Dungeon Raider System

Although the city was preparing for the biggest incursion it had ever seen since the arrival, most citizens went about their life without even noticing.

Seeing rangers, soldiers and hunters rushing everywhere was not unusual, it happened so often they didn't even question it and only complained when it resulted in a traffic jam or a road block that prevented them from getting to their works on time.

Watching the city functioning like nothing happened in spites of the horrifying threat at their doors made Uriel wonder how many times had something like that happened before without him even noticing and it confirmed his theory that the reason why the government never informed the citizens about such matters was to keep order.

During his first incursion, he thought the government owed an explanation to their citizens and it was an immoral thing to keep everyone in the dark. But now he was in the know things were different.

Now he knew it didn't matter whether the people knew about the titan rank cryptid or not because those who could do something about it had already been informed and those without the power or the means to do anything would only fall into despair.

Even if the offensive failed, even if their city fell just like their neighboring city, it was better for them to die without the fathomless fear that a titan rank cryptid would produce.

For a quick second Uriel wished he was able to kill the titan and save the city, not because he loved the city or its inhabitants, but because he deemed the war against cryptids had already taken enough from humanity. Being folded within the city walls, unable to extract primary resources and the loss of a great portion of humanity's knowledge, made humans unable to live like they were supposed to.

In a sense, cities were nothing but food farms for cryptids and humans were just sun deprived cattle, fattened up with traits and flux energy until ripe for the taking.

Such thoughts kept Uriel busy on his way towards the north district, where he left someone precious to him. Someone he didn't consider his friend at first, but after the last events he had to admit that the jaguar spirit was his friend.

Their bond was so profound, they even understood each other's feelings and it saved his life time and time again. Just thinking on leaving it behind made Uriel's heart ache and he decided to go look for it, even if it meant he had to head towards the Alamo on foot.

As soon as Uriel stepped inside the sewers, he realized there was an unusual number of criptids taking refuge inside. Contrary to humans, cryptids possessed sharper senses and even beast rank monsters were able to feel the flux fluctuations caused by the distress on the hunters inside the city.

Even if they were unable to feel the presence of the titan rank cryptid, the chaos above made them they were in danger and abandoned the city like rats swimming out of a sinking ship.

The first few cryptids Uriel encountered were nothing to him, just lizard-like cryptids and other beast rank cryptids. Killing them was like taking a stroll in the park, with the bitter addition of the foul smell and the darkness. But then, the more he ventured inside the sewers, the more he felt something was off.

"How come I can feel the presence of most cryptids, but I can't sense the jaguar anymore?" Uriel asked himself, but he knew the answer lied solely on exploring the sewers.

Finding his way towards the vampire nest was made difficult by the sewers complexity, he felt as though he passed the same walls over and over in a never ending loop. The only thing he had to go by was the presence of cryptids nearby and he used them like a compass to traverse the filthy structure until he finally managed to go back where the entrance to the vampire nest was located.

The jaguar spirit was bound to be inside, though knowing the exact location was impossible and the only thing he could do was to explore it.

"Master?" The maid he managed to save, asked amazed to find her in that unlikely place.

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't have any memories from my past and the authorities are too busy to find my family, so I have nowhere else to go. If you're asking that, it means you didn't come here for me." She said looking dejected.

"Not really, I'm... looking for someone else." Uriel replied.

"There's a few people living here too. Can you tell me what he or she is like? Perhaps I can be of help."

"It's complicated," Uriel scratched the back of his head. "I'm looking for a cryptid." Contrary to Uriel's expectations, the woman didn't seem fazed by his revelation and looked curious rather than afraid.

"We have some of those too, but if you're looking for a specific cryptid, I'm afraid I won't be of much help because they don't dare come inside."

"Hang on a second. Are you telling me cryptids don't enter this place?"

"Not after master killed the nosferatu." The maid shrugged her shoulders.

"But that would mean there's a dungeon nearby... why else would there be a protective barrier?" Uriel muttered at the realization that maybe it wasn't that the jaguar disappeared, it was that it was unable to enter the dungeon by itself. He didn't know the inner workings of dungeons, but he already knew that any cryptid with a supply of flux energy should be able to create its own dungeon.

He'd seen it before with the bloody Mary and the mirror dungeon, but at the time he was unable to make anything of it and it was only when he found out the nosferatu lived among humans that he theorized it was trying to build its dungeon. After killing him, Uriel simply assumed the vampire had failed to create its dungeon and it didn't even cross his mind that it may have succeeded.

Without saying another word, Uriel rushed back to the entrance and confirmed the presence of a faint veil, but the membrane was so thin he could barely feel it. However, it was enough for him to confirm his theory and the only question that remained was the location of his jaguar friend.

"Did Master find what he was looking for?"

"Just call me Raider." Uriel replied after lingering for a few seconds. The name Sage didn't sound too well now that he knew Emma had the same last name and he wanted to avoid misunderstandings.

"Master Raider, do you want me to come with you?"

"Sure," Uriel shrugged his shoulders. "as long as you don't claim any loot for yourself."

"Agreed." The maid smiled faintly and followed Uriel across the sewers. Now that Uriel knew the jaguar spirit was actually unable to enter the dungeon, Uriel had to spread the search radius quite a lot, which wasn't really a problem since now he had someone to carry the flux orbs for him and he was able to fight without worrying about it.

The few monster rank cryptids they encountered were more troublesome than the beast rank, mostly because instead of relying on pure strength, they all possessed some annoying ability to block their way.

Among those, the most difficult were the spider-like cryptids even though they never even saw them. Their spiderwebs were stronger than steel, nothing a heavenly rank like Uriel couldn't deal with but it still delayed his movements.

"Judging by the state of the walls, it seems we're on the right track." Uriel said.

"I don't see anything." The maid replied.

"See this scratches? They're my friend's doing." Uriel pointed at the claw marks on the wall. Their size and depth were all he needed to know the cryptid's exact movements. Whenever it used a wall as a foothold, the jaguar would also pierce the stone with its claws deep enough to boost its movement, but it never left foot tracks unless it meant to lure an enemy.

"Master Raider's friend must be strong." The maid said after hiding his fist inside the claw mark to check it's depth.

"He is, It's strong enough it could beat the crap out of me without breaking a sweat, but he's such a good boy." Uriel's voice echoed and although he was unable to sense any flux energy, something told him they were getting close.

After cutting through the last part of the web with his pocket knife, a cracking noise on the ground let Uriel know they were in the right place.

"There you are!" He said after picking up the scattered clay shards lying next to a broken kangal collar, prompting the maid to do the same until Uriel finally felt the familiar sensation that allowed him to store whatever was left of the figurine inside his trait.

It wasn't until the shards disappeared that Uriel finally noticed they were in a battlefield that told the story of how the jaguar spirit faced a cryptid of untold power, answering the question as to why the count of horror cryptids defeated was two instead of one.