Log XI: Bandit Base

"[-------], what happens when people die?"

"I wonder what, Elma. I don't know, I haven't died yet."

"Silly. Of course you haven't... But I was just wondering..."

Ba bump.

"Don't wonder about such things. It's a waste of time."

"But don't you find it interesting, [-------]?"

Ba bump.

"D-don't come so close, Elma!"

"Haha, I can hear your heartbeat!"

The voices echoing inside his mind vanished, slowly becoming distant memories once again.

"Ugh..."

Abel opened his eyes barely.

[Warning. Health below 2%]

[Using Skill {Auto Heal}. Resetting level by minus two]

[In the next few hours, User's health will slowly increase to 50%]

[Further critical hits will result in instant death]

The system warned him in a cold voice as he looked around with his hazy vision.

"I... I didn't die..."

He found himself laying in a corner alongside some trash. As his vision cleared, he realized that he wasn't in the desert anymore.

"Some kind of base... ?"

That seemed more likely, judging from the surroundings. The walker slowly sat up and leaned against the wall.

"My wound, it stopped bleeding, huh. Damn system... It wouldn't even let me die."

The wound had already healed somewhat, and his thoughts were more or less clear. He felt a bit disoriented, otherwise his head seemed fine.

But the same couldn't be said for his vision. The bullet had gone through his right eye and pierced through the back.

He could only see through one eye, which made perceiving the depth of objects difficult. It would also affect his shooting abilities, that much was certain.

The walker felt irritated and grateful at the same time. He couldn't die just yet, but it also felt like a burden had fallen on his shoulders.

"I need to find the cargo and the bike..."

Muttering that, Abel stood up. Immediately, his vision turned hazy and his body fell to the ground.

"Ugh..."

A terrible pain rushed through his head and made him wince. Even so, he gritted his teeth and stood up once again, this time using the wall as a support to keep his body steady.

"This seems like the trash room... They don't know that I'm alive, huh. Judging from the door and the walls, it's an old building, so I probably won't need to worry about surveillance systems..."

Abel murmured while slowly making his way through the piles of garbage scattered around the room.

"Probably wanted to make sure no Abyss got hold of my appearance. Well, whatever."

Taking a deep breath, Abel pushed the main door of the room open. It opened without any issues, letting him into a long corridor.

The smell of rust and sweat filled the air. The base was somewhat quiet, with occasional cries and moans coming from the rooms lining up on both sides of the corridor.

"... Tsk. Do I really want to put my head into this mess..."

He wanted to just take the cargo and leave, but he also wanted to pay the bandits back a little.

"I guess if I can, I'll free those girls... And maybe wipe the bandits out too while I'm at it."

The walker whispered as he moved through the empty corridor. Soon, he arrived at a sort of balcony overlooking the large hall on the ground floor. It took him a moment to realize that he was on the second floor.

Inside the hall, he saw the leader of the bandits, alongside a masked man. They seemed to be having a heated conversation about something.

Crouching down beside a pillar, Abel tried to listen in.

"... I told you to not attack him, didn't I?!"

The masked man growled as the leader snickered.

"It's fine, right? He's dead."

"Doesn't matter! You could have just taken the cargo and left him be!"

"Come on, don't be unreasonable. He killed my men, Mr Jackal."

"I could care less about your lackeys! You went against your orders and made a mess!"

"I got the cargo, so nothing really changed. Now then, pay up."

"Bastard... Do you think I'll pay you after the mess you've caused?! The fact that I'm not reporting you to the church should make you feel satisfied enough! Give me my cargo!"

The masked man, Jackal, hissed and pulled out a gun from his pocket. Without hesitation, he aimed it at the leader.

"Woah, calm down. No need to get so angry. I'll give you the cargo."

"Now. Give it to me now!"

"Fine, fine. Bring it out, boys."

The bandit leader turned and commanded someone, not inside Abel's view. Soon, two more bandits came into his view. They were pushing a large trolley with the capsule on top of it.

"You... You tried to open it?"

"Just tried, couldn't get it to open. So don't worry."

"Fuck!"

The man rushed to the capsule and quickly checked the glass cover on top. There were some deep scratches on it, but no visible cracks through which they could peek through.

Relieved, the masked man sighed.

But the next moment...

"You let your guard down, bastard."

A gunshot rang through the building.

Jackal coughed up some blood and looked at his chest once before falling forward on the capsule.

His limp body slid off the capsule and fell to the ground a moment later.

"Take his terminal, try to hack in. I'll see if I can break into this carrier."

Grinning, the leader took the trolley from his goons and left the hall.

The two bandits quickly started rummaging through the corpse's clothes before pulling out several objects. Once that was done, they picked up the body and left the room via another door.

From the second floor, Abel watched this all unfold with a stiff face.

He stood up and looked around for a bit before heading towards the nearest room.

Putting his ears against the door, he tried to figure out the number of people.

"One... Two... No, three. Two males, one female."

The doorknob turned easily and the old door let him pass through.

The sound of moans and groans came into his ears once again.

"[Noxus Blade]."

Three dark blades appeared around him instead of the usual six, but this much was enough. From the shadows, he watched the two men and the woman for a few minutes before guiding his blades toward the men.

The bandits were fully naked, so the blades pierced their hearts without an issue. The woman, who was being abused up until now, looked at the two now-dead men in fear.

"I won't harm you."

Abel stepped out of the shadows and held up his hand. The woman, who seemed to be a slave, nodded while trembling. The walker quickly pulled out some clothes from the heaps of trash on the ground and threw them toward her. He then turned around and checked the drawers to find a weapon.

Thankfully, he found one pretty fast. It was an old handgun full of rust.

"The magazine only has six bullets... Well, better than nothing, I guess. Its internal parts are a bit rusted... But should work fine for now."

Muttering that, he picked up the gun and readied it. He also found a small knife, which he took as a secondary weapon. Once he made sure he hadn't missed anything, he looked at the woman again.

"Stay inside the room and lock the door. Don't open until you hear my voice."

"Y-yes, thank you."

The woman looked down and thanked him.

Giving her one final glance, the walker walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

...

"Fuck, how hard is this glass?!"

Abel heard the voice of the leader as soon as he reached the door of the room.

He peeked inside the room and saw the bandit leader standing in front of the capsule with a large hammer in his hand. Around him, several more powerful tools were scattered on the ground, all chipped or cracked to some extent.

"Damn it... I killed that bastard too... Tsk. Must I go to the church for this?"

He grumbled and dropped the hammer before walking toward the couch on the other side of the room.

"I'll think about it later. Maybe that canon will help..."

Muttering some more, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Or so it seemed.

So far, he hadn't seen any bandits guarding the base. Which was unusual to say the least.

Something inside his heart was warning him not to take any rash steps. But even if Abel ignored that warning, he didn't have any way to carry the cargo out right now.

"I'll need to get my bike first."

That was what Abel decided. He could try and kill the leader here, but the chances of him being able to do that without making any sound were slim.

So, the walker stepped back and moved through the base again.