Dungeon Raider System

"Stop what you're doing immediately and hand over the flux orbs." Uriel asserted leaving no doubt that he wasn't joking.

The young hunter who was still crouching in front of the flux orb he wanted to grab looked up and gazed at him with a confounded look on his face.

"But I killed it, the orb belongs to me." He said.

"Don't play dumb, we came to rescue you, it's only natural we get to keep the spoils."

The group reacted heavily to Uriel's claim, but once again Tina was there to appease them.

"Guys calm down, let me speak to him and I'll sort things out."

Tina grabbed Uriel's hand and pulled him to the side. Her slightly disheveled hair and her beautiful face were highlighted in the dim light of Uriel's gas lantern and, even though she as wearing armor she still looked graceful and elegant, but Uriel's gaze was fixed on the hunters picking up the flux orbs.

"Listen, Uri, I know how you feel, but you can't expect them to give up on the spoils. Most of our party is just poor students that need the money and this incursion isn't going great. We barely hunt a few cryptids and we even lost our leader, Phil."

"And how is any of that my problem? Besides, when Mark suggested we handed over our loot because you guys came to our 'rescue'," Uriel made air quotations. "which, by the way we didn't need, none of them had any issues. But now they're the ones who need to pay they're suddenly offended."

"I know it sounds unfair, but... please, would you do it for me? just this once."

Uriel found himself in the position most students dreamed about. Just speaking with Tina was considered an honor, but she asking a favor was something that would happen once in a blue moon and it was an opportunity no one could miss. And yet, Uriel was unfazed by both her charms and her important position.

"I refuse. Tell them to hand over the flux orbs or to prepare for the consequences."

The ones who were eavesdropping where in disbelief that someone could refuse a request from Tina Celes herself. Especially Uriel who was basically a no one and could greatly benefit from doing so.

"Please think about it. If you let them take the flux orbs we could join forces and you guys will be safe."

"I pass, just let us take the orbs and we'll be on our way." No matter what Tina said, Uriel didn't want to spend any more time around their party. If there was one thing Miss Dragonfang always insisted, it was that forming big groups during incursions was too dangerous.

Hunting cryptids was a very profitable business and it was relatively safe too. Evolved hunter would most likely only be targeted by beast rank cryptids, ascended hunters by monster rank cryptids and so on. The reason for that was that cryptids weren't keen on taking the risk and effort to go after unworthy prey, but big groups of hunters emitted an attractive signal most cryptids wouldn't ignore.

Despite that, Uriel didn't want to let go of the flux orbs. It wasn't even that they needed them, it was the principle. If Tina's party was fine with Mark demanding their loot even though they did nothing to deserve it, it was only fair they got paid for actually saving their lives.

Tina gathered her party and informed them that they couldn't keep the flux orbs and the crowd was outraged. To them, it was unfair to hand over the flux orbs they obtained by killing cryptids and were completely blind to the hypocrisy of their actions. Read new adventures at empire

"What a scumbag! I can't believe you went out with someone like that!" Mary scoffed.

"Call me whatever you like, but pay up."

"Uriel, you're acting weird." Medusa whispered into his ear, but Uriel shook his head. She thought he was acting only out of greed and the fact that the group was too large to be safe had gone over her head entirely.

Tina asked Mary to collect the orbs from her party and, in spite of her reluctance she still did as commanded. Even so, she dragged her feet and the easy task that should have taken but a few seconds took her a over a minute. In the end, though, she came with a paper bag filled with flux orbs.

"Are you trying to screw us over?" Uriel asked.

"O-of course not!" Mary replied.

"Sam?" Uriel made a silent question to which Sam shook his head.

"There were 32 beast rank flux orbs and 1 monster rank, the bag only contains 23 beast rank and that guy over there is keeping the monster rank one." Sam replied showing off the combined ability of his trait and eidetic memory.

"How could you possibly know that? you're lying! Tina, he's lying don't believe him." Mary exclaimed offended, but Tina directed her a scolding glare that sent shivers down her spine and she placed the missing orbs on the bag, she then collected the monster rank orb and placed it in the bag.

"Will you join us?" Tina asked for the last time, but Uriel refused again not realizing the time for making a decision had already passed.

Uriel felt a strong pressure coming from the distance, it was an odd feeling that somewhat reminded him of the time when he was being chased after by the nameless horrors. It was similar to an instinctive feeling he couldn't explain and he felt he was being observed in the distance.

Then, a myriad of screams was heard in the distance and after a short while it seemed as though an army came running towards them as all they could hear was the sound of footsteps and grunting. But Sam knew better.

"It's like the guy Medusa killed, dozens of them! about five blocks distance." He informed Uriel.

Luna's eyes widened and she started shivering.

"Get it together Luna, what are those things!?" Uriel grabbed the petite huntress by her shoulders.

"They're... vampires."