Dungeon Raider System

Magellan watched from the outside, unaware of the horrifying sight Uriel had from inside the dungeon. From his side of the dungeon the groove was empty and although Uriel remained in their line of sight he didn't answer when they called for him which prompted the already impatient explorer to make the mistake of sending a few hunters after Uriel.

The moment the hunters stepped in they were greeted by the same stone monstrosities, their red glimmering eyes scanned them just like they did Uriel not a minute before but the result was completely different. Instead of going back into the ground the things remained in place and while they made no movement whatsoever, the hunters dropped dead on the spot.

"That was uncalled for." Luna commented, not out of pity or because she saw any value on the lives of strangers, but rather because the loss of workforce.

While the Dungeon Raiders were technically the ones in captivity, they were the ones benefiting the most out of the situation as they didn't need to risk any of their crew members while still having assistants, but Magellan remained in the dark about this fact.

Making enough hoods for all the hunters took a while due to their numbers and their limited sewing kits. In the meantime Uriel hid under a large tree from unknown enemies while he patiently waited for the rest of the exploration to catch up.

Upon entering the dungeon and after being scanned, the hunters were finally able to see the same view Uriel had been all that time.

"Let me see," Medusa asked and Nika appeared out of nowhere to remove her blindfold and without giving time to her captors to react Medusa walked straight to the stone sculptures everyone assumed were cryptids, yet it took her but a glimpse to know otherwise. "these are automated traps, anything that resembles a human will get killed."

"How?" Asked Magellan.

"That has many answers. How does it work? There must be a pressure plate beneath the entrance that activates the mechanism that pushes the statues above ground level. How does it kill it's easier, it's the gemstones on their eyes. I think they turn flux energy into gamma rays." Medusa replied.

"How do you know!?"

"Oh, they don't emit even the slightest flux signature. Everything emits flux energy, not just living organisms. Even rocks have a small energy signature. The only things that don't emit any flux energy are those that are so efficient with their energy expenditure none of it leaks out." She explained, though knowing that was only possible for her thanks to the keen flux energy sensitivity she honed through months of wearing a blindfold. "by the way, I don't think it's safe to show our faces anywhere inside the dungeon. I have a feeling there are more traps like this one all over the place."

"What do you think?" Asked Uriel to Luna after joining the group.

"It's just as I suspected. Leprechauns are allowed to enter because of their deformities. About the rest of the cryptids in this place, they're all hostile to each other except leprechauns. That means we will get attacked on sight even if we wear masks."

Needless to say, this fed onto Uriel's suspicions that the entire dungeon had been designed to extract gold from the outside. The entire cryptid hierarchy present along with the structure itself allowed leprechauns to perform their task as Uriel understood that faeries keeping them fed and safe could not be a coincidence.

"We should tread carefully, there is a god inside this place." Uriel cryptically said before doing the exact opposite as he ran to the closest cryptid he saw, something that looked to be a tree in the shape of an old woman. It was a kind of cryptid Uriel had encountered before which is why he knew their shadowy hands had an incredible grip strength and could change in size. Last time he encountered them he was almost crushed to death, but now he took it down with but a single kick to the head. Monsters made of shadow, others of mist, they all collapsed under Uriel's lightning fast strikes made only possible thanks to his Dash skill.

Magellan gaped at the sight of Uriel as it reminded him of Nika's speed, though instead of blinking from the shadows Uriel used the momentum he gained by striking one opponent to leap over to the next.

With their cover blown, cryptids from all over the place now locked their eyes on the expeditionary party and the hunters opened fire at the creatures as they walked, slowly gaining terrain over the haunted groove that opened as they moved.

Thanks to the orange trees they had no need for gas lanterns, though they kept them alight all the same and the shadows they projected on the ground resembled the cryptids so much, many of the hunters present opened fire at the empty air.

Their progress was slow, but incredibly profitable as each cryptid they took down turned out to be of the monster level. It was highly unusual, but it explained why they didn't cooperate with each other as beast level cryptids would.

"This is the happiest day of my life," Luna said in a monotone as she marveled at the sights that opened in front of her. Incapable of rolling the wheelchair and jotting down the many groundbreaking discoveries she made, she turned to a the closest Mapple corporation employee and said. "make yourself useful."

"I'm fighting here." The man breathed heavily, his chest heaving up and down as he recharged his railgun with a tier 3 battery that was already half depleted.

"Take a look around." Luna insisted and the hunter finally understood what she meant.

It took around five hunters firing at a cryptid for ten seconds straight to take down a single cryptid and it the same span Uriel had already taken down two of them by himself. There were other hunters with traits fit for combat that were also faring pretty well against the cryptids, like the woman who carried the suitcase filled with religious artifacts, but that only made the poor hunter feel even more insignificant.

"Fine." The hunter sighed and proceeded to push Luna's wheelchair, leaving her hands free to write down all she wanted.

Although the Dungeon Raiders did not speak to each other about their plan, they each performed their task as though they had rehearsed them. Uriel attacked a cryptid while looking for his next target, Medusa used martial arts to deviate cryptids towards him as she didn't want to use her trait because it wasted the precious flux orbs and Nika picked up the orbs before they even touched the ground. All while moving closer to the tallest building hoping to find what they were looking for there.

"Lady in a white dress, that's a banshee." Luna, who also performed her task to perfection warned.

"That's not a banshee, it's a bloody mary. I've encountered them before." Uriel made a quick pause to argue with Luna.

"Are you guys blind or what? That's obviously a la llorona." Nika butted in.

"Some cryptids may look similar to each other, but their geographical location and context makes telling them apart easy. Bloody mary is a woman who was cheated on and murdered, la llorona is a woman who lost her infant child and the banshee is the screaming embodiment of a mourning widow." Luna explained.

"I want to tear them apart, not categorize them by species." Uriel directed a mean glare to Luna when he realized that she was having fun, but it lasted until he realized he was also having fun and the same applied to Nika and Medusa.

While most Mapple corporation employees fought hard for their lives, the Dungeon Raiders had the luxury of time to argue which brought a nostalgic feeling. After all, their relationship wasn't that of a boss with his employees or even friends, they considered themselves to be family.

"Grab this." Uriel said as he threw a large pack with noise cancelling earbuds. Earplugs would have done the trick just fine, but Uriel didn't waste the opportunity to share the music he was playing.

"I like this song!" Medusa said bobbing her head to the rythm of an old rock classic.

"I can share the playlist with you once we get access to internet." Uriel replied before taking impulse and launching himself across the field to strike at the unsuspecting lady in a white dress. The Red thread of fate was lunged in her back and she craned her neck up before letting out the shrillest sound they had ever heard.

It carried both high frequency sounds which upset Luna and low frequency sounds that upset the rest causing a sense of dread and loss they could not fight against. They each felt as though something valuable had been taken from them and just holding the tears was difficult.

"Definitely a banshee." Uriel said, though no one could hear him thanks to the earbuds which also diminished the effect allowing the Dungeon Raiders to not waste a second in a daze and just carried on while Uriel waited for the crimson dagger to finish draining the life out of the Banshee.