MarvinKnight
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Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 36
🕑 Added 2024-10-04 15:00:17 +0000 UTCI grimaced. The Lich King had caught me in a trap. Time Stutter slowed time to a crawl, and I had a moment to think.
Had he known I would attack him here? Impossible. Not even I had known I was coming here until minutes ago. The second ritual circle must have been a trap for his own naga allies. The Lich King had planned to betray them for some unknown reason, but now that they were as good as dead, the trap had been turned on me instead.
What were my options? My team ultimate wasn’t charged yet. Shadowrealm Stride wasn’t active. Last time, I’d tanked the attack by burning all my Corrupting Marks and the boost in stats from Soulchain Nexus. But this time, there was no undead horde for me to reap for stat points and vitality.
I could feel the darkness swirling around me even with my mind sped up a thousandfold. There was no time to dodge or move.
Should I try to cut a path to an alternate dimension though my job skill? Doing so would likely allow me to dodge the incoming attack.
But if I did that, there was no telling where I’d end up when I came out again. Extradimensional spaces didn’t work the same as normal space, and if I took shelter in an extradimensional space, I might emerge on a world very far from home.
I felt a spell tingling within me, desperate to be released. Knowing there was no other option, I unleashed Living Paradox.
This was a defensive spell meant to be a last-ditch survival mechanism. I hadn’t thought I’d be using it this soon.
Time Stutter faded away, and bottomless agony enveloped me as my body was reduced to ashes. Just like that, I died with no room to dodge and no way to defend against it.
Then Living Paradox activated, and time rewound. I watched myself as if looking through a tunnel as my soul faded into the afterlife.
This other version of me lifted one hand aloft, casting Aegis of the Void with one hand at his feet. The momentary defensive spell activation swallowed up the onrushing darkness, creating an island of calm in the center of the massive column of destructive dark energies.
Then, this other version of me bent his will around him, gathering up the tendrils in the air from the ritual and dragging them writhing into material space. Like a fisherman hauling his catch to shore, he heaved them out from where they hid and let them flop bonelessly atop the ground near him, where the mana in them began absorbing the Lich King’s killing spell.
The tendrils binding his body crumbled to ash and faded away in the same moment, tethered to the other tendrils by some unknown link. Pulling the other parts through must have untied a magical knot I hadn’t even realized was there.
Then, with a glimmer of understanding in my other self’s eyes, he waved his hand and the death and darkness parted like waves on the shore. He walked out unharmed from the enormous offensive spell with his sword in hand and looking none the worse for wear. This I stared at, somehow knowing what I’d done was possible for me, and yet completely oblivious to how it could be done.
“Impossible! What are you?” the Lich King demanded.
My body lifted his sword wide with a blank expression, prepared to deal the killing blow.
My world blurred, and I felt myself being pulled forward. A moment later, I was back inside my body, and the sword was in my hand. It was like the System itself had rewound time a few seconds, taken control of my body, then gave it back to me after getting me out of a seemingly impossible situation.
I hadn’t thought to use Aegis of the Void in that way. The shield was too small and didn’t last long enough to counteract such an all-encompassing offensive spell as the Lich King was casting. Nor had I understood the nature of the tendrils binding me. And the death and darkness mana of the Lich King’s spell had parted as though it was my own. That action especially I hadn’t the slightest clue how to replicate. My new Living Paradox spell showed me how to fight if I was many times more skilled and knowledgeable than I was.
The brief moment of disorientation from having control of my body restored was enough for the Lich King to regain his bearings. He shifted, fading from sight and reappearing a few paces back toward the center of the newly reformed ritual diagram. Between us were two undead naga warriors.
They raised swords, but I waved my own slender blade through them. The steel half of my blade sliced right through their crude bronze, and the arcane blade that extended past my blade’s tip sliced through their skeletal chests and shoulders.
Undead charged me anyway, despite the damage, but two more swift swings slew them beyond repair.
The Lich King raised his arm and fired a spell at me. This one was noticeably weaker than his earlier attacks, and I sensed less mana behind it. His powers were fading, and already he was nearly spent. His nullification spell probably took far more power than my Aegis of the Void did, and that all-encompassing death and darkness spell was probably even more taxing.
I had him on the ropes now. I would just have to be careful not to kill him too fast. The last time I’d slain him, his soul had slipped beyond my grasp. My understanding of souls had increased many times over since then, though, and now, no matter what magic he used to resurrect himself, he couldn’t get away from me.
He fought with the desperation of a dying man, but I fought better nonetheless. Each spell he threw at me was countered and returned, and soon, his body was blackened and scorched by the Mana Bolts that slipped through his defenses. His protective robes were long gone now, burned away under my unceasing barrage.
His bones oozed sickly wounds, all left by my Corrupting Marks. Destined Death was proving its worth now as the Corrupting Marks weighed heavier on him with each passing moment. The rest of the battle was quickly turning in our favor, and Frank even spared a few moments between fights to take a couple of shots at the back of the Lich King’s bony head.
The bullets bounced right off the undead’s skull, but against an opponent like me, the tiniest moment of distraction cost him dearly, and I used the opening to slice off one of his hands.
“I will not lose to you again!” the Lich King swore. Though his eyes were nothing but hollow sockets, I felt the madness in them. “Chaos Raven, I’ll entrust my soul to you once more! Complete the ritual and take me in his place!”
Dark energies swirled, and the soul-sucking tendrils I’d been unconsciously batting away through telekinesis in the higher spatial dimensions doubled in force. Behind me, several of my allies collapsed to their knees. Even Reluna’s defensive talismans started cracking.
I rushed toward the Lich King, but the undead naga threw themselves at me in a wave. These were the elites, the strongest fighters they had left. Behind them, they were backed up with the few remaining necromancers who’d survived our previous battle in San Antonio.
They were all C-Grades fighting for their lives. I slaughtered them with sword and spells, shattering shields and throwing Mana Bolts while hacking and slicing. I cut down dozens of them in moments and minimized level and proficiency notifications flashed in the corner of my vision.
And yet, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t stop the ritual.
Before my eyes, I watched as phantom tendrils wrapped around the Lich King’s skeleton. They pulled at his bones, drawing the spirit of a young man from them. The young man had tears in his eyes and a scowl on his face. He looked so young to me, barely out of high school. His ghost shot me one last glare before the tendrils tore him apart.
Power flowed through the remade ritual diagram beneath us, unaltered by Reluna’s previous changes.
I rushed to interrupt the spell, but the wall of bodies blocked me. Most of these guys were barely C-Grade, but for all my lead in power, I wasn’t too good at killing people quickly. I channeled Firescourge Breath, but the skeletons felt no pain and didn’t stop when they were on fire.
“Sharky!” I yelled, and he charged in my direction. The tail of an undead drake hung out of his mouth, and he shook his tendril-covered jaws as the bones clattered around inside him before collapsing into a lifeless pile.
Bridget and Sakura rode on his back, jumping clear to dive into the fray with me. With them joining me, we made short work of the remaining undead. Nearby, Frank, Terrance, Knuckles, Kerrie, Rick, and a few others finished off the last of the enemy army and were rushing toward our position.
We were too late to stop the ritual. Reluna scribbled hasty lines in the ground, but whatever the Lich King had done to remake the diagram wasn’t finished, and the moment she painted a new furrow of blood it washed away and returned to normal. She scowled at the lines, desperately trying to figure out a way to rewrite them that would stick.
I still held onto the faintest trace of hope that we could reverse whatever it was they were doing... until the dragon opened its eyes.
We heard a low, guttural rumbling, like a diesel engine revving to life. I recognized it from the last time we’d explored this shard... and promptly were sent running from the angry dragon that called it home.
“Get back!” I yelled to my allies as I rushed forward.
Dark colors swirled in the dragon’s maw, and fire mixed with chaos. The sense of pressure I felt from the dragon was many times greater than it had been the last time we’d fought this thing, and I was pretty sure I knew what entity had just possessed the Torchdragon.
When I used examine on it again, it no longer registered as a Torchdragon. Now, it was something else entirely.
Avatar of the Chaos Serpent (Level 199)
I could waste no time. We’d dealt a strong and decisive blow against our enemies thanks to the hard work of Crownhill’s elite forces. But all of us gathered here at once represented the future of Crownhill. One dragon’s breath would cripple our fledgling forces for the rest of the integration and ensure we struggled with the golems and whatever the System threw at us afterward.
I ran right up to the Dragon’s mouth and slapped an Aegis of the Void in front of it. The chaos and fire flew into the portal to a black hole, absorbed and discharged. It bought my allies just enough time to pull back and retreat.
There was only one problem. The move had practically put me nose to nose with a dragon possessed by an evil god.
But when the dragon spoke, beneath the teeth and the scales, the voice was all too familiar.
“So small and so weak. Your death shall be an ignoble one, Carter,” the dragon spat, and in that one word I knew from whose mouth that hatred stemmed. Dramonar, the lost young man I’d bested on the field before Valkyrie’s Watch.
“Who else is in there? This is no feat Dramonar could manage.” I stared into the Dragon’s eyes, and behind the anger, I sensed a mind of similar disposition, but much greater age and capability.
The dragon gave me a low and mocking laugh. “When the stupid boy died, he tributed his soul to me. As did my Naga. And now my comrade in chaos has given me his pet lich as well. All to tame this troublesome little dragon and use it to end an even more troublesome little man...”
And like that, scattered pieces slid together. They’d been planning this since before my first confrontation with the Lich King. Back when Dramonar decided I was his mortal foe and tributed his soul to the Chaos Serpent to kill me, this plan had been set in motion. That bit of soul was meant to kill me in a ritual that would bring ruin to everything I’d built and grant one of the Chaos Gods a mighty avatar to command the vassals who would take control of my shard. And perhaps this entire new world once all was said and done.
“Kneel and cast your soul into my keeping. I shall grant you no further grace,” the dragon offered. It occurred to me that the dragon’s reptilian mouth shouldn’t have been able to produce human words at all, and yet I heard them clearly.
“Never.” I stood firm. Entrusting my soul to this thing seemed the surest way to grant myself a fate worse than death. I didn’t know the Chaos Serpent, but if there was even a trace of Dramonar possessing that enormous lizard, I knew this thing would feel only hatred for me and mine.
“Fool! You and all your kind. You are pawns in a game played by ancient giants. Be my piece or be cast into the dirt,” the dragon uncoiled, looming over me far taller than before.
“Never!” I repeated, this time louder than before. I glanced over and saw my allies hadn’t retreated. They’d fallen back, reorganized around the summoning circle, and prepared themselves for battle, but not one of them had fled at the sight of the ten-ton fire-breathing lizard possessed by a chaos god.
“Then perish and rot!” the dragon roared, coiling to full height with teeth barred.
<Note>
Will probably tweak the description of Living Paradox a few chapters back. Somebody pointed out the way it was currently listed could mean that anytime Carter is in a fight, an alternate version of Carter could tag our Carter in to win a losing fight.
That's not really how I want fight scenes to go. Gotta be judicious about being transposed with alternate world versions of Carter, otherwise the fight scenes would get super confusing.
Unless I come up with a better solution, it will be the System generating a simulated version of Carter that has the minimum amount of improved powerset and understanding to succeed. So depending on what Carter's evading, he might get briefly replaced with a B-Grade version of himself or something.
Comments
Marvin
I will fix.
FarFromLogic
Not in the collectiom
jmundt33a
I was referring to Levels. I’ve been waiting for him to adopt more regimented training with Cyra for awhile. He has to train to boost proficiencies now. They won’t naturally accrue or stay stable above 100.
Marvin
He still has a bit of training to do before he gets back with Cyra, but this should give him the bulk of the levels he needs.
jmundt33a
Hoping we’re around long enough to see S.
jmundt33a
So..destroying this thing probably would get him back to a tie with Cyra? Is he going to meet whoever created that golem retreat?
NovaZero
Aether abilities to locate and gather all their bundles to a single point then used Aegis to shove all that shit into the void? I like the change though
Nate Steadman
Why do I get the feeling that the "Goddess" from the last integration is going to make an appearance
Marvin
Good theory!
Marvin
Yeah, it’s A-Grade. Though the System itself doesn’t categorize above that. (On a more meta note, I am leaving S-Grade stuff up in the air depending on how long the series goes for.)
ArbabSB
Hmmm, is the Chaos Serpent itself an A-Grade entity? I think I remember something from last book about the founder of the Cult of the Chaos Serpent rising to A-Grade. I assumed that's the Chaos God itself. Or am I mistaken?
ArbabSB
Damn. Almost of Carter's current integration round enemies have combined into another towering obstacle. Living Paradox is done for the day. Now what? The plus side is that three enemy shards' enemies have been consolidated into this Chaos Serpent Avatar, so killing it will give rewards for defeating 3 enemy factions and allow him to deal with the passive golems with relative leisure. IMO the change to Living Paradox is a good one. Infinite multiverses come with many issues, such as nihilistic implications that an infinite number of other Carters and their allies, no less real than the one we see, are being defeated and killed, or worse, in each conflict.
jmundt33a
Is the Raven playing fourth dimensional chess to discipline or cripple the Serpent?
jmundt33a
As written now, Paradox looks like a cross between a Stephen Strange vision and a Prince of Persia move. Really interesting.
jmundt33a
Should be bared. So eliminating this Avatar will give Carter 2/3 of the contested territory.
