Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 182: A Survivor's Beast-friend

"Where are my guards!?"

Marcus shouted as he ran the empty hallway. He spat the blood that formed in his mouth before entering the event hall.

The once populated area has become relatively empty.

He could see a few people being escorted away by their stewards.

At this time, a slender man with distinctive features entered the front door. Behind him was a 1-meter tall mutated dog.

Marcus yelled, "Jovy, come here!"

When the door opened, the intense fighting outside, together with sounds of battle cries and roars, resounded the area.

"Are you okay, sir?" Jovy said worriedly. He was an elite member of the Brotherhood of Verdicts. Numerous resources were poured on him to make him strong. He's the next most reliable person after Cain.

There were two types of memberships for the Brotherhood of Verdicts. One was the standard membership, and the other is the elite, who were fortunate enough to be invited to Marcus' Faction.

With different ranks and hierarchy, there would also be differences in benefits and their sense of belonging.

After experiencing the physical pleasures and system benefits for getting invited to the elite group, Jovy has become more loyal and willing to follow Marcus.

"Why is there no one coming to help me? I'm getting attacked by someone!"

"I apologize, sir. We got caught up with the horde outside. There's a smart Brute leading the horde, and Cain is doing his best to deal with it as soon as possible."

Marcus clicked his tongue. "There's a young man in the stock room. Go kill him, bring his body to me."

"Yes, sir!"

Jovy whistled as he jogged forward. The mutated dog behind him wagged its tail and followed him.

After giving his order, Marcus took a Caliber .45 ACP from his dimensional storage and followed behind Jovy.

Jun sent a sliver of his energy to circulate around the beat-up man's body.

Thankfully, the body didn't reject his energy and willingly absorbed it.

He continued for three cycles until he realized that the man was starting to learn how to circulate the energy on his own. He became slightly surprised, seeing that the man learned energy control in this short time.

"Calm down. As long as you continue circulating energy internally, you should be able to survive."

Jun left after giving his advice. He didn't see the trembling eyelids that were trying its best to open itself. It tried endlessly, only to fail.

The man unable to see his savior could only thank Jun in his heart. He heard the opening and closing of the door, which caused a streak of tears to fell from his eyes.

Rapid footsteps echoed in the hall when Jun got out of the stock room.

A 1-meter tall mutated dog charged at him followed by a man wielding a halberd. The halberd's shaft was a long metal tube while the spike on its tips and the ax blade, together with the thorn on its back, was made from solid metals.

The mutated dog lunged at Jun and received a backhanded slap on its mouth.

Its owner, Jovy, charged at Jun filled with wrath. He barely got to tame the dog after feeding it with all types of rotters, but this man actually dared hurt it! If his dog got traumatized and turned into a coward, who could he vent his anger to?

Just thinking about the food stamps, it costed him to buy meat of a Rank 2 Brute made him want to cry now.

He slashed downwards between Jun and his dog to separate them. Then twisted his wrist to make the halberd chase after Jun's retreating body.

Jun took his Bonehammer from his dimensional storage, then enveloped it with energy. The top of the Bonehammer clashed with the ax blade producing sparks and metallic sounds.

Suddenly, Jun felt all the hairs in his body standup. He glanced behind Jovy's shoulder and saw Marcus pointing a gun in their direction.

He hastily activated Sprint and Time Perse to dodge the gunshots.

Marcus became dumbfounded after hearing the clicking sounds from the gun. He fired eight times, and not a single one hit its target! It was like the other person knew the trajectory of the shots and dodged in advance!

Jun didn't appreciate Marcus' intervention and switched his targets. He dashed towards Marcus, and the man couldn't do anything besides tripping on his own feet as he ran back inside the building, frightened.

Halfway on his run, the mutated dog was able to catch up to him and tackled him from behind. The two rolled on the tiled floor, and the mutated dog came on top.

It was a deliberate move from Jun since the dog's owner was chasing after them. If he was the one on top, the dog owner could attack him freely.

Jun gripped the mutated dog's throat to prevent it from biting him, but its front paws still scraped his torso.

The mutated dog's nails weren't as sharp compared to Hunter's claws, but it was sharp enough to created red scratch marks on Jun's skin.

Jun couldn't use 'aura sense' since he doesn't have enough time to focus on gathering energy and expanding it outwards at the same time. This event showed the apparent difference between system recognized skills and skills that you just personally know.

On the other hand, Jun gathered energy on his palm and grabbed the mutated dog's head. He transferred the accumulated energy and used Threaten at the same time.

He felt some resistance from the mutated dog, but being overpowered on every stat, the mutated dog trembled as Jun's energy entered its brain. 

Its body became limp, and Jun pushed the massive frame to the side.

"Patchy!" wailed Jovy as he watched his dog fell unconscious. He named the mutated dog Patchy because it has numerous black and white skin disease.

He lunged forward and slashed at Jun to avenge Patchy.

Jun rolled backward and barely dodged the tip of the halberd. He hastily got up and charged his Bonehammer with enough energy to activate the embedded Fire Crystal's effects.

The Bonehammer blazed up with menacing flames that flickered in the dim hallway.

Jovy ignored the special effects and charged forward. He slashed and stabbed numerous times, but Jun easily dodged the attacks.

After waiting patiently, Jun found the right time to counter-attack and parried the next thrust. With a clanging noise, Jun used an underhand swing to knock the halberd up. He didn't let the opportunity to flash by as he let go of the Bonehammer to become unaffected by its recoil, and pounced forward.

Halberd is a mid-range type of weapon. Unless the wielder is an expert, it was impossible to win a battle when the opponent has the same strength as you, especially if they weren't in the same league in the first place.

Jun quickly closed the distance and proceeded with hand-to-hand combat. Jovy got caught unprepared since he wasn't knowledgable with polearms. He just learned from experience after battling rotters and became a punching bag for Jun.

Jovy coughed blood and leaned against the wall. He could barely stand and used the halberd as support. He stared at the man in front of him and waited for the killing blow.

Much to his surprise, the shadow that towered in front of him receded. Jun left him alone after determining that he wasn't able to move anymore.

Jovy slowly slid down as his legs lost the power to keep him from standing. He would never forget the horrifying experience that almost caused his death. He further ingrained in his mind that the world is vast, and there are stronger people out there.

He melancholy stared at Patchy in the distance. Even though his food maintenance was expensive, he was like a new family in this new world. Seeing the unmoving body in the distance, he couldn't help but feel agony and shed some tears.

The mutated dog, Patchy, opened its eyes. It raised its head and examined the surrounding. When it became sure that it was safe to move, it cautiously moved towards Jovy with its tail between its legs.

Jovy smiled, seeing his pet dog alive. The tears trickled faster than it was earlier. Patchy noticed his tears and licked them off his face.

Jovy didn't complain that Patchy's breath smelled like rotten corpses. Instead, he gently rubbed Patchy's chin.

Jun entered the event hall of the gymnasium. He glanced around and couldn't find Marcus. Only the event planners were left behind, trying to collect all the pieces of equipment they used for the party.

Since everything happened in a flash, he didn't have enough time to attach a tracker to Marcus. He didn't even expect him to slide his way out from his grasp!

In the future, he can't treat everything as streetfights anymore. He needs to account for the target's possible skill sets and expertise.

Marcus was a Lord, so he probably has more than two skills. He ingrained one of them in his mind since it caused him to miss his target.

Jun glanced outside and saw the survivor defensive line clashing with the horde of R0 Carriers. He saw Marcus running in the middle of the plaza square, headed towards the Municipal building.

Jun wore his camouflage cloak and blended with the shadows as he chased after Marcus.

Marvin achieved splendid results with his distraction task as he occasionally sent objects flying towards the survivors' defensive line.

Marvin's projectiles caused the defensive line to move around and slowed down their clearing speed.

Cain kept on chasing the cunning Brute, who only know how to throw-and-run. They clashed a few times, and he managed to injure the Brute, which only made it more frightened and evaded him more.

Marvin ate his last Energy Fruit and played tag with Cain one more time, before luring Cain away from the group. When they were a considerable distance from the defensive line, Marvin stopped provoking Cain before running away.

Cain became frightened when he realized that the Brute was luring him away. He hesitated a few times while chasing after it, then gave up after chasing for four streets in vain. He couldn't carelessly get close to it, and at the same time, he couldn't kill it if he doesn't get close to it.

With that, he returned and helped clear the horde of rotters.