Chapter 34: Preparations

Kyle did not expect to be treated this well by the enforcers when he came in to report about finding a crate of military equipment. He also did not expect to have an impromptu meeting with the inquisitors, who wanted to talk with him right after.

The three of them were now sat in a lobby area, with Mason and Kitana both smiling at Kyle. “Only a good citizen of Yual such as you would have the heart to return such an important good. The enforcer department will confer onto you a medal of public service.” Mason nodded his head.

Kyle smiled genially in response. All three of them knew that he was the gang leader of the Seven Snakes, it was an open secret. “I would prefer if I traded the medal for a more concrete benefit.”

Mason nodded, getting the gist. “Before we come to that, we just wanted to check if you had seen any crates around this district as well. Wouldn’t want to go door to door, banging up people just to find any.”

“Rest assured inquisitor, you have my word that this is the only crate you’ll find in my territory.”

“Is that so...” Mason’s voice trailed off as he glanced at Kitana, who nodded. “Well then, speak.”

“Word is already on the street that the Ilysian Punks have the rest of the guns. You’ve probably heard about it.”

Mason and Kitana’s faces remained calm, showing no reaction while internally they knew that they were about to be caught in some ploy.

“The Ilysian Punks have recently been launching attacks into my district, and I’m planning some retribution. We’re on the same side here with a common enemy, so I’ll say a temporary alliance is in order. Perhaps we can be of some help.”

Mason finally chuckled. “You mean you want the enforcers to look the other way while you attack the Ilysian Punks with everything you got?”

“And as soon as I find even a single trail of any guns, I will let you know immediately,” Kyle concluded.

“Or we could simply round them up all by ourselves.”

“Inquisitor, I’m not too sure your men are as willing and motivated as mine to fight against a gang who most likely have full possession of military equipment enough to decimate a battalion. Life is precious, after all. Every death is a stain on your record.” Kyle smirked.

Mason leaned back into the chair, smoking his pipe again. “A tempting offer, Alvin. Perhaps we are on the same side after all.” As soon as he said the name, he tried to examine Kyle’s face for any reaction but found none.

“Do we have a deal then?”

“You have my word. Any issues with enforcement, you may talk to Kitana directly.” Mason motioned to her.

“Good. Then I shall take my leave now. Pleasure doing business.” Kyle patted his suit down, buttoning it before walking out of the enforcer’s office.

Mason glanced at the figure of Kyle leaving, before looking directly at Kitana. “Are you confident that the target was not him? It seems he knew that this was going to happen, as though he was setting up everything.”

“We have the handwritten Ilysian Punk shipment order as proof, with a direct mark that can only be placed by the higher-ups in the gang. No way the Seven Snakes were the ones who robbed the factory.” Kitana shook her head, but internally she knew that Kyle was the one who made the handgun and was framing the Ilysian Punks.

“Fine then. One more gang in our pocket is always a good thing. He’s right; it’ll take less manpower now to attack the Ilysian Punks head seeing we have his gang as cannon fodder. We’ll let the dogs eat each other, then swoop in for the kill. After all, the alliance is ‘temporary’.”

Kyle returned to one of his offices, where Damian and Keith were already waiting for him. “So, did they accept the deal?” Damian asked.

“They did. We are clear to attack the Ilysian Punks head-on right now without worrying about getting caught. Where did we plant the guns?”

“We planted them in the three districts closest to us as previously agreed, while the others are still being slowly planted.”

“Good, we strike in two weeks. Gather the associates; it’s time to do some preparations.”

The three returned back to the old Seven Snakes base, which was still in use by most of the associates. With the enforcers in a temporary alliance now, the only thing they had to worry about now was probing attacks from the Ilysian Punks.

“Have we vetted all of the new associates?” Kyle asked Damian. He was well aware that many of the new members had joined during his trip to the Culdao Peaks, so he was unsure of whether any snitches or spies had made it through the crack.

“We’ve tried our best to filter those we found shady. Many of the guys we took were desperate, mostly through the soup kitchen recruitment effort.”

Kyle glanced at the assembled associates now. Those involved in the production were not here. However, there were close to seventy associates here right now. Their growth was tremendous, with many joining due to rumours of Kyle’s strength and business prowess. Others joined simply for survival or for a place to belong.

The three vipers were in attendance as well – Monica, Adrian and Niko. They stood proudly in front of their crew, knowing something big was about to happen.

Many of the new associates were muttering to each other, this being the first time Kyle had gathered all of them together. “Associates, both old and new. My apologies to the newer ones for not personally welcoming you to the Seven Snakes.” Kyle stood up on an elevated stage, speaking to the assembly.

Keith and Damian rolled out a map behind Kyle, a detailed version of just the south sector, with the gangs’ territory clearly highlighted in colours. “In just a short three months since I’ve assumed leadership, we have achieved many things.”

“We have fended off aggression from the Red Lions, fixed our finances and trained ourselves to be a competent fighting force, able to stand up for ourselves. And this is all thanks to your hard work and dedication.”

“Look at how much we have accomplished. Can you not feel it? This is true power. Who among you wants to go back to the factories, to the streets, to the thug rackets you used to be?” Kyle stated.

The associates and vipers all shook their heads. Now that they had a taste of power, wealth and authority, who would be sane enough to give that up to pursue a meaningless job in a factory line, to wander homeless?

“But are you satisfied with what we have today? Even now, bigger gangs look down on us from above. The Ardent Cretins watch our every move. The Red Lion wants to keep us in check. And even now, the Ilysian Punks dare to attack our district continuously. If it’s a fight they want, they’ll get it!”

“YEA!” Niko cheered as the rest of the associates roared in response.

[Seven Snakes Vambrace (Basic)] [Seven Snakes Breast Plate (Basic)]

[Seven Snakes Metal Pipe (Basic)]

A official design by Kyle, leader of the Seven Snakes.

Active Skill: Reinforcement – Increased force when hitting

MP Cost Per Activation: 2 MP

Duration: Thirty Seconds

Cooldown: Two minutes

The metal pipe was effectively a carbon copy of Riker’s metal pipe, the result of his hours spent copying the engraving. Despite his efforts, he had yet to reach the intermediate level yet for Arcia etching, partly due to offloading most of the work to the factory.

Kyle had learnt over time that the titles were only granted through repetition, which meant he truly had to grind if he wanted to raise his title levels. But for now, it was already good enough.

With the factory producing the equipment necessary to gear up the Seven Snakes, Kyle knew they had more than a winning chance to take down the Ilysian Punks one district at a time.

Kyle watched the other associates marvel and test out their arctech equipment. Some of them fainted due to arcia exhaustion, unable to maintain the cost required to activate some of the engravings.

“We will train for a few weeks to raise everyone’s arcia energy to an acceptable level. I will consult Haui for any potions that might help with this endeavour.” Kyle explained to the vipers, Damian and Keith.

“Sir, if we launch the attack on Ilysian Punks, what if they counterattack and raze our businesses? We don’t have anything left to defend with.” Damian pointed out.

“Don’t worry about that; I’ve already called for backup.”

In an abandoned mine somewhere in the Culdao Peaks, screams and shouts of fighting could be heard echoing down the long, dimly lit corridors, the rocky texture of the walls stained with blood and leaking arcite fuel.

Gulak gulped as he walked down the corridor with trepidation. This used to be his home, where he had fond memories of delivering nearly rotten limbs from humans and other creatures to the joyful mothers who were resting in each small room.

Now, the rooms had long lost their prior splendour, demonized into a harrowing hell of pain and torture. Gulak straightened his back as much as he could, keeping up a false bravado as he continued. That accursed human! It’s all his fault!

It would have been simple to overthrow his reign as soon as he left, but what he left behind in a human female form was far more sinister and deadly than the goblins could have expected.

They tried to break free many times, but each time the human- no, the monster stopped them. Even as they pleaded for mercy, not a single word left her lips.

Gulak eventually reached the source of the scream and shouts, an enlarged room originally meant for goblin children to play together. Now, it was instead a makeshift fighting arena where goblins and humans alike were desperately fighting their hardest against what seemed to be feral mindless humans that had engravings all over their skin. Zombies.

Feldon grunted as he was shoved onto the floor by a feral zombie, the saliva from its mouth dripping onto his face. He quickly shoved a metal pipe in a jab fashion, slamming it right into its neck, with copious amounts of blood spurting out.

The same scene was played out all over the room, making it seem like a horror movie. Regardless, Gulak was not enraged, nor was he compelled to help. Instead, he bowed, clearly speaking out loud. “Master Sasha, the accursed hum- Lord Kyle has requested for your assistance in the city of Raktor. The message says to bring those who are ready.”

As he finished, a figure leapt down from an alcove in the ceiling, landing onto the floor without a sound. With a flash of her hands, she immediately grappled and restrained each zombie in one swift motion like clockwork. Some of the zombies tried to lash out at her, but her movement was swift and fluid, as though she was dancing through the horde, targeting each one with precision while aware of her surroundings.

The humans and goblins let out a sigh of relief, knowing that the training session was over.

The zombies were not raised from the dead – instead, they were the failed results of Kyle’s arcia engraving experiments, humans who had lost their minds through the intense pain.

“Finally, I get to leave this place!” Feldon relaxed, massaging his accursed muscles. He had signed up to be a company manager, not a grunt, and it’s been more than two months since he’s been stuck here with his family.

Granted, he was not treated badly, but the training routine every day was mandatory, making him feel like he was in a military boot camp. It was a necessary measure, however, as many gangs and daring adventurers attempted to raid the goblin mine in order to control the source of the Euria Seeds.

However, the goblins and company employees that were slowly gathered over the course of three months were a sufficient deterrent to many attackers, thanks to the training by Kyle as well as the leadership of Master Sasha.

Sasha clapped her hands, immediately prompting the humans and goblins to line up. There were now more than fifty company employees as well as a hundred goblins, a veritable force to be reckoned with in the Culdao Peaks.

Instead of speaking, Sasha began to motion with her hands towards a female clerk standing behind her, who cleared her throat. “It’s time to show our strength and to make Lord Kyle proud. However, only seven will join her as the nature of the mission is small. It is also required to have enough members here to defend the goblin base. Only humans.”

Many of the goblins were dejected to hear that, some of them previously holding out hope they’ll get to travel in a human city. Imagine all the limbs and torsos they could eat.

Feldon’s face faltered but soon held an expression of determination. “I can do this, let’s do this! For my family’s sake!”

Gulak’s eyes lit up. The strongest humans leaving means we finally have a chance!

Just as he began to snigger to himself, he noticed a shadow looming over him. Gulak looked up to see the ferocious gaze of Sasha, intimidating him into instinctively bowing and retreating. Forget it; if we rebel, she’ll only come back and make things worse for us!