Dungeon Raider System

As soon as the gates of the museum closed it was as if someone flicked the switch of the light of the world, turning it off so suddenly the group struggled to keep their balance for a second. This didn't last long thanks to Luna who swiftly activated her trait, though even finding the museum they just left was impossible. The bright light provided by Luna was brittle in comparison to the thickest of darkness in the shadowlands.

Although they rested properly, it felt short like a spring breeze and now they were back in the pitch black lands it felt like they were thrown out of a dream into the pits of a never ending nightmare.

"This damned place feels like washing the dishes." As mundane as it sounded, it made perfect sense to her friends as they shared the sentiment about chores, particularly about washing the dishes. It was similar in the sense that it was mind numbing and endless, just like their tiresome walk.

"Yeah, but at least the dishes don't try to kill you when you lower your guard." Medusa groaned before briefly stepping aside from the safety of Luna's light to take down a monster rank shadow she could sense thanks to her practiced sense of flux.

"That's why you don't. We get distracted, we die. It's just that simple." Nika let out a sigh and they were once more submerged in the timeless boredom of the dark.

Eventually, though no one could tell how long it had been, the scenery shifted from what used to be a lavish forest but was now a forest of bare trunks to yet another wrecked city. Only this one was different to the others as it was so destroyed it felt intentional.

Finding a brick on top of another was a challenge and the only reason they could tell it was a city was thanks to the shattered pavement beneath their feet they could see thanks to Luna's trait. It wasn't much, but the broken road served them well as a means to avoid getting any more lost than they were, though it was difficult for them to tell which way was which and more than once they got so distracted it was possible they went backwards without noticing.

If there was one good thing to mention was that at least walking on a full stomach was much easier and it did wonders to lift their mood, even if it lasted until their food supplies mysteriously disappeared once again. Whether it was taken, if it decayed due to the presence of flux or if they ate and forgot about it was impossible to tell as their mind was in a state that took them away from reality.

"One more, I'll be right back." Medusa said as she prepared to strike a cryptid she could sense at a distance with the same motivation of a monday morning.

"Hold on, it's my turn now," Nika whined then looked at the faintly luminescent figure of Luna that was now taking care not to shine to much to avoid attracting as many cryptids as before. "tell her it's my turn."

"I... uhm... I don't remember." She replied softly. It was hard for them to keep track of whose turn to clear the path as they all felt the same even for someone as obsessed with cryptids like Luna. Everything felt repetitive and endless and it wasn't difficult to

"Don't worry, I could do this on my sleep."

"Whatever, just try not to get lost in the dark." Nika warned, but Luna did not agree with letting Medusa take on the cryptid this time as she was bored doing nothing.

"It's unfair, I want to fight too."

"You can't, you're our lightsource." Nika rebuked and things progressed like usual, they compromised which actually meant letting Luna do whatever she wanted because she would never take no for an answer.

The three huntresses had to walk in together towards the cryptid since staying behind also meant being vulnerable to unseen attacks or ambushes. This turned out to be the best choice as the cryptid that lied ahead was not just a regular monster level, but a horror level cryptid whose body was made of shadows so dense Nika could actually feel them shift against Luna's trait.

Thanks to her trait, sensing shadows was as easy as breathing for Nika and she had also grown accustomed to that feeling to the point where she could predict any enemy's movement thanks to the movement of their shadows and it was the exact same feeling she experienced when Luna's light licked the black surface of the aberration. But shadow creatures were different in the sense that they were made solely of shadows, which meant that she could sense them and somewhat feel them, but she knew entering them was impossible.

"Hold on! That's not a cryptid!"

"It is, I'm sure." Medusa's crimson eyes glimmered as she saw the creature that looked like a lump in the ground.

"Interesting...," Luna grabbed an extendable rod from who knows where and poked at the black mass for good measure. "it's unresponsive, it's probably on standby mode." She explained as she turned her back on the cryptid, then her face became pale as chalk and even though it remained frozen, she was noticeably stiff. Even the light shifted as Luna's inner turmoil overtook her focus.

"What's wrong." Nika asked, prepared to enter combat uncaring if the cryptid was active or not.

"Something... something grabbed my foot."

Nika and Medusa listened horrified to Luna's words and confirmed it with their own eyes. It was a sickly thin hand with long nails and bones stuck to the skin. It was shaky and feeblish, yet it had the grasp of a steel tonsil rendering Luna incapable of moving an inch.

"Do not move a muscle, I can take care of it but I need you to close your eyes." Medusa whispered and drew near with the stealth of a cat ready to pounce.

"Food... please." A coarse voice coming from a dry mouth emerged from beneath the cryptid who moved aside like a blanket revealing two hunters they didn't expect to see. One was Soulfire and the other Mark, though it was difficult to tell whether it was really them or if they were actually cryptids making a bad impression.

They were famished beyond what was thought possible and their ravenously hungry eyes looked at them with greed. Even Soulfire who was so handsome looked like an undead and everyone was tempted to attack them just for good measure. However, the one thing that certified their identities was the presence of the horror level eclipse whom they knew was paired with Mark.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any food." Medusa said apologetically while Luna insisted on poking at the cryptid.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We followed you right after you set off. We thought we would caught up before you made it inside the shadowlands, but we missed you by a few seconds and then we lost your track on the spot." Raphael Soulfire explained as his brother was unconscious.

Thankfully for everyone, Luna's medkit still had a few bags of saline solution and while it didn't provide any calories, it helped with the dehydration they suffered and allowed Mark to wake up and Soultire to stand up.

"Thank you, you saved our lives." Raphael said amicably, but Mark grunted right after.

"We wouldn't have needed any saving if they waited for us in the first place."

"We would have... but you didn't tell us your intention of coming. Why did you come anyway?" Medusa asked.

"I came for my friend Uriel, of course," Soulfire sincerely replied. "I tried to communicate with him with my trait many times, but haven't been able to reach him. It's weird because my trait usually allows me to enter his trait in my spiritual form, but now it's impossible."

"He shut the museum, he's not even letting me in." Nika replied secretly relieved that she wasn't the only one.

Had that conversation taken place before their visit to the museum, Medusa would have died of envy on the spot. She couldn't fathom other people being allowed inside Uriel's trait and not her, but now that she visited she didn't mind all that much and instead worried about the implications of them not being able to enter anymore.

She didn't know as much about traits like Luna and other hunters, but from the moment she learned about Uriel's trait she had been trying to understand the physics behind it. Needless to say, such an endeavor required way more time and resources to investigate than she possessed, but she made some breakthroughs nonetheless but never had the chance to share them with the others.

"I think there's a way to locate Uriel by tracing the signal between his museum." Medusa suggested the only idea that came to mind to justify regrouping, but Mark quickly shut it down.

"If you want to find him, he's right there," Mark pointed at a direction that seemed random, then pointed at another. "and he's there, and there too." Mark's finger pointed all over the place.