Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 141 Breaking the curfew



Night in the slums wasn't quite what they expected. The pale light of the streetlights bathed the asphalt, there wasn't a soul walking the streets and the only movements they spotted was caused by mice rummaging through the thrash.

Uriel was fairly certain that Luna was wrong and that people's disappearance was caused by rogue hunters who turned to crime, but he couldn't deny the value of empirical investigation. Even if there wasn't a way to disproof her theory, they could prove it just by walking the streets with an open eye making it a proper investigation.

Though Uriel set the condition that, in the case they didn't find anything, Luna would give up on breaking the curfew in the future.

This made their endeavor a win win situation for Uriel. If they found something he could take the flux orb, but if they didn't he would get Luna off from his back.

The first couple minutes they walked with dread as they didn't really know what to expect, but after that they became more comfortable and roamed the neighborhood with ease. Their footsteps resonated in the dead silent streets and it gave off a similar feeling to walking across the lost city, only with a couple differences.

Buildings weren't destroyed, some were a bit rundown but nothing as close as gaping holes in the walls and scorch marks all over the place like in the lost city. It was also very warm and there was barely any wind, something like that wasn't unusual in the slums. It was a phenomenon called 'slum weather' which was caused by the proximity of the tall walls that enclosed the city.

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you bring that thing?" Uriel asked, annoyed by the presence of the horned rabbit plushie.

"Uhm... I can't let Mister Wabbit home, he'll feel lonely." She said as she held onto it tightly making her look just like a defenseless child. If thieves or criminals were lurking around the corner, that would have been an irresistible chance to attack, and yet no one came.

At some point Uriel started wondering about the reason why Luna was so obsessed with cryptids. All he knew was that her parents used to be cryptozoologist, but that alone didn't explain the reason why she was so invested into proving that cryptids roamed around before the 'arrival'.

Still, he decided not to pry on her personal life, even if they were friends, if she decided not to tell him it must be for a reason.

He himself kept a lot about his personal life for himself. It wasn't just that he was embarrassed of his upbringing, he didn't want people to look at him with pity or disgust because of all the things he had to do to survive on the slums.

His own uncle taught him how to steal and pick locks. From a very young age Uriel was forced to commit criminal acts under the threat of getting kicked out during curfew hours, which was one of the reasons why he was so against exploring the city at night.

While lost in his own thoughts, Uriel felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Luna pointing him towards a dark alley.

"Lights were on just a few seconds ago, there might be a cryptid nearby." Luna warned and took out her cellphone.

They both stared at the lit cellphone that was working properly as they walked towards the place that just went dark, but as soon as they reached the entrance to the alley the cellphone turned itself off confirming the presence of a supernatural creature.

They took a few seconds to turn on their gas lanterns and took a step forward. There were a couple garbage bins, some newspapers lying on the floor and, unfortunately for Luna's sensitive sense of smell, a lot of piss on the ground. It wasn't a secret that in the slums, any dead end streets would become public toilets for the shameless.

Uriel took the lead position, even if Luna herself was strong, he was the only one with a weapon powerful enough to harm cryptids. They examined everything and paid close attention to any possible movements or sounds, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Or that was the case until Uriel experienced a strange feeling, it was a presence.

Ever since he experienced that feeling in the mystical world he had been trying to understand it. It took some practice, but he managed to sharpen his mystical sense to the point where he could somewhat tell whenever someone or something was near.

The fact that Nika would always come creeping out of his shadow also served as practice and now the occasions where she could startle him were less and less common.

Uriel focused on his mystical sense but the presence was so faint he was having trouble making any sense of it.

'How can this be? I'm sure there's something near, but I can't see anything.' He thought inwardly as he kept scanning his surroundings. The presence started becoming stronger and stronger and a sense of imminent danger overwhelmed Uriel to the point all he wanted to do was to run away.

"Uhm... Are you... ok?" Luna asked, her aloof face and calm voice helped Uriel realize there wasn't any danger.

"Yes, I just felt something was near, but I couldn't see anything."

"How near?"

"I can't tell, it's just a feeling." Uriel replied, still fighting against the abnormal feeling. Read exclusive adventures at empire

"There's a place we haven't looked yet." Luna craned her up her neck and Uriel soon realized what she meant.

Without a second thought, Uriel moved one of the garbage bins to use it as a stepping stool. Then he jumped and lowered the emergency stairs on one of the buildings, while keeping it down for Luna to climb up.

With each floor they climbed, the stronger Uriel's gut feeling became and he could almost pinpoint the specific location. There was, however, an inconvenient.

"Luna, I think I can somewhat tell where the cryptid is but..."

"But?"

"It's on the other side of the street."

"No... problem. Point your finger towards the apartment where you think it's most likely we find it."

Uriel thought about it for a few seconds. He wanted to reply that saying something like that would be impossible, but at the same time, he was almost certain that whatever triggered his mystical sense had to be in the apartment with the red curtains and a potted plant by the window.

"Are you sure?" Luna asked to which Uriel nodded in reply, but before he could say a word, Luna grabbed him by the collar and threw him across the gap in between the two buildings and through the window.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.