Dungeon Raider System

"All I'm saying is, we could have stopped by to see Nessie." Luna said as she passed through the most colorful forest of wonders that would have left anyone speechless but her. Vegetation was of little interest to her compared to cryptids and although the forest looked like taken from a child's book, they were common species.

"Do you want to see Nessie get killed? Because the only reason I would search a cryptid is to kill it. Besides, we're short on time like always." Uriel said as he walked by Luna's shadowy horse. The jaguar spirit was particularly useful on a forest terrain, but its flux consumption was off the charts when compared to Luna's steed made it inconvenient unless he wanted to cover a long distance.

"I... I still think we should have gone to Scotland." Luna let out an exaggerated raspy sigh.

"I'm not saying I agree with Luna, but why this place?" Asked Medusa, also walking as she didn't trust any living being as a means of transportation.

"There are many reasons why I chose this place. First is the black seed Luna received that supposedly came from this very forest," Upon hearing this Luna suddenly lost all interest in Scotland as the possibility to capture more cryptids was far more alluring than just visiting them. "then, there's the thing about gods. There are all kinds of altars, temples and monuments to them around the world and I want to test something."

"And?" Medusa waved her hand in a forward motion to hear the rest.

"And what?"

"Don't even try to play the fool, we know you. There must be something valuable here." Medusa glared at him.

"Not valuable and not here, it's actually priceless and way up in the mountains," Uriel admitted. "but let's focus on this forest. Our first stop will be Badenweiler and we should be getting close. So keep your eyes peeled for a rock."

"You'll have to tell us more about what we're really doing here if you expect Luna to forget about Nessie and if you want me to help you find "a rock." Medusa scoffed.

"Sure. Apparently, the airhead goddess in our ship is Artemis. It is a Greek name, but around these places she was known under a different name. The romans called her Diana and I remember reading about an altar somewhere in Badenweiler."

"So, it's a rock with scribbles." Medusa nodded.

Uriel continued explaining history facts about the Greek and Romans of the old times and their relationship with the gods. In most cultures, gods were depicted as distant beings of ultimate power and ambition, but those two civilizations saw them as petty creatures similar of humans. The conversation went on with Luna mounted on Babieca and the others walking with ease through the so called Black forest that just happened to be the opposite as it was quite colorful which made them think it was an ironic name.

Due to the high flux that surrounded them they couldn't feel any flux signature and had no means to know that while Uriel carried on with his lengthy explanation about gods of old times and mythology, with Luna butting in from time to time to add a piece of lore here and there, Nika was fighting for her life.

The black forest held its mysteries no man ever uncovered and empowered by the atmospheric flux the true nature of the forest was revealed, but only for Nika who was able to move in the shadows where the real black forest was located.

For all its colors were nothing but a facade that prevented the hidden horrors of the night in the two dimensional world of the shadows, but when Nika noticed it was already too late.

She couldn't see what it was, but it felt as though a thorny vine had grasped her by the neck while other cryptids showed up to feast on her. She tried several times to climb out of Uriel's shadow, but the grasp of the vine was too strong and she couldn't so much as let out a cry for help.

Realizing she was on her own, she kicked away the unseen creatures of shadows that drew near while focusing on her trait to create shadow tendrils to use them the same as arms to try and release herself, but that failed again.

Being a heavenly rank hunter, Nika could hold her breath for a much longer time than regular humans making that fall second in the priority list when compared to the gnarly fangs sinking in deep into her legs.

Nika was soon swarmed by cryptids she could only feel through her shadow sense and while most of them were only of the beast rank, they seemed like creatures of the abyss that would frighten a seasoned warrior.

Nika, however, was not just a seasoned warrior but a fearless combatant that would not hesitate to put herself in the most tough situations behind enemy lines and while she was scared of most things supernatural, monsters were her daily bread.

She shifted the shape of the tendrils into a sharp blade which she strengthened by channeling a significant amount of flux and she used it to cut the shadowy vine that kept her in place. Now that she was free she could have called for help, but even if she did, no one but her would have been able to enter the shadows which meant she was completely on her own.

Fleeing was an option, but after getting hurt it became personal and she shifted the shape of her tendrils into spikes which she used to impale the lesser beasts all around her. Not content with that, she turned to chase after a night hag that not a minute before was drawing near but was now cowering away from the huntress who just proved not to be an easy meal.

Nika fought tirelessly for what seemed like hours, trying to keep her flux expenditure at a minimum assuming that Uriel was facing a similar situation outside the shadows as she didn't want to deplete his flux reserve. Eventually, all the cryptids that surrounded her were taken care of or ran away and she climbed out of the shadows, emerging with a victorious smile and bearing her wounds like medals earned in the battlefield.

Great was her surprise when she noticed they weren't fighting at all, but instead were having a nice meal by the fire.

"Beer, now." Nika extended her hand and received the much deserved reward for her struggles.

"You won't believe this, but we are in Artemis' forest. The actual goddess of hunters." Luna said, her monotone failing to convey her emotion.

"And we found the altar made to her by the romans!" Uriel butted in.

"It looks just like a rock, but it's actually an advanced piece of technology!" Medusa added.

Nika lingered for a few seconds in disbelief. After all she went through, fighting for her life against all sorts of creatures without any help only to return to a group of geeks wanting to share their uninteresting theories about stuff she didn't care about, she realized something.

The people in front of her were not her friends, they really were her family.

"Isn't that the goddess Uriel tricked into staying in our ship?" Nika said, pretending to be interested in what Luna had to say.

"Uhm... yes, but I like the one in the stories better." Luna replied.

"Never meet your heroes." Uriel added with a chuckle.

"And you said this 'rock' is technology? What does it do?" Nika tried hard to see the rock as anything else but a rock, yet failed because it was indeed just a rock.

"That is why we came here, to figure that out. Greeks and Romans usually offered sacrifices on altars to gain the favor of their gods. So I was thinking..."

"If you're thinking of human sacrifice, you should have first asked me to fetch a prisoner or something." Nika cut Uriel short.

"Of course not, that's way beyond what I consider ethical." Uriel shook his head.

"You said gods liked gold too, are you really going to give up something valuable?"

"I could use a trite, I guess... but no. Check this out." Uriel said as he grabbed a beer, popped the can open and poured it on the rock before reading the ancient latin inscribed on the rock.

"Not the beer!" Nika pouted.

"It was worth the try." Uriel said when nothing happened.

"What did you expect would happen?" Medusa asked while taking a close inspection at the rock.

"I don't know, I thought maybe she would appear from out of thin air or something."

"Did you try adding some flux?" Said Nika without putting much thought into it.

"You might be up to something." Uriel said as he grabbed Nika's figurine from his trait and poured a can of beer on the statue while channeling some flux. And when the last drop fell on the statue the beer can appeared on Nika's hand.