We should have moved far sooner. If I had been aware of just how wonderful a space we could make our own, I would never have settled near the Gym, instead immediately moving here. Instead of having to make sure that the curtains were always drawn, that no sunlight could intrude on my resting space, the massive, dark cellar gave me perfect protection from the hateful light. Only a rather powerful earthquake, or enemy action, could break the metres of concrete and dirt between the surface and us. Sure, it meant that getting out, if something truly serious happened and we were trapped, would be equally difficult, but there was no reason to expect such an occurrence.

Either way, we had a huge space that we could set up as we liked, without having to concern ourselves with the light intruding on us. Luckily, both of us were capable of seeing in the dark, at least across short distances and in greyscale, but it meant we didn’t need light, because electrical light was impossible and would likely remain that way for a long time if it ever was made possible again. It might simply be discarded, with easier alternatives taking over. I could certainly see a world in which light was provided by enchanted light spheres or something like that, I had seen Noriko conjure up light with ease and there was no reason to assume it couldn’t be enchanted into items in some way. Similarly, I was reasonably confident that some sort of Cold-enchanted box would replace refrigeration, or maybe something along the lines of a stasis-enchantment. This new world wasn’t just filled with danger and despair, it was also filled with wonder and opportunity.

But before such wonders could be explored, we had an old slaughterhouse to check out. With our move, the location was just about half an hour away from us, and that was if we moved carefully. If we made haste, we could get there in half, maybe even a third of that time, depending on what we ran into on the way there.

And so, after a restful night spent deep underground, Silva, Lia and I set out once more. We had considered taking another two dogs with us, but at the end of the day, the dogs lacked the power to make a difference. They had grown in level, but compared to the First of her Kind Vampire, they were lacking in strength.

Due to that, they would venture out, carefully, and do some hunting on their own, just like they did in the city. I had asked them to primarily hunt animals that weren’t really usable as food, large insects, spiders, and critters like that, while only taking what food they needed. I was relatively certain they’d have done so anyway, overhunting seemed to be more of a human trait, but I couldn’t be sure just how intelligent the dogs had become. Would they understand the advantage of hunting more and gaining a higher level and could they also see that overhunting the animals that we could use as food would be disastrous?

As we moved, I noticed quite a few beasts out here, from hogs to cows, from horses to chicken, everything that had once been raised as livestock was now running wild and oftentimes, it seemed that they had been directly afflicted, far more than humans.

When we passed a few hogs, I noticed an odd shale smell, one that I associated with magic. Looking closer and using some Astral Power to engage my magical sight, I noticed that the dirt caking their fur and skin wasn’t just dirt, it was faintly glowing to my sight in a hue that I associated with Earth Magic. Some sort of protective magic, unless I missed my guess, but the strength of it I couldn’t even begin to guess. I considered testing them or at least sneaking close enough to covertly Observe them, but decided against it. We had an old Slaughterhouse to check out and that had been on the agenda for quite a while.

Even before we got close enough to see the old Slaughterhouse, I knew it was there. The air was rife with magic, the scent cloying and almost suffocating, all-encompassing enough to be reminiscent of the Dorrian Mountains on Mundus. Not the same depth, but it was obvious that countless creatures had been killed here.

The darkness around us was getting weird as well. It wasn’t really noticeable, due to it being already dark, but I could feel a difference in the shades, the temperature of the darkness. It wasn’t just an absence of light, it was more, something beyond the shadows, or maybe beneath. There were no words to describe it, it was as if something wrong had seeped into the cracks of reality here. I wasn’t sure how the place would look like in the light of day, whether the sun would be strong enough to drive that weirdness out, but I certainly wouldn’t stick around to find out. Maybe I could ask someone from Apple Gate Farm, but I wasn’t sure if they would be able to notice.

The building itself didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, it was a large complex, looking a little like a cross between a barn, an industrial complex and a warehouse, with countless installations on the roof, likely for refrigeration and air control.

Pausing before we got too close, we observed for a little while, noticing a bit of movement around the area and some strange noises coming from within.

Focusing on one of the areas I had noticed movement in, I began drawing up a runic formation, Three runes of Blizzard, linked with two runes of Ice, trying to conjure up the strongest projectiles I currently could. Focusing my will and slowly channelling my power, I tried to morph the spell from the usual single projectile into a rain of Ice, a true blizzard. I wasn’t going for individual precision, I wanted the equivalent of covering fire, striking the entire area and everything within. It wouldn’t be an efficient use of power, most of my attack would miss, but some of it would hit, drawing out whatever was there. That way, we wouldn’t be caught out and surrounded, instead we could see what we were dealing with and retreat if necessary.

The faintly glowing projectiles saturated the area, immediately causing weird, squeal-like shrieks to break the silence of the night. I had never heard anything alike, and only moments later I knew what had made them.

A group of five skeletal pigs came dashing through the darkness, some with Ice lodged between their bones, one even with a few broken ribs from my attack. All of them looked rather aggressive, with strange, red-grey glowing orbs in their eye sockets.

Realising that I’d be relatively useless, the only weapon I had to really deal with these creatures would be blunt strikes using Ice Magic, similar to what I occasionally used to cripple Shattered. These strikes had their limits though, and against five rapidly approaching enemies, I most likely wouldn’t do too well. I might be able to use Darkness against them, trying to confuse their minds, but I wasn’t sure how much of a mind was in these creatures.

Luckily, Silva was already bouncing towards the pigs, Lia following right behind her. Instead of trying to overly involve myself and possibly overlook something, I stepped back a little, making sure that I had ample room to dodge and kept an eye on the surrounding area.

The clash between Silva and the skelepigs wasn’t overwhelming, she managed to pounce in a move that allowed her to avoid the initial rush of the first of them, get her maw on its spine and shake its body like a ragdoll, using it as a shield against its compigtriots. I could hear the bones cracking, and when Lia moved in, side-stepping another of the pigs that tried to run into her knees, likely in an attempt to unbalance her, things got interesting. Despite the remaining difference in levels between the two, Lia’s traits and titles easily made up for it, giving her unfairly high attributes and she abused that advantage ruthlessly. She was strong enough to pick the skelepig up, just like Silva was, only instead of simply shaking and breaking it, she managed to use its spine as a heft and its head as a cudgel.

It wasn’t graceful or coordinated, more a wild swinging of a flailing skeleton, creating what I could only describe as a mess, but it was surprisingly effective. Maybe there was enough magic in the skeleton to make the impact stronger, possibly in order to compensate for their lack of mass, but the flailing strikes managed to send two more of the skelepigs flying.

At that point, I decided that it wasn’t dangerous enough to require me to keep an eye out, and moved al little closer, allowing me to Observe the undead. At level fifteen, they were stronger than expected, but nothing overly dangerous. But if the monsters outside of the Old Slaughterhouse were already this powerful, what would await us inside? I couldn’t wait.