Dungeon Raider System

The governor remained in complete silence as Uriel caught up with the Defenders to learn about their journey. given that the Defenders were looking for Medusa to ask her to build them a zeppelin, Uriel assumed that the fact they met could only mean that he was on the right track, but he was left disappointed when Hazel explained the actual reason why they were in Madrid.

"We heard that this megacity lost its holy rank hunter along with a good chunk of its hunters when they were attacked by an evil company."

"Evil? They probably had it coming." Uriel snorted.

"Apparently, they did. It seems the governor hired them to bring cryptids to their arena, but assumed it would be cheaper to pay the holy rank hunter to kill them rather than pay your company." Hazel nodded.

"Any last words,fatty?" Nika glared at the man who saw glimpses of his life passing in front of his eyes, but Hazel stood in front of him.

"Hold on, we said we won't kill you, but we won't let you kill him either." Hazel always carried a stern expression on her face which seemed way more dangerous than Nika's usual carefree attitude and goofy demeanor. Hazel was also taller making her look stronger than the sunkissed huntress which allowed a hint of hope to sneak into the governor's mind.

If Hazel was indeed stronger than Nika, her words meant that his life was saved. This line of tought was cut short when Nika used shadowblink and placed herself in front of the sweaty man, grabbing his throat with one hand and the peacemaker with the other.

"Why should we let him live? He fucked around, it's only fair he finds out." Uriel said.

"Tell them." Hazel nodded at the governor.

"I had no choice! We never expected them to be able to bring cryptids into the city, let alone a hundred of them. I tried to bargain with them and begged them to accept artifacts, but they refused saying they were just useless trinkets!" The governor croaked the last part when Uriel gestured Nika to silence him, which she did by pressing his throat just enough to keep him quiet.

"That's sad and all, but that could have been solved by acknowledging the debt and paying it in installments. Look, Hazel, I know you're trying to do the right thing. I understand a city needs both a governor and a holy rank hunter to function properly, but letting him live would be a mistake. What will stop him from trying to get revenge on us? He just hired you guys to kill us instead of trying to solve things."

"Your logic is sound and I know it's a lot to ask, but killing him would be the same as condemning this city. The reason why they don't have any funds in the first place is because there is a dungeon beneath the city and it's constantly disrupting their electronics and causing strange phenomena." Hazel barely finished the sentence when Uriel made up his mind.

"Why didn't you start with that?" He spoke with a malicious grin.

Later that same day, Uriel found himself directly in front of the subway station searching for the metropolitan line 1, though it wasn't easy to find among the convoluted lines that had been built to cope with the huge population of a megacity. Thankfully, Hazel had given them detailed instructions on how to get to the dungeon's entrance, along with all their batteries and then some more Uriel managed to extort out of the governor.

"Contrary to what we're used to, some cities in Europe are so ancient that their buildings are built on top of other buildings that sunk underground in time. Because of that, it wasn't unusual for people to find entire houses built directly beneath their homes, but that all came to an end when they dug everything out to build skyscraper." Uriel said once they were inside the train.

"Then how come a dungeon went completely unnoticed, then?" Nika was fuming, not only because she wasn't allowed to kill the governor but also because she didn't want to explore a new dungeon.

"It's not the same for subways. They were built underground to begin with and when a line gets closed they just seal it, but never cover it up or destroy it."

"It still doesn't explain how come they never found it." Nika grunted.

"But they did, eventually. There are several reports of ghost stations all over the world where unsuspecting people would take a train never to be seen again." Luna said somberly.

"Then someone must have lived to tell the tale." Nika rebuked.

"Or maybe, other people dropped them off at the station," Uriel pondered. "but that doesn't change the fact that there is a dungeon here." They walked out the wagon once the train reached the correct station and they had nothing else to do but wait.

According to Hazel, the dungeon's entrance was not a place but a train that would pass at random times causing all sorts of problems to the inhabitants of the city above them. This was the first time Uriel thought of a dungeon's entrance being located at some point in time rather than a physical location and he couldn't wait to explore it in detail.

The entire line 1 of the metropolitan subway had been sealed for general public and only hunters were allowed to get in, but on this occasion it was completely deserted. Probably because the citizens were resting after all the excitement caused by the event at the Plaza de Toros.

This, however, did not mean that the dungeon would be deserted too as there were many hunting parties inside at all times risking their lives to obtain artifacts to sell. Though that wasn't the reason why Uriel was so thrilled.

All the dungeons he had seen in the past came from ancient civilizations and they shared a resemblance with the neighboring cultures: The Alamo dungeon resembled a mix of Comanche, Apache, Sioux and other Native American tribes; The dungeon of Te pito te nua, or the bellybutton of the world, seemed like an extension of the Polynesian culture that surrounded it, the Rapa Nui; and of course therewas Chichén Itzá which fitted completely within the cultural boundaries of the Maya culture.

Just the thought of a dungeon resembling a train station opened so many different lines of investigation and possibilities that Uriel had lost interest in the pay he was supposed to get from the city, though that didn't stop him from forcing the governor to sign a contract.

The distant sound of metal against metal prompted them to become alert, though Luna looked at the chart and shook her head.

"This one is in the schedule, which means it's not likely the ghost train we're supposed to board."

"We could give it a try anyway." Nika shrugged in an attempt to hide that she was actually starting to feel afraid. The dim lights, the stale air and even the distant sound of the train made Nika feel uneasy, though it wasn't long until Uriel came up with an explanation.

"It actually doesn't matter if we take the train or not, we're already inside the dungeon." Uriel explained after getting a system notification that informed him so. Knowing for certain whenever he was inside a dungeon could be considered an unfair advantage, but it was one that rarely gave Uriel an edge against other hunting parties.

Without speaking another word, Uriel stepped inside the train and took a seat, followed closely by both Luna and Nika. They looked around trying to spot anything unusual, but albeit old, the wagon didn't seem strange in the slightest.

"Definitely the wrong one, there's even other passengers," Nika said after noticing a girl that kept her gaze low. The usual would have been to assume she was looking at her cellphone or maybe even reading, but a strange movement of her shoulders informed Nika she was sobbing. "poor thing, she probably had a rough breakup."

"Why don't you go and offer to comfort her?" Luna said, a mysteriously gentle idea that didn't bode well, yet Nika didn't notice and stood up to give solace to the supposedly heartbroken girl.

As she made her way across the wagon, Nika felt the tingling on the back of her head become like sharp needles. Then she felt the uncanny sensation she would get whenever she came by a flux signature and weirdly enough, also when someone stared at her butt.

Her first instinct was to turn around and she let out a relieved sigh when she was able to confirm Uriel was checking her out with a pensive hand posed on his chin and sharp eyes. Nika felt flattered at first, then horrified when Uriel's gaze drew a vertical line that crossed her entire body and above, as though he was looking at something directly behind her.