gradually cleared. I even grabbed a few of the civilians, thrust a couple of sticks in their hands, and told them to bash any cockroaches coming through. Most of the ones arriving now were of the Scavenger Cockroach variant, so those at level one would be at a disadvantage. That was the price they paid for not being willing to fight earlier, though, when we were only up against level-one cockroaches.
Eventually, we got the situation near the front under control.
“Margaret, I need your help. Where’s Benjamin?” I asked when our enemies had thinned enough that she could catch her breath. I had to pull her from the front lines before she would take a break.
“I... I don’t know where Ben is. He should be in the office still. He said it was time to see Craig. He took everyone with the highest levels from here and the flank to our side. He said we’d waited as long as he dared, and we’d gained as many levels as we could before risking Craig reaching level 10. I thought he was going to visit you next, but you’re here.”
I frowned. “How long ago was this?”
It was possible I’d missed him and that he’d gone to check on me at the same time I’d gone to look for him.
“I... I don’t know. It felt like hours ago.”
“Do you remember how much time was left on the quest timer?”
Margaret shrugged. “I don’t know...”
“Come with me. We need to find him.”
“Right... Right...” Margaret grew steadier as I tugged her along behind me toward the office doors. By the time we actually made it there, she was the one dragging me behind her instead. We arrived at the front door, and she rapped on it three times with the butt of her rifle. “Hello? We’re coming it! Just confirming that we’re humans and not monsters.”
We waited outside the door for a few moments in silence. Even covered by the barricades, Margaret didn’t like standing up in the open like this.
“Was someone supposed to reply?”
Margaret nodded.
We waited a few moments more before I got impatient and tried the door knob. It was unlocked. I swung it open.
Margaret stepped through first. The moment she entered the doorway, she froze. I had to squeeze past her to get through, but the moment I did, I smelled the reason she stopped. The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood.
I gently pushed Margaret aside, heart rate beating faster. Maybe the smell of blood was just coming from the wounded. This was where we were taking everyone who went down, after all.
I listened and heard nothing. No moans of pain, no sounds of medics scrambling to care for the dead and dying. Just silence.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
I took a left turn and soon realized why. The moment I opened the door to the law office, I saw a river of blood and bodies.
Humans lay stacked on top of each other like so much garbage. They splayed back on themselves, twisted backward in positions that would have been impossible to maintain if they’d been alive.
Broken arms, legs, and necks abounded. Most of these people had been beaten to death. Not by monsters, though. No, monsters would have tried to eat them.
A few Scavenger Cockroaches were wandering the room, but they hadn’t been the culprit behind this mess. I could tell by the splintered wood and the shape of the attacks that they’d come from improvised weapons. They’d been killed by fellow humans.
Blood sloshed along the floor in a knuckle-deep puddle that coated the entire room. All the wounded we’d sent back here for healing were dead, as well as the children and the elderly we rescued. Not a single one of them was still alive, though the bodies were still warm to the touch.
I’d hardly felt anything when putting down those giant cockroaches. Fighting those giant rats had been exhilarating and Adrenalin-inducing. Even killing those murderers had been an act of necessity. But now was the first time I felt true disgust at the carnage around me and sorrow at the loss of life. Who would do this?
My heart pounded faster, and I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
I took another glance at the bodies. The pain and fear were plain on their faces. I had a strong stomach, but I couldn’t look any longer. To think, everything all the people outside were fighting for was already gone. Should we give up on the quest?
“Nooooooo!” Margaret screamed behind me.
She held her hand over her mouth, eyes wide in horror.
I followed her gaze to the center of the room. Laying atop one of the largest piles of bodies, Ben sprawled on his back with his eyes wide. His face was pale, and there was a bullet hole between his eyes.
My eyes darted to her, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise as one moment onward.
Something whizzed at me, triggering my deflect and slamming into the ground nearby. It splashed my pant leg with blood and dug a hole into the floor. After today, I’d heard that sound enough to recognize it at first glance. Someone had just tried to shoot me.
“Get down!” I yelled.
Margaret stumbled toward the pile of bodies, falling on top of her dead husband.
I turned and slid behind the nearest office corner, putting something between the shooter and me. A moment later, the shooter emerged.
He was splattered head to toe in red human blood. Each step splattered the red pool beneath him a little further. I heard his pistol click as he chambered another round.
Despite the blood, I recognized the man. His cheap sunglasses and massive frame were impossible to mistake for anyone else in the office.
“Now that was just bullshit. I know I shot you in the damn head...” Craig chuckled darkly.
+++
<Note>
Carter Smith (Human, Level 9. Rank F)
Strength: 10 [+1 this chapter]
Agility: 8 [+1 this chapter]
Perception: 11
Vitality: 14
Intelligence: 24
Willpower: 10 [+1 this chapter]
Charisma: 10 [+1 this chapter] (+4)
Luck: 3
Proficiency:
Caster: 6
Neutral Mana: 5
Improvised Weapons: 4
Rifle: 3
Pistol: 1
Regeneration: 1
Titles:
Forerunner of Earth, Integration Survivor, Chivalrous Pervert, Mechanical Master
Temporary Titles:
Blessed of the System, Hero of Sakura Miyamoto,
Skills and Spells:
Mind over Flesh (Uncommon)
Mana Bolt (Common)
Power Jump (Common)
Iron Will (Common)
Fabulous Phallus (Common)
Comments
Marvin
Glad you liked it!
Michael Jackson
Yep that was awesome like i just want a bit more awesome, thats the sign of a great writer or film maker or singer that emotion of just want to watch taste smell read listen just that bit more. As you know a good meal or drink should be just enough for to satisfy you but still enough that you think mmm im coming back here for more.
Loukemia
It feels like we won't be rid of Craig soon. Though I'm kinda hoping Caleb actually takes him out.
DiabolicalGenius
Well shit. That went from awesome to FML in a flash. Carter was kicking so much ass and looking like a boss there too. Craig was pretty awful already, but he just went full evil monster. I'm betting he slaughtered all those people to reach level 10 too, so Carter is probably about to lose his first fight. Explains how we'll end up in the same place as the first draft, only this time rather than running out into the wilderness from the start they'll end up escaping from Craig instead. Of course once that bastard wins and gets all he wants, he'll likely want to sit in town and rule as he pleases and seems like he'll favor levelling up by killing anyone who opposes him rather than going looking for higher level monsters out in the wilderness. So Carter will finally have a chance to out level him, even if just to get revenge. It's going to be really unpleasant first though. I suppose seeing Carter take him will down will be more satisfying this way than as a small fry now. Hope he suffers a lot when the time comes.
