Dungeon Raider System

"Yeah, right. It's just the government trying to rouse panic among the people like always." Mandy said as she dismissed the the emergency alert that appeared on her cellphone. She liked to be told what to do the same as any other citizen, but unlike any other citizen she made a living through social media.

Her work was not affected by office hours and instead depended on the events that took place in megacities and there was no better megacity to be for someone like her than the megacity of New Texas and no better time to do her work than that particular day.

To be fair, due to their size alone any megacity could be considered an eventful place full of opportunities, but with the market was flooded with people who wanted to make a living out of their looks rather than skills only those who dared to go one step further could achieve success and Mandy was such a person.

"Keep recording, no matter what, Okay?" She said to her boyfriend who had the cellphone.

"Hey! This is Mandy!" The tone of her voice shifted into a cheerful one and she acted as though she just lost thirty IQ points, the trademark of most successful 'influencers'. Her actual trademark, though, was the effect her waving her hand to the camera had on her breasts, a move she learned from Holywood's most famous reporter, June. "I know y'all want to take your heads out of what happened at the tournament. I know, I know, I'm very upset too, but that is the reason why I want to focus on something else. I heard about this cool trend and I wanted to do it too."

Mandy walked around in the streets that were oddly quiet considering the time of the day and she looked side to side before taking her clothes off showcasing an amazingly fit and shapely body. A feat considering she was not a hunter and she earned it by keeping a very disciplined workout routine, an impossibly strict diet, or so she said. In reality, it was all done with surgery, not that it made any difference as her audience only cared about the results.

"I've been challenged to swim in this abandoned pool located in the slums near the walls. At first I didn't think I could do it because, you know, I don't like to get dirty, unless it's in bed if you know what I mean. No, but seriously, I thought the water would be nasty, but can you see it? It's crystal clear." She pointed her finger at the pool which indeed had clear waters and the camera man who also happened to be Mandy's boyfriend made a closeup, filming his own reflection by mistake.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He apologized.

"You fucking idiot, can't you do anything right!? Do you think they would watch my channel if they knew I had a boyfriend? Of course not, no one wants to see your ugly face. You know what, we should stream this live, maybe that will make our followers more invested in it. Just don't make mistakes this time." She scoffed, then put on her clothes back to start filming again from the start.

Had they looked on their own recording of the closeup, they would have noticed a small stone falling to the pool causing a strange phenomenon. A thin layer of something clear similar to a jelly rippled along with the water, but they did not see it nor will they ever.

"First team, arrived on the location twenty minutes after the video was posted, two casualties." Said Amy in the professional fashion she always used on duty, which heavily contrasted with her usual lighthearted attitude.

"Can you confirm the presence of any creature in the vicinity?" Uriel asked over the phone.

"There's nothing here, only two bodies."

"Show us." Luna appeared on the screen after pushing Uriel aside and after a solemn nod, Amy proceeded to show a 360° view of the scene. It was an abandoned school just like Mandy, the influencer had commented, the lighting was poor as it was to be expected from a building in the slums and there were clear signs of abandonment far before the city was destroyed.

"Can you retrieve the cellphone without getting wet?" Luna said as she watched Mandy's livestream on the internet.

"Negative, it's in the bottom of the pool." Amy passed a hand over the cellphone and Luna saw her in real time.

"Then you better leave the place." Uriel said.

"Didn't you say you needed to recover the cellphone to trace the challenge's origin?" Amy asked.

"It's not worth it. Still water is too dangerous." Uriel replied as he shook his head.

"Stagnant water is breeding grounds for bacteria and parasites." Luna added.

"It's just water, how bad can it be. I'm a huntress which means I can't get sick." Amy insisted.

"We can't ascertain that, not anymore. We're not talking about natural occurring phenomena anymore, it's the entities that rule over the very nature of things we're fighting against." Luna rebuked and Uriel finished the call, but not before issuing a last warning.

"We're in uncharted territory and it's best if we tread carefully, come back ASAP."

The moment the call ended, Amy noticed some kind of movement further inside the building thanks to her feline like ability to see in the dark. Her vision was not as impeccable as Sam's and she could also only see in shades of yellow and blue, but she was able to notice what the soldiers following her couldn't.

She moved at a speed only a heavenly rank hybrid could achieve, which was saying a lot. Not just that, her steps were so silent no one even heard her move across the halls of the abandoned school, not even the thing she pursued.

She passed through lockers, classrooms and a laboratory, eventually making her way towards the section of the building that had been reconverted into the wall that kept the city safe. Silent as a mouse, or rather a cat, Amy followed the thing that moved in the dark to a bathroom without it noticing.

"I got you!" She declared the moment she blocked the door, but once she looked inside there was nothing to see. Not a sound, not a shadow, not even after turning her gas lamp back on could she find any traces that anyone or anything even moved through there which was weird considering how she was certain she saw something.

She returned to the pool ready to command the men to head outside the building when she noticed the pungent smell of death prickling her nostrils. She shapeshifted into her feline form without hesitation and headed towards the pool where she had left the men, finding them already decomposing despite still being alive.

Instead of screaming in the agony they must have been experiencing, they barely managed to moan. How that came to happen in such a short period of time was beyond Amy, but her interest in finding out was nowhere near enough for her to stay and find out.

She made a run for it out of the building trying to not even breath as she darted across the abandoned hallways that had clearly seen better days and the she noticed it. What started as an itch on her arm became a red patch that felt moist to the touch. She went back into human form but the patch of red skin not only remained the same, it also extended to the size of a coin.

To her horror, the same smell that came out from the rotting soldiers started coming off from her too and she cried as she made one last call.

"We're all dead, I don't know what happened. Whatever killed the kids already killed the soldiers and I'm next." She cried to a stone faced Luna.

"Let me see." Luna asked as she leaned so close to the screen her nose almost touched the camera causing her image to be distorted.

"I'm going to die!" Amy said gushing tears.

"It appears to be growing at a fast pace, but I can't see it well. Can you step outside so I can see it better?"

"Are you not worried it's contagious." Asked Amy concerned about public health as she too was a field doctor.

"No, proceed." Luna said.

Amy did as she was asked, though rather than running she walked as if she was on the death row. With every passing second the red patch grew in size and intensity. The itch quickly became a pain and by the time she reached the exit, her flesh showed on several places. She though of the things she had done in the past, but especially of those she never did and she wondered what could her life had been if the city of Texas never fell.

"Please, tell Emma... tell her..." Amy sobbed.

"I'm right here, you moron. Also, you're completely fine." Emma said through the phone.

"Interesting, whatever affected you, it's anaerobic," Luna muttered to herself and started jotting down on her notebook while Amy was so shocked she couldn't utter a single word. "hurry up and bring me a sample. I think I know what we're dealing with."