Dungeon Raider System

It didn't take long for Uriel to reach the square in front of the cathedral and he saw the writing himself just before getting to the Alamo. All of his fears were confirmed as he was able to translate the word from the ancient language.

"We're in so much trouble I don't know what should we do first." Uriel muttered.

"Why?" Luna asked.

"A long time ago, during the european collonization of the americas, Sir William Raleigh made a settlement called Roanoke. In those times, traveling through sea was a dangerous endeavor and not every ship that sailed was able to return safely but they needed to restock supplies to solidify their presence in the continent.

Because of that, they sent the ship back to Europe in hopes of bringing more settlers and supplies, but when they came back the place was empty."

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"Empty? Like this city?" Charlie was already biting on her fingernails.

"Huh? Why are you so scared? You've probably killed way more cryptids than the average hunter." Luna glared at the ranger.

"This is different!" Charlie tried to defend herself. It was improper for a ranger to show her fear in front of the people she was supposed to protect, but it was even more improper for a professor to give a bad example to students.

"Miss Charlie is right. The people that came from Europe found the settlement completely empty, but the strange thing was that they found food cooking on the stove and people had seemingly vanished into thin air. It was a mystery that troubled archaeologists and historians to this day, but I think I got the answer."

Charlie kept her eyes shut and hugged herself in an attempt to stop shivering, but Luna was completely calm.

"Uhm, to what question?"

"To what happened back then in Roanoke and what will most likely happen to our city. You see, even though they look like letters from our alphabet, that's not the case. It seems to be a dialect based on the ancient glyphs I translated which is why I can understand its meaning. It says: Escape."

"What!? Is that a warning for us?" Charlie was on the verge of passing out.

"No, to fully understand what's going on you need to understand what happened back then. Roanoke was a freshly established settlement and they were in dire need of supplies, but the weather conditions didn't allow the ships to sail and the settlers were in dire need of help.

They must have reached to the native American people and asked for help, but the problem was that even with their help Europeans weren't accustomed to the harsh living conditions so they made a deal with the native American."

"Can you tell that just from a single word?"

"Yes and no. It's not just the word that hinted me, it's who wrote it. If it was a warning meant for us, it would be in English. Just like it happened before in Roanoke. No, I'm absolutely certain that this was written by a cryptid and it's not a warning, it's a command."

"What does it have to do with the deal?" Charlie tilted her head.

"No," Luna's eyes filled with tears that refused to fall. "don't say it. Please..."

"Fine, it's not my secret to tell anyways."

Waiting for Nika's group was all they could do for the time being and both Uriel and Luna remained silent the whole time leaving Charlie to wonder what was the meaning behind their conversation.

A quiet evening breeze whistled in the abandoned buildings and reached the empty plot of land in front of the Alamo where the entrance to the dungeon was located and eventually Nika emerged with the rest of the crew carrying a substantial load of orichalcum ore in spite of the little time the mining crew had available to perform their job.

Fortunately for them, since there were no cryptids nearby all the vehicles worked properly and it reduced the time it took for them to haul the ore considerably. However, Uriel knew the race against time was already lost and they would most likely encounter trouble on their way back.

"Did you find Cassandra?" Nika asked.

"No, but I have the feeling we'll meet her soon enough. For the time being, let's just head back and warn the city."

"I don't get it, warn them about what?" Charlie was as clueless as she was afraid.

"I just told you, that message wasn't meant for us but for the cryptids inside the dungeon."

"So you're saying..." Charlie still couldn't grasp how serious their situation was.

"There was a dungeon break and the city is in danger."

both Luna and Nika knew Uriel wouldn't joke with something as serious as that, but only Luna knew exactly what he meant.

She knew what would most likely happen to the city and she also knew who would be behind it, but knowing and being able to do something to prevent it were two different things.

The caravan began marching on their way to the west gate, but the exhausted miners were in no condition to rush their step. Uriel tried time and time again to contact Sam but even though his cellphone worked properly, there was no phone service and he couldn't reach him.

As the sun began to set, the worst possible scenario came to life as a group of people ambushed the caravan on the middle of the road. They were all dressed in either hunter armor or in army uniform and leading them, a single man stood tall with his hands on a long chain that went all the way to a crate.

"Long time no see, Urinal." Mark laughed. "I see you brought a gift for me."

"As if..." Uriel tried to speak but Mark wasn't interested on anything he had to say.

"I have a gift for you as well." Mark continued as he pulled on the chain and the pitiful figure of Cassandra, Heavenly Sword, came out of the crate wearing a spiked alloy collar on her neck.