Golden Retriever

Humans weren't the only ones affected.

Rapid dogs the size of dire wolves had surrounded the duo.

Elijah who was relieved by Hikaru covering his back was holding a spear and a tower shield. The length of his spear demanded a certain radius-gap distance between the pack and them.

The spear was energy efficient as it used the momentum of the pouncing infected dog for its impalement. Elijah simply tossed the dog away from the spear for the next one or sometimes two or three would get kebab'ed as they tried to take advantage of the first sacrifice.

This strategy wouldn't be effective if it weren't for his abnormal strength for his small stature.

***

"Now you almost gained my trust, but I still have a question. If you're human, how are you able to fight like that?"

"Uhh, I trained a lot with many martial artists here in Japan. They taught me everything I know."

Hikaru knew that Elijah was hiding something. He wasn't lying but it seemed to be a half-truth.

***

Elijah maneuvered the spear fast and easy like it weighed the same as a prop weapon. It wasn't a problem when two dogs attacked him at the same time, he would go to the side for a moment and stick them both like meat to stick.

If it were more than he could handle with his speed, he simply used his 2-metre tower shield to knock them off.

As with dealing with the rats, Hikaru didn't struggle at all. He was too fast and too strong. All he did was wave his sword around and they would all be cut up.

He could see behind him too with his third eye so there was no problem. Although Elijah was behind him, he didn't let his guard down and closely observed Elijah instead. Elijah was either a snake or too incompetent to watch his back. Of course, he could be neither but Hikaru was cautious.

***

"That's awesome! But can you tell me what you're doing down here?"

"I heard that there were monsters down here, so I came to investigate and wipe them all out. What about you?"

"Me. I was forced to hide here after fighting someone... who was more than I could handle... But since I'm here now, I may as well wipe out the monsters here and recuperate."

"Someone stronger than you? Like whom was it?"

***

On the way, they had met other species besides the dogs such as cats, roaches, snakes and even worms. They had seen corpses of each of these species, but it wasn't of their doing. Most of them were eaten and rotten. There was a kind of ecosystem around here.

Hikaru had confirmed it when he absorbed their bodies. They had the same parasites.

Why were they so hostile to Hikaru? Was it because the hosts were different species?

The architect would have wanted a smooth takeover, so the operation was espionage. Any espionage requires intelligent plans which can only be best executed by a cohesive group. Hence, why the architect inserted a compliance or obedience gene to the parasite genome.

Since the architects did not wish for intraspecies competition within their invasion force, they would not have wanted interspecies competition either as this would be unproductive.

Why did the architect not fix the problem? They only seemed to have experimented and optimised the parasites for humans. Were they under time constraints? Financial difficulty? Did the architects not have the backing of a large organisation?

The infection of species other than humans was probably not intended.

Maybe the infected animals are wild because they lack intelligence unlike the dominant species on this planet. So why are all these animals here?

When people see a cockroach, they don't know how many things were living under their floorboards. When there is one, there's a good chance there's more of them, maybe even a hive.

People don't know how many animals live and traverse the sewers. The dogs either fall or get stuck in the sewers, manholes or oxidation ditches.

A few of them live there because they were looking for shelter while others were thrown away there.

Naturally, infected animals were drawn to the sewers for shelter and hunting ground. So, that increased the population of the sewers.

Other than the reasons the dogs have for being there, cats also live there.

There are some places where a constant meowing could be heard in downtown. Cats aren't stuck there. They could easily leave the sewer because of their agility. So, they want to live there.

With their low light vision, some cats find the sewers easier to navigate in. Some Samaritans pity the cats and leave food at the entrance of sewers, although that just exacerbates the issue by drawing more cats in.

With insects, it was natural to find them there. Snakes are cold-blooded and so don't appear that often in the sewers. They had only encountered a few giant ones.

They had also bumped into a cow... Hikaru didn't have an explanation for that. Perhaps the cow got lost from some owner.

There were a lot of dogs surrounding them. That means...

"Just like with the cats," Elijah said.

"Yes indeed, the pack leader..."

A paw stepped out of the shadows.

"has just stepped in."

A 6-foot dog greeted them from the shadows with a growl. Globs of saliva dripped from its mouth which created the illusion of rain. It was a simple build. There wasn't poison or anything. Just fangs, claws and gigantism.

It filled up almost the whole space in the sewer. There was no way anyone could dodge if it came.

It didn't move, it just glared at them.

"That thing is waiting for an opportunity."

"Uh! It looks like a golden retriever." Replied Elijah nonchalantly.

"Yes, it is. Does that remind you of home?"

"Not really, I'm surprised to see it here though."

Elijah seemed confident.

"You don't seem worried at all; you want a turn?"

"Yes please!"

"I'll handle the rear then."