Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 152 Hunter's lane pit

The hunting party seemed confused as they thought Uriel was a only beginner hunter. After all, it hadn't been that long since the freshman incursion led by the army took place which meant he acquired his trait recently and he had little time to learn how to use it and participate on independent incursions. Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire

The fact that he was able to read old scriptures wasn't that surprising taking into consideration that not just anyone worked with the Mapple corp, but the fact that he was unfazed by the possibility of encountering a skinwalker was far from what they expected from a first year student that had yet to take the combat course.

"What kind of plan could we possibly make to fight a cryptid like that?" Amy asked, giving Uriel the benefit of the doubt.

"I've faced skinwalkers before, twice actually, and I know how to kill them."

"Hahah, yeah right." Laughed the driver but all it took for him to stop was a quick glare from Uriel. "Wait, you're being serious?"

"I was in the party that killed the skinwalker."

"That's impossible. From what I've been told, there were only four ascended and one of them died." The driver wasn't believing a word from Uriel's mouth and not without reason. The story of how the three first year students bravely fought against the skinwalker and defeated it in combat was well known in the city as well as in social media.

They even made a huge deal about it in the Cryptid hunting agency and they performed a ceremony, though the only one who showed up was Sam since neither Luna nor Medusa were interested in being in the spotlight.

"Actually, there were five ascended counting Miss Dragonfang and two evolved as well. I was one of the evolved and the other one was Miss Phlox."

"No way! You were really there! Not many people know it was Miss Dragonfang's party that collected the bounty because they dissolved their party soon afterwards." Amy gasped.

"But that means... He's the scumbag that abandoned his team!" The driver finally connected the dots. There was a mention of an evolved, but contrary to his companions who were being celebrated after their incursion, he was shunned by everyone in the agency."

"Yup... that was me. But things aren't like that. I didn't abandon anyone, in fact, I did my fair share of fighting."

"Miss Dragonfang told me everything about that incursion, but she wasn't present during the fight so I can't know if you're lying or not. Do you have anything to prove it? A scar should be enough." Amy really wanted to believe him, but she still needed any kind of proof.

"No," Uriel shook his head. "I don't have any scars due to my trait." He shrugged.

"Isn't it convenient? huh?" The driver scoffed.

"Listen, it doesn't matter if you think I abandoned my team or not. The fact is, I was there and I know how to deal with those things. You can't tell a skinwalker from a human by looking at them and, somehow, they can mimic items, clothes, armor, anything.

The only way you can know for sure they're cryptids is by their FOD but I'm guessing our electronic devices will stop working as soon as we go down there." Uriel explained, though his words had the opposite effect of what he wanted to achieve. Instead of convincing them to enter the pit, they were now even more scared to do so.

"Then what can we possibly do to prove someone is being impersonated?" Amy asked without much hopes of liking what she was going to hear next. Things like showing the color of their blood or even maiming themselves to prove they didn't regenerate made her shiver.

"We just need to expose the cryptid to silver. It's highly allergic to it, that's how we killed it."

Although Amy wasn't sure if she could trust Uriel or not, she really wanted to. She felt guilty for giving in to everyone's insistence on coming to Hunter's lane and didn't want to feel responsible for the death of one of her closest friends.

She asked Uriel to give them some space while they decided on what their next steps should be. While the manual recommended to simply give up on rescuing any fallen members, that was the only thing Amy disagreed on. In her mind, saving the life of her companions was always the correct answer even if it meant taking risks, but that was a decision she couldn't take by herself.

In the end, the group decided they wanted to rescue Rocky. Uriel couldn't tell if they all agreed because they cared about their friend or if they were afraid that he might survive, become a heavenly rank and exact revenge on them for abandoning him.

Everyone gathered all of their possessions that could be made of silver. Amy had a thin silver necklace under her armor and Uriel never left home without a small silver crucifix that somehow escaped from Jon's thieving hands, but unfortunately for them, the evolved girls' jewelry was fake and wouldn't be of any use against a skinwalker.

Before descending, the first thing they did was to drop a lit flare down the pit. The flare fell illuminating a ring in the narrow pit until it was swallowed by the darkness. The group waited for the sound to calculate how deep it was, but the sound never came.

"Who should go first?" The female evolved that accompanied the driver asked.

"Who do you ask? It's a task for you and the other evolved. You can't possibly expect one of us ascended to risk it." The driver scoffed at her. Uriel was somewhat taken aback by his rude behavior, even though he noticed how differently they treated the evolved members in their party, forcing them to go first seemed too extreme as they were the weakest members.

Still, it wasn't his place to question their actions.

The first one to climb down was the evolved man that accompanied Amy stating that he couldn't stand letting a girl do a man's job. He strapped his alloy shield on his back, turned on a gas lantern and went down the hole. Then, one by one everyone followed him until only Amy and Uriel were left.

"Were you telling the truth?" Amy asked to which Uriel silently nodded and proceeded to climb down the rope. She knew Uriel was an ascended just like her, but that simple gesture somehow transmitted a sense of calm and confidence and she felt for a second that he was way stronger than her. Strong enough to not bat an eye in the face of danger.