Log V: The Stench Thickens

"A dog?"

What came out from inside the car was definitely a dog. It looked malnourished and weak, but there was no denying that it was a living, breathing dog.

"Woof!"

The dog barked and circled around Abel, as if begging for something.

"There's blood on its fur but no injuries... Did it eat its masters?"

Thinking that, the walker took a quick look inside the car and sure enough, there were two decomposing corpses in the front seats.

Chunks of the corpses were missing and there was dark blood all over the place. The dog probably became too hungry to distinguish between its masters and food.

"How exactly did they die?"

Abel opened the front passenger door and pulled out one of the corpses. A quick check told him that the corpse had been shot in the head.

"Suicide... Huh. Judging from the body, they were probably starving and took their own lives. I don't need to report that to the authorities... But..."

Abel glanced at the dog near his feet with worry.

After the hell gates were opened up, most livestock had been butchered by the Abyss. The remaining ones were quickly taken by the powerful system-holders and authority figures.

Soon after the apocalypse, no one could find real meat anywhere. Meat became a delicacy and would only be found in larger cities like the holy capital or Laham.

Thanks to that, every type of meat became expensive... including dog meat.

In the black market, one could even find human flesh to eat. Compared to that, dog meat was tame.

"Tsk... Bringing it back with me would only turn it into food... And leaving it here will also kill it... What a pain."

Abel grumbled and scratched his head before rummaging through the objects in the back seats of the car.

Soon, he found a gas mask with a radiation filter in it.

It was shaped to fit the mouth and nose of a dog.

He glanced at the dog again, clenching his fists.

For some reason, he found a part of himself inside that dog... And he couldn't find it in his heart to abandon it.

As much as he disliked humans, he didn't hate animals... And while his memories were extremely hazy, he could remember loving cats and dogs when he was a child.

He didn't know where he used to live nor who he had lived with, but in his vague memories he could find his younger self playing with a dog... Alongside Elma.

He had changed from that naive little kid, but some part of that innocence still seemed to linger in his heart.

"Well... I guess this settles it."

Abel sighed and put the mask on the dog. Then he grabbed its leash which was tied to the car itself.

"Let's get going... I'll give you some food once we find a place to camp."

"Woof woof!"

...

Finding a place to camp was easier said than done, but after a few more hours of pushing the bike through the desert, he found a small burned building with its first floor rising from the sand.

The rest of the building was submerged inside the sand, giving it a slightly higher position than its surroundings.

Abel sat down and decided to secure the parameters with his portable UV lights and batteries. Soon, a small circle was created around them, full of wires and small lights.

"I don't have any dog food... But artificial jerky will do. Here."

The Walker took a piece of cloth and placed it on the sand. Then he brought out some of the food he had and put it on the cloth. Finally, he removed the gas mask from the dog's face.

The dog immediately dug into the food. Abel watched it greedily bite into the food for a while before gulping down his share.

Once they went to the high radiation zone, they wouldn't be able to eat at all. Which was why he had made sure to give the dog a large portion so that it wouldn't die of starvation while on the journey.

The night fell on them after half an hour. Except for the light coming from the fire and the UV lights, everything around them was pitch black.

The moon was hidden behind the clouds.

It was... A surprisingly tranquil night.

...

"Woof!"

A bark forced Abel's eyes to open. He immediately clutched the gun in his hand and aimed it at the source of the sound.

The dog was barking at something in the dark. Judging from the light around them, it was still night... But it would soon be morning.

"What's wrong?"

He asked the dog as he turned his AR Vision on. A hazy green light spread in front of his vision as the low-quality night-vision module of the device turned on.

He scanned the surrounding area and soon found the object the dog was barking at. It was a humanoid creature, hunched over as if trying to make itself small.

The night-vision couldn't confirm any other details.

"Another ghoul? But it seems too small to be a ghoul... A new type of mutation?"

He decided to prepare his rifle just in case and slowly edged towards the boundary of the UV light.

"Do I shoot it? No... I shouldn't."

Abel kept his weapon aimed at the creature but relaxed the finger placed on the trigger.

The creature seemed to be extremely fearful of the UV light surrounding the place.

"Woof! Woof!"

The dog still seemed nervous. Frowning, Abel brought his weapon down and patted the dog.

"Calm down..."

Just as he was about to pull his weapon back up, something moved incredibly fast in the corner of his eyes.

"Shit-"

He barely managed to hold up his weapon to block the attack. Immediately, a large crack appeared on his pulse rifle.

"Damn it! I was a fool to let my guard down!"

"[Noxus Blade]!"

Several blades made out of darkness surrounded the walker in an instant. Then as soon as they found the target, all of the blades rushed towards it.

The creature, which was thankfully humanoid, couldn't dodge the attack in time and suffered the full brunt of the system's attacks. The six blades pierced the vital spots of the creature without hesitation.

"Kaaaaahhhhh!"

With a shriek, the creature fell on its back and squirmed for a few moments before going stiff.

"Hah... Is it dead?"

As soon as he muttered that question, a cold voice echoed in his head.

[Destruction of target confirmed.]

[Target was 43% human.]

[Converting XP]

[User has received 1500 XP]

The system confirmed the kill on his behalf.

"Just what the hell is this?"

Abel, who had composed himself, stared at the corpse. The creature had two long horns jutting out from its head while its torso was pale and smooth. It wasn't wearing any clothes, but it also didn't have any private parts to speak of.

The whole body looked like a tight bodysuit made out of white skin.

"The system reacted... So it's definitely connected to the Abyss... But I've never seen any type of Abyss like this before. Don't tell me, a new type?"

He shuddered at the thought and quickly took a few pictures of the corpse using the AR vision. Then he uploaded it to the central server despite his unwillingness to do so. This would reveal his location to other Walkers... And not all of them were law-abiding people.

But if he wanted to categorize this creature quickly, he needed help from the central server.

Sighing, Abel thought about eating the heart of the creature for once but soon rejected the idea.

It was too risky to eat the heart of a creature he knew nothing about. Worst-case scenario, the energy inside the heart would crush his body from within.

"Let's just crush this."

With another deep sigh, the Walker brought his foot down on the creature's chest, crushing the heart. Blue blood oozed out of the wound and evaporated quickly. Soon, the entire body crumbled and disappeared into the air, as if it never existed in the first place.

"So it was really connected to the Abyss... Things are getting troublesome."

Abel's low growl didn't reach anyone's ears, but the dogs near his feet shuddered for some reason.