Dungeon Raider System

In spites of Uriel's efforts, his attacks caused no damage even in the presumed weak spots he found in the shell. The orichalcum dagger caused sparks even when hitting bare muscle and although the dagger didn't break, it also didn't cause any damage.

"Is this what 100% attack and 0% damage looks like?" Nika muttered, the only reason she was not laughing was that Uriel's life was on a scale rigged against him and inside her body, she could feel how Uriel's flux reserves grew dimmer by the second.

Luna's face was inexpressive as though it had been carved on granite, but her inner turmoil was noticeable in the way her eyes shifted nervously and her refusal to so much as blink fearing she could miss Uriel's demise.

"Why couldn't you let me do this for you? It was my last wish to die for my friends." Luna muttered.

"Didn't you hear what Uriel said? You're not dying, quit being melodramatic." Nika replied at the same time the godly beast moved uncomfortably to shake its attacker off the same way a person would shake off a spider, but Uriel remained tethered to the beast with all his might despite the violent rattling.

"I'm not being dramatic, Nika. It was the only way to ensure that my research would see the light of day sometime in the future. I'm weak, bleeding out from every orifice, I have a fever and no matter if I force myself to eat or drink I remain thirsty and hungry and everything hurts. These are all symptoms of the latest stage of radiation poisoning. Rad blockers could have helped before, but now the damage has been done. Ending my life to save the people I love would have been a kindness and you took it away from me without my consent." Luna said as tears welled up on her eyes.

"You are not dying," Nika said at the exact time Uriel's flux reserve was almost depleted. His magnum revolver had stopped working as he didn't have enough flux to charge his bullets and he figured that without flux energy, bullets would simply bounce off. His arm was tired and he could barely wield the dagger anymore, yet he continued striking at the beast from different angles until he eventually became tired and took a pause to gather his breath. "you are evolving." Nika spoke as she felt Uriel's flux signature had become the dimmest it had ever been. It was usually the sign of a hunter's last moments before death but for some reason Luna couldn't fathom, Nika held a confident smile.

"Evolving?" Luna echoed, her eyes widening in astonishment when Uriel dropped the glistening coat that protected him from the holy presence of the ancient god. Without the protective flux layer Uriel's skin started peeling off like a dry potato leaving his exposed muscles naked to the noxious environmental flux.

It looked as though his body was being unmade with a sizzling sound just by being too close to a being considered a god for thousands of years. Particles of his skin and flesh were expelled causing a crimson mist to form around Uriel and the white of his bone started to show in his face that somehow resembled an uncanny grin that would give hunters nightmares.

When asked, most hunters would reply they were not afraid of death but of the states in between life or death they could possibly land on. Agony in itself was way scarier that just disappearing into the nothing.

This was precisely the reason why Uriel's was an absolute horror of a smile as even without lips to cover it, the glee in his eyes conveyed true happiness. At that moment Uriel was little more than an exposed skeleton holding a small figurine with bony fingers until he lost even the tendons to grip it.

"It's my turn now." Nika disappeared into the shadows as the figurine summoned her instantly. She did not climb out of Uriel's shadow like usual but rather threw a seemingly harmless object out of it. An activated battery set to charge Uriel's smartphone.

Sparks of electricity made an arch from the battery directly to Uriel's chest recharging his flux energy and allowing him to regenerate his body at a faster rate than it was being destroyed. This, however, had nothing to do with Water warlock's blessing or the abilities of a heavenly rank hunter. It was due to what happened to him after he killed the mindless being summoned by the Society in the Alamo dungeon.

[System notice] Heavenly beast rank activated.

Uriel could feel the energy brimming quite literally through his bones. Having his body recomposed from a near death state was an almost nostalgic feeling, though this time his body didn't look the same as it did before. Taller and with a more adult look to him, those details went unnoticed by Luna who could not take her eyes from the ghostly tentacles adorning his back that shortly after materialized into proto-wings.

His eyes were sharper than ever, his bulging muscles ripped his shirt and his pants seemed a size too small though, much to Luna's disappointment, remained in one piece and in place. Shortly after, Uriel's face became an indistinguishably black blur as though it was covered by shadows and his eyes faded deep into the darkness.

"It was your leg." Nika scratched her nose with pride as soon as she returned to Luna's side.

"I see." Luna nodded, cutting all hopes Nika had of explaining it further. Truth be told, if Nika didn't say it she would have not noticed that her leg grew back after she fought with the gevaudan without the need of applying any Serum. But now everything made sense, the excruciating pain she was experiencing had nothing to do with radiation poisoning and was actually a symptom of her entire body rearranging itself.

"Do all heavenly rank hunters undergo this painful transformation?" Luna innocently asked, suddenly feeling better about not being dead.

"Oh, sweety...," Nika looked her way with pity in her eyes. "you didn't become a heavenly rank, you became an ascended monster."

The ancient deity was already closing in on the hunters by the time Uriel finished his transformation, though it seemingly lost all interest on pursuing them and was now fully focused on killing the stowaway hitching a ride in its shell.

"Aberrations must be exterminated." The thunderous voice raged, only now Uriel seemed completely immune to its effects.

"I agree," He spoke as he calmly hovered directly in front of Arausio's face. "but I will still let you walk away if you leave now."

Needless to say, in all of its existence the ancient deity had never met anybody who dared disrespect it to its face. Yet it wasn't the words Uriel spoke what it took offense into, but his confident smile that shouted he truly believed he had the upper hand.

"I am the god of water, the maker of all life on the sea, giver of life..." Arausio lunged back its crab shaped head before opening its non euclidean maw into a myriad of uncanny crustacean like limbs, but before it finished speaking Uriel cut him short by channeling flux energy into his voice.

"My name is Uriel and I am," Uriel's voice pushed so much wind it was as though an even bigger beast breathed upon the deity's face causing it to experience something similar to a regular desk worker being yelled at by their boss, yet what followed was even worse. "repentance."

Uriel's eyes glimmered bright enough to override the blackness of his face and a silvery light burst out causing actual lightning in the distant clouds as he returned all the damage he suffered before.

Arausio felt in its own flesh the excruciating pain of having its skin removed layer by layer, its muscles dissolved into an ooze and although it possessed no bones, it still experienced the pain of a thousand fissures cracking throughout its body. In just an instant, the god received the same amount of damage Uriel did before comparative to its size, meaning it actually did a lot of damage.

As it usually was the case with ancient beings, Arausio did not know pain and it was overwhelmed by the novel experience sending it into a daze and Uriel would not let such an opportunity pass and carried on with his plan and he struck at the weak spots he located before.

But things were different now that he had the ability to fly as the momentum he carried allowed him to pierce through the muscle. The crimson dagger's size was minute compared to the building sized deity and didn't cause much damage, though it did drain some flux energy that helped Uriel become stronger with each strike.

Things looked bright for the hunter, however, it soon became evident that taking Arausio down was physically impossible.

"Plan B it is, hope this is worth it." He grunted as he summoned the crystal dagger with the instant kill ability. It was a single use, but he figured it was better to use it and find himself in need for it at a later time, than not using it and dying. Uriel ceremoniously lifted the crystal dagger with both hands, preparing himself to jab it in one of the weakest joints when he saw something that made him change his mind.

"It's the Pegasus." He stuttered.