Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 70 : Underground passage

"What do you mean by that? you sound like a pre schooler"

"Whatever, I'm not going down there."

"Hey, don't tell me you're afraid of the dark?" Uriel laughed mockingly.

"Of course I'm scared of the dark, who isn't!? I'm a girl too, you know?"

"Yeah, right... maybe I'd buy it if your trait wasn't literally about shadows!"

"Ok, fine, I'll go... but if there's anything creepy I'm coming back up"

"It's an ossuary! Of course there's going to be creepy stuff" Uriel glared at her with a blank face and sighed. "If you're so scared then I'll go first." Despite his young age, Uriel wasn't intimidated by human remains and the reason for that was more than obvious, he wanted to become an archaeologist.

Dealing with human remains was one of the most exciting parts of his career choice. Skeletons, or even mummies, were considered as one of the most remarkable findings in the archaeology field as they could provide information about ancient cultures.

After climbing down the hole Uriel picked up the flare from the floor and looked around him. he was surrounded on three sides by a smooth wall with no carvings on it and a sloped path that spiraled down the building. It was tall enough to comfortably walk down without issues, but since it had a curve it wasn't possible to see too far.

"Is it safe?" Nika asked poking her head through the entrance.

"Yeah, there's nothing here." he replied dejectedly.

"Why do you sound so disappointed? uh?"

"I don't know, I kind of expected more, maybe a few sculptures or skeletons. Anyways, we need to get moving."

The narrow path was long and it covered the whole semi-pyramid structure on the way down, it somehow reminded Nika of a water slide she once visited while accompanying the son of a wealthy employer and she thought that maybe they could try to slide down to save some time. Uriel's thoughts were different, he wondered how difficult would it be to climb up the slippery slope if they needed to retreat.

Thankfully for both of them, the building wasn't as high as Kukulkan's pyramid and they quickly reached the bottom where the path came to an end. Uriel waved the flare around him to spread the light and he found a small square hole on the wall that seemed to be almost too narrow for a person to fit in.

"I think you should go first this time." Said Uriel.

"No way! No, I'm not going... let's just go back to the zeppelin and..." Nika cried.

"We can't go back even if we wanted to, maybe we could have evacuated while the battle was ongoing, but any surviving cryptids will be able to fully focus their attention on us now. Besides, this is the underground passage we were looking for."

"You can't possibly know that!"

"I do." He said as the flare went off yet, instead of darkness, an eerie glimmer came from the square hole at their feet. "The mist must have gotten in from somewhere and it wasn't from this end, the only possible explanation is that this passage is connected to another structure. You should go first because I'll need to push my backpack in front of me as I crawl and won't be able to see the way."

"Yeah, well, too bad I won't fit in there."

"86-60-91"

"Why are you spitting those random numbers?" She said confounded.

"Those are your measures, you'll fit."

"Wha-What!? how can you possibly know that?"

"I also know your weight, I can say it out loud if you wan..."

Nika hurried to cover Uriel's mouth with her hand as if she was worried someone could hear them. Up to that moment she had been teasing Uriel non stop to lift the mood and take her mind off from all the unfortunate events that transpired, but now she was genuinely flustered.

"I don't know what kind of witchcraft you used to know that, but don't dare share any of that with no one, not ever!"

Uriel's only reply was to nod. The person in front of him had the stare of a cold blooded killer and after seeing her fight, he knew full well what she was capable of. Suddenly, he was more afraid of her than he was of blindly venturing into the underground passage.

The first to go in was Nika and Uriel followed closely from behind. The passage wasn't only narrow, it was also very low and the only way they could move was in all fours at crawling speed, that was also why Uriel was forced to take off the backpack with batteries and push it in front of him leaving a small gap between him and Nika.

Eventually, the slope ended and they came into an empty chamber that led to a passage. As soon as they were able to stand up they continued moving, with the occasional creaking sound at their feet. The light provided by the strange mist was merely enough to keep walking, but it didn't allow them to see clearly.

Nika started sweating cold as the cracking and creaking sounds became louder. She subconsciously knew something was behind her but didn't want to acknowledge it and convinced herself it was Uriel. Every step felt heavier as her limbs became stiffened in fear, she then felt something touching her behind.

"Stop it! this isn't funny!" She shouted.

"What?" Uriel who was curiously crouching in front of a cracked skull on the floor replied with a voice came from a distance much longer than to blame him for what just happened. Realizing this, Nika felt it was the right time to light up another flare. The light became so bright she was forced to keep one eye closed as her combat training indicated.

When the light settled, what she saw left her in horror.

The walls were covered with full skeletons and the floor was littered with cracked bones, she was completely surrounded by human remains. Her first instinct was to cry, but after all the years of harsh training and experience in fighting she was a veteran capable of keeping her emotions under control.

"This can't be real!" She cried her eyes out in spite of all those years of intensive training.

"What's all the fuss about? It's just bones." Uriel said dismissively, but Nika ran up to him like a damsel in distress, clinging tightly to his chest with teary eyes.

'Great, now she's crying. I can't deal with crying women... Now that I think about it, I couldn't deal with Sam whenever he cried either.' Uriel found himself thinking on his scaredy friend who seemingly ghosted him before he came into the expedition.

'Perhaps if he was here things would have been a lot easier, he might have been able to see through this fog, seeing in the dark was no problem for him either.' His thoughts were interrupted when a tickling sensation traversed his back.

"Stop it Nika, you're tickling me." He managed to say only to realize that whatever it was, Nika didn't have anything to do with it as both her hands were clinging tightly to his shirt.