Dungeon Raider System

The colonels were appalled when they learned about Amy being the sole survivor of the first team to arrive on location, though not because of the loss of their soldiers which was far more common that they let the public know. The reason of their mood was that they had nothing to show for their losses which would look bad on paper which could result in being demoted.

That alone didn't sound so bad, but considering how colonels got to stay back and give orders why captains had to actually lead teams into combat was a game changer. They didn't mind participating in an operation against powerful creatures of insurmountable power as long as they didn't have to be the ones doing any fighting, which is also why they were comfortable in their positions as colonels since generals would also have to participate in battle.

"Second time arrived on location," Announced Mayhem who for a short period of time boasted the rank of brigadier general, but lost it after an incident that caused many losses to the army, the rangers and the city alike. "nothing to report." She uttered with evident sadness.

Contrary to most soldiers, she cared little about ranks and only cared about confrontation be it against cryptids, other hunters, gods or whatever in between. The thrill of combat had become her sole reason for existence and she would not have minded being demoted to a captain if that didn't mean she would have to follow orders from incompetent colonels.

"Third team, presence of a cryptid is confirmed. How shall we proceed?" Asked Tate through the cellphone. Just like Mayhem, Tate had decided to participate on the operation in person, not because he liked combat in any way but due to his sense of duty that compelled him to do the best for his men.

"Fall back, we don't have the time to deal with cryptids right now." Uriel commanded.

"Sir, people have died because of it." The ever dutiful Tate insisted.

"And likely more people will if you proceed." Uriel replied with a sigh, wishing Mister Scofield had appointed anybody else in command of the city. Soldiers like Tate or even Mayhem were valuable to the army in the sense that despite their difference in character, they still obeyed the military code. Uriel, on the other hand, would choose whether to engage or not based solely on what could he gain from it.

"A penny for your thoughts." Medusa said, concerned about Uriel becoming increasingly antsy and restless.

"I don't know, this all feels weird to me." He said, then extended his hand, but pennies did not exist anymore.

"Sorry, would you take a credit bill instead?" Medusa chuckled.

"I feel cheated," Uriel joked. "now you officially owe me a penny."

"Fourth team and this is... we're going to need backup." Said Alice who had been sent out with one of the teams due to her ability to use the powerful bow Uriel ended up gifting her.

"What is it? Is the presence of a god confirmed?" Asked Uriel.

"No, but... we didn't make it out of the stadium. We're in the locker rooms." Alice showed through the video call the state of the locker rooms where Li Lin's body, the leader of the electricity corporation's team in the tournament, lied lifeless along with that of her entire team.

"It's a shame, I liked her." Uriel let out.

"You don't sound surprised." Medusa asked.

"I already told you guys, this is not even a war. They're slaughtering people until they find people stupid enough to agree to being gifted a power they can not comprehend." Uriel sighed.

"Doesn't that sound familiar to someone?" Luna blurted out.

"Well, yes, and look how it ended for me." Uriel shrugged.

"I was talking about Sam," Luna muttered, then spoke after taking a close look at the screen. "it's a match for what we've seen before. Their bodies seem to have burst out from the inside out with no signs of regeneration whatsoever."

"Now that you mention Sam, any news from his team?" Asked Medusa.

"Not yet, I'll give him a call." The phone rung for a while, but eventually Sam answered the phone with a jagged breathing.

"Sixth team, presence of a god confirmed."

"Sending backup right now." Uriel looked at the terrified colonels who'd rather resign from the army than being dispatched, though Sam continued before Uriel could appoint someone.

"Actually, I have the device and I'll be bringing it to you right... now." Sam landed directly in front of the military tent that acted as a defense headquarters.

"Interesting, very interesting." Said Medusa as he looked at the laptop Sam held in his hands.

"Are you sure this is the device?" Uriel asked after failing to find any flux signature coming off from the device.

"I am absolutely certain, though I couldn't find any body nearby which is strange." Sam pointed out.

"How do you know this is it, then?" Uriel asked with growing suspicion.

"Because the case was about a player by the nickname of 'Bigballsben69' recording a challenge on a stream and while the stream was cut off before I could reach the location, the game is still open."

"It's also interesting how the device indicates it's being recharged, but it's not connected to electricity." Medusa pointed out.

"You do know we have wireless electricity now, right?"

"That is the most insulting thing you've ever said to me and I would be offended, but you don't seem to know how modern technology works at all." Medusa rebuked.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not like electronic devices just get charged, they need an adapter to adjust the frequency or else anytime we activated a battery, the only result we would get each time would be to get zapped in the face." Medusa explained. She did not know the reason why, but instead of being ashamed for his ignorance Uriel rushed in to give her a hug before disappearing to a seemingly random direction.

"That was odd." Sam said trying to wash off the awkwardness.

"Did he just abandon his position?" Butted in a colonel that was ignored just like Sam was because after a short pause to blush, Medusa placed the laptop on a table and started typing on the laptop until a black panel appeared.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, not because he couldn't see but because he did not understand what was happening.

"The most likely reason for the livestream to be cut is that the device lost its connection to the internet, but that doesn't stop the software from working. Right now we don't know how can this laptop recharge itself while lacking the necessary equipment to gather wireless electricity and there is no way to find out without tearing it apart, but in doing so we might lose critical information."

"I see, so you want to backup the data first." Sam nodded.

"Precisely, here it is," Said Medusa as she found the file of the recording, but then she found something even more astonishing. "this laptop doesn't have a USB port or anything to transfer data."

"But we can still watch the video locally and record it with a camera, correct?" Asked Emma.

"Sure." Medusa shrugged and proceeded to open the file which only contained a gameplay and the voice of the player, but not his face or anything they could use to identify his real identity.

Before the player even opened the game he gave a vague explanation much similar to that of the Mandy, the female streamer who jumped into the pool in the abandoned building. The challenge this time was to buy a copy of an old game, not a classic one though, but an obscure title that apparently was never popular to the point where not even the streamer knew what it was about.

This, of course, only made him more interested in playing the game, though the challenge did not end in just buying the game and playing it. He also needed to reach a certain place within the game and defeat a boss which was apparently pretty challenging.

"Here I go guys, wish me luck," He said after creating his character which then appeared inside a village. "I literally can not believe this, guys the graphics are out of this world. This is insane, I thought this was an old game but it's actually up to modern standards."

The streaming continued as the man learned the basics of the game and faced enemies which Luna recognized as creatures brought up directly from actual mythology, a fact that did not bode well for the streamer. However, it wasn't until past the first hour mark by which point most of those present had already lost their interest, that things started to get interesting.

The streamer started speaking nonsense and even the character itself acted erratically. His voice became a stutter that could barely be understood and then silence.

The game avatar that up until that moment had acted weird, went back to acting normally and it continued facing the enemies until a boss appeared, a creature with goat feet and horns but otherwise human looking. The boss wielded what looked like an agricultural tool and in a matter of seconds the fight and the game were over.

"I thought this guy was a pro, but that fight was lame." Sam scoffed.

"Oh really? Do you think you can do better?" Medusa challenged.

"Of course, just leave it to me." Sam cracked his knuckles before taking Medusa's place and launching the seemingly harmless game.