Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 103 : Bounty

"By the way Sam, I've been meaning to ask you something." Uriel, who was in the lead position in the formation, said once they left the city walls behind. "That time, how did you notice some flares were missing?"

"That's easy for me, I have eidetic memory." Sam answered with a smug, though Uriel wasn't even looking at him.

"I see..." Uriel muttered. He didn't have the first clue about what he meant by that, but he didn't want to annoy Sam with too many questions.

"That's photographic memory." Luna explained as she was well versed in medical conditions and such.

"That's so unfair! It's like having another trait!" Medusa pouted.

"The same could be said about your martial arts, you know? Besides, having eidetic memory and being able to see anything is the worst possible combination. I wish I could forget the things I've seen..." Sam's face became somber. "I've been having nightmares... awful ones. Being able to remember them perfectly makes me feel like they're still there, all the time."

"That sucks." Medusa said without stopping.

"You know what else sucks?" Uriel said. "My sense of direction... I know I'm supposed to be the leader, but I have no idea on where am I heading to."

Medusa and Sam both started laughing at Uriel's 'joke'.

"No, guys, I seriously have no idea where am I heading to."

"So... what should we do?" Sam asked after finally understanding Uriel wasn't joking. "Should we go back or something?"

"I may not know where we're going, but I do have a plan. Do you guys know why we were accompanied by three soldiers during the army incursion?" Uriel asked.

"Because bigger groups draw too much attention?" Medusa replied.

"Yes and no. That's the reason why we came in small groups, but the reason why it had to be three soldiers was because they needed a medic, an engineer and a fighter." Uriel explained.

"I see! Miss Dragonfang was obviously the fighter, then Miss Phlox must have been the engineer. After all, not everyone can afford a recycler and she might have built it herself. That leaves the other one as the medic!" Medusa thought loudly with a hand pressed on her chin.

"Precisely. Miss Dragonfang also played the role of the leader, Phlox was also the driver and the other one, I actually don't know about him or her." Uriel said.

"I met him when he came to save us. He was a nice guy, though I didn't get to see his face." Sam explained. "He was a medic, but I don't know what other role did he play."

"Well, we're four very different people. Sam, you're obviously in charge of scouting and Luna will act as our medic. Even if she's not a doctor yet, she's still way better at it than the rest of us. We don't have an engineer or a vehicle so choosing a driver would be pointless."

"So, who will be guiding us?" Medusa asked.

"I think you should do it Medusa, you're stronger than me in close combat and I am the only one with a ranged weapon. I'd rather keep my distance as it will allow me to better assess the situation."

"But how can I be the guide if I don't know where we're going."

"That's easy, up to this moment we just needed to get away from the city, but now the hunt begins. Luna, did you decide on what bounty are we going to collect?" Uriel asked Luna.

Though it wasn't the usual, citizens and hunters could place a reward for killing a certain cryptid. This happened mostly in cases where one or more hunters survived a massacre and wanted revenge, but were too weak to accomplish it by themselves.

Sometimes the army would place bounties on elusive cryptids too, but any citizen with enough money could place a bounty on any cryptid they wanted dead for whatever reason.

"I've read the list a few times, but I don't know which one to choose, they all sound so interesting." As usual, Luna was just too excited about investigating cryptids ans she was indecisive.

"Let's make it simple then. Which one should be the easiest to find and kill?" Uriel's decisiveness made everyone wonder what had happened during his expedition that could have possibly changed him so much. They knew him to be smart, but he was also always second guessing himself. Needless to say, they were reassured by his new demeanor as he now acted like a natural born leader instead.

"I think... no, wait. What if...?" Luna started rambling, but she still couldn't decide.

"I have an idea!" Said Medusa clapping her hands. "Why don't you tell us the lore about the ones you know better while we walk. It will also make the trip more entertaining."

Her idea was welcomed by everyone but Sam who not only wasn't interested in cryptids, but also found Luna's stories too scary for his taste.

"Uhm... fine." Luna said and then cleared her throat. "The first one in the list is the 'chupacabras'. The information provided by the Cryptid hunting agency is limited, but there is extensive lore about it. It is about 1.5 meters high, its covered in green scales, can walk on two or four legs, it possesses sharp claws and drains the blood of its victims.

There's reports of that creature attacking other cryptids, animals and humans, so we can be certain it will target us on sight. That's all there is about it."

"How do we find it?" Uriel asked.

"I'd say we would need to kill and animal and use it as bait." Luna shrugged. Although it was still possible to find wild animals as they were supposedly far more common than cryptids, it still felt wrong with the rest of the group to kill a living being just for the possibility of luring a cryptid.

"Next one, please." Medusa said with a frown.

"The next one would be, uhm... uh. This is a good one, I think. It's the black dog." Luna said.

"That's easy! We killed a few on our past incursion!" Sam exclaimed.

"No, we didn't." Luna shook her head. "This isn't 'a' black dog, it is 'the' black dog."