Dungeon Raider System

It was a quiet evening on the megacity of Madrid. People went on and about on their days minding their own business without a care for the world, a scene not uncommon in the vast territories claimed by the huge walls that pierced the sky. Those walls served well to protect and conceal the flux signature of all the citizens no matter their ranks or numbers thanks to the alloy wiring they used. Instead of channeling that energy, the walls would keep the energy sealed inside the city causing a synergic phenomenon that also helped hunters replenish their flux energy faster while inside. All of that amounted to a sense of safety that would rarely be broken, at least not during daytime.

But all that was bound to change on the fateful day when Nika showed up inside the security room of the south gate of the city of Madrid bearing news almost too horrible to believe. The fact that she seemingly appeared out of nowhere and almost causing a stroke to the unlucky guard whose shadow was used as a conduit.

"Open the gates and seal all the streets that lead to the Plaza de Toros." Nika commanded in a rush to which the guard responded in a defiant tone.

"And why the fuck would I do what a foreigner say?"

"Didn't you get the memo, you are supposed to help us in whatever we may need." Nika glared at the man who now pointed a handgun at her. It was an intermediate weapon that would at most cause some bruising, making it more of an insult than a threat.

"Whatever, suit yourselves. Just don't blame me when the gates fall." Nika shrugged prompting the man to become even more hostile.

"Is that a threat!?" He asked as he cocked his gun.

"No, it's not, but there's a pack of cryptids headed this way and we need to get them to the Plaza..." The man didn't let Nika finish her sentence and opened fire towards her and hitting her directly in between the eyes.

Due to the proximity, the bullet exploded into shrapnel but before the first shard could hit a wall Nika was already merged with the shadows. She then poked a single hand out the guard's shadow and fired a shot that went directly through his knee making it painful for him to turn back on his attacker, yet he did so anyways thanks to his professional training.

Unbeknownst to the short fused guard, Nika was already climbing out of yet another shadow and this time she delivered a neat headshot that pierced through the man's skull and into the computer behind him.

"You killed him..." The next in command let out in a gasp, then watched Nika disappear back into the shadows. The new officer had little time to ponder about the mishaps of his late senior officer as the earth began to tremble, only it was no earthquake but the result of hundreds of beast level cryptids headed their way.

With little time to think, the new officer's reaction was to push the red button which opened the gates, not at the usual slow pace of a reinforced alloy vault door but rather fast as though someone popped a can open.

Red lights sprung from out of nowhere inside the city, an albeit uncommon but well known sign of emergency, though never before had it been used for cryptids . It was usually reserved to warn about the weather as the city was prone to get flooded, but the same protocol served them well as the population was commanded to go back to their houses.

Those unlucky enough to be anywhere near their homes were forced to crowd whichever open business they found leaving only hunters in the streets where they usually helped with tasks only they could perform ranging from cleaning the sewers or lifting up flood walls with either their traits or sandbags.

In this occasion, though, the gate guards ran downtown informing everyone they could find that cryptids were on their way to the Plaza the Toros, begging those with earth manipulation traits or whoever who could summon a physical barrier of any kind to please secure the way while the rest of the hunters were ordered to standby on the rooftops to prevent the incoming cryptids from stranding.

The preparations were performed in a rush, but in such orderly way that it gave them enough time to watch Uriel drifting on the cracked asphalt that led to the city in what seemed to be a makeshift sled pulled by a a horse. Luna stood on top of the horse, holding the reins on one hand and the rope connected to Uriel's sled to make sure he remained at a distance that would allow the cryptids to pick up on his flux signature, yet far away from their reach.

"I didn't sign up for this!" Uriel angrily shouted, yet the smile that showed on his face was impossible to hide.

"But you were fine with this idea when you thought it was going to be Nika. If you were fine by using someone else playing bait, it's only fair to ask you to be the bait."

"Agreed," Uriel said with a smirk, then continued. "then next time it's going to be your turn."

Luna's face may have not been expressive, yet the color was drained from her cheeks as she realized she had just dug her own grave. She didn't mind being in close proximity with cryptids, but that only held true if she knew what she was dealing with and playing bait to an unknown creature was bound to be even more dangerous.

As soon as Babieca crossed the city's gate, Luna cancelled the summon of her steed and jumped on top of Uriel's makeshift sled that carried on with more or less the same speed thanks to the huge momentum it carried until it stopped directly in front of five rows of hunters pointing their weapons towards them.

Uriel and Luna looked up to the many weapons, assessing their chances of escaping alive from such conundrum but it turned out to be a useless worry as the hunters opened fire at the cryptids that followed them closely.

"Stop it, you morons." Uriel was the first to react by standing up, regretting it the moment the first bullet hit him.

"It took a lot of work to bring them here, let them pass." Luna pleaded, her innocent face completely ignored by the frenzied hunters that expected a hefty pay for the cryptids they managed to take down.

Hunters being allowed to keep the flux orbs of the cryptids they killed was common sense anywhere in the world, but for every cryptid that fell Uriel saw his revenue drop significantly and he wasn't going to stand by that and he summoned his jaguar spirit that silenced the heavy rounds being fired with a single roar.

"I said stop it." Uriel said with his normal tone of voice, yet the sudden silence allowed everyone to hear him. The hunters retreated back to the rooftops, some by climbing the emergency stairs while others jumped directly to the balconies.

Cries of horror and despair followed as the regular citizens weren't accustomed to seeing cryptids, let alone inside their city, but that moment was short lived as Uriel remained on ground level trying to herd them towards the plaza.

His movements were far from gracious, but he was nimble enough to make his dodging seem effortless and some daring hunters joined him while running towards the Plaza de Toros while shouting 'La corrida de toros'.

This soon became a chant and even some regular humans joined in, escaping from the grasp of death thanks to the help by the grace of the hunters who shooed the cryptids away with their firearms or directly killed them if there was no choice.

Thanks to the governor being in the know, he had already made preparations and summoned whoever wanted to watch the spectacle into the Plaza de Toros where the hunters thinned the cryptid numbers by spraying bullets like it was insecticide.

The previous chaotic choir of cries and prayers to a higher being switched into cheerful voices and chants, especially when the first citizens began acquiring their traits by virtue of being in close proximity to cryptids dying.

This prompted even more people to join in as they couldn't let their opportunity to acquire a trait for free pass turning what would be considered in most cities as a breach in their defenses into a proper celebration.

When night fell, they lit up torches around the Plaza and even lit up fires in the open area in the middle while the swarming cryptids took laps. Food and drinks were passed around as the most business inclined citizens made the most of the celebration that lasted the night and most of the next day.

"So what are you going to call them?" Uriel asked Luna who watched the show while munching on dry fruits.

"They are like dogs, but with hands and big as a bull..."

"Yeah, that's not what I asked..."

"Kobolds, in the lore they were antropomorphic creatures with dog heads." Luna explained prompting Uriel to take a closer look at the creatures that didn't look anything like a dog or a human, but he was fine with that. As long as he had a name to address those creatures, he didn't mind.