Dungeon Raider System

Medusa's expression stiffened at a half smile that remained painted on her face while Walter carried on with his explanation.

"The moment the Mapping project took place the existence of megastructures beneath ancient ruins was discovered. We were able to discover every single archaological remain as long as one stone remained on top of another, but our technology did not allow us to see what was inside them. That is where Jon Hunter comes into place, a young prodigy of archaeology that became humanity's first hunter. I hoped he would be able to enter these megastructures, but..."

"He turned out to be a drunk jerk barely competent enough to...." Uriel attempted to cut Walter short, but Walter continued after directing a severe glare at Uriel who fell silent out of instinct, survival instinct.

"He was not like that back then. He had a bright future ahead of him, but losing his family turned into the worst version of himself. He still blames himself for leaving his family to pursue the expedition that would end up triggering the arrival and, in turn, I blame myself. I knew about orichalcum, hybrids and some other legacy wisdom. Some I inherited and some I uncovered myself during my youth."

"So you did not lie about you being an archaeology enthusiast in the end." Uriel nodded. The fact that he felt a little better by his statement revealed to him that he unknowingly held a grudge against Walter for supposedly tricking him into believing he loved archaeology just as much as he did.

"I should have warned him, I should have, but in my defense the arrival had an effect on hybrids too, including your mother, Winnie. She had your own trait and decided to isolate herself for your safety and that of the people she loved. And of all the places she could have chosen, she chose one of the most problematic. You see, females from our family can walk in casually which is why we know more about than dungeon than we know of most others."

"Only females, huh," Uriel lingered for a few second as he tried to make sense of the new data. He casually skimmed through all the different archaeology remains, past cultures and even mythology until he realized the answer had always been in front of his eyes. "Medusa's cave! You really are descendants of Medusa."

"But you said it was just a myth!" Medusa rebuked.

"It makes too much sense, just think about it. The reason why only females inherit eyes like yours and why they are the only ones allowed to enter that cave is because of the curse."

"What curse!?" Medusa panicked for a second, then even more when it was Luna the one who answered.

"Medusa was a priestess who was abused by Poseidon and then cursed by Athenea. It is said that the goddess was envious of her beauty which was considered too great to destroy, so she found a loophole. She made it so that Medusa would remain as beautiful as she was, but whoever saw her would turn into stone." Luna said unfazed by the emotional load of the conversation.

"That's so unfair...."

"Just wait until you hear about that Prometheus guy," Uriel let out a chuckle, then continued. "Don't worry, Medusa. We will help you find your mother and if we stumble into Athenea, we'll make her pay for whatever pain she caused you."

"You talk about gods as if they're real, does this mean you know?"

"Oh, we know alright. We even gave one of them a run for his money." Nika cackled a malevolent laughter.

"That is impressive beyond what words can describe, but unfortunately, as of yet we have not found a way to kill them." Walter nodded approvingly then looked dejected.

"Aren't gods supposed to be good?" Medusa tilted her head.

"Oh, sweet child. They are the ones responsible for our suffering for generations. I lost my mother the same way you lost yours for no other reason than petty envy. How many other families like ours do you think are out there? That is precisely why we are sharing the location of most dungeons with the general population. Some artifacts are said to be powerful enough to slay a god and with so many of them around..."

"What do you mean so many!?" Uriel paled at the thought of another creature like Arausio roaming free in the wilderness, especially since due to his luck he would likely stumble upon them all.

"Yes, sightings of angels and gods have becoming more common with each passing day and we are worried if we don't do something about it, we might as well go extinct."

"Speaking of angels, what can you tell me about them?" Uriel attempted to sound casual, but his politeness alerted Walter that he had been in contact with them.

"Which one was it? Was it Atsa?"

"Yes." Uriel scratched the back of his head.

"Good, the rest are just pompous assholes," Walter chuckled. "don't worry too much about them. They're all cocky because a god blessed them, but they're forbidden to interfere directly with our affairs. How is my old friend doing these days?"

"He's dead." Luna replied causing an 'oh' response from Walter as the news seemingly hit him hard.

The conversation could have lasted for hours if not days as there were many topics they wanted to touch, but then Uriel realized the significance of something Walter casually mentioned and he couldn't keep himself from asking.

"Did you actually reveal the locations of dungeons?"

"Most of them, yes."

"Then we're joining the artifact hunt. If we want to rescue your mother, we'll need as many artifacts as we can get our hands into."

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible. This is a Mapple corp. operation and you can only participate if you're with the corps. If another company joins the hunt it would be akin to starting a war." Medusa said awkwardly.

"She's right, I'm a relic of the past and Winnie gave up on her rights to inherit the company in exchange for the corps letting you be. My idiot son in law will never allow your company to join."

"What if we joined the Mapple corp?" Uriel probed.

"But we would fly under another company's flag!?" Medusa blurted out in shock.

"So what? As long as we get to keep the artifacts we find, I don't really care. As long as it get us there, we'll do whatever needs to be done." Uriel finished with a clenched fist inwardly repeating the words that became his motto after he survived Chichén Itzá 'Pride is for the living'.