Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 520: Party of two

After the downfall of the megacity, the happy hunting grounds became infested with all sorts of cryptids that took refuge in there. It should have made an excellent opportunity for strong hunters to prove themselves, but unfortunately most of those who set out to hunt in the third world met an untimely end.

This was really inconvenient, since the dungeon's emergency exit was located in that world which meant that going back to the lost city was a dangerous endeavor. The army and the Dungeon Raiders had found some shortcuts in their previous expeditions, but Uriel had no need for shortcuts. At least, not now Luna was by his side.

As soon as they stepped in the third world, they darted over the rainbow bridge ignoring all the pupae cryptids before they managed to turn into iron butterflies. They followed the same path they did the last time they were there, only they didn't need to explore the area to know exactly where did they need to go.

After all, Uriel had already cleared the dungeon and he knew the way towards the emergency exit by hand.

Everything, from the rainbow bridges to the concentric islands was familiar to them and they only stopped their race once they reached the gateway that performed as the emergency exit. Before crossing it, though, Uriel took a glance at the rainbow bridge Shaker took down which remained broken.

'I wish I could see her once more.' Uriel thought of the statue of Dearest one that was located in the inner most concentric island, but unfortunately to him it was impossible without a bridge.

"Uhm... this is weird." Luna said right after crossing the gate.

"What is it?" Uriel asked, scanning his surroundings unsure about what to expect, though the only thing he saw was the destroyed cathedral just as Jon left it last time with the sole difference that it was now covered in rich vegetation. Last time Uriel was there, Mister Scofield had gone to pick him up and he didn't pay much attention to the surroundings.

One thing he was certain of, though, was that there weren't any plants nearby.

"These plants, they're from the dungeon..." Luna muttered as she knelt down and only then did Uriel realize that something was off.

"Interesting, do you think they're coming out of the dungeon?"

"I can't be certain, but I'll take some samples just in case." Luna grabbed a few plastic bags and grabbed the samples she needed, but their surprises were far from over.

As soon as they stepped outside from what used to be the San Fernando Cathedral, they saw the massive amount of people waiting to get inside the dungeon. Most of them were camping in the streets, but others were taking shelter in the destroyed buildings.

It was a scene that reminded Uriel of the aftermath of the previous wars where the refugees waited helplessly for evacuation, only the scale was on a completely different level.

As bad as things seemed, Uriel knew their problems were far from over and the only chance to save them was to secure a steady food source. If food was scarce in the slums before the city collapsed, now that they didn't have any synthetic food factories it will only become worse.

"Do you think it's safe?" Uriel asked.

"No, they're open to cryptids and outlaw hunters, that's why they want to enter the dungeon." Luna replied.

"I wasn't asking about that, I meant to ask if you think it's safe for me to do 'that' with so many people around."

"Oh, I don't know. I've never seen 'that' before, so you should answer that question."

Uriel pondered for a few seconds about whether or not it was even worth giving it a shot, but he was too curious and wanted to confirm his theory no matter what. With this in mind, he rummaged through his backpack and picked up a couple monster rank flux orbs only to crush them in front of the cathedral.

The effects were immediate, as soon as the orbs were crushed the cathedral started reforming itself brick by brick. In just a couple minutes, most of the structure was repaired but the speed at which it happened decreased and Uriel was forced to crush a few more orbs for the process to finish.

"Wow..." Luna said in monotone, failing to convey how excited she truly was.

"I know," Uriel replied, quite proud of himself. "This confirms the theory that the ones who built the cathedral not only knew about the existence of the dungeon, but that at least they knew how to handle a part of the lost civilization technology."

"This is interesting indeed. Do you think it will work in the fort too?" Luna asked, though before Uriel had the chance to reply they were forced to leave the place as people started drawing near in curiosity.

"This should restore the protective barrier near the cathedral, I don't even know what the fort's ability is so I guess we'll have to find out some other day." Uriel said as he took a peek over his shoulder, noticing the many people gathering at the cathedral claiming it was a miracle, though the only ones who knew better were Luna and Uriel.

Because of the many people inhabiting the abandoned buildings, they didn't feel safe from the prying eyes until they exited the lost city of San Antonio. They walked through the same highway they followed during their very first incursion, passed down the same gas station where Uriel found his revolver and then walked over to the wilderness.

"It's been a while..." Luna muttered when they reached the same creek they visited after running away from the skinwalker during their first incursion. "Can we... uhmm..."

"Sure." Uriel nodded and followed Luna to the creek where they dipped their feet in the water.

It felt both refreshing and nostalgic and they lingered for half an hour. It had been a long time since she and Uriel had spent time alone and there was something she really needed to discuss with him. It was something that troubled her from the bottom of her heart and speaking in front of other people made it difficult for her.

"Uriel..." Luna then fell on her accustomed annoying silence and Uriel prompted her to speak while he mindlessly wiggled his toes in the water.

"Yes?"

"What are you hiding from us?" She looked him directly in the eye and despite her inexpressive face, Uriel felt the weight of her accusation.

"About what, exactly."

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"I did some testing and... there's no flux energy coming out from Nika's statue. It's just stone, no vitals, nothing... just... uhm... stone," She spoke taking care not to look Uriel in the eye.

It wasn't that she doubted him, but she could barely keep calm when speaking about Nika. "and you seem confident when you say she's alright... maybe too confident."

"Do you know why are we here?"

"Because the water feels nice." She replied, bare faced as usual.

"No, well, yes... but why did I agree to help your sister in the first place?"

"Uhm... yes, it's because you like her." Luna said unblinking.

"I don't even know how to respond to that. Listen, the only reason why I agreed to help your sister is because we have no choice. Our top priority right now is to secure the food supply and we'll worry about Nika later."

"I don't see how is that going to help Nika in any way." Luna said under her breath. She wasn't that good at communicating, but she really wanted to know if there was anything she could do to save Nika.

"Listen, Luna, I miss her too, but there's nothing we can do for Nika at the moment. You'll just have to trust I'm doing everything I can to help her."

They soon fell silent, though Luna felt much better after Uriel reassured her he was doing everything he could to help their friend. Losing Sam's friendship affected Luna more than words could describe, but what happened to Nika was even worse.

At least Luna knew that Sam was still alive, but day after day she had watched over Nika's statue in hopes that something changed. That she somehow would come back to life, but that never came to happen and she couldn't even move on since Uriel kept repeating over and over that Nika was going to be fine.

It troubled her, it unsettled her, but more than that, it made Luna feel like Uriel was keeping important information from her.

"We all have our secrets," Uriel said without breaking eye contact with Luna. "I still don't know what your trait is. It's obviously not lycanthropy since Cassandra is also a werewolf and her trait is completely unrelated to that." Uriel's words were followed by a silence so awkward it made him uncomfortable in spite of being used to being around the socially awkward Luna.

"About our mission... would you like to hear a story?" Luna muttered with a strange glint in her eye. Luna telling her story was one of the most memorable things of their first incursion and Uriel never forgot what happened after hearing it, which is why he replied without a hint of hesitation.

"Oh, heck no!"