Dungeon Raider System

The decision about what to do with the cryptid was not an easy one at first as they all wanted to get rid of the creature that looked exactly like Uriel, though for different reasons. Even Luna, who would usually try to spare any cryptid that didn't pose a direct threat to the team wanted to get rid of the creature due to it lacking any semblance of sentience.

"That thing can not be allowed to live, not while it wears Uriel's face." Luna declared to which Medusa swiftly jumped in with a grin that held an unseen malevolence.

"Then I'll rip off that cute face."

"Stop!" Nika shouted before Medusa could reach the cryptid. "you're assuming that if you fight, you'll win, but hear me out. If that thing has even a hint of Uriel's power or personality, then we might be getting us into a lot more trouble that it's worth."

"You can't possibly want to keep that thing around!" Medusa growled, but then she noticed it too. The collector did not emit an energy signature which meant it at least had Uriel's stealth and even without Uriel's regeneration, a cryptid was more than capable of healing from any non fatal injuries on their own and that meant Nika was right.

"It looks so sad..." Luna muttered as they took distance from the collector, leaving it behind in the vast of darkness after experiencing the joy of company for the first time in its existence.

Resuming the journey after their encounter with the collector was harder than just taking off as they not only felt they left a loose end behind, one that could potentially cause a huge problem later, but they were also under the uncanny oppression caused by watching a creature wearing the face of one of his friends. It wasn't mimicry like a skinwalker's but Uriel's actual flesh what the collector used to build its body.

If there was one silver lining to be had was that their species was never aggressive and would only defend themselves and among all the variety of cryptids Luna had ever studied they were at the top of the misunderstood list. It wasn't unusual for collectors to be spotted near crime scenes or places where a massacre took place which always garnished them a huge reward that turned collectors into one of the most coveted bounties a hunter could ever get. However, rather than predators the collectors acted like scavengers and were only tied to the violent scenes because of their habit to collect human body parts to build their bodies.

"At least it wasn't a skinwalker..." Nika heaved out a sigh of relief that was cut short by a distant groan. It brought chills to their spines not just because silence prevailed over all in the Shadowlands, but also because the uncanny sound reminded them of the encounter they just had.

"That sounded awfully human." Medusa said with the not so hidden implication that it could be Uriel.

"It's probably just another collector." Nika added.

"Probably is not certainty." Luna sentenced.

"Come on, you can't possibly listen to a sound like that a think 'I have to go check it out.' That's horror movie logic and it gets you killed in real life." Mark whisper shouted.

"I think the outcome is the same in the movies..." Soulfire pondered out loud.

"This ain't a movie, alright? If Luna says we got to go, then we go." Nika said, then gulped down a lump of saliva forcing it to pass down her dry throat as she looked at Luna in the eye fearing Luna would say the exact words she said.

"We should." Luna took the lead to keep the light that came off from her body ahead of the group and they followed the direction which they thought the scary sound came from, but getting lost in the Shadowlands wasn't easy, it was the norm and they ended up roaming around until the sound pierced through the darkness with maddening emotion.

"It's him!" Medusa shouted, yet this time she didn't move and only pointed at the place she thought she heard it. A lesson she learned as a rookie from what happened to Atomic when he stranded from the light in the mall.

Luna ran to her fastest and everyone but Nika struggled to keep up as her tiny body was not made for long runs, but if not for her bulky chest her body would have been perfectly adapted for short sprints.

When the warmth light coming off from Medusa caressed the man's face, they knew it was the real Uriel. It couldn't possibly be a cryptid as it was unfathomable for a creature to remain alive while undergoing the kind of torture he was suffering.

In the blackest of the void, a black thorny tree stood tall with prickly branches arranged in a fractal manner and in the middle of the shadow thorns Uriel hung upside down like a juicy fruit almost too ripe to remain on its place. Without eyes and so little skin he was mostly just a fleshy mess of muscle and bone, his face still somehow distorted into a pained expression as he let out one more groan.

"Uriel, we're here!" Medusa announced thinking it would infuse enough hope into her friend to make him get out of his situation on his own, but at that moment a mountainous grinding sound erupted from the ground and the shadows contorted without moving just like the start of a tsunami.

"Why did you come!? Go away, now!" Uriel gurgled his voice a whisper that conveyed nothing but pain yet Medusa ignored him and threw herself into the brambles when she noticed he wasn't regenerating.

The moment her skin made contact with the black tree, her skin experienced the most painful sensation she had ever felt and that was saying a lot coming from someone who had been burned alive once. Her heavenly rank skin was no opponent for the immovable tree made of blackness whose branches did not swing to breeze or storm.

When her instinct finally kicked in, she had already gotten herself into a bad situation in which the slightest move caused her substantially more pain than she was already enduring and also caused her to be further entrapped into the tree.

"Hold still, I need to think." Medusa inspected the branches picturing in her mind the disposition of the thorns in order to look for the safest approach, but Nika had something different in mind and pulled Medusa out by her hair.

The pain it caused Medusa was soon followed by a relief she didn't know possible. Even as her body was filled with wounds of all sizes, it was much better than being in contact with the life sucking branches of the black tree.

"I noticed it was similar to the black seed you carried, remember how its shadows were stronger than mine? And it fed on shadows too, so I thought it was better to just rip it out like a bandage instead of letting her bleed to death." Nika's quick thinking had effectively saved Medusa's life, but also rendered her completely useless in any combat situation as it became clear that even after Luna's skillful treatment Medusa would need some time to recover.

"Hurry... up..." Uriel muttered, his voice raspy and coarse, like sandpaper on concrete.

"We won't leave you, just give me some time to think," Nika bit her thumb. "did you try regenerating yourself?" Uriel did not reply and just limited himself to stare at Nika with empty eye sockets.

For all the love he had for his friends, a sudden rage emerged from within as he realized all he did was for nothing. And the moment he realized it was the moment Luna cranked up her trait power to all she had into the most powerful light skill she could use.

A light so powerful as to blind the blind emerged from within Luna and poured out through every pore in her skin and for a brief moment she became the living embodiment of light itself shedding light into the visage of the eldest horror, the titan Xibalbá.

With a shriek, the shadows that had converged in the vicinity collapsed into themselves and the gigantic face of the titan vanished, thankfully before anyone could see it as it would drive sane men into insanity and those already insane into a mental breakdown.

"Why... why did you do that." Uriel fell to the floor when the black tree disappeared and remained kneeling as he punched the ground.

"And why are you throwing a tantrum when you should be thanking her." Nika scolded as she held Luna who had fallen unconscious on her arms, looking at Uriel with hateful eyes. After all they risked and sacrificed to save him, instead of thanking them he became angry.

"I had him right where I wanted him and now he's gone!" Uriel let out in a growl that intensified as his body regenerated.

"What?" Nika blinked a couple times.

"You ruined everything...," Uriel remained distraught on the floor, watching the crystal dagger in his hand at the same time as the shadows receding in the distance as they stopped their backwards motion and slowly turned to flow back onto them. "and now we're all dead."