Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 156: Large Rat's Loot

To clarify the situation with his group, Jun explained that he received a sudden notification of an incoming wave. When the countdown finished, the column of light appeared. Nik added that after the column of light came down, it brought carriers with it.

The special carriers can increase their stats by a small amount but when you consider their number and scale, it was not to be trifled with. This should a fortunate event for everyone to capitalize on. Even those who weren't active in leveling could get a slight increase in stats if they joined the town defense.

As their discussions started to get heated up, the countdown almost finished and everyone readied themselves. The Black Haven's group was the generally accepted head in town. Though they weren't numerous in number, their members were unique and helped them strenghten their place among the people. For example, they have monopoly on the arms trade. Although people could still use cold weapons like kitchen knives, etcetera, they couldn't ignore the fact that swords crafted for the purpose of killing was better than sharp blades produced for cutting food.

Everyone on site watched and tried to eavesdrop on the Black Haven's meeting. Jun's voice was neither loud or soft, not even caring whether other people could hear him or not. When people noticed that Black Haven was preparing for battle, they tensed up and readied themselves too.

Jun glanced at his little sister. He noticed her condition and told her that she should teleport back and go to Black Haven, then look for Sheila. Both him and his little sister were still awkward with each other, so their conversation was a bit stiff. Jun asked her two friends to go back with her.

This is the biggest horde they fought and standing infront of that horde gave them mental fatigue. Emman and Erin weren't experienced survivors, at most, they only knew how to defend themselves. With everything that they experienced for today, they called it a day and agreed to help her back. Jun thanked them, then faced forward waiting for the countdown to finish. When it reached its last second, his heartbeat raced faster as if adrenaline were pumping on his veins.

A second passed, a couple of seconds passed. Nothing. There was no column of light that appeared. Then, from his left were the police could be found, he suddenly heard someone exclaim, "North! Its on the north!"

Upon hearing the frantic shouts, almost everyone turned their heads and looked north. Jun became surprised when he saw the column of light appearring on the north. Based on its general direction, the column of light appeared outside the town's territory, most probably near the fields near the bridge that connects the districts.

Jun shouted, "Teleport back, teleport to the plaza!"

Everyone who saw the column of light in the north, realized that the special carriers would be found there. Driven with greed, almost everyone simultaneously activated their teleport runes and the area was littered with people that has runes circling around them.

Some group of people rode their vehicles that they used to quickly come here and drove on the high way to quickly reach the north. When the people that used teleport to get back to the plaza square ran on their foot, the vehicles drove past them. Someone commented that the special carriers seemed to be going towards them and they could just wait near the plaza to not waste their energy. His idea was logical but the people weren't. If people waited here like he suggested, then some greedy people could monopolize the bodies. As if woken up from the harsh truth, everyone looked for vehicles while others continued running.

Although Jun regretted not having a car that could transport a large number of people, he moved on and added that to his shopping list. There's a lot of jeepneys around and there's numerous cars for everyone to share.

Adrian, Bernard and Sheila joined with the group. Bernard who came with them went back to the compound after Jun's brief explanation of how things were going. Everyone left behind on Black Haven promised and staked their life to defend the place. Jun asked about his little sister's situation and Sheila explained that she just needed to rest and she'll be fine.

After managing to find a working jeepney, everyone got on board and they went top speed with Bartolome as the driver. The jeepney was packed like a sardines with people already sitting down on the jeepney's aisle. Since the new recruits were mostly female, they boarded first and managed to sit down. Nik together with the other personal guards could only squat on the aisle and hang themselves at the entrance of the jeepney. Someone even commented that they felt like they're commuting to work. Before they could even arrive at the Northern Bridge, they were already seeing people getting chased by large rats. Bartolome quickly stepped on the breaks causing a loud screeching sound.

Jun got off from the driver's passenger seat and stared at the chaos in front of him. There was a swarm of large rats chasing people. Since the large rats only reached up to ones knees, Jun noticed the contingency of carriers being led by a towering titan on the bridge ahead. Based on its height, it was only a D1. On its side were two H1's running like dogs on a jog with their owner. The carriers behind them appear menacious as their snarls and gnarls echoed in the area like a sea.

Jun helped those people being chased by large rats and couldn't help but mock them in his head. He kicked a Large Rat that pounced towards someone and even used Empower to enhance the force. The Large Rat was stopped in mid-air and fell to the side. Why are they even having a hard time with this? Large rats could be killed in one hit.

Before he could even finish mocking them, a couple of Large Rats jumped on him. Before he could deal with those Large Rats that jumped on him, he already felt something gnawing on his legs.

Jun cursed under his breath and quickly retreated. He hit the Large Rat biting his leg then circulated energy on his body. He knew that rat bites could cause rabies and hoped that inner energy circulation could prevent or stall it. He searched for the Large Rat that he kicked but he couldn't find it after the swarm stepped over it.

The reinforcement arrived at this time. Adrian started throwing bonespears and each of them hit their marks. Considering the swarm of Large Rats, it should be near impossible to miss even if you randomly threw the bonespear on their direction. Jun noticed that these Large Rats appeared to be the same with the Special Carriers. Their bodies didn't vanish unlike when they could only be fought in the mines.

Edward found a useful trick with his barrier and decided to experiment with it. He strenghtened his barrier by channeling more energy and made it one meter tall and three feet wide. He then charged into the swarm. He felt a sense of satisfaction as he watched the swarm being split into two. He also enjoyed staring at the Large Rats sliding down from the barrier after pouncing on it.

Behind Edward were Black Haven and so he didn't have to feel worried. The new recruits who were willing to fight followed after Nik's group and were being tutored live. The ones who were still gathering their courage were tasked to gather the bodies on one side and guard it.

Jun stayed behind and watched the overall status of the battlefield. He would go in once things appeared to be getting out of hand. There's also another reason why he stayed back. It was to see whether this Large Rats would reanimate or not.

A minute was only sixty seconds but it felt like eternity when Jun waited for it to passby. The only good thing that happened was that the rear swarm of Large Rats started fighting with the Special Carriers easing the pressure on their side since the Large Rats reinforcements became slower than usual.

Black Haven continued gathering the dead rats on one side and Jun guarded it. When he was sure that they won't reanimate, he grabbed one and started looting it as an experiment. The surrounding people watched him filled with envy. Some stared at the pile of dead rats with vicious glints on their eyes. If they didn't know who was guarding the pile of dead rats or there was no more rats to kill, some people would probably try and risk it to get some. But since there's still dozens of Large Rats around, the late people decided to earn themselves some loots.

As Jun finished looting the dead rat, something shocking happened. The Large Rats body vanished like how a carriers body disappear after being looted. Just like a carrier producing essence shards and, other loots in random, the dead rats body was replaced by rat meat and rat's hide.