MEETING THE HOUNDS

"What just happened?" Saeko asked with her mouth open.

"Well, he got his first kill like every other time. I told you not to worry, didn't I?" Hina answered Saeko's question.

"I'll be back." Hina laughed and dashed away too.

The moment she got close to the group of undead, the first one had its head pierced by a red spear.

"She's good." Saeko confessed.

"I can't lose to him." Saeko smiled when she saw her cousin sending these things to the afterlife with relative ease.

Kohta felt left out since he was the only one using a gun. "Is this now a competition of melee monsters?" Too bad, Saeko had rushed off too.

Grrr.

A sound came from behind.

Bang!

Kohta stared at the undead that just got its head penetrated by a bullet. "Sorry, but I'm not the weakest on this team."

Another undead approached from behind but before it got close, its head got pierced by a bullet from Kohta's gun.

"Don't make me repeat myself. I'm actually the most dangerous in the team." Kohta smiled.

By the time Saeko arrived at Shiro's location, the group had been reduced by one-third.

Without speaking a word, she joined the killing spree and within five minutes, they had cleared the whole place.

"Woah, Shiro, I never expected this. I'm proud to know that you've trained your mental strength." Saeko hugged her cousin so tight that her huge chest pressed firmly against his.

"Uhm, I think that's enough… We should be more alert considering our situation right now." Shiro's face was red.

Hina's face was even redder, with rage but she didn't utter a word.

While Shiro was killing, he received a system notification but he immediately closed it to avoid distractions.

"Guys, gimme a few minutes to use any free toilet. I'll be back before you know it." Shiro excused himself.

He walked away into the building closest to him.

"System Panel." Shiro ordered and the blue panel popped up.

This time, it didn't contain his status as a player, but it was replaced by a notification from the system.

{You have leveled up. (Lvl 10)

You have received the title: Greatest Player. +3 on all stats, +20 free points, Inventory's size has doubled.

Bonus: +30 Exp when around other players.

You have met the required threshold to acquire a Job.

Select a Job to unlock your skill tree.

To select a Job, use the command "Job Offers".}

"Holy shit. That's a lot of perks. The best reward from the list has to be the double size of the inventory. I'll just have to stockpile items for now, pretty sure we'll leave here soon."

"The least useful has to be the percentage increase in Exp. It'll only be useful if I ever come in contact with other players which is highly unlikely. But it might be the greatest reward if I should come in contact with another player." Shiro went through the good and bad of the rewards.

Shiro spoke to himself, trying to assess the situation with other players. "Over fifty percent of the players should be dead, considering how I also ignored the system at first, ugh I was really dumb…" Now, he regretted ignoring the system in the first place.

He walked out of the building moments later.

"How'd it go?" Kohta asked.

"It was really shitty. I just discovered that my head had been full of shit…" Shiro and Kohta looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Kohta continued his talk with Shiro. "Honestly, I didn't believe you had it in you to kill so brutally until I saw it myself and I'm sure the same goes for you, Saeko, am I right?" Kohta asked Saeko.

With a nod, Saeko answered Kohta's question. "I always knew he was a better swordsman but his mental strength was greatly lacking. That's a thing of the past now. He's a killing machine right now."

Scratching his red hair and tapping his toes on the floor, Shiro spoke back to them. "Well, thank you both for the compliment, if that could count as a compliment from Saeko. It's not like I had an option though. I either had to kill or be killed."

"Well, that's not a major issue right now. We have to be prepared for the visitors." Shiro turned in one direction.

"I don't see anyone around." Kohta looked in the same direction.

"Is that true?" Saeko asked.

"Yes."

Saeko asked again. "Then, how do you manage to notice them before others do?"

"That's a secret." Shiro smiled.

'Well, truth is I raised my sense stat by almost fifty percent.' Shiro retained his smile as he thought in his head.

Saeko smiled back at Shiro and spoke. "I see, I won't ask if it's a secret. All I want is your safety. Be careful when they attack. Their…" before she could finish speaking, Shiro interrupted her.

"Their bites are infectious? Well, that's old news." Shiro chuckled.

"Yeah, I forgot you had witnessed others get bitten." Saeko laughed lightly.

"They're here." Shiro deeply sighed.

"Where?" Kohta asked when he didn't see anything even though Shiro had said they had arrived.

"Everywhere." Shiro replied to him.

"I don't see anyone or anything around us." Kohta replied with doubt.

"If Shiro says they're here, then, they're here. Don't sweat the details." Hina cut in. She was the one who had journeyed with Shiro since the start of all this so she knew he wasn't lying.

Shiro tapped Kohta's shoulder. "It's fine. Kohta, don't look around aimlessly. Lower your aim. These ones are not humans after all."

"Then what are they?" Saeko was the one to ask.

Shiro pulled out his red sword from its scabbard on his back. "Mutated dogs. I call them Undead Hounds. Be ready to die at the slightest mistake." Shiro warned again.

"They're just dogs that got bitten, aren't they?" Kohta aimed his gun at one of the dogs.

"You'll find out yourself." Hina replied.

*******************

Hi guys, I'm really sorry about the inconsistency of chapters for the past few days. I've been feeling down lately so please don't be mad.

To those who believe I'll drop the book, fear not. I'm seeing the book till the end.

Thank you all.