Chapter 318 The ash cone of Puna Pau
So far, Easter Island had been a disappointment for Uriel in all aspects, but at least he knew he would still be able to see the Moais since they were too big to be stolen. The problem was that, even though the island was relatively small, walking around without a light source would end up in geting lost and wasting even more of his precious time.
Because of that, he broke into a grocery store with the intention of grabbing a gas lantern. It was a common item found in all stores in any megacity, but they were nowhere to be found in this particular grocery store, instead, there were quite a few different models of flashlights.
This acted as a piece of evidence that could point into two different directions. It could mean that either the town of Hanga Roa wasn't prepared against cryptids because there were none, or that the people were taken by surprise so fast they couldn't even react to the arrival.
The latter alternative was way worse than the former, but Uriel knew that wishful thinking amounted to nothing and only evidence mattered.
He grabbed a handful of flashlights and placed them in a cloth bag that Uriel recognized as a fairly common item used to buy bread by the locals. He then tied a bunch of cloth bags together and improvised a torch with cooking oil and a broomstick, fortunately for him there were no scarcity of lighters and he also grabbed a bunch of them.
Equipped with only a torch and a cloth bag, he ventured outside the city following the street signs that conveniently pointed towards the tourist hotspots.
The archaeologist inside him wanted to check all the archaeological sights and cultural remains available on the island, but he knew they were too many and his time was limited, which is why he had to prioritize those who were more likely to be the entrance to a dungeon.
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The closest and most important place was Puna Pau, Uriel couldn't remember what the name meant, but he knew it used to be a quarry where the inhabitants of Rapa Nui allegedly extracted the material needed to make the pukao, a type of stone hat built for some moais.
Uriel went uphill with the help of a flashlight, which not only allowed him to see his way but also gave him a sense of safety since it also meant that there were no cryptids nearby. Upon reaching the small crater he realized there was nothing of interest other than the particular red color of the stone.
"Is this it? It looked way bigger on the pictures!" Uriel let out with a disappointed expression on his face. He didn't know what he expected from a place that used to be a quarry, but the books made it sound way more interesting that the plain hole in the ground it actually was.
A place like that couldn't possibly be the entrance to a dungeon, but at least he was able to easily find the path he needed to follow to find the moais he was looking forward to seeing and rushed downhill following the trail excitedly.
"That bastard! I can't believe he stole them too!" Uriel voiced out loud. Stealing a few artifacts from the museum was something anyone could do, but stealing huge stone sculptures was an entirely different matter only someone with enough resources could pull and who else than Jon Hunter had any motives to steal cultural remains.
Uriel was convinced now that the only person in the world capable, or willing, to steal the moais had to be none other than Jon Hunter himself and he inwardly cursed over and over.
It also made sense that a holy rank hunter would be able to endure whatever it was that took his friends and the people of Hanga Roa, but if Jon truly was involved in what happened here it could mean that they were taken by the Mapple corporation.
On one hand, it wasn't so bad if something like that happened because it meant that they were safe, at least for the time being. But on the other, it meant that for whatever reason, they decided to leave him behind and he was now stranded on the island without any means to go back since he had no clue on how to operate the zeppelin.
Without any clues to go by or any moais to admire, Uriel decided to move forward to the next spot he wanted to visit. The problem with that was that it was located in the other corner of the island and while following the path was easy, all the signs were either in Rapa Nui or in Spanish and he was unsure whether he was even going in the right direction.
"This would be a great time for Nika to show off." Uriel sighed thining on the beautiful mexican woman that started as his bodyguard and now became his companion. Being alone was harsh for Uriel, but the hardest hit was not being able to even communicate with Nika.
At first, he found her ability to pop up from his shadow whenever she wished annoying to say the least, but after a while he got accustomed to it and now he found himself thinking that something was missing inside of him.
For a minute, Uriel pondered about whether or not to summon his Jaguar spirit. With the help of his trusted feline he would be able to travel to the other corner of the island way faster than on foot, but the true reason he wanted to summon it was to not feel so lonely.
However, he decided against it because the island wasn't that big and he deemed it to be a waste of flux energy, especially now that he didn't have any batteries with him and his flux reserve was limited.
Besides, moving faster would have been great if he knew what he was doing, but the only thing he could do for the time being was look for clues and he couldn't afford to miss any by being in a rush.