Dungeon Raider System

Excluding Sam, everyone in the group found themselves in high spirits and they traversed the streets with the confidence only ignorance could grant them. The outskirts of the lost city were damaged and it was difficult to recognize the buildings.

Weeds sprouted from every crack in the concrete and even some trees grew from within the abandoned buildings, supporting the well known theory that nature always finds the way.

"I can't see any tracks now, I don't think we can keep following it." Sam said as he stopped in front of the last remnants of a muddy paw printed on the concrete.

"Luna, where do you think its headed?" Uriel asked without much hopes of getting an answer.

"By the looks of it, my best guess is it's simply trying to stay away from us until Sam falls." Her somber words stoked the fear inside Sam's heart and he lost all will to keep walking.

For a brief second the group was left stunned in place as no one knew what to do next. Even if they kept walking, nothing assured them they wouldn't be wasting their time going in the wrong direction.

"Isn't it time for lunch?" Uriel pointed. He then looked around the shabby buildings around searching for a safe spot to light a fire. They needed to recover their strength almost as much as they needed to keep their morale high.

Defeating the beast rank black dogs was easy as pie, the one that could merge with the shadows was a small challenge but the last one's strength remained a mystery. Uriel's best guess was that it must be at least as strong as an entity rank cryptid and if his suspicions were true, they didn't pose a threat to it unless they were at top condition.

Everyone followed Uriel towards an abandoned fast food restaurant. The building was in such poor condition it didn't even have a roof but that played in their favor as it allowed the smoke to vent out properly while still keeping them safe from marauding cryptids.

As much as Uriel would have loved a real meal, the only food they were able to bring with them was the cheap synthetic kind as it didn't spoil and the only thing they needed to prepare it was hot water.

"Cheers!" Said Medusa merrily as she lifted her cheeky chicken cup, though she was the only one as the rest of the group were silent.

"Medusa, did you bring any other flavors by chance?" Asked Uriel as the 'cheeky chicken' flavor was already getting old even before their incursion.

"Why should I? I can never have enough of it!" Medusa replied.

"That's it!" Luna exclaimed. "I know what is the black dog doing!"

The group shifted their attention towards Luna, yet she remained silent until Sam finally broke the silence.

"Just say it!"

"Uhh, Umh... Think about it. Black dogs are usually among the weakest cryptids, which would make sense since in the lore they're referred to as stealthy creatures that would only attack during the night. 'The black dog' is different, it looked powerful enough to wipe us out since we were tired, and yet it didn't attack us."

"So?"

"Its not about the place, it's about the time. It's either waiting for nightfall or luring us towards an eclipse." Luna's explanation made sense, too much for Sam's liking as he wasn't fond of the idea of facing it at night. "It's not just waiting for the curse to take effect, it wants to enjoy its meal properly.

I've been thinking about Atomic's death a lot, we assumed it was killed by the skinwalker but none of us actually saw it happen."

The sight of Atomic's body torn apart flashed on Uriel's mind and he finally understood what Luna meant.

"The skinwalker liked to play games and force people into killing their own companions, but Atomic's body was in poor condition and none of us played a part on his death." Uriel voiced the thoughts that had been bothering him for a while. "If we take that into consideration, it would make sense because Atomic ran into the darkness.

Perhaps, the black dog was able to appear from his shadow and then..."

The group fell into silence, they all understood what Uriel meant. Knowing what they now knew, the most likely scenario was, indeed, that Atomic wasn't killed by the skinwalker but by the black dog. But that also meant that Sam wouldn't be safe until they dealt with the dog, and he knew it.

"So the black dog did show up, killed him and then disappeared?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but that's a good thing because my plan might work, though I don't think you're going to like it."

"What plan?"

"It's just like Luna's idea with the chupacabra, all we need is a good bait."

The group barricaded themselves in the destroyed restaurant, completely ignoring Sam's whimpering. Even though the building didn't have a roof, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing as there weren't many airborne cryptids in that particular lost city and they could exit the building at any given moment.

With this in mind, they sealed the entrance and improvised a makeshift stair with old furniture as an emergency exit.

They also hung some lanterns on the walls, checked their supplies and counted their flux orbs among which they found one to be different than the rest, which proved the theory that the dog that came out of the shadow was indeed a monster level cryptid.

With all the preparations done, the only thing they needed to do was to set the trap, the only problem was that Sam wasn't cooperating and didn't want to play a part in the plan.

"What if it gets to me before you can stop it?" He asked.

"What if we go back to the city and it comes after you when you least expect it?" Luna rebuked.

"But I don't want to be the bait, can't someone take my place?"

"Didn't you say you didn't want to look over your shoulder anymore? Imagine living your life always wondering if a cryptid might appear from your shadow and eat you in your sleep?" Medusa tried to reassure her friend, but it only made things worse. "Uriel, this isn't working. If he runs away when the black dog shows up the plan will be foiled."

"Of course I'll run away, who wouldn't!? I don't want to die!"

"There there.... calm down, everything will be fine." Luna said with a soothing voice as she patted Sam on the head, leaving everyone gobsmacked as it was the first time they saw her acting so nice. "Now shut up and let me tie you." She continued as she pulled a rope from her backpack.