Dungeon Raider System

In spites of knowing its true weakness, which was destroying the wooden casket that turned it into an immortal, killing the nosferatu turned out to be way more challenging than Uriel anticipated. While it was true that his rank wasn't on par with the nosferatu's horror level, Uriel had faced so many stronger enemies before he simply assumed he would be able to overpower it somehow.

But the difference in power between a monster level and an entity level cryptid was nothing compared to the difference between an entity and a horror level cryptid.

Luckily for Uriel, the nosferatu wasn't that combat oriented and its strength came from its ability to turn others into vampires or control them with its eyes, something that, safe for when he was taken by surprise, didn't affect him since he knew how to counter that thanks to his sparing matches with Medusa.

After consuming the horror level flux orb, Uriel finally noticed the aftermath of their fight. Some walls had collapsed and there were several holes in the ground and ceiling, but precisely thanks to that he was able to find the nest's food stash. Several people were tied and connected to blood bags and there were also several refrigerators and boxes with the fallen corporation brand.

It was clear that some of the stored blood came from the hospital.

Now that there were no cryptids nearby, Uriel was able to record the whole thing. He rescued the people and made sure to point the camera towards the coolers. There was already enough proof of the Fallen corp. misdoings in the USB provided by Mark, but Uriel decided to make a Vlog to introduce reveal the truth to the citizens.

Those who survived were traumatized beyond words and even after being set free remained silent, something Uriel appreciated since they needed to go back through the sewers and a bunch of people crying would draw too much attention. Uriel provided them with cup noodles he pretended to take from his backpack and let them on their own while he went back to the nosferatu's chamber.

Although he only caught a glimpse of it, Uriel didn't forget the existence of the treasure for a second. He expected all sorts of marvelous artifacts of cultural and monetary value, though what he found didn't match his expectations. Sure, the room was richly decorated and everything looked extremely pricey when put together.

But after taking down the paintings and the tapestries to use the latter as an improvised loot bag, he realized the decorations were nothing but trinkets. Some brass chandeliers, copper cups and a few gold coins that barely made the trouble of going back worth it.

Just as he was about to return, he noticed that the maid who was bitten in the neck was still alive. Her breathing was faint and without help, the brittle light of her life would soon come to an end.

Uriel pondered about whether or not to rescue her for a few moments. His past experience with the other maid left a dent in Uriel's ability to trust strangers and what convinced him to rescue her was asking himself what would his friends do.

Nika would probably save her to get a reward, Medusa would save her because 'it was the right thing to do' and even Luna would do it because she was a medic and needed the practice.

"Don't make me regret this..." Uriel muttered as he dressed the maid's neck with a bandage and gave her some of his energy drink to keep her hydrated.

"Thank you." The maid said in a whisper taking Uriel aback who didn't expect her to regain consciousness so quickly.

'She's a heavenly rank too it seems.' Uriel inwardly thought.

"He's dead, isn't he?" The maid asked after realizing Uriel was already ransacking the place and he nodded in reply. "Then, don't forget to check beneath its box. That's where it kept the most valuable things."

Uriel was already holding the maid on his arms, but after she revealed the place where the true treasure was located Uriel felt like hugging her and after delicately placing her in the ground Uriel darted back to the chamber, removed the ashes and dirt, and found the vampire's stash. It ranged from contemporary credits to ancient coins Uriel immediately recognized to be from all over Europe.

But coins weren't the only thing he found, there were all sorts of beautifully cut jewels, though knowing about their period was impossible since most of them didn't have any markings.

Judging by how the stash was set, it seemed like an emergency fund rather than a hoarder's treasure. There were no artifacts or antiques, it was just money from different eras and valuables, which made Uriel admire the nosferatu's intelligence.

It meant that the cryptid not only existed in the same time as people did, it also meant that the nosferatu interacted with human society. With enough money, even an unsightly cryptid like the nosferatu should have been able to buy a safe place to dwell and an endless supply of victims.

There were another factors that supported Uriel's theory that vampires mingled with human society during the medieval age. Without electricity, people had no way of telling whether they were in front of a cryptid or a really ugly person. The nosferatu lit the whole place with candles and it somehow was able to turn them off at a distance.

If anything, the only thing that countered the idea of vampires living within humans was that without hunters to oppose them, cryptids would have been able to take over the world with ease.

Thinking that Uriel was troubled for not being able to carry all the treasure himself, the maid offered her help. She was just recovering from a wound that could have costed her her life, but she was a tough hunter before getting captured and didn't want to remain idle, so she began packing everything in the bag.

"That's mine." Uriel hissed.

"Yes." The maid replied and continued packing everything under Uriel's amused gaze. He was just getting to know her, but her attitude, silent demeanor and respect for his belongings already made him like her.

"What's your name?"

"I don't remember." She then fell silent until everything was packed and they went back to the hatch, the passage and then the chamber where the captives awaited.

Although the building was completely free of any sort of cryptid, that wasn't the case for the sewers and since Uriel was the only body able hunter, all the fighting fell upon his shoulders. He should have been tired by that point, but thanks to the red thread of fate he had no issues taking down any cryptids that came their way by either stabbing them or shooting.

Uriel kept his eyes on the ceiling looking for the sewer manhole cover and he wasn't paying any attention to the ground, which caused him to stumble on a soft object he recognized to be the maid he chose before. Her clothes were torn and she had many shallow wounds caused by beast rank rats, but when Uriel crouched to pick her up, her body dismantled into several pieces.

It was one of the most grotesque things Uriel ever experienced, but none of those present reacted in any way. It was as though their emotions had been numbed to a point where they didn't care about anything unless it happened to them.

That, however, wasn't Uriel's case. His interactions with her were brief, but just an hour before she was alive and fighting for her life however she could, only to become a pile of remains in a sewer that would end up feeding the rats.

There was nothing to remember her by and not even her clothes were truly hers, she simply died in a meaningless way while running away without even leaving her name behind.

Her demise caused a great impact on Uriel, not just because he met her before. In fact, he didn't even like her. The reason why it hit him so bad was that, not too long ago, he would have made the same decisions as her and it got him to realize it could have been him.

Only two things gave his life meaning: his studies in archaeology and his friends. The former would only matter if he managed to confirm his theories and share them with the scientific community. His friends, on the other hand, were the closest thing Uriel had to a family, but after what happened with Sam Uriel realized he needed something else, he needed a family.

So long did he dream about becoming a powerful hunter and acquiring riches, but in the ends all of his dreams finished with him reuniting with his parents. They would hug him with tears and tell him they searched everywhere for him, other times they told him they thought he was dead or any sort of excuse to not contact him since his childhood.

After single-handedly killing a horror level cryptid he realized he was already stronger than he ever dreamed, he was also richer that he thought possible and there was nothing stopping him from finding what happened to his parents.

Or so he thought, until he climbed through the first exit he found and saw he was surrounded by hunters and soldiers, pointing their guns directly at him.

"Uriel Sage, you are now under arrest for treason."