Dark Fate, Chapter 63 (Patreon)

Chapter 63 – Property Hunting

First step in finding a place to play bait for the pirates when they finally came to Earth was in choosing a neighborhood.

Obviously, since this place was going to be bait, I wanted to find a place that was going to be far enough away from heavily populated areas that a stray orbital strike didn’t accidentally kill a bunch of people. That would not look good when people eventually figured out what I did. Trying to limit collateral damage would be a great way to make me look good, in the long run.

Additionally, I wanted something that was far enough away from my current house that I didn’t risk my pets or my main ‘hoard’. This was my primary base, and I didn’t want to have to repair or replace it. After all, while I might have an ungodly amount of money, my supplies weren’t infinite, especially since running dungeons was more problematic for me, now.

Not that I was in any danger of running out of money anytime soon. Once the raiders started coming, there’d be more opportunity to make solid coin by attacking those who ‘stopped by’, and stealing all their stuff. I’d lose some value on the exchange by selling through the System Shop, but less profit was always better than no profit, and it was still going to be a while before the galactic marketplaces would be open to me.

Naturally, I didn’t want this second base to be too far away, either, in case the raiders decided to come calling when I wasn’t at home. Somewhere in the area around Atlanta would be best. It would allow me to respond in hours, at most, to any problems. It would take any raider ship at least that long to get into position and either send shuttles down or land their ship. Especially if they were trying not to be noticed.

Which is why I was now touring an area to the east of Atlanta with Lilith and my normal team. Stone Mountain was a lovely little suburb nestled up against a state park of the same name, containing, among other things, a huge fucking chunk of granite. Calling it a mountain was really generous, considering that it only stood about 825 feet above the surrounding area. Of course, that did make it taller, considering the surrounding area, than Kennesaw Mountain, even though that one stood about a hundred and change feet taller overall.

Really, the only major selling point for Stone Mountain, other than the lake and state park making it scenic, was the fact that it sported the world’s largest bas-relief artwork in the world. The fact that it was a monument of three Confederate leaders was a sticking point with a lot of people, obviously. Of course, people had called for removing the monument, but, well, when a sculpture is cut 42 feet into solid granite, reaches 90 feet high, and 190 feet in width, all of it 400 feet above the ground, the situation is just a bit harder to deal with than getting some chain and ripping a statue off its pedestal, like what happened to other confederate markers.

The area I was looking at, however, was just a bit down the road, though. Stone Mountanain-Lithonia Road was something of a landmark in the city, as it connected the two suburbs, and was fairly distinctive in one section in particular for having nice mansions on one side of the street, and then you literally go crossing the train tracks bordering the other side, and you drop into middle- or lower-class neighborhoods. Like, you go across the train tracks and drop three wealth levels.

Of course, the mansion side of things was where I was looking, at the moment. And there were plenty of nice properties to choose from, all lovely mansions, on wide lawns, with tons of land. In the first few weeks, most of these buildings had been either abandoned, overrun with monsters, or looted by the locals. By now, things had settled down, somewhat, but there were still properties that were empty, and ripe for the taking.

Hunt Valley Drive is where I found the perfect place to make my secondary base. Number 6 was a smaller building than some of the nearby homes, and didn’t sport such amenities as a pool or full-size basketball court, like some of those. What it did have, however, was plenty of wide-open land, along with an empty lot next to it that more than doubled the open space. That kind of open space made it a natural landing field for a raider ship.

There was a slight issue with the current inhabitants. After all, it was pretty unreasonable for a property as nice as this to go unoccupied for months, especially since the cops had a lot more pressing issues than dealing with any complaints filed, or checking up on any wealthy people that just went missing all of a sudden. It didn’t surprise me, then, that someone had moved in to the building I wanted.

Fortunately, my contacts in the police mentioned that three different homeowners, all on this street, just up and disappeared. The local cops had been stretched too far with all the other stuff going on that an apocalypse entails, so the reports hadn’t been followed up on. By pure coincidence, there were reports of some kind of biker gang setting up shop in the area. Just a coincidence, right?

As we drove up to the property, there were clear signs that all was not well. For instance, the neighboring house didn’t have an intact window on the ground floor, and the front door was literally missing. This is generally the sign that something bad has happened. The fact that there wasn’t even police tape up, much less anyone trying to fix the damage, told me that the owner ran, if they were lucky enough to be allowed to run. More likely, they were dead and buried.

Pulling up to the driveway, I felt the pressure of a ward. Whoever had put up the ward at least had some kind of magic, that much was obvious. But the ward didn’t… feel demonic. Not like the one that the mad alchemist put up on that storage center. This was something else.

Breaking through the ward, I saw a collection of motorcycles in the long driveway, up by the house. I could also tell that, whoever was calling the shots here, they had not had the money to put up any of the suppression or other effects that I’d done at my other place, through the System. Very fortunate.

Of course, that was a simple case of my knowing where to look. Shadraus had told me that the System imposed limits on him, in exchange for his new lifestyle, which effectively had eternal job security. He was allowed to answer direct questions, unless there was a restriction in place, but there were definite limits on some of his other actions.

Making suggestions unrelated to current transactions without being asked? That was a big no-no. If, however, someone like me asked for some suggestions? Well, that was another story entirely. That was just him doing as he was bound to do. Honestly!

The ward might not have been able to suppress my powers, but it did alert everyone inside that someone had come to play. The front door opened, and thirteen people stepped out to meet us. Looking around, I saw that another twenty were emerging from the two ‘abandoned’ homes. Those probably had wards on them, too, all linked together.

From a distance, they all appeared human, but then, I was a perfect example of why you shouldn’t judge based on looks. If someone looked at me, they’d see just a very attractive human, with a fashion sense that made me look like an anime protagonist, especially if they saw me with my harem. But those kinds of thoughts always went flying out the window once I picked up my scythe and revealed my true form.

So, I wasn’t going to out and out say that thirty-three enemies was anything to sneeze at, especially when I knew there had to be at least a little magic in them, somewhere. The breakdown was twenty-five men, and eight women, all human-looking, and all of them dressed in leathers and comfortable clothes. I saw a couple patches that marked them out as a motorcycle club. Or, more likely, a gang. Plenty of tattoos on display, as well, which only added to that idea.

And there were most certainly weapons on display, as well. Only a couple of the women weren’t visibly armed in some way, and even they looked like they could handle themselves at least halfway decently. The weapons were a wide array, some of them clearly appeared home-made, like the classic bat with nails in it. Some of them looked as though were picked up along the way, like the several who had some heavy steel chains. But all of them glowed with the magic of active enchantments typical of dungeon loot.

Dungeon loot, when it was enchanted, sometimes tended to have flashy effects that easily let the user know how things worked. This was way more common when it came to weapons, rather than armor or other gear, of course. Flaming swords not exactly rare, but they weren’t a dime a dozen, either.

That didn’t mean that those weapons weren’t effective, of course. The weapons glowing, burning, shimmering, or radiating their effects were all just as dangerous as any more subtle weapon. But it did mean that a smart fighter could sometimes read their opponent’s weapons, and figure out their capabilities. That was a weakness I did not much care for, obviously.

“Who the fuck are you?”

The biggest, nastiest looking guy of the ones that stepped out of the main house snarled at me as he spoke. In his hands, he carried a fireman’s axe that was, itself, on fire. I’d figure out where they got dungeon loot that gave them high-level items that looked like they were made in the world before the apocalypse later. At the moment, I needed to pay attention to the big guy.

Sarbello ‘The   Jackal’ Thomasson

Werewolf   Lord Male

Level   30 Fighter / Killer

Titles:   Alpha

Highest   Attribute: STR

Market   Value: $25,800

The leader was a big man, with arms that could be classified as lethal weapons in three states. Even without seeing his title, I could see that he was the leader, given that he was clearly the biggest guy around, and he walked like he owned everything around. To be fair, he did, right up until the point I walked up, so I figured that I could forgive him his ignorance.

That wasn’t going to keep him from getting my foot up his ass, of course. Nor would the fact that he was a Werewolf Lord, which was a Tier 2 version of a Werewolf, or the Alpha of the pack. Those were nice, and would give him a big boost in power, but that wasn’t an issue for me.

Looking to the others, I said, simply, “Werewolves.” Didn’t need to say more than that. The others knew what to do. We’d drilled on what to do when we found different kinds of threats. Sure, this was the first time we’d actually fought werewolves, but I knew they existed, and had fought them before in the old timeline. Not to mention Lilith’s experience. So, we knew what to do.

We each pulled out a vial of silvery viscous material, and poured it along our weapons. The compound was known as Alchemic Silver, and, for the next hour, our weapons would effectively be silvered weapons. This was, of course, a really good thing to consider when you were dealing with werewolves.

“HEY! I’M TALKIN’ TO YOU!”

The alpha apparently did not like the fact that we were ignoring him, and decided that yelling was the appropriate response. Looking back to him, I saw he was a couple steps forward, and looking heated. I decided to pour fuel on the fire.

Loudly enough that all of the werewolves could hear me, I said, “Why does this little puppy keep yapping at us? Did someone let the chihuahua off its leash?”

Talia giggled, and said, just as loud, “I don’t know, Master. But you are right. The smallest dogs always bark loudest. Perhaps he is compensating?”

Rachel joined in, “Usually, when little boys are compensating for something, it is because they feel bad about being so tiny downstairs.”

Hibari shook her head, a mockingly sad tone in her voice. “No, no. Look at the numbers, here. Obviously, it must take at least three of these boys to satisfy even one of the women. The poor dears. I can’t imagine not getting sex that is so bad.”

Lilith laughed. “Oh, come on. Look at them. I doubt these boys even know what to do with their equipment beyond stroking it. Some of them can’t even hold weapons right!”

“HEY!” The alpha was beyond pissed, and most of his pack was angry at the disrespect they were being shown. He started advancing on me, clearly about to wolf out.

I just smiled. “Girls, girls. Be nice. Clearly, they aren’t really men. Remember, Bob Barker always said to neuter your pets. They probably just escaped from a shelter when the Apocalypse happened.”

Talia gasped in faux shock. “Oh no! What poor dogs! Do you think we should adopt one, Master?”

“Talia!” Rachel gasped. “You know you need to take them to the vet and make sure they’ve had all their shots before you do that!”

The alpha growled, and was now almost within reach. “LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE BITCH! I’M GONNA –GHK!” Whatever else the werewolf was about to say got cut off by my silvered scythe slashing across his throat, and he suddenly had far bigger things on his mind.

“No, Talia, I’m afraid we’re going to have to put these dogs down.”