Dungeon Raider System

The message left by Dana left Uriel speechless for a few seconds. Coming from a mother and a wife, it could be seen as a sweet message, but Dana being the god of death it opened an absurd world of possibilities such as her killing Jon and threatening Uriel with suffering the same fate.

"Alright, guess we're on our own, then." Uriel shrugged and left the room, only to bump into the goddess of hunters herself, Artemis. Her slender body and sharp features took nothing from her beauty, but when added to the fact that she was a goddess it caused Uriel to feel as though he hit a wall.

"Not really, your mom asked me to stay behind and give you a hand." She said, trying to ignore the face Uriel made when looking at her flat chest.

"I don't need another maid, you can go," Uriel waved a hand and attempted to walk past her. "by the way, where is she?"

"No clue, she's weird like that." Nika came out of Uriel's shadow to answer his question, then popped back in.

"See? I have all the help I need."

"Are you refusing the offer of a goddess!? Do you have an idea about what kind of powers I have!? The kinds of blessings I can bestow? I've helped peasants become kings and kings to become emperors by the strength of their arms alone."

"Isn't that Athenea or something?" Uriel stroke his chin in a pensive manner, then continued. "all I know about you is that you gave Jon his powers, which considering I kicked his ass is not saying much. At least Thanatos could have kept us safe on our travels."

"I'll admit I'm not the strongest, but that makes no difference since gods aren't allowed to directly help mortals. I am the goddess of hunters, not of killers, which means I can help on any kind of hunt and right now, you're hunting a titan." Artemis said with renewed confidence after noticing the shift in Uriel's face.

"What titan?"

"I could tell you, but why should I help you?" Artemis looked the other way.

"Have it your way." Uriel let out and went straight to the bridge where Phlox steered the ship, Medusa tweeked the control panels and Miss Dragonfang pretended to be busy.

"At our current speed we should be arriving to Berlin anytime now." Phlox informed.

"Forget megacities, we need to land at the closest military facility to get rid of some unwanted passengers."

"Are we turning against the Mapple corp. now?" Medusa asked without much care, but the security division reacted by grabbing their weapons.

"Of course not, our collaboration with them will remain until it stops being profitable. You can say I had an epiphany of the sorts." Uriel replied.

Although Uriel didn't show it on his face, he was actually itching to ask Artemis for help, but he knew nothing was free and he didn't like getting into debt without knowing the price. Had Artemis asked for something in return it would have given Uriel some manner of assurance, especially since he already knew what she wanted.

She mentioned something needing her attention elsewhere and while it may have seemed like she just wanted to get away from Dana, Uriel soon deducted it was actually true. Not just that, he also arrived at the conclusion that whatever it was that she needed to do, must have been related to the campaign Mister Scofield mentioned the last time they spoke.

That meant that what Artemis wanted was to hitch a ride to America, but the only way to prove it was to threaten her with kicking her out.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want my help?" Artemis asked for confirmation when the zeppelin landed and the landing bay opened.

"Sure, stop wasting my time and leave."

"Your mother won't be pleased with this." She threatened refusing to take a step forward.

"Are you walking out on your own or will I need to kick you out?" Uriel asked.

"I'd like to see you try moving a god." Artemis said with complete confidence.

"Are you absolutely sure you won't move from that spot?" Uriel's eyes gleamed in blue as he channeled just enough flux to convey the message.

"Positive." Artemis defiantly crossed her arms.

"Good girl." Said Uriel before leaving the ship along with his crew.

"I can't believe she fell for that!" Nika laughed the moment they were inside the army base.

"Lieutenant Brown and Captain Atkins reporting for duty," Said Atkinson to the staff that greeted them. "I'd also like to register Sage as a captain."

Atkins turned to Uriel before leaving thanking him on behalf of the army, of the flag and also of his family whom they would have never seen again if not for his timely help. Brown, instead, gave him a tight hug letting him know how much she appreciated the comfort of the ship.

In her brief stay in the Pegasus she knew luxury for the first time in her life and she also became quite close to Nika as they both enjoyed a good beer. She promised to everyone that she would tag along some time in the future, though everybody knew it wasn't her call.

The irony of those who fought for the freedom of mankind not being free to do whatever they wished didn't miss Uriel and while he didn't love the army as a concept, he deeply respected their job and actually liked their discipline. It was precisely that why he didn't mind holding a military rank, though he was aware that the more he climbed the more likely he was to being drafted for a mission.

"That's a problem for another day." Uriel muttered before shooting a flare signalling Phlox to set off.

Just as she promised, Artemis remained on the same spot in the landing bay, though instead of the cocky grin of someone who just got their way she had a disgruntled expression on her face because the moment the zeppelin started moving she realized she had been tricked.

"Really? You just realized?" Miss Dragonfang asked in exaggerated shock. "I guess Dana isn't the only one who can boss you around."

Turning down Artemis help could have been considered a mistake and leaving her on the zeppelin a grave mistake, but to Uriel it was the only sensible thing to do. With just that move he made sure that Artemis would not spy on him as not even the senses of gods or titans was able to bypass the ship's orichalcum wiring that isolated the ship's content from the rest of the world. At the same time, he was now certain that his crew would be safe while he went to explore dungeons along with his friends. And to top it off, with his Jaguar and Babieca at their disposal, they didn't need the zeppelin to move across Germany to find the dungeon they were looking for.

"So, what should we expect?" Asked Uriel at the same time he dropped the clay figurine that depicted his jaguar.

"Teriantropes are likely to appear, other than that... I don't know." Luna said.

"That's as good an answer as you could have hoped for." Nika chuckled.

"It doesn't sit well with me to leave Artemis in the zeppelin." Medusa said as she helped Luna straddle on top of her horse before mounting behind her.

"You're more than welcome to call them back and join her." Uriel replied.

"No need to be snarky, I just worry about her."

"About someone you just met?" Uriel lifted a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Look at you guys, already fighting like cousins." Nika quickly slipped into Uriel's shadow right after throwing the metaphorical grenade, leaving both Medusa and Uriel to pale at the implications of what Nika just said.

Jon being Medusa's adoptive uncle and Uriel's biological father indeed made them cousins, though somehow none of them realized before Nika spoke.

"It doesn't have to make things awkward." Uriel said, already feeling things were starting to get awkward.

"Sure, nothing really changed." Said Medusa after realizing absolutely everything had changed.

Traversing Germany at a speed even higher to that of an all terrain vehicle did little to wash away the awkwardness, but at least it gave them time to ponder their respective thoughts on the matter without the need to make conversation.

They didn't have a map of any kind with them, only the list of coordinates where the dungeons were supposedly located, but that was more than enough for them as Uriel knew the general location of most historic places and by using mathematics Medusa was able to pinpoint their position by just looking at the stars at night or by the shadows cast by the sun at any given time.

It was akin to magic to those who didn't know the science behind it, but the same thing applied to many phenomena that people didn't care to learn about. But that didn't mean magic did not exist and they were reminded of that fact the moment they stepped inside the black forest.