Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 480: Ungrateful guest

The horror level cryptid retired to his own chambers walking so slow it seemed almost like he was sliding across the ground and Uriel watched it until it finally disappeared from sight. As soon as the nosferatu left the room an immense pressure was lifted from Uriel and he felt he was finally able to breath normally again.

As reliable as his mystical sense had been so far, Uriel now learned it was completely useless with a horror level cryptid such as the nosferatu. It gave him an unsettling feeling, but he couldn't sense his presence at all except for the brief moment where it channeled its flux energy.

Fighting cryptids required different strategies depending on their level, beast level cryptids usually hunt in packs, monsters ambush unsuspecting victims and entity level cryptids are too varied which called for different strategies in each case.

Uriel vanquished enough cryptids to climb from the evolved to the heavenly rank in a short span of time, which was an exceptional feat although Uriel wasn't aware of it. He had also encountered more horror level cryptids than most heavenly rank hunters and survived, but he didn't have a clue as how to kill them.

Thanks to his, way too many, conversations about cryptids with Luna, Uriel had some unconfirmed theories about them. He knew that weak cryptids carried an empowered version of their same abilities whenever they leveled up, he also knew that entity rank cryptids possessed a weak spot or allergy that made them easier to deal with. But the same couldn't be said from horror level cryptids.

There were just too many factors and too little information about them. The only reliable way of killing a cryptid that worked no matter their level was to destroy their flux orb, which also resulted in a waste of money.

Uriel would have loved to have been left to his own devices, but he was forced to pick up a maid to 'serve' him through the night. More than an invitation, it was a demand as he understood from the vampire's insistence.

The two maids were similar to each other in beauty, age, stature and body proportions. Their energy signature was also similar, making it a seemingly unimportant decision. However, Uriel had yet to understand the vampire's motives for inviting him for dinner and then staying as a guest and the most likely option didn't bode well for him.

All the evidence suggested the fight against the horror cryptid already started and he was inside some sort of sick feeding game in which he was the meal.

If anything, the one good thing about Uriel's realization was that he was still alive. This meant that so far he was winning, but a single misstep could be his last and he needed to thread carefully.

"Do you want to go with me?" He asked the maid on the left with no reply whatsoever. Then he went and asked the one to the right with the exact same result. "Can you speak?" He asked something different, but neither of them reacted in any shape or form. Thinking they were under the influence of the same strange ability that made him lose some time, Uriel decided to perform some tests.

He passed his hand in front of them, pretended to hit them only for him to stop in the last second, he even shouted at them getting absolutely no reaction from them. They didn't so much as blink an eye, but things changed when he poked one of them in the head.

"Ouch! Thank you for choosing me, I'll serve you to the best of my skill." She yelped and then performed a well practiced reverence. The other maid made a reverence too and then retreated leaving Uriel alone with the maid.

"Why didn't you speak before!?" Uriel grunted.

"Master doesn't let us speak, but you are my master now and I have to obey you." The woman replied with a straight face.

"Where is the exit?"

"I am not allowed to answer that question, master."

"I'm not your master, just talk casually to me." Uriel let out and followed with another question. "Then what questions can you answer?"

"I can't answer that question, but I'll obey your commands."

"Fine, stay here while I take a look around."

"I can't do that, I must remain by your side at all times."

To say Uriel was annoyed would have been the understatement of the century. He knew the woman had no blame in this situation, but that didn't make him hate her any less. the more Uriel thought about things, the less they made sense and the worst part was knowing there was another hunter in front of him acting like there was nothing wrong.

He might have attributed it to her being under the nosferatu's ability, but he already proved it wasn't the case.

'I need to figure out what's odd about this. I should be safe as long as I play by his rules, but if I reach the end of the game my reward will be surviving and what I want to do is to kill that thing.' Uriel inwardly pondered about his possibilities. Choosing one of the maids was only the first decision in what seemed to be a long stressful night. 'Unless...'

"I can go wherever I want as long as I'm with you?" Uriel asked.

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"That is correct, master." The maid nodded.

"I want to go where the nosferatu is."

"That is not possible." She replied, but this time Uriel wasn't annoyed. It was the exact outcome he expected.

"But I don't know where he is, what if I enter the wrong door by mistake? Can you at least give me a warning?" Uriel asked and this time the maid's eyes widened in shock. It seemed as though she immediately figured out the kind of game Uriel was playing and for the first time she lost her composure.

"Correct." She nodded trying to hold back her tears.

"Then follow me!" Uriel shouted as he ran all over the maze-like building checking doors one by one. The maid was also a heavenly rank hunter and although Uriel didn't have his Dash skill active she was having trouble keeping up with him.

What tipped Uriel about the nosferatu's motives was something the vampire said. It was a small thing that seemed obvious, but after realizing the maid was simply buying time Uriel understood everything.

"Tomorrow by dawn only one of us will be alive and it's going to be me." Uriel said as he barged in the door the maid pointed out as the forbidden one.

The chamber was exquisitely decorated and there were many eye catching treasures, but one menial item stood out the most. It was a wooden casket so old it could have passed as a museum piece if not for its simple build and cheap materials. There were some carvings in it which Uriel recognized to be the ancient language he first spotted in Chichén Itzá acting as the proof that he was correct.

The reason why the vampire was so persistent into sending Uriel off with a maid to 'give in to the pleasures of the flesh' was because the condition it needed to feed properly was to rest before the meal and the maids were nothing but a distraction to keep him occupied for a few hours. It was a race against time, but now that Uriel reached his goal he hesitated on how to proceed.

It didn't take a genius to know the horror level cryptid was inside that casket and would probably be defenseless. The problem was something else the vampire mentioned.

'He said he'll share his knowledge with me, but if I kill him now that knowledge will be forever lost.' Uriel bit the tip of his fingernail trying to decide if killing a horror level cryptid was worth losing countless years of knowledge from a perspective different than that of humans and it opened an ethical dilemma.

The creature inside that casket was probably as evil as it looked, but only from a human's perspective. From his perspective, he was the first of his civilization and the father of an entire race.

The maid finally caught up to Uriel, but she didn't dare cross the threshold and limited herself to look at him with eyes filled with despair. Her own survival also depended on Uriel's, but just like Uriel she needed to play her part or die a horrible death. Many hunters arrived on that place the same way she did, but Uriel was the only one who made it that far.

It was the only chance to kill the cryptid and there he stood with a pensive expression on his face, seemingly reading the markings on the casket until he finally made his mind and piled every flammable item he could find in the chamber on top of the casket before picking up one of the lit candles.