Dungeon Raider System

Judging the situation in front of him, Walter was able to understand the situation as it wasn't for nothing that he was the founder of the Mapple corporation. He could tell that Nika was resented, Medusa hopeful, Sam was somewhat relieved and Luna, well, understanding Luna was not something even someone like him could do. But just understanding the dynamics of the group was not his priority.

He wanted to understand how did things get to a state where such a small company as the Dungeon Raiders could possibly survive after fighting against the gods themselves, let alone how did they come to take charge of the situation. He knew that he could count on Medusa being honest with him, but she seemed too worried about her friend to waste time recounting the events even to him. Nika was also one he could trust, but she was clearly resented for him sending her to Chichén Itzá despite knowing it was too dangerous which left Walter wishing Uriel was present. Not just because he was her daughter's friend but also because he was the most level headed person of the bunch.

"I think I could be of assistance. I have resources and the Mapple corp."

"Forget it grampa, they're gone. All of them." Medusa sighed.

"What? How?"

"I wish I had the time to explain, but..." Just as Walter feared, Medusa was too worried about Uriel which left him with no one willing to explain the situation to him.

For the first time in his life, Walter felt powerless. Even back in the bronze age before he even became a hunter, he always enjoyed a social standing that allowed him to command others, not to mention the riches his family owned. Even his enemies respected him by the strength of his arm, but now he was but an old man with nothing to his name, in a strange place and to make matters worse he was so weakened after being possessed by Zeus he couldn't even stand on his feet for long.

"I still think sending Sam to look for him would be the best course of action." Luna said as if she had proposed that idea a thousand times, which is exactly what happened before Walter formed part of the conversation.

"I'm not risking my life going out there." Sam whined.

"It's not your decision, if I say you're going then you're going," Nika harshly replied. "but he's also right, Luna. Just because he can see at a distance doesn't mean he'll survive out there."

"It's just some rain and he can fly." Luna's legendary stubbornness was at full display and there was nothing that could make her change her mind.

"We could look for people with unusual traits and ask if they can locate Uriel." Sam insisted.

"It's not going to work, we're currently in a dungeon, remember?" Nika turned down Sam's idea and gave an important piece of information to Walter at the same time.

"What dungeon is this?" Walter asked somewhat relieved. As a champion of the bronze age he was familiar with several dungeons, but there were plenty of other dungeons he visited while he searched for the technology he eventually used to found the Mapple corp.

"Atlantis, we're in the wandering island." Luna replied.

"No, not this one! This place is evil, we're all doomed!" Walter shouted and attempted to stand up and run for the exit as if it was an emergency, but Medusa calmed him down with a soothing voice and helped him back on his chair.

"It's alright, Luna is friends with Altantis."

"Friends... with... a dungeon?"

"More precisely, I'm friends with the guardian of the dungeon. But considering how the dungeon is embedded in its body, it could be said we are in friendly territory."

"If Uriel was here he would be telling us all the stories about Atlantis... If I hear about Plato one more time I swear to god..." Nika said, her eyes welling up. It seemed as though she would be annoyed by hearing one of Uriel's stories, but in reality she wished she could hear them. She inwardly vowed to never get annoyed at him for speaking about boring stuff and tried to bargain with herself as if believing it hard enough, Uriel would magically appear and start ranting about archaeology.

"There's a few things I can tell you about this place. It was a mine, an orichalcum mine. This place has a concentration of materials high enough that would make the cryptids in this place evolve rapidly, but that's not all. The cryptids that dwell inside this place, they're not just cryptids. They're also part human, which makes them terrifying. Even the beast level cryptids were able to take down the entire exploration team I sent."

"To be more accurate, they were merfolk. It is documented that their power far exceeded their level, but I have also documented a several ways we can deal with them." Luna informed.

"At our level they don't pose a danger," Nika asserted then continued. "the problem is the world went to shit. Pardon my french."

"The world really did end... so that's why we're in a dungeon." Walter grabbed his head on two hands with regret. He had everything he wanted, to have his wife and daughter and the chance to live a peaceful life, but it came at the cost of the world being destroyed.

"It's not your fault..., father." Medusa said blushing as she rubbed Walter's back.

"You also know about that... there's no need for you to worry about my feelings. I am the one who caused all this."

"Yeah, right... she's not coddling you, it really wasn't you. It was Uriel. He used some weird skill that caused it to rain. It's just rain, but it won't stop until everything is destroyed."

"It wasn't the gods who destroyed everything!?" Walter didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He felt so much relief as the guilt was lifted, but he also felt incredibly worried and for one reason. "then what happened to the titan of shadows?"

"I forgot that was a thing too." Nika shrugged.

"Hold on..." Luna said.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking!?" Medusa asked in glee.

"I said hold on, I need to think," Luna's train of thought was not easily derrailed, but she hated to be interrupted when she needed to focus. She would probably arrive at the same conclusion as she was able to process huge loads of information even while on a fight, but losing her focus was among the most annoying things that could ever happen to her. She kept silent for a couple minutes, bobbing her head from time to time as though she was having an internal conversation, then finally broke the silence. "bring Alice."

"That girl? What can she possibly do? She's a wimp." Nika scratched the back of her head, but Medusa rushed out as if her life depended on it. She returned with a very disheveled Alice that seemed confused, but Luna didn't spare her even a second to compose herself.

"Use your trait and see the future, but it needs to be done outside." She commanded.

"I don't understand what is this about." Nika complained, but still moved towards the exit along with the rest of those present including Walter who could only walk with Medusa's help.

"It's easy. Alice can see the future, in her vision she saw the world being swallowed by darkness. If her trait shows her the same, then we will need to rescue Uriel. If instead it shows only rain, then we'll need to stay put and wait for him to return."

"But that means..." Sam pondered with a pensive hand on his chin.

"Yes, Uriel didn't abandon us. He likely went to face the titan."

"But why? There was no need for that. We're all safe in the dungeon and we already made peace with living here until the next era."

"He wants to stop the cycle." Walter sentenced, now that he truly understood the situation.

"Care to elaborate?" Luna prompted him and the old man appreciated her not wasting time.

"The cylce of death and rebirth, of destruction and construction, chaos and order. It's been the ruling concept of this world since its creation. We humans have been through ice ages and other catastrophic events. But when I say humans I don't necessarily mean that they looked like us. There were other humans before, made of clay, stone, even wood, and they were capable of enduring the hardships of their world. The same applies to us and that is the most well kept secret..." Walter solemnly declared and was shocked when no one showed any signs of surprise.

"We know that. What we need to know is how do you think Uriel might be planning to stop the cycle."

"It's not possible because that would require to kill the titans, all of them. But bear in mind that killing a titan would be the same as destroying their concept and a world without shadows might sound fun, but I think it's quite the opposite."

"Then how did the gods do it?" Luna asked without showing any doubt that they did it before.

"That's different, they trapped the titans in the dungeons. But that's not something any human could achieve. It's always the same, the strongest people of a species become hunters and become even stronger. They ascend to godhood and then start working together to become even more powerful to the point where they can fight a titan, but it always ends with most gods being destroyed and the rest forgotten by their own people. Then they have to garnish the respect from the next species to rule the planet to remain relevant."

"It's shadows, but it's happening before it was supposed to last time I used my trait." Alice informed.

"When is it happening?" Asked Nika, yet the one who replied was Sam as he pierced the distance with his golden eyes.

"It's happening right now."