Trash in the Apocalypse

For the Destroyer, it's two-meter height wasn't a problem when entering doors. Its main problem was its two bulging arms slowing it down. Not in a sense of weight, but through interference.

Even though it had enough strength to destroy doorframes with ease, it still needs to focus enough force to achieve that. For low-rank Destroyers, casually bashing doorframes isn't possible. Also, it doesn't have enough brain cells to be able to think of entering sideways. And when it evolves to a higher rank, it doesn't even need to think of crouching since it can already wreck simple doorframes.

After widening the doorframe through brute force, the Destroyer entered the backroom and wildly searched for human presence. Storage boxes were tossed aside with every swing of its arms. Shelves were shoved to the ground after getting bumped slightly causing stocks of miscellaneous materials to scatter on the floor. 

Clang, clang!

"It's here!" Jerry exclaimed upon hearing the noises in the backroom.

The building the group entered was a two-story convenience store. Since they were clearing carriers even before they were caught by the Destroyer, there were only a few carriers inside the store and all of them were moving impaired. Some had leg muscles missing while others were missing a leg or two. They easily dealt with the stragglers who can't move and frenziedly looted the remaining items on display.

The store had half of the goods on display already looted. That either means there was a weak survivor group nearby, who can't clear the store or a few random survivors who passed by.

Nevertheless, getting more food would be better than nothing. 

They don't know about the unlimited fishing opportunities at Black Haven and Jun would never take the initiative to tell them. Jun doesn't know if the lake's resources would run out in the future and he doesn't want that to happen. 

"Okay, get into formation. Make sure to quickly kill it. We can't afford another mistake." Paul eagerly said. 

Yes, not being calm enough to shoot and kill the Destroyer was a mistake. Even then, it was still understandable. Caught in surprise, their bodies reacted late and there was nothing they could do when dust particles covered their line of sight. 

This only proves that they still have a lot of things to improve. Their senses and caution altogether. With this experience, future military explorations would become much stricter and safer.

"ROAR!"

The four elite military personnel took a fan-shaped formation making sure that they got each direction covered. Jerry stood in front of the president who was at the rear of the formation with his back against the wall.

When the Rank 1 Destroyer enters the room, its head would immediately be bombarded with a hailstorm of bullets. They only need a couple of lucky shots to enter through its eyes and it's their win.

Paul stabilized his breathing and waited in bated breathes. He was too focused on the door in front of him that he could barely hear the words Jerry was saying from behind.

Clash! Thud! Clang!

The next second, he could hear the wild rampaging of the Destroyer on the other side of the room, followed by soft rings like how iron strikes metal.

The continuous trembling of the room and the sound of things falling to the floor resounded repeatedly. It was as if the Destroyer was planning to overturn the plays to look for them.

'Was it this incompetent?'

From Paul's experience, Destroyers would search non-stop for its prey once cornered, However, this was the first time that they managed to shake off their chaser, and hide in the room. 

'But that should be impossible. That room only had limited space. It should be coming here anytime soon.'

Paul didn't lower his guard not wanting to make the same mistake from before. However, the backroom suddenly turned quiet after a strange thud as if a body fell to the ground.

He then felt a hand touching his shoulders and that's the only time he loosened up, finally exiting his focused zone. 

He turned and saw Jerry staring on the streets with a complicated expression on his face.

Through the glass window of the convenience store, six people stared at a sea of people casually killing wave after wave of carriers. They were armed like medieval soldiers with swords and shields, accompanied with matching chest armor.

On further observation, they noticed that these people were organized and were actually working in small groups of ten. There seemed to be one leader giving instructions per group and the members instinctively follow as if they have already done this hundred of times.

These carriers were attracted by the bickering between the Hunter and the Destroyer. By the time they arrived at the place, they saw a horde of prey charging at them. What they didn't know was they were actually the prey instead of the predator.

A few clashes later, the streets became tranquil with only "Clear!" reverberating.

When these armed mob turned and faced the convenience store, Jerry tried to hide the president behind him while Paul and his brothers raised their rifles.

Although it looks like these people helped them, they have no reason to back it up. This group could possibly a strong bandit group reigning in this area, and they happened to trespass their territory.

"I am Major General Paul Celestine of the Philippine Army. May I inquire who are you people?"

Paul didn't know whether his voice was low or the people were ignoring him. Seconds later, an answer came from the adjacent room.

"I can answer that."

Creak... 

The backroom door slowly opened and spat a young man with bloodied hands. He wore leather armor and has iron-studded leather bracers on his arms.

"We are Black Haven. I am King, Director of the First Army. We are looking for the president. He's still alive, right?"

Paul frowned upon hearing King. Although he knew certain news about Black Haven, he only had outdated news of them. Back then, it was still a motley crowd of survivors trying their best to survive. Well, it was information that came from Corwin, so he shouldn't have trusted it.